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Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment

by Mark A. Blythe, Kees Overbeeke, Andrew F. Monk, and Peter C. Wright, Editors
Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, 2003
320 pp., Trade $117.00
ISBN: 1-402-01252-7.

Reviewed by John Knight
User-Lab
Birmingham Institute of Art and Design

John.knight@uce.ac.uk

According to the back cover, "This book reflects the move in Human-Computer Interaction [HCI] studies from standard usability concerns towards a wider set of problems to do with fun, enjoyment, aesthetics, and the experience of use". Kluwer as part of its Human-Computer Interaction Series publishes it. I was extremely sceptical of the title and worried about the ethical consequences of designing "fun" products. However, I was wrong. Fun may seem an odd subject for an academic book, but it is not a trivial issue. The content is sound, interesting, refreshing, and pleasurable (fun?) to read.

Funology collects 24 papers in three sections. The first section provides a context of "Theories and Concepts" (e.g. The Semantics of Fun); the second part deals with "Methods and Techniques" (e.g. Measuring Emotion); and the final section describes nine case studies. Despite the diversity of the subject matter, the individual papers come together to form a coherent whole that is underpinned by a positive approach to researching and designing for fun. It is well designed, with useful section introductions and an integrated bibliography. The foreword is by Patrick Jordan of the Contemporary Trends Institute and provides a useful setting for the book. He suggests shortcomings in traditional Human Factors and HCI approaches and that pleasurable products achieve a better fit between people and products. He concludes that:

"While…usability-based approaches certainly tackle some very important issues, they tend to take a view of people that is somewhat limited, perhaps even dehumanising. The problem is that they tend to ignore or de-emphasize wider aspects of our humanness. What about our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our feelings, our self-image, the way we want others to see us? All these things are associated with the emotional and aspirational levels of a person’s experience with a product or service" (p. xi and xii).

Jordan is not alone in taking pleasure seriously. Funology is published at a time of growing (academic and commercial) interest in understanding and exploiting emotional interactions between people and products. Fortunately, rather than offering a utopian (or dystopian) future of engineered playfulness, Funology achieves three things. Firstly, the book gives an impartial critique of the cognitive/functional tradition of HCI. Secondly, it offers an erudite exploration issues pertinent to expanding HCI "beyond usability". For example, Blythe and Hassenzahl consider the "Politics of Fun" and "Spectacle and Aesthetics". Taking in Samuel Johnson, they draw on Adorno and Horkheimer to investigate, "The similarities between the ways in which leisure and work time were structured and monitored" (p. 93). Lastly, the book weaves theory with empirical study and design.

Chapter One looks at engagability, concluding that "Users are not interested in products; they are in search of challenging experiences. Therefore, the designer needs to create a context for experience, rather than just a product" (p. 9). Pheobe Sengers critiques Taylorism and the division between work and fun in the context of domestic work. Wright et al. give a vivid overview of "Making Sense of Experience" based upon Dewey and Bahktin.

The methods and technologies section starts with usability ‘guru’ Jakob Nielson. Pieter Desmet introduces his work with "verbal [and] non verbal instruments to measure emotion". Andersen et al. continue the emotional quotient by describing a set of innovative games from the FARAWAY project that aims to "explore how new technologies might support remote communication between people in affectionate relationships" (p. 151).

The final section is given over to case studies. A number of papers relate to museums and to engaging with children through interactives that "should be equally attractive, fun, long lasting, and yet offer sound pedagogical learning opportunities" (p. 198). Norbert Braun describes how interactive applications can facilitate storytelling and conversation based (p. 233) on Propp’s "semiotic description of story structure" (p. 237). The narrative focus is maintained by Jennica Falk (p. 249) and is augmented by research into tangible user interfaces.

This is a deceptive book. It looks decidedly academic, but is well organised, with good introductions and chapter summaries. It deals with a range of prescient design issues with theoretical depth and practical examples. Instead of technological determinism the book offers a humanistic perspective. The editors have shown respect for peoples’ need for fun, but also challenge growth and well-being in their selection of papers.

 

 




Updated 1st December 2004


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