Designing Mixed Media Artefacts for Public Settings

This paper describes how principles which are emerging from social scientific studies of people’s interaction with mixed media artefacts in public places have been used to support the development of two installations, the second of which is a long term museum exhibit. Our principles highlight the design of ‘emergent collaborative value’, ‘layers of noticeability’ and ‘structures of motivation’ to create an ‘ecology of participation’ in installations. We describe how our first installation was used as a ‘research vehicle’ that guided and shaped the design of the museum installation. We also provide an account of how people interact with our installations and how this analysis has shaped their design. The paper closes with some general remarks about the challenges there are for the design of collaborative installations and the extent to which we have met them.