Through two different lenses
Florian Güldenpfennig, Wolfgang Reitberger, Geraldine Fitzpatrick · 2012
With the advent of ubicomp, designers of interactive systems face a growing need for research methods that enable them to understand aspects of context. Existing methods have already employed visual media as a means to analyse context. Utilizing the capabilities of modern smartphones, we present 'BehindTheCamera' (BTC) that goes beyond traditional photography by adding another perspective through the simultaneous use of front and back cameras. A thematic analysis of the results of a field study involving 30 people working in pairs revealed six categories of BTC use: Conventional Use, Sense of Location, Facial Tagging, Social Interaction, User Perspective, Technical Perspective. We argue these contribute understandings of context in three ways: humoticons showing the emotional valence of situations; perspective axes through the two cameras connecting distinct aspects of the context; and narrative arcs about potential interactions.