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      Usability and Design of Personal Wearable and Portable Devices for Thermal Comfort in Shared Work Environments

      proceedings-article
      , ,
      Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI)
      Fusion
      11 - 15 July 2016
      User-Centred Design, Interaction Design, Individual Thermal Comfort, Wearables, Affordances
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            Abstract

            Personal comfort is important in the design of objects and environments. However, as comfort is a subjective experience, it is a very difficult aspect to design for. This paper presents an interrogation into the design for human thermal comfort, in particular the design of personal devices for use in shared work environments. The findings of two user studies are presented, in which wearable and portable, off-the-shelf personal heating and cooling devices were deployed in the field to explore the interaction with and use of these devices in everyday settings with the aim to uncover key aspects and requirements for the design of such devices. We found that functionality and affordances, i.e. the design for versatility, appropriation and mobility, as well as control, availability, effectiveness and efficiency of use were most important. Furthermore, individual preferences, foremost the preference for on-body versus off-body heating and cooling, and aspects related to wearable design of the devices, such as aesthetics, materiality, comfort of wear, mobility and unobtrusiveness, also need to be taken into account.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Conference
            July 2016
            July 2016
            : 1-12
            Affiliations
            [0001]Queen Mary University of London

            Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
            Article
            10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.41
            32bee490-1944-46f7-9bbc-91cfad0eac29
            © Knecht et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of British HCI 2016 Conference Fusion, Bournemouth, UK

            This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

            Proceedings of the 30th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference
            HCI
            30
            Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
            11 - 15 July 2016
            Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)
            Fusion
            History
            Product

            1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

            Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2016.41
            Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/
            Categories
            Electronic Workshops in Computing

            Applied computer science,Computer science,Security & Cryptology,Graphics & Multimedia design,General computer science,Human-computer-interaction
            User-Centred Design,Wearables,Interaction Design,Affordances,Individual Thermal Comfort

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