The role of participatory workshops in investigating narrative and sound ecologies in the design of an ambient intelligence audio display

Abstract

We describe two participatory workshops conducted to support design decisions in the making of the audio display for an ambient intelligent game platform. The workshops discussed here explore specific issues of players' interactions with sound and auditory display design. The workshops helped move our design process forward by specifying the role of narrative and sound ecologies in our design. They clarified the role of sound in creating narrative coherence, guiding player actions, and supporting group interaction. We describe the workshops, the auditory display issues we addressed, discuss how the workshops helped inform our subsequent design, and extend recommendations on how participatory workshops can be used by other designers of auditory displays.