Augmenting human-human interaction in mobile group improvisation

In this paper strategies for augmenting the social dimension of collaborative music making, in particular in the form of bodily and situated interaction are presented. Mobile instruments are extended by means of relational descriptors democratically controlled by the group and mapped to sound parameters. A qualitative evaluation approach is described and a user test with participants playing in groups of three conducted. The results of the analysis show core-categories such as familiarity with instrument and situation, shift of focus in activity, family of interactions and different categories of the experience emerging from the interviews. Our evaluation shows the suitability of our approach but also the need for iterating on our design on the basis of the perspectives brought forth by the users. This latter observation confirms the importance of conducting a thorough interview session followed by data analysis on the line of grounded theory.