Comments on: Interaction flow or Activity flow? http://designdialogues.com/interaction-flow-or-activity-flow/ Reflections on the future from a point in present Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:12:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Andy Polaine http://designdialogues.com/interaction-flow-or-activity-flow/comment-page-1/#comment-58 Andy Polaine Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:37:16 +0000 http://dialogicdesign.wordpress.com/?p=136#comment-58 Peter, I'd love it if my PhD was now in the past tense, but I'm still in the midst of writing... You make some interesting comments that I'd like to pick up on because one of the areas I have been combining with flow is play. For me one of the reasons play is so interesting is that it cuts across so many disciplines and aspects of culture. It is also one of the activities that really encourages flow. I think some of the reasons for this are that play often has quite clear goals and rules as well as a clear boundary (the ‘playing field’) that allows people to shut out the external world. Now, this is only one conception of play, of course, because there is also free play with no goals that can also have quite a flow-like aspect to it. In terms of moving from something like interaction design into live world scenarios - service design is a great example - there is, I think, a lot to be learned from how play experiences are constructed to achieve flow. In the medical ER example you mentioned, much of the kind of communication you’d see going on (hopefully) is akin to the kind you would see in a good team game. There is even the slightly detached-from-the-grisly-reality aspect to working in an ER too, which equates to the playing field. I don’t mean that medical staff are simply playing, but rather that their reactions to someone dying in front of them in an ER are very different from those they might have when outside this ‘playing field’. I’d happily chat some more with you about this, but I’m wary of writing another PhD in your comments area... Peter, I’d love it if my PhD was now in the past tense, but I’m still in the midst of writing… You make some interesting comments that I’d like to pick up on because one of the areas I have been combining with flow is play. For me one of the reasons play is so interesting is that it cuts across so many disciplines and aspects of culture. It is also one of the activities that really encourages flow. I think some of the reasons for this are that play often has quite clear goals and rules as well as a clear boundary (the ‘playing field’) that allows people to shut out the external world. Now, this is only one conception of play, of course, because there is also free play with no goals that can also have quite a flow-like aspect to it.

In terms of moving from something like interaction design into live world scenarios – service design is a great example – there is, I think, a lot to be learned from how play experiences are constructed to achieve flow. In the medical ER example you mentioned, much of the kind of communication you’d see going on (hopefully) is akin to the kind you would see in a good team game. There is even the slightly detached-from-the-grisly-reality aspect to working in an ER too, which equates to the playing field. I don’t mean that medical staff are simply playing, but rather that their reactions to someone dying in front of them in an ER are very different from those they might have when outside this ‘playing field’.

I’d happily chat some more with you about this, but I’m wary of writing another PhD in your comments area…

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