The Attendant Perspective: Present Others in Public Technology Interactions

Technology interactions found their way into public space and present others attend what users are doing. However, in HCI research, the attendant perspective has often been neglected or considered only vaguely in the sense of “social context”. Aiming at a better understanding of different types of attendants and their experiences, we developed a typology of four types based on two differentiating criteria (conspicuousness and voluntariness of attending the user interaction). An experimental vignette study (N = 181) tested the typology and revealed typical experiential patterns (e.g., need fulfillment, emotions, desire to join the technology interaction) related to the four types based on quantitative and qualitative data. Our research provides various contributions to HCI theory and design. For example, the typology can be used analytically in UX research. Moreover, it can be used generatively to design positive technology experiences in public for all stakeholders, namely, users and attendants.