Body-Centric Interaction: Using the Body as an Extended Mobile Interaction Space

Abstract

Current mobile devices require a person to navigate and interact with applications and their content via on-screen operations. The problem is that mobility trades off with screen size, providing limited space for interactions. To mitigate this problem, we explore how our body can extend the interaction space of a mobile device. We call this Body- Centric Interaction (BCI), a design space comprised of three dimensions. First, interactions occur in different proximal spaces on/around/far-from the body. Second, different mapping strategies can associate digital knowledge or interactions with these spaces. Third, various input techniques can help perform such interactions. We make use of this design space to 1) unify existing BCIrelated research, and 2) generatively design a set of proofof- concept prototypes. Overall, we contribute a design space that articulates and envisions how our body can be leveraged to create rich interaction possibilities that extends beyond a mobile device’s limited screen space.