Lunchtime, Homeoffice
At: Person oPJ3Mv Also present later on: Person bc9PVK Time: 11:00 - 14:00
Participatory Observations #observation
Environment
- Living room, large black table, the sun is shining and the room is bightly lit with contrastful shadows
- VA is placed in kitchen, which is only separated through a narrow hallway. the va could be potentially actived since the door of the living room is oposite the door of the kitchen
Observation
11:00 p excuses herself, saying that she doesn’t need the device very much and she is unsure if she is skilled enough to really use it. I explain the nature of participatory observation and that she doesn’t need to use it on purpose. She mentions that she usually uses the device for cooking, or sometimes to listen to music. feeling insecure
11:20 p sitting in living room, focuses on work she has to to for her studies
11:42 p “Dann geh ich mal kochen und lass dich hier. Jetzt kommt dann die grossartige Show.” Until this moment, we were working together at the table in the living room
11:43 p “Hast du einen Liederwunsch?” I work
11:43 p “Ok Google, LA Salami spielen” The Answer from the device is not understandable, since I sit in the other room. It seems to make the participant uncomfortable, she laughs it off. The device seems to have misunderstood salami. “Ok Google, Musik von LA Salami spielen.” This time the device reacts correctly but weirdly spells “LA” in German, not nowing it’s part of a name. (assistant misunderstands)
11:45 p starts to cook, peeling onions while some easy listening is playing.
11:46 I decide to stay in the living room to prevent the participant from becoming uncomfortable.
11:57 “Ok Google, nächstes Lied”
12:05 Sister of p arrives.
12:09 There was some chaos in the kitchen because a pot overspilled. I moved to the kitchen to see if I can help.
12:12 “Ok Google, Timer auf 8 Minuten stellen” (setting a timer)
12:20 Timer on device goes of. Participant tries to touch it, to turn the timer of, but it unsuccesful. A second approach works. (failed interaction)
12:21 I tell my newest finding, that when the timer goes of, the device also starts to listen and you can just say stop, instead of “Ok Google, stop”.
12:22 p tells me an aneqdote. She tried the crystall ball service, where you can ask questions and the device “divines” answers. She ask how many children she will get, and the device just answered with “No”. (mentioning of a service, exchanging information on assistant)
12:24 The device is still playing “LA Salami” (background music)
12:59 We ate until now, the device was not used anymore so far.
13:05 A discussion about the functions and settings of the device starts off. The partner of the participant sealed of the “Home” of the participant so that the sister can’t log into their system and vice versa. After mentioning some of the main usages of the device, the sister mentions that the participants seems to use the device much more then herself. The participant told me about what she needs the device for, mainly. (exchanging information on assistant, mentioning of a service)
- Disney Quiz
- Listening to music
- Recalculate recipes
- Volume control
- Traffic information
- Timer
She also tells me, that adding stuff to her shopping list doesn’t work well.
14:00 No more usage of the device until now. The participant went about to help her sister to construct a shelf.