This week we have to translate digital to physical affordances, and I chose the Twitch Online platform. I wanted to explore the physicality of these interactions but also explore how this platform could add more interfaces as well.
I want to look at interactions on both sides of this platform, creators & audience. Moving forward I think many types of live entertainment will become more interactive and much of that is built upon twitch.
The main areas of interaction are in this right hand side of the frame. There are a few ways to do so.
- Commenting
- Sending Emojis
- General Donations
Infinite Scroll
A very literal scroll. My favorite part about twitch is the way broadcasters interact with the infinite scroll of comments. This is especially satisfying because it is displayed for everyone including the broadcaster. You know that the broadcaster can see it and I think it would be great to have it exist in physical space to solidify that. I printed out some comments to demonstrate the scroll after users type in to the stream.
Emojis
Emojis are a simple yet effective way of more passive viewership. Without physical presence this is a great way to get feedback.
The happy or not stand that many see at airport terminals and DMVs would be a perfect physical way of responding with emojis. Each twitch platform can actually create custom emojis as well to express more.
Donations
Navigating cameras and the screen
The way twitch works now is that broadcasters will change their cameras based upon where they want the viewer to look. I think this is an interesting opportunity to add more physical interaction. The viewer should be able to toggle and change the position of the camera (digital movement of overall view) based upon their own physical switches and joystick.
I think overall it would be a really interesting experience to be able to physicalize a lot of the affordances on this online platform and if a lot of development was made there could be a whole host of new interactions.
Will Politan ITP Blog 