In this paper, we explore issues of embodied control that relate to current and future technologies in which body movements function as an instrument of control. Instead of just seeing ourselves in control, it is time to consider how these technologies actually control our moving bodies and transform our lived spaces. By shifting the focus from devices to choreographies among devices, we perform a theoretical analysis of the multidimensional aspects that reside within embodied interaction with technology. We suggest that it is beneficial to acknowledge and reformulate the phenomena of embodied control that go beyond the instrumental user-to-device control scheme. Drawing upon the phenomenology of the body, ecological psychology and embodied cognitive science, we identify three different dimensions of embodied control: instrumental, experiential and infrastructural. Design implications of this theoretical model are also discussed.

This paper discusses the use of gesture and non-speech audio as ways to improve the user interface of a mobile music player. Their key advantages mean that users could use a player without having to look at its controls when on the move. Two very different evaluations of the player took place: one based on a standard usability experiment (comparing the new player to a standard design) and the other a video analysis of the player in use. Both of these showed significant usability improvements for the gesture/audio-based interface over a standard visual/pen-based display. The similarities and differences in the results produced by the two studies are discussed