Spectating at sport events is a common and popular leisure activity worldwide. Recently spectating has also become a topic of interest to CHI, particularly the design of technology for both performers and audiences. In this paper we describe an in-depth study of spectating, drawn from fieldwork of outdoor car rallies in the UK and Sweden. We describe three findings with relevance to design: the viewing paradox of spectating, active spectating and the role of sociability. We describe the MySplitTime prototype which address these issues while retaining the active sociable nature of the spectating experience.

We present an analysis of mobile face-to-face meeting support systems that reveal the consequences duration has for interaction through and with this technology in public places. Particularly we argue that there are privacy issues at stake. We base our arguments on empirical research concerning public interaction and disclosure of personal information there, seeing that face-to-face support systems add something to the social practice already occurring rather than replacing such altogether. But there is also a human-computer interaction issue. Handling face-to-face meeting support in public places puts demands on accommodating other activities already going on there, such as walking and driving. Our analysis in these variables yield four genres of mobile face-toface meeting support systems i.e. exposed, insisted, hinted and cloaked. We argue that the genre of cloaked support systems seems most appropriate for sustained meetings weighing privacy and handling. Similarly, the genres of hinted support systems acknowledge privacy and handling of brief meetings.

We report an ethnographic fieldwork that reveals the importance of social interaction, and especially traffic encounters, for the enjoyment of motorcycling. Motorcyclists spend an appreciable amount of time on the roads to meet other bikers. During the brief traffic encounters, they interact visually by means of their driving, their choice of bike and personal equipment. We uncover problematic issues in this practice and how these are currently addressed. The activities on the roads are partly arranged, and partly complemented by the use of a public message-board on the web. The findings are summarized as a set of implications informing the development of the Hocman prototype. Hocman is a mobile HTTP peer-to-peer application, which supports social interaction between motorcyclists.