HCI AND SPORTS

Sports are an important part of many people’s lives. They are rewarding and motivating, but people appreciate them for a variety of reasons: Sports are personal and social, are fun but have health benefits, and can also be both enjoyable and painful. While motivation, fun, and sociality are elements often used as starting points in interaction design, we argue that for many athletes, these elements are already present and do not need to be specifically designed for. In this special section we have selected work that complements such an approach by focusing on novel viewpoints on interaction design in sports.

Health, wellness, and, recently, sports have become increasingly important research topics in the HCI community over the past decade. This is not surprising, given the fact that sports and recreational fitness activities are rapidly growing areas for personal and consumer-oriented technologies. There is a proliferation of mobile sensor-based end-user products, such as the sensor-equipped sports watches from Garmin or Polar, mobile apps like Runkeeper, and technologies for connecting these systems to social and broadcast media. Endurance sports such as running, cycling, triathlon, and cross-country skiing are at the forefront of this development. Participation in races and organized training groups is growing rapidly, and new forms of mass races such as ultra-marathons, swim-run races over large distances, and trail running are emerging. The often-challenging settings in which sports are carried out provide exciting design opportunities that connect to many of the research issues we currently see in HCI, such as non-visual interaction, >>>> Stina Nylander, SICS

Jakob Tholander, Stockholm University

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, RMIT University

Joseph Marshall, University of Nottingham