Author: Wenhe Li

 
Ishii suggests, “A Tangible User Interface gives physical form digital information and computation . . . and making them directly manipulatable by human hands” (Ishii, Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels XV). The essence of this medium is to bring extra information and interactive dimension to the physical surroundings. AR as a technology that has been applied to most mobile devices fits well with the concept of TUI. Therefore, this paper explores potential solutions that could apply AR to bring the user experience into a new dimension.
Besides, T.L Taylor comments on live-streaming by saying, “It is a form that plays with the boundary lines between audience and producer”(2018, Taylor). The above suggests that in live-streaming, the content is the joint effort of both the streamer and the audience. However, according to Robinson’s research on live streaming interactions, we find that the interactions between audience and streamers are still mostly dependent on verbal comments (2020, Robinson). Moreover, Twitch, as the leading platform in the game streaming industry, tried to make the audience engaged in the game-streaming by allowing the audience to control the game characters rather than the streamer. Indeed such interaction allows the audience to participate in live-streaming content making; it does not bridge the audience and the streamers. Instead, it gives a double identity to all the audience, where they are both audience and streamers.
Therefore, AR can bring a shared and mutual virtual space and allows extra information overlays on the physical surroundings. This paper will further explore the possible solution of combining the AR with streaming experience.