1 A Concept to Support Seamless Spectator Participation in Sports Events Based on Wearable Motion Sensors Martin Tomitsch 1 , Wolfgang Aigner 2 , Thomas Grechenig 1 1 Research Group for Industrial Software (INSO), Vienna University of Technology {martin.tomitsch | thomas.grechenig}@inso.tuwien.ac.at 2 Department of Information and Knowledge Engineering, Danube University Krems wolfgang.aigner@donau-uni.ac.at Abstract We present a novel concept for an audience voting system for judged sports events. It is based on wireless wearable motion sensors utilizing the natural behaviour of sports spectators – clapping and cheering. This paper describes initial results from a user study that guided our design process. We further present two preliminary prototypes focusing on hardware and design feasibility respectively. Results confirm our assumption that the system does not provide objective results, but has the potential to increase the spectator experience by giving audience members the feeling of being part of the voting process. Keywords: Spectator participation, audience participation, spectator experience, wireless motion sensors. 1. Introduction Traditional electronic devices for audience voting (e.g. voting devices with push buttons) limit spectators in their mobility, distract from the event, and therefore have a negative impact on the experience of the event. Furthermore, they are costly and do not scale for a large audience. These problems are particularly significant for spectator participation in sports events. Advances in pervasive computing motivate a voting system that takes advantage of new technologies in a way to enhance the overall spectator experience. Current research in this area focuses mainly on large group interaction in games or musical performances. Spectator participation in sports events is especially relevant for sports that are connected to art, like gymnastics, diving, or figure skating. These events cannot be judged by quantifiable means, such as time, height, or range. Therefore, typically a panel of several judges conducts judging. They award points along a predefined scale to the athletes’ performance. Nevertheless, the awarded score can be influenced by personal opinions of the judges and is susceptible to human error. For example, during the 1992 Summer Games a judge mistyped a score as 8.7 (on a scale from 0 to 10) when she intended to give a synchronous swimmer a 9.7. Due to this mistake, the athlete missed the gold medal. During the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, there was another controversy that clearly showed that scores in judged events do not always represent justifiable results. One of the figure skating judges was pressured into voting in a certain way, which did not reflect reality. In both cases the International Olympic Committee (IOC) corrected the judging error and a second gold medal was awarded. Such incidents have cast a negative shadow on specific sports events and on judged sports in general. Giving physically present spectators the possibility to award scores for each performance can possibly improve the acceptance of these sports. However, audience members do generally not have the knowledge to judge highly technical sports performances on a specific scale. Further, audience votes are always subject to group behaviors and therefore will never replace judges, nor can they represent a determining part of the final score. Allowing audience members to cast their vote would however increase the acceptance of the judges’ decision and give them the feeling of being part of the voting process. 2. Research Goal The goal of this work was to develop a concept that allows seamless participation of spectators and can be employed in (large-scale) sports events. The concept is based on the following three requirements. Unobtrusiveness – The technology should adapt itself to the spectators’ behavior and should be intuitive to use and unobtrusive. Acceptance – The system should provide a low-cost solution to the problems associated with judged sports events to improve the acceptance of these events. Experience – The spectator participation system should extend the spectator experience through participation and better approval of the score. We used a user-centered design process, including a user study and the design and implementation of two different prototypes. The final goal is to develop more prototypes that allow the evaluation of the concept in a real context.