Workshop on Human Living in Future Cities - Nick Tyler (UCL), "Sensing Time"
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Sensing time Nick Tyler Universal Composition Laboratory UCL
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Transcript of Workshop on Human Living in Future Cities - Nick Tyler (UCL), "Sensing Time"
Sensing time
Nick Tyler
Universal Composition Laboratory
UCL
What does one minute feel like to you?
How long would you wait?
This experiment started in 1927 in the University of Queensland
Researchers waited 8-12 years for each drop to fall – now (2014) they have 9 drops
For about a decade, time passed very slowly
Then, for a minute, time passed extremely quickly
Looking back, the decades seemed very fast
But those final minutes seem to be very long
We think of a timeline …
About now
… but the timeline is just part of a larger cycle …
About now
Long term
Short term cycle
Past
Future
Present
… and the cycle is just part of another cycle …
Does time pass more quickly in the past or in the future?
… past events happened more recently and more slowly than they did
… future events will happen sooner and more slowly than they will
Typically, people think that …
… but some people think the reverse …
… and events in the future seem further away in time and faster than they will be
The rhythm of events changes over time
Events happening about now are closer together than events in the past or the future
Long term
Short term cycle
Past
Future
Present
… so our time-helix …
Past
Future
Present … becomes an hourglass
But time is an illusion
How do we perceive it?
What is its importance?
Past
Future
Present
Perception of time for 1 cycle (elapsed time is constant)
Perception
Current time is perceived to be shorter than distant time
Past
Future
Present
Importance of time for 1 cycle (elapsed time is constant)
Importance
Current time is more important than distant time
We are doing something exciting and important
We are going to do something else exciting and important
In between, we have to wait for a bus
“... waiting now is a chore …”
“the bus is not going to
come any time soon”
… so …
“… waiting is a waste of my time …”
“… so using the bus is a real waste of my
time …”
I feel that my waiting time is much longer than it really is
Overestimated time
Elapsed time
Real-time bus arrival information hopes to reduce this overestimate to equal the actual passage of time
The effect of real-time bus information
Overestimated time
Elapsed time
However, people routinely underestimate
the time they have spent doing something they enjoy
“time just flew by while I was …”
Time flies when you are enjoying yourself
Elapsed time
Understimated time
We need to change the perception of time spent waiting …
… to be something that we can enjoy …
… so we design the bus stop …
… to be fun, useful, pleasant, enjoyable to use
This is Universal Composition …
Multisensorial design in space and time
The bus stop becomes something you look forward to using …
… and you look back on as being a good experience
… and want to do again
How do you sense time?
What will five minutes in the future feel like to you?
Nick Tyler & Sara Adhitya
Universal Composition Laboratory University College London
www.cege.ucl.ac.uk/arg/ucl-squared
