ABSTRACT
Interaction design, the discipline concerned with the behavior of interactive products and the way users interact with them, has only gained attention in the domain of sports recently. This is not surprising, as early investigations into the use of computers were mainly concerned with supporting job efficiency in business environments, with a focus on cognitive tasks supported by mouse and keyboard input (Harrison et al. 2007). Gradually, interaction design moved beyond the mouse and keyboard paradigm and investigations into other areas of human life began. Computer programs appeared that helped users create exercise programs or functioned as virtual coach that accompanied exercise in the living room or gym, however, they were still mainly operated with button presses. Emerging interactive art pieces were amongst the first that used new computer interfaces to allow people to interact with technology in novel ways. Artworks encouraged the museum’s visitors to use movements of the entire body to experience the art piece, challenging prior assumptions that computers are limited to mouse and keyboard as input and screens as output mechanisms (Dinkla 1994). Interaction design in a non-art context followed suit and began to explore embodied interactions (Dourish 2001) that put the human body in the centre of the experience with technology (McCarthy and Wright 2004).
