The Indianapolis Center serves as a digital research hub for Ball State’s Center for Media Design (CMD), facilitating research in an urban environment with diverse groups of participants.
CMD research in the Indianapolis Media Insight Center focuses on the relationship between people and technology, specifically the impact of and adaptation to digital media and appliances. Activities in this space include:
- eye tracking and usability testing of digital interfaces for television, Web, computer software, video games, and interactive television content such as IPTV interfaces
- mobile eye tracking for usability testing of handheld devices such as cell phones, gaming devices, PDAs, remotes, and media in and out of home environments
- concept and effectiveness testing for advertising and marketing in interactive TV applications, console, and PC gaming
- focus groups or interviews related to usability testing of digital interfaces
- observer training sessions for observational research projects
About the Research Space
The CMD’s Indianapolis Media Insight Center was designed to emulate a normal living room and home-office setting. The design was chosen specifically to promote naturalistic settings in which research participants can feel comfortable and relaxed while interacting with technology.
High-tech equipment is blended into the furnishings whenever possible; we call this concept keeping our research spaces “invisibly digital.” While the facility is equipped with a complex networking infrastructure, all of the visible equipment in the facility looks as if it could reasonably be found in the kind of house in which our participants live. Our facilities are also flexible in layout and can be easily reoriented to accommodate different technology according to research needs. The location provides opportunities for work with Indianapolis organizations and businesses.