Motorcycling and social interaction: design for the enjoyment of brief traffic encounters

Abstract

We report an ethnographic fieldwork that reveals the importance of social interaction, and especially traffic encounters, for the enjoyment of motorcycling. Motorcyclists spend an appreciable amount of time on the roads to meet other bikers. During the brief traffic encounters, they interact visually by means of their driving, their choice of bike and personal equipment. We uncover problematic issues in this practice and how these are currently addressed. The activities on the roads are partly arranged, and partly complemented by the use of a public message-board on the web. The findings are summarized as a set of implications informing the development of the Hocman prototype. Hocman is a mobile HTTP peer-to-peer application, which supports social interaction between motorcyclists.