Shaping Time: Designing Tangible, Embodied, and Collective Experiences for Variable Speed Media Playback

Variable speed media playback (VSMP) has become a staple of contemporary media consumption, yet the interactive potential of this feature remains only partially explored.This doctoral research examines how new interfaces and interaction paradigms can deepen users' engagement with VSMP in both individual and collective contexts.Drawing on the history of variable speed control from early mechanical cranks to modern digital platforms, the project situates VSMP as a persistent yet evolving phenomenon.Through a user-centered, research-through-design methodology, I investigate audience perceptual thresholds, tolerances, and preferences for playback rate manipulation.Through prototyping tangible user interfaces, this work explores the embodied, hands-on control of media temporality that has largely been lost with digital streaming interfaces.In addition, I propose aggregating audience interactions to shape data-driven playback "rate curves, " enabling future viewers to inherit collectively informed playback dynamics.This work contributes to HCI by illuminating the experiential dimensions of VSMP and demonstrating how tangible, adaptive, and collaborative media playback interfaces can enrich both user experience and creative practice.Ultimately, the research aims to inspire broader conversations around the design of interactive systems that harness the power of temporal manipulation while preserving-or