User interaction with legal contracts has been limited to document reading, which is often complicated by complex, ambiguous legal language. We explore possible futures where contract interfaces go beyond single document interfaces to (1) educate users with legal rights not stated in the contract, (2) transform legal language into alternative representations to aid information tasks before, during, and after signing, and (3) proactively supply contractual information at relevant moments. We refer to these future interfaces collectively as Living Contracts. Using residential leases as a case study, we created three design probes representing different possible Living Contracts. A three-part qualitative study (N=18) revealed participants' barriers to interacting with contracts, including interpreting complex language, uncertainty about legal rights, and the pressure to sign quickly. Participants' feedback on the probes highlighted how Living Contracts have the potential to address these challenges and open new design opportunities for human-contract interactions beyond document reading.

翻译：用户与法律合同的交互长期以来局限于文档阅读，而复杂模糊的法律语言往往使这一过程变得困难。本文探讨了合同界面超越单一文档界面的未来可能性，旨在实现以下目标：(1) 向用户普及合同中未明确陈述的法律权利；(2) 将法律语言转化为替代性表征形式，以辅助签约前、签约中及签约后的信息处理任务；(3) 在相关时刻主动提供合同信息。我们将这些未来界面统称为动态合约。以住宅租赁合同为案例，我们设计了三种代表不同动态合约可能形态的设计探针。一项包含三部分的定性研究（N=18）揭示了参与者与合同交互时面临的障碍，包括复杂语言的解读困难、对法律权利的不确定性以及快速签署的压力。参与者对设计探针的反馈表明，动态合约有望应对这些挑战，并为超越文档阅读的人机合同交互开辟新的设计空间。