132 research outputs found

    Toward New Ecologies of Cyberphysical Representational Forms, Scales, and Modalities

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    Research on tangible user interfaces commonly focuses on tangible interfaces acting alone or in comparison with screen-based multi-touch or graphical interfaces. In contrast, hybrid approaches can be seen as the norm for established mainstream interaction paradigms. This dissertation describes interfaces that support complementary information mediations, representational forms, and scales toward an ecology of systems embodying hybrid interaction modalities. I investigate systems combining tangible and multi-touch, as well as systems combining tangible and virtual reality interaction. For each of them, I describe work focusing on design and fabrication aspects, as well as work focusing on reproducibility, engagement, legibility, and perception aspects

    KosketuskÀyttöliittymÀn toteuttaminen olemassa olevaan ohjelmaan

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    The purpose of this work was to evaluate the migration steps of a windowing desktop application into a touch based input enabled software. The study was conducted on an already existing building information modelling software called Tekla BIMsight. The task was to retain all the functionality already in the software while making it possible to be used on touch-enabled devices, such as tablets or convertible laptops with a swivel display. Design and implementation of the system has been documented as part of the thesis, as well as most problematic issues during this period. The effects of the implementation are validated and tested with real users and the results from that study were documented. The usability study was conducted to obtain quantitative and qualitative metrics of the usability. The nature of the input mechanism, direct or indirect, affects the user experience greatly. The final system should be as responsive as possible to maintain a good level of perceived performance. Early prototyping and access to the target devices is critical to the success of a migration process. There are several common mistakes that should be avoided in the design and implementation phases. Not all the problems were critical, but many of them were identified as very cumbersome for the user that would affect the positive user experience of the software. With each new context for a user interface the problems need to be solved again and only experience from such solutions can help alleviate this task. The implemented touch support can be verified to meet the set requirements very well: It allows the system to be used on touch based input environments and all the major user interface elements support this.Työn tarkoituksena oli toteuttaa ja arvioida toimenpiteet ja. menetelmÀt joilla olemassa olevaan kÀyttöliittymÀÀn voidaan lisÀtÀ tuki kosketuskÀytölle. Ominaisuudet lisÀttiin rakennusten tietomallinnuksen tarkasteluohjelmaan, Tekla BIMsight. TehtÀvÀnÀ oli sÀilyttÀÀ kaikki aiemmat toiminnot ja tehdÀ ohjelmasta tehokkaasti kÀytettÀvÀ kosketuslaitteilla, kuten tableteilla ja kÀÀntyvÀllÀ nÀytöllÀ varustetuilla kannettavilla. Suunnittelu ja toteutus jÀrjestelmÀlle on dokumentoitu työssÀ ja kaikkein vaativimmat ongelmat. Toteutetun tuen vaikutuksia arvioitiin oikeiden kÀyttÀjien kanssa tehdyssÀ kÀyttÀjÀtutkimuksessa, jonka tulokset on esitetty. KÀytettÀvyystutkimuksella hankittiin kvantitatiivista ja kvalitatiivista tietoa tuotteesta. Laite jolla ohjelmistoa kÀytetÀÀn vaikuttaa ohjelmasta saatuun kÀyttökokemukseen merkittÀvÀsti. HyvÀn kÀyttökokemuksen saavuttamiseksi lopullisen jÀrjestelmÀn kÀytön tulisi olla sujuvaa. Aikaisten prototyyppien kokeilu ja kohdelaitteiden saatavuus ovat tÀrkeitÀ tekijöitÀ siirtymÀprosessin kannalta. YleisiÀ ongelmatilanteita ja haasteita joita kohdattiin suunnittelu- ja toteutusvaiheissa on listattu työssÀ. LoppukÀyttÀjÀn kannalta useat ongelmat olivat rasittavia ja vaikuttaisivat kÀyttökokemukseen negatiivisesti jos niitÀ ei korjata. Uuden kÀyttöympÀristön tuomat ongelmat joudutaan ratkaisemaan aina uudestaan. Vain kokemuksella vastaavista tilanteista on merkittÀvÀsti etua itse ratkaisujen löytÀmiselle. Toteutetun kosketuskÀyttöliittymÀn tuen voidaan todeta vastaavan sille asetettuja tavoitteita ja vaatimuksia hyvin; se mahdollistaa ohjelman kÀyttÀmisen kosketuskÀyttöliittymÀn omaavissa laitteissa ja kaikkein merkittÀvimmÀt kÀyttöliittymÀelementit on tuettuina

    The Use of Multiple Slate Devices to Support Active Reading Activities

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    Reading activities in the classroom and workplace occur predominantly on paper. Since existing electronic devices do not support these reading activities as well as paper, users have difficulty taking full advantage of the affordances of electronic documents. This dissertation makes three main contributions toward supporting active reading electronically. The first contribution is a comprehensive set of active reading requirements, drawn from three decades of research into reading processes. These requirements explain why existing devices are inadequate for supporting active reading activities. The second contribution is a multi-slate reading system that more completely supports the active reading requirements above. Researchers believe the suitability of paper for active reading is largely due to the fact it distributes content across different sheets of paper, which are capable of displaying information as well as capturing input. The multi-slate approach draws inspiration from the independent reading and writing surfaces that paper provides, to blend the beneficial features of e-book readers, tablets, PCs, and tabletop computers. The development of the multi-slate system began with the Dual-Display E-book, which used two screens to provide richer navigation capabilities than a single-screen device. Following the success of the Dual-Display E-book, the United Slates, a general-purpose reading system consisting of an extensible number of slates, was created. The United Slates consisted of custom slate hardware, specialized interactions that enabled the slates to be used cooperatively, and a cloud-based infrastructure that robustly integrated the slates with users' existing computing devices and workflow. The third contribution is a series of evaluations that characterized reading with multiple slates. A laboratory study with 12 participants compared the relative merits of paper and electronic reading surfaces. One month long in-situ deployments of the United Slates with graduate students in the humanities found the multi-slate configuration to be highly effective for reading. The United Slates system delivered desirable paper-like qualities that included enhanced reading engagement, ease of navigation, and peace-of-mind while also providing superior electronic functionality. The positive feedback suggests that the multi-slate configuration is a desirable method for supporting active reading activities

    Sistemas interativos tangĂ­veis e processos de mediação tecnolĂłgica: hipĂłteses sobre agĂȘncia, significação e cognição a partir da investigação do MIT Tangible Media Group

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    A presente dissertação toma a investigação em sistemas de interação tangĂ­vel do MIT Tangible Media Group como objeto, a pretexto da sua inclusĂŁo na edição de 2016 do Festival Ars Electronica, sob o tema Radical Atoms: The Alchemists of Our Time. Pretende-se compreender quais os pontos de contato da investigação do grupo com os estudos dos media, de forma a localizar a sua relevĂąncia para a programação do festival. O enquadramento nos estudos dos media Ă© feito pela localização de um conjunto de termos-chave no trabalho do grupo, os quais evocam questĂ”es afetas Ă  fenomenologia, filosofia da tecnologia e mediação tecnolĂłgica. Conclui-se que estes sistemas de interação tangĂ­vel ativam processos particulares de constituição de agĂȘncia, significação e cognição. Na ausĂȘncia de outros materiais que explorem estas relaçÔes no contexto do festival, a dissertação apresenta-se assim como complemento Ă  leitura do tema Radical Atoms: The Alchemists of Our Time.This dissertation thesis takes the research of the MIT Tangible Media Group as its object, by occasion of its inclusion in the 2016 edition of Ars Electronica Festival under the theme Radical Atoms: The Alchemists of Our Time. The aim is to understand what are the common points between the group's research and media studies, in order to locate this object's relevance to the festival programming scope. The framing within media studies is done by surveying a set of keywords from the group's research, which evoke topics from phenomenology, philosophy of technology and technological mediation. It's concluded that these tangible interactive systems activate specific processes of agency, signification, and cognition. Given the lack of materials which explore these relationships within the context of the festival, the dissertation presents itself as a supplement to the reading of the Radical Atoms: The Alchemists of Our Time theme

    Designing Hybrid Interactions through an Understanding of the Affordances of Physical and Digital Technologies

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    Two recent technological advances have extended the diversity of domains and social contexts of Human-Computer Interaction: the embedding of computing capabilities into physical hand-held objects, and the emergence of large interactive surfaces, such as tabletops and wall boards. Both interactive surfaces and small computational devices usually allow for direct and space-multiplex input, i.e., for the spatial coincidence of physical action and digital output, in multiple points simultaneously. Such a powerful combination opens novel opportunities for the design of what are considered as hybrid interactions in this work. This thesis explores the affordances of physical interaction as resources for interface design of such hybrid interactions. The hybrid systems that are elaborated in this work are envisioned to support specific social and physical contexts, such as collaborative cooking in a domestic kitchen, or collaborative creativity in a design process. In particular, different aspects of physicality characteristic of those specific domains are explored, with the aim of promoting skill transfer across domains. irst, different approaches to the design of space-multiplex, function-specific interfaces are considered and investigated. Such design approaches build on related work on Graspable User Interfaces and extend the design space to direct touch interfaces such as touch-sensitive surfaces, in different sizes and orientations (i.e., tablets, interactive tabletops, and walls). These approaches are instantiated in the design of several experience prototypes: These are evaluated in different settings to assess the contextual implications of integrating aspects of physicality in the design of the interface. Such implications are observed both at the pragmatic level of interaction (i.e., patterns of users' behaviors on first contact with the interface), as well as on user' subjective response. The results indicate that the context of interaction affects the perception of the affordances of the system, and that some qualities of physicality such as the 3D space of manipulation and relative haptic feedback can affect the feeling of engagement and control. Building on these findings, two controlled studies are conducted to observe more systematically the implications of integrating some of the qualities of physical interaction into the design of hybrid ones. The results indicate that, despite the fact that several aspects of physical interaction are mimicked in the interface, the interaction with digital media is quite different and seems to reveal existing mental models and expectations resulting from previous experience with the WIMP paradigm on the desktop PC

    Haptics Rendering and Applications

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    There has been significant progress in haptic technologies but the incorporation of haptics into virtual environments is still in its infancy. A wide range of the new society's human activities including communication, education, art, entertainment, commerce and science would forever change if we learned how to capture, manipulate and reproduce haptic sensory stimuli that are nearly indistinguishable from reality. For the field to move forward, many commercial and technological barriers need to be overcome. By rendering how objects feel through haptic technology, we communicate information that might reflect a desire to speak a physically- based language that has never been explored before. Due to constant improvement in haptics technology and increasing levels of research into and development of haptics-related algorithms, protocols and devices, there is a belief that haptics technology has a promising future

    Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

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    There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with

    Proceedings of the 6th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2006)

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    The proceedings of the conferenc

    The feasibility of using virtual prototyping technologies for product evaluation

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    With the continuous development in computer and communications technology the use of computer aided design in design processes is becoming more commonplace. A wide range of virtual prototyping technologies are currently in development, some of which are commercially viable for use within a product design process. These virtual prototyping technologies range from graphics tablets to haptic devices. With the compression of design cycles the feasibility of using these technologies for product evaluation is becoming an ever more important consideration. This thesis begins by presenting the findings of a comprehensive literature review defining product design with a focus on product evaluation and a discussion of current virtual prototyping technologies. From the literature review it was clear that user involvement in the product evaluation process is critical. The literature review was followed by a series of interconnected studies starting with an investigation into design consultancies' access and use of prototyping technologies and their evaluation methods. Although design consultancies are already using photo-realistic renderings, animations and sometimes 3600 view CAD models for their virtual product evaluations, current virtual prototyping hardware and software is often unsatisfactory for their needs. Some emergent technologies such as haptic interfaces are currently not commonly used in industry. This study was followed by an investigation into users' psychological acceptance and physiological discomfort when using a variety of virtual prototyping tools for product evaluation compared with using physical prototypes, ranging from on-screen photo-realistic renderings to 3D 3600 view models developed using a range of design software. The third study then went on to explore the feasibility of using these virtual prototyping tools and the effect on product preference when compared to using physical prototypes. The forth study looked at the designer's requirements for current and future virtual prototyping tools, design tools and evaluation methods. In the final chapters of the thesis the relative strengths and weaknesses of these technologies were re-evaluated and a definitive set of user requirements based on the documentary evidence of the previous studies was produced. This was followed by the development of a speculative series of scenarios for the next generation of virtual prototyping technologies ranging from improvements to existing technologies through to blue sky concepts. These scenarios were then evaluated by designers and consumers to produce documentary evidence and recommendations for preferred and suitable combinations of virtual prototyping technologies. Such hardware and software will require a user interface that is intuitive, simple, easy to use and suitable for both the designers who create the virtual prototypes and the consumers who evaluate them
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