214 research outputs found

    Accessibility and tangible interaction in distributed workspaces based on multi-touch surfaces

    Full text link
    [EN] Traditional interaction mechanisms in distributed digital spaces often fail to consider the intrinsic properties of action, perception, and communication among workgroups, which may affect access to the common resources used to mutually organize information. By developing suitable spatial geometries and natural interaction mechanisms, distributed spaces can become blended where the physical and virtual boundaries of local and remote spaces merge together to provide the illusion of a single unified space. In this paper, we discuss the importance of blended interaction in distributed spaces and the particular challenges faced when designing accessible technology. We illustrate this discussion through a new tangible interaction mechanism for collaborative spaces based on tabletop system technology implemented with optical frames. Our tangible elements facilitate the exchange of digital information in distributed collaborative settings by providing a physical manifestation of common digital operations. The tangibles are designed as passive elements that do not require the use of any additional hardware or external power while maintaining a high degree of accuracy.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund, through the ANNOTA Project (Ref. TIN2013-46036-C3-1-R).Salvador-Herranz, G.; Camba, J.; Contero, M.; Naya Sanchis, F. (2018). Accessibility and tangible interaction in distributed workspaces based on multi-touch surfaces. Universal Access in the Information Society. 17(2):247-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-017-0563-7S247256172Arkin, E.M., Chew, L.P., Huttenlocher, D.P., Kedem, K., Mitchell, J.S.B.: An efficiently computable metric for comparing polygonal shapes. IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process. 13(3), 209–216 (1991)Benyon, D.: Presence in blended spaces. Interact. Comput. 24(4), 219–226 (2012)Bhalla, M.R., Bhalla, A.V.: Comparative study of various touchscreen technologies. Int. J. Comput. Appl. 6(8), 12–18 (2010)Bradski, G., Kaehler, A.: Learning OpenCV: Computer Vision with the OpenCV Library. O’Reilly Media Inc., Newton (2008)Candela, E.S., Pérez, M.O., Romero, C.M., López, D.C.P., Herranz, G.S., Contero, M., Raya, M.A.: Humantop: a multi-object tracking tabletop. Multimed. Tools Appl. 70(3), 1837–1868 (2014)Cohen, J., Withgott, M., Piernot, P.: Logjam: a tangible multi-person interface for video logging. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 128–135. ACM (1999)Couture, N., Rivière, G., Reuter, P.: Geotui: a tangible user interface for geoscience. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction, pp. 89–96. ACM (2008)de la Guía, E., Lozano, M.D., Penichet, V.R.: Cognitive rehabilitation based on collaborative and tangible computer games. In: 2013 7th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare (PervasiveHealth), pp. 389–392. IEEE (2013)Dietz, P., Leigh, D.: Diamondtouch: a multi-user touch technology. In: Proceedings of the 14th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, pp. 219–226. ACM (2001)Falcão, T.P., Price, S.: What have you done! the role of ‘interference’ in tangible environments for supporting collaborative learning. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning-Volume 1, pp. 325–334. International Society of the Learning Sciences (2009)Fallman, D.: Wear, point and tilt. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques, pp. 293–302. ACM Press (2002)Fishkin, K.P., Gujar, A., Harrison, B.L., Moran, T.P., Want, R.: Embodied user interfaces for really direct manipulation. Commun. ACM 43(9), 74–80 (2000)Fitzmaurice, G.W., Buxton, W.: An empirical evaluation of graspable user interfaces: towards specialized, space-multiplexed input. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 43–50. ACM (1997)Fitzmaurice, G.W., Ishii, H., Buxton, W.A.: Bricks: laying the foundations for graspable user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 442–449. ACM Press (1995)Graham, R.L., Yao, F.F.: Finding the convex hull of a simple polygon. J. Algorithms 4(4), 324–331 (1983)Hartigan, J.A., Wong, M.A.: Algorithm as 136: a k-means clustering algorithm. J. R. Stat. Soc.: Ser. C (Appl. Stat.) 28(1), 100–108 (1979)Higgins, S.E., Mercier, E., Burd, E., Hatch, A.: Multi-touch tables and the relationship with collaborative classroom pedagogies: a synthetic review. Int. J. Comput. Support. Collab. Learn. 6(4), 515–538 (2011)Hinckley, K., Pausch, R., Goble, J.C., Kassell, N.F.: Passive real-world interface props for neurosurgical visualization. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 452–458. ACM (1994)Hinske, S.: Determining the position and orientation of multi-tagged objects using RFID technology. In: 5th Annual IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops, 2007. PerCom Workshops’07, pp. 377–381. IEEE (2007)Hornecker, E.: A design theme for tangible interaction: embodied facilitation. In: ECSCW 2005, pp. 23–43. Springer (2005)Hoshi, K., Öhberg, F., Nyberg, A.: Designing blended reality space: conceptual foundations and applications. In: Proceedings of the 25th BCS Conference on Human–Computer Interaction, pp. 217–226. British Computer Society (2011)Ishii, H.: Tangible User Interfaces. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2007)Ishii, H., Ullmer, B.: Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 234–241. ACM (1997)Jacob, R.J., Girouard, A., Hirshfield, L.M., Horn, M.S., Shaer, O., Solovey, E.T., Zigelbaum, J.: Reality-based interaction: a framework for post-wimp interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 201–210. ACM (2008)Jetter, H.C., Dachselt, R., Reiterer, H., Quigley, A., Benyon, D., Haller, M.: Blended Interaction: Envisioning Future Collaborative Interactive Spaces. ACM, New York (2013)Jin, X., Han, J.: Quality threshold clustering. In: Sammut, C., Webb, G.I. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Machine Learning, pp. 820–820. Springer, Boston, MA (2011)Jordà, S., Geiger, G., Alonso, M., Kaltenbrunner, M.: The reactable: exploring the synergy between live music performance and tabletop tangible interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction, pp. 139–146. ACM (2007)Kaltenbrunner, M., Bovermann, T., Bencina, R., Costanza, E.: Tuio: a protocol for table-top tangible user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Gesture in Human–Computer Interaction and Simulation, pp. 1–5 (2005)Kirk, D., Sellen, A., Taylor, S., Villar, N., Izadi, S.: Putting the physical into the digital: issues in designing hybrid interactive surfaces. In: Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology, pp. 35–44. British Computer Society (2009)Marques, T., Nunes, F., Silva, P., Rodrigues, R.: Tangible interaction on tabletops for elderly people. In: International Conference on Entertainment Computing, pp. 440–443. Springer (2011)Müller, D.: Mixed reality systems. iJOE 5(S2), 10–11 (2009)Newton-Dunn, H., Nakano, H., Gibson, J.: Block jam: a tangible interface for interactive music. In: Proceedings of the 2003 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, pp. 170–177. National University of Singapore (2003)Patten, J., Recht, B., Ishii, H.: Audiopad: a tag-based interface for musical performance. In: Proceedings of the 2002 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, pp. 1–6. National University of Singapore (2002)Patten, J., Recht, B., Ishii, H.: Interaction techniques for musical performance with tabletop tangible interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, p. 27. ACM (2006)PQLabs: Inc. http://multitouch.com/ . Retrieved on 16 October 2016Ryokai, K., Marti, S., Ishii, H.: I/o brush: drawing with everyday objects as ink. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI’04, pp. 303–310. ACM, New York (2004). doi: 10.1145/985692.985731Salvador, G., Bañó, M., Contero, M., Camba, J.: Evaluation of a distributed collaborative workspace as a creativity tool in the context of design education. In: 2014 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) Proceedings, pp. 1–7. IEEE (2014)Salvador-Herranz, G., Contero, M., Camba, J.: Use of tangible marks with optical frame interactive surfaces in collaborative design scenarios based on blended spaces. In: International Conference on Cooperative Design, Visualization and Engineering, pp. 253–260. Springer (2014)Salvador-Herranz, G., Camba, J.D., Naya, F., Contero, M.: On the integration of tangible elements with multi-touch surfaces for the collaborative creation of concept maps. In: International Conference on Learning and Collaboration Technologies, pp. 177–186. Springer (2016)Schöning, J., Hook, J., Bartindale, T., Schmidt, D., Oliver, P., Echtler, F., Motamedi, N., Brandl, P., von Zadow, U.: Building interactive multi-touch surfaces. In: Müller-Tomfelde, C. (ed.) Tabletops-Horizontal Interactive Displays, pp. 27–49. Springer, London, UK (2010)Shaer, O., Hornecker, E.: Tangible user interfaces: past, present, and future directions. Found. Trends Hum. Comput. Interact. 3(1–2), 1–137 (2010)Shen, C., Everitt, K., Ryall, K.: Ubitable: Impromptu face-to-face collaboration on horizontal interactive surfaces. In: International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, pp. 281–288. Springer (2003)Suzuki, H., Kato, H.: Algoblock: a tangible programming language, a tool for collaborative learning. In: Proceedings of 4th European Logo Conference, pp. 297–303 (1993)Suzuki, H., Kato, H.: Interaction-level support for collaborative learning: Algoblockan open programming language. In: The 1st International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning, pp. 349–355. L. Erlbaum Associates Inc. (1995)Terrenghi, L., Kirk, D., Richter, H., Krämer, S., Hilliges, O., Butz, A.: Physical handles at the interactive surface: exploring tangibility and its benefits. In: Proceedings of the Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, pp. 138–145. ACM (2008)Veltkamp, R.C.: Shape matching: similarity measures and algorithms. In: SMI 2001 International Conference on Shape Modeling and Applications, pp. 188–197. IEEE (2001)Weinberg, G., Gan, S.L.: The squeezables: Toward an expressive and interdependent multi-player musical instrument. Comput. Music J. 25(2), 37–45 (2001)Weiser, M.: Some computer science issues in ubiquitous computing. Commun. ACM 36(7), 75–84 (1993)Wilson, F.: The hand: how its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture. Vintage Series. Vintage Books (1998). https://books.google.es/books?id=l_Boy_-NkwUCZuckerman, O., Arida, S., Resnick, M.: Extending tangible interfaces for education: digital montessori-inspired manipulatives. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 859–868. ACM (2005

    Designing for Cross-Device Interactions

    Get PDF
    Driven by technological advancements, we now own and operate an ever-growing number of digital devices, leading to an increased amount of digital data we produce, use, and maintain. However, while there is a substantial increase in computing power and availability of devices and data, many tasks we conduct with our devices are not well connected across multiple devices. We conduct our tasks sequentially instead of in parallel, while collaborative work across multiple devices is cumbersome to set up or simply not possible. To address these limitations, this thesis is concerned with cross-device computing. In particular it aims to conceptualise, prototype, and study interactions in cross-device computing. This thesis contributes to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)—and more specifically to the area of cross-device computing—in three ways: first, this work conceptualises previous work through a taxonomy of cross-device computing resulting in an in-depth understanding of the field, that identifies underexplored research areas, enabling the transfer of key insights into the design of interaction techniques. Second, three case studies were conducted that show how cross-device interactions can support curation work as well as augment users’ existing devices for individual and collaborative work. These case studies incorporate novel interaction techniques for supporting cross-device work. Third, through studying cross-device interactions and group collaboration, this thesis provides insights into how researchers can understand and evaluate multi- and cross-device interactions for individual and collaborative work. We provide a visualization and querying tool that facilitates interaction analysis of spatial measures and video recordings to facilitate such evaluations of cross-device work. Overall, the work in this thesis advances the field of cross-device computing with its taxonomy guiding research directions, novel interaction techniques and case studies demonstrating cross-device interactions for curation, and insights into and tools for effective evaluation of cross-device systems

    Handoff and Deposit: Designing Temporal Coordination in Cross-Device Transfer Techniques for Mixed-Focus Collaboration

    Get PDF
    When working together, people frequently share information with each other to enable division of labour, assistance, and delegation of responsibility. The literature has explored both synchronous and asynchronous transfer techniques, known as Handoff and Deposit, respectively. However, current cross-device environments tend to only provide a single mechanism. Moreover, we have little understanding of the impact of different techniques on collaborative process. To understand how Handoff and Deposit may be designed to support complex sensemaking tasks, we followed a Research through Design process to iteratively design Handoff and Deposit techniques using paper and digital sketches and high-fidelity prototypes. We consulted the HCI literature to corroborate our findings with studies and descriptions of existing cross-device transfer designs and to understand the potential impact of those designs on mixed-focus collaboration. We learned that as we move away from a restricted physical workspace and leverage the flexibility of digital personal devices, there is a large design space for realizing cross-device transfer. To inform these designs, we provide five design considerations for cross-device transfer techniques: Transfer Acceptance, Action Dependencies, Immediate Usability, Interruption Potential, and Connection Actions

    Interaction Design for Mixed-Focus Collaboration in Cross-Device Environments

    Get PDF
    The proliferation of interactive technologies has resulted in a multitude of form factors for computer devices, such as tablets and phones, and large tabletop and wall displays. Investigating how these devices may be used together as Cross-Device Environments (XDEs) to facilitate collaboration is an active area of research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). The research community has explored the role of personal and shared devices in supporting group work and has introduced a number of cross-device interaction techniques to enable interaction among devices in an XDE. However, there is little understanding of how the interface design of those techniques may change the way people conduct collaboration, which, in turn, could influence the outcome of the activity. This thesis studies the impact of cross-device interaction techniques on collaborative processes. In particular, I investigated how interface design of cross-device interaction techniques may impact communication and coordination during group work. First, I studied the impact of two specific cross-device interaction techniques on collaboration in an XDE comprised of tablets and a tabletop. The findings confirmed that the choice of interaction techniques mattered when it came to facilitating both independent and joint work periods during group work. The study contributes knowledge towards problematizing the impact of cross-device interaction techniques on collaboration in HCI research. This early work gave rise to deeper questions regarding coordination in cross-device transfer and leveraging that to support the flexibility of work periods in collaborative activities. Consequently, I explored a range of interface design choices that varied the degree of synchronicity in coordinating data transfer across two devices. Additionally, I studied the impact of those interface designs on collaborative processes. My findings resulted in design considerations as well as adapting a synchronicity framework to articulate the impact of cross-device transfer techniques on collaboration. While performing the two research projects, I identified a need for a tool to articulate the impact of specific user interface elements on collaboration. Through a series of case studies, I developed a visual framework that researchers can use as a formative and summative method to understand if a given interaction technique hinders or supports collaboration in the specific task context. I discuss the contributions of my work to the field of HCI, design implications beyond the environments studied, and future research directions to build on and extend my findings

    SurfaceConstellations: A Modular Hardware Platform for Ad-Hoc Reconfigurable Cross-Device Workspaces

    Get PDF
    We contribute SurfaceConstellations, a modular hardware platform for linking multiple mobile devices to easily create novel cross-device workspace environments. Our platform combines the advantages of multi-monitor workspaces and multi-surface environments with the flexibility and extensibility of more recent cross-device setups. The SurfaceConstellations platform includes a comprehensive library of 3D-printed link modules to connect and arrange tablets into new workspaces, several strategies for designing setups, and a visual configuration tool for automatically generating link modules. We contribute a detailed design space of cross-device workspaces, a technique for capacitive links between tablets for automatic recognition of connected devices, designs of flexible joint connections, detailed explanations of the physical design of 3D printed brackets and support structures, and the design of a web-based tool for creating new SurfaceConstellation setups

    Supporting collaborative work using interactive tabletop

    Get PDF
    PhD ThesisCollaborative working is a key of success for organisations. People work together around tables at work, home, school, and coffee shops. With the explosion of the internet and computer systems, there are a variety of tools to support collaboration in groups, such as groupware, and tools that support online meetings. However, in the case of co-located meetings and face-to-face situations, facial expressions, body language, and the verbal communications have significant influence on the group decision making process. Often people have a natural preference for traditional pen-and-paper-based decision support solutions in such situations. Thus, it is a challenge to implement tools that rely advanced technological interfaces, such as interactive multi-touch tabletops, to support collaborative work. This thesis proposes a novel tabletop application to support group work and investigates the effectiveness and usability of the proposed system. The requirements for the developed system are based on a review of previous literature and also on requirements elicited from potential users. The innovative aspect of our system is that it allows the use of personal devices that allow some level of privacy for the participants in the group work. We expect that the personal devices may contribute to the effectiveness of the use of tabletops to support collaborative work. We chose for the purpose of evaluation experiment the collaborative development of mind maps by groups, which has been investigated earlier as a representative form of collaborative work. Two controlled laboratory experiments were designed to examine the usability features and associated emotional attitudes for the tabletop mind map application in comparison with the conventional pen-and-paper approach in the context of collaborative work. The evaluation clearly indicates that the combination of the tabletop and personal devices support and encourage multiple people working collaboratively. The comparison of the associated emotional attitudes indicates that the interactive tabletop facilitates the active involvement of participants in the group decision making significantly more than the use of the pen-and-paper conditions. The work reported here contributes significantly to our understanding of the usability and effectiveness of interactive tabletop applications in the context of supporting of collaborative work.The Royal Thai governmen

    Investigating the Impact of Co-located and Distributed Collaboration Using Multi-touch Tables

    Get PDF
    With the intention to study the role of new interfaces in multi-user applications, multi-touch tabletops are investigated to examine if they effectively aid their users in working together synchronously. Multi-player games are selected as a case of collaborative work. Early studies of distributed multi-touch tabletops did not cover the HCI related aspects associated with multi-player games, especially in distributed configuration. The performance, collaboration, and usability aspects of HCI are studied in this research. A simple multi-player maze game has been designed and implemented over two connected and physically separated multi-touch tabletops. The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of distribution on players performance, collaboration, and usability of multi-player games over multi-touch tabletops, compared to playing in a co-located condition. Groups of participants have been randomly selected and assigned to play the game in pairs under two conditions: co-located where two players are playing the game on the same table, and distributed where they are playing the game but on separate tables. The collected data is statistically analysed to test for differences between the two conditions, as well as the differences of the strength of the correlation between the underlying factors. The results indicate that, in general, the differences are not significant for such type of applications if a simple and efficient communication mechanism is provided for the players in the distributed condition. Players expressed almost the same level of usability engagement and enjoyment for the two conditions. This may have a strong impact on the HCI aspects when designing such type of applications on the future

    AGORAS: Exploring Creative Learning on Tangible User Interfaces

    Full text link
    Departing from creative learning foundations, this paper discusses on the suitability of interactive tables as a grounding technology to support creative learning for several reasons: support for social learning, because the subjects share a physical space as in traditional non-digital technologies; communication during the creative, experimental and reflexive process is direct and not computer-mediated; and subjects can carry out the task in parallel on the same surface. Considering reflection, discussion and creation processes in a loop, an experiment with teenagers has been conducted comparing a digital-based against a pure tangible tabletop in a task of creating entities consisting of blocks and joint elements. This preliminary study, designed to obtain initial insights about whether the grounding technology may become a promising tool to support creative learning, explores some aspects such as productivity, complexity of designs and concurrent comanipulation. The results showed that subjects were more productive in terms of the number of solutions obtained using the non computer-mediated approach. However using the digital tabletop approach subjects design, on average, more complex or elaborate solutions in terms of the number of involved bodies and joints. Finally, an important finding was that teams established more frequently concurrent cooperation schemes in the digital tabletop condition by sharing more effectively the creation space.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and Innovation under the National Strategic Program of Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation (I+D+i) and project TSI2010-20488. Our thanks to the Alaquas city council and the clubhouse’s managers. Thanks also to the team Polimedia of the office “Área de Información y Comunicaciones” (ASIC) for the support in computer hardware. A. Catalá is supported by a FPU fellowship from the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain with reference AP2006-00181.Catalá Bolós, A.; Jaén Martínez, FJ.; Martínez-Villaronga, A.; Mocholí Agües, JA. (2011). AGORAS: Exploring Creative Learning on Tangible User Interfaces. En Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), 2011 IEEE 35th Annual. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 326-335. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2011.50S32633

    APPLICATIONS OF MULTI-TOUCH TABLETOP DISPLAYS AND THEIR CHALLENGING ISSUES: AN OVERVIEW

    Full text link

    Designing for Shareable Interfaces in the Wild

    Get PDF
    Despite excitement about the potential of interactive tabletops to support collaborative work, there have been few empirical demonstrations of their effectiveness (Marshall et al., 2011). In particular, while lab-based studies have explored the effects of individual design features, there has been a dearth of studies evaluating the success of systems in the wild. For this technology to be of value, designers and systems builders require a better understanding of how to develop and evaluate tabletop applications to be deployed in real world settings. This dissertation reports on two systems designed through a process that incorporated ethnography-style observations, iterative design and in the wild evaluation. The first study focused on collaborative learning in a medical setting. To address the fact that visitors to a hospital emergency ward were leaving with an incomplete understanding of their diagnosis and treatment, a system was prototyped in a working Emergency Room (ER) with doctors and patients. The system was found to be helpful but adoption issues hampered its impact. The second study focused on a planning application for visitors to a tourist information centre. Issues and opportunities for a successful, contextually-fitted system were addressed and it was found to be effective in supporting group planning activities by novice users, in particular, facilitating users’ first experiences, providing effective signage and offering assistance to guide the user through the application. This dissertation contributes to understanding of multi-user systems through literature review of tabletop systems, collaborative tasks, design frameworks and evaluation of prototypes. Some support was found for the claim that tabletops are a useful technology for collaboration, and several issues were discussed. Contributions to understanding in this field are delivered through design guidelines, heuristics, frameworks, and recommendations, in addition to the two case studies to help guide future tabletop system creators
    corecore