AMMP-EXTN: A User Privacy and Collaboration Control Framework for a Multi-User Collaboratory Virtual Reality System

In this thesis, we propose a new design of privacy and session control for improving a collaborative molecular modeling CVR system AMMP-VIS [1]. The design mainly addresses the issue of competing user interests and privacy protection coordination. Based on our investigation of AMMP-VIS, we propose a four-level access control structure for collaborative sessions and dynamic action priority specification for manipulations on shared molecular models. Our design allows a single user to participate in multiple simultaneous sessions. Moreover, a messaging system with text chatting and system broadcasting functionality is included. A 2D user interface [2] for easy command invocation is developed in Python. Two other key aspects of system implementation, the collaboration Central deployment and the 2D GUI for control are also discussed. Finally, we describe our system evaluation plan which is based on an improved cognitive walkthrough and heuristic evaluation as well as statistical usage data

THE VARIETIES OF USER EXPERIENCE BRIDGING EMBODIED METHODOLOGIES FROM SOMATICS AND PERFORMANCE TO HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

Embodied Interaction continues to gain significance within the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Its growing recognition and value is evidenced in part by a remarkable increase in systems design and publication focusing on various aspects of Embodiment. The enduring need to interact through experience has spawned a variety of interdisciplinary bridging strategies in the hope of gaining deeper understanding of human experience. Along with phenomenology, cognitive science, psychology and the arts, recent interdisciplinary contributions to HCI include the knowledge-rich domains of Somatics and Performance that carry long-standing traditions of embodied practice. The common ground between HCI and the fields of Somatics and Performance is based on the need to understand and model human experience. Yet, Somatics and Performance differ from normative HCI in their epistemological frameworks of embodiment. This is particularly evident in their histories of knowledge construction and representation. The contributions of Somatics and Performance to the history of embodiment are not yet fully understood within HCI. Differing epistemologies and their resulting approaches to experience identify an under-theorized area of research and an opportunity to develop a richer knowledge and practice base. This is examined by comparing theories and practices of embodied experience between HCI and Somatics (Performance) and analyzing influences, values and assumptions underlying epistemological frameworks. The analysis results in a set of design strategies based in embodied practices within Somatics and Performance. The subsequent application of these strategies is examined through a series of interactive art installations that employ embodied interaction as a central expression of technology. Case Studies provide evidence in the form of rigorously documented design processes that illustrate these strategies. This research exemplifies 'Research through Art' applied in the context of experience design for tangible, wearable and social interaction