Defining CARE Properties Through Temporal Input Models

In this paper we show how it is possible to represent the CARE properties (complementarity, assignment, redundancy, equivalence) modelling the temporal relationships among inputs provided through different modalities. For this purpose we extended GestIT, which provides a declarative and compositional model for gestures, in order to support other modalities. The generic models for the CARE properties can be used for the input model design, but also for an analysis of the relationships between the different modalities included into an existing input model

A Model-Based Approach for Gesture Interfaces

The description of a gesture requires temporal analysis of values generated by input sensors, and it does not fit well the observer pattern traditionally used by frameworks to handle the user’s input. The current solution is to embed particular gesture-based interactions into frameworks by notifying when a gesture is detected completely. This approach suffers from a lack of flexibility, unless the programmer performs explicit temporal analysis of raw sensors data. This thesis proposes a compositional, declarative meta-model for gestures definition based on Petri Nets. Basic traits are used as building blocks for defining gestures; each one notifies the change of a feature value. A complex gesture is defined by the composition of other sub-gestures using a set of operators. The user interface behaviour can be associated to the recognition of the whole gesture or to any other sub-component, addressing the problem of granularity for the notification of events. The meta-model can be instantiated for different gesture recognition supports and its definition has been validated through a proof of concept library. Sample applications have been developed for supporting multi-touch gestures in iOS and full body gestures with Microsoft Kinect. In addition to the solution for the event granularity problem, this thesis discusses how to separate the definition of the gesture from the user interface behaviour using the proposed compositional approach. The gesture description meta-model has been integrated into MARIA, a model-based user interface description language, extending it with the description of full-body gesture interfaces

A experiência mediada por interfaces gestuais touchless em contexto turístico

Doutoramento em Informação e Comunicação em Plataformas DigitaisA evolução das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação impeliu novos modelos e estímulos para o sector do turismo. Estas mudanças, combinadas com uma nova postura do turista, repercutindo as dinâmicas da Web 2.0 e manifestando os contornos de uma cultura de participação, abriram espaço para o surgimento de novos serviços turísticos, de possível acesso ubíquo e personalizado ao longo de todo o ciclo da experiência turística. Simultaneamente, o surgimento de novos paradigmas de Interação Humano- Computador, de que são exemplo as interfaces gestuais touchless, acarretam oportunidades e desafios, quer ao nível da usabilidade e User Experience (UX), quer de um ponto de vista específico, quando concebida a sua potencial integração na experiência turística, como mais um veículo de consumo, partilha e manipulação de informação turística. A presente investigação, temporalmente, acompanhou o lançamento e sucesso do sensor Kinect, que aproximou e diversificou a aplicação e desenvolvimento de interfaces touchless em diferentes contextos. No âmbito turístico, foi identificado que a possível aplicação deste paradigma ainda não tinha sido explorado de forma detalhada. Verificava-se também a necessidade de contribuir para a definição de standards e estratégias para a exploração da UX em relação às interfaces gestuais touchless. Decorrendo da conjuntura apresentada, o presente estudo pretendeu focar a possível aplicação, potencialidades e experiência de utilização de soluções interativas com suporte de interação gestual touchless em contexto turístico. O estudo empírico desenhado e implementado envolveu dois momentos principais: a execução de entrevistas a experts e a realização de uma avaliação em contexto controlado de um protótipo de uma solução interativa touchless, destinada ao contexto turístico. A avaliação referida, na qual participaram 51 indivíduos, implicou o desenvolvimento de instrumentos e de um protocolo de teste adequado aos objetivos e características diferenciadoras do estudo. Como resultados gerais, o primeiro momento permitiu identificar um conjunto de vantagens e desvantagens, potencialidades e especificidades das interfaces gestuais touchless, quando concebida a sua aplicação ao turismo. O segundo momento, contando com o envolvimento dos participantes, destacou as questões relacionadas com a usabilidade e UX das interfaces touchless, permitindo estabelecer um conjunto de guias, metodologia e estratégias, que podem ser aplicadas no desenvolvimento e avaliação de outras soluções que suportem o paradigma referido. Recolheram-se ainda opiniões ao nível do potencial uso das mesmas em contexto turístico, identificadas no contributo dos utilizadores/participantes da avaliação em contexto controlado.The evolution of communication and information technologies drove new approaches in the tourism industry. This stimulus, combined with the new tourist behaviour, aware of Web 2.0 dynamics and participative in the social web culture, have provided new opportunities for new tourism services, with ubiquitous and personalized access during the entire cycle of the touristic experience. Also, the emergence of new human-computer interaction paradigms - such as touchless gestural interfaces - lead to challenges and opportunities in what concerns usability and user experience (UX). Furthermore, when integrated in the touristic experience, those interfaces may enhance information sharing and manipulation, adding a new dimension to how we experience tourism. This research aroused with the launch of the Kinect sensor, which allowed the application and development of touchless interfaces in different contexts. In tourism, the application of this paradigm has not yet been fully discussed. It was also relevant to contribute to the definition of standards and strategies for researching and evaluating the UX with touchless interfaces. Thus, this study intended to focus on the possible application, potentialities and UX resulting from using interactive solutions with touchless gestural interaction in tourism. The empirical study had two main stages: first, the performance of interviews with experts and second, the execution of an evaluation in a controlled setting, using a prototype of an interactive gestural touchless interface. This evaluation, which was attended by 51 participants, implied the development of suitable tools and evaluation protocol. As a result, the first stage enabled the identification of a set of advantages, disadvantages, possibilities and features of this type of interactive solutions. The second stage focused on the issues related to usability and user experience of touchless gestural interfaces, to establish a set of guidelines, methodologies and approaches. It also collected opinions from users about the application of touchless gestural interfaces in tourism

Developing Touchless Interfaces with GestIT

This article presents a solution for supporting adaptive user interfaces in work environments. Its architecture is built upon the concept of model-based UI design extended by context aware and adaptive features. Model-based languages provide the software development process with useful support for, building design prototypes and actual implementations for devices with various interaction resources. The proposed architecture is able to adapt to selected aspects of the context during run-time by communicating with a context server and applying the specified adaptation rules. In order to show the possibilities of the proposed solution, we report on its application in the development of an adaptive user interface prototype to be used in a warehouse picking system