Actuated Peripherals as Tangibles in Desktop Interaction

International audienceTUIs use everyday physical objects to interact with digital information. With decades of usage, computer peripherals became everyday physical objects. We observed that users manipulate them for other purpose than input and output devices. For example users turn their screen to avoid sun reflections , or move their keyboard ans mouse because they need space on their desk. In this work we see computer peripher-als as everyday objects, and use them as TUIs. This paper presents two levels of tangible interaction with desktop computers: the first one is a keyboard with actuated keys. The keys can raise from their initial position, which can be used to represent interaction or extend interaction with keyboards. On the second level we actuated a mouse, a keyboard and a screen so that they can move around on the desk. We present scenarios showing how it extends interaction with a desktop computer setup

Using debris disk observations to infer substellar companions orbiting within or outside a parent planetesimal belt

Aims. We analyze whether the effects of secular perturbations, originating from a substellar companion, on the dust dynamics in a debris disk can be investigated with spatially resolved observations. Methods. We numerically simulated the collisional evolution of narrow and eccentric cold planetesimal belts around a star of spectral type A3V that are secularly perturbed by a companion that orbits either closer to or farther from the star than the belt. Based on the resulting spatial dust distributions, we simulated spatially resolved maps of their surface brightness in the $K$, $N$, and $Q$ bands and at wavelengths of 70$\mu$m and 1300$\mu$m. Results. Assuming a nearby debris disk seen face-on, we find that the brightness distribution varies significantly with observing wavelength, for example between the $N$ and $Q$ band. This can be explained by the varying relative contribution of the emission of the smallest grains near the blowout limit. The orbits of both the small grains that form the halo and the large grains close to the parent belt precess due to the secular perturbations induced by a companion orbiting inward of the belt. The halo, being composed of older grains, trails the belt. The magnitude of the trailing decreases with increasing perturber mass and hence with increasing strength of the perturbation, a trend we recovered in synthetic maps of surface brightness by fitting ellipses to lines of constant brightness. Systems with an outer perturber do not show a uniform halo precession since the orbits of small grains are strongly altered. We identified features of the brightness distributions suitable for distinguishing between systems with a potentially detectable inner or outer perturber, especially with a combined observation with JWST/MIRI in the $Q$ band tracing small grain emission and with ALMA at mm wavelengths tracing the position of the parent planetesimal belt.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 25 pages, 21 figure

Autonomous behaviour in tangible user interfaces as a design factor

PhD ThesisThis thesis critically explores the design space of autonomous and actuated artefacts, considering how autonomous behaviours in interactive technologies might shape and influence users’ interactions and behaviours. Since the invention of gearing and clockwork, mechanical devices were built that both fascinate and intrigue people through their mechanical actuation. There seems to be something magical about moving devices, which draws our attention and piques our interest. Progress in the development of computational hardware is allowing increasingly complex commercial products to be available to broad consumer-markets. New technologies emerge very fast, ranging from personal devices with strong computational power to diverse user interfaces, like multi-touch surfaces or gestural input devices. Electronic systems are becoming smaller and smarter, as they comprise sensing, controlling and actuation. From this, new opportunities arise in integrating more sensors and technology in physical objects. These trends raise some specific questions around the impacts smarter systems might have on people and interaction: how do people perceive smart systems that are tangible and what implications does this perception have for user interface design? Which design opportunities are opened up through smart systems? There is a tendency in humans to attribute life-like qualities onto non-animate objects, which evokes social behaviour towards technology. Maybe it would be possible to build user interfaces that utilise such behaviours to motivate people towards frequent use, or even motivate them to build relationships in which the users care for their devices. Their aim is not to increase the efficiency of user interfaces, but to create interfaces that are more engaging to interact with and excite people to bond with these tangible objects. This thesis sets out to explore autonomous behaviours in physical interfaces. More specifically, I am interested in the factors that make a user interpret an interface as autonomous. Through a review of literature concerned with animated objects, autonomous technology and robots, I have mapped out a design space exploring the factors that are important in developing autonomous interfaces. Building on this and utilising workshops conducted with other researchers, I have vi developed a framework that identifies key elements for the design of Tangible Autonomous Interfaces (TAIs). To validate the dimensions of this framework and to further unpack the impacts on users of interacting with autonomous interfaces I have adopted a ‘research through design’ approach. I have iteratively designed and realised a series of autonomous, interactive prototypes, which demonstrate the potential of such interfaces to establish themselves as social entities. Through two deeper case studies, consisting of an actuated helium balloon and desktop lamp, I provide insights into how autonomy could be implemented into Tangible User Interfaces. My studies revealed that through their autonomous behaviour (guided by the framework) these devices established themselves, in interaction, as social entities. They furthermore turned out to be acceptable, especially if people were able to find a purpose for them in their lives. This thesis closes with a discussion of findings and provides specific implications for design of autonomous behaviour in interfaces

Working with an Autonomous Interface: Exploring the Output Space of an Interactive Desktop Lamp

Increasing sophistication and ubiquity of digital devices is creating potential for the development of new kinds of actuated interfaces. In this paper, we explore the design space around movement as a form of gestural communication for information output, in simple actuated desktop devices. We were curious as to how people might envision interacting with autonomous technology in the office. Accordingly, we focused our attentions on one prevalent desktop object, an interactive lamp, with three actuated joints, which allowed us to explore the interaction space of such devices. We invited 13 participants to design and enact movements with the lamp to communicate 20 simple messages. We explored a subset of these generated gestures, using the lamp as a personal cueing device in an office setting with 14 new participants. We present our qualitative findings from both studies that let users imagine the usage of an interactive desktop lamp through actuation

Husserl and Foucault on the Subject: The Companions

In this text, I argue for the revision of Husserlian phenomenology through a dialogue with the work of Michel Foucault. Specifically, I argue that Foucault\u27s critical project, in which we isolate the contingent limits of thought so as to pass beyond them, and thus think new ways of being, can be filled out by the work of Edmund Husserl and differentiated into two lines of inquiry: a critical ontology and a critical phenomenology. This is accomplished by bringing these two philosophers, commonly held to be diametrically opposed, into dialogue such that together they say something that neither could say on their own

Metaphors Matter: Top-Down Effects on Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human mental states and characteristics to non-human entities, has been widely demonstrated to be cued automatically by certain bottom-up appearance and behavioral features in machines. In this thesis, I argue that the potential for top-down effects to influence anthropomorphism has so far been underexplored. I motivate and then report the results of a new empirical study suggesting that top-down linguistic cues, including anthropomorphic metaphors, personal pronouns, and other grammatical constructions, increase anthropomorphism of a robot. As robots and other machines become more integrated into human society and our daily lives, more thorough understanding of the process of anthropomorphism becomes more critical: the cues that cause it, the human behaviors elicited, the underlying mechanisms in human cognition, and the implications of our influenced thought, talk, and treatment of robots for our social and ethical frameworks. In these regards, as I argue in this thesis and as the results of the new empirical study suggest, the top-down effects matter

Connected Spirits: Adolescent Females and Animal Agents

The novels The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers and The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies create a unique opportunity to investigate human and animal relationships given the similarity of their time frames and main characters. Both novels feature adolescent females struggling to resolve their identities against the backdrop of WWII. Frankie Addams in The Member of the Wedding and Esther Evans in The Welsh Girl share the additional characteristics of deceased mothers, distant fathers, and contacts with animals. Because these books are bildungsromans, they permit a comparative analysis as separate experiments in feminine growth with attention to animal influence. Frankie loses her sense of identity and Esther loses focus about her sense of self, yet from the results suggested by the novels, each of the girls finds strength and support from the creatures around and uses these connections as catalysts for completing developmental stages. Frankie and Esther’s growth toward autonomy leads to a solidification of their respective identities and successful preparation for adulthood

Bulletin /

v. 41 (1970

Architecture + Behavior: the built environment, natural landscapes and at-risk youth

There exists an interesting parallel between the power and the limits of architecture and its relationship to the human experience. This thesis proposes the question of how architecture can affect behavior in light of both the poetic and the practical in regards to the built environment. By understanding the user, incorporating the mission and goals of the client, and striving to connect aspects of the built environment to the two, architecture can act as a powerful influencer on behavior. These ideas, along with research (in camp history, play theory, young adolescent development and learning, experiential learning, environment-behavior relationships, the natural environment and place preference) are used for the planning and design of the summer camp for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. The thesis serves as a guide for future development at the camp on Sardis Lake in Mississippi

Uncovering agency in oppressive nineteenth-century domesticated workplaces

Through my examination of mid-nineteenth into early twentieth-century businesses related to fashion involving millinery and sewing, boardinghouses, and restaurants, including fine dining and casual establishments, I detail the ways in which homelike furnishings and positive rhetoric surrounding domesticated public spaces disguise exclusionary practices, reinforce gender roles, and contribute to the oppression of women. By women, I am not only including privileged white women of the upper and middle classes but also women minorities and working-class women. While oppressive, these same homelike public spaces provide openings for subversive agency as women act as consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs. Overall, my dissertation adds to rhetorical feminist studies in four ways: first, it highlights consumerism as a rhetorical strategy to enact change; second, it focuses on material rhetorics and the ways they operate; third, it adds to the ever-growing body of rhetorical work on American women; and, fourth, it makes visible these spatial and material rhetorics as important for analyzing women’s work locations today