Evaluation of Physical Finger Input Properties for Precise Target Selection

The multitouch tabletop display provides a collaborative workspace for multiple users around a table. Users can perform direct and natural multitouch interaction to select target elements using their bare fingers. However, physical size of fingertip varies from one person to another which generally introduces a fat finger problem. Consequently, it creates the imprecise selection of small size target elements during direct multitouch input. In this respect, an attempt is made to evaluate the physical finger input properties i.e. contact area and shape in the context of imprecise selection

Ponto UA: interface e interacção em sistema interactivo público

Mestrado em Comunicação MultimédiaOs Sistemas Interactivos localizados em espaços públicos são cada vez mais frequentes no nosso quotidiano. As suas características têm encaminhado estes sistemas para um lugar de destaque nas perspectivas de difusão de informação, quer em ambientes interiores quer exteriores. O projecto PontoUA pretende tirar partido desta forma de comunicação e adaptá-la para as necessidades de consumo de informação relativas ao meio académico em que o projecto se contextualiza. Ambiciona-se assim a construção e implementação de um sistema capaz de centralizar e disponibilizar informação útil para alunos, docentes, não docentes e inclusivamente visitantes externos à comunidade académica. O presente estudo contempla uma reflexão acerca dos conceitos inerentes ao desenho e construção de um sistema desta natureza, com particular enfoque nas questões relativas à sua interacção e estratégias de comunicação homem-máquina, uma vez que o estudo pretende assegurar que o sistema seja desenvolvido tendo em conta as necessidades de utilização do público-alvo, isto é, integrando as boas práticas relativas ao design de interacção na aplicação/interface construídos. Assumindo as necessidades do utilizador como ponto de partida, torna-se essencial efectuar uma avaliação crítica das funcionalidades e modelos de interacção da aplicação, tendo em consideração as expectativas e comportamentos dos utilizadores finais quanto à aplicação desenvolvida. Assim sendo, as soluções de design e paradigma de interacção propostas e implementadas neste protótipo PontoUA são avaliadas junto de um conjunto de participantes, de modo a compreender e identificar comportamentos e problemas de interacção no sistema desenvolvido. Esta informação proveniente dos testes de usabilidade é analisada e, apesar de se considerar o paradigma de interacção por toque como uma solução viável e prática, são identificados alguns problemas relativamente à interacção com a aplicação e sugeridas eventuais formas de correcção dos mesmos.Interactive systems placed in public spaces are increasing in number by the day. Their characteristics have allowed these systems to become a very popular way of communicating, whether in outdoor or indoor context. The PontoUA project intends to take advantage of this communication method and adapt it to the information consumption needs of the academic environment. Its goal is to design and build a system capable of centralizing useful and practical information relative to students, teachers, administrative staff and even visitors outside the academic community. This study contemplates a detailed analysis about the inherent concepts of the design and development process of a system of this nature, with particular focus on interaction and human-machine communication strategies. Considering that the study works to ensure the system is developed based on the users’ needs, it must make use of good design practices and interaction models, so the final application and interface meet the target audience’s expectations. Assuming the users’ needs as the starting point, it becomes imperative to perform a critical evaluation of the functionalities and interaction models provided by the application, taking into account the expectations and behavior shown by the final users towards the developed prototype. The adopted solutions, concerning both design models and the interaction paradigm, are then put to test next to a sample of users from the target audience, through a series of usability tests and observation methods, so that erratic user behavior and interaction problems concerning the final application can be identified and analyzed. The information gathered indicates a very positive acceptance from the users concerning the touch interaction paradigm, although some interaction areas of the application are found to bear some problems concerning users’ expectations towards them. At the end of the study, future development suggestions are made in order to correct the observed problems

Analysing, visualising and supporting collaborative learning using interactive tabletops

The key contribution of this thesis is a novel approach to design, implement and evaluate the conceptual and technological infrastructure that captures student’s activity at interactive tabletops and analyses these data through Interaction Data Analytics techniques to provide support to teachers by enhancing their awareness of student’s collaboration. To achieve the above, this thesis presents a series of carefully designed user studies to understand how to capture, analyse and distil indicators of collaborative learning. We perform this in three steps: the exploration of the feasibility of the approach, the construction of a novel solution and the execution of the conceptual proposal, both under controlled conditions and in the wild. A total of eight datasets were analysed for the studies that are described in this thesis. This work pioneered in a number of areas including the application of data mining techniques to study collaboration at the tabletop, a plug-in solution to add user-identification to a regular tabletop using a depth sensor and the first multi-tabletop classroom used to run authentic collaborative activities associated with the curricula. In summary, while the mechanisms, interfaces and studies presented in this thesis were mostly explored in the context of interactive tabletops, the findings are likely to be relevant to other forms of groupware and learning scenarios that can be implemented in real classrooms. Through the mechanisms, the studies conducted and our conceptual framework this thesis provides an important research foundation for the ways in which interactive tabletops, along with data mining and visualisation techniques, can be used to provide support to improve teacher’s understanding about student’s collaboration and learning in small groups

Approach for creating useful, gamified and social map applications utilising privacy-preserving crowdsourcing

The production and use of geographic information have become easier and more social. The interactivity of maps has fundamentally changed, not only because the touch-based interfaces are easier to use, but also because maps offer possibilities to interact with others. Map applications allow citizens to contribute but also share content to others. This contribution and sharing done by regular people is referred to as crowdsourcing. Map applications that utilise crowdsourcing face specific issues regarding the creation process, the usefulness and the crowdsourcing. These issues, however, have not been studied comprehensively and lack real world examples. This dissertation is the initial step to fill this gap by studying map applications that utilise crowdsourcing. These map applications are described using the design science research approach. Three issues relevant for the map application studied are: 1) the creation process, 2) utility requirements and usability heuristics, and 3) crowdsourcing approach. These issues are studied by using the design science research approach to produce theoretical and empirical knowledge of three map applications utilising crowdsourcing. The aim is to use this knowledge to form a design science research based approach suitable for creating map applications utilising crowdsourcing. The results regarding the creation process indicate that following a specific approach will help in creating crowdsourced map applications. This dissertation provides a customised design science research approach for creating crowdsourced map applications. Furthermore, prescriptive knowledge that provides real world examples crowdsourced map applications is provided. The results concerning the usefulness of map applications utilising crowdsourcing indicate that there are specific utility and usability requirements to be accounted for. This dissertation provides key utility requirements and usability heuristics for crowdsourced map applications. In general, a map interface for exploring and sharing content is needed. The map interface should be simple, citizens should be supported and interaction should be intuitive. The results concerning the crowdsourcing approach of map applications indicate that there is a need for specifying how citizens are involved in the process. This dissertation provides key requirements of the crowdsourcing approach of these types of map applications. The community driven crowdsourcing approach should be supported by official content and an engagement approach based on gamified and social elements to motivate content sharing. Privacy of citizens should be preserved by applying the privacy by design approach throughout the creation process. Privacy-preserving map applications utilising community-driven crowdsourcing, in which citizens can be engaged with gamification and social elements to explore and share content can be created by following the designs science research based approach presented in this dissertation.Geospatiaalisen eli paikkaan liittyvän tiedon tuotanto ja käyttö on helpottunut ja muuttunut yhä yhteisöllisemmäksi. Myös karttojen vuorovaikutteisuus on perustavanlaatuisesti muuttunut. Karttapohjaiset käyttöliittymät ovat yhä helppokäyttöisempiä ja niiden avulla kansalaiset voivat tuottaa tietoa, mutta myös jakaa sitä toisilleen. Tätä tavallisten kansalaisten tekemää tiedon tuottamista ja jakamista kutsutaan joukkoistamiseksi. Karttasovelluksiin, jotka hyödyntävät joukkoistettua tiedonkeruuta liittyy kuitenkin erityisiä haasteita niiden luomisen, hyödyllisyyden sekä joukkoistamisen osalta. Näitä haasteita ei ole vielä samanaikaisesti tutkittu kattavasti eikä näistä karttasovelluksista ole tarjolla tarpeeksi käytännön esimerkkejä ja tietoa. Tämä väitöskirja on ensimmäinen askel näiden haasteiden ratkaisemiseen, sillä tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan joukkoistamista hyödyntäviä karttasovelluksia. Väitöskirjassa perehdytään kolmeen karttasovelluksiin liittyvään haasteeseen, jotka ovat: 1) luomisprosessin lähestymistapa, 2) toiminnalliset vaatimukset ja käytettävyyden ohjeet ja 3) joukkoistamiseen käytetty lähestymistapa. Näitä haasteita tutkitaan tuottamalla tietoa kolmesta joukkoistamista hyödyntävästä karttasovelluksesta käyttäen kehitystutkimukseen perustuvaa tutkimusmenetelmää. Tätä tietoa käyttäen tavoitteena on muokata kehitystutkimukseen perustuvaa lähestymistapaa, jotta se soveltuisi joukkoistamista hyödyntävien karttasovellusten luomiseen. Luontiprosessin osalta tulokset osoittavat, että tieteellisen lähestymistavan seuraaminen helpottaa joukkoistettujen karttasovelluksien luomisessa. Väitöskirja ehdottaa muokattua kehitystytkimukseen perustuvaa lähestymistapaa joukkoistettujen karttasovellusten luomiseen. Lisäksi väitöskirja tarjoaa kuvailevia sekä ohjailevia tietoja joukkoistetuista karttasovelluksista käytännön esimerkein. Hyödyllisyyden osalta tulokset osoittavat, että joukkoistetuilla karttasovelluksilla on erityisiä toiminnallisia ja käytettävyyden vaatimuksia. Väitöskirja kokoaa keskeisiä toiminnallisia vaatimuksia sekä käytettävyyden ohjeita. Vaatimuksiin kuuluu helppokäyttöinen kansalaista tukeva karttakäyttöliittymä sisältöjen tutkimiseen sekä jakamiseen. Joukkoistamisen osalta tulokset osoittavat, että on tarve määritellä kuinka kansalaisen osallistuvat prosessiin. Tämä väitöskirja ehdottaa keskeisiä vaatimuksia lähestymistavalle joukkoistamiseen. Yhteisölähtöiseen joukkoistamiseen perustuvaa lähestymistapaa tulisi tukea karttasovelluksen sisällöillä, esimerkiksi kiinnostavalla taustakartalla. Lisäksi pelillisyyteen ja yhteisöllisyyteen perustuvalla sitouttamisella kansalaisia voidaan kannustaa sisältöjen jakamiseen. Kansalaisten yksityisyys tulisi turvata seuraamalla sisäänrakennetun tietosuojan lähestymistapaa läpi koko karttasovelluksen luomisprosessin ajan. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitettyä kehitystutkimukseen perustuvaa lähestymistapaa seuraamalla voidaan luoda yksityisyyden suojaavia ja yhteisölähtöistä joukkoistamista hyödyntäviä karttasovelluksia, joissa kansalaiset sitoutetaan pelillisyyden ja yhteisöllisyyden keinoin tutkimaan ja jakamaan sisältöjä

PontoUA: personalização de informação em sistema interactivo público

Mestrado em Comunicação MultimédiaO projecto PontoUA ambiciona oferecer à comunidade universitária a obtenção de informação tendo em conta as suas necessidades, de acordo com o perfil de utilização previsto para cada utilizador, através da inclusão de vários Pontos Interactivos em áreas-chave da Universidade de Aveiro. Nesse sentido, foram estudadas soluções que contemplam a utilização de Sistemas Interactivos em Espaços Públicos (SIEP), especialmente no contexto universitário, no sentido de se compreender melhor o objecto em estudo. Foram, também, investigadas soluções que permitam uma melhor adequação da informação a apresentar nos SIEP às necessidades identificadas, pelo que foram consideradas dimensões inerentes a Sistemas de Personalização de Informação, bem como a Sistemas de Identificação e Reconhecimento dos utilizadores. Desta forma, o desafio da configuração de um sistema que permita a apresentação de informação personalizada num SIEP em contexto universitário levou a que o presente estudo almeje a concepção, desenvolvimento e avaliação de uma solução de Reconhecimento Pessoal integrada num protótipo de um Sistema Interactivo Público Universitário (SIPU) – o PontoDeCA - para apresentação de informação personalizada e que vá ao encontro das preferências do utilizador, no sentido de se analisar a experiência de utilização decorrente do uso do mesmo.In the present work it was conceived a project denominated PontoUA that desires to offer to the university community the challenge of obtaining information based on users’ needs, by the use of Interactive Information Systems located in strategic places of the University of Aveiro. In order to achieve a working solution it was necessary to study other solutions that attempt the utilization of Interactive Systems at Public Spaces (ISPS), to gather a better knowledge in what is concerned to this type of systems. In this work, it was also object of study a set of solutions that allowed a better information adaptation to present at ISPS due to user's needs, which led to the study of Personal Recognition Systems and Customized Information Systems. The challenge of setting up a system which involves customized information on an Interactive Public System in academic context has taken the presented work to the development and assessment of a prototype named PontoDeCA in what is concerned to the interaction with the system and the foreseen user experience. This study was conducted in order to be considered as a starting point in the field of the inclusion of mechanisms that allows users to obtain customized information at Interactive Systems at Public Spaces

Evaluation of Physical Finger Input Properties for Precise Target Selection

The multitouch tabletop display provides a collaborative workspace for multiple users around a table. Users can perform direct and natural multitouch interaction to select target elements using their bare fingers. However, physical size of fingertip varies from one person to another which generally introduces a fat finger problem. Consequently, it creates the imprecise selection of small size target elements during direct multitouch input. In this respect, an attempt is made to evaluate the physical finger input properties i.e. contact area and shape in the context of imprecise selection

Multi-touch and mobile technologies for galleries, libraries, archives and museums

Technological developments open new opportunities to meet the increasing expectations of visitors to galleries, libraries, archives or museums. Although these technologies provide many new possibilities, individual challenges and limitations are rife. Galleries, libraries, archives and museums should aim to unify many such technologies in order to capture visitor attention, engage interaction and facilitate both personal and social experiences. By incorporating objects, devices and people into a network of interconnected systems, new patterns, interaction types and social relations are expected to emerge. This thesis explores the unification of these technologies, identifies behavioural patterns emerging from visitor interactions and examines how combining these technologies can contribute to engaging visitor interactions and the effects they have on both individuals and groups. The thesis states that combining mobile devices and interactive displays will offer new engaging interactions for museum visitors. This will allow them to spread their interactions throughout the museum and easily switch between private and social experiences. Museums should therefore adopt combinations of mobile devices and interactive displays to meet the increasing expectations of their visitors and offer both private and social experiences