A Framework For Abstracting, Designing And Building Tangible Gesture Interactive Systems

This thesis discusses tangible gesture interaction, a novel paradigm for interacting with computer that blends concepts from the more popular fields of tangible interaction and gesture interaction. Taking advantage of the human innate abilities to manipulate physical objects and to communicate through gestures, tangible gesture interaction is particularly interesting for interacting in smart environments, bringing the interaction with computer beyond the screen, back to the real world. Since tangible gesture interaction is a relatively new field of research, this thesis presents a conceptual framework that aims at supporting future work in this field. The Tangible Gesture Interaction Framework provides support on three levels. First, it helps reflecting from a theoretical point of view on the different types of tangible gestures that can be designed, physically, through a taxonomy based on three components (move, hold and touch) and additional attributes, and semantically, through a taxonomy of the semantic constructs that can be used to associate meaning to tangible gestures. Second, it helps conceiving new tangible gesture interactive systems and designing new interactions based on gestures with objects, through dedicated guidelines for tangible gesture definition and common practices for different application domains. Third, it helps building new tangible gesture interactive systems supporting the choice between four different technological approaches (embedded and embodied, wearable, environmental or hybrid) and providing general guidance for the different approaches. As an application of this framework, this thesis presents also seven tangible gesture interactive systems for three different application domains, i.e., interacting with the In-Vehicle Infotainment System (IVIS) of the car, the emotional and interpersonal communication, and the interaction in a smart home. For the first application domain, four different systems that use gestures on the steering wheel as interaction means with the IVIS have been designed, developed and evaluated. For the second application domain, an anthropomorphic lamp able to recognize gestures that humans typically perform for interpersonal communication has been conceived and developed. A second system, based on smart t-shirts, recognizes when two people hug and reward the gesture with an exchange of digital information. Finally, a smart watch for recognizing gestures performed with objects held in the hand in the context of the smart home has been investigated. The analysis of existing systems found in literature and of the system developed during this thesis shows that the framework has a good descriptive and evaluative power. The applications developed during this thesis show that the proposed framework has also a good generative power.Questa tesi discute l’interazione gestuale tangibile, un nuovo paradigma per interagire con il computer che unisce i principi dei più comuni campi di studio dell’interazione tangibile e dell’interazione gestuale. Sfruttando le abilità innate dell’uomo di manipolare oggetti fisici e di comunicare con i gesti, l’interazione gestuale tangibile si rivela particolarmente interessante per interagire negli ambienti intelligenti, riportando l’attenzione sul nostro mondo reale, al di là dello schermo dei computer o degli smartphone. Poiché l’interazione gestuale tangibile è un campo di studio relativamente recente, questa tesi presenta un framework (quadro teorico) che ha lo scopo di assistere lavori futuri in questo campo. Il Framework per l’Interazione Gestuale Tangibile fornisce supporto su tre livelli. Per prima cosa, aiuta a riflettere da un punto di vista teorico sui diversi tipi di gesti tangibili che possono essere eseguiti fisicamente, grazie a una tassonomia basata su tre componenti (muovere, tenere, toccare) e attributi addizionali, e che possono essere concepiti semanticamente, grazie a una tassonomia di tutti i costrutti semantici che permettono di associare dei significati ai gesti tangibili. In secondo luogo, il framework proposto aiuta a concepire nuovi sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili e a ideare nuove interazioni basate su gesti con gli oggetti, attraverso linee guida per la definizione di gesti tangibili e una selezione delle migliore pratiche per i differenti campi di applicazione. Infine, il framework aiuta a implementare nuovi sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili, permettendo di scegliere tra quattro differenti approcci tecnologici (incarnato e integrato negli oggetti, indossabile, distribuito nell’ambiente, o ibrido) e fornendo una guida generale per la scelta tra questi differenti approcci. Come applicazione di questo framework, questa tesi presenta anche sette sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili, realizzati per tre differenti campi di applicazione: l’interazione con i sistemi di infotainment degli autoveicoli, la comunicazione interpersonale delle emozioni, e l’interazione nella casa intelligente. Per il primo campo di applicazione, sono stati progettati, sviluppati e testati quattro differenti sistemi che usano gesti tangibili effettuati sul volante come modalità di interazione con il sistema di infotainment. Per il secondo campo di applicazione, è stata concepita e sviluppata una lampada antropomorfica in grado di riconoscere i gesti tipici dell’interazione interpersonale. Per lo stesso campo di applicazione, un secondo sistema, basato su una maglietta intelligente, riconosce quando due persone si abbracciano e ricompensa questo gesto con uno scambio di informazioni digitali. Infine, per l’interazione nella casa intelligente, è stata investigata la realizzazione di uno smart watch per il riconoscimento di gesti eseguiti con oggetti tenuti nella mano. L’analisi dei sistemi interattivi esistenti basati su gesti tangibili permette di dimostrare che il framework ha un buon potere descrittivo e valutativo. Le applicazioni sviluppate durante la tesi mostrano che il framework proposto ha anche un valido potere generativo

Feeling the Temperature of the Room: Unobtrusive Thermal Display of Engagement during Group Communication

Thermal signals have been explored in HCI for emotion-elicitation and enhancing two-person communication, showing that temperature invokes social and emotional signals in individuals. Yet, extending these findings to group communication is missing. We investigated how thermal signals can be used to communicate group affective states in a hybrid meeting scenario to help people feel connected over a distance. We conducted a lab study (N=20 participants) and explored wrist-worn thermal feedback to communicate audience emotions. Our results show that thermal feedback is an effective method of conveying audience engagement without increasing workload and can help a presenter feel more in tune with the audience. We outline design implications for real-world wearable social thermal feedback systems for both virtual and in-person communication that support group affect communication and social connectedness. Thermal feedback has the potential to connect people across distances and facilitate more effective and dynamic communication in multiple contexts.Comment: In IMWUT 202

Flying Fish in the Great White North: The Culture of Black Barbadian Migration to 1967

Notwithstanding First Nations peoples, Canada is a nation of immigrants. As a settler colony, the French and English charter immigrant “solitudes” created a paradigm of “White Canada” nation-building defined by exclusionary and hypocritical immigration policies. Canada was a “White man’s country” built by non-Whites on the stolen lands of colonized Aboriginal peoples, where discriminatory anti-Black immigration policy, particularly during the early twentieth century up to the immigration policy reforms of the 1960s, was designed to restrict and prohibit the entry of Black Barbadians and Black West Indians. The Canadian state capitalized on the public’s fear of the “Black unknown” and the negative codification of Black identity and used illogical fallacies such as climate “unsuitability” to justify the exclusion of Black Barbadians and West Indians. This dissertation challenges the perception that Blacks were simply victims of a racist and discriminatory Canadian and international migration paradigm as it emphasizes the agency and educational capital of Black Barbadian emigrants during the mid-twentieth century. Utilizing extensive archival research at the Barbados National Archives (BNA), this dissertation argues that overpopulation, upward social mobility, and a highly educated population facilitated emigration off the Island between the late nineteenth century and 1967. This argument challenges Dawn I. Marshall, Alan B. Simmons and Jean Pierre Guengant’s theory of a Caribbean “culture-of-migration,” where West Indians migrated due to inherited and unconscious cultural attributes to fulfill the innate need and desire for exodus in the structured, racialized, and oppressive international migration system. By creating the concept of the “Autonomous Bajan” and the “Emigrant Ambassador,” this dissertation argues that Blacks and most notably Black women, with the assistance of their Barbadian Government through educational reforms in the early twentieth century and sponsored emigration schemes since the late nineteenth century, found autonomous agency and challenged Canadian immigration policies designed to exclude Black West Indians. This dissertation utilizes the intersectionality of race, gender, and class, and how it both restricted and facilitated the emigration of Black Barbadians and West Indians during this period

The Relationship between Federal Citizenship and Immigration Policies and the Internationalization of Higher Education in Canada

Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a way to do Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), this instrumental case study explores the relationships between citizenship and immigration (CI) policies and the internationalization of Canadian higher education. By utilizing a critical-sociomaterial approach, the research exposes actors and actor-networks that are otherwise overlooked in these policy areas. Moreover, this lens underscores the impacts and consequences of policy and how the enrollment and/or exclusion of actors in actor-networks enables certain actors to exert control, power, and primacy over others. While most research on internationalization identifies the academy as the site for internationalization policy enactment, this research notes that the policy topology is spread across various levels of governance and transcends the university into both provincial and federal spaces. The findings suggest that Canada’s CI policies, along with its regulations make it difficult for university administrators to internationalize their institutions, with respect to recruiting, supporting, and retaining international students. International students, who want to immigrate to Canada post-graduation, highlighted that they found federal CI legislation confusing. They experienced both emotional and financial stress because of systemic barriers within the government-sponsored pathways to Canadian permanent residency. They see Canada as a less attractive place to study, expressed that they feel unwelcome, warned that restrictive CI legislation will hinder Canada’s ability to attract prospective international students, and also retain Canadian-trained talent. The analysis reveals three complex, interconnected, and at times, competing assemblages of human and non-human actors enrolled in Canada’s CI and internationalization policies. Through their connections, these actor-networks help the government emerge as a powerful actor in Canadian public policy. By redefining its relationship with provinces and universities, the federal government enrolls the academy in technocratic ways to regulate the flow of international students. This research also highlights the powerful role that special interest groups (SIGs) play in these policy assemblages and their role in connecting CI and internationalization policies. Moreover, the study underscores interdepartmental policy misalignments within the federal government with respect to CI, internationalization, and labour policies. These controversies highlight competing narratives of what is important for the Canadian economy and the value of international students. While most research on internationalization identifies the academy as the site for internationalization policy enactment, this research notes that the policy topology is spread across various levels of governance and transcends the university into both provincial and federal spaces. The findings suggest that Canada’s CI policies, along with its regulations make it difficult for university administrators to internationalize their institutions, with respect to recruiting, supporting, and retaining international students. International students, who want to immigrate to Canada post-graduation, highlighted that they found federal CI legislation confusing. They experienced both emotional and financial stress because of systemic barriers within the government-sponsored pathways to Canadian permanent residency. They see Canada as a less attractive place to study, expressed that they feel unwelcome, warned that restrictive CI legislation will hinder Canada’s ability to attract prospective international students, and also retain Canadian-trained talent. The analysis reveals three complex, interconnected, and at times, competing assemblages of human and non-human actors enrolled in Canada’s CI and internationalization policies. Through their connections, these actor-networks help the government emerge as a powerful actor in Canadian public policy. By redefining its relationship with provinces and universities, the federal government enrolls the academy in technocratic ways to regulate the flow of international students. This research also highlights the powerful role that special interest groups (SIGs) play in these policy assemblages and their role in connecting CI and internationalization policies. Moreover, the study underscores interdepartmental policy misalignments within the federal government with respect to CI, internationalization, and labour policies. These controversies highlight competing narratives of what is important for the Canadian economy and the value of international students

An Abstraction Framework for Tangible Interactive Surfaces

This cumulative dissertation discusses - by the example of four subsequent publications - the various layers of a tangible interaction framework, which has been developed in conjunction with an electronic musical instrument with a tabletop tangible user interface. Based on the experiences that have been collected during the design and implementation of that particular musical application, this research mainly concentrates on the definition of a general-purpose abstraction model for the encapsulation of physical interface components that are commonly employed in the context of an interactive surface environment. Along with a detailed description of the underlying abstraction model, this dissertation also describes an actual implementation in the form of a detailed protocol syntax, which constitutes the common element of a distributed architecture for the construction of surface-based tangible user interfaces. The initial implementation of the presented abstraction model within an actual application toolkit is comprised of the TUIO protocol and the related computer-vision based object and multi-touch tracking software reacTIVision, along with its principal application within the Reactable synthesizer. The dissertation concludes with an evaluation and extension of the initial TUIO model, by presenting TUIO2 - a next generation abstraction model designed for a more comprehensive range of tangible interaction platforms and related application scenarios

Landscapes of Affective Interaction: Young Children's Enactive Engagement with Body Metaphors

Empirical research into embodied meaning making suggests specific sensorimotor experiences can support children’s understanding of abstract science ideas. This view is aligned with enactive and grounded cognition perspectives, both centred in the view that our ability to conceptualise emerges from our experiences of interaction with our environment. While much of this research has focused on understanding action and action processes in individual children or children in pairs, less attention has been paid to affective dimensions of young children’s group interaction, and how this relates to meaning making with body metaphors. Indeed, Gallagher describes how no action exists in a vacuum, but rather revolves around a complex web of affective-pragmatic features comprising a ‘Landscape of Interaction’ (2020, p.42). This research project addresses gaps in research in understanding young children’s affective engagement from an enactivist cognition perspective. It takes a Design-Based Research approach with an iterative design orientation to examine young children’s interaction with multisensory body-based metaphors through an embodied participation framework. A series of empirical studies with young children, aged 2-7 years, comprising of experiential workshops, build iteratively upon each other. A novel theoretically informed method, Affective Imagination in Motion, is developed involving several purpose-built multisensory body metaphors prompts to enable access to dimensions of young children’s affective engagement. This research makes theoretical and methodological contributions. It extends the theoretical notion of ‘affect’ from enactive and grounded cognition perspectives through identifying key interactive processes in young children’s engagement with multisensory action metaphors. In addition, the novel method offers a contribution as a way of ‘looking’ at affect within a group situation from affective-pragmatic and social embodiment perspectives. Finally, the research contributes to embodied learning design frameworks offering a guideline for designers wishing to inform their work from enactive cognition perspective

The Influence of the Toronto-based One of a Kind Craft Show on the Professionalization of Canadian Craft 1974-1999

In this case study, I argue that during its first twenty-five years the Toronto-based One of a Kind craft show influenced the professionalization of Canadian craft through its formation and iteration of professional expectations within the commercial market for craftspeople who either participated or hoped to participate in the show, along with the show’s audiences of private, commercial, corporate and public craft consumers. Using a sociological approach to art history, as well as the lenses of anthropology of business and cultural sociology, and drawing on interviews with the show’s founders and participating craftspeople, archival analysis and contemporary writing, I analyse One of a Kind’s show policies, advertising campaigns, and press packets, as well as the show’s relationships to competing craft shows in Canada. Commercial aspects of craft production have been mostly avoided in art history, consequently the important role that craft shows, such as One of a Kind, have had on Canadian craft has been largely left unexplored, a lacuna addressed by this thesis. Craft shows embody some of the complexity of the continuously changing faces of contemporary craft, a complexity not only about what is being made, but who is making it and how it is received

Seeing With Two Eyes: Colonial Policy, the Huron Tract Treaty and Changes in the Land in Lambton County, 1780-1867

ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the histories of Walpole Island (Bkejwanong), Sarnia (Aamjiwnaang), and Kettle and Stoney Point (Wiiwkwedong and Aazhoodena) between 1790 and 1867 in what became Lambton County, Ontario. Anishinabe peoples faced tremendous challenges during this crucial period in their histories stemming from the loss of the Ohio Valley, non-native settlement, and intense pressure to surrender the land and settle permanently on reserves. With few exceptions, literature on the subject of Upper Canadian history and Indian policy largely accepts the decline of Anishinabe communities as an inevitable consequence of demilitarization after the War of 1812. The fact that Anishinabe peoples continue to live in these same communities as they have for hundreds of years, complicates such analyses. Through the lens of ‘two-eyed seeing’ I interrogate this contradiction and explore the many ways that the Anishinabeg sought to combine Indigenous knowledge and worldviews with the tools to survive in Eurocanadian economies between 1790 and 1867. While this story is not one of swift decline, I argue that Indigenous leaders sought a future for themselves that differed fundamentally from the one that unfolded in the years before Confederation. This study¬ uses petitions, Indian Affairs and municipal documents to explore the confluence of local processes that undermined Anishinabe attempts to co-exist with Eurocanadians. While it is true that Great Britain no longer needed its ‘Indian allies’ after the War of 1812, this does not sufficiently explain why fellow Loyalists and settlers did not accept Anishinabe peoples as partners in a province that both communities helped establish. While policy is an important part of this process, it is only a part of this story. My focus is on the relationships established between two peoples, and the construction, devolution, and disintegration of these relationships. Plans made by Anishinabe Chiefs to create a self-sufficient and independent future in Upper Canada were gradually undone by a combination of politics, policy, land and economics. These coalesced over the first half of the nineteenth century to radically transform their vision to one that by Confederation, increasingly sought to confine and define ‘Indians’ as legal wards