Freeform User Interfaces for Graphical Computing

報告番号: 甲15222 ; 学位授与年月日: 2000-03-29 ; 学位の種別: 課程博士 ; 学位の種類: 博士(工学) ; 学位記番号: 博工第4717号 ; 研究科・専攻: 工学系研究科情報工学専

Information scraps: how and why information eludes our personal information management tools

In this paper we describe information scraps -- a class of personal information whose content is scribbled on Post-it notes, scrawled on corners of random sheets of paper, buried inside the bodies of e-mail messages sent to ourselves, or typed haphazardly into text files. Information scraps hold our great ideas, sketches, notes, reminders, driving directions, and even our poetry. We define information scraps to be the body of personal information that is held outside of its natural or We have much still to learn about these loose forms of information capture. Why are they so often held outside of our traditional PIM locations and instead on Post-its or in text files? Why must we sometimes go around our traditional PIM applications to hold on to our scraps, such as by e-mailing ourselves? What are information scraps' role in the larger space of personal information management, and what do they uniquely offer that we find so appealing? If these unorganized bits truly indicate the failure of our PIM tools, how might we begin to build better tools? We have pursued these questions by undertaking a study of 27 knowledge workers. In our findings we describe information scraps from several angles: their content, their location, and the factors that lead to their use, which we identify as ease of capture, flexibility of content and organization, and avilability at the time of need. We also consider the personal emotive responses around scrap management. We present a set of design considerations that we have derived from the analysis of our study results. We present our work on an application platform, jourknow, to test some of these design and usability findings

Interactive whiteboards in mathematics education: possibilities and dangers

Interactive whiteboards are a new technology for ‘traditional’ teaching in the whole class. Although they have been installed in educational settings, the emphasis of research has been on their use in office settings. Preliminary findings from a pilot study of a mathematics teacher's use of a ‘traditional’ blackboard suggest that interactive whiteboards should not only be seen as a presentational device for the teacher, but as an interactive and communicative device to enhance the communication with and among students. In this paper, interactive whiteboards are placed within the wider context of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). The potential of interactive whiteboard is explored from the perspective of Requirements Engineering, a branch of computer science that aims to determine what properties a system should have in order to succeed. Drawing on this field, four steps for the design of technology in educational settings are specified and illustrated

Human interaction with digital ink : legibility measurement and structural analysis

Literature suggests that it is possible to design and implement pen-based computer interfaces that resemble the use of pen and paper. These interfaces appear to allow users freedom in expressing ideas and seem to be familiar and easy to use. Different ideas have been put forward concerning this type of interface, however despite the commonality of aims and problems faced, there does not appear to be a common approach to their design and implementation. This thesis aims to progress the development of pen-based computer interfaces that resemble the use of pen and paper. To do this, a conceptual model is proposed for interfaces that enable interaction with "digital ink". This conceptual model is used to organize and analyse the broad range of literature related to pen-based interfaces, and to identify topics that are not sufficiently addressed by published research. Two issues highlighted by the model: digital ink legibility and digital ink structuring, are then investigated. In the first investigation, methods are devised to objectively and subjectively measure the legibility of handwritten script. These methods are then piloted in experiments that vary the horizontal rendering resolution of handwritten script displayed on a computer screen. Script legibility is shown to decrease with rendering resolution, after it drops below a threshold value. In the second investigation, the clustering of digital ink strokes into words is addressed. A method of rating the accuracy of clustering algorithms is proposed: the percentage of words spoiled. The clustering error rate is found to vary among different writers, for a clustering algorithm using the geometric features of both ink strokes, and the gaps between them. The work contributes a conceptual interface model, methods of measuring digital ink legibility, and techniques for investigating stroke clustering features, to the field of digital ink interaction research

Tools and Methods to Analyze Multimodal Data in Collaborative Design Ideation

Collaborative design ideation is typically characterized by informal acts of sketching, annotation, and discussion. Designers have always used the pencil-and-paper medium for this activity, partly because of the flexibility of the medium, and partly because the ambiguous and ill-defined nature of conceptual design cannot easily be supported by computers. However, recent computational tools for conceptual design have leveraged the availability of hand-held computing devices for creating and sharing ideas. In order to provide computer support for collaborative ideation in a way that augments traditional media rather than imitates it, it is necessary to study the affordances made available by digital media for this process, and to study designers\u27 cognitive and collaborative processes when using such media. In this thesis, we present tools and methods to help make sense of unstructured verbal and sketch data generated during collaborative design, with a view to better understand these collaborative and cognitive processes. This thesis has three main contributions

Experimental Object-Oriented Modelling

This thesis examines object-oriented modelling in experimental system development. Object-oriented modelling aims at representing concepts and phenomena of a problem domain in terms of classes and objects. Experimental system development seeks active experimentation in a system development project through, e.g., technical prototyping and active user involvement. We introduce and examine "experimental object-oriented modelling" as the intersection of these practices

The Component Packaging Problem: A Vehicle for the Development of Multidisciplinary Design and Analysis Methodologies

This report summarizes academic research which has resulted in an increased appreciation for multidisciplinary efforts among our students, colleagues and administrators. It has also generated a number of research ideas that emerged from the interaction between disciplines. Overall, 17 undergraduate students and 16 graduate students benefited directly from the NASA grant: an additional 11 graduate students were impacted and participated without financial support from NASA. The work resulted in 16 theses (with 7 to be completed in the near future), 67 papers or reports mostly published in 8 journals and/or presented at various conferences (a total of 83 papers, presentations and reports published based on NASA inspired or supported work). In addition, the faculty and students presented related work at many meetings, and continuing work has been proposed to NSF, the Army, Industry and other state and federal institutions to continue efforts in the direction of multidisciplinary and recently multi-objective design and analysis. The specific problem addressed is component packing which was solved as a multi-objective problem using iterative genetic algorithms and decomposition. Further testing and refinement of the methodology developed is presently under investigation. Teaming issues research and classes resulted in the publication of a web site, (http://design.eng.clemson.edu/psych4991) which provides pointers and techniques to interested parties. Specific advantages of using iterative genetic algorithms, hurdles faced and resolved, and institutional difficulties associated with multi-discipline teaming are described in some detail

Tangible interfaces for manipulating aggregates of digital information

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-269).This thesis develops new approaches for people to physically represent and interact with aggregates of digital information. These support the concept of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs), a genre of human-computer interaction that uses spatially reconfigurable physical objects as representations and controls for digital information. The thesis supports the manipulation of information aggregates through systems of physical tokens and constraints. In these interfaces, physical tokens act as containers and parameters for referencing digital information elements and aggregates. Physical constraints are then used to map structured compositions of tokens onto a variety of computational interpretations. This approach is supported through the design and implementation of several systems. The mediaBlocks system enables people to use physical blocks to "copy and paste" digital media between specialized devices and general-purpose computers, and to physically compose and edit this content (e.g., to build multimedia presentations). This system also contributes new tangible interface techniques for binding, aggregating, and disaggregating sequences of digital information into physical objects.(cont.) Tangible query interfaces allow people to physically express and manipulate database queries. This system demonstrates ways in which tangible interfaces can manipulate larger aggregates of information. One of these query approaches has been evaluated in a user study, which has compared favorably with a best-practice graphical interface alternative. These projects are used to support the claim that physically constrained tokens can provide an effective approach for interacting with aggregates of digital information.by Brygg Anders Ullmer.Ph.D