Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

Physicality and Cooperative Design

CSCW researchers have increasingly come to realize that material work setting and its population of artefacts play a crucial part in coordination of distributed or co-located work. This paper uses the notion of physicality as a basis to understand cooperative work. Using examples from an ongoing fieldwork on cooperative design practices, it provides a conceptual understanding of physicality and shows that material settings and co-worker’s working practices play an important role in understanding physicality of cooperative design

Towards a framework for investigating tangible environments for learning

External representations have been shown to play a key role in mediating cognition. Tangible environments offer the opportunity for novel representational formats and combinations, potentially increasing representational power for supporting learning. However, we currently know little about the specific learning benefits of tangible environments, and have no established framework within which to analyse the ways that external representations work in tangible environments to support learning. Taking external representation as the central focus, this paper proposes a framework for investigating the effect of tangible technologies on interaction and cognition. Key artefact-action-representation relationships are identified, and classified to form a structure for investigating the differential cognitive effects of these features. An example scenario from our current research is presented to illustrate how the framework can be used as a method for investigating the effectiveness of differential designs for supporting science learning

The effect of representation location on interaction in a tangible learning environment

Drawing on the 'representation' TUI framework [21], this paper reports a study that investigated the concept of 'representation location' and its effect on interaction and learning. A reacTIVision-based tangible interface was designed and developed to support children learning about the behaviour of light. Children aged eleven years worked with the environment in groups of three. Findings suggest that different representation locations lend themselves to different levels of abstraction and engender different forms and levels of activity, particularly with respect to speed of dynamics and differences in group awareness. Furthermore, the studies illustrated interaction effects according to different physical correspondence metaphors used, particularly with respect to combining familiar physical objects with digital--based table-top representation. The implications of these findings for learning are discussed

Embodied cognition: A field guide

The nature of cognition is being re-considered. Instead of emphasizing formal operations on abstract symbols, the new approach foregrounds the fact that cognition is, rather, a situated activity, and suggests that thinking beings ought therefore be considered first and foremost as acting beings. The essay reviews recent work in Embodied Cognition, provides a concise guide to its principles, attitudes and goals, and identifies the physical grounding project as its central research focus

Using Tangible Interaction and Virtual Reality to Support Spatial Perspective Taking Ability

According to several large-scale and longitudinal studies, spatial ability, one of the primary mental abilities, has been shown as a significant predictor for STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and career success. Frameworks in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) and TEI (Tangible and Embodied Interaction) also indicated how the spatial-related aspects of interaction are a common design theme for interfaces using emerging technologies. However, currently only very few interactive systems (using TEI) are designed around a target spatial ability. TEI’s direct effects on spatial ability are also not well-investigated. Meanwhile, a growing body of research from cognitive sciences, such as embodied cognition and Common Coding Theory, shows that physical movements can enhance cognition in aspects that involve spatial thinking. Also, virtual reality (VR) affords better 3D perception for digital environments, and provides design opportunities to engage users with spatial tasks that may not be otherwise imagined or achieved in the real world. This research describes how we designed and built the system TASC (Tangibles for Augmenting Spatial Cognition), which combines body movement tracking and tangible objects with VR. We recap our design process and design rationales, along with how the finalized system was designed to enhance embodiment as a means to activate, support, engage, and hopefully augment spatial perspective taking ability. We conducted a user study with qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods. Respectively, the qualitative evaluation aimed to understand how the participants used the system; the quantitative evaluation was a multi-condition experiment with pre-tests and post-tests used to investigate if and how the system could improve spatial perspective taking ability. We built the digital pre/post-tests based on PTSOT (Perspective Taking/Spatial Orientation Test) (Hegarty, Kozhevnikov, & Waller, 2008). The study in total involved 52 participants: 6 participants (3M/3F) in the pilot study, 46 in the main study (3 conditions, around 15 per condition, each condition was overall gender-balanced). The qualitative analysis focused on the VR-TEI condition (the “main system”). Using thematic analysis with the video clips and written notes (both taken during the participants’ interaction), and audio clips (recorded during the post-interaction interview), we synthesized the qualitative results into 4 themes: (1) Spatial strategies: akin but unique; (2) The use of gestures & verbalization; (3) Positive experience with the system; (4) The potentials of the system. The quantitative statistical analysis, using ANOVA and t-test for the 3-condition experiment, showed that every condition yielded perspective taking improvement from taking the test twice. However, only the VR-TEI condition led to statistically significant improvement. We conclude the research with discussion and future possibilities in these themes of: (a) The role of embodiment; (2) Further explorations of intermediate conditions; (3) A deeper look at sample size and validity; (4) Designing & evaluating TEIs for other spatial abilities; (5) Integration with STEM curriculum. The main contribution of this dissertation is that it reports how a VR-TEI system can be designed, built, and evaluated for a target spatial ability. We hope this research also contributes to bridging some knowledge gaps between interaction design, cognitive science, and STEM learning

CHARACTERISATION OF A CO-CREATIVE DESIGN SESSION THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF MULTI-MODAL INTERACTIONS

The paper presents an investigation that aims at describing the behaviour of designers, designers' client and products' end user in collaborative design sessions, which are characterized by language barriers and significant differences in the background and competencies of the involved stakeholders. The study has been developed within a European project aimed at developing a Spatial Augmented Reality based platform that enriches and facilitates the communication in co-design. Through the analysis of a real case study in the field of packaging design involving a team of ten design actors, the paper analyses with an original joint approach both the gestures and the verbal interactions of the co-design session. After describing the two tailored coding schemes that capture different facets of, respectively, the gestures and the content of the communication occurring between the participants, the paper describes the partial results and the outcomes of the joint analysis, revealing the importance of combining the two forms of study to suitably characterize the behaviour of the design actors

Shape interpretation with design computing

How information is interpreted has significant impact on how it can be used. This is particularly important in design where information from a wide variety of sources is used in a wide variety of contexts and in a wide variety of ways. This paper is concerned with the information that is created, modified and analysed during design processes, specifically with the information that is represented in shapes. It investigates how design computing seeks to support these processes, and the difficulties that arise when it is necessary to consider alternative interpretations of shape. The aim is to establish the problem of shape interpretation as a general challenge for research in design computing, rather than a difficulty that is to be overcome within specific processes. Shape interpretations are common characteristics of several areas of enquiry in design computing. This paper reviews these, brings an integrated perspective and draws conclusions about how this underlying process can be supported

Dynamic Composite Data Physicalization Using Wheeled Micro-Robots

This paper introduces dynamic composite physicalizations, a new class of physical visualizations that use collections of self-propelled objects to represent data. Dynamic composite physicalizations can be used both to give physical form to well-known interactive visualization techniques, and to explore new visualizations and interaction paradigms. We first propose a design space characterizing composite physicalizations based on previous work in the fields of Information Visualization and Human Computer Interaction. We illustrate dynamic composite physicalizations in two scenarios demonstrating potential benefits for collaboration and decision making, as well as new opportunities for physical interaction. We then describe our implementation using wheeled micro-robots capable of locating themselves and sensing user input, before discussing limitations and opportunities for future work