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

GECKA3D: A 3D Game Engine for Commonsense Knowledge Acquisition

Commonsense knowledge representation and reasoning is key for tasks such as artificial intelligence and natural language understanding. Since commonsense consists of information that humans take for granted, gathering it is an extremely difficult task. In this paper, we introduce a novel 3D game engine for commonsense knowledge acquisition (GECKA3D) which aims to collect commonsense from game designers through the development of serious games. GECKA3D integrates the potential of serious games and games with a purpose. This provides a platform for the acquisition of re-usable and multi-purpose knowledge, and also enables the development of games that can provide entertainment value and teach players something meaningful about the actual world they live in

Issues and techniques for collaborative music making on multi-touch surfaces

A range of systems exist for collaborative music making on multi-touch surfaces. Some of them have been highly successful, but currently there is no systematic way of designing them, to maximise collaboration for a particular user group. We are particularly interested in systems that will engage novices and experts. We designed a simple application in an initial attempt to clearly analyse some of the issues. Our application allows groups of users to express themselves in collaborative music making using pre-composed materials. User studies were video recorded and analysed using two techniques derived from Grounded Theory and Content Analysis. A questionnaire was also conducted and evaluated. Findings suggest that the application affords engaging interaction. Enhancements for collaborative music making on multi-touch surfaces are discussed. Finally, future work on the prototype is proposed to maximise engagement

Classification design : understanding the decisions between theory and consequence

Classification systems are systems of terms and term relationships intended to sort and gather like concepts and documents. These systems are ubiquitous as the substrate of our interactions with library collections, retail websites, and bureaucracies. Through their design and impact, classification systems share with other technologies an unavoidable though often ignored relationship to politics, power, and authority (Fleischmann & Wallace, 2007). Despite concern among scholars that classification systems embody values and bias, there is little work examining how these qualities are built into a classification system. Specifically, we do not adequately understand classification construction, in which classification designers make decisions by applying classification theory to the specific context of a project (Park, 2008). If systems embody values— particularly values that might either cause harm (Berman, 1971) or provide an additional means of communicating the creator’s position (Feinberg, 2007)— we must understand how and when the system takes on these qualities. This dissertation bridges critical classification theory with design-oriented classification theory. Where critical classification theory is concerned with the outcomes of classification system design, design-oriented classification theory is concerned with the correct processes by which to build a classification system. To connect the consequences of classification system design to designers’ methods and intentions, I use the research lens of infrastructure studies, particularly infrastructural inversion (Star & Ruhleder, 1996) or making visible the work behind infrastructures such as classification systems. Accordingly, my research focuses on designers’ decisions and rethinks our assumptions regarding the factors that classification designers consider in making their design decisions. I adopted an ethnographic approach to the study of classification design that would make visible design decisions and designers’ consideration of factors. Using this approach, I studied the daily design work of volunteer classification designers who maintain a curated folksonomy. Using the grounded theory method (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), I analyzed the designers’ decisions. My analysis identified the implications of the designers’ convergences and divergences from established classification methods for the character of the system and for the connection between classification theory and classification methods. I show how the factors—and the prioritization of factors—that these designers considered in making their decisions were consistent with the values and needs of the community. Therefore, I argue that classification designers have an important role in creating the values or bias of a classification system. In particular, designers’ divergence from universal guidelines and designers’ choices among sources of evidence represent opportunities to align a classification system to its community. I recommend that classification research focus on such instances of divergence and choice to understand the connection between classification design and the values of classification systems. The Introduction motivates the problem space around values in classification systems and outlines my approach in focusing on classification design. The Literature Review outlines the dominant theories in classification scholarship according to three elements of classification design: what decisions designers make, what information designers use in their decisions, and what skills designers apply to their decisions. In the Methods chapter, I introduce the site of my ethnographic research (The Fanwork Repository), detail my ethnographic methods, summarize the types of data I collected, and describe my grounded analysis. Three findings chapters examine one type of complex decision each: Names, Works, and Guidelines, respectively. In the fourth findings chapter, Synthesis, I define 10 factors designers considered across these complex design decisions. I then discuss how the factors figured into complex design decisions, how the factors overlapped and conflicted in design decisions, and how designers understood their role in making complex design decisions. In the Discussion chapter I connect the findings from the site of my ethnography to classification scholarship. In the Conclusion, I consider the contribution of examining classification systems as infrastructure, highlight the differences in accounts of classification design decisions made visible through classification theory and infrastructure studies approaches, and present suggestions for future research in classification design and the study of classification systems as infrastructure.Informatio

A three person poncho and a set of maracas:designing Ola De La Vida, a co-located social play computer game

Events that bring people together to play video games as a social experience are growing in popularity across the western world. Amongst these events are ‘play parties,’ temporary social play environments which create unique shared play experiences for attendees unlike anything they could experience elsewhere. This paper explores co-located play experience design and proposes that social play games can lead to the formation of temporary play communities. These communities may last for a single gameplay session, for a whole event, or beyond the event. The paper analyses games designed or enhanced by social play contexts and evaluates a social play game, Ola de la Vida. The research findings suggest that social play games can foster community through the design of game play within the game itself, through curation which enhances their social potential, and through design for ‘semi-spectatorship’, which blurs the boundaries between player and spectator thus widening the game’s magic circle

Spartan Daily September 13, 2011

Volume 137, Issue 8https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1062/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily September 13, 2011

Volume 137, Issue 8https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1062/thumbnail.jp

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities