Towards an engineering approach for advanced interaction techniques in 3D environments

National audienceIn recent years, Virtual Environments have appeared in new areas such as mass-market, web or mobile situations. In parallel, advanced forms ofinteractions are emerging such as tactile, mixed, tangible or spatial user interfaces, promoting ease of learning and use. To contribute to the democratization of 3D Virtual Environments(3DVE) and their use by persons who are not experts in 3D and occasional users, simultaneously considering Computer Graphics and Human Computer Interaction design considerations is required. In this position paper, we first provide an overview of a new analytical framework for the design of advanced interaction techniques for 3D Virtual Environment. It consists in identifying links that support the interaction and connect user’s tasks to be performed in a 3DVE with the targeted scene graph. We relate our work to existing modeling approaches and discuss about our expectations with regards to the engineering of advanced interaction techniqu

Multi-touch interaction with stereoscopically rendered 3D objects

Anfänglich hauptsächlich im 2D Kontext betrachtet, gewinnen Multi-Touch Interfaces immer mehr an Bedeutung im Bereich dreidimensionaler Umgebungen und, in den letzten Jahren, auch im Zusammenhang mit stereoskopischen Visualisierungen. Dennoch führt die Touch-basierte Interaktion mit stereoskopisch dargestellten Objekten zu Problemen, da die Objekte in der nahen Umgebung der Displayoberfläche schweben, während die Berührungspunkte nur bei direktem Kontakt mit dem Display robust detektiert werden können. In dieser Arbeit werden die Probleme bei Touch-Interaktion in stereoskopischen Umgebungen näher untersucht und Interaktionskonzepte in diesem Kontext entwickelt. Insbesondere wird die Anwendbarkeit unterschiedlicher Wahrnehmungsillusionen für 3D Touch-Interaktion mit stereoskopisch dargestellten Objekten in einer Reihe psychologischer Experimente untersucht. Basierend auf die Experimentdaten werden einige praktische Interaktionstechniken entwickelt und auf ihre Anwendbarkeit überprüft.While touch technology has proven its usability for 2D interaction and has already become a standard input modality for many devices, the challenges to exploit its applicability with stereoscopically rendered content have barely been studied. In this thesis we exploit different hardware and perception based techniques to allow users to touch stereoscopically displayed objects when the input is constrained to a 2D surface. Therefore we analyze the relation between the 3D positions of stereoscopically displayed objects and the on-surface touch points, where users touch the interactive surface, and we have conducted a series of experiments to investigate the user’s ability to discriminate small induced shifts while performing a touch gesture. The results were then used to design practical interaction techniques, which are suitable for numerous application scenarios. <br

Couplage de techniques d'interaction avancées avec des environnements virtuels 3D interactifs

The work of this thesis fit on the boundary between two complementary research areas: the field of 3D Virtual Environment (3DVE) from Computer Graphics (CG) and Virtual Reality (RV) and the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). They rely on three assessments. Firstly, we observe that 3DVE takes more importance in our daily life (video games, serious games, e-commerce, museums, through the web and on mobile devices). Secondly, HCI becomes more complex with the emergence of advance forms of interaction like ambient computing, tangible interaction or spatial and gestural interactions. This evolution goes along with a diversification of devices (3D mouse, the Wiimote, the Kinect or the Leap Motion). Thirdly, the design of interaction techniques with 3DVE brings up some different considerations taken into account by the communities in the field of 3DVE and HCI. Therefore, take advantage of the latest considerations of EV3D communities (metaphors, quality of 3D interaction) and HCI (advance forms of interaction) results in the need to develop the coupling between advance forms of interaction techniques and EV3D. In this context, the objective of this thesis work is to contribute to the development of interactive 3D environments in multiple situations, including large audience situations. The approach we developed aimed to create a bridge between 3D and HCI design considerations. We intend to improve the coupling of advance interaction techniques with interactive 3D virtual environment. After analyzing methods for the design of interaction techniques for 3DVE, a first contribution consists in a design framework of 3D interaction. This framework aggregates design issues stem from 3D and HCI and help the designer to identify several elements involve in the coupling of interaction with a 3DVE. This design framework is based on the analysis of the links between user tasks and elements of the 3DVE impacted by these tasks. In order to precisely characterize each link, we have introduced the 3DIM (3D Interaction Modality) notation that describes the characteristics of the different elements constituting a "3D Interaction Modality" for the accomplishment of a user's interaction task in a 3DVE. We have grouped these elements into six blocks: the user, the physical actions, the physical objects, the input devices, the 3D behaviors and the 3D interactive objects. We complete our framework with analytical properties for guiding the designer and provide descriptive, evaluative and generative power at our conceptual model of advanced interaction techniques for 3DVE. Collaborating with the Museum of "Le Pic du Midi" observatory in France, we used our framework to design and implement tangible interaction and technique based on smartphone usage. Museum visitors can use these techniques in a 3DVE of the "Telescope Bernard Lyot" to explore and understand its functioning. We have conducted three users' studies in order to explore the design space of using a smartphone to interact with 3DVE. We used the smartphone in different ways to navigate, select and manipulate a 3D object displayed on a large remote screen. We explored several design solutions with a smartphone as a touch device, as a tangible object or mid-air interaction around the device.Les travaux de cette thèse s'inscrivent à la frontière entre deux domaines de recherche complémentaires : le domaine des Environnements Virtuels 3D (EV3D) issus de l'Informatique Graphique (IG) et de la Réalité Virtuelle (RV) et le domaine de l'Interaction Homme-Machine (IHM). Ils s'appuient sur trois constats. D'une part, on observe une place grandissante des EV3D dans notre quotidien (jeux vidéo, jeux sérieux, e-commerce, dans les musées, à travers le web et sur les dispositifs mobiles). D'autre part, les IHM se complexifient notamment avec l'apparition de formes avancées d'interaction comme l'informatique ambiante, l'interaction tangible, ou encore l'interaction spatiale et gestuelle, et s'accompagne d'une diversification des dispositifs d'interaction (souris 3D, la Wiimote, la Kinect, le Leap Motion). Enfin, la conception de techniques d'interaction avancées avec des EV3D fait apparaitre des considérations différentes prises en compte par les communautés des domaines EV3D et IHM. Par conséquent, tirer profit des considérations les plus récentes des communautés EV3D (métaphores, qualité de l'interaction 3D) et IHM (formes avancées de technique d'interaction) se traduit par un besoin de développer le couplage entre formes avancées de technique d'interaction et EV3D. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de ces travaux de thèse est de contribuer à l'essor des environnements 3D interactifs dans de multiples situations, et notamment des situations grand public, en adoptant une approche visant à faire converger les approches 3D et IHM pour mieux établir le couplage de Techniques d'Interaction Avancées avec des Environnements Virtuels 3D Interactifs. Après une analyse des méthodes de conception de techniques d'interaction pour les EV3D, une première contribution de nos travaux consiste en un cadre de conception de l'interaction 3D. En y agrégeant les problématiques issues de la 3D et de l'IHM, ce cadre de conception permet d'identifier les différents éléments de couplages impliqués lors d'une interaction avec un EV3D. Il se base sur l'analyse des liens entre les tâches utilisateurs et les éléments de l'EV3D impactés par ces tâches. Afin de caractériser finement chaque lien, nous avons introduit la notation 3DIM (3D Interaction Modality) qui décrit les caractéristiques des différents éléments constituant une " modalité d'interaction 3D " permettant la réalisation d'une tâche d'interaction de l'utilisateur dans un EV3D. Nous avons regroupé ces éléments en 6 blocs : l'utilisateur, les actions physiques, les objets physiques manipulés, les dispositifs utilisés, les comportements 3D et les éléments 3D. Nous complétons ce cadre conceptuel par des propriétés analytiques qui permettent de guider le concepteur et procurent ainsi un caractère descriptif, évaluatif et génératif à notre modèle conceptuel de techniques d'interaction avancées pour des EV3D. Dans la cadre d'une collaboration avec le musée de l'observatoire du Pic du Midi, une mise en œuvre de ce cadre nous a conduit à concevoir et développer des techniques d'interaction tangibles et basées smartphone. Ces techniques sont utilisées par les visiteurs du musée dans un EV3D représentatif du Télescope Bernard Lyot pour l'explorer et comprendre son fonctionnement. Nous avons mené trois évaluations utilisateur afin d'explorer l'usage d'un smartphone utilisé de trois manière différentes : comme dispositif tactile, comme un objet tangible ou comme support pour une interaction gestuelle autour du dispositif pour naviguer, sélectionner ou manipuler un objet 3D dans un EV3D affiché sur un grand écran distant

Breaking down barriers: Developing an approach to include fathers in children’s social care.

The thesis describes a piece of research undertaken by a group of social work practitioners who experimented with different techniques and practices in their work-place in an attempt to include fathers. The research took place over a thirty-six month period in a Local Authority Children’s Service in London. The research was supported by senior managers within Children Social Care and by the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The research asks why and how fathers have been excluded from children and family social work. The research goes on to asks what strategies, methods, conditions and techniques promote inclusive practice for fathers whilst examining the role of ‘the self’ as a researcher, practitioner and participant. The research strategy was based on the participation of practitioners in a co-operative inquiry supported by ‘a before and after’ case file audit designed to test whether the co-operative inquiry, which operated within a ‘front-line’ child protection service, brought about practice change. The aims of the research were; to design and implement a co-operative inquiry, instigate a range of inclusive targets to support the implementation of a father inclusive strategy across the whole system. The research concluded that children and family social work is one of the few institutions to confront the perversities and abuses of traditional gender and power relations and this confrontation has led to ‘paternal alienation’. The work of the co-operative inquiry led to an increase in fathers identified and assessed. An increase in fathers attending meetings and reviews and an increase in fathers recorded as having parental responsibility and an increase in contact arrangements for fathers. There was also a sizeable increase in social workers’ considering the father’s situation in ongoing planning for the child. We learnt that we can include fathers if there is ‘a whole system and a participative approach’ which identifies how covert power and gender relations influence behaviour in practice. To achieve greater father inclusion social workers’ anxieties need to be contained through safety planning systems and quality reflective supervision. For fathers to be included senior managers must support the activity in the long term, (ten to fifteen years), collect data and set targets whilst strategically committing and realigning resources to meaningfully address domestic abuse. The research identified that organisational change is possible if the conditions to foster emergence are in place, if the culture that operates in the organisation supports emergent creativity whilst espousing staff cohesion simultaneously championing social worker empowerment. This research adds to knowledge in the areas of; father inclusion, risk assessment in child protection, domestic abuse, management, gender and power relations, leadership, group work, participation and collaboration in achieving organisational change

Breaking Down Barriers: Developing an Approach to Include Fathers in Children's Social Care

The thesis describes a piece of research undertaken by a group of social work practitioners who experimented with different techniques and practices in their work-place in an attempt to include fathers. The research took place over a thirty-six month period in a Local Authority Children’s Service in London. The research was supported by senior managers within Children Social Care and by the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The research asks why and how fathers have been excluded from children and family social work. The research goes on to asks what strategies, methods, conditions and techniques promote inclusive practice for fathers whilst examining the role of ‘the self’ as a researcher, practitioner and participant. The research strategy was based on the participation of practitioners in a co-operative inquiry supported by ‘a before and after’ case file audit designed to test whether the co-operative inquiry, which operated within a ‘front-line’ child protection service, brought about practice change. The aims of the research were; to design and implement a co-operative inquiry, instigate a range of inclusive targets to support the implementation of a father inclusive strategy across the whole system. The research concluded that children and family social work is one of the few institutions to confront the perversities and abuses of traditional gender and power relations and this confrontation has led to ‘paternal alienation’. The work of the co-operative inquiry led to an increase in fathers identified and assessed. An increase in fathers attending meetings and reviews and an increase in fathers recorded as having parental responsibility and an increase in contact arrangements for fathers. There was also a sizeable increase in social workers’ considering the father’s situation in ongoing planning for the child. We learnt that we can include fathers if there is ‘a whole system and a participative approach’ which identifies how covert power and gender relations influence behaviour in practice. To achieve greater father inclusion social workers’ anxieties need to be contained through safety planning systems and quality reflective supervision. For fathers to be included senior managers must support the activity in the long term, (ten to fifteen years), collect data and set targets whilst strategically committing and realigning resources to meaningfully address domestic abuse. The research identified that organisational change is possible if the conditions to foster emergence are in place, if the culture that operates in the organisation supports emergent creativity whilst espousing staff cohesion simultaneously championing social worker empowerment. This research adds to knowledge in the areas of; father inclusion, risk assessment in child protection, domestic abuse, management, gender and power relations, leadership, group work, participation and collaboration in achieving organisational change