FaceMashup: An end-user development tool for social network data

Every day, each active social network user produces and shares texts, images and videos. While developers can access such data through application programming interfaces (APIs) for creating games, visualizations and routines, end users have less control on such information. Their access is mediated by the social application features, which limits them in combining sources, filtering results and performing actions on groups of elements. In order to fill this gap, we introduce FaceMashup, an end user development (EUD) environment supporting the manipulation of the Facebook graph. We describe the tool interface, documenting the choices we made during the design iterations. Data types are represented through widgets containing user interface (UI) elements similar to those used in the social network application. Widgets can be connected with each other with the drag and drop of their inner fields, and the application updates their content. Finally, we report the results of a user-test on the FaceMashup prototype, which shows a good acceptance of the environment by end-users

A Model-Based Approach for Gesture Interfaces

The description of a gesture requires temporal analysis of values generated by input sensors, and it does not fit well the observer pattern traditionally used by frameworks to handle the user’s input. The current solution is to embed particular gesture-based interactions into frameworks by notifying when a gesture is detected completely. This approach suffers from a lack of flexibility, unless the programmer performs explicit temporal analysis of raw sensors data. This thesis proposes a compositional, declarative meta-model for gestures definition based on Petri Nets. Basic traits are used as building blocks for defining gestures; each one notifies the change of a feature value. A complex gesture is defined by the composition of other sub-gestures using a set of operators. The user interface behaviour can be associated to the recognition of the whole gesture or to any other sub-component, addressing the problem of granularity for the notification of events. The meta-model can be instantiated for different gesture recognition supports and its definition has been validated through a proof of concept library. Sample applications have been developed for supporting multi-touch gestures in iOS and full body gestures with Microsoft Kinect. In addition to the solution for the event granularity problem, this thesis discusses how to separate the definition of the gesture from the user interface behaviour using the proposed compositional approach. The gesture description meta-model has been integrated into MARIA, a model-based user interface description language, extending it with the description of full-body gesture interfaces

Design of a 3D mouse using accelerometers

In later years, the number of devices equipped with accelerometers has highly increased, due to their employment in mobile devices for screen orientation and in games for gesture recognition. This thesis debates their advantages and limitations for the creation of a three-dimensional mouse prototype, using a game controller equipped with these sensors. After describing their functioning and highlighting which kind of applications they already support, the work focuses on the design and the implementation of a library for managing a three-dimensional pointer abstraction. In order to address the position drift problem, due to the fact that an accelerometer cannot distinguish between the gravity and input acceleration, two motion-tracking algorithms are proposed: the first one is based only on a three-axial accelerometer and is able to recognize either linear motion on three axes or rotation about two axes. The second one, combining the input of an accelerometer and a gyroscope, can recognize linear motion and rotation on three axes at the same time. The abstraction is tested in a three dimensional environment where the user can move and rotate the pointer, register and analyse movement data. In conclusion are discussed the possible application of the results in windows systems and for future works

How to exploit abstract user interfaces in MARIA

In model-based approaches, Abstract User Interfaces enable the specification of interactive applications in a modality-independent manner, which is then often used for authoring multi-device interactive applications. In this paper we discuss two solutions for exploiting abstract UIs. We consider the MARIA language for such comparison. The overall aim is to improve the efficiency of the model-based process, thus making it easier to adopt and apply

A design pattern for multimodal and multidevice user interfaces

In this paper, we introduce the MVIC pattern for creating multidevice and multimodal interfaces. We discuss the advantages provided by introducing a new component to the MVC pattern for those interfaces which must adapt to different devices and modalities. The proposed solution is based on an input model defining equivalent and complementary sequence of inputs for the same interaction. In addition, we discuss Djestit, a javascript library which allows creating multidevice and multimodal input models for web applications, applying the aforementioned pattern. The library supports the integration of multiple devices (Kinect 2, Leap Motion, touchscreens) and different modalities (gestural, vocal and touch). Copyright is held by the owner/author(s)

How to exploit abstract user interfaces in MARIA

In model-based approaches, Abstract User Interfaces enable the specification of interactive applications in a modality-independent manner, which is then often used for authoring multi-device interactive applications. In this paper we discuss two solutions for exploiting abstract UIs. We consider the MARIA language for such comparison. The overall aim is to improve the efficiency of the model-based process, thus making it easier to adopt and apply

A set of languages for context-aware adaptation

The creation of service front ends able to adapt to the context of use involves a wide spectrum of aspects to be considered by developers and designers. A context-aware adaptation enabled application needs a simultaneous management of very different application functionalities, such as the context sensing, identifying different given situations, determining the appropriate reactions and the execution of the adaptation effects. In this paper we describe an adaptation architecture for tackling this complexity and we present a set of languages that address the definition of the various aspects of an adaptive application

The management of risks and benefits when engineering interactive digital systems

Traditionally, most UX designers, computer scientists and software engineers have not had to consider risks to the public from using their systems. However, the current evolution of digital systems in terms of the increasing number of users, their growing complexity and the pervasiveness of Artificial Intelligence techniques allow common HCI designers and engineers to build systems that create risks for the individual, groups of people, or event to the entire society. In this workshop, we aim at collecting the views and the current practice in the management of the risks and benefits in the engineering of interactive digital systems. Such a view will draw the way for new research, methods, and tools to incorporate the risk analysis into the current engineering and design practices. The workshop is proposed on behalf of the IFIP Working Groups 2.7/13.4 on User Interface Engineering.(undefined

Smart mirror where I stand, who is the leanest in the sand?

Abstract. In this paper we introduce the Virtuoso project, which aims at creating a seamless interactive support for fitness and wellness activities in touristic resorts. The overall idea is to evaluate the current physical state of the user through a technology-enhanced mirror. We describe the state of the art technologies for building a smart mirror prototype. In addition, we compare different parameters for evaluating the user's physical state, considering the user's impact, the contact requirements and their cost. Finally we depict the planned setup and evaluation setting for the Virtuoso project