Inventing and devising movement in the design of movement-based interactive systems

This paper reports on a study that explored ways of inventing and devising movement for use in the design of movement-based interaction with video-based, motion-sensing technologies. Methods that dancers, trained in movement improvisation and performance-making, used to choreograph movement were examined as sources of potential methods for technology designers. The findings enabled us to develop methods and tools for creating and structuring new movements, based on felt experience and the creative potential of the moving body. These methods and tools contribute to the ongoing development of a design methodology underpinned by the principle of making strange. By making strange, we mean ways of unsettling habitual perceptions and conceptions of the moving body to arrive at fresh appreciations and perspectives for design that are anchored in the sensing, feeling and moving body

Designing situations

This paper extends the analytic framework Suchman used in Plans and Situated Actions by using it as a tool in the design of interactive, immersive environments that rely on human movement as input. We describe the historical and methodological background to Suchman's framework and the impact of her analysis on the development of HCI and related fields. We provide two examples of its use to support prototype evaluation, design reflection and generative and iterative design. Suchman's recognition that computers act on the basis of resources within their situations, just as people act in accord with the resources of theirs, broadens our focus from the design of interfaces to the design of situations within which interaction between people and computers can occur. The tool, and the methodological and theoretical commitments embedded within it, contribute to the design of emerging technologies and to current discussions about approaches to design within shifting paradigms of HCI. © ACM 2009

Moving bodies, social selves: Movement-oriented personas and scenarios

This paper describes the development of movement-oriented personas and scenarios for representing multiple users of an interactive, immersive environment, designed as an artistic work for a public space. Personas and scenarios were integrated into a user interaction script and linked to a set of movement schemas using Labanotation for group choreography. Enactment of the script within a prototype environment enabled the designers to experience the aesthetic and kinaesthetic qualities of the work, as well as the social interactional aspects of the user experience. This ensured that the experience of those visiting the exhibition was always central to the design proces

Towards efficient modelling of optical micromanipulation of complex structures

Computational methods for electromagnetic and light scattering can be used for the calculation of optical forces and torques. Since typical particles that are optically trapped or manipulated are on the order of the wavelength in size, approximate methods such as geometric optics or Rayleigh scattering are inapplicable, and solution or either the Maxwell equations or the vector Helmholtz equation must be resorted to. Traditionally, such solutions were only feasible for the simplest geometries; modern computational power enable the rapid solution of more general--but still simple--geometries such as axisymmetric, homogeneous, and isotropic scatterers. However, optically-driven micromachines necessarily require more complex geometries, and their computational modelling thus remains in the realm of challenging computational problems. We review our progress towards efficient computational modelling of optical tweezers and micromanipulation, including the trapping and manipulation of complex structures such as optical micromachines. In particular, we consider the exploitation of symmetry in the modelling of such devices.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

An efficient quantum circuit analyser on qubits and qudits

This paper presents a highly efficient decomposition scheme and its associated Mathematica notebook for the analysis of complicated quantum circuits comprised of single/multiple qubit and qudit quantum gates. In particular, this scheme reduces the evaluation of multiple unitary gate operations with many conditionals to just two matrix additions, regardless of the number of conditionals or gate dimensions. This improves significantly the capability of a quantum circuit analyser implemented in a classical computer. This is also the first efficient quantum circuit analyser to include qudit quantum logic gates