Designing Hybrid Interactions through an Understanding of the Affordances of Physical and Digital Technologies

Two recent technological advances have extended the diversity of domains and social contexts of Human-Computer Interaction: the embedding of computing capabilities into physical hand-held objects, and the emergence of large interactive surfaces, such as tabletops and wall boards. Both interactive surfaces and small computational devices usually allow for direct and space-multiplex input, i.e., for the spatial coincidence of physical action and digital output, in multiple points simultaneously. Such a powerful combination opens novel opportunities for the design of what are considered as hybrid interactions in this work. This thesis explores the affordances of physical interaction as resources for interface design of such hybrid interactions. The hybrid systems that are elaborated in this work are envisioned to support specific social and physical contexts, such as collaborative cooking in a domestic kitchen, or collaborative creativity in a design process. In particular, different aspects of physicality characteristic of those specific domains are explored, with the aim of promoting skill transfer across domains. irst, different approaches to the design of space-multiplex, function-specific interfaces are considered and investigated. Such design approaches build on related work on Graspable User Interfaces and extend the design space to direct touch interfaces such as touch-sensitive surfaces, in different sizes and orientations (i.e., tablets, interactive tabletops, and walls). These approaches are instantiated in the design of several experience prototypes: These are evaluated in different settings to assess the contextual implications of integrating aspects of physicality in the design of the interface. Such implications are observed both at the pragmatic level of interaction (i.e., patterns of users' behaviors on first contact with the interface), as well as on user' subjective response. The results indicate that the context of interaction affects the perception of the affordances of the system, and that some qualities of physicality such as the 3D space of manipulation and relative haptic feedback can affect the feeling of engagement and control. Building on these findings, two controlled studies are conducted to observe more systematically the implications of integrating some of the qualities of physical interaction into the design of hybrid ones. The results indicate that, despite the fact that several aspects of physical interaction are mimicked in the interface, the interaction with digital media is quite different and seems to reveal existing mental models and expectations resulting from previous experience with the WIMP paradigm on the desktop PC

Computing Technologies in the Kitchen: The Living Cookbook as a Design for Mindful Cooking Experiences

This article considers how multimedia and embedded computing technologies can support the domestic learning of cooking, thus considering the family as a community of practice and the cooking process as a sharable activity. Such a vision is exemplified with the Living Cookbook computer appliance: This relies on the video capture and retrieval of family members’ cooking sessions, so as to enable the creation and sharing of personalized, multimedia cooking instructions. Résumé Cet article examine la manière dont les outils informatiques multimédias peuvent venir à l’appui de l’apprentissage de la cuisine à la maison, en considérant la famille comme une communauté de pratiques, et le processus de la cuisine comme une activité que l’on peut partager. Nous présenterons l’exemple d’une telle conception par l’intermédiaire de « l’ustensile de cuisine » Living Cookbook [livre de cuisine vivant]. Celui-ci sert à accéder à des vidéos de sessions de cuisine familiale, afin de permettre la création et le partage d’instructions de cuisine personnalisées et multimédias

Graphical Interface To Create And Suggest A Travel Day Plan To A User

A graphical user interface provides a suggested travel day plan and allows a user to create or modify a suggested day plan. The user may select and pin sites of interest that are then generated in an itinerary for the day. The plan can be updated and refreshed by the user to add or delete pinned sites in the generated day plan until a satisfactory plan is provided

DESIGN FOR INTERACTION IN INSTRUMENTED ENVIRONMENTS

Embedding technologies into everyday life generates new contexts of mixed-reality. My research focuses on interaction techniques supporting people who inhabit such augmented environments to continually make sense of the contexts within which they live, and to interact with virtual information embedded in the real world. To this end I work on the design of a novel interaction metaphor, creating a mapping between the affordances of physical real objects and the representation of digital information. 1. The Problem statement Instrumented environments in ubiquitous computing [19] define spaces where technology is embedded so as to display and sense information in objects of everyday life. In this sense we have the chance to interact in a continuous display of information by moving in the real space and handling physical objects that are correlated to virtual information. Information migrates into the walls, where different appliances are invisibly interconnected. The lack of visibility and feedback bears the risk of a loss of control and awareness of interaction, and raises the need for new conceptual models

Shaping Intelligent Environments: the Sign of Design

The paper provides a vision of future intelligent environments from a design perspective. Existing ideas about ubiquitous computing and related research methods are considered. I discuss the expressive potential of design in shaping meaningful relationships between users and environments, and the challenges to effectively involve designers in the HCI research community. Categories and Subject Descriptors H 5.2 [User Interfaces]: theory and methods, user centered design