Stantum's Multi-Modal, Multi-Touch Technology: Looks Great for 21st Century Learners, Supports Creative, Collaborative Knowledge-Sharing

Not long a go I had the opportunity to participate in a phone conference with Guillaume Largillier, of Stantum,  to learn more about the company's work in developing multi-touch technology, and how this technology can support a wide range of uses.  

What is exciting is that the tablet technology was designed from the beginning with content-creation in mind, unlike the iPad and similar Android-based tablets.  Although Stantum's tablet technology supports  passive "entertainment" and Internet content viewing, it offers so much more.  

I agree with Guillaume that this technology will be ideal for use in education. It is ideal for 21st Century teaching and learning.   In the very near future,  I'm sure we'll see fewer students lugging heavy  backpacks as this technology transforms textbooks to multi-modal, interactive experience platforms!

Stantum' IVSM multi-touch technology (IVSM = Interpolated Voltage Sensing Matrix) enables 10 finger touches with stylus input.  The goal is to enable content creation via tablets, for educational and office settings. This technology provides reliable palm rejection and contact discrimination,  a useful feature for students or anyone else who might have the need for a versatile tablet.  A multi-touch tablet is demoed in the video below:
 



Intel-Quanta Redvale Tablet featuring Stantum's Digital Resistive Technology
RELATED
Add Ambidexterity and Multi-modality to your Touch-enabled Devices
Guillaume Largillier, Electronic Design, 7/14/11
 "In South Korea, the government recently confirmed its plan to replace all printed textbooks nationwide by electronic counterparts by 2015, a move that will benefit from now available multi-touch technologies with precision and stylus input that enable handwriting recognition, making them especially suitable for products sold into Asian markets." 
About Guillaume Largillier:
"Guillaume Largillier’s background with the company includes seven years of entrepreneurship – co-founding JazzMutant and serving as CEO as it evolved into Stantum. Largillier has a broad knowledge of human-machine interface technologies, with strong expertise in multi-modal user interfaces. He has participated in major industry conferences (including SIGGRAPH, Microsoft Summit, SID Mobile Display Conference, Microsoft TechDays, and Interactive Displays Conference). Largillier earned an MA degree in audio-visual studies at the University of Bordeaux." -Stantum


Post: Multi-touch Update from Stantum
2010 Demo: MeeGo Tablet on Intel Moorestown 
Stantum's TouchPoints Newsletter (July 2011)
Stantum Whitepapers:
How to Evaluate Multi-Touch While Standing in a Store (pdf) - a great source of information.
Jim Meador, Pascal Auriel, Gauthier Chastan, Stantum
Specifying and Characterizing Tactile Performances for Multi-touch Panels: Toward a User-Centric Metrology (pdf) - outlines some important points!
Guillaume Largillier, Pascal Joguet, Cyril Recoquillon, Pascal Auriel, Axel Balley, Jim Meador, Julien Olivier, Gauthier Chastan
Stantum: info@stantum.com

OK Go's Interactive HTML5 Music/Dance/Message Video, Featuring Pilobolus - behind the scenes and more. Delight.

Not long after the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan, the creative team at Google Japan collaborated with the band OK Go and Pilobolus, a dance troupe,  to explore the capabilities of HTML5 and multimedia, while at the same time providing people from all over the world a means to send a message to others, including the people of Japan.  


I encourage you to visit the link to the interactive version of All Is Not Lost.   For your convenience, here is the traditional version:

Before the video begins, viewers can enter a message in a text box.  At the end of the video, the message will appear, with a few options for sharing the message. At a loss for words, I quickly typed "I love summer", and was delighted to see how the dancers gathered to form my message, as pictured in the screen shot.


Quite a bit of creative thinking went into the making of All Is Not Lost, as described in following article and video clips:
Behind the Work: Trish Sie on OK Go's "All Is Not Lost"
Shareen Pathak, Creativity, 7/27/11
"The trifecta also partnered with Google to create an HTML5-powered interactive experience, which leverages the Chrome browser to showcase the clip through 12 separate windows of dances that shift along with the music. Users can also type in messages in Roman letter or Japanese and watch the band create the letters with their bodies. The result? A visually arresting intersection of dance, technology and direction." -Shareen Pathak

A LOVE LETTER TO JAPAN....


THE MAKING OF ALL IS NOT LOST


RELATED
All Is Not Lost lyrics
OK Go's Human Kaleidoscope, All Is Not Lost, And How It Translates Into Sales
Teressa Iezzi, Fast Company, 7/28/11
O.K. to Go Dance Crazy
Tony Gervino, NY Times Magazine 7/31/11

News from the HCI lab at UNC-Charlotte - Creative Interactions (Videos)

In the video below, Nathan Nifong, discusses and demonstrates his independent study work through the HCI LAB (Human-Computer Interaction) at UNC-Charlotte. He focused his work on creating a motion-responsive musical instrument that integrated movement, sounds, and graphics.


"We're trying to research anything and everything that will help to make computers easier to use." -Nathan Nifong


Thanks to Celine LaTulipe, for the link!


RELATED
To get a better idea about the HCI lab, a small, yet sparkling gem on the UNC-Charlotte campus, take a look at the following video:




"I get to create things, and to me, you just can't beat that!"- Celine Latulipe


Dr. Latulipe is known for her work with the Dance.Draw project, Interactive Surveillance, and tools that support things like bimanual interaction, collaboration, and creativity.

"Animate" Graphic Presentation: Sir Ken Robinson's RSA talk, Changing Education Paradigms -great presentation AND content

The following video is an "Animate" of a talk by creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce).  How do we educate our children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century, given that we can't anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week?

 FYI: An Animate is a video in which a talented illustrator draws images related to the content of a speaker's presentation. (It is a great way to engage visual thinkers, in my opinion.)

The video explains it all.

RELATED
The following video is the longer original presentation by Sir Ken Robinson, responding to the question about how change can happen in education, and what we might do to make it last:

Thanks to Ewan McIntosh for the link!

About the RSA:

"For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. 

- We encourage public discourse and critical debate by providing platforms for leading experts to share new ideas on contemporary issues, through our public events programme, RSA Journal and RSA Comment.

- Our projects generate new models for tackling the social challenges of today.

- Our work is supported by a 27,000 strong Fellowship - achievers and influencers from every field with a real commitment to progressive social change."

IDEO's Human Centered Design Toolkit - A MUST READ and a great resource!

Update 12/3/12:  The IDEO HCD Toolkit is available for download, but you will need to sign up in order to download the free 105-page copy on the IDEO  HCD Connect website.


The 105-page document is a great resource from IDEO, a global design consultancy.  It is clearly written and contains a variety of pictures, charts, and diagrams that facilitate the understanding of concepts.  A 61-page field guide is also available for download, and provides support for facilitators of design projects to lead group meetings and individual interviews. It includes exercises that teams should complete before going out into the field.


"Why Human-Centered Design?"
"Because it can help your organization connect better with the people you serve.  It can transform data into actionable ideas.  It can help you to see new opportunities.  It can help to increase the speed and effectiveness of creating new solutions." -IDEO


The HCD Toolkit, 2nd Edition, was prepared for use by organizations that work with communities of need, primarily in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which is important for high school students to know about, particularly those who are pretty sure about pursuing further education in a technology-related field.  


I also think that exposure to concepts related to human-centered design focused on work in developing countries would be helpful to encourage more female students to enroll in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) courses.  (This still is a significant problem. Both of the high schools I work at have very few girls in the computer programming classes, even though both schools have at least one female who teaches programming!)


At any rate, I think this toolkit should be a MUST READ for anyone interested in emerging technologies and human-centered design, anywhere on the planet. It transcends the concept of "design as a job that must be done" to something that can facilitate broader innovation across organizations, our communities, and the world.


The toolkit is full of tidbits of wisdom:


"Tip 1" (addresses the measurement of outcomes, akin to the "miracle question" used in solution-focused therapy/counseling/consulting.)
"Ask yourself what you would expect to see happening if the solutions were improving the lives of people. For example, if your goal was to increase household income, would women starting more businesses be an early indicator? If your goal was to increase childhood vaccinations, would the number of casual conversations about vaccines be a possible indicator?" -page 99
"Tip 2"
"It is critical to track the effects of solutions on men and women, young and old, empowered and disempowered – even if your ideas are focused on other groups. Often the group that is not the intended audience for the solutions is a key player in the implementation and use of solutions." -page 99


The toolkit also provides useful cautions:
"Watch Out"
"Often teams look for only the positive and intended consequences. To get a full view of impact, it is critical to challenge yourself to look for the negative and unintended
consequences of solutions." -page 99


The toolkit provides specific strategies, including helpful worksheets and forms, and good advice about story sharing, prototyping, identification of patterns, and so forth. Below is an example:





-IDEO



-IDEO, via Fast Company
Note:  The Human-Centered Design Toolkit was developed with the International Development Enterprises (IDE), Heifer International, ICRW, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

RELATED (and somewhat related)
Design Thinking for Social Innovation (Stanford Social Innovation Review,Tim Brown & Jocelyn Wyatt, Winter 2010)
IDEO's Guide to Designing for Social Impact
About IDEO:
Founded in 1991, IDEO is a global innovation and design firm that uses a human-centered, design-based approach to help organizations in the business, governments, education, healthcare, and social sectors grow and innovate.
Open-Source Innovation:  IDEO's Human-Centered Design Toolkit (Fast Company, Allisa Walker, 7/7/09)
Video: CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown, on Creativity, Play, and Innovation
(Touches on how our schools and work environments can and do suck out our playfulness and creativity, and provides interesting, simple suggestions.)

More from Multitouch Barcelona!

Multitouch Barcelona is up to more great work!

Multitouch Space Invaders XL

Multitouch Space Invaders XL from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

Guten Touch, by Multitouch Barcelona

GUTEN TOUCH from Multitouch Barcelona on Vimeo.

"Designed for the Red Bull Music Academy 08, Guten Touch is an interactive installation that involves people into a natural relationship with technology. A two projected display system plus a 3m x 2m multitouch wall showcase applications designed to engage us into human friendly experiences rather than flashy and jaw-dropping visualizations. Space Invaders hit by foam balls, pixel paintings created with brushes and digital objects held by hands try to blur boundaries between real and digital."

Multi-touch Barcelona (new site)
"Multitouch Barcelona is a recently born interaction design group that explores natural communication between people and technology. They design touch sensitive environments where real world interactions move to a digital context. Interfaces where people touch, play, move, feel...Where senses play their natural role, where everything just 'happens" as it does in the real world. "




RELATED
Offf 2009: International Festival for the Post-Digital Creation Culture

Scratch: A new programming language for kids that supports stories, animations, games, music, art, and web-sharing, from MIT.

"Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design." (Scratch website)

Scratch can be downloaded, free of charge, from the website. It can run on Windows as well on Macs. There are over 12,000 contributors to this project, with over 60,000 registered members. The website provides plenty of support for teachers and students.

The Scratch project is run by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, along with the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

I'm looking forward to playing with Scratch on a touch-screen or interactive whiteboard.

Leave a comment if you use Scratch with kids- or for yourself.