I'm happy to announce that I am working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Technology Specialist. NUITEQ has made a commitment to developing educational solutions to meet the needs of students and teachers in today's technology-rich classrooms. Take a look at a recent post I wrote for the NUITEQ blog: The 21st Century Classroom and Multi-touch Technology You might also be interested in the new Pinterest site I created as resource for teachers who will be using NUITEQ's multi-touch software, MultiTeach. The Pinterest boards will be regularly updated: MultiTeach Resources on Pinterest
Below are some pictures of a little guy I know and love, happily exploring what MultiTeach has to offer:
What I like about the NUITEQ team is that it aims to put users front and center at each phase of development. For education, this means teachers and students.
Note: I will continue to share my interactive multimedia and emerging technology discoveries in future Interactive Multimedia Technology posts!
I came across a new twist to information visualization, featuring the creativity of magicians. They were called to create short videos to promote the city of Stockholm, Sweden. The use of magicians to convey the "magic" of Stockholm and the economic climate in Sweden was brilliant! It might be difficult for "pure" capitalists to understand how Sweden, with such high taxes, can provide an economic environment that supports innovation, capitalistic ventures, and a high standard of living while maintaining an efficient "welfare state". For those who live in Sweden, it just might be to the "magic" of the Nordic Model, an economic approach that combines capitalism with social welfare and good stewardship among government officials. If everone is healthy, the economy is healthy, right? Swedish citizens feel that their high tax dollars are well-spent, and also well-managed, which is not always the case in other countries, especially in highly populated regions. Not all is rosy in Sweden - there were riots last by "disaffected" youth last year, as the youth unemployment rate is high. Despite the problems, there are are a number of countries who are considering the adoption of the Nordic Model. The Economist's special report about the Nordic model has an interesting quote: Goran Persson, a former Swedish prime minister, once compared Sweden's economy with a bumblebee---"with its overly heavy body and little wings, supposedly it should not be able to fly--but it does." The following video features Charlie Caper and Erik Rosales, of D1Gits, using iPads and creative magic to convey the positive economic statistics related to doing business in Stockholm:
In their most recent video to promote Stockhomlm,Charlie and Erik take it one step further, by using visualizations that seamlessly interact between iPads and a whiteboard: In the video below, a magician spouts out interesting facts about the multiple benefits of living in Stockholm, Sweden while performing a number of card tricks to illustrate his points.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra has unveiled ACO VIRTUAL, an installation that provides music-lovers the opportunity to experience what it is like to be surrounded by thirteen performing musicians, with the opportunity to control what you choose what is heard. The installation was created in collaboration with Mod Productions, an interactive multimedia company. This promises to become a fantastic music education and performance tool! To get a better understanding of ACO VIRTUAL, view the following video clips:
ACO VIRTUAL Trailer
"Each instrumentalist was filmed at Fox Studios, ACO artistic director and lead violin Richard Tognetti said, using the same "bullet-time" camera equipment used to shoot The Matrix, in both 2D and 3D. Visitors can enjoy the full stereoscopic experience with provided 3D glasses." -CNET ACO Virtual Launch of Touring Installation
This is my first creation using the Drawing with Sounds application. This cause and effect application was created with Processing 1.5.1 and produces musical sounds and patterns, along with random abstract shapes that are triggered through movements of a mouse. The application has been adapted for switch users, making it accessible to those who have motor impairments.
Processing is an open-source programming and integrated development environment that was build on the Java programming that has been easy to learn by people who have limited technical backgrounds. It is used by people from from a range of fields, such as art, music, journalism, and data visualization.
The fact that Processing is easy to use makes it great for people with just a little bit of coding knowledge to adopt a variety of open-source applications and tweak a few of the variables to according to the need. Using the Drawing with Sounds app as an example, I wanted to change the size of the interactive canvas. By typing in a few keystrokes, I changed the original size of the screen from 800 x 800 to something larger, as shown below:
I then typed in another variable for the background color, and was pleased with the results:
The application was developed from Andrew R. Brown's tutorial on "SoundCipher", based on the SoundCipher library for Processing. According to the description of the application, "The sketch is intended for use....as a sensory stimulus using sound, shape and color to create engagement".
Below is a videoclip created by Keith Manville, demonstrating what happens when you interact with Drawing with Sounds:
I look forward to sharing more on this topic in future blog posts. I'll be sure to include basic "how-to" information for my "low-tech" readers and colleagues who desire to learn a bit more about using and creating basic interactive applications that appeal to young people with special needs.
RELATED
Note: SEN is the UK acronym for "Special Educational Needs"
(An accessible switch-enabled version of Drawing with Sounds can be downloaded from the above link.)
Free sensory applications built in Processing 1.5.1"Download links for sensory applications built in Processing 1.5.1, designed to assist SEN students in engaging in learning through the the use of ICT, interactive “Smart” boards, touchscreen or tablet technologies. Our experience is that using applications on these devices or with natural user interfaces such as the Microsoft Kinect can increase the opportunities for engagement and social communication with many students."
I will be posting more information about emerging interactive technologies for special needs in the future. In the meantime, take a look at the following resources:
I will be attending the upcoming ACM CHI 2012 conference in Austin, Texas, and plan to share information, pictures, and video clips from the conference each day on this blog.
I am on the organizing committee for the Education, Interfaces, Technology & Software workshop, which will be held on May 5th and 6th. My first two posts will be related to this workshop. I'll have lots of exciting things to share!
During the conference, I plan to attend presentations that relate to information/data visualization, use of technology for creative purposes, child-computer interaction, multimedia, and technology/interfaces that support people with special needs.
Here is a quote from Jason Silva's website: "The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself" - Steven Johnson
Jason Silva is a Fellow at the Hybrid Reality Institute: "A Research and Advisory Group Focused on Human-Technology Co-Evolution and Its Implications for Global Business, Society, and Politics".
SOMEWHAT RELATED My husband DVR'd the pilot of "Touch", a new offering from Fox that appears to incorporate some of the concepts in the above review. We watched it last night, before I came across Jason Silva's review of ABUNDANCE. Coincidence? Maybe not : )
(I'm an armchair futurist. I work with kids with autism spectrum disorders. This stuff probably interests me more than it should!)
Jim Spadaccini is the director of Ideum and is responsible for the Ideum blog, which is well worth reading if you are interested in creative use of multi-touch, gesture, and interactive multimedia applications. Jim also serves as the principal investigator of the Open Exhibits project, a non-profit open source, multi-touch, multiuser software initiative, which includes a free software development kit (SDK) for museums, students, nonprofits, and educational use.
More about IDEUM Ideum will be involved in an upcoming day-long conference at the Tech Museum on Tuesday, November 15th (2011), Building Interfaces for the New Decade ConferenceSan Jose, California, 11/15/11
Ideum is working on interconnectivity between devices, as shown below, where people are connecting their iPhones to a multi-touch table:
Here is a video about Ideum's Tiny Drifters exhibit, 7 foot multi-touch wall at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:
Here is a promotional video about Ideum's rugged MT-55 multi-touch table. It holds up to the interaction of thousands of museum visitors.
Tracy Boyer Clark, founding manager and editor of Innovative Interactivity, recently posted a nicely curated list of interesting people to follow on Google+.
Tracy is a fantastic resource for all things related to multimedia. Be sure to add her to the list. BTW, my Google+ Multimedia circle includes everyone on Tracy's list, and a few more.
A few years ago, I came across "Phun", a free, hands-on application designed for use in science education. I was impressed, and had the chance to use it with a few students. Phun was Emil Ernerfeldt's MSc Computer Science project, created at the VR lab at Umeå Universityin Sweden, under the supervision of Kenneth Bodin.
Phun is now known as Algodoo, and is part of the family of applications offered by Algoryx, a company that develops multi-physics and 3D simulation software. As you can see from the recent video below, it has improved over the years. The most recent news is that the application was transformed for use on the SMART Board 800 series, and supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.
One of the reasons that I like Algodoo is that it supports social interaction during learning activities, something that can enhance deeper learning among students. It allows students to move and work in a "hands-on" fashion. In schools that have invested stimulus money on technology and now have limited funds for upgrading traditional science equipment, applications such as Algodoo will most likely provide a good "bang for the buck".
Algodoo: Science education for a new generation
"Algodoo is a totally unique program. A program that gives you the opportunity to play with physics - using your own hands. Apply a constructionists learning paradigm, learning by doing. Use simple drawing tools to design, construct and explore with. Sounds like an interesting idea? Watch this video and learn how!"-Algoryx
Algodoo demonstration on a SMART Board 800 multi-touch/multiuser interactive whiteboards:
"Indeed, it turns out that a tablet needn’t do everything that a more powerful PC can, according to multiple research studies on iPad usage. Rather, the tablet’s main appeal lies in the approachable touchscreen interface that just about anybody at any age can pick up and figure out...That’s the genius of the blank slate — with nearly 400,000 apps that allow the iPad to become a toy, a TV, a medical tool for doctors, a notetaker for students and more, it caters to an extremely broad audience." -Brian X. Chen
" ...the potential of the iPad is not achieved by the iPad alone, nor by simply placing it in the hands of a child with autism. The potential of the device is realized by the way professionals like speech pathologists, educators, occupational therapists and early childhood development professionals apply their skills and knowledge to use the iPad to effectively support the development of children. The potential is realized by engaged parents working with those professionals to explore how the device best meets the individual needs of their child." -Daniel Donahoo
(I have a few thoughts about the iPad of my own that I'll share in a future post.)
Here is a compromise - since much still rings true two years since I wrote it, the bulk of this post remains the same. I've updated a few sections with additional video examples of interactive touch-screen applications, good and bad, along with a few links and resources, located at the bottom of the post.
(The missing piece of information? An update about apps for the iPad and similar touch-screen tablets.)
Sit back and enjoy!
-Images: HP; Wired There's been some discussion over the reasons why so many people don't understand touch screen, or "surface" computing, even though research in this area has been going on for years.
As the new owner of the HP TouchSmart, I know that I get it.
The research I've conducted in this area suggests that people will "get-it" only if there is a strong commitment to develop touch-screen "surface" applications through a user-centered, participatory design process. In my view, this should incorporate principles of ethnography, and ensure that usability studies are conducted outside of the lab.
This approach was taken with Intel's Classmate PC. Intel has about 40 ethnographic researchers, and sent many of them to work with students and teachers in classrooms around the world. (A video regarding ethnographic research and the Intel Classmate project can be found near the end of this post.)
-Images: ClassematePC
Where to start?
K-12 classrooms and media centers. Public libraries. Malls. Hospital lobbies and doctor's offices. Any waiting room. Staff lounges in medical centers, schools, and universities. Community festivities and events. Movie theater lobbies. Museums and other points of interests.
I believe we need to take a "touching is believing" approach.
Here are some thoughts: When I try to explain my fascination with developing touch-screen interactive multimedia applications, (interactive whiteboards, multi-touch displays and tables, and the like), many of my friends and family members eyes glaze over. This is particularly true for people I know who are forty-ish or over.
Even if you are younger, if you never saw the cool technology demonstrated in the movie Minority Report, or if you have limited experience with video games, or if you haven't came within touching distance of an interactive whiteboard, the concept might be difficult to understand.
The reality?
Even people who have the opportunity to use surface computing technology on large screens do not take full advantage of it. Multi-touch screens are often used as single-touch screens, and interactive whiteboards in classrooms are often serve as expensive projector screens for teacher-controlled PowerPoint presentations.
Most importantly, there are few software developers who understand the surface computing approach, even with the popularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Most focus on traditional business-oriented or marketing applications, and have difficulty envisioning scenarios for surface computing. There is a need for a breath of fresh air!
Another factor is that not all people entrusted to market surface or touch screen computing fully understand it. Despite a cool website showing off the goods, Microsoft's Surface multi-touch table has been slow to take off, limiting hope of bringing down the price tag to a price most families or schools could afford. (The picture above depicts an application for the Surface designed for health care professionals, not K-12 science education.)
Although you can't buy a Surface table for your family room, it is possible to buy a TouchSmart. HP's TouchSmart website is engaging and highlights some examples of touch-screen interaction, but most people don't seem to know about it. (Since this post was last written, there are many more touch and multi-touch options available to the public, such as the Dell, the iPad, etc.)
Unfortunately, you wouldn't have a clue that the HP TouchSmart exists browsing the aisles at Circuit City or Best Buy!
When I was shopping for my new TouchSmart, I noticed that from a distance, the TouchSmart looked just like the other larger flat-screen monitors filling up the aisles. The salespeople at both stores were not well-informed about the system. The only reason I knew bout the new TouchSmart was related to my obsession with interactive multimedia touch-screen applications- designing them, developing them, studying them, reading about them, blogging about them.... ; }
More thoughts:
After studying HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), and relating this knowledge to what I know as a psychologist, my hunch is that the "Window Icon Mouse Pointing-device" (WIMP) and keyboard input mind-set is embedded in our brains, to a certain extent. Like driving a car, it is something automatic and expected. This is true for users AND developers. (Update - See The Post WIMP Explorers' Club: Update of the Updatesfor a review of a discussion among passionate post WIMP folks)
Think about it.
Suppose one day, you were told that you no longer were allowed to control your car by turning on the ignition, steering the wheel, or using your feet to accelerate, slow down, or stop the car! Instead, you needed to learn a new navigation, integration, and control system that involved waving your hands about and perhaps speaking a few commands.
For new drivers who'd never seen a car before, this new system would be user-friendly and intuitive. Perhaps it would be quite easy for 16-year-old kids to wrap their heads around this concept. For most of us, no. Imagine the disasters we would see on our streets and highways!
When we think about how newer technologies are introduced to people, we should keep this in mind.
In my mind, spreading the word about surface computing is not a "if you build it, they will come" phenomenon, like the iPhone. We can't ignore the broader picture.
From my middle-age woman's vantage point, I believe that it is important that the those involved with studying, developing, or marketing surface computing applications realize that many of us simply have no point of reference other than our experiences with ATMs, airline kiosks, supermarket self-serve lanes, and the like. (The video clip at the very end of this post provides a good example of touch-screen technology gone wrong.) -UPDATE: additional videos were added to this post.
Be aware that there are substantial numbers of people who might benefit from surface computing who prefer to avoid the ATMs, airline kiosks, and self-serve grocery shopping.
Realize that the collective experience with technology, in many cases, has not been too pretty. Many people have had such user-unfriendly experiences with productivity applications, forced upon them by their employers, that any interest or desire to explore emerging technologies has been zapped.
My own exposure to interactive "surface" related technology was somewhat accidental. A few years ago, a huge box was deposited into the room I worked in a couple of days a week as a school psychologist at a middle school. After a week or so, I became curious, and found out that it was a SmartBoard. Until then (2002!), I did not know that interactive whiteboards existed.
The boxed remained unopened in the room for the entire school year, but no worry. I played with the only other SmartBoard in the school, and found a couple at the high school where I also worked. I hunted for all of the applications and interactive websites that I could find, and tried them out. That is when I was hooked. I could see all kinds of possibilities for interactive, engaging subject area learning activities. I could see the SmartBoards potential for music and art classes. With my own eyes, I saw how the SmartBoard engaged students with special needs in counseling activities. (By the way, if you are working with middle school students, PBS Kid's ItsMyLife website activities work great on an interactive whiteboard.)
A few years have passed, and reflecting on all of my fun experiences with interactive whiteboards, with and without students, I now understand that many teachers still have had limited exposure to this technology.
This school year, many teachers are finding themselves teaching in classrooms recently outfitted with interactive whiteboards, scrambling along with educational technology staff development specialists, to figure out how it works best with various groups of students, and what sort of changes need to be made regarding instructional practice.
For the very first time, interactive whiteboards were installed in two classrooms at one of the schools I work at. One of the teachers I know thanked me for telling her about interactive whiteboards and sharing my resources and links.
If I hadn't let her know about this technology, she wouldn't have volunteered to have one installed in her classroom. It has transformed the way she teaches special needs students.
In the few months that she's used the whiteboard, I can see how much it has transformed the way the students learn. They are attentive, more communicative, and engaged. The students don't spend the whole day with the whiteboard - the interactive learning activities are woven into lessons at various times of the day, representing true technology integration.
Now let's see what happens when all-in-one touch-screen PC's are unleashed in our schools!
UPDATE: Take a look at a post I wrote for Innovative Interactivity just after SMART Technologies acquired NextWindow - the post describe in detail how interactive whiteboards are transforming learning and teaching in a program for students with special needs. SMARTTechnologies Acquires NextWindow: A "smart window" to the world
There are some interesting changes going on at the intersection of HCI and educational technology research. I participated in a workshop at CHI 2010 last April and was impressed by what is going on in this area, around the globe: Next Generation of HCI and Education
Value of ethnographic research: Ethnographic Research Informed Intel's Classmate PC "Intel looked closely at how students collaborate and move around in classroom environments. The new tablet feature was implemented so that the device would be more conducive to what Intel calls “micromobility”. Intel wants students to be able to carry around Classmate PCs in much the same way that they currently carry around paper and pencil."-viaPutting People First and Ars Technica
The video below is from Intel's YouTube Channel. Information about Intel's approach to ethnographic research in classrooms during the development of the Classroom PC is highlighted. This approach uses participatory design and allows the set of applications developed for the Classmate PC to reflect the needs of local students and teachers. Schools from many different countries were included in this study.
FYI: TOUCH SCREEN DISPLAYS: NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT!
Touch Screen Coke Machine at the Mall: 90 Seconds to get a Coke
User-Unfriendly Interactive Display in the Rain (Ballantyne Village Shopping Center)
User-Unfriendly Information Kiosk Interactive Map
I encountered this puzzling and frustrating interactive directory/map at the Cleveland Clinic. When I went to visit a relative at the hospital a year or so later, the map was no longer there.
BETTER EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIVE SCREENS:
Here are some interesting pictures from lm3labs, which are in my interactive usability hall of fame:
Samsung's new Omnia SDG i900 was re-created in a much larger size, using lm3lab's Ubiq'window touchless technology.For more about lm3labs, including several videoclips, take a look at one of my previous posts: Lm3Labs, Nicolas Leoillot, and Multimedia Interaction
Midwife Toad App on a Microsoft Surface, Discovery Place Science Center
TellTable: Digital Storytelling on the Surface: Microsoft Research, UK
DECEMBER 31, 2009 -Interactive Soda Machine for Fun
The interactive screen on the Coke machine attracted the attention of this young child. He loved spinning the image of the bottle. So did the dad! He said, "I'd like something like this for my home!". I told him about the HP TouchSmart - both the dad and the mom did not know that there were affordable all-in-one touch screens available, but they knew about SMARTboards, because their children's classrooms had them. Note: No one from this family actually purchased a soft drink. I was hoping to time how long it would take them to do so!
If you have plenty of time, take a look at my Post WIMP Explorers' Club YouTube playlist. "Natural user interfaces, gesture interaction, multi-touch, natural interaction, post WIMP examples and more..."
FYI: I visited the Ballantyne Village shopping center a couple of months ago to follow up on the interactive displays, including the one I tried to use while it was raining. The shopping center changed ownership, and the displays were replaced by the old-fashioned kind, pictured below:
