Working with NUITEQ as a K-12 Tech Specialist

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!

Back-to-School Reads For Innovative Teaching and Learning

It is that time of year.  

Teachers, students, and parents know that in a few days or weeks, school will begin for the 2015-16 academic year... 

The good news?  

Some teachers have been busy sharing their ideas, strategies, and resources as they plan ahead.  Here are a just a few good links to get started:

8 things every teacher can do to create an innovative classroom
Trevor Shaw, eSchool News, 8/3/15

Elementary Classroom Hacks:  Big Ideas at Little Cost
Samantha McBurney, Edutopia, 8/3/15

The MindShift Guide to Digital Games and Learning
Ki Sung, Mind/Shift, 11/18/14


Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling
University of Houston, 2015

15 Characteristics of a 21st-Century Teacher
Tsisana Palmer, Edutopia, 6/20/15

Engage NY (Common Core Lessons)
New York State Education Department Website

Fractions are hard
David Wee, The Reflective Educator

Seeing Struggling Math Learners as 'Sense Makers', Not 'Mistake Makers'
Katrina Schwartz, Mind/Shift, 8/4/15

Mistake Makers or Sense Makers, David Wees

More to come!

UPDATE: What's New for Kinect? Fusion, real-time 3D digitizing, design considerations, and more.

The Evolution of Microsoft Kinect

I've been following the evolution of Microsoft's Kinect, and recently discovered a few interesting videos that show how far the system has come. According to Josh Blake, the founder of the OpenKinect community and author of the Deconstructing the NUI blog,  the Kinect for Windows SDK v1.7 will be released on Monday, March 18th, from http://www.kinectforwindows.com.  More details about this version can be found on Josh's blog as well as the official Kinect for Windows blog.


It is possible to create applications for desktop systems that work with the Kinect in interesting ways, as you'll see in the following videos. I think there is potential here for use in education/edutainment!

Below is a video of Toby Sharp, of Microsoft Research, Cambridge, demonstrating Kinect Fusion.  The software allows you to use a regular Kinect camera to reconstruct the world in 3D.



KinEtre: A Novel Way to Bring Computer Animation to Life
According to information from the YouTube description, "KinÊtre is a research project from Microsoft Research Cambridge that allows novice users to scan physical objects and bring them to life in seconds by using their own bodies to animate them. This system has a multitude of potential uses for interactive storytelling, physical gaming, or more immersive communications."




The following videos are quite long, so feel free to re-visit this post when you have time to relax and take it all in!

Kinect Design Considerations
This video covers Microsoft's Human Interface Guidelines, scenarios for interaction and use, and best practices for user interactions.  It also includes a preview of the next major version of the Kinect SDK. 


Kinect for Windows Programming Deep Dive
This video discusses how to build Windows Desktop apps and experiences with the Kinect, and also previews some future work.




RELATED
Kinect for Windows Developer Downloads
Kinect for Windows Blog
Deconstructing the NUI Blog (Josh Blake)
Microsoft Kinect Learns to Read Hand Gestures, Minority Report-Style Interface Now Possible
Celia Gorman, IEEE Spectrum, 3/13/13
Kinect hand recognition due soon, supports pinch-to-zoom and mouse click gestures.
Tom Warren, The Verge, 3/6/13
Microsoft's KinEtre Animates Household Objects
Samuel K. Moore, IEEE Spectrum, 8/8/12

Kinect Fusion Lets You Build 3-D Models of Anything Celia Gorman, IEEE Spectrum, 3/6/13
Description of Kinect sessions at Build 2012
Kinect for every developer!
Tom Kerhove, Kinecting for Windows, 2/15/13
Kinect in the Classroom
Kinect Education

Note: Although I recently received my developer kit for Leap Motion, another gesture-based interface, I haven't lost interest in following news for Kinect.

Gesture Markup Language (GML) for Natural User Interaction and Interfaces

Quick post:

Gesture ML Wiki 

"GML is an extensible markup language used to define gestures that describe interactive object behavior and the relationships between objects in an application.  Gesture Markup Language has been designed to enhance the development of multiuser multi-touch and other HCI device driven applications." -Gesture ML Wiki

GestureML was created and maintained by Ideum. 

More information to come!

Photo credit: Ideum

RELATED
Ideum Blog

OpenExhibits Free multitouch and multiuser software initiative for museums, education, nonprofits, and students

GestureWorks  Multi-touch authoring for Windows 8 & Windows 7

Ideum's GestureWorks Platform Will Let Developers Create Complex Gestures for Ultrabook Apps  -Alex Williams, Tech Crunch, 11/18/12

5 Perspectives On The Future Of The Human Interface -Alex Williams, Tech Crunch, 11/4/12

NUI Group

More to come!

iPad3 and iPad Mini: Hands-on Side-by Side Comparison Video, by Eric Sailers (quick post)

Here is a good side-by-side "hands-on" comparison of the new iPad3 and the new iPad Mini by Eric Sailers:

Eric Sailers is a speech and language pathologist who has co-created apps for iOS devices since 2009. His website has a wealth of information iOS devices and apps for education, especially for children with special needs.  

Mobile Design Best Practices: Joshua Mauldin's UX Charlotte Talk - photos, sketchnote, and slides

Joshua Mauldin, founder of Invisible Interface & Awesome Gifs, and app creator/manager for The Business Journals, gave a talk about best practices in touchable mobile design at a recent Charlotte User Experience meet-up. I especially liked his use of clips from Arrested Development to remind us of the wide range of emotional responses people get when they use technology, good or bad.  (Take a moment and look over the slides for the meat of Joshua's talk.)

(Photo by Brad E.)

Slide-share of Joshua Mauldin's Mobile Design Best Practices talk:

Mobile design best practices from Joshua Mauldin

Below is sketchnote of the talk, drawn by hand by Antoine RJ Wright, using Adobe Ideas on his iPad:







(Photo by Bermon Painter)

The event was hosted by MyJive, located at the NC Music Factory. I was fortunate to grab a comfy spot to sit - there were about 85 in attendance.At the end of the meetup, I won a ticket to Web Afternoon!

Musings about NUI, Perceptive Pixel and Microsoft, Rapid Creative Prototyping (Lots of video and links) Revised

It just might be the right time for everyone to brush up on 21st century tech skills. iPads and touch-phones are ubiquitous. Touch-enabled interactive whiteboards and displays are in schools and boardrooms.  With Microsoft's Windows 8 and the news that the company recently acquired Jeff Han's company, Perspective Pixel, I think that there will be good support - and more opportunities- for designers and developers interested in moving from GUI to NUI.    


In the video below, from CES 2012, Jeff Han provides a good overview of where things are moving in the future.  We are in a post-WIMP world and there is a lot of catching up to do!

CES 2012  Perceptive Pixel and the Future of Multitouch (IEEE Spectrum YouTube Channel)



During the video clip, Jeff explains how far things have come during the past few years:

 "Five and 1/2 years ago I had to explain to everybody what multi-touch was and meant. And then, frankly, we've seen some great products from folks like Apple, and really have executed so brilliantly, that everyone really sees what a good implementation can be, and have come to expect it.  I also think though, that the explosion of NUI is less about just multi-touch, but an awareness that finally people have that you don't have to use a keyboard and mouse, you can demand something else beside that.  People are now willing to say, "Oh, this is something I can try, you know, touch is something I can try as my friendlier interface"."

Who wouldn't want to interact with a friendlier interface?  Steve Ballmer doesn't curb his enthusiasm about Windows 8 and Perceptive Pixel.  Jeff Han is happy how designs created in Windows 8 scales for use on screens large and small. He explains how Windows 8 can support collaboration. The Story Board application (7:58) on the large touchscreen display looks interesting.

I continue to be frustrated by the poor usability of many web-based and desk-top applications.  I like my iPad, but only because so many dedicated souls have given some thought to the user experience when creating their apps.  I often meet with disappointment when I encounter interactive displays when I'm out and about during the day.  It is 2012, and it seems that there are a lot of application designers and developers who have never read Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things!

I enjoy making working prototypes and demo apps, but my skill set is stuck in 2008, the last year I took a graduate-level computer course.  I was thinking about taking a class next semester, something hands-on, creative, and also practical, to move me forward. I can only do so much when I'm in the DIY mode alone in my "lab" at home.  I need to explore new tools, alongside like-minded others.  


There ARE many more tools available to designers and developers than there were just four years ago.  Some of them are available online, free, or for a modest fee.  I was inspired by a link posted by my former HCI professor, Celine Latulipe, to her updated webpage devoted to Rapid Prototyping tools. The resources on her website look like a good place to start for people who are interested in creating applications for the "NUI" era.  (Celine has worked many interesting projects that explore how technology can support new and creative interaction, such as Dance.Draw.) Below is her description of her updated HCI resources:

"New HCI resource to share: I have created a few pages on my web site devoted to Rapid Prototyping tools, books, and methods. These pages contain reviews of various digital tools, including 7 different desktop prototyping apps, and including 8 different iPad apps for wireframing/prototyping. I hope it's useful to others. Feel free to share... and please send me comments and suggestions if you find anything inaccurate, or if you think there is stuff that I should be adding. I will be continuing to update this resource." -http://www.celinelatulipe.com (click on the rapid prototyping link at the top)

IDEAS
Below are just a few of my ideas that I'd like to implement in some way. I can't claim ownership to these ideas- they are mash-ups of what comes to me in my dreams, usually after reading scholarly publications from ACM or IEEE, or attending tech conferences. 

• An interactive timeline, (multi-dimensional, multi-modal, multimedia) for off-the-desktop interaction, collaboration, data/info analysis exploration.  It might be useful for medical researchers, historians, genealogists, or people who are into the "history of ideas".  Big Data folks would love it, too. It would handle data from a variety of sources, including sensor networks. It would be beautiful to use.
• A web-based system of delivering seamless interactive, multi-modal, immersive experiences, across devices, displays, and surfaces. The system would support multi-user, collaborative interaction.  The system would provide an option for tangible interaction.
• A visual/auditory display interface that presents network activity, including potential intrusions, malfunctions, or anything that needs immediate attention that would be likely to be missed under present monitoring methods. 
• Interactive video tools for creation, collaboration, storytelling.  (No bad remote controllers needed.)
• A "wearable" that provides new ways for people to express and communicate creatively, through art, music, dance, with wireless capability. (It can interact with wireless sensor networks.)*
• An public health application designed to provide information useful in understanding and sepsis prevention efforts. This application would utilize the timeline concept describe at the top of this list. This concept could also be useful in analyzing other medical puzzles, such as autism.

Most of these ideas could translate nicely to educational settings, and the focus on natural user interaction and multi-modal i/o aligns with the principles of Universal Design for Learning, something that is important to consider, given the number of "at-risk" learners and young people who have disabilities.

I welcome comments from readers who are working on similar projects, or who know of similar projects.  I also encourage graduate students and researchers who are interested in natural user interfaces to and move forward with an off-the-desktop NUI project.  I hope that my efforts can play a part in helping people make the move from GUI to NUI!  



Below are a few videos of some interesting projects, along with a list of a few references and links.

SMALLab (Multi-modal embodied immersive learning)

PUPPET PARADE: Interactive Kinect Puppets(CineKid 2011)



MEDIA FACADES: When Buildings Start to Twitter

HUMANAQUARIUM (CHI 2012)

 

NANOSCIENCE NRC Cambridge (Nokia's Morph project)






 
Examples: YouTube Playlists
POST WIMP EXPLORERS' CLUB
POST-WIMP EXPLORER'S CLUB II

Web Resources
Celine Latulipe's Rapid Prototyping Resources 
Creative Applications
NUI Group: Natural User Interface Group
OpenFrameworks and Interactive Multimedia: Funky Forest Installation for CineKid
SMALLab Learning

Microsoft Research Natural User Interface 

OpenExhibits: Free multi-touch + multiuser software initiative for museums, education, nonprofits, and students.
OpenSense Wiki 
CINEKID 2012 Website 
Multitouch Systems I Have Known and Loved (Bill Buxton)
Windows 8
Perceptive Pixel
Books
Natural User Interfaces in .NET  WPF 4, Surface2, and Kinect (Josh Blake, Manning Publications)
Chapter 1 pdf (Free)
Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture (Daniel Wigdor and Dennis Wixon)
Designing Gestural Interfaces (Dan Saffer)
Posts

Microsoft's"Magic Wall" Tech on Windows 8 Laptops and Tablets by Next Year

Bill Snyder, ReadWrite Web, 7/20/12

I noticed some interesting tools on the Chrome web store - I plan to devote a few more posts to NUI tools in the future.

Google in Education, Updated

Is Google is permeating the world of learning/education?  If you are a parent or educator, you might be interested in taking a look at the following links.  (I will follow this topic and include my reflections in a few future posts.)


Google in Education
Guide to Going Google (K-12 Edition,Google Apps Site)
Google in Education (Google+ Site)
Google in Education: A New and Open World for Learning (pdf)
Google Educator Resources
Example:  Google Lit Trips
North American K-12 Regional User Groups (Google Apps for Education)


Here is a good overview from the Mind/Shift website:
Google Launches Redesigned Education Site
Tina Barseghian, MindShift 1/30/12


Note:  Mind/Shift is curated by people at KQED, part of the NPR Argo Network.

Revisiting Good Blogs: Space and Culture

Take a look at the Space and Culture  journal/weblog. Below are links to a few posts:

WiFi Measuring Rods, Oslo School of Architecture
Making WiFi Visible - Network City
Robert Shields, 10/6/11
Note: The above post provides a link to Making 'Immaterials: Light painting WiFi', a post written by Einar Sneve Martinussen the YOUrban blog. YOUrban is a research project at the Institute of Design within the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.


Sound, Space and the City
Catherine Scheelar, 10/10/11


Sound, Space, and the City:  Civic Performance in Downtown Los Angeles
"In Sound, Space, and the City, Marina Peterson explores the processes-from urban renewal to the performance of ethnicity and the experiences of audiences--through which civic space is created at music performances in downtown Los Angeles."


Mapping Flickr Photos and Twitter Tweets
Rob Shields, 7/20/11


RELATED/SOMEWHAT RELATED
Cognitive Cities Conference
Adam Greenfield's Presentation


I've cross-posted this to The World is my Interactive Interface blog - a blog I wish I had time to keep up!

Quick Link: TechPsych post about transition/job skills resources for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Quick Link:
TechPsych post about transition/job skills resources for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders:http://techpsych.blogspot.com/2011/08/resources-for-transition-and.html

Link to Innovative Interactivity's List: "Thirty multimedia people to follow on Google+"

Tracy Boyer Clark, founding manager and editor of Innovative Interactivity,  recently posted a nicely curated list of interesting people to follow on Google+.  


Thirty multimedia 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.


Thanks, Tracy, for sharing this list!

Eric Sailer's Lists of iPad, iPod, and iPhone Apps for (special) education

Update: Here is a link to Eric Sailer's resources on Scribd:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24470331/iPhone-iPad-and-iPod-touch-Apps-for-Special-Education



Update:  I think Eric Sailer's blog has moved.  For now, here is a link to his website:
http://ericsailers.com/iresources.html

Eric Sailers is a speech/language pathologist who has an extensive amount of experience using "apps" in educational settings.  He's compiled a great list of apps and related resources on his blog:  http://slpsharing.com/app-resources/

Eric spends some of his time giving presentations about the use of Apple's mobile devices in education. He's co-created a few apps, too!

Calming Technologies research (Stanford University)

Here is the link:
A Brief Overview of Calming Technology (Research group at Stanford University) TechPsych blog, 4/26/11

Resource:
Calming Technology Research Group website (Stanford University)

Pervasive Retail Part I: Web UX Meets Retail CX - Screens Large and Small at the Mall, Revisited

If you follow my blog(s), you know that I have a passion for interactive displays in public spaces, and that I enjoy watching how various technologies converge, jump across platforms and devices, inter-operate, and re-purpose over time.  

The best places for watching this unfold, in my opinion, are airports, malls, shopping districts,  and larger "big box" establishments, where the Web meets Digital Out of Home (DOOH), old-fashioned kiosks morph into multi-touch screens and gesture-based windows, and visual merchandising meets technology, digital culture, architecture, and consumer metrics.  At the center of it all is the user/consumer - regular people, moms, dads, kids, teens, the elderly, the disabled, the hurried and the worried. Adding to the complexity is that an increasing number of people who are out-and-about are tethered to various mobile devices.

In scholarly tech circles, the concept of DOOH is known "Pervasive Retail".  The explosion of mobile devices and ubiquitous screens has fueled the fire for research, and is the focus of the current issue of IEEE's Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing.   

Despite the influx of technology, no-one is exactly sure how to do it quite right.  (I have some ideas, which I'll save for a future post.)

If you are interested in learning more about concepts related to "pervasive retail", the Retail Customer Experience website is a treasure trove of information related to DOOH, digital signage, multi-channel retailing, in-store media, kiosks, interactive touch screens and windows, related metrics, and more, with stories about real-life technology implementation.

Mall Video

The following video, taken with my handy HTC Incredible, provides a quick sampling of the screens I encountered during a recent visit to South Park Mall, in Charlotte, N.C.  The last screens in the clip were taken in the Brookstone store, and will be included in another clip that focuses solely on all of the screens that were scattered about the retail space.  

I have a hunch that some of the smaller displays in the Brookstone store were iPads.  iPads and tablets have great potential for use for shelf-level in-store interactive visual merchandising deployments, given the right apps and mounting systems. (See iPads as Cheap Digital Signage, by Tony Hymes of DOOHSocial and the video about Premier's iPad mounts, for more information.)

Much of what you'll see in the following video, taken at the same mall in December of 2009, wasn't around during my most recent trip:

Screens Large and Small at the Mall

Interactive Coke Machine and Kid at the Mall

I was sad to see that the interactive screen on the Coke machine  had been replaced by an ordinary one.  Part of the problem, I think, is that the interactive display was too busy and as a consequence, made the goal getting a quick drink a bit too complicated for the average thirsty customer, as seen in the video below:

Touch Screen Coke Machine at the Mall: 90 seconds to get a coke!

RELATED

Previous Posts:

What is DOOH and Why Should We Care?

Quick Link:  Bill Gerba's Updated Graphic of the Digital Signage Ecosystem

Digital Signage and Digital Out of Home (DOOH), via The Digital Signage Insider, Digital Signage Today, and more

Interactive Visual Merchandising, Interactive Window-Shopping at Nordstrom, Downtown Seattle:  "Writing with Light"

Window Shopping in the Web Outside:  Interactive Window Displays (videos and links)

Close Encounter with "Best Buy On": Example of a multi-channel marketing approach using in-store media and an online magazine 

Video: Gesture Interactive Window Display at Repetto Store in France, by the Marcel Agency
Interractions (ACM) Cover "Proximic Interactions: The New Ubicomp?"; Plus - Close encounters with displays at the airport and JC Penney. (Briefly touches on the topic of accessibility/usability/universal design of displays in public spaces, an area in need of further research.)

The World Is My Web Browser: Interactive Technology in Public Spaces

References and Resources (Partial List)

Fujitsu's Pervasive Retailing (pdf)

Ron Brunt, InTouch with Retailing Whitepaper, 1/15/06

When all the world is a screen

Brian Monahan, IPG Emerging Media Blog, 4/15/11

When all the world is a screen (The video is worth taking the time to watch.)

Narayanswami, C.,  Kruger, A.,  Marmasse, N. Pervasive Retail, IEEE Pervasive Computing

April-June 2011 (Vol. 10, No. 2) pp. 16-18 1536-1268/11/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE 

References from the Pervasive Retail article:

Mobile Retail Blueprint, Nat'l Retail Federation; www.nrf.commodules.php?name=Pages&op=viewlive&sp_id=1268 .

G. Belkin, Pervasive Retail Business Intelligence, Aberdeen Group, Apr. 2010; www.slideshare.net/AxiomConsultingAustralia pervasive-retail-business-intelligence .

R. Wasinger, A. Krüger, and O. Jacobs, "Integrating Intra and Extra Gestures into a Mobile and Multimodal Shopping Assistant,"Proc. 3rd Int'l Conf. Pervasive Computing (Pervasive), Springer, 2005, pp. 297–314.

A. Meschtscherjakov et al., "Enhanced Shopping: A Dynamic Map in a Retail Store," Proc. 10th Int'l Conf. Ubiquitous Computing(UbiComp 08), ACM Press, 2008, pp. 336–339.

C. Stahl and J. Haupert, "Taking Location Modelling to New Levels: A Map Modelling Toolkit for Intelligent Environments," Proc. Int'l Workshop Location- and Context-Awareness (LoCA), LNCS 3987, Springer, 2006, pp. 74–85.

Cross-posted: The World Is My Interactive Interface blog

Interactive Timeline of Political Shootings in the US - Wall Street Journal, related resources on-line

Interactive Graphic (Timeline)
Political Targets
"Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is not the first member of Congress to be attacked while in office.  Take a look back at some prominent political shootings involving members of Congress".  Wall Street Journal Research

Article  
Shooting Puts Focus on Gun Laws
Brent Kendall, Wall Street Journal, 1/10/11

RELATED
Slideshow
On the Scene in Tucson
"In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and a number of bystanders Saturday, police investigators began to piece togehter clues while friends and onlookers mourned."
Wall Street Journal, 1/10/11
(Pictures were taken by photographers from various news media organizations.)
Article
Victims in Giffords Shooting
"Six people died in the shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured.  Learn more about Judge John Roll, Christina Taylor Green, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, Gabriel Zimmerman and Dorothy Morris."
Wall Street Journal, 1/10/11

RESOURCES


Blog Post
Ways to Teach About the Arizona Shootings (Includes lesson plans, if you are a teacher!)
The Learning Network: Teaching & Learning With The New York Times
Sarah Kavanagh and Holly Epstein Ojalvo,  1/9/11

Blog Post
The Best Resources For Teaching About The Arizona Shooting
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL
1/10/11

Preview: Update on Touch & Multitouch Technologies, Websites, and Touch-Interactive Multimedia Apps

It is about time for an update about touch/gesture- interactive technologies.

I've been researching the latest in "touch" screens and new developments in interactive multi-media content.  In just one year, a multitude of websites have been transformed from static to interactive. 

Although the initial objective for some of these websites was to optimize the interface and navigation for people accessing websites via touch-screen cell phones,  some are ideal for use on touch-enabled slates, the iPad, and even larger touch screen displays and surfaces.   

Convergence seems to be the buzz word of the day.   Interactive TV.  Game sets with Internet access.  Movies on your cell phone.  Touch screen Coke machines displaying movie trailers.  What's happening now, and what is next?

I welcome input from my readers in the form of links to websites, university labs with grad students and professors who are obsessed with emerging interactive technologies, proof-of-concept video clips, video clips of related technologies that are new-to-market, etc.   

I will add video clips to the following playlist:

My Post-Wimp Explorer's Club YouTube Playlist 

FYI: I'm also in the middle of writing a series of posts about 3D television technologies for the Innovative Interactivity blog, and welcome input from my readers about this topic.

RELATED (Previous posts)

More Multi-touch

Updated:  More News, Videos, and Links about Multi-touch and Screen Technologies  (Lots of stuff!)

Applications for touch, multi-touch, and gesture interaction:  What's Marching to Market?

(the above post includes links to various multi-touch developer kits and resources)

IntuiLab's Interfaces

SMART Technologies Acquires NextWindow

Ideum's GestureWorks vs. Adobe AIR2 and Flash Player comparison of multi-touch and gesture support

News from NUITEQ and 3M

A few things from LM3Labs

Updates about NextWindow and Stantum; Upcoming Emerging Displays Conference

Interactive Mobile Multimedia

Multi-touch Linux on a Stantum Slate PC & More (links to a nice overview about multi-touch interaction from ENAC)

Multimedia, Multi-touch, Gesture, and Interaction Resources (needs a little updating)

20 Educational (and free!) Multimedia Resources - via Innovative Interactivity Guest Blogger, Tim McLaughlin

Here is the link to the Innovative Interactivity blog post:

20 Educational (and free!) Multimedia Resources

There is a need for multi-touch/gesture designers/developers!

If you are a talented interactive web designer/developer, game designer/developer, traditional programmer with a creative bent, or someone who who is thinking about working with technology in the future as a programmer or designer,  I urge you to consider thinking about designing/developing multi-touch applications in the near future.

In my opinion, there will be a need for multi-touch web applications as well as for multi-touch education and collaboration applications for the SMART Table, Microsoft's Surface,  multi-touch tablets like the rumored iTablet from Apple, and the multi-touch laptops and all-in-ones (Dell, HP, etc.).

Below are direct links to some of my blog posts related to multi-touch applications and screens. If you are fairly new to multi-touch, I'm sure that looking through some of my blog posts will be helpful.  All of the posts have links to resources, and most have photos and video clips of multi-touch in action.

If you are new to this blog, I have a great deal of information, links, photos, and video clips of various multi-touch screens and applications. The best way to find the stuff is to enter in a keyword in the search box for this blog:  multitouch, touch screen, gesture, multi-touch, etc. on  this blog.

Also do a search on my other blog: The World Is My Interface http://tshwi.blogspot.com

Here are some links:
Do you have an HP TouchSmart, Dell Studio One or NextWindow touch-screen? NUITech's Snowflake Suite upgrade provides a multi-touch plug-in
http://bit.ly/5tdlhc

The following blog post has a video clip that shows someone from Adobe painting with a multi-touch application in development:
More Multi-Touch!: Rumor of the mobile apple iTablet; AdobeXD & Multitouch; 10-finger Mobile Multitouch: http://bit.ly/4S9Upm

Ideum's GestureWorks: http://bit.ly/4C1p7M

Interactive Walls, Interactive Projection Systems, GestureTek's Motion-Based Games: http://bit.ly/6GRGtW

Intuilab's Interfaces: Multi-touch applications/solutions for presentations, collaboration, GIS, and commerce: http://bit.ly/7RK7qN

For software developers:
How to do Multitouch with WPF 4 in Visual Studio 2010: http://bit.ly/7c4YqC

The Touch Research Project, re/Touch, and Near Field Communication Touch Interaction

The Touch Project is based in the Interaction Design department of the Oslow School of Architecture and Design in Norway. "Touch is a research project that investigates Near Field Communication (NFC), a technology that enables connections between mobile phones and physical things. We are developing applications and services that enable people to interact with everyday objects and situations through their mobile devices. Touch consists of an inter-disciplinary team involved in social and cultural enquiry, interaction/industrial design, rapid prototyping, software, testing and exhibitions." -

Nearness Explores Interaction Without Touching

Nearness from timo on Vimeo.

iPhone RFID: Object-based media

iPhone RFID: object-based media from timo on Vimeo.

reTouch Web Site

reTouch Info Sheet (pdf)

reTouch is part of the Touch project, and it " brings together hundreds of cross-cultural examples of social norms and values involving touch—all categorised according to actions related to touching. Using quotes from ethnographic accounts written between the late 1800s and the present, re/touch encourages designers and researchers to explore how touch is used by people to relate to one another and the worlds in which we live. Browse re/touch to create design briefs, refine interaction scenarios, devise game play, or otherwise think, make and do things touchrelated." -reTouch web info, Anne Galloway.


One of the members of the research team is Anne Galloway, a social researcher and the author of the  purselipsquarejaw blog, which she recently resurrected after taking a year off from blogging.

Anne also contributes to the space and culture journal.  I've followed Anne's writing for a while.  Over the course of her Ph.D. studies, she has thought deeply about the intersections of technology, space, and culture,  including cross-cultural meanings of touch.

RELATED
Inspiring Touch Related Interaction Design

Designing With RFID

View more documents from Chen pinmiao.

Original Design Thinking Approach for Researching RFID
-Nikolas Nova, Pasta and Vinegar


Note:  Nikolas Nova's Pasta and Vinegar blog is worth taking a look at if you are interested in design, UX, emerging technologies, pervasive/ubiquitous computing.


About Nikolas and his blog:
"User Experience researcher at LIFTlab. My work is about studying how people use various technologies and turn them into insights, ideas, prototypes or recommendations to inform design and foresight.This blog is a selection of the material that I collect, especially in fields such as mobility, urban environments, digital entertainment and new interfaces. I am also part of the near future laboratory."

Sample of Pasta and Vinegar Posts:
(Touch) Interaction Vocabulary
A Graphic Language for Touch-based Interactions