Affinity+: Semi-Structured Brainstorming on Large Displays, from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Affinity+ concept has the potential to be useful in educational settings such as schools, museums, and libraries. Although it was designed to support collaborative activities among software designers/developers, it could support a wide range of collaborative project-based learning activities. The clearly narrated video below was produced by a team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. 




"Affinity diagraming is a powerful method for encouraging and capturing lateral thinking in a group environment. The Affinity+ Concept was designed to improve the collaborative brainstorm process through the use of large display surfaces in conjunction with mobile devices like smart phones and tablets. The system works by capturing the ideas digitally and allowing users to sort and group them on a large touch screen manually. Additionally, Affinity+ incorporates theme detection, topic clustering, and other processing algorithms that help bring structured analytic techniques to the process without requiring explicit leadership roles and other overhead typically involved in these activities." -PNNL


RELATED
Affinity+ Semi-Structured Brainstorming on Large Displays
Russ Burtner, Richard May, Randy Scarberry, Ryan LaMothe, Alex Endert
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Information Visualization Core Area:  Natural User Interactions
Information Visualization Core Area:  User Experience
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Large Displays: Will it ever be enough? (pdf)
Richard May, Jim Thomas, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Although this paper is from 2006, it contains a discussion of the "Top Ten Research Challenges" associated with  large high-resolution displays:
A Survey of Large High-Resolution Display Technologies, Techniques, and Applications (pdf)
Tao Ni, Greg S. Schmidt, Oliver G. Staadt, Mark A Livingston, Robert Ball, Richard May
IEEE Virtual Reality Conference 2006, pp223-226 Virginia Tech, 2006

Advanced Visualization and Interaction Techniques for Large High-Resolution Displays (pdf)
Sebastian Thelen (in Ariane Middel, Inga Scheler, and Hans Hagen (eds.), Visualization of Large and Unstructured Data Sets - Applications in Geospatial Planning, Modeling and Engineering (IRTG 1131 Workshop), VLUDS 2010, March 19-21, 2010, Bodega Bay, CA, USA DOI: 10.4230/OASIcs.VLUDS.2010.73

Affinity Diagraming
Usability Net

XBox Kinect in the OR: Kinect supports gesture interaction with 3D imaging of the patient, while operating.

Here's an interesting use of technology for health - the Xbox Kinect in the OR!

Thanks to Harry van der Veen for the link!


RELATED
Kinect sensor poised to leap into everyday life
Niall Firth, NewScientist, 1/17/13

For the tech-curious:
PrimeSense (Company that developed the 3D depth sensor that powers the Kinect, the sensor in Ava, a healthcare robot by iRobot, and more.)

OpenNI (Framework for the development of 3D sensing middleware libraries and applications.)

NiTE: Natural Interface Technology for End User (Perception algorithms layer for 3D computer vision, allows for hand locating, tracking, analyzing scenes, and tracking skeleton joints.)

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!

Connecting: Exploration of the Future of Interaction Design and User Experience - Good for promoting CSEd!

I've been looking for a relatively short video about human-computer interaction and related fields to include in a presentation I'm planning for high school students. The presentation is my small part to promote Computer Science in Education Week (CSEd). 

One of the goals of CSEd Week is to spread the word that computer science education is much more than learning how to program one. Technical and computational thinking skills are important to develop, but young people also need to know what sort of things they can do with these skills as they become adults in our technological society. As stated on the CSEd website, "Computing professionals work on creative teams to develop cutting-edge products and solutions that save lives, solve health problems, improve the environment, and keep us connected."  

Coincidentally, I was pleasantly surprised by a tweet I received today that linked to Connecting, a well-produced 18-minute video about interaction and user experience design. This video would be great to share with high school students.


Connecting (Full Film) from Bassett & Partners on Vimeo.

The video features a number of well-spoken, creative professionals who are passionate about their work, people, and the future.  Although the video is a bit techno-centric, it depicts people who live and breathe technology in a favorable light.  It also inspires some degree of thought and reflection on the part of the viewer.

Although much of what is discussed in Connecting is futuristic, the seeds were planted years ago.  If you are new to the HCI/UX/ID/UCD world, it might help to read
Mark Weiser's 1991 article, The Computer for the 21st Century, published in Scientific American in 1991, before viewing the video.  

After viewing the video, I encourage you to take the time to read some of the comments on the Vimeo website.  Also read  Marc Rettig's comments, posted on the IxDA website:  "A film about interaction design: what it says about us".  

Near the end of the video, there is a discussion about where we might be headed, as interconnected, technically enhanced, augmented humans.  Hopefully we will not create, and then be assimilated into a Borg-like collective, or live out our days in a Matrix-like disembodied state.

In the wrong hands, what might happen?

Is resistance futile?!

FYI: Connecting was produced by Microsoft, Windows Phone Design Studio: Mike Kruzeniski (now at Twitter), Kat Holmes, and Albert Shum, and featured interviews with the following people:

Matt Jones, BERG London
Raphael Grignani, Method
Liz Danzico, School of Visual Arts, New York
Blaise Aguera y Arcas, Architect of Bing Mobile and Bing Maps
Helen Walters,  Writer, Editor, Researcher at Doblin/Monitor
Younghee Jung, Research Leader, Nokia
Massimo Banzi, Co-Founder, Arduino
Jennifer Bove, Co-Founder, Managing Director, Kicker Studio
Robert Murdock, Principal, Method (Artefact)
Jonas Lowgren, Professor of IxD, Malmo University, Sweden
Eric Rodenbeck, CEO, Founder, Creative Director, Stamen Design
Robert Fabricant, VP of Creative, Frog Design
Andrei Herasimchuck, Twitter 

The video was first screened in Seattle, Washington, last April, with a panel discussion that included Rob Girling and Gavin Kelly, of Artefact, Bill Buxton, of Microsoft, and Scott Nazarian, of Frog Design.

Description of the "Connecting" video, from Bassett & Partners' Vimeo site:

"The 18 minute "Connecting" documentary is an exploration of the future of Interaction Design and User Experience from some of the industry's thought leaders. As the role of software is catapulting forward, Interaction Design is seen to be not only increasing in importance dramatically, but also expected to play a leading role in shaping the coming "Internet of things." Ultimately, when the digital and physical worlds become one, humans along with technology are potentially on the path to becoming a "super organism" capable of influencing and enabling a broad spectrum of new behaviors in the world." -Bassett & Partners

Selected Quotes:

Liz Danzico:
"It's understanding that ecosystem, where the human in the center, and understanding that network of things, and how they all work together, rather than of your device or thing being in the center."

Younghee Jung:
"... you can not necessarily foresee the consequences when people adopt what you designed..to see something completely different from what you created. .it is like throwing a stone in the water, and you don't know what it will cause."

Blaise Aguera y Arcas:
"....these are all augmentations of abilities as humans. And when the augmentation really works, then that extension of yourself feels natural, and beautiful and does what you want, and doesn't get in the way....The use of voice, and the use of natural gestures... you are removing the extraneous, you are removing the artificial."

Massimo Banzi:
"...Something that can do it's own thing, disappearing in the background, is correct"  (nod to Weiser)

Jennifer Bove:
"...it is really important to look at what the consequences are of putting these products into the world when we think about things like the phone...the way it has changed our behavior, it can be enabling, and also disrupting...for these things to change our lives for the better, or enable for them to let us do things we couldn't do before.. they have to feel natural, and feels like a conversation." 

Robert Murdock:
"How you actually design and enact a living system in UX is something that is quite challenging...you have to think about patterns of desired outcomes and behaviors you want to achieve, instead of moving a user through one flow in an experience."

Jonas Lowgren: 
"...back in the day.. it was one user, one task, one computer,  its all gone now, its is much more like you are setting the stage, really,  for other people to perform, but you can never tell them what to do."

Eric Rodenbeck:
"....the map is like a living thing, that is being made up of everything we got. The idea that it is different in the morning than what it was in the evening, is a really good idea to stay connected to the idea that the world is changing."

Helen Walters:
"What we need is for designers to be embedded in the topics that are really, really important right now, so there can be a better synergy between design, and business design, and social change design, and entrepreneurship."

Andrei Herasimchuck
"That is where the future lies with us. There will be software in everything..You can take all of those (digital) pieces, and you can design all kind of things around it. People are now actually entering their lives and what is going around them, into a digital format, and so we will start do things with that in the future, and I think it will be exciting."

Robert Fabricant:
"The network is sampling the world, and knowing what is cropping up where, being able to match and find patterns...and anticipate outbreaks of diseases. ..  We are trying  now to collect from the periphery a much richer set of what is going on the world so we can learn as a society and optimize and evolve the right systems and services".

SOMEWHAT RELATED
IxDA
Experientia: Putting People First 
What's the Difference- IXD, IA, UXD, HCI, UCD, UX (Jon Karpoff)

CFP for Special Issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing on Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology (EIST) -Extended Deadline: December 9, 2012

CFP for Special Issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing on Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology (EIST) -Extended Deadline: December 9, 2012

Overview 
One of the primary goals of teaching is to prepare learners for life in the real world. In this ever-changing world of technologies such as mobile interaction, cloud computing, natural user interfaces, and gestural interfaces like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, people have a greater selection of tools for the task at hand. Given the potential of these new interfaces, software, and technologies as learning tools, as well as the ubiquitous application of interactive technology in formal and informal learning environments, there is a growing need to explore how next-generation technologies will impact education in the future. 

As a community of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and educational researchers, we need to theorize and discuss how new technologies should be integrated into the classrooms and homes of the future. In the last three years, three CHI workshops have provided a forum to discuss key issues of this sort, particularly in the context of next-generation education. The aim of this special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing is to summarize the potential design challenges and perspectives on how the community should handle next-generation technologies in the education domain for both teachers and students. 

We invite authors to present position papers about potential design challenges and perspectives on how the community should handle the next generation of HCI in education. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: 

• Gestural input, multitouch, large displays 
• Mobile devices, response systems (clickers) 
• Tangible, VR, AR & MR, multimodal interfaces 
• Console gaming, 3D input devices 
• Co-located interaction, presentations 
• Educational pedagogy, learner-centric, child computer interaction 
• Empirical methods, case studies 
• Multi-display interaction 
• Wearable educational media 

Important Dates 

• Full papers due: December 9, 2012 
• Initial reviews to authors: January 18, 2013 
• Revised papers due: March 15, 2013 
• Final reviews to authors: April 26, 2013 
• Final papers due: June 14, 2013 

Submission Guidelines 
Submissions should be prepared according to the Word template located at the bottom of this page. All manuscripts are subject to peer review. Manuscripts must be submitted as a PDF to the easychair submission system. Submissions should be no more than 8000 words in length. 

Guest Editors and Contact Information 

• Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Cornell University 
• Quincy Brown, Bowie State University 
• Jochen Huber, Technische Universität Darmstadt 
• Si Jung “Jun” Kim, University of Central Florida 
• Lynn Marentette, Union County Public Schools, Wolfe School 
• Max Mühlhäuser, Technische Universität Darmstadt 
• Alexander Thayer, University of Washington 
• Edward Tse, SMART Technologies 

Contact: eistjournal2012@easychair.org 

Information about the Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 

• Editor-in-Chief: Peter Thomas
• Journal web site
• Facebook page

Submission Template: PUC_EIST_article_template.docx  (59k)

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.

CFP for Special Issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing on Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology (EIST)

CFP for Special Issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing on Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology (EIST) 


Overview 
One of the primary goals of teaching is to prepare learners for life in the real world. In this ever-changing world of technologies such as mobile interaction, cloud computing, natural user interfaces, and gestural interfaces like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, people have a greater selection of tools for the task at hand. Given the potential of these new interfaces, software, and technologies as learning tools, as well as the ubiquitous application of interactive technology in formal and informal learning environments, there is a growing need to explore how next-generation technologies will impact education in the future. 


As a community of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and educational researchers, we need to theorize and discuss how new technologies should be integrated into the classrooms and homes of the future. In the last three years, three CHI workshops have provided a forum to discuss key issues of this sort, particularly in the context of next-generation education. The aim of this special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing is to summarize the potential design challenges and perspectives on how the community should handle next-generation technologies in the education domain for both teachers and students. 

We invite authors to present position papers about potential design challenges and perspectives on how the community should handle the next generation of HCI in education. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: 

• Gestural input, multitouch, large displays 
• Mobile devices, response systems (clickers) 
• Tangible, VR, AR & MR, multimodal interfaces 
• Console gaming, 3D input devices 
• Co-located interaction, presentations 
• Educational pedagogy, learner-centric, child computer interaction 
• Empirical methods, case studies 
• Multi-display interaction 
• Wearable educational media

Important Dates

• Full papers due: November 9, 2012
• Initial reviews to authors: January 18, 2013
• Revised papers due: March 15, 2013
• Final reviews to authors: April 26, 2013
• Final papers due: June 14, 2013

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be prepared according to the Word template located at the bottom of this page. All manuscripts are subject to peer review. Manuscripts must be submitted as a PDF to the easychair submission system. Submissions should be no more than 8000 words in length.

Guest Editors and Contact Information

• Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Cornell University
• Quincy Brown, Bowie State University
• Jochen Huber, Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Si Jung “Jun” Kim, University of Central Florida
• Lynn Marentette, Union County Public Schools, Wolfe School
• Max Mühlhäuser, Technische Universität Darmstadt
• Alexander Thayer, University of Washington 
• Edward Tse, SMART Technologies

Contact: eistjournal2012@easychair.org

Information about the Journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing

• Editor-in-Chief: Peter Thomas
• Journal web site
• Facebook page

TechCrunch Charlotte Highlights: T1 Vision; inTouch Collaborative Software

Yesterday evening I attended a meetup of TechCrunch and Charlotte-area techies, held at the uptown Packard Place entrepreneurial center.  It was jammed-packed with people all abuzz with tech start-up fever, fueled by awesome food provided by Zen Fusion.  Although my main purpose for attending the TechCrunch meet-up was to learn more about innovative technology start-ups in my region, I also was hoping to capture a few shots of interesting people.   I like to keep my eye open for tee-shirt slogans, and one worn by a young gentleman caught my eye, proclaiming that he'd seen the future, and it is in his browser.  On the back of his tee-shirt was a bright HTML5 logo, something that is dear to my heart, as I am moving from HTML4 to HTML5.  He was polite and agreed to pose for a couple of photographs:
 






It turned out that the HTML5 guy was at the TechCrunch event with one of his colleagues from T1 Visions, a social touchscreen solutions company that I've featured previously on this blog.  They caught me up on the growth of this start-up company, which now has 15 employees and has broadened its reach beyond table-top restaurant applications to the healthcare, education, corporate, retail, and broader hospitality sectors.

What I like about table-top systems is that they provide support for "natural user interaction".  It allows for multiple modes of interaction with and presentation of multimedia content.  Over the past several years, these systems have been proven to be useful to a wider range of people and settings.  Interfaces that support touch and gesture interaction are no longer viewed as novelties, given the pervasiveness of touch-phones and tablets and their ease-of-use for most people.

A useful product from T1 Visions is the T1 Collaboration Table. It supports touch-screen interaction and can also handle up to four simultaneously connected laptops.   The table system provides a media viewer that supports sharing of photos across screens, devices, and surfaces.  It also contains a web browser, a presentation viewer, and a whiteboard that is compatible with video conferencing.  The company provides customized applications for its clients.   In the Charlotte area, some of the tables can be found in restaurants, such as the Mellow Mushroom, Cowfish, and Harpers.  A few were recently installed in the Atkins library at UNC-Charlotte, to support group-work among students.

To learn more about what T1 Visions has to offer, take a few minutes to view the following videos and follow the links at the end of this post!






Demonstration of how the collaboration table can work within a business environment:


Demonstration of the T1VISION touch wall:

RELATED
T1 Visions Gallery
T1 Visions: Social Touchscreen Solutions
Interactive tabletops bring people together
Marty Minchin, Charlotte Observer, South Charlotte News, 2/20/12
Interactive Technology in the Carolinas: T-1 Visions Update

NOTE:
TechCrunch is a technology media group founded in 2005 that focuses on innovative technologies.  This summer, a group of TechCrunchers are visiting cities in the south that were previously not under their radar, such as Savannah and my home region, Charlotte, N.C.   The Charlotte TechCrunch meetup was held on Wednesday, July 11, 2012.  I plan to devote a few more blog posts to share what I learned.

NUITEQ's Latest Multitouch Showreel: Snowflake Suite

I've been following a number of people that have been working in the area of natural user interfaces and interaction for many years.  An example of this work is NUITEQ, a company lead by Harry van deer Veen.  Below is NUITEQ's most recent show reel of Snowflake Suite, an off-the-shelf multitouch SDK.


Here is the description of the software from the naturaluserinterface YouTube channel:


"NUITEQ's award-winning multitouch software product Snowflake Suite comes off the shelf with 30+ apps, a free SDK to develop your own multitouch software apps and its content is easy to customize. The solution is offers high performance, stability, quality and comes with dedicated support. Apps includes presentation, productivity and creativity tools as well as games. The software can be used in different scenarios such as corporate presentations, exhibitions, entertainment, education, public spaces, consumer electronics, retail and digital signage."

FYI: Tutorials about the user of Snowflake Suite can be found on the naturaluserinterface YouTube channel. 


Harry van der Veen has been sharing his NUI journey journey since 2007 on his Multitouch blog.

Seamless Collaborative Computing Between Tables and Tablets: nSquared Presenter -Video

I came across the following video about nsquare's presenter application. It looks like it has potential.  It supports "seamless" collaboration between people, multimedia content, interactive tables, interactive touch screens, and tablet devices.






RELATED
nsquared website
Video presentation about "Seamless Computing", by Neil Roodyn


More blog posts on the topic of natural user interaction, interfaces, and examples of seamless computing are planned for the future!


This was shared by one of my FB friends.

UPDATE POST: Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology: 2012 ACM-CHI Workshop Call for Papers/Presentations

There is still time left to submit your paper!

CALL FOR PAPERS

EDUCATIONAL INTERFACES, SOFTWARE, AND TECHNOLOGY 2012

3rd Workshop on UI Technologies and Educational Pedagogy

May 5-6 2012

in conjunction with ACM-CHI 2012, Austin, Texas

This will be our third annual workshop in conjunction with CHI 2012.

One of the primary goals of teaching is to prepare learners for life in the real world. In this ever changing world of technologies such as mobile interaction, cloud computing, natural user interfaces, and gestural interfaces like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, people have a greater selection of tools for the task at hand. Teachers and students can leverage these tools to improve learning outcomes. Educational interfaces and software are needed to ensure that new technologies serve a clear purpose in the classrooms and homes of the future.

Since teachers are always looking for creative ways to engage 21st century learners, there needs to be an academic venue for researchers to discuss novel educational tools and their role in improving learning outcomes. This workshop aims at filling this void: combining the pedagogical expertise of the cooperative learning, and learning sciences communities with the technical creativity of the CHI, UIST and interactive surface communities. The objective of this workshop is to become a conference within two years

We invite authors to present position papers about potential design challenges and perspectives on how the community should handle the next generation of HCI in education. 

Topics of interest include:

• Gestural input, multitouch, large displays
• Mobile Devices, response systems (clickers)
• Tangible, VR, AR & MR, Multimodal interfaces
• Console gaming, 3D input devices
• Co-located interaction, presentations
• Educational Pedagogy, learner-centric, Child Computer Interaction
• Empirical methods, case studies
• Multi-display interaction
• Wearable educational media

Submission:  The deadline for workshop paper submissions is Dec 20, 2011. Interested researchers should submit a 4-page position paper in the ACM CHI adjunct proceedings style to the workshop management system. Acceptance notifications will be sent out February 20, 2012. The workshop will be held May 5-6, 2012 in Austin, Texas. Please note that at least one author of an accepted position paper must register for the workshop and for one or more days of the CHI 2012 conference.

Website: http://smarttech.com/eist2012
Contact: Edward Tse, SMART Technologies, edwardtse@smarttech.com


RELATED
Educational Interfaces, Software, and Technology Workshop Organizers

	Edward Tse, SMART Technologies
	Lynn V. Marentette, Union County Public Schools
	Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Cornell University
	Alex Thayer, University of Washington
	Jochen Huber, Technische Universität Darmstadt
	Max Mühlhäuser, Technische Universität Darmstadt
	Si Jung “Jun” Kim, University of Central Florida
	Quincy Brown, Bowie State University

Hacking Autism: Touch Technology for Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (October 11 is the Hackathon!)

October 11, 2011 is a special day. A number of software programmers will be working to develop "innovative, touch-enabled applications for the autism cimmunity and make this software available for free on HackingAutism.org." Take a moment to watch the following video clip, and then explore the Hacking Autism website!
"When touch-enabled computing was introduced to the world, no one could have anticipated that this technology might help open up a new world of communication, learning and social possibilities for autistic children. Yet it has. Hacking Autism is a story of technology and hope and the difference it's making in the lives of some people who need it most.Hacking Autism doesn't seek to cure autism, but rather it aims to facilitate and accelerate technology-based ideas to help give those with autism a voice." -hackingautism.org
Touch technology + people with autism spectrum disorders = 
One of the reasons why I returned to school to take computer courses and explore natural user interfaces and interaction.   

RELATED
Interacting with HP TouchSmart Notes: Photo, Video, Audio and More
Interactive Visual Supports for Children with Autism:  Gillian Hayes' Work at the Social and Technology Action Research Group
Open Source Multi-touch Software for Young People with Autism
Interactive iPad Apps for Kids with Autism: Could some of these be transformed for multi-touch tabletop activities?
iPad Apps: Supporting Communication for Young People with Autism (links to Moms with Apps)
Reflections about interactivity in my present world (Aug. 2010)
Interactive Multi-touch for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Research and Apps by Juan Paplo Hourcade, Thomas Hanson, and Natasha Bullock-Rest, University of Iowa
Open Autism Software "Where Social Skills and Interest in Computers Meet"
Sen H. Hirano, Michael T. Yeganyan, Gabriela Marcu, David H. Nguyen, Lou Anne Boyd, Gillian R. Hayes vSked: Evaluation of a System to Support Classroom Activities for Children with Autism. In CHI 2010 (Atlanta, GA, 2010).(pdf) Gillian R. Hayes, Sen Hirano, Gabriela 
Marcu, Mohamad Monibi, David H. Nguyen, and Michael Yeganyan. Interactive Visual Supports for Children with Autism. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. April 2010. 
Monibi, M., Hayes, G.R. Mocotos: Mobile Communication Tools for Children with Special Needs. Proceedings of Interaction Design and Children, pages 121-124 ACM, 2008 
SOMEWHAT RELATED
Hope Technology School
Do2Learn JobTips
Autism Research Group at Georgia Tech
Immersive Cocoon Interaction"  "It's people who are now the interface"
Today I hooked up a Will to the IWB in the school's therapy room.  Next, a Kinect? 
(IWBs + Games + Social Skills)