Essential Interaction Design Essays and Articles: Dan Saffer's Lists, Don Norman, and Interactions Magazine

I came across a link about Dan Saffer's recent post, Essential Interaction Design Essays and Articles.  Equally important is Dan Saffer's List:  Top Ten Essential Interaction Design Books. 

Dan Saffer is one of my "important influences".  When I was taking HCI and Ubiquitous Computing courses, I bought the first edition of his book,  Designing for Interaction:  Creating Innovative Applications and Devices.  In today's world of technical convergence, it is an important read, as Saffer's content crosses a number of disciplines.

Thoughts:
It doesn't surprise me to learn that the #1 book on Saffer's Essential Interaction Design Books list is  list is Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things.  According to Saffer,  "there’s no getting around it: this is the book. Affordances, mental models, and other bits that have all become part of the general lexicon all started with The Don’s book. A must read." 

Don Norman's book was required reading in the Human-Computer Interaction class I took a few years ago.  As I read through the book, I sensed a familiar tone.  I later learned that Don Norman was the co-author of a required textbook for one of the psychology courses I took when I was a university student the first time around.    



Don Norman's thinking has influenced me for decades - he continues to be an influence, because he writes articles for one of my favorite publications, Interactions Magazine:



It brightens up my day when I open up my mailbox- the one at the end of my real-life driveway- and find my Interactions magazine, in all of its well-designed, well-written,  semi-glossy-paged glory, waiting for me to open up and read.   The September/October, 2010 issue includes articles on topics related to authenticity in new media, the complexity of "advancement", design and usability, and the politics of development. 


A must-read is Gestural Interfaces: A Step Backwards in Usability, co-authored by Don Norman and his collaborator, Jakob Neilson, 

Here is an excerpt from the article, which highlights some of the problems of rushing to get products with natural-user interfaces out to market:

"Why are we having trouble? Several reasons:

• The lack of established guidelines for gestural control
• The misguided insistence by companies (e.g., Apple and Google) to ignore established conventions and establish ill-conceived new ones.
• The developer community’s apparent ignorance of the long history and many findings of HCI research, which results in their feeling empowered to unleash untested and unproven creative efforts upon the unwitting public"

(Interactions Magazine is a publication of ACM CHI -Association of Computing Machinery, Computer-Human Interaction interest group).


Other articles by Don Norman, published in Interactions Magazine:
The Research-Practice Gap: The Need for Translational Developers 
Natural User Interfaces are not Natural 
The Transmedia Design Challenge: Technology that is Pleasurable and Satisfying
Technology First, Needs Last: The Research-Product Gulf
To be published, available on the jnd website:
Systems Thinking:  A Product is More Than The Product  


SOMEWHAT RELATED
My resource pages:
RESOURCES: Natural User Interaction, InfoViz, Multi-touch, Blog roll, and More - a huge mega-list of links! 
Conferences, Research, Resources page


Living with Complexity
Donald Norman, to be release in October 2010



Interactions Archives


Here are a list of books/articles, suggested by Dan Saffer's readers:


Designing for Interaction – Saffer, D. (2nd Edition; 2009)
Thoughts on Interaction Design – Kolko, J. (2009)
The Humane Interface – Raskin, J.
Digital Ground – McCullough, M.
Inmates are running the Asylum – Cooper, A
Designing Interactions – Moggridge, B (ed.)
Everyware – Greenfeild, A.
Designing Social Interfaces – Malone & Crumlisch
Emotional Design – Norman, D.
Invisible Computer – Norman, D.
Persuasion Technology – Fogg, BJ
Thoughtful Interaction Design: A Design Perspective on Information Technology by Jonas Lowgren and Erik Stolterman (Paperback – Mar 30, 2007)
Designing Visual Interfaces by Mullet/San
Steve Krug – Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Design Research: Methods and Perspectives edited by Brenda Laurel 
Information Architecture (“The Polar Bear Book”) by Peter Morville.


Thanks to Putting People First for the link to Dan Saffer's list!

"Microsoft is Imagining a NUI Future". You can, too!

Microsoft is Imagining a NUI Future
Steve Clayton, Next at Microsoft Blog, 1/26/11


"Our research shows that the vast majority of people polled in both developed and emerging markets see great potential for NUI applications beyond entertainment. This is especially true in China and India, where 9 out of 10 respondents indicate they are likely to use NUI technology across a range of lifestyle areas – from work, education and healthcare, to social connections, entertainment and the environment. We believe that taking technology to the next billion can be aided by NUI – making technology more accessible and more intuitive to a wider audience". - Steve Clayton, Microsoft


The people at Microsoft don't own the concept!  I'm a member of the NUI Group (May, 2007) and SparkOn.  Both are on-line communities where you can find people who live and breathe NUI, learn about their work, and even share designs and code. If you are intrigued by NUI - as a designer, developer, or user, please join us.

Note: 
I've been an evangelist and cheerleader for the NUI cause for many years.  If you search this blog for "post-WIMP", "NUI", "multi-touch", "gesture", "off-the-desktop", "natural user interaction", "natural user interface", or even "DOOH", you'll be provided with an overwhelming number of posts that include videos, photographs, and links to NUI-related resources, including scholarly articles.  There is a small-but-growing number of people from many disciplines, quietly working on NUI-related projects.

RELATED
Microsoft Plans a Natural Interface Future Full of Gestures, Touchscreens, and Haptics
Kit Eaton, Fast Company, 1/26/112
Rethinking Computing (video)
Craig Mundie, Microsoft
Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It" - Revised
Touch Screen Interaction in Public Spaces:  Room for Improvement, if "every surface is to be a computer".

SIFTEO, the next-gen Siftables! (Tangible User Interfaces for All)

Despite my enthusiasm for TUI's , I somehow missed the news about the transformation of Siftables to a commercial version, Sifteo:

Sifteo Inc. Debuts Sifteo™ Cubes - A New Way To Play (PDF) 

"Sifteo cubes are 1.5 inch computers with full-color displays that sense their motion, sense each other, and wirelessly connect to your computer. You, your friends, and your family can play an ever-growing array of interactive games that get your brain and body engaged.

Sifteo’s initial collection of titles includes challenging games for adults, fun learning puzzles for kids, and games people can play together." -Sifteo website

For more information, see the Sifteo website,  blog, and YouTube  channel.  If you can't wait to get your own set,  take a look at Josh Blake's Sifteo Cube Unboxing Video!

RELATED

About two years ago, I was interviewed about my thoughts about the interactive, hands-on, programmable cubes, then called Siftables,  for an article published in IEEE's Computing Now magazine:  Siftables Offer New Interaction Mode  (James Figeuroa, Computing Now, 3/2009). 

For those of you who'd like more information about tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and  the development of Siftables, I've copied my 2009 post,   Tangible User Interfaces, Part I:  Siftables,  below:

TANGIBLE USER INTERFACES, PART I: SIFTABLES (2009)

In 1997, the vision of tangible user interfaces, also known as TUI's, was outlined by Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer of the Tangible Media Group at MIT, in their paper, "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits, and Atoms" (pdf).   According to this vision, "the goal of Tangible Bits is to bridge the gaps between both cyberspace and the physical environment, as well as the foreground and background of human activities." This article is is a must-read for anyone interested in "new" interactive technologies.

The pictures in the article of the metaDesk, transBoard, activeLENS, and ambientRoom, along with the references, are worth a look, for those interested in this seminal work.

Another must-read is Hiroshi Ishii's 2008 article, Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels (pdf). In this article, Ishii provides a good overview of TUI concepts as well as the contributions of his lab to the field since the first paper was written.

Related to Tangible User Interface research is the work of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT. The Fluid Interfaces Group was formerly known as the Ambient Intelligence Group, and many of the group's projects incorporate concepts related to TUI and ambient intelligence. 


According to the Fluid Interfaces website, the goal of this research group is to "radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive we are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds."

The Siftables project is an example of how TUI and fluid interface (FI) interaction can be combined. Siftables is the work of David Merrill and Pattie Maes, in collaboration with Jeevan Kalanithi, and was brought to popular attention through David Merrill's recent TED talk:

David Merrill's TED Talk: Siftables - Making the digital physical -Grasp Information Physically

"Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. As an interaction platform, Siftables applies technology and methodology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces. Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media. Siftables can be used to implement any number of gestural interaction languages and HCI applications....Siftables can sense their neighbors, allowing applications to utilize topological arrangement..No special sensing surface or cameras are needed."





Siftables Music Sequencer from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.

More about Siftables:
Rethinking display technology (Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, 7/27/08)
TED: Siftable Computing Makes Data Physical
Siftables: Toward Sensor Network User Interfaces (pdf)

It seems that people really like the Siftable concept, or they don't see the point. I found the following humerous critique of Siftables on YouTube:

"Imagine if all the little programs you had on your iphone were little separate chicklets in your pocket.
You'd lose em.
Your cat would eat em.
You'd vacuum them up.
They'd fall down in the sofa.
They'd be all over the car floor.
You'd throw them away by mistake..."

In my opinion, it is exciting to learn that perhaps some of this technology has the potential of becoming main-stream.

Multi-touch and Flash: Links to resources, revisiting Jeff Han's TED 2006 presentation

Despite the increase in interest in systems that support multi-touch, multi-user multimedia interaction, there is a need for creative, tech-savvy types to develop innovative applications. Why? This technology has the potential to make a powerful impact on how people learn, communicate, solve "big picture" problems, and do their various jobs.

CNN's Magic Wall was one of the first applications to gain the attention of the masses, as it was used as an interactive map during the US presidential election process. Touch-screen interaction gained even more notice after the recent SNL parody by Fred Amisen.

If you think about it, the multi-touch applications you see on the news aren't much different than what you'd get from a "single-touch" program.

Fancy, yes. Truly innovative, no.

Just imagine a 3D multi-touch, multi-user, multimedia version of Google Search. I did. I put my sketches in my idea book and hurt my brain thinking about how it could be coded.

Jeff Han, the man behind Perceptive Pixel and CNN's magic wall, had much more up his sleeve when he demonstrated his work at TED 2006. Even if you've previously seen this video, it is worth looking at again. (I've provided a link to the transcript below.)



Transcript of Jeff Han's TED 2006 Presentation

This video presentation had a transformational effect on me as I watched for the first time. Jeff Han brought to life ideas that were similar to my own as a beginning computer student thinking about collaborative educational games and multimedia applications that could be played on interactive whiteboards.

Here are some selected quotes from the video:

"I really really think this is gonna change- really change the way we interact with the machines from this point on."

"Again, the interface just disappears here. There's no manual. This is exactly what you kind of expect, especially if you haven't interacted with a computer before."

"Now, when you have initiatives like the hundred dollar laptop, I kind of cringe at the idea that we're gonna introduce a whole new generation of people to computing with kind of this standard mouse-and-windows pointer interface. This is something that I think is really the way we should be interacting with the machines from this point on. (applause)"

"Now this is going to be really important as we start getting to things like data visualization. For instance, I think we all really enjoyed Hans Rosling's talk, and he really emphasized the fact that I've been thinking about for a long time too, we have all this great data, but for some reason, it's just sitting there. We're not really accessing it. And one of the reasons why I think that is, is because of things like graphics- will be helped by things like graphics and visualization and inference tools. But I also think a big part of it is gonna be- starting to be able to have better interfaces, to be able to drill down into this kind of data, while still thinking about the big picture here."

So now what?

A recent post by "Alex", on the AFlex World blog discusses a few solutions. Alex had a chance to meet with Harry van der Veen and Pradeep George from the NUI Group, and Georg Kaindl, a multi-touch interaction designer from the Technical University of Vienna. The focus of the discussion was to come up with ideas to encourage Adobe/Flash designers and developers to learn more about multi-touch technology and interaction, and take steps to create innovative applications.

I especially like the following quote from the post:

"...A quick quote from our conversations: “When our children will walk up to a display, they will touch it and expect to do something.”

As a techie and a school psychologist, I see an immediate need for innovative applications. I know that there is a built-in market in the schools, at least for low-cost applications. Despite economic constraints, many school districts continue to invest in interactive whiteboards (IWB's). They are cropping up in preschool and K-12 settings, and teachers are searching for more than what's currently available.

Interactive, collaborative applications are needed in fields such as health care, patient education, finance & economics, urban planning, civil engineering, travel & tourism, museums & exhibitions, special events, entertainment, and more.

Smart Technologies, the company behind SmartBoards, has a new interactive multi-touch, multi-user table designed for K-6 education, the Smart Table. Hewlett Packard has several versions of the TouchSmart PC, which can support at least duo-touch, if not multi-touch, multi-user applications. There are numerous all-in-one large screen displays on the market that support multi-touch and multi-user interaction.

Quotes from Harry van der Veen, of Multitouch NL:

"In 10 years from now when a child walks up to a screen he expects it to be a multi-touch screen with which he can interact with by using gestures."

"...multi-touch screens will be as common as for children is the internet nowadays, as common as mobile phones are for us."


Here is a quote from a conversation I had with Spencer, who blogs at TeacherLED.

"It was interesting this week as I was in a classroom with a teacher who I've not worked with before... he had 2 students using the whiteboard who kept touching it together by mistake. The teacher, exasperated, said to himself, "Why can't they make these things to accept 2 touches without going crazy!"

Proof of the demand! I think you are right when teachers spot the limitations and then see the technology on visits to museums, that might stimulate demand."

Spencer creates cool interactive mini-applications, mostly for math, using Flash, that teachers (and students) love to use on interactive whiteboards. (He's interested in multi-touch, too.)


So what are we waiting for?!

Related:
Natural User Interface Europe AB meets Adobe
Georg's Touche Framework
NUI Group
TeacherLED
Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It".
Hans Rosling's 2007 TED talk

Lonely Planet Travel App by Amnesia-Razorfish for the Surface

I came across this video on the Microsoft Surface blog about a demo created for Lonely Planet by Amnesia-Razorfish, from REMIX 2009 Australia this past June:


Lonely Planet proof-of-concept at REMIX Australia 2009

Following a link from the Surface blog, I found yet another video:



Design in the Round. Creating Compelling User Experiences for Surface

The video provides an overview of the history of human computer interaction and look towards the future of NUI (natural user interface). The Surface is viewed as only as a step towards NUI, which follows a person as they go about the day, interacting with technology via a variety of devices and settings.

"Designing for multi-touch, gesture-based and tangible experience like Microsoft Surface presents a new set of challenges. How do you design for a user interface that doesn't have a top? How to allow for multiple simultaneous users without them getting in each other's way?..."

Update on Josh Blake, newly designated Microsoft Surface MVP

Josh Blake is the Tech Lead of the InfoStrat Advance Technology Group in DC.  He has been creating multi-touch applications Microsoft's Surface multi-user table-tops for a while. Recently, his team built a suite of applications designed for use by young children at a museum.  Below is a video demonstration of some of this work. It really looks exciting!


Microsoft Surface and Magical Object Interaction

Josh Blake's blog is called Deconstructing the NUI- for those of you new to this blog, NUI stands for Natural User Interface (also known as Natural User Interaction).  See his post, Microsoft Surface and Magical Object Interaction, for more information!

RELATED
Here is a plug for Josh Blake's book, "Multitouch on Windows"

Book Ordering Information

FYI:  InfoStrat  is hiring  WPF experts as well as Microsoft CRM and Microsoft SharePoint experts.


Microsoft Surface MVPs
Dr. Neil Roodyn
Dennis Vroegop
Rick Barraza
Joshua Blake

I want to travel around the globe and attend all of the cool conferences about innovative interactive technologies. Any sponsors? (Yes, I'm day-dreaming)

Here are a few I missed:


NIME 2011 OSLO: The International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression - NIME is an outgrowth of a workshop held at CHI 2001 (Human Factors in Computing Systems).
"The NIME conference draws a varied group of participants, including researchers (musicology, computer science, interaction design, etc.), artists (musicians, composers, dancers, etc.) and developers (self-employed and industrial). The common denominator is the mutual interest in groundbreaking technology and music, and contributions to the conference cover everything from basic research on human cognition through experimental technological devices to multimedia performances." Just take a look at all of the presentations that were at NIME 2011!  NIME 2011 Program (pdf)


Touch the Web 2011: 2nd International Workshop on Web-Enabled Objects June 20-24, 2011, Paphos, Cyprus (in conjunction with the International Conference on Web Engineering ICWE)
"The vision of the Internet of Things builds upon the use of embedded systems to control devices, tools and appliances. With the addition of novel communications capabilities and identification means such as RFID, systems can now gather information from other sensors, devices and computers on the network, or enable user-oriented customization and operations through short-range communication. When the information gathered by different sensors is shared by means of open Web standards, new services can be defined on top of physical elements. In addition, the new generation of mobile phones enables a true mobile Internet experience. These phones are today’s ubiquitous information access tool, and the physical token of our "Digital Me“. These meshes of things and “Digital Me” will become the basis upon which future smart living, working and production places will be created, delivering services directly where they are needed."


Upcoming Conferences and Workshops


Ubicomp 2011, September 17-21, 2011, Beijing, China
"Ubicomp is the premier outlet for novel research contributions that advance the state of the art in the design, development, deployment, evaluation and understanding of ubiquitous computing systems. Ubicomp is an interdisciplinary field of research and development that utilizes and integrates pervasive, wireless, embedded, wearable and/or mobile technologies to bridge the gaps between the digital and physical worlds. The Ubicomp 2011 program features keynotes, technical paper sessions, specialized workshops, live demonstrations, posters, video presentations, panels, industrial exhibition and a Doctoral Colloquium."

"Given its multi-disciplinary nature, Ubicomp has developed a broad base of audience over the past 12 years. Key audience communities are: Human Computer Interaction, Pervasive Computing, Distributed and Mobile Computing, Real World Modeling, Sensors and Devices, Middleware and Systems research, Programming Models and Tools, and Human Centric Validation and Experience Characterization. More detailed information about the topical focus of Ubicomp can be found in the Call for Papers."


Eurodisplay 2011: XXXI International Display Research Conference, September 19-22, Bordeaux-Arcacho, France
Eurodisplay 2011 in Bordeaux/Arcachon provides researchers, engineers, and technical managers a unique opportunity to present their results and update their knowledge in all display-related research fields...The two keynote addresses on the first day of the Eurodisplay 2011 Symposium on September 20th will be a unique chance to hear a global overview on the future of the display market (Samsung LCD) and on display applications in the automotive industry (Daimler AG)


Eurodisplay ’11 in Bordeaux-Arcachon will be the right spot to learn more about the last results on display research and related fields such as organic electronics. The cognitic science will give a new vision on the impact of display in our day to day life, not only from a perception but from the Information standpoint since SID deals with “Information Display” and not only technologies.The two invited talk of Pr. Bernard Claverie and Dr. Lauren Palmateer will focus on this aspect......A dedicated business oriented session will address two important aspect of our business from display company creation by Thierry Leroux to end user trends analysis for TV market by Dr. Jae Shin. This conference will provide a global vision of our Display World including not only the well-known display leaders but also the very actives BRIC countries......Dr. V. Pellegrini Mammana will give a vivid illustration of this display industry dynamic in Brazil."

UIST Symposium, October 16-19, 2011, Santa Barbara, California
"UIST (ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology) is the premier forum for innovations in the software and technology of human-computer interfaces. Sponsored by ACM's special interest groups on computer-human interaction (SIGCHI) and computer graphics (SIGGRAPH), UIST brings together researchers and practitioners from diverse areas that include traditional graphical & web user interfaces, tangible & ubiquitous computing, virtual & augmented reality, multimedia, new input & output devices, and CSCW. The intimate size, single track, and comfortable surroundings make this symposium an ideal opportunity to exchange research results and implementation experiences."


VisWeek 2011: Viz, Infovis, VAST October 23-28, Providence, RI
"Computer-based information visualization centers around helping people explore or explain data through interactive software that exploits the capabilities of the human perceptual system. A key challenge in information visualization is designing a cognitively useful spatial mapping of a dataset that is not inherently spatial and accompanying the mapping by interaction techniques that allow people to intuitively explore the dataset. Information visualization draws on the intellectual history of several traditions, including computer graphics, human-computer interaction, cognitive psychology, semiotics, graphic design, statistical graphics, cartography, and art. The synthesis of relevant ideas from these fields with new methodologies and techniques made possible by interactive computation are critical for helping people keep pace with the torrents of data confronting them."

6th Annual ACM Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces 2011 ITS 2011
November 13-16, 2011 Portopia Hotel, Kobe, Japan
"The Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces 2011 Conference (ITS) is a premiere venue for presenting research in the design and use of new and emerging tabletop and interactive surface technologies. As a new community, we embrace the growth of the discipline in a wide variety of areas, including innovations in ITS hardware, software, design, and projects expanding our understanding of design considerations of ITS technologies and of their applications."


AFFINE: 4th International Workshop on Affective Interaction in Natural Environments (ICMI 2011)  November 17, 2011, Alicante, Spain (CFP deadline is August 19, 2011)
Scope: "Computer gaming has been acknowledged as one of the computing disciplines which proposes new interaction paradigms to be replicated by software engineers and developers in other fields. The abundance of high-performance, yet lightweight and mobile devices and wireless controllers has revolutionized gaming, especially when taking into account the individual affective expressivity of each player and the possibility to exploit social networking infrastructure. As a result, new gaming experiences are now possible, maximizing users’ skill level, while also maintaining their interest to the challenges in the same, resulting in a state which psychologists call flow: “a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation”. The result of this amalgamation of gaming, affective and social computing has brought increased interest in the field in terms of interdisciplinary research........Natural interaction plays an important role in this process, since it gives game players the opportunity to leave behind traditional interaction paradigms, based on keyboards and mice, and control games using the same concepts they employ in everyday human-human interaction: hand gestures, facial expressions and head nods, body stance and speech. These means of interaction are now easy to capture, thanks to low-cost visual, audio and physiological signal sensors, while models from psychology, theory of mind and ergonomics can be put to use to map features from those modalities to higher-level concepts, such as desires, intentions and goals. In addition to that, non-verbal cues such as eye gaze and facial expressions can serve as valuable indicators of player satisfaction and help game designers provide the optimal experience for players: games which are not frustratingly hard, but still challenging and not boring.........Another aspect which makes computer gaming an important field for multimodal interaction is the new breed of multimodal data it can generate: besides videos of people playing games in front of computer screens or consoles, which include facial, body and speech expressivity, researchers in the field of affective computing and multimodal interaction may benefit from mapping events in those videos (e.g. facial signs of frustration) to specific events in the game (large number of enemies or obstacles close to the player) and infer additional user states such as engagement and immersion. Individual and prototypical user models can be built based on that information, helping produce affective and immersive experiences which maintain the concept of ‘flow’. This workshop will cover real-time and off-line computational techniques for the recognition and interpretation of multimodal verbal and non-verbal activity and behaviour, modelling and evolution of player and interaction contexts, and synthesis of believable behaviour and task objectives for non-player characters in games and human-robot interaction.The workshop also welcomes studies that provide new insights into the use of gaming to capture multimodal, affective databases, low-cost sensors to capture user expressivity beyond the visual and speech modalities and concepts from collective intelligence and group modelling to support multi-party interaction."

Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI 2012) Lisbon, Portugal, February 14-17 (pdf) (CFP Submission Deadline is October 21, 2011)

"Major Topics of Interest to IUI include: Intelligent interactive interfaces, systems, and devices, Ubiquitous interfaces, Smart environments and tools, Human-centered interfaces, Mobile
interfaces, Multimodal interfaces, Pen-based interfaces, Spoken and natural language interfaces, Conversational interfaces, Affective and social interfaces, Tangible interfaces, Collaborative multiuser interfaces, Adaptive interfaces, Sensor-based interfaces, User modeling and interaction with novel interfaces and devices, Interfaces for personalization and recommender systems, Interfaces for plan-based systems, Interfaces that incorporate knowledge- or agent-based approaches, Help interfaces for complex tasks, Example- and demonstration-based interfaces, Interfaces for intelligent generation and presentation of information, Intelligent authoring systems, Synthesis of multimodal virtual characters and social robots, Interfaces for games and entertainment, learning based interactions, health informatics, Empirical studies and evaluations of IUI interfaces, New approaches to designing Intelligent User Interfaces, and related areas"

IXDA: Interaction 12, Dublin, Ireland, February 1-4, 2012
"Interaction|12 is an ideal venue to showcase the most inspiring and original stories in interaction design. We have a world of creative talent to tap into, so our conference roster will fill up fast. We’re on the lookout for thoughtful, original proposals that will inspire our community of interaction designers from all over the world. Do you have an uncommon or enlightening design story, valuable lessons learned from hands-on experience and want to be a part of the programme at Interaction|12? You do? Great!"


More to come!


BTW, I'd like to go to a few Urban Screens or Media Facades festivals:

Media Facades Festival Europe 2010 from MediaFacades on Vimeo


Of course, I'd like to go to educational technology, school psychology, and special education conferences...

Sensory-Mind's Ring Wall, an interactive multi-touch wall you don't even have to touch!

Sensory-Minds is a small company in Germany that is focused on research and design in the field of Natural User Interfaces. If you visit the SENSORY-MINDS website, you'll find that it has been designed for touch interaction.

ring°wall from SENSORY-MINDS on Vimeo.

Information about the Ring Wall from Sensory-Mind's Vimeo site:

".....The two-piece ring°wall consists of a LED display and a multitouch information-wall and impresses by its size: a total surface of 425 square meters, which equals more than 6000 computer displays, is the biggest of its kind. An interactive World emerges out of 34 million pixels generated by 15 high definition projectors and is supported by 30 directional speakers.


Multitouch sensors basing on laser technology, convert the usage of the natural user interface into an experience. By direct touching, more than 80 users can simultaneously get informed about news and activities around the ringworld.


The interactive wall is not only a central information system, but also an innovative advertising tool and medium for public viewings."

Heiko Hoffman of Sensory-Minds recently joined the NUI-Group.  Here is a response to a question on the NUI-group forum about the way the system's sensors work:


"The sensor works like spinning radar gun, or like a wiper in a car, that means like a radar gun you get the distance to the object.  It’s not quiet difficult when you know the position of the sensor and the degree from the beam to get the X,Y position.  Yes, you don’t need to touch the surface but we arranged it that the radar beam is very close to the screen so it seems that you have to touch the surface.

At the moment the system (has) limitations because each sensor (gets) coordinates and this means that you got shadows.This is no problem because the people interact very fast. We are working on a system where the data from the sensors were put together and that would be the solution for this problem."


Note:

I'll be writing a few more posts updating the work of past and present NUI-group members as well as news from the commercial multi-touch & gesture community.  Be sure to check back soon, or subscribe to this blog!

Even more touch! Paper Four - Capacitive Touch Paper; NUI at DreamHack 2008...

When I first started writing about interactive touch-screen technology and multi-touch, there really wasn't much going on. Things have changed over the past couple of years.

Below is a video clip of Paper Four, via Touch User Interface, of a capacitive touch paper developed by researchers at the Mid Sweden University. Sensing electrodes are printed on the paper with conductive ink:


Natural User Interface will be demonstrating multi-touch applications at the upcoming DreamHack Winter 2008 festival November 27-30. DreamHack is known as the world's largest LAN party and computer festival. For more information, see my post on the Technology Supported Human World Interaction blog.

Multi-touch & Surface Computing Thoughts:

Despite the downturn in the global economy, I truly feel in my heart that collaborative multi-touch, or surface computing, will be an important "movement", on many levels. I think that it will enable people to gain a deeper understanding and enjoyment of ideas & concepts.

It is new way of expression and communication, with the potential to support learning, exploring, music, art, cooperation, gaming, and more effective information visualization & data-driven decision making.

Not too many people really "get" the concept of multi-touch - surface computing. Yet.

Those who do seem to be creative, forward thinking, thoughtful, and optimistic. Important characteristics to have during these trying times!

Tangible User Interfaces Part I: Siftables

In 1997, the vision of tangible user interfaces, also known as TUI's, was outlined by Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer of the Tangible Media Group at MIT, in their paper, "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits, and Atoms

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"(pdf). According to this vision, "the goal of Tangible Bits is to bridge the gaps between both cyberspace and the physical environment, as well as the foreground and background of human activities." This article is is a must-read for anyone interested in "new" interactive technologies.

The pictures in the article of the metaDesk, transBoard, activeLENS, and ambientRoom, along with the references, are worth taking at least a glance of this seminal work.

Another must-read is Hiroshi Ishii's 2008 article, Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels (pdf). In this article, Ishii provides a good overview of TUI concepts as well as the contributions of his lab to the field since the first paper was written.

Related tothe Tangible User Interface research is the work of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT. The Fluid Interfaces Group was formerly known as the Ambient Intelligence Group, and many of the group's projects incorporate concepts related to TUI and ambient intelligence. According to the Fluid Interfaces website, the goal of this research group is to "radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive we are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds."

The Siftables project is an example of how TUI and fluid interface (FI) interaction can be combined.
Siftables is the work of David Merrill and Pattie Maes, in collaboration with Jeevan Kalanithi, and was brought to popular attention through David Merrill's recent TED talk:

David Merrill's TED Talk: Siftables - Making the digital physical -Grasp Information Physically

"Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. As an interaction platform, Siftables applies technology and methodology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces. Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media. Siftables can be used to implement any number of gestural interaction languages and HCI applications....Siftables can sense their neighbors, allowing applications to utilize topological arrangement..No special sensing surface or cameras are needed."



Siftables Music Sequencer from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.

More about Siftables:

Rethinking display technology (Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, 7/27/08)
TED: Siftable Computing Makes Data Physical
Siftables: Toward Sensor Network User Interfaces (pdf)

It seems that people really like the Siftable concept, or they don't see the point. I found the following humerous critique of Siftables on YouTube:

"Imagine if all the little programs you had on your iphone were little separate chicklets in your pocket.
You'd lose em.
Your cat would eat em.
You'd vacuum them up.
They'd fall down in the sofa.
They'd be all over the car floor.
You'd throw them away by mistake..."

In my opinion, it is exciting to learn that perhaps some of this technology has the potential of becoming main-stream.