International Conference on Multimodal Interaction: ICMI 2011 Call for Papers

The information below was taken from the website for the 13th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction. I'm excited about the range of topics that the conference will cover.  I look forward to sharing more about the work of the members of this group on this blog in the future!  (I've highlighted the topics that interest me the most.)

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMODAL INTERACTION CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, ICMI 2011, will take place in Alicante (Spain), November 14-18, 2011, just after the ICCV 2011 (in Barcelona, Spain). This is the thirteenth edition of the International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces, which for the last two years joined efforts with the Workshop on Machine Learning for Multimodal Interaction (ICMI-MLMI 2009 and 2010). Starting in this edition the conference uses the new, shorther name.

The new ICMI is the premium international forum for multimodal signal processing and multimedia human-computer interaction. The conference will focus on theoretical and empirical foundations, varied component technologies, and combined multimodal processing techniques that define the field of multimodal interaction analysis, interface design, and system development. ICMI 2011 will feature a single-track main conference which includes: keynote speakers, technical full and short papers (including oral and poster presentations), special sessions, demonstrations, exhibits and doctoral spotlight papers. The conference will be followed by workshops. The proceedings of ICMI 2011 will be published by ACM as part of their series of International Conference Proceedings and will be also distributed to the attendees in USB memory sticks.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Multimodal and multimedia interactive processing
  Multimodal fusion, multimodal output generation, multimodal interactive discourse and dialogue modeling, machine learning methods for multimodal interaction.
  
• Multimodal input and output interfaces
  Gaze and vision-based interfaces, speech and conversational interfaces, pen-based and haptic interfaces, virtual/augmented reality interfaces, biometric interfaces, adaptive multimodal interfaces, natural user interfaces, authoring techniques, architectures.
  
• Multimodal and interactive applications
  Mobile and ubiquitous interfaces, meeting analysis and meeting spaces, interfaces to media content and entertainment, human-robot interfaces and interaction, audio/speech and vision interfaces for gaming, multimodal interaction issues in telepresence, vehicular applications and navigational aids, interfaces for intelligent environments, universal access and assistive computing, multimodal indexing, structuring and summarization.
  
• Human interaction analysis and modeling
  Modeling and analysis of multimodal human-human communication, audio-visual perception of human interaction, analysis and modeling of verbal and nonverbal interaction, cognitive modeling.
  
• Multimodal and interactive data, evaluation, and standards
  Evaluation techniques and methodologies, annotation and browsing of multimodal and interactive data, standards for multimodal interactive interfaces.
  
• Core enabling technologies
  Pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision, speech recognition, gesture recognition.
  

Important dates

Workshops proposal	March 1, 2011
Paper and demo submission	May 13, 2011
Author notification	August 5, 2011
Camera ready deadline	September 2, 2011
Conference	November 14-16, 2011
Workshops	November 17-18, 2011

General Chairs

Hervé Bourlard (Idiap)
Thomas S. Huang (Univ. of Illinois)
Enrique Vidal (Tech. Univ. of Valencia)

Program Chairs

Daniel Gatica-Perez (Idiap)
Louis-Philippe Morency (Univ. South. California)
Nicu Sebe (Univ. of Trento)

Demo Chairs

Kazuhiro Otsuka (NTT Comm. Sci. Lab.)
Jordi Vitrià (UB/CVC, Barcelona)

Workshop Chairs

Fernando de la Torre
(Carnegie Mellon Univ.)
Alejandro Jaimes (Yahoo! Research, Barcelona)

Publication Chair

Jose Oncina (Univ. of Alicante)

Student & Doctoral Spotlight Chair

Li Deng (Microsoft Research and Univ. of Washington)

Sponsorship Chair

Nuria Oliver (Telefónica I+D)

Publicity Chair

Helen Mei-Ling Meng (CUHK, Hong Kong)

Local Organization Chair

Luisa Micó (Univ. of Alicante)

Treasurer

Jorge Calera (Univ. of Alicante)

Local organizers

Xavier Anguera (Telefónica I+D)
A. Javier Gallego Sánchez (Univ. of Alicante)
Ida Hui (CUHK, Hong Kong)
Jose Manuel Iñesta (Univ. of Alicante)
Alejandro Toselli (Tech. Univ. of Valencia)


RELATED
Accepted Papers for ICMI-MLMI 2010


NOTE:  ICMI 2011 will be held after ICCV 2011, the 13th International Conference on Computer Vision in Barcelona.

Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It", Revisited

I've been planning on updating one of my popular posts, "Interactive Touch-Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and Getting It" for a while. 


Here is a compromise - since much still rings true two years since I wrote it, the bulk of this post remains the same.   I've updated a few sections with additional video examples of interactive touch-screen applications, good and bad, along with a few links and resources, located at the bottom of the post. 


(The missing piece of information?  An update about apps for the iPad and similar touch-screen tablets.)

Sit back and enjoy!

-Images: HP; Wired

There's been some discussion over the reasons why so many people don't understand touch screen, or "surface" computing, even though research in this area has been going on for years.

As the new owner of the HP TouchSmart, I know that I get it.

The research I've conducted in this area suggests that people will "get-it" only if there is a strong commitment to develop touch-screen "surface" applications through a user-centered, participatory design process. In my view, this should incorporate principles of ethnography, and ensure that usability studies are conducted outside of the lab.

This approach was taken with Intel's Classmate PC. Intel has about 40 ethnographic researchers, and sent many of them to work with students and teachers in classrooms around the world. (A video regarding ethnographic research and the Intel Classmate project can be found near the end of this post.)


-Images: ClassematePC


Where to start?
K-12 classrooms and media centers. Public libraries. Malls. Hospital lobbies and doctor's offices. Any waiting room. Staff lounges in medical centers, schools, and universities. Community festivities and events. Movie theater lobbies. Museums and other points of interests.

I believe we need to take a "touching is believing" approach.

Here are some thoughts:
When I try to explain my fascination with developing touch-screen interactive multimedia applications, (interactive whiteboards, multi-touch displays and tables, and the like), many of my friends and family members eyes glaze over. This is particularly true for people I know who are forty-ish or over.

Even if you are younger, if you never saw the cool technology demonstrated in the movie Minority Report, or if you have limited experience with video games, or if you haven't came within touching distance of an interactive whiteboard, the concept might be difficult to understand.

The reality?
Even people who have the opportunity to use surface computing technology on large screens do not take full advantage of it. Multi-touch screens are often used as single-touch screens, and interactive whiteboards in classrooms are often serve as expensive projector screens for teacher-controlled PowerPoint presentations.

Most importantly, there are few software developers who understand the surface computing approach, even with the popularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Most focus on traditional business-oriented or marketing applications, and have difficulty envisioning scenarios for surface computing.  There is a need for a breath of fresh air!

Another factor is that not all people entrusted to market surface or touch screen computing fully understand it.

Despite a cool website showing off the goods, Microsoft's Surface multi-touch table has been slow to take off, limiting hope of bringing down the price tag to a price most families or schools could afford. (The picture above depicts an application for the Surface designed for health care professionals, not K-12 science education.)

Although you can't buy a Surface table for your family room, it is possible to buy a TouchSmart.  HP's TouchSmart website is engaging and highlights some examples of touch-screen interaction, but most people don't seem to know about it. (Since this post was last written, there are many more touch and multi-touch options available to the public, such as the  Dell, the iPad, etc.)

Unfortunately, you wouldn't have a clue that the HP TouchSmart exists browsing the aisles at Circuit City or Best Buy!

When I was shopping for my new TouchSmart, I noticed that from a distance, the TouchSmart looked just like the other larger flat-screen monitors filling up the aisles. The salespeople at both stores were not well-informed about the system. The only reason I knew bout the new TouchSmart was related to my obsession with interactive multimedia touch-screen applications- designing them, developing them, studying them, reading about them, blogging about them.... ; }

More thoughts:

After studying HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), and relating this knowledge to what I know as a psychologist, my hunch is that the "Window Icon Mouse Pointing-device" (WIMP) and keyboard input mind-set is embedded in our brains, to a certain extent. Like driving a car, it is something automatic and expected. This is true for users AND developers. (Update - See The Post WIMP Explorers' Club: Update of the Updates for a review of a discussion among passionate post WIMP folks)

Think about it.

Suppose one day, you were told that you no longer were allowed to control your car by turning on the ignition, steering the wheel, or using your feet to accelerate, slow down, or stop the car! Instead, you needed to learn a new navigation, integration, and control system that involved waving your hands about and perhaps speaking a few commands.

For new drivers who'd never seen a car before, this new system would be user-friendly and intuitive. Perhaps it would be quite easy for 16-year-old kids to wrap their heads around this concept. For most of us, no. Imagine the disasters we would see on our streets and highways!

When we think about how newer technologies are introduced to people, we should keep this in mind.

In my mind, spreading the word about surface computing is not a "if you build it, they will come" phenomenon, like the iPhone. We can't ignore the broader picture.

From my middle-age woman's vantage point, I believe that it is important that the those involved with studying, developing, or marketing surface computing applications realize that many of us simply have no point of reference other than our experiences with ATMs, airline kiosks, supermarket self-serve lanes, and the like. (The video clip at the very end of this post provides a good example of touch-screen technology gone wrong.) -UPDATE: additional videos were added to this post.

Be aware that there are substantial numbers of people who might benefit from surface computing who prefer to avoid the ATMs, airline kiosks, and self-serve grocery shopping.

Realize that the collective experience with technology, in many cases, has not been too pretty. Many people have had such user-unfriendly experiences with productivity applications, forced upon them by their employers, that any interest or desire to explore emerging technologies has been zapped.

My own exposure to interactive "surface" related technology was somewhat accidental.
A few years ago, a huge box was deposited into the room I worked in a couple of days a week as a school psychologist at a middle school. After a week or so, I became curious, and found out that it was a SmartBoard. Until then (2002!), I did not know that interactive whiteboards existed.

The boxed remained unopened in the room for the entire school year, but no worry. I played with the only other SmartBoard in the school, and found a couple at the high school where I also worked. I hunted for all of the applications and interactive websites that I could find, and tried them out. That is when I was hooked. I could see all kinds of possibilities for interactive, engaging subject area learning activities. I could see the SmartBoards potential for music and art classes. With my own eyes, I saw how the SmartBoard engaged students with special needs in counseling activities. (By the way, if you are working with middle school students, PBS Kid's ItsMyLife website activities work great on an interactive whiteboard.)

A few years have passed, and reflecting on all of my fun experiences with interactive whiteboards, with and without students, I now understand that many teachers still have had limited exposure to this technology.

This school year, many teachers are finding themselves teaching in classrooms recently outfitted with interactive whiteboards, scrambling along with educational technology staff development specialists, to figure out how it works best with various groups of students, and what sort of changes need to be made regarding instructional practice.

For the very first time, interactive whiteboards were installed in two classrooms at one of the schools I work at. One of the teachers I know thanked me for telling her about interactive whiteboards and sharing my resources and links.

If I hadn't let her know about this technology, she wouldn't have volunteered to have one installed in her classroom. It has transformed the way she teaches special needs students.

In the few months that she's used the whiteboard, I can see how much it has transformed the way the students learn. They are attentive, more communicative, and engaged. The students don't spend the whole day with the whiteboard - the interactive learning activities are woven into lessons at various times of the day, representing true technology integration.

Now let's see what happens when all-in-one touch-screen PC's are unleashed in our schools!

UPDATE:  Take a look at a post I wrote for Innovative Interactivity just after SMART Technologies acquired NextWindow - the post describe in detail how interactive whiteboards are transforming learning and teaching in a program for students with special needs.
SMARTTechnologies Acquires NextWindow: A "smart window" to the world


There are some interesting changes going on at the intersection of HCI and educational technology research.  I participated in a workshop at CHI 2010 last April and was impressed by what is going on in this area, around the globe:   Next Generation of HCI and Education

Value of ethnographic research:
Ethnographic Research Informed Intel's Classmate PC
"Intel looked closely at how students collaborate and move around in classroom environments. The new tablet feature was implemented so that the device would be more conducive to what Intel calls “micromobility”. Intel wants students to be able to carry around Classmate PCs in much the same way that they currently carry around paper and pencil." -via Putting People First and Ars Technica

The video below is from Intel's YouTube Channel. Information about Intel's approach to ethnographic research in classrooms during the development of the Classroom PC is highlighted. This approach uses participatory design and allows the set of applications developed for the Classmate PC to reflect the needs of local students and teachers. Schools from many different countries were included in this study.




FYI: TOUCH SCREEN DISPLAYS:  NEED FOR IMPROVEMENT!

Touch Screen Coke Machine at the Mall: 90 Seconds to get a Coke


User-Unfriendly Interactive Display in the Rain (Ballantyne Village Shopping Center)

User-Unfriendly Information Kiosk Interactive Map

I encountered this puzzling and frustrating interactive directory/map at the Cleveland Clinic.  When I went to visit a relative at the hospital a year or so later, the map was no longer there.


BETTER EXAMPLES OF INTERACTIVE SCREENS:

Here are some interesting pictures from lm3labs, which are in my interactive usability hall of fame:

Samsung's new Omnia SDG i900 was re-created in a much larger size, using lm3lab's Ubiq'window touchless technology.For more about lm3labs, including several videoclips, take a look at one of my previous posts: Lm3Labs, Nicolas Leoillot, and Multimedia Interaction

Midwife Toad App on a Microsoft Surface, Discovery Place Science Center


TellTable:  Digital Storytelling on the Surface:  Microsoft Research, UK


DECEMBER 31, 2009 -Interactive Soda Machine for Fun

The interactive screen on the Coke machine attracted the attention of this young child. He loved spinning the image of the bottle. So did the dad! He said, "I'd like something like this for my home!". I told him about the HP TouchSmart - both the dad and the mom did not know that there were affordable all-in-one touch screens available, but they knew about SMARTboards, because their children's classrooms had them.  Note:  No one from this family actually purchased a soft drink.  I was hoping to time how long it would take them to do so!

Some resources:

Multimedia, Multitouch, Gesture, and Interaction Resources (Mega-list, work in progress)

lm3labs (catchyoo, ubiq'window)

NUITeqNUI Group (See member's links)

Sparkon (See members links and multi-touch projects)

3M TouchNextWindow

Fingertapps

thirteen23

SmartTechnologies

SMARTTable

Perceptive Pixel - Jeff Hans

Microsoft Surface

InfoStrat

Reactable

RENCI Multi-touch

iPhone

iPad

Stantum

DELL MultiTouch

Vectorform

HP TouchSmart PC website, with demo

HP's TouchSmart YouTube videos

(More information and resources can be found by doing a "multitouch" or related search on this blog or The World Is My Interactive Interface.)

If you have plenty of time, take a look at my Post WIMP Explorers' Club YouTube playlist.
"Natural user interfaces, gesture interaction, multi-touch, natural interaction, post WIMP examples and more..."

FYI: I visited the Ballantyne Village shopping center a couple of months ago to follow up on the interactive displays, including the one I tried to use while it was raining.   The shopping center changed ownership, and the displays were replaced by the old-fashioned kind, pictured below:

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

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!

Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces: 2010 ACM Conference, Nov. 7-10, Saarbrucken, Germany. Wish I could go!

If you are new to this blog, you should know that I'm passionate about interactive tables and surfaces of all sizes!   Although this technology has been around for a while, it is a new concept to most people.  The researchers and practitioners involved in the upcoming 2010 Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces Conference have been an important influence in the way people think about interacting with technology, and have made significant contributions to this emerging field over the past several years.   It hasn't been an easy road, given that most of us have minds brainwashed through years of forced keyboard-and-mouse interaction and traditional WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers) interfaces.

I first learned about the first Interactive Tabletops conference, held in 2006, in early 2007.  At the time, I was working on projects for my HCI and Ubiquitous Computing classes, trying to learn everything I could about natural user interaction, large touch-screen displays, tabletop computing, and multi-touch.   I was inspired by the interesting work going on in this field.  This was before the first iPhone was introduced, before Microsoft's multi-touch Surface was unveiled, and three years before Apple broke out with the iPad.

Many of the people involved with the 2010 Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces Conference are (or have been) affiliated with the NUI group.  NUI stands for Natural User Interface, or Natural User Interaction - the NUI group is "a global research community focused on the open discovery of natural user interfaces."  I joined the NUI-group in 2007 when I was looking for more information about the nuts and bolts of multi-touch programming and systems, and have been encourage to see how things have evolved since then.

Members of another group, sparkon, are also participating in the Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces conference.  Sparkon is an on-line community that includes people involved with  interactive technologies, including tabletop and surface computing. "On sparkon, you'll find projects demonstrating the latest interactive techniques, applications, software frameworks, case studies, and blog articles relating to creative and emergent technology."  (I'm also a member of Sparkon.)


Here's the information from the conference website:

ACM Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, Saarbrücken, Germany:  7-10 November, 2010
"ITS 2010 is a premier venue for presenting research in the design and use of new and emerging tabletop and interactive surface technologies. As a young community, we embrace the growth of the discipline in a wide variety of areas, including innovations in ITS hardware, software, interaction design, and studies expanding our understanding of design considerations of ITS technologies and of their applications in modern society. ITS 2010 will bring together top researchers and practitioners who are interested in both the technical and human aspects of interactive tabletop and surface technologies. It is our hope that we will be able to achieve increased synergy of approaches between the disciplines engaged in the research in the area of interactive tabletops and surfaces, Design, HCI, UbiComp, Psychology, MobileHCI and other related fields. More directly, we intend to encourage immediate interdisciplinary collaboration on future research topics. Young scholars and Ph.D. students are especially encouraged to submit papers and participate in the doctoral colloquium."


Johannes Schöning, DFKI GmbH
Antonio Krüger, DFKI GmbH
Conference General Chairs


KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  W. Bradford Paley

"Bio: W. Bradford Paley uses computers to create visual displays with the goal of making readable, clear, and engaging expressions of complex data. He did his first computer graphics in 1973, founded Digital Image Design Incorporated in 1982, and started doing financial & statistical data visualization in 1986. He has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art; he created TextArc.org; he is in the ARTPORT collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art; has received multiple grants and awards for both art and design, and his designs are at work every day in the hands of brokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University, and is director of Information Esthetics: a fledgling interdisciplinary group exploring the creation and interpretation of data representations that are both readable and esthetically satisfying."


SAMPLE TOPICS

• Applications
• Gesture-based interfaces
• Multi-modal interfaces
• Tangible interfaces
• Novel interaction techniques
• Data handling/exchange on large interactive surfaces
• Data presentation on large interactive surfaces
• User-interface technology
• Computer supported collaborative systems
• Middleware and network support
• Augmented reality
• Social protocols
• Information visualizations
• Interactive surface hardware, including sensing and input technologies with novel capabilities
• Human-centered design & methodologies

RELATED
Previous Conferences

• Tabletop 2009 in Banff, Canada
• Tabletop 2008 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Tabletop 2007 in Newport, RI, USA
• Tabletop 2006 in Adelaide, Australia

PLUGS
From the conference website -Links to the conference sponsors:

We appreciate the generous support of the following sponsors, without whom this conference would not be possible. Click on the logos to learn more about our generous supporters, and let us know if you are interested in becoming a sponsor.

Champions:

 

Benefactors:

  

Donors:

Contributors:

Academic Sponsors: