Searching for Multi-Touch Info? Drivers for Windows 7 Available from NextWindow & HP TouchSmart...More about N-Trig..Multi-Touch Resources

Multi-Touch News and Links

Next Window Releases Touch Screen Drivers for Microsoft Windows 7

"The technology to build multi-touch applications for next year's operating system is available today."

Pleasanton, CA (PRWEB) November 4, 2008 --

"NextWindow, the leader in optical touch technology, released a touch screen driver for Windows 7 developers this week. The introduction of multi-touch gestures to this operating system will generate applications giving users more flexibility when engaging with content."

"NextWindow introduced this technology at Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) in October and will be presenting it at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) November 4 - 6, 2008. At this event, NextWindow will be showcasing their latest in optical touch solutions including the integrated touch display found on the HP TouchSmart All-in-One computer."

"Providing a touch screen solution for Windows 7 will give end-users an intuitive method to interact with their computers," said Anthony Uhrick, VP of Sales, NextWindow. "We've created a driver that enables developers to take full advantage of multi-touch functionality."

Software developers interested in touch solutions for Windows 7 are invited to contact NextWindow or download the driver directly from http://www.nextwindow.com/windriver. " More information about NextWindow is available at nextwindow.com."

Contact:
David Villarina, NextWindow
dvillarina @ nextwindow.com

N-trig Delivers Innovative Hands-On™ Computing to PC Industry

"Multi-Touch and Pen Technology to Humanize the Computer Interface and Create New Markets"

KFAR SABA, Israel & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--"N-trig, providers of DuoSense^TMTM evolution. With the industry’s only combined pen and multi-touch capabilities, N-trig is transforming the way people interact with computers. technology, combining pen and capacitive touch in a single device, brings the power of technology and the human touch together to begin a new era in interface technologies and lead the Hands-on computing evolution. With the industry’s only combined pen and multi-touch capabilities, N-trig is transforming the way people interact with computers"
"...Realizing the power of the human interface, N-trig’s DuoSense digitizers are designed to integrate easily, support any type of screen, keep devices slim, light and bright, and can support numerous applications from small notebooks to large LCDs. Combined, pen and touch enables users to open files, manipulate pictures and browse the desktop as they would the files on their desk...Currently available on the Dell Latitude XT and additional OEM designs planned to come to market in early 2009, N-trig is opening a window onto a world where multi-touch is the accepted standard for computer interfaces."
Related

N-trig

Microsoft WinHEC 2008 Conference

NextWindow's Optical Touch Screen Technology

N-trig's Capacitive Touch Technology

All you ever wanted to know about Multi-Touch:
Bill Buxton's Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved

All you ever wanted to know about interactive tables that support collaboration:
Pasta & Vinegar's List of Interactive Tables
(From 2005, but has been updated.)

All you ever wanted to know about tangible user interfaces:
5 Lessons About Tangible Interfaces (pdf) - Nicolas Nova

All you ever wanted to know about interactive gestures:
Interactive Gestures (wiki)

All you ever wanted to know about open-source multi-touch & related technology:
NUI Group (Natural User Interface)

Resources and Links about Touch Screens, Tables, and Multi-touch

Note: I highlight news, thoughts, and reflections about interactive multimedia, multi-touch, and related emergent technologies on this blog.

If you don't see what you are looking for on this post, feel free to do a search on this blog, or my other blog, Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction.

For Multi-Touch Interaction Humor:
Multi-touch Parody of CNN's Magic Map Wall: Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update MegaPixel Giant Touch Map

Microsoft Surface Parody

Emerging Interactive Technologies: SecondLight from Microsoft, at PDC2008

Picture from PCMAG.Com
The videoclip below is a demonstration of the prototype of SecondLight, a Surface-like application developed by a team of researchers at Microsoft Research UK. If you place a tracing-paper like object on the surface, secondary information regarding the content on the surface can be revealed. The system relies on a projector system and a special liquid crystal on the display.



-via Thoughtware.TV

Here is another video from Slashgear that describes SecondLight. According to the video, SecondLight is a multi-point display, displaying images on a surface, and images through a surface. The system has two hi-res cameras, two projectors with optical shutters, infrared illumination, and an electrically switchable diffuser.

SecondLight can track images from a distance, track IR reflective objects, and also track IR emissive objects with mobile, multi-point touch detection.

Steven Sinofsky Discusses Multi-touch and the HP TouchSmart, Windows 7, and more at PDC2008

Steven Sinofsky at the PDC2008 Open Space


In this video, Steven discusses Windows 7 and confirms that Windows 7 works with the HP TouchSmart: "The hardware is multitouch." Sinofsky also discusses how there might be a need for multi-touch drivers for the HP TouchSmart.

Take the 25 minutes or so to watch the video. It is worth it, even the more technical aspects, including how events will be managed to minimize boot time.

Dude!
Sinofsky says you gotta say "dude!". Watch the video to get it!

HP to launch TouchSmart Developer's Kit! via Rich Brown at CNET Crave's Blog

If you follow my blog, you know that I have a TouchSmart, and that I'm a little obsessed about surface-gesture-touch-screen-multi-touch-multi-user computing....

Here is some good news!


According to a recent article from Rich Brown's Crave blog (CNET news), programming guidelines for the TouchSmart require developers to be know C# and Windows Presentation Foundation. That's great for me, since I can program in C# and I've been playing with WPF for nearly a year.



Despite what Rich Brown says, I know that the TouchSmart has at least duo-touch capabilities, since the touch-screen technology was provided by NextWindow, and the TouchSmart has been used for multi-touch demos created by FingerTapps. It is possible for the TouchSmart to handle input from multiple mice, too.

Hopefully Windows 7 will make it easier for developers to harness the power of the TouchSmart. I have so many ideas I'd like to see come to fruition.

If you go to the HP website, you can join the HP TouchSmart developer community.

Multi-touch Parody of CNN's Magic Map Wall: Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update MegaPixel Giant Touch-map

Most viewers familiar with CNN news know about the "Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall", or Magic Wall, used by John King. David Borhman, a CNN producer, was describes the purpose of the Magic Wall in a quote in a Washington Post article:

"It's a stupendous way to explain a lot of complicated data"..."Fundamentally, our job is to explain things to people, and we need it visually. This lets us do it naturally, without a keyboard or mouse getting in the way....Once you see it, you get it instantly."

This would be fun to play with- for just about everyone! If you don't have ready access to a "magic wall", take a look Fred Armisen's playfulness in a recent Saturday Night Live parody of the CNN Magic wall:


Video clip via Hulu

Update:  Transcript from the 2008 SNL Show

Partial Transcript:

"One thing we are going to look at is Pennsylvania..Have a very good look at Harrisburg.....Get in really close to this. Back a bit, back a little bit, excellent"

"Now the country can be moved up and down, like so....We can also shrink it and put it in your pocket if you need to."

"You can always change the colors. You got blue, blue again, a little bit of red...right over there, a little bit of blue of course, if you want to make something out of green, you got a little face there, some whiskers, we can ..... make a cat. Notice the triangle nose!"

"Let's look at Ohio. Lets look at the Cleveland area. Lets look really really close. Really close. Really really close, You can see the top of a warehouse. We're really going to want look at that. Very, very important, were going to want to look at that."

"You can take Oregon, lets move it out into the ocean. It will be completely surrounded by water. That's very, very dangerous."

"And here is New York.... New York was there in 2004, and you can shake it around like that.. (shakes New York)"

"Actually, what I'm doing is very important, and informational"

"OK, Fred, stop goofing around..."

Fred turns to the map, and with both hands, moves all of the states out of place.


Photo via engadget

"Check out Michigan... I can make it bounce!" (Drags down Michigan on the map, it bounces up and down once it reaches the bottom of the map.)

Rumor has it that Jeff Hans, of Perceptive Pixel, was responsible for the SNL version of the Magic Touch-Wall map.

Update 11/4/08:

CNN article confirms that Jeff Hans is the inventor behind the election 'Magic Wall'.

Jeff Han's 2006 demo of his multi-touch applications at TED.

Update
I thought I'd add the video clip that makes a little fun of Microsoft's Surface:

A new kind of SmartBoard: Multi-User Multi-Touch SMART Table for Education

I heard a rumor a few months ago that this was coming...and it was true!



The SMART Table "Touch, Learn, Together"

"The SMART Table interactive learning center lets students get hands-on with collaborative activities – and the more hands the merrier. The SMART Table is a versatile learning center where groups of students can create, explore and discover together on the durable screen. The interface is so intuitive that even the youngest child can play games and plunge into learning activities in no time. You can choose from a wide variety of ready-to-go lesson activities, or customize them to suit your own lessons."

SMARTTablerelease

If you are interested in developing for the SMART Table, visit the SMART Table Developer site.

Here are some of my other posts about multi-touch, surface, and table-top computing:

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

Emerging Interactive Technologies, Emerging Interactions, and Emerging Form Factors

The atracTable Multi-Touch System from Atracsys

Time for More Touch! NASA's collaborative multi-touch table by Gesturetek and Inhanced Digital Corporation; HP touch-screen notebook; NextWindow

New multi-touch "Gravitoy" application from NUI; Multi-touch Space Invaders from Barcelona; "Open source" touch-less multi-touch SDK on CodePlex

Natural User Interface new website shares information about the company's innovative multi-touch solutions...

Time for More Touch! Part Two: Microsoft's "Oahu", a hypothetical (?), affordable version of the Surface multi-touch table..

Creative Programming: openFrameworks - AWESOME for interactive multimedia applications

Ideum's Multi-touch, Multi-user Prototype

New multi-touch "Gravitoy" application from NUI; Multi-touch Space Invaders from Barcelona; "Open source" touch-less multi-touch SDK on CodePlex

NUI (Natural User Interface) recently unveiled Gravitoy, a multi-touch physics application that offers two modes of interaction. Below is a picture of children engaged in collaborative play on an interactive table running Gravitoy in the Sandbox mode. The children can draw objects that interact using principles of physics. (Photos are from NUI co-founder Harry van der Veen's blog)



Below are table-shots of the Sandbox mode:



See the triangle?

The second mode of Gravitoy is "Stacks". Two players play a game of stacking objects of various sizes. The difficulty level can be adjusted by changing gravity options.



This would make science lab engaging for students!

In addition, NUI developed a 3d model viewer application, which looks like it would be fun for budding architects and designers.

Visit the NUI website to learn more about the company and NUI's partners.

Take a look at Multi-touch Space Invaders from Multi-touch Barcelona. It looks like a fun game to play during a rainy recess:

Multitouch Space Invaders! from Multitouch Barcelona (NUI-Group members) on Vimeo.

If you are interested in learning more about developing multi-touch applications and systems, visit the NUI Group website for opensource resources, code, and "how-to" support forums.

Video clips and links related to the work of NUI-Group members, such as Christian Moore, Harry van der Veen, and Seth Sandler, can be found on a previous post:
More Multi-touch from Members of NUI Group!




Touchless Multi-touch...
I recently learned of another "open-source" touch-less "multi-touch" resource. The Touchless SDK was developed for a college project by a Columbia University student, Mike Wasserman.
You will need Visual Studio 2008, the code, and a webcam to get started. From what I can tell, the code will work with in the XNA development environment.

The Touchless SDK website has links to a video demonstration, demo code, FAQs, and more. The discussion list has a lot of good information.

Mike Wasserman is now working at Microsoft Labs.

Link to post: Cool Interactive Whiteboard Activities for Teaching Math

Take a look at my recent post on the TechPsych blog to learn more about the math activities created by Spencer Riley for use on interactive whiteboards, then visit his website. The activities are free!

Resources for the (therapeutic) use of digital and multimedia storytelling and social stories for children and teens...

The most frequently visited post on this blog is Interactive Multimedia for Social Skills, Understanding Feelings, Relaxation, and Coping Strategies, and the hits are increasing. For that reason, I'm working on an extensive update, which is very involved process, given the increase in research in this area. Until then, I thought that it would be helpful to provide a mini-update.

Below are some resources and links for those of you who are interested in digital multimedia story telling or digital social stories with young people. Although some of the resources are specific to children or teens with autism spectrum disorders, I've also included information that is appropriate for use in regular classroom settings.

(If this is your first visit to this blog, it might be a good idea to first check out the resources from the above link, and then return to this post.)

Digital Storytelling and 21st Century Skills (pdf)

This nine-page primer is useful for anyone interested in learning how to create digital stories or develop digital storytelling activities with young people. The information was provided by David Jakes, an instructional technology coordinator for Community High School District 99 in Downers Grove, IL, provides a good case for digital storytelling and an outline of the process of implementing related activities at the high school level.

David Jakes has a website, Jakesonline.org, that contains additional resources about digital storytelling, including strategies for instruction. The website also provide information about collaborative tools and a collection of extensive web resources.

Center for Digital Storytelling

USING MULTIMEDIA SOCIAL STORIES TO INCREASE APPROPRIATE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM (doc)

Encouraging Positive Behavior with Social Stories: An Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders pdf (Shannon Crozier, Nancy M.Sileo) Teaching Exceptional Children, July/August 2005 pp. 26-31

This article provides information that supports a systematic method of implenting social stories that is integrated into a student's Functional Behavioral Assessment and IEP.

Process:
• Team identifies the need for behavior intervention.
• Functional assessment is completed.
• Social stories included in behavior plan.
• Social story is written.
• Social story is introduced and progress is monitored with data.
• Success is evaluated with data.

Note: The authors cite an article written in 1999 that mentions that the use of multimedia social stories has not been demonstrated to be effective, as little research had been completed in this area at the time. Take this with a grain of salt, as there are recent studies (see below) regarding the effective use of multimedia applications, including computer/video games and VR, for social skills training as well as counseling.

An evaluation of the integrated use of a multimedia storytelling system within a psychotherapy intervention for adolescents. (pdf)

Current Autism Research on Social Stories (Vol 2, Issue 8; August 2007) Positively Autism

Multimedia Instruction of Social Skills (CITEd Research Center- Center for Implementing Technology in Education: Multimedia Technologies)

This link provides extensive information about on-line resources for programs that simulate social interaction. It also includes information about the use of social stories with students, and resources for putting together multimedia social stories. Included are some summaries of research about multimedia social stories and the use of multimedia for instructional activities.

Be sure to explore the rest of the CITEd site when you have the time.

Related:

Post: Special issue on Multimedia, Media Convergence, and Digital Storytelling

Digital Stories Targeting Social Skills for Children with Disabilities. Cori More (PRO-ED Journal, 2008)

Digtal/Multimedia Storytelling from A Storied Career: Kathy Hansen's Blog to explore traditional and postmodern forms/uses of storytelling

Digital Storytelling - Katie Christo's Wiki - how-to, resources, tutorials, rubrics, lesson plans, digital storytelling across the curriculum, etc.

The Story-Centered Curriculum - eLearn Magazine

Mind Reading: An Interactive Guide to Reading Emotions

Mind Habits: The Stress Relief Game

SynergyNet Project: Multi-touch tables and displays designed for education...

Rich White at Greenbush Labs is a strong supporter of interactive whiteboards and displays through his work with EduSim, an interactive 3-D virtual collaborative environment. Here is a link to one of his most recent posts about SynergyNet, a multi-touch table that is designed for use in education:

In the Classroom of the Future: Every Desk is an Interactive Surface



"SynergyNet will integrate ICT into the fabric of the classroom. The new desk with a ‘multi-touch’ surface will be the central component; the desks will be networked and linked to a main smartboard offering new opportunities for teaching and collaboration."

"Several students will be able to work together at a desk as the desks allow simultaneous screen contact by multiple users using fingers or pens. Durham researchers want to create a ‘natural way’ for students to use computers in class. The system encourages collaboration between students and teachers, and a move away from teacher-centric learning."

More about the SynergyNet project:

Smart desks make sci-fi a reality in the classroom

Research is underway at Durham University, located in the UK, to see how the interactive tables can support learning IT concepts. According to the SynergyNet project website, the goals of the research are as follows:

• Aim 1: To create a radically new technology-rich learning environment that integrates with traditional classroom layouts and collective activities.
• Aim 2: To design and implement a new form of user interface for educational multi-touch systems.
• Aim 3: To formulate a new pedagogy that eases transition and movement between teacher-centric and pupil-centric interaction.
• Aim 4: To analyse pupils’ learning strategies to inform fundamental research by capturing data as pupils use the SynergyNet environment.

"The system will also boost equal access in school. In IT, we have found that males have been the dominant actors - interactive classrooms will encourage more females to take part in lessons. It will also enable more disabled students to participate in lessons and allow more personalized learning." - Dr. Elizabeth Burd, Principle Investigator, Director of Active Learning in Computing

Related:
jME Physics - the open-source java-based physics engine used in the SynergyNet system

jMonkeyEngine - the open-source java-based game engine use in the SynergyNet system (the video below contains some clips from the SynergyNet project)

Pupils test multi-touch screens
(BBC Article)

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

PLEASE SEE THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS POST:
Interactive Touch Screen Technology, Participatory Design, and "Getting It", Revisited

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.)



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 in which surface computing would be a welcome 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.

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.

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.)

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!

Some resources:
HP TouchSmart PC website, with demo
HP's TouchSmart YouTube videos
lm3labs (catchyoo, ubiq'window)
NUI Group (See member's links)
NextWindow
Fingertapps
thirteen23
SmartTechnologies
Perceptive Pixel - Jeff Hans
Microsoft Surface
iPhone
(More can be found by doing a search on this blog or The World Is My Interactive Interface.)

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:

Need for Improvement: User-Unfriendly Information Kiosk Interactive Map

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

Link to "Internet of Surfaces" Photo Examples

Take a look!
INTERNET OF SURFACES: Photo Examples of Screens of All Sizes

More pictures will be added.

Surface Computing, Health, and Hands-on Science Education

"....from the first time I saw surface in Andy Wilson's lab at Microsoft Research, I knew it had healthcare written all over it. It has taken some time to bring together the right developers and partners to apply Surface technology in health, but we are finally there." -Bill Crounse, MD, Microsoft HealthBlog

As I've previously suggested, surface computing would be useful in education K-12 settings. One look at the graphics posted below at a demonstration about Microsoft Surface in Health.

We know that one of the challenges in our public schools is to to encourage more students to take STEM-related courses. (If you are not familiar with the acronym, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.) One look at the hands-on graphics below might convince reluctant students to sign up for class!






















The video of the 3D interactive heart simulation can be found at the bottom of the following post:

Microsoft Health Blog

Digital Lighbox for Hospitals - The Multi-touch Future of Electronic Medical Records?

Is this what the future holds for electronic medical records?



I came across this on Richard Bank's blog, rb.trends. This multi-touch display is from BrainLAB AG, a company located in Germany. Here is a quote from Ubergizmo:

"Digital Lightbox replaces the conventional light box used to observe analog x-ray images. Connected to the hospital PACS, the new digital platform can be installed both in meeting rooms and in operating rooms, where clinicians can then access, manipulate, and utilize data for surgery planning. By displaying the human body in 3D, Digital Lightbox helps clinicians to more clearly demonstrate to patients what effects a disease can have and which procedures may be necessary. Digital Lightbox enables clinicians to select the most valuable images from large amounts of existing medical data. Ergonomic touchscreen technology with zoom functionality makes working with data easy and effective. Clinicians can intuitively navigate within pictures and between settings. Image scrolling can be performed with one finger; zooming in and out of images with two. Images from different sources can also be fused easily. A measure functionality enables clinicians to set size and other dimensions."

Something like this would be good for high school science classrooms.

Update:
For more photos of the Digital Ligthbox and the iPlan Net software that supports remote collaboration, visit the Future-Making Serious Games blog.

Digital Storytelling, Multimodal Writing, Multiliteracies...

Digital storytelling, multimodal writing, and multiliteracies are overlapping concepts that weren't around during my first round as a university student. As more people of all ages create and share digital content on the web in new and imaginative ways, teachers and university scholars have taken notice. Is there a consensus that the printed word, as we've known it, is in the middle of a digital transformation?

Let's start out with digital storytelling.

By now, everyone knows about YouTube and vlogs as new means of communication. There is more to digital storytelling than uploading a few hastily put-together video clips from the family camcorder, or slapping together a PowerPoint presentation with a few bells and whistles. There are now some standards. Digital storytelling is an art.

The following definition is from an article from EduCause, 7 things you should know about Digital Storytelling.:

• "Digital storytelling is the practice of combining narrative with digital content, including images, sound, and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component. Sophisticated digital stories can be interactive movies that include highly produced audio and visual effects, but a set of slides with corresponding narration or music constitutes a basic digital story. Digital stories can be instructional, persuasive, historical, or reflective. The resources available to incorporate into a digital story are virtually limitless, giving the storyteller enormous creative latitude. Some learning theorists believe that as a pedagogical technique, storytelling can be effectively applied to nearly any subject. Constructing a narrative and communicating it effectively require the storyteller to think carefully about the topic and consider the audience’s perspective."

Petter Kittle, from the Northern California Writing Project, Summer Institute 2008, touches on the topic of multimodal writing in Multimodal Texts: Composing Digital Documents. Related to this is the concept of digital writing.

"Multiliteracies is an approach to literacy which focuses on variations in language use according to different social and cultural situations, and the intrinsic multimodality of communications, particularly in the context of today's new media."

• "...it is no longer enough for literacy teaching to focus solely on the rules of standard forms of the national language. Rather, the business of communication and representation of meaning today increasingly requires that learners are able figure out differences in patterns of meaning from one context to another. These differences are the consequence of any number of factors, including culture, gender, life experience, subject matter, social or subject domain and the like. Every meaning exchange is cross-cultural to a certain degree." -from Kalantzis and Cope's Multiliteracies website

Here is a short list of resources:
The Center for Digital Storytelling
Multimedia Storytelling
What are multimodality, multisemiotics, and multiliteracies?
(Ben Williamson, Futurelab)
Reading Images: Multimodality, Representation, and New Media
(Gunther Kress)
New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education
(Mary Kalantzis & Bill Cope)
Multiliteracies
The Multiliteracy Project
Multimodal Writing
http://multimodalwriting.com/
(new website, under development)
Multimedia Blogging
(a post from 2004, worth reading for historical context)
Thinking about multimodal assessment
(Digital Writing, Digital Teaching)
Standards related to digital writing
(from Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis...)

I conclude this text-based post with a promise to incorporate more multimedia experiences in my upcoming posts....stay tuned.

MellaniuM: Virtual Reality, History, and Digital Heritage

Joe Rigby, from MellaniuM, focuses on the use of interactive virtual reality technology to create environments that support the learning of history. This concept is also known as "Digital Heritage". Applications are in the works that combine high-polygon modeling with scaled photo-realistic textures, incorporating multi-user avatar interaction within 3D archaeological visualizations.

MellaniuM will be presenting at VSMM' 08: Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia Dedicated to Digital Heritage. Instead of a PowerPoint presentation, participants will be provided with a walk-through of the Theatre of Pompeii.

A future workshop, sponsored by ADSIP, the Applied Digital Signal and Image Processing Research Centre, will feature an EONREALITY multi-wall immersive system to display the latest version of the Theatre of Pompeii district. Public VR and Anne Weis ,from the Department of Art History at the University of Pittsburgh, are collaborating on this project.

The original Pompeii Project, was built at Carnegie Mellon's Studio for Creative Inquiry, during the mid-1990's. Links to the Virtual Theater District (VMRL) and 3D models can be found at http://artscool.cfa.cmu.edu:16080/~hemef/pompeii/project.html

If you have an interactive whiteboard, download the 3D models of Pompeii. You'll have to install a free VRML plug-in in order to view them on a web browser.

Wouldn't it be great if all students could learn about history via interactive virtual reality someday?

Microsoft's Multi-Touch Sphere "Photo Globe"

I just had to post about this, even though this news has been rapidly circulating around the blogSPHERE.

The sphere could support an interactive travel planning/travel memory application.

Imagine if you were on a cruise ship, and uploaded your photos to the globe, and voila, they'd show up on the sphere in your mother's living room! Geo-tagged, cross-referenced, synched with your 2.0 apps, and linked to your vacation video-clips you previously uploaded to YouTube.

More Multi-touch: Dell's Latitude XT tablet now comes with a multi-touch upgrade!

This is exciting news for multi-touch enthusiasts. Dell's Latitude XT tablet now offers a free multi-touch upgrade, according to a recent Engadget post, written by Paul Miller. Here is some information from Dell's website:

Dell Propels Laptop Innovation with First Multi-touch Convertable Tablet, Larger Solid State Drive

A word of caution about the following video demonstrating the mutli-touch capabilities of Dell's Lattitude XT. The guys presenting aren't related to Jeff Hans. You won't see the "Wow" factor that creative multi-touch applications can provide.




Photo from NotebookReview.com:


"The new capabilities include:

Scroll – by placing two fingers on the screen and moving them horizontally or vertically customers can easily navigate in web browsers and productivity applications. Zoom – by touching the screen with two fingers and moving them together customers can zoom various content in and out, such as pictures or Web pages. Programmable double-tap – customers can program a command, such as launching a Web browser or turning the screen off to save power, that will respond to two taps with two fingers." From an earlier post on the Dell website: "The Latitude XT is designed with the future in mind with the capability to support multi-touch. As the technology matures, the system can serve as a premiere development platform for applications that can take advantage of multi-touch." “By integrating our DuoSense technology into the Latitude XT, Dell creates the ultimate machine destined to lead the tablet PC market,” said Amihai Ben-David, CEO of N-trig. “Customers using the new Latitude XT will find that the zero pressure touch combined with the accurate stylus changes the usability of tablet PCs. Once they try it, they won’t want to go back.” The multi-touch gesture upgrade should be available by Tuesday, July 15th, 2008, at http://support.dell.com. No need to wait until Microsoft unleashes Windows 7, right? I think we'll need developers to create cool interactive websites that are fully optimized for multi-touch interaction, don't you? I have a few ideas for online games and more. Multi-touch technology certainly has a place in education. I would love to use this with some of the students with autism that I work with. (A donation towards my multi-touch technology fund would be greatly appreciated.)

V12's Dual-Touch-screen Canova: Multi-touch could support applications for universal design, education, and assistive technology.

V12 Design is a company with offices in Italy and Australia. It is developing the second-generation version of Canova . Since the product will not be on the market for at least 16 months, no pictures of the newest version were available. The first version is depicted in the photos below:

Canova Generation 1#


(Photo via Gizmodo; depicts the first version of the dual LCD laptop.)

According to information from LaptopMag, Conova was..The first-generation model....was envisioned to transform from a sketch pad, to a writing pad with an electronic pen, to a newspaper."



From the Gizmodo AU website:

"An interview with Valerio Cometti, the founder and managing director of V12 Design, confirmed that the upcoming version would support multitouch input and that a microphone would be built into the design for voice commands."

With multi-touch and audio input, this device would be a godsend for young people with learning difficulties and others who require assistive technology. It would also be very useful for people in various fields of work. I assume that the Canova will come with speakers, a DVD player, a video camera, Blue-tooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.

I was excited about the new dual-touch screen laptops in development for the One Laptop Per Child project. I'm even more excited about the Canova. Hopefully, the company is devoting attention to usability studies with a wide range of people, using a variety of interactive demo applications.

I wonder if I can get my hands on a second-generation prototype of Canova to test out my touch-screen application "experiments". I'm bursting with ideas to try out, including gaming applications.

I want one now!

The second version will be developed by a US manufacturer. If anyone knows more about this leave a comment!

Related:
V12 Designs' Dual-Touchscreen Notebook Coming Within Two Years

V12 DEsign Dual-Touchscreen Notebook will make ebook readers drool

V12 Design Delivering Dual Touchscreen Laptop Within Two Years

Lm3Lab, Nicolas Leoillot, and Multimedia Interaction

A Look Nicolas Leoillot's Videos

I came across a link to a few videos uploaded to Vimeo by Nicolas Leoillot, of Lm3Lab, in Japan. Lm3Lab is responsible for a variety of new interactive multimedia technologies. At first glance, the applications appear to be geared for the commercial market. Upon deeper inspection, the applications have many characteristics that would translate nicely to the world of education. Take a look!


Holographic Google Earth from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

Catchyoo.tv

Interactive Book Catchyoo
by Catchyoo

Lm3Labs UbiqWindow

UbiqWindow

"UbiqWindow is a touchless optical technology which lets users experience a unique interactivyt with digital content through natural gestures...Ubiqwindow is open to any type of software applications, legacy website, or brand new applications. Ubiq window can even be applied to real objects."

Catchyoo iTable at Teikoku Data Bank, in Japan: http://www.tdb-muse.jp/:



More on this topic coming soon....