Human Computer Interaction + Informal Science Education Conference (NUI News)

I recently learned of the HCI + ISE conference, funded by the National Science Foundation and organized by Ideum and Independent Exhibitions that will provide the groundwork for the future of the development and design of interactive computer-based science exhibits.

Science museums have a long history of interactivity, well suited to groups of "explorers", such as families or students visiting on a field trip.  

What is really exciting is that new interactive applications and technologies have the power to transform the way people learn and understand science in a collaborative and social way.  Innovations in the field of HCI - Human-Computer Interaction- such as multi-touch and gesture interaction, are  well-suited to meet the goals of science education for all, beyond the school doors and wordy textbooks. 

Below is a screen-shot of the conference website, a description about the conference, quoted from the site, and some related resources.

About the HCI+ISE Conference

"HCI technologies, such as motion capture, multitouch, augmented reality, RFID, and voice recognition are beginning to change the way computer-based science exhibits are designed and developed. Human Computer Interaction in Informal Science Education (HCI+ISE) is a first-of-its-kind gathering to explore and disseminate effective practices in developing a new generation of digital exhibits that are more intuitive, interactive, and social than their predecessors."

"The HCI+ISE Conference, to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico June 11-14 2013, will bring together 60 museum exhibit designers and developers, learning researchers, and technology industry professionals to share effective practices, and to explore both the enormous potential and possible pitfalls that these new technologies present for exhibit development in informal science education settings."

"HCI+ISE will focus on the practical considerations of implementing new HCI technologies in educational settings with an eye on the future. Along with a survey of how HCI is shaping the museum world, participants will be challenged to envision the museum experience a decade into future. The conference results will provide a concrete starting point for exhibit developers and informal science educators who are just beginning to investigate these emerging technologies and design challenges in creating these new types of exhibits."

Why HCI+ISE?
"Since the mid-1980s informal educational venues have increasingly incorporated computer-based exhibits into their science communication offerings in an effort to keep pace with public expectations and make use of the expanding opportunities these technologies provide. The advent and popularity of once novel HCI technologies are becoming commonplace: the Wii and Microsoft Kinect now allow for motion capture video games, tablet PCs have multitouch interaction, and smart phones and other devices come standard with voice recognition. Yet many museums are still developing single-touch and trackball-driven, single-user computer kiosks."

"Science museums have a long history of championing hands-on, physical, and inquiry-based activities and exhibits. This vast experience has only just begun to be applied to interactive computer interfaces. Along with seasoned science exhibit developers, the Conference will draw upon individuals outside of ISE who will provide fresh insight into the technologies, design issues, and audience expectations that these visitor experiences present."

Involvement and Findings
"HCI+ISE will bring together a diverse group of practitioners and other professionals to discuss (and in some cases share and prototype) new design approaches utilizing emerging HCI technology. Please see our Apply page to learn how you can participate. Conference news and findings will be distributed through a variety of ISE and museum websites, including this one."

"We welcome your questions and comments about the HCI+ISE Conference."

CONTACTS

Kathleen McLean of Independent Exhibitions
& Jim Spadaccini of Ideum
HCI+ISE Co-chairs

RELATED
Independent Exhibitions

Open Exhibits

"Open Exhibits is a multitouch, multi-user tool kit that allows you to create custom interactive exhibits."
CML:  Creative Mark-up Language
GML: Gesture Mark-up Language
GestureWorks
Ideum

Revisiting Good Blogs: IDEUM update

Jim Spadaccini is the director of Ideum and is responsible for the Ideum blog, which is well worth reading if you are interested in creative use of multi-touch, gesture, and interactive multimedia applications.  Jim also serves as the principal investigator of the Open Exhibits project, a non-profit open source, multi-touch, multiuser software initiative, which includes a free software development kit (SDK) for museums, students, nonprofits, and educational use.


Here are a few links to posts from the Ideum blog:
Building a High-Resolution Multi-touch Wall: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,  Part 4 and Part 5.
Ideum Blog
Events at the The Tech and the Maxwell Museum
Open Exhibits, Year Two

The Open Exhibits Research and Design blog is worth reading, as it often includes Jim Spadaccini's words of wisdom and some interesting video clips.


More about IDEUM
Ideum will be involved in an upcoming day-long conference at the Tech Museum on Tuesday, November 15th (2011), Building Interfaces for the New Decade  Conference San Jose, California, 11/15/11

Ideum is working on interconnectivity between devices, as shown below, where people are connecting their iPhones to a multi-touch table:


Here is a video about Ideum's Tiny Drifters exhibit,  7 foot multi-touch wall at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:




Here is a promotional video about Ideum's rugged MT-55 multi-touch table. It holds up to the interaction of thousands of museum visitors.  

Emerging Interactive Multimedia, New Models of HCI for Museum Exhibits (Course offered by Ideum's Jim Spadaccini, plus info about the MT55 multi-touch table)

Jim Spadaccini, the director and founder of Ideum, will be teaching a course on exhibit development through the University of Victoria, "Emerging Exhibits: Exploring New Models of Human Computer Interaction (HCI).  The excerpt from the course description provides a glimpse of how emerging technologies are beginning to change the museum experience:


"Computer-based interactive exhibits are undergoing a major transformation. The lone, single-user kiosk is now being replaced by multitouch tables and walls, motion-capture spaces, networked installations, and RFID-based exhibits. Advances in augmented reality, voice recognition, eye tracking, and other technologies promise even more radical change for exhibits in the near future."


I've been following Jim's journey with Ideum, a multimedia design firm that collaborates with museums and related non-profits, for many years, and I am impressed with the work of this company.  In addition to his work at Ideum,  Jim serves as the Principal Investigator of a National-Science Foundation sponsored open-source exhibit software project, Open Exhibits, which provides a free software development kit that supports the creation of multi-touch and multi-user software applications for museums and educational settings.


I'm happy to put in a plug for Ideum's latest product, the MT55 Platform Multi-Touch Table. It incorporates a range of features that I'm sure will meet the needs of museum visitors.  In my opinion, this table would be a fantastic resource for all types of libraries, including those in K-12 settings.

The MT55 Platform Multi-touch Table, from Ideum

The MT55 Platform Multitouch Table from Ideum on Vimeo.  (Note: This video features music by Moby, the track "Sevastopol" on his current album, Destroyed. The music was used with the artists' permission. Learn more at: moby.com") - Ideum

"The thinnest, largest, most powerful multitouch table available.The MT55 Platform multitouch table houses a powerful computer and a 55-inch interactive LCD display that responds to 32 touch-points, inside a rugged aluminum body."

"The bright 55″ 1920×1080 HD display has a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio. A wide 178-degree viewing angle accommodates multiple users around the table. The optical multitouch system supports 32 simultaneous touch points for collaborative interaction. The system is multitouch-enabled from start-up, and runs Windows 7 64-bit professional edition."


"The integrated computer is packed with power. It contains an Intel® Hyper-Threaded DualCore i5® which runs at 2.66 GHz, 8GB of RAM, and a 128 GB solid-state drive (upgradeable to an i7®)."


"The table comes complete with WIFI, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity. It also has multiple HDMI outputs that allow you to easily mirror the table's display, extend the desktop, or connect to and display from another computer or HDMI device."

"Convenient, but secure ports: CAT5, HDMI, and USB 2.0 are available on both the side on bottom the table."

"The MT55 Platform includes blue LED under-lights to illuminate the area beneath the interactive surface (custom LED colors are available). Every MT table includes a sophisticated internal cooling cell to maintain operating conditions that exceed the optimum environmental specifications for the internal components."

"The interactive surface of the MT55 Platform protected by a sheet of hardened, crystal clear, low-iron 5mm tempered glass surface...As an option, we offer Sevasa HapticGlas®, produced exclusively for Ideum. Micro-etched HapticGlas® provides tactile feedback, reduces fingerprints, increases scratch resistance, and directs user focus." -Ideum
 
RELATED
High-res photos of the MT55 Platform

GestureWorks Software
Open Exhibits
Ideum
Open Exhibits Tuio Kinect

Grant from the National Science Foundation for Multi-touch Interactive Museum Exhibits!

This is interesting!

"Open Exhibits is a National Science Foundation-funded initiative to develop a library of free and open multitouch-enabled software modules for exhibit development. Build using the popular Adobe Flash and Flex authoring tools, museum professionals will be able to create innovative floor and web-based exhibits easily and inexpensively" -- Open Exhibits

VIDEO: Introducing Open Exhibits: Open Source Exhibit Software


Open Exhibits Core is based on the commercial GestureWorks software package.


RELATED
Open Exhibits Funded by the National Science Foundation
Jim Spadaccini, Open Exhibits Blog 9/21/10

About Open Exhibits
Jim Spadaccini, of Ideum, is the Principal Investigator of the Open Exhibits project.  Kate Haley Goldman is the co-PI and main researcher.  The three museum partners are the Don Harrington Discovery Center, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. 


Ideum website

BP Oil Spill Multi-touch Map Mashup by Ideum

BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Multi-touch Exhibit

In response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the team at Ideum has created a free version of their multi-touch-enabled Google Map and Flickr mashup application to educational organizations, including museums and aquariums.  The information included on the map includes oil spill and fishing restriction data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), along with pictures taken at the scene in and around the region of the spill.

Ideum is a company that "designs and creates interactive computer-based exhibits, multitouch installations, rich Internet applications, and social networking sites for museum and Web visitors. We work closely with museums, nonprofit organizations, and socially responsible companies to create memorable visitor experiences."   Ideum uses their own multi-touch framework called GestureWorks to create interactive applications.

Jim Spadaccini is the director and founder of Ideum. He formerly was the Director of Interactive Media at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

Ideum is working on a version of the program optimized to work on 3M's  22" multi-touch system.  A single-touch version for the web might be available if there is interest.

RELATED

BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico Flickr Group

Ideum's oil spill-related pictures on Flickr

Update on Ideum: Multitouch, Multiuser Table at the California Science Center

Ideum is a company that has been around since 1999.  It focuses on the design and creation of "computer-based exhibits, multitouch installations, rich Internet applications, and social networking sites for museum and Web visitors."   Gestureworks is the software developed by Ideum, which is an authoring solution for Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex.

Below is some information, including a video clip, of one of Ideum's most recent installations a multiuser, multitouch table at the California Science Center.

Case Study:  Ideum's  L.A. Zone Multi-touch, Multiuser Table (Jim Spadaccini)

Here is an excerpt from Jim Spadaccini's post:
"This multiuser, multitouch table exhibit in the L.A. Zone allows visitors to explore a satellite image and map of the LA Basin and view overlays in thematic areas that explore fire, air, water, and earth. In addition, points of interest are placed on the map in the form of images and videos. All of the content and navigational controls are available in English and Spanish. The exhibit software runs on a custom-built 50" multitouch table that supports 60+ simultaneous points of input."

The Ideum team has spent a great deal of attention to the way groups of museum visitors interact with their multitouch applications. In the past, they've noticed that on a 50" surface, visitors would experience interaction conflicts. In the present application, more than one visitor can manipulate the content without changing the interaction of others.  Spadaccini points out that multi-user control of touch screen exhibits is new, so interface design concepts developed for single-user interaction are no longer useful.  Social interactions around a multiuser display are now something to consider.

In my opinion, what the Ideum team learns through their design process can be quite useful to those of us planning to develop multiuser educational applications for interactive surfaces and displays. What I liked about this exhibit is that it has a monitor that mirrors the display, so people can view the interaction from afar.  This feature would be useful in classroom settings that have an interactive table and an interactive whiteboard. The interactive whiteboard as the secondary display so the teacher and other students could see what the group at the table was exploring.



Multitouch Google Maps and Flickr Mashup Built with Flash



Update: A video showing how Ideum's multi-touch table can withstand all sorts of heavy-duty treatment:




Note:I have been pretty busy over the past couple of months- I have much that I haven't yet blogged about.  More to come!