Christian Bannister's Interactive Multi-touch and Gesture-based Subcycle Project. Use your hands to shape sound, create, and manipulate music. Wow!!

I came across a link to Christian Bannister's Subcycle Labs website when I was taking a look at the Creative Applications Network website.


If you have an interest in music technology and innovative gesture/multitouch applications, you'll appreciate the details that are shared on the Subcycle website.  In the meantime, take the time to watch a few of Christian's videos.  Enjoy!


Blip Shaper Walkthrough

Blip Shaper Walkthrough from christian bannister on Vimeo.
"a) creating percussive patterns with monome b) shaping the individual sounds that make up the patterns with multitouch gestures c) recording touchscreen gestures as automation d) storing, duplicating and navigation patterns e) recording the resulting audio to a dynamic buffer f) manipulating the buffer with a multitouch cut-up approach g) visualizing everything with dual screens"
Subcycle Walkthrough

Subcycle Blip Shaper from christian bannister on Vimeo.

"a) creating percussive patterns with monome b) shaping the individual sounds that make up the patterns with multitouch gestures c) recording touchscreen gestures as automation d) storing, duplicating and navigation patterns e) recording the resulting audio to a dynamic buffer f) manipulating the buffer with a multitouch cut-up approach g) visualizing everything with dual screens"


The following information describing the Blip Shaper is from Christian's Subcycle website/blog:
"For the drum sounds I have Drumaxx running for synthesized sounds and Battery running for sampled sounds.  These are running in parallel so for each voice there is a separate patch running in each VST.  The Parameters are modified with the touchscreen independently but in all cases a single touch gesture on the X-Axis will cross fade between the sampled version of the sound and the synthesized version of the sound.  I love this because I have never seen this before and I can never decide which technique I like better.  The synthesized drums are more malleable and have more interesting parameters to play with but the sampled sounds seem more substantial.  I will post a detailed list of parameters and gestures in the future."   


Christian currently uses Max for Live (ableton), and codes with Processing/Java, using Eclipse for organization.

Autopilot - Subcycle
autopilot - subcycle labs from christian bannister on Vimeo.
"sound visualization, multi-touch interface, break beat performance engine, autopilot, spacialized sound, dsp, max/MSP, fm synthesis, sonic navigation, sound storm visualization, time machine, granular, interactive sound sculpture, joystick array, more at subcycle.org"

SOMEWHAT RELATED 
Community Core Vision
NUI Group

BTW,I'm wondering if Christian or other NUI group members would like to do something with some of my ideas that incorporate interactive music. To learn more, see my post, "It must be  Voronoi: Looking for ideas for my music+art+dance+tech dream...."
...


....

"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".

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:

Open-source Eye-tracking: The ITU Gaze Tracker 2.0 Beta Via Martin Tall, NUI-Group Member

I came across the first version of the open-source ITU Gaze Tracker on the NUI Group forum in April of 2009 and played around with it a bit.  I was impressed.  I'm happy to say that the new version looks even better, although I haven't had the time to try it out.  Below are two recent videos that will give you a better understanding about gaze tracking.  


For the tech-curious, make sure you take the time to view the second video!  Links to info & code are below.


GT2 High speed remote eye tracking "Pushing the limits"


Technical Demonstration


Info about  the ITU Gaze Tracker 2.0 Beta from the NUI Group Forum, posted by Martin Tall:

Introducing the ITU Gaze Tracker 2.0 Beta

"We’ve made great progress since the initial release, today we open the doors for version 2.0. Internally we’ve rewritten major parts of the platform to gain flexibility and higher performance.  First version was DIY playtime, this version is nothing short of a screamer. High performance, very accuracy tracking. People are telling us we are crazy giving it away but we’re dedicated to the mission: Accessible eye tracking for all, regardless of nationality and means. We’re making it happen."

Important highlights for GT2.0b:
- Supports three modes of operation, head-mounted, remote mono/binocular
- Vastly improved performance, +500fps head mounted, +170fps remote binocular (both eyes)
- Awesome accuracy, avg. 0.3 - 0.7 degrees of visual angle (remote binocular)
- New U.I, looks so.. 2010
- Automatic tuning (optimization of algorithms parameters)
- Relatively low CPU-utilization and memory footprint (12%, 170Mb, core i7 860 win7-64)
- Many enhancements, bug-fixes etc.

More info:
http://forum.gazegroup.org
http://develop.gazegroup.org

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:

     

Multi-touch & Gesture Interaction News: NUITEQ's Snowflake Suite 1.7 compatible with Windows 7 and 3M Touch Systems, N-trig and Lumio

"This video demonstrates the N-trig DuoSense true multi-touch solution utilizing up to four fingers. The video features various multi-touch enabled applications, including how to pan and rotate using up to four fingers on Google Earth, a demonstration of how to play various onscreen musical instruments using the Snowflake Suite Music application, and a new hands-on way to play Sudoku. The Corel Paint it!™ application shows how existing images can be transformed using multi-touch, and a 3D desktop organizer application from BumpTop demonstrates new and innovative ways in which to organize your desktop using up to four fingers"   -avitaintrig's YouTube description

Snowflake Suite and NextWindow Plugin Information
NUITEQ in the media

3M Touch Systems

nTrig

Lumio

Bumptop

NextWindow
(SnowFlake Suite 1.7 works on NextWindow screens.)

I'll post more news and information about the natural interface/interaction biz very soon!

Interactive Video Art in Action: MuchoWall from Tangible Display (and Jimmy Hertz)

 

Photo of MuchoWall, an 80" multimodal sensitive wall from Tangible Displays (Jimmy Hertz, Founder)

Jimmy Hertz is a member of the NUI-Group and has been involved in various activities to spread the world about natural-user interfaces and interaction.



Be sure to watch the entire video. It is almost like watching a dance performance when you watch artist interact with the display.


Thanks, Seth Sandler, for the the link!

Interactive multi-touch for sound design, dj-ing, and music creation

NUI-Group member Christian Bannister, a musician, designer, and developer behind Subcycle Labs has been experimenting with music and multi-touch technology and interactions. Here's a demonstration of what he's come up with so far:


multi-touch the storm - interactive sound visuals - subcycle labs from christian bannister on Vimeo.
.
"The big picture goal of this project is to bridge the gap between sound visualization and musical instrument. With multi-touch interaction it is possible to manipulate multiple characteristics of a sound—directly and visually. Right now a lot of electronic music involves staring at the back of the performers laptop. This is a shame because in many cases a lot of really interesting things are happening on the computer that the audience is completely unaware of. This project hopes to create a common visual language and experience for the electronic musician and the audience by enhancing the perception of sound and music on both sides...These sketches are built with Processing and Max/MSP networked with OSC on a single computer..." -Christian Bannister



JazzMutant Lemur
The multi-touch tech company now known as Stantum evolved from JazzMutant, Jazzmutant was founded in 2002 by Guilluame Largillier and Pascal Joguet, and joined by Julien Olivier in 2003. The original focus was to create a multi-touch controller for music applications, and the Lemur was born. It is now in version 2, with features such as a gesture object that provides three ways for people to interact with sound, extended scripting abilities, and remote control of your computer's mouse cursor or keyboard.  Stantum recently developed a next-gen multi-touch screen system for use in mobile devices such as smart phones and netbooks.  (I'll discuss this further in a future post.)



Mapping Ableton Live to Jazz Mutant's multi-touch Lemur for sound design:


Additional tutorials can be found the Jazzmutant YouTube channel.


Ableton Live, the software used in the above video, will include Max. Max/MSP is now known as MAX 5:
"In use for over twenty years by performers, composers, artists, scientists, teachers, and students, Max is the way to make your computer do things that reflect your individual ideas and dreams. Version 5 is a dramatic transformation of Max that begins a new chapter in the program's history."

RELATED
Video:  Max for Live
Max is a product of cycling74
Cycling74 created the Make Controller Kit, which includes fully programmable controllers. The kit is networked based. It is capable of working with actuators and can read sensor information into Max.
Jamoma, a platform for interactive art-based research and performance. Jamoma is the prototyping environment for SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, and GDIF, the Gesture Description Interchange Format.
GDIF: Gesture Description Interchange Format, a tool for music related movements, actions, and gestures 
Stantum's Mobile Phone Multi-touch Interface:  Demonstration of precise interactions on a resistive touch screen

How the Stantum's Resistive Multi-Touch Screen Works

Interactive Motion Graphics Showreel from Filmview Services - great content!

Here is a showreel from Filmview Services that simulates how tech-usability in an interactive gesture/touch world should be!



Here is a quote from the Filmview Services blog:


What Are Screen Graphics?

"...So it works out more cost effective for the films to actually have someone put the graphics on the screens for real. It also greatly enhances the performance of the actors. You only have to watch any of the Star Wars Eps 1-3 to see how wooden acting is when you don’t actually know what is in front of you. Actors love to be able push buttons and bang touch screens during their scenes. Having to actually do it in a certain order can stretch their capabilities mind you, and I am pretty gob smacked at how absolutely computer illiterate some of them are. Don’t they use email?


Anyway, due to this diminished ability to hit and bang things in any certain order, it is our job to make it impossible to mess things up. That’s why they are all genius typers. We make it so they can type any old thing and the letters still come out the way they are meant to each time. We also put little locking codes into our programming so they can’t accidentally escape the graphic mid job. It’s amazing how many of them can type the Esc button when they are meant to be spelling LOGIN."

Thanks, Tim!

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Coincidentally,  when I was visiting the NUI-Group forums this morning, I came across a link to Jakob Nielsen's "Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers", which are worth taking a look at. I've posted the list, but you'll need to go to Nielson's web page to read the descriptions. You'll smile.

1. The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI
2. Time Travelers Can Use Current Designs
3. The 3D UI
4. Integration is Easy, Data Interoperates
5. Access Denied/Access Granted
6. Big Fonts
7. Star Trek's Talking Computer
8. Remote Manipulators (Waldo Controls)
9. You've Got Mail is Always Good News
10."This is Unix, It's Easy"