Microsoft UK: "ThinSight" Multi-touch Technology on a Laptop

(Photos from New Scientist)

Tom Simonite's article in a recentNewScientist article reviews a prototype for a touch-screen lap-top using "ThinSight", developed by Microsoft Research. Other companies are researching similar systems.

Multi-touch screens and surfaces support the work of people who increasingly rely on visualization or interactive multimedia to do their jobs. In addition, 3D multi-touch applications created for laptops and tablet PC's might be good for education, training simulations, and serious games.

Visualizing Content on the Web: Great pictures, descriptions, and links on Max Kiesler's blog

"Content Visualizations: The Next Wave of Interaction Design" is the topic of Max Kiesler's recent blog post.

Searches conducted on the Web are primarily word-based, and the same is true for searches conducted on PC's. What results is a list of phrases, which are often difficult to sort and prioritize quickly.

The increased bandwidth available on the web now allows for content that contains a range of multimedia components, such as photos and video clips. Many on-line journal articles, blog posts, and of course, information visualization websites, contain important visual-oriented information that might be missed through traditional searches.

Kiesler discusses some solutions to this problem in his post. Take a look at it soon- it contains great visualizations, as well as links to additional information and resources.

Although Keisler does not state it directly, his post makes the case for the importance visual and multimedia literacy in our society.

Note: For those of you who follow my blog, you'll know that this sort of visual approach would be a great tool in education, especially when presented on interactive large-screen displays.

Cross Post from technology-supported human-world interaction blog: Interactive large-screen visitor information/concierge

This video is a news clip about interactive visitor kiosks in Kern County, California, designed to promote tourism in the region. Using a large touch-screen display, people have access to a wide range of information, displayed in a multi-media format. One of the featured displays is NextWindow's 2800 "Rugged Integrated Touch Panel", developed to withstand environmental wear and tear, with software developed by JupiterBay.




How it works:


Related Link:

Outdoor Interactive Displays Highlight Technology Collaboration

Top 15 interactive display technologies -Gizmo Watch

My HCI project prototype would be something fun to interact with on one of these kiosks!



I'd love to see interactive displays in parks, museums, libraries, malls, schools, hospitals, waiting rooms, hotel lobbies, cruise ships... Wouldn't it be great if these displays could interact with cell phones and PDA's?

SimSchool: Articles and Resources about Simulation & Games in Education

Simulations and games are interactive forms of multimedia that have become the focus of research and practice in education. A collection of articles and research reports regarding the use of simulations and video/computer games for teaching and learning can be found on the Simulations & Games in Education section of the SimSchool website. Authors include Mark Prensky, Kurt Squires, Chris Dede, and Chuck Aldrich.

3D Collaborative Applications for Interactive Displays and Whiteboards: Croquet, EduSim

EduSim is an application for use on interactive whiteboards and displays, created using Croquet.

According to Julian Lombardi, Duke University's Assistant Vice President of Academic Services and Technology Support and Senior Research Scholar with the Information Science + Information Studies, "Croquet is a powerful new open source software development environment for creating and deploying deeply collaborative multi-user online applications on multiple operating systems and devices. Derived from Squeak, it features a peer-based network architecture that supports communication, collaboration, resource sharing, and synchronous computation between multiple users on multiple devices. Using Croquet, software developers can create and link powerful and highly collaborative cross-platform multi-user 2D and 3D applications and simulations - making possible the distributed deployment of very large scale, richly featured and interlinked virtual environments."

EduSim "How To" Videoclips

EduSim Videos
Croquet Screenshots

Related Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, edited by Richard E. Mayer, provides a good framework to support the importance of learning and interacting with multimedia.

According to information from the book, "Multimedia learning is defined as learning from words (e.g., spoken or printed text) and pictures (e.g., illustrations, photos, maps, graphs, animation, or video)... Multimedia environments included on-line instructional presentations, interactive lessons, e-courses, simulation games, virtual reality, and computer-supported in-class presentations...The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning seeks to establish what works (i.e., to determine which features of a multimedia lesson affect learning), to explain how it works (i.e., to ground research in cognitive theory), and to consider when and where it works (i.e., to explore the implications of research for practice)".

Revisiting promising projects: Dynamo, an application for sharing information on large interactive displays in public spaces

(from project website)
I've come across numerous interesting applications developed by university researchers that I haven't seen come to market. Part of the problem, I think, is that most of the world isn't yet ready for these innovations. Things seem to be changing a bit, so I thought I'd highlight some promising projects from the recent past that warrant revisiting.

Dynamo is a "communal, multi-user surface for sharing and exchanging digital media", according to information from the project's website.

"The idea is for it to be installed in public community centers, like cafes, bars, libraries and other places where people get together and share experiences, but usually only have lightweight technology on them - like mp3 players and digital cameras. Dynamo allows people to plug-in these personal devices via USB2, and place files onto the wall by drag and drop (e.g. music, photos, videos, office docs or live web-pages) via it's multi-user UI."

The project was a joint effort between the Mixed Reality Lab at Nottingham University and the Interact Lab at Sussex University.


Article: Dynamo: A public interactive surface supporting the cooperative sharing and exchange of media

Related links:
Dynamo
Dynamo-Interact Lab

About Displays: Double Sided Touch Screens -LucidTouch

I recently discovered the Display Daily website, a news services about the electronic display industry from Insight Media.

If you are interested in learning more about displays and related hardware that supports interactive multimedia applications, take a look at their recent article about double-sided touch screens.

LucidTouch is a double-sided touch screen prototype that allows people to touch items from behind the screen. The prototype was developed by Microsoft, Mitsubishi, and the University of Toronto. It will be interesting to see how this technology unfolds.

About Touch Enabled Displays: YouTube Clip- One Guy's Dream of a Touch Screen iMac

My dream? I want an affordable, thin touch-screen WiFi/Bluetooth/RFID - enabled display, embedded in an adjustable drafting table.

This set-up would provide users with multiple options, depending on the nature of the task or leisure pursuit. If you are a parent or teacher, you easily imagine the possibilities for your kids.

In the meantime, here is one guy's dream about a touch screen iMac:



I need to create a video of my drafting-table version!

HP TouchSmart PC - an interactive touch screen for the home- and classroom?

Photos from the HP TouchSmart Website

I think this PC has possibilities for use in libraries, school media centers, and in classrooms.




This is a short video clip about the HP TouchSmart PC, a medium-sized touch-screen display that runs on Window's Vista. From what I understand, it uses technology from NextWindow.

If you use TouchSmart PC or something similar, or if you develop applications for the TouchSmart or other interactive touch applications, let me know what you think!

For related videos, visit the TouchSmart YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TouchSmart

Virtual Reality Field Trips

Take a look at my post on the TechPsych blog about virtual reality field trips. Imagine what a virtual field trip would be like on a large touch-screen display!

More touch screen "surface" display musings...

I had my first chance to use an interactive touch-screen SmartBoard, by Smart Technologies in 2002-03. Since I work mostly with kids and teens, I wondered why large-display touch screen technology wasn't more widespread, since there are so many free, interactive websites that provide pretty engaging activities for users.

One of the things I learned was that large-display touch-screen technology is in the preschool stage. There are problems with screen responsiveness, screen resolution, durability, and input.

In recent years, the idea of a touch screen has evolved to table-tops and drafting boards, embedded within wireless systems that allow for interoperability with mobile devices and remote applications.

Great technology exists, but no-one has pulled all the components together in a way that can easily scale for the people who would benefit from this sort of technology the most - people who spend most of day time teaching, learning, or both. I had a great experience using a NextWindow Human Touch large-screen display for some of my projects last semester. It was difficult for me to track one down, but once I got my hands on it, I liked it, even though it did not have multi-touch capabilities.

One laptop for each child? That was a good idea for the late 1990's and early 2000's. One high-quality, affordable, large touch-screen display or table for each classroom would be more effective.

One touch-screen display/table for every 4-6 students would be better. Is there anyone out there who is up for the challenge?

Next Post: Updated links to interactive multimedia websites appropriate for large touch screen surfaces.