iPad multi-touch gestures for iWork, page navigator tool, fast data entry & infographs, on-touch form creation, iPad wall.(Updated 1/30/10.)

Update 1/30/10
Know HTML & JavaScript?  Open source PhoneGap lets you create apps for the iPhone and other platforms. (Update: Including the iPad.)
Update 1/30/10
According to Brian Chen's Gadget Lab post, Apple recently made a change to enable the iPhone and iPad function as web phone:
"ICall, a voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) calling company, said the latest revisions in Apple’s iPhone developer agreement and software development kit enable the iPhone to make phone calls over 3G data networks. ICall promptly released an update to its app today, adding the 3G support...Because the iPad includes a microphone and will run iPhone apps, that means the tablet will gain internet telephony, too." Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/iphone-voip/#ixzz0e5aErE6q

Interactions in Apple's iWork Applications for iPad


RELATED
Interesting iPad Interactions  -Craig Villamor
New Multi-touch Interactions on the Apple iPad - Craig Villamore & Luke Wroblewski
The iPad's Actually New UI and Gestures -Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo
-Multi-finger multi-touch
-Popovers
-Media Navigator
-"Long" touch and drag
-Layered UI elements
iPad.org Forum


ClarkeHopkinsClarke iPad Wall Concept for a Library

Pictionaire Multi-touch Collaborative Design Table from Microsoft Research (CSCW 2010) Found on Andy Wilson's Site

Pictionaire Table
(This looks like it is in the testing stage)


Link to video and information on Andy Wilson's website


Link to paper:
Pictionaire: Supporting Collaborative Design Work by Integrating Physical and Digital Artifacts (pdf)

Gamers, game designers, and parents: "Mortal Combat", a documentary by Spencer Halpin about the game violence debate is worth watching -posted here.

Spencer Halpin's documentary, Mortal Kombat, discusses the debate surrounding about the content of video games, as well as issues such as the video game industry's drive for profit, artistic freedom, "pushing the envelope", and the impact of video games on society. The video is about 85 minutes, but worth watching if you are a gamer, parent, teacher, game designer/ developer, or academician.

One of the reasons I think the discussion in the video is important is that in 2010, more people are playing games on large high-definition displays, providing an enhanced sense of immersion. I'm not sure what the consequences of this trend might be.

Caution:  There are some scenes in this video that might be offensive/violent, and others that would not be appropriate for children.


Here is the description of this video from the Babelgum website:

"Moral Kombat takes a look into the controversial subject of violence in video games. Director Spencer Halpin shows the constant conflict between the game creators' first amendment right to make a violent game and the eminent threat that violence poses on the next generation. In addition, the film is full of the latest green screen and high-definition technology that allow watchers to actually envision the world of gaming. Filled with interviews from lead game designers, politicians, parents, and psychologists, this film provides a candid take on the influence games have on youth today."



Thanks to Henry Jenkins for providing this link.

Interactive Multimedia at ABBAWORLD: High-Definition Holographic Performance!?

What is ABBA World? It is an exhibit in the UK, an audio-guided tour through 25 rooms which will provide a "mind-blowing journey through the music, memories, and magic of ABBA!"  (I came across this info on Strombergs' blog.)





The exhibit will include an interactive experience where people can get on stage with 3D holographic versions of the members of ABBA. You can see the cartoony-ABBA's on the SquareZero website. Square zero is the content provider of the the 3D experience.  Musion Systems, the creator of the Musion Eyeliner high definition holographic video projection system, was another partner in this project.

Details about the holographic system can be found on the  ABBAWorld website, along with the history of ABBA.

Temple Grandin - A gifted visual thinker, who also has autism, featured in HBO movie starring Claire Danes. UPDATE: Video of Claire Danes' acceptance of a Golden Globe for her performance!

UPDATE:
Claire Danes won a Golden Globe award for her performance as Temple Grandin in the HBO movie. Here is the video from HuLu of her acceptance speech. Temple Grandin was in the audience.



Original Post

I've worked with young people with autism spectrum disorders for many years as a school psychologist, and the knowledge and experience that Temple has shared through her writings and presentations has enlightened me a great deal.


On February 6th (2010), HBO will present a movie featuring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, a gifted visual thinker who also has autism. Here is the trailer:

Trailer

SYNOPSIS from the HBO Movies website:
"Starring Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara and David Strathairn. Temple Grandin paints a picture of a young woman's perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism at a time when it was still quite unknown. The film chronicles Temple's early diagnosis; her turbulent growth and development during her school years; the enduring support she received from her mother (Ormond), aunt (O'Hara) and her science teacher (Strathairn); and her emergence as a woman with an innate sensitivity and understanding of animal behavior."


"Undaunted by education, social and professional roadblocks, Grandin turned her unique talent into a behavioral tool taht revolutionized the cattle industry and laid the groundwork for her successful career as an author, lecturer and pioneering advocate for autism and autism spectrum disorder education."


"This visually inventive film offers insights into Grandin's world, taking the audience inside her mind with a series of snapshot image that trace her self-perceptions and journey from childhood through young adulthood to the beginning of her career, and beyond."


"Directed by Mick Jackson, with a screenplay by Christopher Monder and William Merritt Johnson, Temple Grandin is based on the books "Emergence" by Temble Grandin and Margaret Scariano and "Thinking in Pictures", by Temple Grandin. The HBO Films presentation is executive produced by Emily Gerson Sains, Gil Bellows, Anthony Edwards and Dante Di Loreto, Paul Lister, Alison Owen; Scott Ferguson produces."


Clare Danes (l); Temple Grandin (r)

Books
2010 Edition of Thinking in Pictures - My Life with Autism (Temple Grandin)
Emergence: Labeled Autistic (Temple Grandin, Margaret M. Scariano)
Download:
My Life in Pictures: A coloring book for children about autism


My Temple Grandin Story:
I met Temple Grandin once. She was a speaker at a conference about Autism Spectrum Disorders that was held in Charlotte, N.C.  There was a mix-up, and her transportation to the airport did not arrive. I was standing nearby and offered to drive her to the airport.  What an amazing woman!


During the drive to the airport, Temple noticed that I was wearing a lanyard with my flash drive attached.  She commented that what I had on my flash drive must have been very dear to my heart.  It was almost as if she could read my mind.


She was right.  On that flash drive was a paper I was writing entitled,"Thinking, Learning, and Communicating with Multimedia: Views from a School Psychologist" for a conference I presented that year (2004).    In my paper, I discussed the importance of visual thinking and referenced Temple Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures. 


Note:  Original cross-posted on the Tech Psych blog.

TEI '10 Info and Links: Fourth Annual International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

In my dreams, I am a full-time tech student. Fortunately, I can follow my inner geek and share what I find on this blog. The information below was inspired by links from a Facebook status update by Laurence Muller, author of the Multi-Gesture blog. 

The video below is a montage of TEI'10 hands-on studio:

TEI Studios from jay silver on Vimeo.

"From TEI 2010. These are the hands-on studios (like workshops) where 200 people participated in building and making all day long elbow to elbow, getting into the details and taking perspectives."

About TEI:

TEI '10:  Fourth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, January 25-27, Cambridge, MA.
"TEI, the conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, is about HCI, design, interactive art, user experience, tools and technologies, with a strong focus on how computing can bridge atoms and bits into cohesive interactive systems."



Here is a link to the keynote:
http://www.vikmuniz.net/

Here is a link to one of the papers presented at TEI:
Electronic Popables:  Exploring Paper-Based Computing through an Interactive Pop-Up Book (pdf)- Jie Qi and Leah Buechley, MIT Media Lab, High-Low Tech Group

More about Laurence Muller:
Laurence Muller (M.Sc.) , is a Fellow at the Harvard University (USA) at the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) / The Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC) in the Scientists' Discovery Room Lab (SDR Lab). Currently he is working on innovative scientific software for multi-touch devices and display wall systems. (I took Laurence's information from his blog.)

More to come!

iTablet, iSlate? No! It's called the iPad. (Updated)

Update:  Wired's coverage of the iPad event.

I would have to take a week off from my regular day job to follow up on the iPad chatter, which is not possible. In the meantime, here are a few links for those of you who want to be on top of the iPad brouhaha:

Editorial:  Engadget on the Apple iPad -Nilay Patel
Would You Buy and iPad?  Wired Readers Weigh In -Priya Ganapati, Wired Gadget Lab
The iPad and publishers: a survey of early reaction -Mat Slocum, O'Reilly Radar
iPad Technical Specifications -Apple
iPad Design -Apple (you can access the iPad video from the iPad Design page)
The iPad and publishers: a survey of early reaction -Mat Slocum, O'Reilly Radar
15 reasons why the iPad is no game-changer -Davey Winder, DaniWeb
Apple iPad First Hands On -Gizmodo
Update 1/28/10 5:50 PM:
Checkmate: Apple's iPad and Google's Next Move -Mark Sigal, O'Reilly Radar

Apple Info
iPad Technical Specifications -Apple
iPad Design -Apple (you can access the iPad video from the iPad Design page)
iPad Features -Apple
Steve Wonsiak Talks iPad (Video) via TechCrunch
"I don't see it having a role in video editing or music production"- Steve Wonsiak

Hopefully the iPad would support basic video editing and music production, since I use digital video storytelling/social stories and music in my work with students who have autism or other complex special needs. Some of my students help to create content, and despite their limitations, can understand and use storyboarding in this process.

Comment:  There are quite a few jokes circulating around the web about the name of this new product.  For the males (I'm assuming) who named the iPad, I'll give you a hint.  Half of the population knows that "pad" is what we call an important feminine hygiene product.

How a multi-touch table is made: NUI Group members Aaron Bitler and Brady Simpson on HAK.5

If you want to know more about the inner workings of DYI multi-touch, you'll be interested in the video below.

Aaron Bitler and Brady Simpson learned how to build a multi-touch table through their participation in the NUI Group, and recently formed a company, 3M8 to distribute multi-touch solutions.  The 1/2 hour video provides an in-depth tour of multi-touch technology, in an an on-line broadcast on the HAK.5 website.


"Brady Simpson explains the different multi-touch methods. Aaron Bitler gives us a tour of the x19 multitouch tables construction. Brady explains the software used to power the x19 lcdmultitouch table, including the nuigroup CCV application. Aaron wraps up by explaining to us how he got involved in multitouch. He shares with us some sites where others can get started in their own homebrew projects, as well as his own multitouch company 3M8s at LCDMultiTouch.com."

UPDATE:  New website for Brady Simpson's company: http://www.lcdmt.com/

There is a need for multi-touch/gesture designers/developers!

If you are a talented interactive web designer/developer, game designer/developer, traditional programmer with a creative bent, or someone who who is thinking about working with technology in the future as a programmer or designer,  I urge you to consider thinking about designing/developing multi-touch applications in the near future.

In my opinion, there will be a need for multi-touch web applications as well as for multi-touch education and collaboration applications for the SMART Table, Microsoft's Surface,  multi-touch tablets like the rumored iTablet from Apple, and the multi-touch laptops and all-in-ones (Dell, HP, etc.).

Below are direct links to some of my blog posts related to multi-touch applications and screens. If you are fairly new to multi-touch, I'm sure that looking through some of my blog posts will be helpful.  All of the posts have links to resources, and most have photos and video clips of multi-touch in action.

If you are new to this blog, I have a great deal of information, links, photos, and video clips of various multi-touch screens and applications. The best way to find the stuff is to enter in a keyword in the search box for this blog:  multitouch, touch screen, gesture, multi-touch, etc. on  this blog.

Also do a search on my other blog: The World Is My Interface http://tshwi.blogspot.com

Here are some links:
Do you have an HP TouchSmart, Dell Studio One or NextWindow touch-screen? NUITech's Snowflake Suite upgrade provides a multi-touch plug-in
http://bit.ly/5tdlhc

The following blog post has a video clip that shows someone from Adobe painting with a multi-touch application in development:
More Multi-Touch!: Rumor of the mobile apple iTablet; AdobeXD & Multitouch; 10-finger Mobile Multitouch: http://bit.ly/4S9Upm

Ideum's GestureWorks: http://bit.ly/4C1p7M

Interactive Walls, Interactive Projection Systems, GestureTek's Motion-Based Games: http://bit.ly/6GRGtW

Intuilab's Interfaces: Multi-touch applications/solutions for presentations, collaboration, GIS, and commerce: http://bit.ly/7RK7qN

For software developers:
How to do Multitouch with WPF 4 in Visual Studio 2010: http://bit.ly/7c4YqC

A Few Interesting Links Related to "21st Century" Thinking, Learning, and Education.

Thomas West is an author of the In the Mind's Eye, Dyslexic Renaissance blog. He is also the author of several books.  One of his recent post highlights a recent roundtable held on 1/16/10 at the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities:  Talents Among Dyslexics, Roundtable Discussion 

"Most professionals in the field agree that talents are important, but eventually they almost always come to focus almost exclusively on reading and academic remediation alone. We need to change this, especially as major technological and computer information trends tend to favor the visual strengths that many dyslexics have as their traditional academic weaknesses become less and less important."
Thomas West is a visual thinker who thinks in pictures, and has a deep understanding of what life is like in educational settings that continue to be word-dominant.  Below is a link to an on-line recorded   interview that sheds some light on what the world is like for bright people with dyslexia.  More people are visual thinkers than you might expect. The interview is worth a listen:
http://real.aarp.org/content/radio/2009/mf/mf08152009.mp3

Cathy Davidson
Cathy Davidson is the co-founder of HASTAC, the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, and also the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Ruth F. Devarney Professor of English at Duke University.  
Cathy blogs on the HASTAC website, and her blogs are worth taking the time to read. I especially liked one of her most recent posts: Why is the Information Age Without the Humanities Like the Industrial Revolution Without the Steam Engine?


The post is a small piece of a book that Cathy is currently writing, "Now You See It: The Science of Attention in the Classroom, at Work, and Everywhere Else."
Cathy's  recently co-authored a book that I plan on reading soon:
CN Davidson and David Theo Goldberg.  The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. (pdf) 2010.
"....What happens to traditional educational institutions when learning also takes place on a vast range of Internet sites, from Pokemon Web pages to Wikipedia? This report investigates how traditional learning institutions can become as innovative, flexible, robust, and collaborative as the best social networking sites. The authors propose an alternative definition of "institution" as a "mobilizing network"—emphasizing its flexibility, the permeability of its boundaries, its interactive productivity, and its potential as a catalyst for change—and explore the implications for higher education."
This book can be downloaded for free from the MIT Press website.


Daniel S. Christian
Daniel S. Christian's blog, Learning Ecosystems, focuses on a variety of topics related to technology and education, with a focus on multimedia, technology integration, and discovering and implementing new and useful technologies:
"The purpose of this blog is to continue the dialog about how we can take advantage of the rapid technological changes that we are experiencing today (and in the future) in order to significantly enhance what we can achieve within our educational systems. It's not just about selecting and using the right CMS or implementing a small handful of tools anymore -- we need a thriving, growing, always-changing learning ecosystem in order to navigate today's various/relevant environments."
EMANTRAS
I came across the Emantras website today and was surprised that I had not previously heard of this company.  I'd like to learn more about them. The company has a variety of presentations and additional information about the company's services on the website. Emantras' most recent press release is an announcement of the launch of Mobl21, a mobile learning platform.

"Emantras was founded in 2000 and our vision since then has been to harness the unmatched power of digital and mobile technology to make education more relevant to changing times.We are a leading global digital education solutions company with its focus firmly fixed on providing top notch services. We train, educate and design work flow solutions for academic institutions, publishers, Fortune 500 companies and everyone in between.

Emantras aspires to be known as the industry gold standard in digital education. Our aim is to be an 'innovation' partner to enterprises and institutions by creating knowledge, enabling delivery, and empowering access and usability with effective technology. Our goal is to champion new advancements and innovations in eLearning and make it accessible to a wider teaching and learning audience."

Emantras is headquartered in Freemont, California, with offices in L.A., Atlanta, Philadelphia, Midland Park, N.J., India, France, and Netherlands. The website is visually appealing- almost cute-and gives the visitor a feeling that learning might even be.. fun!  

Microvision's SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector: I want one!

Microvision's SHOWWX laser pico projector is not yet available in the U.S. This mobile projector connects to a variety of devices and looks like it would be quite useful in a variety of situations. The picture below is from the Microvision SHOWWX website, where you can find additional information, a photo/video gallery, and a place to sign up for further information.

Acording to ubergizmo, the Microvision Show laser pico projector "connects directly to laptops, mobile phones portable media players, digital cameras, and other devices to project large, high -resolutions onto any surface"

IEEE One Voice: Sharing the accomplishments and potential of people involved in technology and engineering. Great for sharing with students to encourage STEM studies!

John R. Vig, IEEE President and CEO, recently wrote a column about the need to share with the world the importance of the accomplishments of people who work in technological fields. In his column, he refers to the IEEE One Voice video, which I think is something all young people should view as they gather information for making important decisions for the future.

IEEE is a professional organization that is not limited to the stereotype of an "engineer". If you are a parent, teacher, school counselor, or mentor to a young person, take the time to learn more about the range of careers related to engineering and technology.

If you know a seventh or eighth grade student, take a look at IEEE's Future City Competition, designed to provide young people an opportunity to learn more about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields while teaming with engineers who are volunteer mentors to create computer models, then three dimensional models, of a future city. The Future City program is part of the National Engineers Week foundation.

RELATED National Engineers Week Foundation Discovering Engineering Toolkit Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (February 18, 2010) Engineering Your Life ( This is a great site for encouraging girls to consider engineering and related fields, great for career exploration activities, as it covers a variety of engineering disciplines.) Below is a list of the various IEEE societies, taken from the IEEE website.  If we want to encourage our young people to consider STEM fields, it is important that we know we're talking about! IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society IEEE Broadcast Technology Society IEEE Circuits and Systems Society IEEE Communications Society IEEE Components Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society IEEE Computational Intelligence Society IEEE Computer Society IEEE Consumer Electronics Society IEEE Control Systems Society IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society IEEE Education Society IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society IEEE Electron Devices Society IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society IEEE Geoscience & Remote Sensing Society IEEE Industrial Electronics Society IEEE Industry Applications Society IEEE Information Theory Society IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society IEEE Magnetics Society IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society IEEE Photonics Society IEEE Power and Energy Society IEEE Power Electronics Society IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society IEEE Professional Communication Society IEEE Reliability Society IEEE Robotics & Automation Society IEEE Signal Processing Society IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society IEEE Standards Association IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Society IEEE Technology Management Council IEEE Ultrasonics Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society IEEE Vehicular Technology Society IEEE Women in Engineering

More interactivity: Interactive Walls, Interactive Projection Systems, GestureTek's Motion-based Game

I recently discovered that Accenture's website has a few interactive web pages that provide information about the company's interactive wall technology.  What I liked about the site is that I could interact with it by touching the screen of my HP TouchSmart PC, and it worked!  (I'm always on the look-out for interactive websites that are good for touch-screen interaction.)


Below are screen shots of the on-line semi-functional demo of Accenture's Strategic Decision Interface:

(The website worked through touch-interaction via my HP TouchSmart PC!)

For more information:  Interactive Wall Technology:  Seeing the Big Picture


Newfangled Projector Systems:
New Projectors Make Any Wall an Interactive Whiteboard: Epson, Boxlight unveil potentially game-changing technology -Meris Stansbury, eSchool News 1/13/10

"In a move that could shake up the interactive whiteboard (IWB) market, two projector manufacturers have just released new products that can turn virtually any surface into an IWB...The development means schools no longer have to buy separate hardware to enjoy the benefits of IWBs, whose interactive surface and ability to engage students have made them quite popular in classrooms."

The article highlights Epson's BrightLink 450i ultra short-throw projector which eliminates most shadows, and images can be anywhere from 59 to 96 inches diagonally with WXGA resolution.  The system requires an infrared pen. 


Another system is the ProjectoWrite2/W from Boxlight, which is a short-throw LCD projector with XGA resolution that can project up to 80 inches diagonally.


GestureTek


I've written a few blogs in the past about GestureTek.  I wonder if their technology would work with the projection systems mentioned in the eSchool News article. Below are a few examples of what GestureTek's been doing lately:


GestureTek's Video Game Wall at the Child's Play Activity Center (Las Vegas)







The above pictures of the Child's Play Activity Center show how GestureTek's WallFX interactive display system can be used to create a fun environment for children. The system includes a ceiling projector and a camera that can capture full-body motion.  The system provides 25 games and special effects.  Wouldn't this concept be great for interactive and fun educational games?


For details about this system:
GestureTek's video game wall shows where gesture-based games can go
-Dean Takahashi, GamesBeat, 8/25/09


GestureTek's Immersive Multi-platform Game:  Head-butting Interactive Soccer

"Video gesture control pioneer GestureTek., unveiled its new Momo™ Software Development Kit for game developers and original equipment manufacturers at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. Gesture recognition software tracks motion and objects such as faces and hands and brings immersive, gesture-based interactivity to multiple platforms, such as PCs, laptops, mobile phones, toys and other devices. The video is a demonstration of a head-butting soccer game."
GestureTek Interactive City Flight Simulator Game

How It Works: Microsoft's Project Natal for the Xbox 360 video from Scientific American


Microsoft gathered a wealth of biometric data to recognize the range of human movement in order to develop an algorithm for the next generation of controller-less gaming. "Natal will consist of a depth sensor that uses infrared signals to create a digital 3-D model of a player's body as it moves, a video camera that can pick up fine details such as facial expressions, and a microphone that can identify and locate individual voices."


The technology behind Natal has the potential for a range of uses beyond gaming.

Scientific American article:
Binary Body Double:  Microsoft Reveals the Science Behind Project Natal for Xbox 360

Ubice = Multi-touch On Ice at the Nokia Research Center in Finland (Video + Pic via Albrecht Schmidt)

Albrecht Schmidt posted a link to the following video on his User Interface Engineering blog -
watch how the multi-touch surface is built from ice blocks:



The following pictures are from Albrecht Schmidt's User Interface Engineering blog:


What a great idea for a "Winterfest"!    They should take it to the next level:  Multi-touch ice sculpture.


(Cross-posted on The World Is My Interface blog.)

Classroom of the Future: Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces (Interesting book!)

I'd like to share a link to a new book that looks worth reading:  "Classroom of the Future:  Orchestrating Collaborative Spaces".

I follow the blogs of two of the book's authors.   Stefano Baraldi is  a researcher and consultant in the field of HCI, and  Albrecht Schmidt, a professor and chair of pervasive computing and User Interface Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.

"The future of the classroom is an issue that essentially concerns many of us as students, parents, taxpayers, policymakers, teachers, design professionals, or researchers. A glance at the history of pedagogical practice reveals, however, that despite rapid developments in the outside world, classrooms have evolved very little over the years. While our understanding of learning and favourable learning environments has substantially improved and technological innovations are offering a variety of new possibilities, it still seems that most of today’s schools and universities remain more or less unaffected by these developments.

This book brings together the perspectives of researchers, architects, technical designers, and teachers on emerging theoretical and technological developments pertaining to the classroom of the future.

Innovative ideas are offered on how new technologies and learning approaches can be integrated into schools. It challenges us to think of learning spaces in a new way. Classroom of the Future is of interest to researchers and students, designers and educators across various disciplines including education, cognitive, social and educational psychology, didactics, computer science and design as well as to parents and policymakers." (Publisher's description)

Free preview of the book (1st chapter)

For your convenience, the book's table of contents:

1. The Classroom of the future - an introduction ......................................................1

Kati Mäkitalo-Siegl, Jan Zottmann, Frederic Kaplan and Frank Fischer

Part I: Learning Spaces Shaped by Instructional, Classroom, and School Building Design

2. The classroom of the past .................................................................................15

Andreas Schratzenstaller

3. Spaces for learning — schools for the future?     ...................................................41

Joanna Sutherland and Rosamund Sutherland

Part II: Facilitating Learning Using Technology-Enhanced Objects and Furniture

4. Taking teaching beyond the classroom: Pervasive computing technologies

for the classroom of the future    ..........................................................................63

Paul Holleis, Albrecht Schmidt, Heiko Drewes, Richard Atterer and Petra Dollinger

5. Making the classroom a play-ground for knowledge         ................. .....................87

Stefano Baraldi

6. Computer support for children’s collaborative story-making in the classroom...........115

Giulia Gelmini Hornsby

7. Scriptable classrooms ......................................................................................141

Frederic Kaplan and Pierre Dillenbourg

Part III: Knowledge Building in Virtual and Physical Learning Spaces

8. Knowledge communities in the classroom of the future........................................163

Nicolae Nistor

9. Digital cultural heritage to support novel activities in the classroom of the future...181

Lily Díaz and Lotta Partanen

Part IV: Joint Efforts for Designing and Implementing Future Spaces of Learning

10. Designing tomorrow’s classroom with today’s teachers ........................................199

Andreas Lingnau

11. Evolving the classrooms of the future: The interplay of pedagogy, technology

and community ...................................................................................................215

Jim Slotta

Part V: Discussion

12. Turning the classroom of the future into the classroom of the present..................245

Ingo Kollar

List of contributors..............................................................................................257

Author index.......................................................................................................259

Subject index......................................................................................................267

Stefano Baraldi's blog:  On the Tabletop

Albrecht Schmidt's blog:  User Interface Engineering

Pushing the Envelope of our Gadgets: e-Readers, using the Wii to play iPhone games, etc.

Via Wired Gadget Lab:

"E-readers, as we know them now, are at a crossroads. Next week, Apple is expected to announce a new tabletlike device that could also be used to read digital books. It’s expected to have a color screen, not the monochrome E Ink display found on most e-readers. Apple is reportedly talking to publishers to bring e-books and magazines to the device." Read More



Wii Hacks:


Hack a Wii
Wii Hacks Hack-a-Day


Update: I'm working on a future post that will flesh out this topic.

Ideum's GestureWorks vs Adobe AIR 2 and Flash Player 1.0 comparison of multitouch and gesture support

Jim Spadaccini, of Ideum, shared information about his company's product, Gestureworks, highlighting how it provides better multi-touch and gesture support than Adobe AIR2 and Flash Player 10.1. Gestureworks supports multiple-point drag, rotate, and scale at the same time. In the video, the application is demonstrated on an HP Touchsmart 600 and a 3M multitouch screen.

Adobe AIR 2 and Flash Player 10.1  vs Gestureworks 1.0: A direct comparison of multitouch and gesture support


"A direct comparison between the built-in support for multitouch found in Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta / Adobe AIR 2 and that of the Gestureworks multitouch framework for Flash. More about this comparison can be found on the Gestureworks website (http://www.gestureworks.com) and the Ideum website (http://www.ideum.com)  There is a blog post with more about this comparison and links to all of the example files at: www.ideum.com/2010/01/true-multitouch-wi th-adobe-flash/ "

True Multitouch with Adobe Flash - Jim Spadaccini


GestureWorks Supported Gestures

Example of Ideum's GestureWorks multi-touch, multi-user design for an exhibit a the Vancouver Aquarium:

Slightly off-topic: The UX of Laundry Washing Update, with Videos of Gain Detergent Fans

The post can be found by following the link below:

THE UX OF LAUNDRY WASHING:  RESPONSE TO COMMENTS & VIDEOS OF GAIN DETERGENT FANS.

SMART Technologies Multitouch Application Contest Announced!

The SMART Multitouch Application Contest was recently announced. The SMART Table is a multitouch, multiuser interactive learning center designed for early education which supports hands-on collaborative play and learning activities.  I think that this would be a great project for an after-school technology club at a high school.

If you haven't seen a SMART Table, the following videos will give you an idea of what they are all about:

The SMART Table in a multi-age Montessori classroom at an elementary school:


Video from 2008 about the SMART Table:


Below is information about the contest prizes from the SMART Technologies website:

• Grand prize – One SMART Table, valued at US$6,499. Plus, the winning application will be promoted on the SMART website for one year, providing you with the opportunity to establish a revenue stream if users purchase your application.
• First runner-up – The second-place application will be promoted on the SMART website for one year.
• Second runner-up – The third-place application will be promoted on the SMART website for six months

RELATED

SMART Multitouch Application Contest Website

Here you can review the contest guidelines, terms and conditions, review the FAQ's and find out how to enter the contest.  There are two categories.  The Commercial category is for professional and amateur developers, and the Academic is for students and educators affiliated with an educational institution.