Seventh International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction, Feb 10-13, Barcelona, Spain: Call for Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

TEI 13:  Seventh International Conference on 

Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

February 10-13, 2013.  Barcelona, Spain

Important Dates:

August 6th, 2012, 11:59 pm (UTC+1): Paper submission deadline 

November 26th, 2012, 11:59 pm (UTC+1): Work in Progress submission deadline 

October 22nd, 2012: Paper acceptance notification 

February 10-13th, 2013: TEI 2013 Conference at Barcelona 

Description 
TEI 2013 is the seventh international conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction. The work presented at TEI focuses on physical interaction with computing technology and addresses design challenges, theories, experiences, systems, and new developments. The intimate size of this single-track conference provides a unique forum for exchanging ideas and presenting innovative work through talks, interactive exhibits, demos, hands-on studios, posters, art installations and performances.


Research on tangible, embodied and embedded interaction has gained substantial visibility and activity over the past decade, under many different names and research topics and disciplines, including tangible interfaces, graspable interfaces, physical computing, tangible interaction, IT product design, appliance design and interactive spaces. It has also been associated with larger research areas, including mixed, virtual, and augmented reality and ubiquitous and pervasive computing. TEI brings together this emerging field, providing a meeting ground for the diverse communities of research and practice - from computing, hardware, and sensor technology, to HCI, interaction design and CSCW, to product and industrial design and interactive arts. We invite submissions from all of these perspectives: theoretical, conceptual, technical, applied, or artistic. The conference is designed to provide appropriate presentation forms for different types of contributions. Accepted submissions of all types will be included in the Proceedings as papers and will be integrated within the single-track conference. Interdisciplinary submissions are particularly welcome. 


This year TEI will be held in beautiful Barcelona, one of the world's leading cities for tourism, gastronomy, commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts. 


Topics for Submission 
Authors are invited to submit high-quality work detailing original research that contributes to advancing this rapidly developing field. Appropriate topics include but are not limited to:

• Tools to rapidly develop tangible, embedded and embodied user experiences 
• Case studies and evaluations of working deployments 
• Analysis of key challenges and proposals of research agendas 
• Relation of tangible and embedded interaction to other paradigms 
• Programming paradigms and tools, toolkits, software architectures 
• Novel interactive uses of sensors+actuators, electronics+mechatronics 
• Design guidelines, methods, and processes 
• Novel application areas, innovative systems, industrial applications 
• Theoretical foundations, frameworks, and concepts 
• Philosophical, ethical & social implications Interfaces specific in form and context to particular cultures 
• Advantages, weakness, affordances of tangible, embedded and embodied interaction Learning from the role of physicality in everyday environments 
• Embodied interaction, movement, and choreography of interaction 
• Organic User Interfaces: flexible, non-flat or actuated display interfaces 
• Role of physicality in human perception, cognition and experience 
• Teaching experiences, lessons learned, and best practices 
• Standardization, production, and business applications 

Papers 
Papers must present original material and will be reviewed rigorously by at least three reviewers in a double-blind process. Papers in all areas will be assessed on their contribution to the field. Papers are due on the 6th August 2012. Papers may be 4 or 8 pages long in ACM SIGCHI format. All papers will undergo the same review and publication process. The length must match the contribution. Authors may propose the presentation format that they feel best suits their contribution (short or long talk, demo, interactive exhibit, or both talk and demo/exhibit). TEI 2013 remains committed to the principle followed in previous TEI conferences - that TEI values all submissions equally. 


One author of each accepted submission must register for the conference before the early registration deadline in order for the final paper version to be published in the conference proceedings. Papers will be published in the ACM digital library. 


Please contact the program chairs Martin Kaltenbrunner, Dave Kirk and Paul Marshall at
tei2013_programchairs@googlegroups.com with questions about paper submissions.

Submission Details 
All work must be submitted electronically via the TEI 2013 Precision Conference site at https://precisionconference.com/~tei You will have to follow the guidelines regarding paper formats and submission categories at http://www.tei-conf.org/13/papersubmission 


Work in Progress 
There will be a second submission opportunity for work in progress until November 26th 2012. Selected works will be presented during dedicated poster sessions at TEI 2013 but are not published in the conference nor online proceedings. 


Explorations TEI 2013 
Explorations comprise several submission formats intended to embrace and nurture contributions from a wide range of communities - such as artists, designers and graduate students - as well as support the publication of cutting edge research. TEI Explorations include the Graduate Student Consortium and Art tracks as well as the Tangible Interaction Design Challenge. Full details will be confirmed in subsequent calls for papers.

TechCrunch Charlotte Highlights: T1 Vision; inTouch Collaborative Software

Yesterday evening I attended a meetup of TechCrunch and Charlotte-area techies, held at the uptown Packard Place entrepreneurial center.  It was jammed-packed with people all abuzz with tech start-up fever, fueled by awesome food provided by Zen Fusion.  Although my main purpose for attending the TechCrunch meet-up was to learn more about innovative technology start-ups in my region, I also was hoping to capture a few shots of interesting people.   I like to keep my eye open for tee-shirt slogans, and one worn by a young gentleman caught my eye, proclaiming that he'd seen the future, and it is in his browser.  On the back of his tee-shirt was a bright HTML5 logo, something that is dear to my heart, as I am moving from HTML4 to HTML5.  He was polite and agreed to pose for a couple of photographs:
 






It turned out that the HTML5 guy was at the TechCrunch event with one of his colleagues from T1 Visions, a social touchscreen solutions company that I've featured previously on this blog.  They caught me up on the growth of this start-up company, which now has 15 employees and has broadened its reach beyond table-top restaurant applications to the healthcare, education, corporate, retail, and broader hospitality sectors.

What I like about table-top systems is that they provide support for "natural user interaction".  It allows for multiple modes of interaction with and presentation of multimedia content.  Over the past several years, these systems have been proven to be useful to a wider range of people and settings.  Interfaces that support touch and gesture interaction are no longer viewed as novelties, given the pervasiveness of touch-phones and tablets and their ease-of-use for most people.

A useful product from T1 Visions is the T1 Collaboration Table. It supports touch-screen interaction and can also handle up to four simultaneously connected laptops.   The table system provides a media viewer that supports sharing of photos across screens, devices, and surfaces.  It also contains a web browser, a presentation viewer, and a whiteboard that is compatible with video conferencing.  The company provides customized applications for its clients.   In the Charlotte area, some of the tables can be found in restaurants, such as the Mellow Mushroom, Cowfish, and Harpers.  A few were recently installed in the Atkins library at UNC-Charlotte, to support group-work among students.

To learn more about what T1 Visions has to offer, take a few minutes to view the following videos and follow the links at the end of this post!






Demonstration of how the collaboration table can work within a business environment:


Demonstration of the T1VISION touch wall:

RELATED
T1 Visions Gallery
T1 Visions: Social Touchscreen Solutions
Interactive tabletops bring people together
Marty Minchin, Charlotte Observer, South Charlotte News, 2/20/12
Interactive Technology in the Carolinas: T-1 Visions Update

NOTE:
TechCrunch is a technology media group founded in 2005 that focuses on innovative technologies.  This summer, a group of TechCrunchers are visiting cities in the south that were previously not under their radar, such as Savannah and my home region, Charlotte, N.C.   The Charlotte TechCrunch meetup was held on Wednesday, July 11, 2012.  I plan to devote a few more blog posts to share what I learned.

Digitized History and Interactive Timelines: Lots of examples and links for your exploring pleasure!

One of my tech-savvy daughters is a history buff. She decided to research our family's genealogy, and through this process, has uncovered a treasure trove of interesting things during her on-line research.  

Technology has made it possible for historians, archivists, genealogists, antiquers, and other to digitally curate and share items on-line.  One example is the work of the 2 million-plus members of Ancestry.Com, a website that provides a fairly easy way for novices to create their own family trees, search digitized records, and share their findings with cousins, near and distant, about the stories they've come across along the way. (Please excuse the formatting problems!)

My daughter discovered that one of my great-great grandfathers worked as a conductor and yardman for the railroads before he became a miner and prospector, who apparently died penniless, according to an article she found in the Chronicling America website. This website is part of the Library of Congress and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. (The picture of my great-greet grandfather was taken from an article in the Salt Lake Tribune)

Screen Shot:  Chronicling America

Knowing that my great-great grandfather worked for the railroad in Utah led to the discovery of related information on-line. Below are two screenshots from the interactive timeline of the history of the Union Pacific railroad.  This website provides an opportunity for people to share their stories about the railroad's history. The timeline provides multiple means of accessing content related to the the railroad and the role of the railroad in the history of the United States.

Screen Shot: 150 Years: The History of Union Pacific

By clicking on the timeline, the viewer can dig in deeper into each specific era or location by viewing pictures, watching video clips, and reading text, as shown above. The timeline can be downloaded for use on iPad's iBooks 2 or on any computer with iTunes.

Screen shot: Golden Spike Ceremony, Promontory Summit, Utah

  

After my daughter commented that many of our relatives died at a very old age, without the benefits of the life-extending know-how of modern medicine, I wondered what old age might have been like for my elders. This led me to the Elder Web site, which provides an interactive timeline of the history of elder care.  The timeline links to a wealth of pictures and tidbits of information. Links include information obtained from the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. 

For those of you interested in timelines that focus on more recent events and history including the history of the arts, the following examples are fun to explore:

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music (swf), v2.5 (I'm waiting for 3.0)
Note: Ishkur uses colorful, strong language to express his viewpoints and opinions about musical trends.
History of Modern Music: All Genres (Guardian UK)
Interactive Modern Art Timeline
CNN's Interactive Map and Timeline of Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties "Home and Away"
New York Times:  10 Weeks of Financial Turmoil (the credit crisis of 2008)
New York Times: The History of Overhauling Healthcare
New York Times: European Debt Crisis
New York Times: Major Events in the Afghanistan War
Screen Shot: Hard Rock Cafe Interactive Memorabilia


RELATED
Digital Heritage
The American Memory Project
The Ninteenth Century in Print:  The Making of America in Books and Periodicals
Chronicling America
I take up my pen:  Letters from the Civil War
Digital NC: North Carolina's Digital Heritage
Digging Into Data Challenge and List of Online Data Repositories for Humanities and Social Sciences (Includes lots of links!)
U.S. Yearbooks (searchable via Ancestry.com)
What Was There: Digital versions of historical photographs of places are compared with locations on Google Maps, with the goal of creating a means to explore history through photography.
ImageFlow: Streaming Image Search (Microsoft)
Interactive Timelines using Timemap.js
Digital Storytelling Platforms and Multiple Perspectives:  A look at the work of Jonathan Harris (Food for Thought for Interactive Timeline Design)
List of Digital Preservation Initiatives (Wikipedia)

DIY Timelines (more to come)
Tiki-Toki
Dippity
Timetoast
The Best Tools for Making Online Timelines (Larry Ferlazzo)

Comment:
One unfinished project on my "Tech Bucket List" is a multidimensional, multidisciplinary. multimedia interactive timeline.  Although the concept is far-reaching, it would be a useful tool for students, historians, genealogists, and more.

Please excuse the formatting problems!

Quirky, Fun Webisode from Dot Diva (a website that encourages young women to pursue careers in technology)

I've been looking over my enormous archive of links and resources for this blog and thought I'd share some of the things that I planned on posting, but never did.  I have small collection of resources from organizations that provide support for young women who are preparing for careers in computing and related technological fields.


The Dot Diva website is part of the New Image for Computing (NIC) initiative, a joint effort between the Association for Computing (ACM), Sandhandle Workshops/SandBlast! DBG, and WGBH.  According to promotional information, "Dot Diva's mission is to create an exciting and positive image of computing for high school girls. Our nationwide survey revealed that not only do the majority of girls think of computing as "boring" and "hard," but they believe it fails to deliver two crucial benefits: "working with others" and "making a difference in other people's lives." Our ultimate goal is to transform this negative perception." 


In the following video, two young women apply for jobs working at a mostly-male video game company.  They both are hired and the viewer is presented with some interesting characters and interactions.  The video makes light fun of all sorts of people in order to convey some important messages:


Dot Diva, The Webisode



More about Dot Diva:




RELATED
Dot Diva Resources
Dot Diva Resources for Educators and Parents
New Image for Computing press release (2008)
ACM-W Women in Computing


Info from the Image of Computing website:
Taskforce 
Director, Jill Ross, Image of Computing Task Force
Co-Chair, Rick Rashid, Sr. VP Research, Microsoft
Co-Chair, Dr. James Foley, Georgia Institute of Technology and Past Board Chair, CRA
Microsoft Corporation, www.microsoft.com
Hewlett Packard, www.hp.com
Intel Corporation, www.intel.com
CRA, Computing Research Association, www.cra.org
ACM, Association of Computing Machinery, www.acm.org
SIAM, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, www.siam.org
IEEE-CS, www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs
USENIX, www.usenix.org
NCWIT National Center for Women in Information Technology, www.ncwit.org
ATLAS Institute, www.colorado.edu/ATLAS/
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, www.aaai.org

PO-MO, a creative group that combines digital art, interaction, movement, and play to create engaging surfaces and spaces.

I recently learned more  PO-MO, a relatively new start-up tech company based in Winnipeg, Canada. According to the company's information, PO-MO "specializes in interactive digital display solutions, including gesture and motion based interactivity, interactive display content creation and management, and large interactive display and projection services for advertisers, educators, and events."  


Po-Motion was a finalist in an elevator pitch video contest last fall. It has several advantages over potential competitors.  The system is easy to use, and priced within the range that is affordable for schools, museums, and other cost-conscious groups who would like to provide technology-supported immersive interactive experiences for people of all ages.  The PO-MOtion software designed for interactive floors and walls starts at $39.99, and works on any computer, using any USB web camera and a projector. Other applications make use of Kinect sensors.


I especially like one of PO-MO's recent projects, the Impossible Animals Museum Exhibit, created using Unity 3-D, for the Manitoba Children's Museum.  How does it work?  Children create a colored egg using crayons and paper, which is then scanned into the exhibit and digitally embedded into the system, which includes an interactive wall and floor.  When the egg is touched, it is activated to hatch, and then becomes a motion reactive animal.  The environment includes things like water, landscapes, and even a spaceship.  The system has a "reset world" button for museum staff to use when needed.  

Impossible Animals Exhibit

Impossible Animals Interactive Museum Installation from PO-MO Inc. on Vimeo.



The following video explains how the PO-MO system works:

PO-MO is also involved in promotional projects, assisting retailers, ad agencies, and brand managers with creative ways to engage customers and clients:

Ragpackers Kinect-based Window Display

Ragpickers Kinect Window Display from PO-MO Inc. on Vimeo.


The following video provides a scrolling description about PO-MO's work, including promising data collected during implementation:

SAP demo final from PO-MO Inc. on Vimeo.

Other products and services provided by PO include mobile app development. I especially like the augmented reality business card depicted in the following video clip:

Augmented Reality Business Card from PO-MO Inc. on Vimeo

Imagine if your local shopping centers, museums, libraries, or even schools offered this level of immersive interaction on a regular basis!

RELATED
The PO-MOtion system has a wide range of uses. It is currently used in an educational setting in a sensory room for students with special needs, something that I'd like to try out in the near future with students at Wolfe School. I plan to share more about this in another post.

PO-MO Case Studies


PO-MO Bios:

Meghan Athavale – Director/CEO, PO-MO Inc.

"Meghan has been a professional designer and animator since graduating from Red River College in 1997. After graduation, she moved to Calgary, where she spent almost two years directing projects at Aurenya Studios, a start-up animation company. In 2001, Meghan was engaged by Community Connections to support community-based IT development projects in rural Manitoba and in Winnipeg’s inner city.  In 2008, Meghan joined Manlab, developing educational interactive games and resources for Immigrate Manitoba. She also launched Meghan PO-MO Project, a sole proprietorship which provided sound reactive visuals for DJs and venues across Canada. In 2009, Meghan was contracted as the User Experience Designer at Tipping Canoe, a multinational internet marketing company.

In 2010, Meghan formed PO-MO Inc. in partnership with Curtis Wachs. She began working exclusively for the company in December, 2010. Today, Meghan is the driving force behind PO-MO Inc."

Curtis Wachs – Technical Director/COO, PO-MO Inc.
"Curtis graduated from Assiniboine Community College in 2003 where he studied object oriented programming. Directly upon graduating, Curtis was hired by Assiniboine Community College to help design and develop software for online classes. Curtis relocated to Winnipeg in 2006 to create interactive training material for sales staff at E.H. Price. During the course of his work, Curt was apprenticed in 3D modelling and animation by Liem Ngyuen, a former Frantic Films resident. In 2008, Curtis joined Manlab, where he created online educational games for Travel Manitoba, Immigrate Manitoba, and other clients. In 2010, Curtis formally joined PO-MO Project, and the company became a partnership. In June 2010, PO-MO Inc. was founded.

Curtis is currently the technical director at PO-MO Inc., overseeing the project management and workflow of contracted and R&D development projects."

Checking out Recline js, an open-source, browser based HTML and JavaScript library for data: "Relax with your data"

"Recline.js - relax with your data"

"A simple but powerful library for building data applications in pure Javascript and HTML"

The diagram below was taken from the Recline.js website and provides a basic overview of how it works:

More about the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Cities

After my recent post about graduate research opportunities at the Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable, Connected Cities, I came across additional information about the project. The following is quoted from Charles Sheridan's 5/24/12 post, Announcing the Intel Collaborative  Research Institute for Sustainable Cities:

"We aim to create new, cross cutting inter-disciplinary “Systems of Systems” Cities research  methodology to understand key city challenges and technology opportunities."

Charlie Sheridan is the principal investigator of the ICRI Sustainable Connected Cities project, described in more detail in the  following video:

Some of the questions the Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Cities plans to investigate, as outlined by Sheridan (below),  are ones that probably need to be articulated for the general public,  not just  techies.  By taking an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to research, this might just happen.

"How can technology “sustain sustainable behaviours”?"

"How can technology enable ubiquitous integrated services?"

"How do we protect privacy, security and disconnection in a city of a billion sensors?"

"Who pays? Who repairs?  Who Profits?"

"How can you design and evaluate connected and sustainable services and user-centred information for diverse needs of city dwellers?"

"How do you engage city communities to participate in developing technological innovations that will improve their environment, transport systems and local services?"

My favorite:

"What novel interfaces and interactions are required to encourage participation of citizens, business and government?"

This is a serious, large-scale endeavor.  I planned on wrapping up this post with a few pictures from my vast archive of examples of technology "out-and-about", but in doing so, came across a few photos that demonstrate, in a slightly humorous way, why this research effort is important:

Let's throw up a large-screen display to make the recycling process at the food court less complicated!

Let's stick these kiosks and displays over there and watch what doesn't happen!

Let's throw up everything on this display and see if it makes sense to the mom with a toddler in tow!

Let's get great-grandma (my mom) and the toddler (my grandson) together for some Internet-connected HDTV DVR DVD family viewing experience!  

Let's just  give toddlers iPads and see what happens!

(This little one gets to "play" with an iPad just once a week.)

I see endless possibilities here for the future of our cities!

Every little flower I planted yesterday came with a QR code. Are  these biodegradable or recyclable?

I quickly learned that garden dirt and QR codes don't mix.  It was much easier to read the informational text about my vincas on my iPhone, but I wasn't sure about exposing my iPhone to all the  dirt, water, and  beating sun.  FYI: Gardening:  QR Codes can be a Gardener's Best Friend

T-shirt slogan: 

"This was supposed to be future:  Where is my jetpack?"

Ph.D. Student Positions: Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities

Thanks to Johannes Schöning for sharing information about this opportunity!
This might be of interest to some of my IMT readers:


EngD/PhD Positions within the Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities (ISCCI) at University College London (UCL) The Department of Computer Science at UCL is inviting applications for up to 6 Research Student Positions (1 EngD of 4 years, and up to 5 PhDs of 3 years), starting September 24th 2012 or January 7th 2013.


With 6.3 billion people expected to dwell in cities by 2050, the aim of the ISCCI is to create and realize a compelling vision of a sustainable future made possible by adaptive technologies that optimize resource efficiency, enable new services and support the quality of life of urban inhabitants. The Institute is located with a rich external ecosystem of companies and researchers both locally and globally investing in this important domain. The ISCCI is led by Prof. Yvonne Rogers at UCL.


We are looking for students willing to pursue a doctoral degree in computer science around the following broad topics:
•       How technology can help recognize, leverage, and support the out-of-sight, hidden or forgotten resources of urban environments, ranging from volunteers to subterranean water systems and other underlying city infrastructures.
•       How communities can encourage sustainable behaviours over time, for example, through meaningful visualizations and feedback about resource usage to individuals and groups.
•       How technology can give us an opportunity to reinvent new ideas of place and identity, considering the diversification & proliferation of new types of communities in cities, with the aim to increase quality of living and lower the barriers for mobility in our future connectedcities.


The applicants should possess a good honours MSc degree (1st Class or 2:1 minimum) in Computer Science, Psychology, Human-Computer-Interaction or related disciplines. Candidates will be expected to work in teams comprising computer scientists, social scientists, and psychologists, so an open attitude towards interdisciplinary research and teamwork is important. Candidates should have interest in at least two of the following research fields (as well as a good command of English) language:
•       Human-Computer-Interaction,
•       Augmented or Mixed Reality,
•       Interactive 3D Computer Graphics,
•       Interaction Design,
•       Perceptual Psychology, and/or
•       Cognitive Sciences.
•       Ethnography•       Data Mining, Machine Learning
•       Crowed Sourced Data
•       Data Visualization, Cartography
•       Geoinformatics
•       Big Data


Fees are fully paid. Salary for the 4-year EngD position is £18,090 tax free p.a., and £15,590 tax free p.a. for the 3-year PhD positions.The closing date for applications is 5pm on 18th July 2012. Interviews will he held on July 26th and 27th. 


The start date is September 24th  2012 (though it can be postponed to January 7th 2013). No part-time option available.Please download the application form http://www.ucl.ac.uk/uclic/phd_studentships/Intel_studentship_application_form/ and email the completed form to Louise Gaynor l.gaynor@ucl.ac.uk as a single PDF document by 5pm on Wed 18th July 2012. Please can you indicate in your application whether you wish to start in Sept 2012 or Jan 2013.

Intel studentship job advert_July 2012.pdf1881K   View   Download

More posts coming soon!

My regular followers might have notice a drop in the number of posts recently. All for good reason.


I recently had a close encounter with a wasp, resulting in an allergic reaction, just as I was wrapping things up for the school year.  I now carry an Epipen with me at all times.


I'm back on track and look forward to blogging regularly in the near future!

Interactive Music Challenge: The Reactable & the Reactable for Children with Autism Spectum Disorders

What I'd like to share today might be of interest to educators, techies, musicians, parents, and students. If you create a composition using the Reactable Mobile app and submit it, you might have a chance of winning your very own Reactable Live!  


Information about the challenge can be found on the Reactable website.

You can find information about creating music with Reactable Mobile for your phone or tablet (Android or Apple) on the Reactable Mobile site. I especially like that the company provides a load of support through the Reactable Community.



Acquisition of Joint Attention and Social Abilities of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The Reactable provided the centerpiece of Lilia Villafuerte Bazan's work for her Master thesis.  Her project focused on the acquisition  of joint attention and social abilities of children with autism spectrum disorders through music. Lilia's work was through the Music Technology Group at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, under the direction of Dr. Sergi Jorda.   

I was delighted to see Lilia's presentation of her work, along with the video, during the recent CHI 2012 conference. 


Project website: 
http://www.villafuerte.info/ascchildrenandtuis
Master Thesis:
http://www.villafuerte.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/LiliaVillafuerte_MasterThesis.pdf


-Lilia Villafuerte Bazan

RELATED
REACTABLE LIVE

Comment:
If you follow this blog, you probably know that I am a school psychologist who has a background in technology, music, and related arts.  I spend much of my work week with young people who have severe autism and other disabilities. I also work at a magnet high school for technology and the arts.  I'd like a Reactable for students at both schools!