Dzmitry Viktorovich Aliakseyeu

A comparison of techniques for multi-display reaching

Recent advances in multi-user collaboration have seen a proliferation of interaction techniques for moving digital objects from one device to another. However, little is known about how these techniques work in realistic situations, or how they compare to one another. We conducted a study to compare the efficiency of six techniques for moving objects from a tablet to a tabletop display. We compared the techniques in four different distance ranges and with three movement directions. We found that techniques like the Radar View and Pick-and-Drop, that have a control-to-display ratio of 1, are significantly faster for object movement than techniques that have smaller control-to-display ratios. We also found that using spatial manipulation of objects was faster than pressure-based manipulation.

A computer support tool for the early stages of architectural design

Even in the current computer age, there are still many important application areas, such as early architectural design, where traditional tools like sketching on paper continue to be preferred by many professionals over computer-based tools. There is a growing awareness that there are often very good grounds for this preference. Hence, instead of trying to replace such traditional ways of working, it is now often considered more opportune to try and preserve the strengths of these traditional ways of working, while at the same time improving them by providing access to new media. This is one of the main objectives of the augmented reality approach that we adopt here. In this paper, we specifically discuss the realization of a tool for early architectural design on an existing augmented reality system, called the Visual Interaction Platform. We describe the development process, the resulting tool and its performance for elementary tasks such as positioning and overdrawing. We also identify directions for future research and applications.

There and Back Again: Cross-Display Object Movement in Multi-Display Environments

ABSTRACT Multi-display environments (MDEs) are now becoming common, and are becoming more complex, with more displays and more types of display in the environment. One crucial requirement specific to MDEs is that users must be able to move objects from one display to another; this cross-display movement is a frequent and fundamental part of interaction in any application that spans two or more display surfaces. Although many cross-display movement techniques exist, the differences between MDEs—the number, location, and mixed orientation of displays, and the characteristics of the task they are being designed for—require that interaction techniques be chosen carefully to match the constraints of the particular environment. As a way to facilitate interaction design in MDEs, we present a taxonomy that classifies cross-display object movement techniques according to three dimensions: the referential domain that determines how displays are selected, the relationship of the input space to the display configuration, and the control paradigm for executing the movement. These dimensions are based on a descriptive model of the task of cross-display object movement. The taxonomy also provides an analysis of current research that designers and researchers can use to understand the differences between categories of interaction techniques.

Comparing text entry methods for interactive television applications

We evaluate and compare the user acceptance of alternative text input methods for an interactive TV application. We are interested in whether remote control-based input methods are acceptable alternatives to the standard keyboard, when the user is assisted with intelligent text entry methods when entering a search term. The users are asked to search for music videos by entering text using a remote control or a standard QWERTY keyboard. The text input methods are evaluated with the HED/UT questionnaire. The results show that the standard keyboard with intelligence is better rated in these dimensions than the methods using the remote control. However, there is no negative attitude towards the methods using the remote control when using intelligent text input.

Interacting with piles of artifacts on digital tables

Designers and architects regularly use piles to organize visual artifacts. Recent efforts have now made it possible for users to create piles in digital systems as well. However, there is still little understanding of how users should interact with digital piles. In this paper we investigate this issue. We first identify three tasks that must be supported by a digital pile -- navigation, reorganization, and repositioning. We then present three interaction techniques -- called DragDeck, HoverDeck, and ExpandPile that meet these requirements. The techniques allow users to easily browse the piles, and also allow them to move elements between and within piles in an ad-hoc manner. In a user study that compared the different interaction techniques, we found that ExpandPile was significantly faster than the other techniques over all tasks. There were differences, however, in individual tasks. We discuss the benefits and limitations of the different techniques and identify several situations where each of them could prove useful.

Affective Tabletop Game: A New Gaming Experience for Children

In this paper, we discuss various options for enhancing the gaming experience in augmented tabletop games. More specifically, we propose to incorporate psychophysiological measurements as a part of the gaming experience, and to integrate a desktop game within its real surrounding (i.e., the entire room) in order to promote more physical activity. Such design options, together with other game rules, aim at promoting social interaction between participating players, as this is considered to be a major characteristic of any good multi-player game. We concretized and informally evaluated the above aspects within a specific tabletop game that we designed for children aged 7 to 11 years. Our findings indicate that psychophysiological feedback in a tabletop game does indeed facilitate social interaction and adds to the fun element. Our results also reveal that children appreciate the involvement of the real world environment in a tabletop game.

Bubble radar: efficient pen-based interaction

The rapid increase in display sizes and resolutions has led to the re-emergence of many pen-based interaction systems like tabletop and wall display environments. Pointing in these environments is an important task, but techniques have not exploited the manipulation of control and display parameters to the extent seen in desktop environments. We have overcome these in the design of a new pen-based interaction technique -- Bubble Radar. Bubble Radar allows users to reach both specific targets and empty space, and supports dynamic switching between selecting and placing. The technique is based on combining the benefits of a successful pen-based pointing technique, the Radar View, with a successful desktop object pointing technique -- the Bubble Cursor. We tested the new technique in a user study and found that it was significantly faster than existing techniques, both for overall pointing and for targeting specific objects.

Funky wall: presenting mood boards using gesture, speech and visuals

In our studies aimed at understanding design practice we have identified the creation of mood boards as a relevant task for designers. In this paper we introduce an interactive wall-mounted display system that supports the presentation of mood boards. The system allows designers to easily record their mood board presentations while capturing the richness of their individual presentation skills and style. Designers and clients can play back, explore and comment on different aspects of the presentation using an intuitive and flexible interaction based on hand gestures thus supporting two-way communication. The system records the presentation and organizes it into three information layers (i.e. gesture, sound and visuals), which are first used to segment the presentation into meaningful parts, and later for playback. Exploratory evaluations show that designers are able to use the system with no prior training, and see a practical use of the proposed system in their design studios.

Exploring interaction strategies in the context of sleep

This paper highlights opportunities and considerations when developing interaction techniques in the relatively unexplored area of sleep. We do this by first describing the sociological aspects of sleep such as the need for scheduling and coordinating sleep within a collective, followed by a description of the physiological aspects such as the circadian rhythm and sleep stages. We then examine how some external factors like the location of sleep and family settings can affect sleep to highlight potential design opportunities. We finish the paper by describing five distinct themes such as scheduling for a collective, supporting sleep transitions and feigning and inhibiting sleep around which design opportunities are explored. The main contribution of this paper is a discussion on the phenomenon of sleep and its position in the social life to provide a rich understanding of sleep and a set of opportunities for interaction design research around sleep.

Designing interactive lighting

LED-based lighting systems have introduced radically new possibilities in the area of artificial lighting. Being physically small the LED can be positioned or embedded into luminaires, materials and even the very fabric of a building or environment. Hundreds of LEDs can be used in a single luminaire or space, of which each could have different light output properties. The light switch therefore in many situations will need to be enhanced or fully replaced by intelligent controls and smart environments that are sensitive to the context and responsive to the people in the environment. The focus of this workshop is to explore new ways of interacting with light where lighting is no longer simply an on or off system, but a flexible system capable of creating a large range of functional, decorative and ambient light effects.