Michael Hlatky

Physical Construction Toys for Rapid Sketching of Tangible User Interfaces

Physical construction toys such as Lego or similar brick-based systems provide a rich space for tangible interactions. In this paper we explore their potential as a readily available prototyping platform for Tangible User Interfaces. The system enables interaction designers and users to create functional control layouts, tangible experience prototypes, custom interface elements, and grid based interactions from Lego bricks. The position, color, orientation and shape of the markerless bricks are tracked using a camera. We have conducted an initial exploration of this design space through an exemplary case study of a tangible interface for music creation: users can construct interactive interface elements such as tangible grids for the arrangement of drum-patterns and different types of continuous controllers for parameter adjustments. The system is currently a work in progress; ongoing efforts are aimed at a more thorough evaluation.

FlexiKnobs: bridging the gap between mouse interaction and hardware controllers

Parameters in audio or video editing applications can mostly be controlled by a variety of hardware devices such as MIDI controllers. These, however, usually feature only a limited number of physical knobs arranged in a fixed layout. The hundreds of parameters offered by typical editing software across dozens of windows with distinct arrangements of on-screen controls are hard to map to such a fixed physical interface. To improve this, we have built a set of wireless, mouse-like devices enhanced with rotary controllers aiming at integrating the flexibility and transparency of mouse interaction with the benefits of physical controllers. Our software enables the simultaneous use of several of these knobs with a large variety of standard software.

Giantsteps-progress towards developing intelligent and collaborative interfaces for music production and performance

We present the GiantSteps project, an EU-funded project involving institutions from academia, practitioners, and industrial partners with the goal of developing new concepts for intelligent and collaborative interfaces for music production and performance. At the core of the project is an iterative, user-centric research approach to music information retrieval (MIR) and human computer interaction (HCI) that is designed to allow us to accomplish three main targets, namely (1) the development of intelligent musical expert agents to support and inspire music makers, (2) more intuitive and collaborative interfaces, and (3) low-complexity methods addressing lowcost devices to enable affordable and accessible production tools and apps. In this paper, we report on the main findings and achievements of the projects first 18 months.

TapShot: screenshot snippets as GUI shortcuts

During extended sessions with a graphical user interface (GUI), users often apply a small set of commands with high frequency. A majority of direct manipulation tasks on a GUI are carried out using the mouse, particularly when keyboard shortcuts are not provided or the user is not familiar with them. Thus, to invoke a certain command, the user is required to aim the mouse pointer at a given onscreen widget and click with the mouse. If the overall task requires a user to click on the same widget repeatedly as part of a sequence of different interleaved micro-tasks, the overall performance suffers, as each point-and-click action requires a considerable amount of time for correctly aiming at the respective control.