Oğuzhan Özcan

Teaching Interactive Media Design

In todays, computer-centered society, designing interactive media has emerged as a new profession. Interactive design is often associated with spread of computers as a communication and interaction tool. However, interactive design has been a staple of artists and designers for many centuries. We present a historical perspective upon interactive design and point out the close relationship of this field with different fields of art and design. We argue that interactive media design is a distinct and evolving field and that it is imperative to teach it as such.In this paper, we have adopted this perspective and detailed a new four-year under-graduate curriculum on interactive media design education. This curriculum stresses the various components of interactive media design and its close relationship with computer science.

Standardizing interaction design education

The objective of this paper is to which extend the didactic format of studio-based group-work is applicable for creating a common-ground for Interaction Design Education in European Perspective. The current debate on design education shows us a landscape of different initiatives. So far difficulties have arisen in the area of accreditation and validation of interaction design as an educational field. This in contrast to all the EU agreements and strategies. In this paper we will closely look at these difficulties from the perspective of the intensive EU-funded summer-course on Interaction Design with four participating institutes coming from four different EU countries. The course facilitated learning through the usage of the didactic format of studio-based group-work. This approach enabled blended learning and provided a commongroud for intercultural learning through design. A qualitative assessment conducted on the learning format by the 40 multi-cultural group of students and staff provided insightful guidelines into the appreciation and value of the format. The evaluation results showed that the studio-based group-work is an efficient method to overcome cultural differences in design methodology, teamwork and personal skills.

Head-mounted mixed reality projection display for games production and entertainment

AbstractThis research presents a mixed reality (MR) application that is designed to be usable during a motion capture shoot and supports actors with their task to perform. Through our application, we allow seeing and exploring a digital environment without occluding an actor’s field of vision. A prototype was built by combining a retroreflective screen covering surrounding walls and a headband consisting of a laser scanning projector with a smartphone. Built-in sensors of a smartphone provide navigation capabilities in the digital world. The presented system was demonstrated in an initially published paper. Here, we extend these research results with our advances and discuss the potential use of our prototype in gaming and entertainment applications. To explore this potential use case, we built a gaming application using our MR prototype and tested it with 45 participants. In these tests, we use head movements as rather unconventional game controls. According to the performed user tests and their feedback, our prototype shows a potential to be used for gaming applications as well. Therefore, our MR prototype could become of special interest because the prototype is lightweight, allows for freedom of movement and is a low-cost, stand-alone mobile system. Moreover, the prototype also allows for 3D vision by mounting additional hardware.

CHI 2039: speculative research visions

This paper presents a curated collection of fictional abstracts for papers that could appear in the proceedings of the 2039 CHI Conference. It provides an opportunity to consider the various visions guiding work in HCI, the futures toward which we (believe we) are working, and how research in the field might relate with broader social, political, and cultural changes over the next quarter century.

Head-worn mixed reality projection display application

The main goal of this research is to develop a mixed reality (MR) application to support motion capture actors. This application allows seeing and exploring a digital environment without occluding the actors visual field. A prototype is built by combining a retro-reflective screen covering surrounding walls and a headband consisting of a laser scanning projector with a smartphone. Built-in sensors of a smartphone provide navigation capabilities in the digital world. The integrated system has some unique advantages, which are collectively demonstrated for the first time: (i) providing fixed field-of-view (50° in diagonal), fixed retinal images at full-resolution, and distortion-free images that are independent of the screen distance and shape; (ii) presenting different perspectives to the users as they move around or tilt their heads, (iii) allowing a focus-free and calibration-free display even on non-flat surfaces using laser scanning technology, (iv) enabling multiple users to share the same screen without crosstalk due to the use of retro-reflectors, and (v) producing high brightness pictures with a projector of only 15 lm; due to a high-gain retro-reflective screen. We demonstrated a lightweight, comfortable to wear and low cost head-mounted projection display (HMPD) which acts as a stand-a-lone mobile system. Initial informal functionality tests have been successfully performed. The prototype can also be used as a 3D stereo system using the same hardware by additionally mounting polarized glasses and an active polarization rotator, while maintaining all of the advantages listed above.

Sensation: Measuring the Effects of a Human-to-Human Social Touch Based Controller on the Player Experience

We observe an increasing interest on usage of full-body interaction in games. However, human-to-human social touch interaction has not been implemented as a sophisticated gaming apparatus. To address this, we designed the Sensation, a device for detecting touch patterns between players, and introduce the game, Shape Destroy, which is a collaborative game designed to be played with social touch. To understand if usage of social touch has a meaningful contribution to the overall player experience in collaborative games we conducted a user study with 30 participants. Participants played the same game using i) the Sensation and ii) a gamepad, and completed a set of questionnaires aimed at measuring the immersion levels. As a result, the collected data and our observations indicated an increase in general, shared, ludic and affective involvement with significant differences. Thus, human-to-human touch can be considered a promising control method for collaborative physical games.

DubTouch: exploring human to human touch interaction for gaming in double sided displays

Human to human touch interaction (social touch) has not been investigated thoroughly as a control apparatus for gaming purposes although it holds potential. Therefore, we have developed the concept of DubTouch which is an interactive environment comprised of double sided display and touch areas where two players can touch each other. To investigate its potential, we conducted two step research method comprised of a user study and a design workshop. As a result of the user study with 10 participants, 6 categories of social touch patterns are generated. Two of these categories, found both intuitive and exclusive to DubTouch according to our evaluations. Design Workshop, with 10 experts, concluded with two games. The properties of control schemes of these games match with the results of the user study. Moreover, our observations showed that both games have created uncommon gaming experiences by utilizing social touch and by benefiting face to face positions of players.

To watch from distance: an interactive film model based on Brechtian film theory

With the emergence of new media, interactive film projects have mainly struggled to resolve the contradiction between dramatic structures and interaction. Dramatic film presents identification with the main character, where the viewer is constantly oppressed by the narrative, and therefore lost in illusion. In this context, when we bring on the scene interaction, the drama apparently starts to lose its power. In this article, a new interactive film model based on Brechtian film theory is proposed. This model presents a new way of spatiotemporal construction where different audiovisual combinations can be viewed successively, and this way the viewer can actively construct his/her own story. Theoretical framework of the Brechtian interactive film model is supported by an interactive film application, named Academia. The main feature of the model is that, while interaction is very simple, the continuity of the narrative is preserved and the film requiring an intellectual level of interpretation.

Breaking the rules in interactive media design education

In todays interactive media design it is difficult for a designer to create aesthetic innovations and to break free from ordinariness. The most important factor limiting interactive media design aesthetics is that education seems to be more focused on following traditional rules of interaction design rather than innovative approaches. These rules limit creativity and often relegate design students to producing ordinary interface solutions. This is especially burdensome for us as teachers. In order to address this problem, we developed an education model inspired by Lars von Triers film Five Obstructions. We call this model ‘breaking the rules’. In the ‘breaking the rules’ approach students produce, within a range of probabilities, design problem solutions in cases of total or partial visual/auditory/tactile obstructions. The most important outputs of the model are (1) to make design student think/look outside of the ordinary, (2) to produce unusual solutions, (3) to maximise design solutions with sound.

The effects of the sound-image relationship within sound education for interactive media design

Abstract In the design of interactive systems, expression only through visuals is not adequate in all cases. This situation highlights the importance of sound design in interactive media design education and the view that the students getting this education should be directed towards interactivity aimed sound design. For this research, we examined projects and the related sound designs of the students taking the Sound Design course in the Interactive Media Design Program of Yildiz Technical University and studied the effects of the way the sound-image relationship has been handled. In respect to the findings of the research, the article reveals the criteria by which students can produce projects with more creative solutions regarding sound.