Olli Koskenranta

Design and evaluation of mobile phonebook application with stereoscopic 3D user interface

During recent years, stereoscopic 3D (S3D) mobile devices have entered the mass markets. Yet, mobile S3D user experience (UX) design has not been widely studied, and stereoscopy in todays products is used for purely visual design, whilst the potential for holistic UX has been neglected. In this work-in-progress paper we introduce the design, implementation and preliminary evaluation of a mobile S3D phonebook application, where stereoscopy was used to augment the 2D user interface (UI) design to provide information related to the time when the last call with each phonebook contact was made.

Clearing the virtual window: connecting two locations with interactive public displays

Public displays offer the possibility to open a virtual window to another place by showing a live video feed from a remote location. In this paper, we describe our research investigating connecting two spaces with pervasive displays, where the ability to see through the virtual window was user controlled. The set-up was designed to resemble a frozen window, where the user was able to melt the surface using gesture input. We organized a four day field study with four alternating designs to evaluate our system, and collected feedback from 14 users through online surveys and focus groups. Our salient findings reveal that Ice Window was perceived as fun and interesting, and it has potential for facilitate awareness and informal ways of collaboration not only between the two locations, but also at one side of the display. People were most comfortable with a design that implemented two-sided melting of the ice. This was perceived as best able to indicate communication attempts between the two locations whilst respecting privacy.

City landmark as an interactive installation: experiences with stone, water and public space

In this paper, we describe our demonstration utilizing an urban landmark, a monument in a city center, for interaction. The City Mouse is an interactive media installation, where the participants rotate a 3D model of the Earth presented on a screen by rolling a large stone ball resting on a water fountain in a stone slab. During a public trial, approximately a hundred people interacted with the system. We demonstrate how an existing landmark in urban spaces can be used in an interactive experience, and report the experiences with the installation. We present how the communal ownership, associations and existing practices were connected to the successful design of the media installation.

Windows to other places: exploring solutions for seeing through walls using handheld projection

Mobile projection offers an interesting technology for creating displays on any surface without a situated screen. In this paper, we investigate two concepts that use handheld projection to see to other places through a virtual window. Firstly, we present a projector phone based prototype which, when pointed to the walls of a room, reveals images and a video stream from the physical space on the other side of the wall. Secondly, a novel handheld dual-display virtual reality browser that opens a virtual window to a remote location is presented. This prototype combines two displays, a screen and a projected display. Both concepts were evaluated in user studies (n=22 and n=23). We report, for example, that mobile projector based browsing was considered more fun and inspiring than a screen and mouse format, and that the horizon level of the projected image should be kept horizontal when browsing.

Design, implementation and evaluation of an autostereoscopic 3D mobile phonebook

Mobile stereoscopic 3D (S3D) user experience (UX) design has not yet been widely studied. Stereoscopy in todays products is used for visual design purposes, whilst the potential for holistic interaction design and utilitarian aspects have been neglected. In this paper we introduce the design, implementation and evaluation of a mobile S3D phonebook application. In the application stereoscopy was used to augment the 2D user interface (UI) design to provide information related to the time when the last call with each phonebook contact was made. We describe the results of the pilot study charting the design directions, laboratory study of first impressions, and results of a field trial, where 21 participants used the application for a few days. The S3D UI design provoked first impressions related to entertainment and 2D UI to practical qualities, whereas the field study showed that our S3D phonebook design successfully demonstrated that utilitarian value can be incorporated to the design.

A mobile client implementation for extensible network virtual worlds

This poster describes the implementation of a mobile client, called Chiru, for the realXtend extensible Network Virtual Environment. The paper describes the chiru client which can cope with network connection status and failures, multiple world connections and User Interface elements based on Qt/QML. The prototype is demonstrated on a mobile tablet device. Examples of power management profiles are presented and performance issues between Qt and OGRE are briefly described.

Portable CAVE using a mobile projector

Virtual environments have traditionally been accessed either with conventional 2D displays, or with complex equipment such as wearable displays or CAVEs. In this demo, we show how a projector phone can be utilized to create an ad-hoc, low-fidelity immersive environment. The user holding a projector phone stands in the middle of a virtual sphere, or cube, that is revealed by the projection which can be pointed in any direction.

Mobile photo sharing through collaborative space in stereoscopic 3D

Mobile user interfaces (UIs) utilizing stereoscopic 3D have so far been driven predominantly by visual design, and when interaction design has been considered, the focus has been on single user use cases. In this paper, we introduce a novel way to utilize stereoscopy in a mobile user interface in a collaborative task. We define a shared space, appearing below the screen level, which is used in a collaborative task of sharing mobile phone photos. Two users are able to share content by moving items between the private layer, at zero parallax, and shared layer, at positive parallax. We developed the application through an iterative design process including two user studies (n=27, n=19). We report positive evaluation results especially in regard of the utilitarian aspects of the UI design.

Co-creating a digital 3D city with children

In this paper, we present our co-creation work on a digital 3D city model, where school children were asked create drawings for the city landscape of their hometown. Altogether 40 drawings were then integrated into the 3D virtual world model to form a decorated 3D view of the city square and the main street. Our work presents a novel use case in using the local 3D city model as a creativity platform for children, opening a new viewpoint on how virtual world presentations can be used with e.g. to facilitate the perception of the local community.