Scott Carter

Momento: support for situated ubicomp experimentation

We present the iterative design of Momento, a tool that providesintegrated support for situated evaluation of ubiquitouscomputing applications. We derived requirements for Momento from a user-centered design process that includedinterviews, observations and field studies of early versionsof the tool. Motivated by our findings, Momento supportsremote testing of ubicomp applications, helps with participantadoption and retention by minimizing the need for newhardware, and supports mid-to-long term studies to addressinfrequently occurring data. Also, Momento can gather logdata, experience sampling, diary, and other qualitative data.

Exiting the Cleanroom: On Ecological Validity and Ubiquitous Computing

ABSTRACT Over the past decade and a half, corporations and academies have invested considerable time and money in the realization of ubiquitous computing. Yet design approaches that yield ecologically valid understandings of ubiquitous computing systems, which can help designers make design decisions based on how systems perform in the context of actual experience, remain rare. The central question underlying this article is, What barriers stand in the way of real-world, ecologically valid design for ubicomp? Using a literature survey and interviews with 28 developers, we illustrate how issues of sensing and scale cause ubicomp systems to resist iteration, prototype creation, and ecologically valid evaluation. In particular, we found that developers have difficulty creating prototypes that are both robust enough for realistic use and able to handle ambiguity and error and that they struggle to gather useful data from evaluations because critical events occur infrequently, because the level of use necessary to evaluate the system is difficult to maintain, or because the evaluation itself interferes with use of the system. We outline pitfalls for developers to avoid as well as practical solutions, and we draw on our results to outline research challenges for the future. Crucially, we do not argue for particular processes, sets of metrics, or intended outcomes, but rather we focus on prototyping tools and evaluation methods that support realistic use in realistic settings that can be selected according to the needs and goals of a particular developer or researcher.

Let's go from the whiteboard: supporting transitions in work through whiteboard capture and reuse

The use of whiteboards is pervasive across a wide range of work domains. But some of the qualities that make them successful--an intuitive interface, physical working space, and easy erasure--inherently make them poor tools for archival and reuse. If whiteboard content could be made available in times and spaces beyond those supported by the whiteboard alone, how might it be appropriated? We explore this question via ReBoard, a system that automatically captures whiteboard images and makes them accessible through a novel set of user-centered access tools. Through the lens of a seven week workplace field study, we found that by enabling new workflows, ReBoard increased the value of whiteboard content for collaboration.

Linking Digital Media to Physical Documents: Comparing Content- and Marker-Based Tags

This paper discusses the marker-based tags that can bridge the gap between paper and digital devices. This article explores trade-offs between two tagging technologies and issues to consider when developing systems that transition between the two media.

SmartDCap: semi-automatic capture of higher quality document images from a smartphone

People frequently capture photos with their smartphones, and some are starting to capture images of documents. However, the quality of captured document images is often lower than expected, even when an application that performs post-processing to improve the image is used. To improve the quality of captured images before post-processing, we developed the Smart Document Capture (SmartDCap) application that provides real-time feedback to users about the likely quality of a captured image. The quality measures capture the sharpness and framing of a page or regions on a page, such as a set of one or more columns, a part of a column, a figure, or a table. Using our approach, while users adjust the camera position, the application automatically determines when to take a picture of a document to produce a good quality result. We performed a subjective evaluation comparing SmartDCap and the Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) camera application; we also used raters to evaluate the quality of the captured images. Our results indicate that users find SmartDCap to be as easy to use as the standard ICS camera application. Also, images captured using SmartDCap are sharper and better framed on average than images using the ICS camera application.

NudgeCam: toward targeted, higher quality media capture

NudgeCam is a mobile application that can help users capture more relevant, higher quality media. To guide users to capture media more relevant to a particular project, third-party template creators can show users media that demonstrates relevant content and can tell users what content should be present in each captured media using tags and other meta-data such as location and camera orientation. To encourage higher quality media capture, NudgeCam provides real time feedback based on standard media capture heuristics, including face positioning, pan speed, audio quality, and many others. We describe an implementation of NudgeCam on the Android platform as well as field deployments of the application.

Beyond Talking Heads: Multimedia Artifact Creation, Use, and Sharing in Distributed Meetings

Distributed meetings can be messy, particularly when the task requires collaboration around multimedia artifacts. Teams must not only share a variety of materials related to the work in real time, but also need to refer back to information after a meeting ends. While video tools make it relatively easy to have conversations at a distance, they are less adept at sharing and archiving multimedia content. We conducted a survey of and interviews with members of distributed teams to investigate how they create, use, and share multimedia content before, during, and after distributed meetings. Our findings shed light on decisions made and rationales used in selecting technologies to prepare for, conduct, and archive the results of a video-mediated distributed meeting. The results suggest a need for flexible interfaces for information sharing in multiple meeting contexts so content can be both easily referred to in the moment and also found again later.

Real-time direct manipulation of screen-based videos

We describe direct video manipulation interactions applied to screen-based tutorials. In addition to using the video timeline, users of our system can quickly navigate into the video by mouse-wheel, double click over a rectangular region to zoom in and out, or drag a box over the video canvas to select text and scrub the video until the end of a text line even if not shown in the current frame. We describe the video processing techniques developed to implement these direct video manipulation techniques, and show how they are implemented to run in most modern web browsers using HTML5s CANVAS and Javascript.

DICE: designing conference rooms for usability

One of the core challenges now facing smart rooms is supporting realistic, everyday activities. While much research has been done to push forward the frontiers of novel interaction techniques, we argue that technology geared toward widespread adoption requires a design approach that emphasizes straightforward configuration and control, as well as flexibility. We examined the work practices of users of a large, multi-purpose conference room, and designed DICE, a system to help them use the rooms capabilities. We describe the design process, and report findings about the systems usability and about peoples use of a multi-purpose conference room.

Searching and Browsing Live, Web-based Meetings

Establishing common ground is one of the key problems for any form of communication. The problem is particularly pronounced in remote meetings, in which participants can easily lose track of the details of dialogue for any number of reasons. In this demo we present a web-based tool, MixMeet, that allows teleconferencing participants to search the contents of live meetings so they can rapidly retrieve previously shared content to get on the same page, correct a misunderstanding, or discuss a new idea.