Sile O'Modhrain

Designing Media for Visually-Impaired Users of Refreshable Touch Displays: Possibilities and Pitfalls

This paper discusses issues of importance to designers of media for visually impaired users. The paper considers the influence of human factors on the effectiveness of presentation as well as the strengths and weaknesses of tactile, vibrotactile, haptic, and multimodal methods of rendering maps, graphs, and models. The authors, all of whom are visually impaired researchers in this domain, present findings from their own work and work of many others who have contributed to the current understanding of how to prepare and render images for both hard-copy and technology-mediated presentation of Braille and tangible graphics.

Refreshing Refreshable Braille Displays

The increased access to books afforded to blind people via e-publishing has given them long-sought independence for both recreational and educational reading. In most cases, blind readers access materials using speech output. For some content such as highly technical texts, music, and graphics, speech is not an appropriate access modality as it does not promote deep understanding. Therefore blind braille readers often prefer electronic braille displays. But, these are prohibitively expensive. The search is on, therefore, for a low-cost refreshable display that would go beyond current technologies and deliver graphical content as well as text. And many solutions have been proposed, some of which reduce costs by restricting the number of characters that can be displayed, even down to a single braille cell. In this paper, we demonstrate that restricting tactile cues during braille reading leads to poorer performance in a letter recognition task. In particular, we show that lack of sliding contact between the fingertip and the braille reading surface results in more errors and that the number of errors increases as a function of presentation speed. These findings suggest that single cell displays which do not incorporate sliding contact are likely to be less effective for braille reading.

The design of pressure-controlled valves for a refreshable tactile display

In this paper, we explore key design parameters for integrating fluidic logic and actuators for a very-large shape display for application in braille and tactile graphics. We present a simple model of pressure-controlled flow valves, which are analogous to electric transistors. The model is used to highlight the design of a valve that achieves hysteresis (noise immunity) and pressure-gain (signal propagation), both critical goals for creating fluidic logic circuits. Empirical results from a family of valves fabricated with graded design parameters and assembled in a logical NOT gate configuration back up the model. A pressure-gain of up to 26 kPa is achieved for a 80 kPa pressure supply, enabling the output of any logic gate to serve as the input of another in a sequential logic operation. Using the pressure-gain valves, we successfully built a latching memory unit that can be integrated with a pneumatic actuator capable of driving a braille pin. The design is sufficiently scalable and manufacturable to support the realization of a large dense array of pins at braille spacing.

The bird's ear view of space physics: Audification as a tool for the spectral analysis of time series data

The effective navigation, mining, and analysis of large time series data sets presents a recurring challenge throughout heliophysics. Audification, a specific form of auditory analysis commonly used in other fields of research (such as geoseismology), provides a promising technique for the evaluation of spectral features in long heliospheric time series data sets. Following a standard research methodology for the development of new analysis techniques, this paper presents a detailed case study in which audification was introduced into the working process of an experienced heliophysics research scientist and used for the identification and classification of features in high-resolution magnetometer data during a structured analysis task. Auditory evaluation successfully led to the detection of artificial, instrument-induced noise that was not previously observed by the scientist and also the identification of wave activity embedded within turbulent solar wind data. A follow-up interview indicated that the scientist continued using these auditory analysis methods in the assessment of every large data set during the 2 months after the study was completed. These findings indicate that audification can be valuable and enabling for researchers in forming a deeper understanding of both microstructures and macrostructures within large time series. Additionally, as both a standalone methodology and a supplement to visual analysis methods, audification can expedite certain stages of the data survey, analysis, and mining process and provide new qualitative insight into the spectral content of time-varying signals.

Agency in Assistive Technology Adoption: Visual Impairment and Smartphone Use in Bangalore

Studies on technology adoption typically assume that a users perception of usability and usefulness of technology are central to its adoption. Specifically, in the case of accessibility and assistive technology, research has traditionally focused on the artifact rather than the individual, arguing that individual technologies fail or succeed based on their usability and fit for their users. Using a mixed-methods field study of smartphone adoption by 81 people with visual impairments in Bangalore, India, we argue that these positions are dated in the case of accessibility where a non-homogeneous population must adapt to technologies built for sighted people. We found that many users switch to smartphones despite their awareness of significant usability challenges with smartphones. We propose a nuanced understanding of perceived usefulness and actual usage based on need-related social and economic functions, which is an important step toward rethinking technology adoption for people with disabilities.

Temporal guidance of musicians’ performance movement is an acquired skill

The ancillary (non-sounding) body movements made by expert musicians during performance have been shown to indicate expressive, emotional, and structural features of the music to observers, even if the sound of the performance is absent. If such ancillary body movements are a component of skilled musical performance, then it should follow that acquiring the temporal control of such movements is a feature of musical skill acquisition. This proposition is tested using measures derived from a theory of temporal guidance of movement, “General Tau Theory” (Lee in Ecol Psychol 10:221–250, 1998; Lee et al. in Exp Brain Res 139:151–159, 2001), to compare movements made during performances of intermediate-level clarinetists before and after learning a new piece of music. Results indicate that the temporal control of ancillary body movements made by participants was stronger in performances after the music had been learned and was closer to the measures of temporal control found for an expert musician’s movements. These findings provide evidence that the temporal control of musicians’ ancillary body movements develops with musical learning. These results have implications for other skillful behaviors and nonverbal communication.

A pneu shape display: Physical buttons with programmable touch response

By the nature of their physicality, conventional push-buttons provide raised edges and click feel that support localization and confirm actuation, even in the absence of vision. Though touchscreens augmented with modulated traction forces can render certain haptic cues, these cues are not sufficient to support many of the types of user interaction available through push-buttons. In this paper we introduce pneumatic actuators suitable for overlay on touchscreens that render programmable raised features and click feel. We present a user study that employs our programmable raised button technology in a secondary task while participants drive a simulated car. Relative to a touchscreen interface, the programmable raised buttons allow participants to keep their eyes on the simulated road and improve lane keeping.

A tactile display using pneumatic membrane actuators

Complex planning tasks require substantial cognitive resources. Supporting planning tasks through enabling embodied interaction and providing multisensory feedback may reduce the cognitive load. We developed Sensators: interactive tangible objects to be used on multi-touch tables which provide both. In our demonstration, the user can experience the effect of these Sensators in planning a route through a virtual supermarket using touch-screen and passive Sensators (no feedback) or active Sensators providing multisensory feedback.This paper presents a low-cost haptic interface providing four different kinematic configurations. The different configurations are achieved using two Phantom Omni haptic devices combined with a series of clip-on attachments. Aside from the flexibility to easily reconfigure the interface, three of the four configurations provide functionality which is either not readily available or is cost prohibitive for many applications.Systematic biases have been found when matching haptic and visual locations. In this demo we can show two things; first we can show that these biases are similar when pointing at a visual target with the index finger or with a handle in a power grip. Second, we show that intermodal biases are not simply the result of a mismatch between the senses and that the transformations of the position information between modalities (and hands) are not simply reversible.In this paper we present a digital coach for runners that provides feedback in an intuitive way, without interrupting the athletes running flow. This is done by giving vibration pulses in combination with visual led feedback. The digital coach is built into a wristband with GPS module, vibration motor and several LEDs. The digital coach is given a personality model according to the DISC coaching model. From the GPS data collected the digital coach should identify which style gives the best results for the athlete.Vibrotactile texture stimuli have commonly been used to produce sensations of roughness. The extension of such stimuli to other textural modalities enhances their applicability. We found that laterally asymmetric vibrotactile stimuli cause a sensation of friction rather than vibration. When a vibrotactile contactor moves in one direction, it sticks to the finger pad and induces lateral skin stretch. In contrast, when the contactor moves in the other direction, it slips because of its quick motion and induces little skin stretch. As a result, humans experience frictional sensations in scanning vibrating contactors with their fingertips. We examined participants’ subjective responses and measured interactive forces between the finger pad and the contactor. Both perceptual and physical experiments corroborated the hypothesis of the production of a sensation of friction. Laterally asymmetric vibrotactile stimuli increased stretching of the finger pad skin and increased the sensation of friction.

Data dialog: facilitating collaborative decision making through data-driven conversations

Shared decision-making is a process that requires active participation from the patient in making treatment related decisions [5]. Through this process, both patients and clinicians develop a shared understanding about the patients lifestyle choices and how they affect symptoms to make informed treatment related decisions. However, there are communication and process barriers to developing this understanding, including lack of medical knowledge on the part of the patients and lack of standard processes for clinicians to follow. With Data Dialog, we propose a data-driven approach to information exchange between patients and clinicians, using visualizations as boundary objects for communication and collaboration. We outline a number of scenarios in which Data Dialog can be useful, and discuss opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed.

Music and HCI

Music is an evolutionarily deep-rooted, abstract, real-time, complex, non-verbal, social activity. Consequently, interaction design in music can be a valuable source of challenges and new ideas for HCI. This workshop will reflect on the latest research in Music and HCI (Music Interaction for short), with the aim of strengthening the dialogue between the Music Interaction community and the wider HCI community. We will explore recent ideas from Music Interaction that may contribute new perspectives to general HCI practice, and conversely, recent HCI research in non-musical domains with implications for Music Interaction. We will also identify any concerns of Music Interaction that may require unique approaches. Contributors engaged in research in any area of Music Interaction or HCI who would like to contribute to a sustained widening of the dialogue between the distinctive concerns of the Music Interaction community and the wider HCI community will be welcome.