Thomas Mirlacher

Ambient Rabbits Likeability of Embodied Ambient Displays

This paper discusses the possibility of using embodied Ambient Displays for presenting information in a public setting. For embodying an Ambient Display, a Nabaztag rabbit was used, the information displayed was a weather forecast. Throughout four weeks of alternating traditional visual Ambient Displays and Nabaztag testing, differences and commonalities in terms of perceived usability and likeability have been investigated. Special focus has been put on the likeability and comprehension differences. Results show a correlation between perceived usability and likeability for the traditional Ambient Display as well as a better comprehension over time for both Ambient Displays. However, significant differences in terms of perceived usability and likeability could only be revealed for the traditional Ambient Displays.

Whom are you looking for?: the effects of different player representation relations on the presence in gaze-based games

In this paper, we investigate the influence of different loci of manipulation relations (position of the players ability to assert control) on presence. Novel game input devices (such as Microsoft Kinect or PlayStation Move) contribute to presence, and allow a broad range of game interactions, such as using facial expressions, gaze or head movement. This increase of complexity has led to some interesting design challenges: in a typical game design the setup of the locus of manipulation is quite simple as there is only one. For instance, the player uses a gamepad to move a game character through an obstacle course. However, design decisions get more complicated, when a game design includes more than just one input device and a second locus of manipulation. Does the relation of the two loci of manipulation have an impact on the perceived presence? To address this topic we utilized eye tracking technology, and carried out a comparative study consisting of four scenarios based on a 2D platform game. Three scenarios are controlled using an eye tracking device and a gamepad. They differ in their relation between the player character and the avatar. The 4th scenario is solely controlled with the gamepad. Results revealed that the inclusion of gaze input to investigate this issue proved to be very effective. It was discovered that the relation between the loci of manipulation has a strong influence on the perceived presence and its sub-dimensions.

Breaking myths: inferring interaction from infrared signals

The home is a hub of information and entertainment activities. It typically contains a variety of media devices ranging from TV screens to mobile devices, work-oriented devices like PCs or laptops that can be also used as entertainment devices and devices that might have exclusively an entertainment purpose. Understanding the context of use in the home plays a central role for the design and development of new interactive services and devices. A comprehensive understanding of how people interact in their living room using remote controls will help to identify which functions to support in future interaction concepts and how to support the most frequent usage scenarios. This paper describes an approach to understand interaction in the living room, by exploiting the fact that today most of the devices are controlled by infrared remote controls. Each of these remote controls is sending a distinct pattern for each button pressed, which we are recording. We show that interaction in the living room can be inferred from recorded infrared signals. Furthermore, temporal graphs of remote control usage, grouped by functional related buttons can be produced, allowing a description of the users behavior. We also provide hints for simplifying the physical user interface, by eliminating rarely or even unused buttons.

Ambient Persuasion in the Shopping Context

In this chapter, we give an overview on the use of pervasive computing to persuade customers in the shopping context and therefore present novel approaches towards Pervasive Persuasive Advertising. We synthesize the results of three studies, each of which lasted several days and was conducted with situated prototypes in actual shopping environments. The aim of these prototypes was to influence the customers’ shopping behavior by means of persuasive strategies and to ultimately improve the overall shopping experience. Based on these studies, we give a characterization of the shopping context and propose a contextually adequate persuasive strategy based on striking the balance between engagement and unobtrusiveness.

Cross-device continuous media consumption: a demonstration

With the introduction of mobile devices that allow to watch films and movies on the move, in cars or even during school or work, the connection of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) with the home network and the access to the Internet via game consoles, new possibilities of media consumption were introduced for the consumer. The goal of this demonstration is to show a new user interaction concept that allows users to consume media on different devices in an easy way.

Studying media usage in the living room by measuring infrared signals

While HCI field studies are traditionally undertaken by using tools from social sciences, this paper describes a complementary method for studying media usage in the living room. It provides a first step for blurring the boundary between lab and field-test studies for media usage in living room. We constructed a device that measures and records the distinct infrared (IR) patterns of the remote controls used in the living room to interact with media devices. These recordings are later used to deduct usage patterns across media devices.

Affective Game Dialogues

Natural game input devices, such as Microsoft’s Kinect or Sony’s Playstation Move, have become increasingly popular and allow a direct mapping of player performance in regard to actions in the game world. Games have been developed that enable players to interact with their avatars and other game objects via gestures and/or voice input. However, current technologies and systems do not tap in the full potential of affective approaches. Affect in games can be harnessed as a supportive and easy to use input method.

Integrating internet-based services in IPTV: an interaction concept

The integration of Internet-based services in interactive TV (iTV) has been a focus of research in human-computer interaction for the last 15 years. With new services like Twitter or Facebook there is again the trend to combine Internet and TV -- either directly on the TV or via a settop box (STB) supporting the Internet Protocol (IP). This demonstration shows an interaction concept, which allows users to easily access Internet services. The demonstration is based on a flash prototype in combination with a fully functional two-way infrared remote control including fingerprint recognition.