Book Reading #3: HCI Remixed

Chapter 1


Summary

Discussion

Chapter 4

Summary

Discussion

Chapter 5

Summary

Discussion

Chapter 18

Summary

Discussion

Chapter 20

Summary

Discussion

Chapter 23

Summary

Discussion

Paper Reading #2: Supporting medical communication with a multimodal surface computer

Comments

1. Bain Mullins:
 http://gspotblogspotblogspotblogspotblogspot.blogspot.com/2011/01/paper-reading-2-supporting-medical.html

2. Derek Landini:
http://dlandinichi.blogspot.com/2011/01/paper-reading-4-supporting-medical.html

Reference Information

Title: Supporting medical communication with a multimodal surface computer

Author: Anne Marie Piper, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Presentation Venue: CHI EA '10 Proceedings of the 28th of the international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems

Summary

The main concept conveyed in this paper has to do with the interaction between humans using a flat, table-top type of surface. This surface is able to receive tactile input from the users and is also able to convert speech to text. The researchers interacted with deaf individuals, as well as those who are hard of hearing and aging people.

The researchers discovered that the test subjects had an easier time overall conveying the ideas they were attempting to communicate with the assistance of the multimodal surface. They found that people who tended to be uncomfortable using standard computer interfaces had an easier time become acclimated to the use of this device.

The researchers intend to continue testing different applications to refine the interface and to device other uses for this technology.

Discussion

I really like the concept of this device. It reminds me of some displays seen in science fiction movies. I feel that some of the potential future applications are really exciting. Before I had even finished reading the paper, I thought how useful the speech to text feature could be if it was applied to language translation. To my relief, they addressed that in their final paragraph, though they didn't go into as much detail about it as I had hoped.

I think this could become a useful interface for the future. If applied to other surfaces, such as vertical surfaces on the wall, it could become a way to get interactive directions from a mapping computer system that is able to hear and understand a human's questions.

This could also be applied in a class room setting, where the surface of the student's desk is the multimodal surface. If the student does not understand the native language being spoken very well or even at all, they can have the translate feature on and still understand the topics being taught in the class. This would remove the need for translators that might slow down the lecture and break up the flow of the discussion.

Ethnography Ideas

Some of the potential ideas I have for the ethnography project follow:

1. Observe how lap top users spend their time during class when they have their lap tops in use. I'm sure I am not the only one who has noticed that many people bring their lap tops to class, but these machines are not always used for doing things that are relevant to class. I thought it would be an interesting idea to observe how the machines are being used and to what frequency. For instance, it would be interesting to determine how many people are playing games in class and what types of games are they playing.

2. Observe how many people bring their textbooks to class. It seems that most people, myself included, tend to leave their text books at home instead of bringing them to school. I find that it is a lot of extra weight to be carrying around campus, especially considering all the walking that I find myself doing. I am also convinced that this is similar to the reasoning used by many other students. However, there are occasionally times where it is useful to bring them to campus, such as when you want to study right before a midterm or other exam. What I would find interesting to observe would be how many people seem to bring them on a regular basis.

3. Observe how many people are consistently late to class, on the order of at least one time a week. Most of the time there is some good reason, such as the distance that is needed to be traveled between classes. It's not always easy to have a business class on the west side of campus and have only twenty minutes to race over to the Bright building for a class in computer science. However, sometimes people just procrastinate getting to class for other reasons, such as tiredness. Regardless of reason, it seems an interesting proposition to observe those who are late to class and how they react when entering the class and finding a seat.

4. Observe the number of people actively taking notes during class. I have been on both sides of this issue. Sometimes it feels like copious amounts of notes are required and you find yourself writing a novel during the course of a single class. Other times you can go to class and find yourself feeling comfortable enough with the material that you might take next to nothing as far as notes for several class periods. The part of this that I would find interesting is finding out who is taking notes regularly and at least get an estimate as to how voluminous their notes seem to be for the class.

On Computers

Comments

TBD

Reference Information

Title: On Plants
Name: Aristotle
Presentation Venue: Oxford University Press, 1963

Summary

Aristotle examines the life and existence of plants. In structure, he composed his argument in two parts. The first of these two parts deals with the physical characteristics of plants from a compositional and functional stand point. The second of the two parts deals with the environmental forces acting on plants and how they are affected by the world around them.

Discussion

It is obvious and apparent that this work was written a long time ago before a lot of our modern understanding of plants was available to him. It demonstrates that he was pioneering a field that had little understanding at the time that he wrote the original material.

Chinese Room

Comments

TBD

Reference Information

Title: Minds, Brains and Programs
Author: John R. Searle
Presentation Venue: Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal

Summary

The Chinese Room, as devised by Searle, is a thought experiment designed to determine if a computer can understand its input and have higher cognitive states if subjected to the proper programming input. This thought experiment involves an individual sitting in a room manually executing a computer program using as input Chinese characters. These characters have been added into the room by an outside individual to determine whether the person in the room, who does not understand Chinese, can still be said to understand Chinese due to the correct operation of the computer.

Searle ended up concluding that the program does not constitute the mind of the machine no matter how intelligent the resulting interaction may appear. Even though the processing has occurred correctly, it does not indicate that the machine truly understands what it is doing and why.

Discussion

I feel that this is an interesting experiment, as one of the great questions about future AI embodiments is sentience. There have been many popular movies and TV shows that have attempted to explore this, but to date, there is true definitive real world answer. I think it is important to determine the veracity or possibility of this. It might someday lead to important questions of civil rights for robots and virtual AI constructs in a way that we may have a difficult time foreseeing at this time.

Paper Reading #1: HCI methods for including adults with disabilities in the design of CHAMPION

Comments

TBD

Reference Information

Title:  HCI methods for including adults with disabilities in the design of CHAMPION
Author: Suzanne Prior
Presentation Venue: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Summary

The article discusses the challenges in designing software that can be made easily accessible and continually usable by individuals with Complex Communication Needs (CCN). Commonly, those individuals with CCN are accustomed to interacting with computer systems using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. Since individuals with CCN are not often involved in the design phase of these devices, there is a greater than 50% reported abandonment rate in the use of these devices. It is the goal of the CHAMPION project to increase the level of retention of use of AAC devices for those with CCN.

To date, the project has interacted with individuals with CCN in a focus group setting and received feedback from them. The next stages of the project aim to take the findings into a software design stage. They expect that this exercise will allow them to understand how those with CCN can be more meaningfully involved with software design, as well as how they can contribute to the design of future AAC devices.

Discussion

This paper is significant in that it attempts to address the needs of a growing segment of our population. As the number of those with CCN increase and the prevalence of computer/software systems increase, there will be a greater need to create accommodating infrastructure to allow improved accessibility.

One fault I found was that the focus group seemed possibly too small to get as much meaningful data as could be attained. Additionally, I feel there should have been several trials with different groups to get a broader idea of the needs of those with CCN. The small subset of individuals used may not be enough to adequately represent the needs of the larger population in question.

The future of this work may lead to greater accessibility options and interface capabilities not only for those with CCN, but for the overall population. Everyone is going to age and eventually be less capable of accomplishing the tasks they managed in their youth. As embedded systems integrate more and more into the things of our everyday life, it is important to ensure that it is as accessible as possible to people of all ages and abilities. I feel that the work needs to continue to evolve our existing UIs to make them as user-friendly as possible.

Book Reading #2: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 1


Summary

This chapter discusses reasons about why adolescents act in the ways they do. Our society tends to blame it on it being an awkward time in life where there are learning how to integrate into the world. To see if this holds true regardless of culture, she traveled to Samoa to investigate if this is also true with their society.

Discussion

It was interesting to see a number of the different cultural aspects. I have taken a course in Cultural Anthropology and I could see how aspects of what I learned applied to this text. It was interesting to see how she lays out her goals.

Book Reading #1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

Chapter 1

Summary

In this first chapter, the author introduces the concepts of elements that help to comprise good or poor design practices. He explains user frustrations with many commonplace devices, including telephone systems and doors.  He introduces the design concepts of affordances, conceptual models, adequate visibility, mapping, and feedback.

Discussion

The author makes many salient points about the conventions about modern technology and design choices implemented in everyday items. I have encountered some of the problems he outlined myself. While the material seems a little dated - as there is no mention of DVD, for instance - he presents the main concepts behind creating a good working design for everyday items that is still relevant to those making these objects.

#0 - Introduction Blog Assignment

Welcome to my official CHI blog. I hope to create a number of posts which you may find useful concerning the topic of Human/Computer interactions.

Brian Meyer

Email Address: bmeyer@darksagestudios.com

Class Standing: Senior (4th year)

I am taking this class to gain a deeper understanding of the methodology and potential means by which humans interact with computers and electronic systems. I have a particular interest in UI design and implementation. This course is one I hope will help to expand my knowledge and experience in this area.

I am starting this class having had many jobs in the technology industry over the years. I started right out of high school back in 1992 at a software company owned by my friend's father. While there, I worked doing QA testing of the software products, customer service and technical support, and design and development of new products using the common code developed for it. In the spring of 1996, I left there and took a job for the game publisher and developer Interplay Productions (later called Interplay Entertainment) in the technical support division. I was there for just over two years and then transferred to the company's OEM division, where I focused on QA testing of software/hardware bundles being prepared for deals, such as the Descent: Freespace 10-level demo with the Thrustmaster joystick.

Since then, I have worked for Verizon Superpages.com creating and modifying client ads, a bank called First Command migrating records from distributed databases into a centralized Citrix environment, and as a PC technician at a computer repair shop. My most recent job has been with Capsher Technology here in College Station for the past three years as a software developer.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to develop software using Pascal, C#, C++, Java, PERL, HTML, CSS, Javascript, VBscript, PHP, and SQL. I am currently most proficient in C#, Java, and C++. I have experience working with ASP.NET and AJAX.

Ten years from now, I plan to be working for my own start-up company, Dark Sage Studios. Over the last several months, I have been slowly working on getting the basic infrastructure in place for this to happen. I would like to be developing video games, audio drama podcasts, web comics, and returning to independent film making. I have had assistance producing possibly the most epic "Coming Soon" web site ever at http://www.darksagestudios.com/.

I think that one of the next big advancements in computer science will be the proliferation of mobile computing devices. Being a democratic society, we enjoy our freedom of movement. We travel with our cell phones and our iPads or similar tablet computers. We have GPS units in our cars to help us not to get lost, at least most of the time. We have laptop computers we take to class just to take notes, or ignore the professor and play Plants vs. Zombies. As such, mobile computing devices are set to expand at an ever increasing rate.

If I had the capability to travel back in time, I think I would like to meet myself and let myself know a few things not to do. Outside of myself, I think I would like to meet Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn and see if there was any way I could get into a deep jam session with them. Humorously, I would like to visit Doc Brown and Marty McFly to warn them of the perils of time travel.

When it comes to mustache style, I tend to be a Burt Reynolds aficionado. If you analyze what he was able to do to promote mustache advocacy in the 1970s alone, you will see that he was one of the most prolific contributors to this ever expanding field of study. Plus, as a celebrity, he chose to present many definitive variations over the intervening years. A close competitor to him is Tom Selick. Look it up, kids!

I have studied Japanese here at A&M for 2 years, but still feel that I am not completely as fluent as I could be. Yet, I would still love to become fluent in Chinese, German, French, and Italian as well. At the very least, it would be nice to achieve a conversational level in each of these languages. If I were more of a geek, I think I would have had to say Klingon.

I grew up watching Star Trek and Monty Python, which is why my mind is so warped. I am more of a creative force than a technical one, but I can wade in both pools. Love is a gift love to give as well as receive, and I think most people procrastinate on this more than they should. Don't stress and enjoy the moments you have. As a wise man once noted, life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. Thanks, John. You are terribly missed.