Book Reading #52: Living with Complexity

Chapters 3 and 4

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #25: Estimating user's engagement from eye-gaze behaviors in human-agent conversations

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Estimating user's engagement from eye-gaze behaviors in human-agent conversations

Authors:  Yukiko I. Nakano of Seikei University, Tokyo, Japan and Ryo Ishii of NTT, Kanagawa, Japan

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The goal of the research contained in this paper is to using a software to determine the level of engagement in a conversation being invested by the human participant. The motivation for this study is to create an agent that can creatively control the interactions between itself and the human. The software the researchers propose is intended to be able to learn the human individual's personal gaze profile and tailor its responses accordingly if it detects the human's attention wandering.

Discussion:

This is interesting in that it looks like the authors are trying to create an agent that would have a good chance at passing the Total Turing test. This potential advance could give the agent a more "human" quality that might induce an actual human subject to wonder if the one they are communicating with is a person or a computer. If they could incorporate this appropriately with a full engine to simulate it, there would be a good chance they could fool many people into assuming it was a person on the other end of the communication.

I'm not sure what else it would take, but this could be ultimately incorporated into androids or robots to an extent that we would have intelligent agents housed in bodies that could be instructed to do dangerous or menial work. The one danger is that should these agents achieve consciousness to the extent that they question the validity of their own existence we may find they would choose to take matters into their own hands in such a way that it would prove detrimental to our species. Care should be taken when implementing this so it is mutually beneficial for creator and created.

Book Reading #51: Living with Complexity

Chapters 1 and 2

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Full Blog: Why We Make Mistakes

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Why We Make Mistakes

Author:

Presentation Venue:

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #24: Usage patterns and latent semantic analyses for task goal inference of multimodal user interactions

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Usage patterns and latent semantic analyses for task goal inference of multimodal user interactions

Authors:  Pui-Yu Hui, Wai-Kit Lo, and Helen Meng of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

This paper is about creating a system that has the capability to interpret vocalized speech and written words. The system that is being proposed would be able to ascertain the semantic meanings with the communication and analyze it in such a way that it would demonstrate a form of machine learning.

The system combines the analysis of three subsystems to achieve this result. The system implements latent semantic modeling (LSM). Spoken locative references (SLR) consumes input from parsed Chinese vocalization. With further processing, it is eventually sent to the singular value decomposition (SVD) module. So far, the researchers are reporting a 99% accuracy result using their technique.

Discussion:

I think this could have a profound impact on semantic recognition systems in the future. The Chinese language is comprised of many complex symbols and has been described as one of the most difficult languages to learn. A system with a machine learning capability that would be able to interpret semantic meaning based on user input could go a long way to providing more accurate translations and understanding of input from the language.

This same technique could be applied to other languages. The result of all of this would be the ability to create machines that could take written and spoken input from any language and create an accurate translation of concept and meaning between multiple disparate individuals regardless of cultural heritage or ethnic background.

Book Reading #50: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapters 12 and 13

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #23: Intelligent understanding of handwritten geometry theorem proving

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Intelligent understanding of handwritten geometry theorem proving

Authors: Yingying Jiang, Feng Tian, Hongan Wang, Xugang Wang, and Guozhong Dai ofInstitute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Xiaolong Zhang of The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The goal that the researchers who wrote this paper are working towards is to create a system that is able to understand handwritten geometric proofs. It is based on continuing examinations into sketch recognition techniques and applying it to this specific task. One of the key motivations behind the design for this system is that it relies on an intuitive method that humans are comfortable with.

The system will be able to recognize the writing and interpret the symbolic meaning of it. It will have the capability to provide dynamic assistance to the user in completing a valid proof of geometric concept. The results the researchers have accumulated from the users have mostly been shown to be positive.

Discussion:

This system sounds like it could get a lot of good use in places such as high school geometry class or any kind of similar class in college. I think it would help to illustrate the mathematical concepts in a useful, visual manner that most people would be comfortable with. This system sounds like it would be quite useful in helping to teach students how to create valid proofs.

This concept could also be extended to other mathematical subjects such as calculus and trigonometry. It could be adapted for physics and chemistry as well. There are many applications I'm sure I haven't thought of that would benefit from intelligent analysis systems such as this one. I think it would be a wise idea to develop it and extend the idea to its fullest extent to help advance the understanding of young people and draw more individuals into technical positions.

Book Reading #49: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapters 10 and 11:

Summary:

TBD

Discussions:

TBD

Book Reading #48: Media Equation

Parts 1, 2, and 3

Summary:

TBD

Discussions:

TBD

Paper Reading #22: Usability guided key-target resizing for soft keyboards

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Usability guided key-target resizing for soft keyboards

Authors: Asela Gunawardana, Tim Paek, and Christopher Meek of Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The researchers at Microsoft are attempting to find a way to make the input from users working with soft keyboards less error prone and easier to use. They have engineered a technique they refer to as anchored dynamic key-targets in order to accomplish this goal.

They have found that this technique appears to reduce the amount of error over other state-of-the art solutions. These findings come despite the lack of haptic feedback or the lack of traditional hard keyboard solutions that people are most used to currently.

Discussion:

Since I decided to test drive one of Microsoft's Windows 7 phones for awhile to see how it all worked, I would love it if they could improve the soft keys found on it. I found that the learning curve on the built-in soft keyboards was considerable and I still make a lot of mistakes to this day. I see myself making similar mistakes when using other similar solutions, such as on the iPhone, etc.

Any fix they could make would be welcome. I am getting better at it, but from what it sounds like in this paper, I think there could be many improvements that I would appreciate with the technology that I am using. Perhaps it will provide some innovation and drive the development of additional systems in future devices that have yet to be produced.

Full Blog: Media Equation

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title:

Authors:

Presentation Venue:

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #47: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapters 8 and 9:

Summary:

TBD

Discussions:

TBD

Paper Reading #21: SocialSearchBrowser: a novel mobile search and information discovery tool

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: SocialSearchBrowser: a novel mobile search and information discovery tool

Authors:  Karen Church, Joachim Neumann, Mauro Cherubini, and Nuria Oliver of Telefonica Research, Barcelona, Spain

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The researchers are interested in exploring new ways in which to expand the usage of social media. To this end, they are proposing a research project they are dubbing the SocialSearchBrowser. This new technology is designed to take advantage of the way in which humans are utilizing mobile networking schemes.

In this exploratory paper, the researchers gained preliminary results into insights based on trials using the Social Search Browser in a mobile networking situation. Their ultimate goal is to improve the way in which humans are utilizing this space by taking certain key mobile contexts and analyzing how they interact with the social space.

Discussion:

I think that this has certain interesting implications. Currently, I find that search on Facebook is somewhat lacking when I want to search people based on differing criteria, such as demographic information. It would make my life easier if I could search using key words that represent my interests. MySpace was easier to find people with some of those similar interests, and this is probably the only area where I will concede that MySpace had any edge on Facebook.

That being said, I would find it beneficial to have improved tools to help me navigate and utilize the social search space to optimum potential usage. I find that I enjoy using some of these social tools to keep track of friends, family, and colleagues as well as finding and retaining new contacts. Hopefully this can help mobile computing devices in the same way that is has other platforms.

Book Reading #46: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapters 6 and 7:

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #45: Things That Make Us Smart

Chapters 3 and 4:

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #20: Rush: repeated recommendations on mobile devices

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Rush: repeated recommendations on mobile devices

Authors:  Dominikus Baur, Sebastian Boring, and Andreas Butz of University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

This paper is about using repeated recommendations in order to make item selection from large data sets easier to manage for the end user. The goal of this research is to find ways in which to simplify search from large amounts of data on devices with two-dimensional touch interfaces.

The researchers performed a preliminary study to determine the feasibility of implementing such a system. They presented users with lists of music with which they could create playlists and used different metrics in order to determine the best and most efficient combinations. The researchers discovered that having the users create playlists comprised of their top five choices was often too restricting. Other similar combinations proved to return similar results.

Discussion:

As I thought about the implications of their study, I found that I felt it could yield some interesting benefits. I liked that they applied their study to music as their data set. I have a massive music collection I have been accumulating for almost a decade and a half. This collection is not the best ordered and sometimes I find duplicate entries.

If I had a series of tools that could make navigating the data easier, I would be greatly pleased. I know most of what I have in my collection, despite the vast size. However, I think it would be neat for their algorithm to be applied to making recommendations as such based on style, etc.

Full Blog: Things That Make Us Smart

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

TBD

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #44: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapter 4 - 5

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #43: Things That Make Us Smart

Chapter 1 - 2

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #19: Tell me more, not just "more of the same"

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Tell me more, not just "more of the same"

Author:  Francisco Iacobelli, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Larry Birnbaum, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Kristian J. Hammond, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The researchers of this paper are attempting to creating a new system of search that will automatically provide the user information that is related but not identical to the initial search results. They call this system Tell Me More. With the search information that is provided, it will take that seed story and search for similar related stories. However, instead of spouting back the same results that match exactly the search criteria, it will take additional text excerpts based on secondary search criteria that provide information above and beyond the primary data the user requested.

The Tell Me More system consists of five core modules to accomplish its task. These modules are Content Gathering, Content Filtering, Text Analytics, Difference Metrics, and Presentation. The Content Gathering module gathers documents from search engines and other user defined sources. The Content Filtering takes the material returned from the first module and filters out things that are basically identical to the seed material. The Text Analytics module analyzes the material for unique information related to the seed topic. The Difference Metrics determines from the analyzed material what is the unique information to include. The Presentation module categorizes and ranks the resulting analyzed material.

Discussion:

This system sounds like it could provide a unique take on the now classic Google search. I always find a lot of repeat in the results I get and if I don't find what i want in the first 10 results, I tend to modify my search parameters in order to provide myself with a different result. With this system, it sounds like all of that additional effort I put into my searching would be handled for me automatically.

I could really do with an improved search. What we have right now is pretty good, but I can see that there is room for improvement. The system that is being proposed in this paper seems like one way in which the standard search mechanism can be improved and make the process richer, if not more efficient. The speed is currently fine, depending on the connection you have. But making the results more meaningful would be a good improvement for our daily search needs.

Ethnography Results, Week 8

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Full Blog: Coming of Age in Samoa

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

TBD

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #42: Coming of Age in Samoa

Apendix III

Summary:

Daily life for the Samoans has changed in many ways from the traditional pre-Christian period. The style of dress has been affected by the introduction of cotton and crocheting techniques.Sewing machines and scissors have found their way into common use. Although the Samoans make use of these innovations, they are not dependent upon them.

Christian religions have become common.While there is generally a policy of non-invasiveness by the Western cultures, the affects of their laws has modified the previous status where the head of household held power of life and death over those under his house. Prohibitions in blood revenge have given the population greater personal freedom.

Discussion:

With the arrival of another culture often comes a modification to an indigenous one. Sometimes this is because of the imposition of the invading culture's will. Other times it because the indigenous culture finds something of value in the other culture and wishes to integrate those things into their own culture. It seems there have been instances of both of those in the case of the Samoans. From the cultural biases of this particular Westerner, it seems to me that much of it was to their benefit.

For example, the mosquito nets likely have made daily life much nicer. We all know how nice cotton clothing can be. The fact that laws designed to keep people from harm are in effect for them would seem to be a benefit as it would give a larger sense of trust in the society at large.

Book Reading #41: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapter 2 - 3

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #18: An adaptive calendar assistant using pattern mining for user preference modelling

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: An adaptive calendar assistant using pattern mining for user preference modelling

Author: Alfred Krzywicki, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Wayne Wobcke, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Anna Wong, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The researchers are working on a system they call SmartCal. This system is a calendar assistant that uses pattern mining to determine the user's preferences when setting calendar events and appointments. The system will then modify it's presentation such that the user will be displayed the most commonly used input controls when adding or editing in a way that matches their historical and current preferences.

Users have reported to the researchers that they found that appointment creation become more efficient and intuitive for them. In addition to this finding, the users reported that they liked this particular interface more than other appointment making interfaces they had previously used.

Discussion:

When I first started reading about this, I was reminded of the HeliCalendar project that had been proposed in our Senior Capstone Design class. However, that interface was static in every proposal I recall hearing about and this one sounds like it would modify its presentation layer to match your preferences over time.

I like this approach to the design. Since everyone has different preferences, it is often difficult as a developer to predict in advance what the average response will be and what most people will prefer. It is often costly to do user studies as well as being time consuming. If more software developers could learn to build algorithms similar to these into their products, those sorts of studies might become a historical footnote, as the applications themselves will reconfigure around the users desires and be many things to many people.

Full Blog: Emotional Design

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

TBD

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #40: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 14

Summary:

The Samoan adolescents had one of two choices. They were able to stay in the villages and take on a traditional education much as their ancestors had done for generations. The second choice they had was that of going over to the schools in American Samoa and take a more modern Western education.

The author debates about the benefits and the downfalls of the Western adolescent's options in life and discusses what she felt was the prospects for those youths. This led to a further discussion of the relative way in which adolescents are treated and surmises what might be the case in the future.

Discussion:

I think that the accessibility to modern education for the youth's of Samoa was a wonderful addition. While there are still many cultures steeped in the traditions of their fathers, much in the world is geared towards progress. It is unclear how far this process will continue, but if unchecked, it is possible that our species will become a multi-planet species and will begin to stretch out into the cosmos. If this happens, what will become of current indigenous populations? Will they manage to hang on to their traditions or will they assimilate into other cultures that are embracing this forward progress?

Book Reading #39: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapter 0 - 1

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #17: Agent-assisted task management that reduces email overload

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Agent-assisted task management that reduces email overload

Authors: Andrew Faulring, Brad Myers, Ken Mohnkern, Bradley Schmerl, Aaron Steinfeld, John Zimmerman, Asim Smailagic, Jeffery Hansen, Daniel Siewiorek, all from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Presentation Venue: IUI '10 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces

Summary:

The researchers of this paper are attempting to find a way to create an AI agent that will assist the average user such that it will reduce email overload. The system is called RADAR. The RADAR system observes the strategies devised by expert users of email and analyzes the things they do to make the process of dealing with email more efficient.

The RADAR system has an Email Classifier which learns to identify tasks needed to be accomplished and find other emails that have similar tasks. The Multitask Coordination Assistant figures out the efficient way in which the expert process email and suggests a similar schedule and operating procedure to the end user. A Progress Bar tailored specifically to this allows the user to see where in the process they are to better understand how to make their procedure more efficient.

Discussion:

With as much email as I get, some additional visual tools would be nice. I deal with a lot of text description, which admittedly, is nicely separated into columns I can sort to get a better idea of what's in there. But when I receive a few hundred emails in the space of a couple of days, much of which is not spam, it would be nice to have another tool to help me out. It is still easy to misplace an email I needed to deal with and it gets buried in all of the text on the screen.

I like the idea of the Progress Bar. Being a really visual person, I tend to be able to multitask ONLY when there is some sort of a visual cue which will keep me on task and in mind of where I am in my current tasks. The application of this Progress Bar to email sounds interesting and I would love to have one to manage my several accounts and keep me organized!

Ethnography Results, Week 7

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #38: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 13

Summary:

The author states that the adolescent girl is the same in America as in Samoa, and that it is the nature of the civilizations that differs. One thing that is a big factor in setting off a sense of easiness in growing up in the society is the casualness of it. Conflicts are settled often not with violence but by moving into another house.

One way in which their civilization differs from American culture is in the number of available choices. American youths have a wide variety of religions, occupations, and educational choices whereas the Samoan youth have a very narrow focus of what they can pick from.

Discussion:

American and other Western cultures tend to have access to modern technologies and ideologies not available to more primitive cultures. Those with simple subsistence practices will generally have a more casual pace of life than those where capitalist and other similar economies are the dominant form of commerce. This does not place less worth on a culture that has a more simple subsistence practice nor does it mean that our modern culture has ore intrinsic worth, either. These are just differing possibilities available to people.

Book Reading #37: Obedience To Authority

Chapter 9 - 14

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Full Blog: Obedience To Authority

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

TBD

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #16: Tag expression: tagging with feeling

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Tag expression: tagging with feeling

Authors: Jesse Vig, Matthew Soukup, Shilad Sen, and John Riedl of University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The paper presented by the researcher's is concerned with the introduction of Tag Expressions. This addition to the metadata present in current tag technology allows the user to apply reasons explaining the tag with a more emotional basis rather than the strict data / information-based entry currently employed. The reasons that are applied will describe why the user liked, disliked, or was neutral in feeling to the item being tagged.

The team responsible for the research created a visualization interface to display the data to the user. It allowed them to apply reasons to multiple tags in a set. Once the tags were affected by the user, they were color coded in the interface such that it would display the like / dislike / neutral basis applied by the user.

Discussion:

I think this sort of an interface would be great to apply to other social spaces such as Facebook. It would be nice if Facebook would give us an option besides just "like." This would allow there to be more expressiveness available in the social space and we would be able to engage other senses to increase our understanding of posts and people's opinions on posts.

I think that adding depth to metadata in many different situation allows us to better control and understand the media. MP3s with well tagged metadata tend to be more useful to me than one's that are sparse in their metadata. It allows for greater connectivity and ease of access to related information. The whole virtual space of human data could do with improving of the metadata and this scheme provided by the researchers of this paper seems to be one way in which to do it.

Book Reading #36: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 12

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #35: Obedience To Authority

Chapter 1 - 8

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper Reading #15: Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside

Authors: Michael S. Bernstein, Greg Little, Robert C. Miller, David R. Karger, David Crowell, and Katrina Panovich of Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Björn Hartmann of University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; and Mark S. Ackerman of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The researchers of this paper are experimenting with a concept they refer to as crowdsourcing. They are working on methods with which to integrate this type of input into user interfaces in applications such as those used by writers. Their focus is on the writing and editing aspects of the creative process.

They recognized that in numerous situations that call for pragmatic solutions, people will often turn to other human beings for assistance or support. Their solution is called Soylent. It is a word processing application. It has a component the researchers refer to as the Mechanical Turk. They also utilize a technique referred to as the Find-Fix-Verify crowd programming pattern.

Discussion:

I saw the title of this paper and instantly thought of our good friend Charlton Heston. I kept thinking, "It's people!" Although I'm not sure exactly was is "green" about this particular solution. At any rate, I digress. The solution seems like an interesting one. As someone who fancies themselves to be at least an amateur writer, I often crave feedback of the constructively critical sort. This application sounds like it could possibly integrate such a module.

It would be neat to have a shared experience with the application that ones work could have some instant feedback from other individuals. I feel it would help to craft an idea and be a potential solution to writer's block that often plagues authors from time to time. I would be interested to see where this research leads in the future, as I think that some of the solutions to encounter could have a positive impact on the work I would like to do on a personal level.

Full Blog: Opening Skinner's Box

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

TBD

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Ethnography Results, Week 6

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Ethnography Results, Week 5

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #34: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 10

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #33: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 11

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Paper reading #14: Eddi: interactive topic-based browsing of social status streams

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Eddi: interactive topic-based browsing of social status streams

Authors: Michael S. Bernstein of Massachusettes Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Bongwon Suh, Lichan Hong, Sanjay Kairam, and Ed H. Chi of Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA; and Jilin Chen of University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The researchers have recognized that there is a vast amount of data that users of certain social networking services, such as Twitter, receive on a daily basis. One problem they have identified is that users often have to search through a lot of data prior to finding information that is of interest to them.

The solution they propose to the problem is implemented in a Twitter client they call Eddi that uses an algorithm that groups topics of similar information together. The researchers have found that users of Twitter that evaluated the Eddi client found it to be a more efficient solution and enjoyable to use.

Discussion:

To this day I have yet to use Twitter, so I am not entirely sure of the difficulties encountered by Twitter users. I can imagine that many different status updates continuously pouring in can be overwhelming. I'm not sure that this client is going to encourage me to start using Twitter anytime soon.

I can see how the client would be useful if you are following a lot of topics where there can be similar information. I can appreciate the cleverness of their algorithm. I still find it hard for me to get excited about this, though. Sorry for being so blasé about the whole situation, but I still feel cynical about Twitter. Doh!

Book Reading #32: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 9

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #31: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 10

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #30: Emotional Design

Chapter 3

Summary:

In this chapter, the author discusses the three design levels (visceral, behavioral, and reflective) in greater detail. He mentions the "wow" factor that comes from the visceral design level in which a product inspires a very positive response in the consumer such that it's visceral appeal entices them to purchase it despite that being the greatest draw for the product. Visceral design is often about initial impact and designers tend to play on this factor to draw their consumers in.

Behavioral design aspects tend to be concerned with usage of a product. It is concerned with proper functionality and ease of use. Progress in this area is measured by improvements made to the end results in comparison to previous iterations of the product.

Reflective design is that which is concerned with the symbolic understanding of a product. This can have cultural bias applied to it and have other meanings applied via other demographic specific cues. Age, gender, and other factors may often impart various reflective value to a product and may range in importance among different consumer groups.

Discussion:

The three aspects of emotional design are useful in determining the effectiveness of any of our every day devices. This has to do with electronics, tools, kitchen and cooking devices, vehicles, and other devices that are common in our homes and workplaces.

I have noticed, as well, that the tastes that dictate what we buy and what is designed tend to change over time. If you look at many of the things from merely a visual stance that were produce in the 1960s, 1970, and 1980s, you can see definite trends as to shapes and colors of the products. Occasionally, some of these retro designs find their way back into our modern design sensibilities from time to time. In the last couple of years I noticed things that seemed rather inspired by things from the 1980s. I hope that not too much of the fashion or hair styles comes back. Now, as to the design of movies and music? I can use a good dose of that! The memories I have of those have not been tarnished by time and distance.

Paper Reading #13: Madgets: actuating widgets on interactive tabletops

Comments:

TBD

Reference Information:

Title: Madgets: actuating widgets on interactive tabletops

Authors:  Malte Weiss, Florian Schwarz, Simon Jakubowski, and Jan Borchers of RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The researchers are attempting to create a new tangible interface on a tabletop environment using magnetic devices. The system uses electromagnetic actuators and fiber optic cables as well as cameras located beneath the table in order to create the tracking mechanism to allow this to work.

The researchers have a visual tracking algorithm to help them maintain spatial relation to the objects and detect the movement. The researchers use six of the Madgets (magnetic widgets) in order to achieve their results. Their system allows them multiple degrees of freedom with the movement.

Discussion:

I thought this device just sounded fun to play with. Even without thinking about any pragmatic application for the device, it just seems like a new toy that is a hoot to deal with. I can see how you could come up with a new gaming application for it. Alternately, I can see how this could be integrated with existing pen and paper gaming systems to give graphical aids to the players and people running the game.

I can see how this can be used for strategy meetings. This could have potential military application, as well. If you were to project graphical information onto the table top, it would not be much of a stretch to be able to use it to run command operations or simulations.

Book Reading #29: Opening Skinner's Box

Chapter 8

Summary:

TBD

Discussion:

TBD

Book Reading #28: Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 9

Summary:

The Samoan people have a sense of fatalism ingrained in their culture about the way people are in such a way that they tend to merely accept someone for the way they are and not have a great level of curiosity as to what the reasons behind it are. They do not have great differentiating in their comparative language as is found in other languages.

In their descriptions of each other, the information provided tends to revolve around descriptions of the individual as to gender, age, and other traits and to some of their activities. Judgments about why the way they are and negativity over it doesn't enter in unless the individual is perceived to be stuck up.

Discussion:

It seems that other languages and cultures provide a richer vocabulary when it comes to description of individuals. However, I think that it may also lead to worse gossiping and possibly more hurtful things being said and portrayed of others. My hope is that with this larger range of expressiveness we can learn as people to treat each other better and more honorably.

Book Reading #27: Emotional Design

Chapter 2

Summary:

This chapter discusses the differing needs of the three aspects of emotional design: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Visceral design has to do with the appearance, touch, and feel of a design. Behavioral design has to do with with performance and functionality of a product. Reflective design aspects are concerned with the meaning and interpretation of a design.

Objects that evoke memory is a way in which a design feature taps into the emotional design process. These include things like souvenirs and photographs. By using certain imagery, companies and manufacturers of products create a personality for designs that are produced, such as using mascots and marketing their product to be identifiable with certain demographics they are targeting their product to.

Discussion:

The visceral impact of a product is often a factor that may leave the greatest lasting impression. A lot of people are enamored with Apple's latests designs even though I have often heard them complain of many of the company's policies. Many examples can be made of a product with an attractive exterior being popular even though the underlying functionality is less than it is perceived that it should be.

Objects that help us to remember past events are popular with our species. Every time I take my family on vacation, I tend to purchase things that help me remember it. I find that I like to have it based on a theme. My wife and I collect shot glasses from places we have visited and then display them on shelves on our walls.

Paper Reading #12: TeslaTouch: electrovibration for touch surfaces

Comments:


Reference Information:

Title: TeslaTouch: electrovibration for touch surfaces

Authors: Olivier Bau, Disney Research Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA and Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France; Ivan Poupyrev, Disney Research Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Ali Israr, Disney Research Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Chris Harrison, Disney Research Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Presentation Venue: UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology

Summary:

The purpose behind this project is to apply a different approach to providing haptic feedback through touch surfaces. The tactile feedback mechanism the researchers are proposing involves the principle of electrovibration. The researchers claim that this can be a method in which the user is able to feel virtual elements via touch sensation when paired with interactive displays. They refer to their technology as TeslaTouch.

The technology works by sandwiching a transparent electrode between an insulating surface that the user touches and a glass plate. The tactile stimulus is produced by creating sinusoidal waves that propagate through the touch surface at the point of contact. By modulating the frequency of these waves, different sensations can be produced to simulate things that are rough, smooth, etc. Triangular and square wave forms are also possible to produce.

Discussion:

I think there are a multitude of potential applications for this technology. One that I thought of that would be great would be an interactive encyclopedia where you could see an image of an object and then touch it to get a sense of what it feels like. Other applications can include games, where the tactile senses can be implemented to provide additional feedback to the user as they play. This could also be used  to create training material for any number of trades. Things that would be useful to feel during training could be applied in this medium without there being any danger of injury.

Ultimately, if the surface could be applied over curved volumes, you could create an application in which a nursing student could practice giving a simulated person injections or other treatments prior to dealing with a real person. If you could apply the surface and give it the same consistent feeling as skin, you could give a reasonably accurate simulation of what it would be like for the nurse to deal with a real live person without having to have a real life person to be the guinea pig.

Ethnography Results, Week 4

TBD