ubiquity-notebook

Neurodiversity for interactions

2012-02-13T14:40:00.003Z

I just sent off the final draft to the editor of Interactions. I'm suddenly uncertain what he will make of it. Well let's see. I'm terrified by the lost list of people who looked at it. Still I'm got a good vibe from people about neurodiversity so I remain hopeful.

Spatial Cognition 2012 paper in

2012-02-13T13:20:00.002Z

http://sc2012.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/

Its been a busy weekend but I/we got the Spatial Cognition 2012 paper in. 20 pages pa!

Paper of the day

2012-02-13T13:11:00.000Z

Comparing entropy measures of idea links in design protocols: Linkography entropy measurement and analysis of differently conditioned design sessions

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1339952

This paper explores using Shannon's entropy of information to measure linkographs of 12 design sessions that involved six architects in two different experimental conditions. The aim is to find a quantitative tool to interpret the linkographs. This study examines if the differences in the design processes and the design outcomes can be reflected in the entropic interpretations. The results show that the overall entropy of one design condition is slightly higher than the other. Further, there are indications that the change of entropy might reflect design outcomes.

Masters project of the day - collaborative tangible laptop

2012-02-10T12:25:00.001Z

Given that most laptops now have cameras in the screens is it possible to invent uses for tangible user interfaces which would only use the hardware of a laptop or an iPad?

For a mac you would have to tilt the screen down to get the camera in the right position. This would leave sound as the the only out. With an iPad the screen would face away from the action ---.

Masters project of the day

2012-02-09T14:00:00.000Z

- Looking at skylands as an example of children's tangible interaction.

Good news of the day

2012-01-27T16:44:00.000Z

From Iaps IAPS 2012 Glasgow Organising Committee
(IAPS) International association of people environment studies

We are pleased to say that your submission iPfad: an iPad App for the real-time recording and encoding of direct observations of wayfinding behaviour has been accepted for inclusion in the oral paper category. We would be grateful if you could confirm that still intend to present the paper at the conference.

Hasso-Plattner-Institut: Multitoe

2012-01-13T11:09:00.001Z

Hasso-Plattner-Institut: Multitoe

Basically this is multi-touch big enough to stand on - which is quite need.

More on getters and setters - JavaWorld

2012-01-11T13:57:00.000Z

THINGS ARE HOTTING UP

2012-01-09T00:50:00.000Z

Things are hotting up

TESIS: Turn Every Surface into an Interactive Surface | EMMi Lab.'s AMbient MEdia Assocation (AMEA)

http://dei.inf.uc3m.es/

Ear temperature

2011-12-20T21:03:00.000Z

I was talking to someone who wanted a ubicomp device which was able to measure the temperature in each ear. I asked if one would do.She told me that ear temperature was a good way to measure positive and negative feelings of enjoyment ( in all mammals apparently).

No references but I am highly intrigued.

sheep

The command line is back

2011-12-14T22:15:00.000Z

On the subject that no user interface is ever lost. The command line returns ( again ).

Humanized > Enso Demo

Again the problem as always is 'how do I know what this program can do for me with out reading the manual?'

They have a learn feature but this just off loads the responsibility for naming memorably on to the user.

Janet's ubicomp talk

2011-12-14T13:17:00.001Z

I'm listening to Janet's talk about Haptic reassurance. What I am finding intreasting is peoples responses to holding the lotus in their hands. Is this a embodied effect ( holding hand upwards) or is this an effect of holding delicate thing in your hand. I heard and intreasting comment about why people liked the iPod - because you have to stroke it, it is this stroking which is a most intimate act. Does it change people's relation to an object?

Good talk.

more thoughts about programming

2011-12-09T17:43:00.001Z

I've come across the programming lanauge for text based adventure games at
http://inform7.com/learn/man/doc61.html

Basically they wanted a language which was english like and able to handle cool amounts of inferanceing. I described it to a college as vernacular programming. Look the kinds of constructs they give.

A dead end is either secret or ordinary.

This creates just one new property, not two. The names are taken as the two states of a single either/or property: secret means not ordinary, ordinary means not secret

A dead end is usually secret. A room is usually indoors.

A property can be used by several kinds at once. For example, the built-in either/or property "open" is used by both doors and containers, even though door isn't a kind of container and container isn't a kind of door.

Wow imagine if you had this in a typical programming languages or

The lightest and easiest way to change behavior is with an Instead rule:

Instead of eating the apple:
say "It turns out to be made of beeswax, so that's a non-starter."
Instead of tasting an edible thing:
say "It's delicious!"
rule succeeds.

So basically this is like intercepting a message and redefining it ( but outside the comfort of a class).

I'm not sure how much good software engineering there is here but that doesn't matter. What matters is how provocative this is in programming terms and I'm very provoked.

More thoughts about visualisation

2011-12-08T13:14:00.000Z

http://worrydream.com/MagicInk/

There are few times you come across a paper which changes you life. I think the last time I can truely remember is Writing Solid code by Steve Maguire, the program that changed the way I code.

This essay - polemic, what ever is the first one which truly changed the way I think about interaction, tradition screen interaction but interaction non the less. The basic guide is that all modern interaction is based in visualisation. You have to read it to get it but the examples he gives are fantastic.

On the down side one thing you could argue is that this essay is a user interaction argument for the semantic web. Don't publish web pages, publish information and let the user get the formatting they want, but apart from this it's stunning.

I think the alternative is slightly different - Perhaps what this essay is suggesting is we should have data and presentation ( like the View and Model distinction). If software was designed to create simple flexible well designed visualisations we could reuse both them and the data.

Wonderful paper until just near the end when he proposes the ultimate implementation which is a bit mad but still doesn't detract. I'm stunned by this.

Nudging or just hearing ?

2011-12-08T13:10:00.001Z

You wonder about procedure some times.
I was listening to this 'Nudge' program and came across this typcial example of data vs interpretation.
The objective was to get people to turn up on time for approintments.
Method

Get people to repeat the appointment back (up 7%)
Get people to write it down

Massively improved people failing to turn up.

Listen to the example they give. Being forced to write it down the person making the appointment clearly has to ask again. I would conclude she didn't hear the appointment well ( she did have a small child with her). I would argue that repeating and writing down would reduce the miss hearing by 7%.

Pear Note for Mac - Useful Fruit Software

2011-12-08T12:42:00.001Z

Pear Note for Mac - Useful Fruit Software

Looks quite nice. I like the notion of being able to index the entire audio file with text. I think I saw some nice work being done at a university on a system like this.

Good for interviewing people about products and taking notes.

Now mac or Ipad versions... hmmm

Quantified Self | Self Knowledge Through Numbers

2011-12-08T11:37:00.000Z

Quantified Self | Self Knowledge Through Numbers

A movement about looking at your self through numbers. File under Kinda weird kinda cool.

More cool ubicomp technology( and this time its for xmas)

2011-12-08T11:22:00.001Z

A new company called "Green goose" is going into Beta about a range of micro sensors as stickers. Certainly looks like Ubicomp is going into the your start up can be the next big thing stage.

First noticed from oreilly

Magic Ink: Information Software and the Graphical Interface

2011-12-07T13:07:00.000Z

Magic Ink: Information Software and the Graphical Interface: download the PDF

I came across this and I like the way he thinks of all interaction as basically information visualisation ( at least thats what I take away) . I love the change on Amazon he did get my gut reaction to it.

Example
BEFORE ( AMAZON )

AFTER

Worth a read ( is a bit long)

This Could Be What Apple's iPhone 5 Looks Like - Mac Rumors

2011-12-06T10:57:00.000Z

This Could Be What Apple's iPhone 5 Looks Like - Mac Rumors

Should be getting on with work so here is a diversion...

What would I like ?

Near field technology - thus your iPhone becomes your creditcards and small change, plus if Apple did banking then they would tell you how much you would have left in your bank account ( on your card). NFT could also act as small change not to mention a set of keys. All easily wipeable and replaceable if it gets lost or stolen.

Keyboard recognition - let the system look down see the fingers on a table and let it track them to make a 'virtual keyboard'. Nice for typing longer messages without dictation.

Pen - some kind of narrow stylus recognition option. Apple don't have to make a stlyus just the option for one.

More sensors - squeezing the case, temperature, magnetic field. Each new sensor generates many new opportunities for new Apps to the as 10 to the power of N where N is the number of sensors.

Is the end of the web in site.

2011-11-28T12:09:00.000Z

App Economy – Hidden Story Behind the Rosy App World

I've always found the web wonderful as a source of information. But as a usability guy a lousy place to program rich user interaction experiences. Witness the difficulties of doing a Javascript word processor in Google Docs vs the 20 lines of Code is takes in Cooca( IPhone/Mac interface).

So the end of the web ( that is application web) is good long live th e data web.

Roles, Classes & Aspect programming.

2011-11-25T01:26:00.001Z

Intensive conversation with Simon.

We got talking about ways of thinking about how you might abstract over both object
oriented sytle inheritance and aspect programming.

Simon said something interesting
Imagine your class is a dictionary. You have selectors ( method names) for keys and code ( or source code) as when one class is derived from the other ( Doctor is derived from person). What you are trying to do is merge the Doctor dictionary with the person dictionary. Most cases are the same 'Heal()' is in the doctor dictionary and not in the person and 'Breath()'is in person but not doctor so merging these dictionaries no problem, is only when the selectors are the same ('Jump'()) do you have to do some code splicing.

I pointed out that Apsect programming can also consider it as merging two (or more) dictionaries together with more fancy splicing.

Simon wants to think about Role centred programming - a role is like a class but when you aggregate the exposed interface remains exposed. So a you can combine an driver role and a doctor you get a ambulance driver. The probelm is how to handle the overlaps when you effectively merge the dictionary.

It was the kind of intensive conversation that makes you glad your an academic. On the down side Gordon my prize Phd student can't afford to go on to full phd.

Strange grumpy observation of the day

2011-11-25T01:10:00.001Z

There is a nice call up at the moment about Transforming Energy Demand in buildings through digital innovation.

It sounds all very good and grand but for me it just shows how divorced research is from delivery. For example there is very little work on the design of domestic thermostats. Its just not that glamourous enough research to get funded ( even if someone was willing to do it - I mean you don't get in CHI for that kind of work). Yet if you wanted to make a big impact quickly with out people campaigning against you then making sure the heating in the house was off when you were out ( i.e can you program your digital thermostat correctly ) would be the biggest use.

Ruth and I were in conversation - we talked about tools for early stage impact on energy consumption for non domestic buildings. There is a system called BREEM which architects can use to guess the amount of energy there building will have. Did you know there are no BREEM or LEADS energy calculators on the iPhone or iPad.

Strange omission.

Ar-chi-tecture

2011-11-22T17:25:00.000Z

Ar-chi-tecture

Finally got the CHI workshop site up and running on sister blog.

http://archiitectureinteractionworkshop2012.blogspot.com/

Future Finder, Vision, Sketch, Demo...

2011-11-21T20:31:00.000Z

Well CHI rebuttals where a trail so I've cheered my self up with some codeing this weekend. I've made this you tube demo of my current sketch - its all in cinder.

Chi I can't believe it

2011-11-13T00:35:00.001Z

I got exactly the same review for every paper I submitted! Still I can't do anything until Monday and when I have a cool head will start rebutting one by one, point by point.

Baltic Bin - Interactive Ingredients

2011-11-07T15:23:00.000Z

Baltic Bin - Interactive Ingredients

Yvonne mentioned me on her new blog about the trip we made with Amelia to the Baltic. It was really nice seeing her. I agree with her I think George Shaw made the best work( of the 4) . Perhaps I'm an a pessimist but I don't think he will will - it's too approachable to accessible for the every day public and there fore least likely to win. My money is on the paper and bath balls girl ( she studied at my dad's art school in Newcastle so she's the 'home' team).

The Seattle experiment

2011-11-07T15:16:00.002Z

Sounds like the Seattle experiment went really well.

Lots of very positive responses to iPfad's use and keen noises in using it more. I'm going to look at the results of the user testing and then put a new version up on Apple's IStore. Only 4 direct users ( 20 indirectly as subject) so I'm going to have to run a second test with more users probably in a more ubicompy situation.

Very pleasing.

CHI workshop proposal got in

2011-11-01T12:25:00.002Z

To day as a good day.

The CHI workshop bid got OKed !

Here is my internal press release.

Dr Sheep Dalton and Professor Gerd Kortuem ( members of the pervasive computing group) along with an international team of fellow academics have be successful in a bid for a workshop the CHI2012 conference. The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) series of academic conferences is generally considered the most prestigious in the field of human–computer interaction. It is hosted by ACM SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group on computer–human interaction. CHI has been held annually since 1982 and attracts thousands of international attendees. CHI 2012 will be held in Austin, Texas, USA.

The workshop Ar-CHI-tecture seeks to examine the growing relationship between the fields of human computer interaction and Architecture.

The rise of ubiquitous computing leads to a convergence between the areas of architectural design and HCI. Human-computer interaction is a type of human-artefact interaction, and its research is characterized by analysing human behavior, cognitive processes and task structures. Buildings can also be understood as artefacts and people interact with them in numerous ways. We believe that the methodological toolbox of HCI researchers/practitioners can be valuable for understanding the challenges of designing buildings that meet users’ needs. Conversely, architectural knowledge is essential for HCI professionals and researchers designing interactive technologies for architectural settings. This workshop will bring together these communities to explore the benefits of architecture envisioned as integral to an expanded CHI community and identify fundamental differences, similarities and synergies between design and research approaches that use architecture in different ways in HCI.

I actually got this yesterday - but I was too busy with finalising another experiment to notice!

PS notice the bit shamelessly stolen from wikipedia ?

Economist does a piece on Ubicomp

2011-10-14T12:29:00.000+01:00

Ubiquitous computing

Up close

Technology will become even more personal

http://www.economist.com/node/21531116

If the economist discovers ubicomp then it must exist.

More ubicomp products

2011-10-13T12:25:00.003+01:00

Jawbone | ICON HD The NERD™: Let The NERD do the work

A good example of ubicomp at work. It uses motion sensors to interact and uses other networked devices to provide some of it's interface ( the battery life).

Is the USB to recharge?

Pity no stereo.

Workshop proposal in

2011-10-08T12:26:00.000+01:00

Got the workshop proposal in to CHI on time ( Friday).
I can't talk about whats in it (yet ) that brakes the rules of anonymity. luckily we get a result on 31st of October so I don't have to hold my breath too long.

Sifteo - Sifteo Cubes Making tangibles well tangible

2011-10-04T17:37:00.001+01:00

Sifteo - Sifteo Cubes

Looks like someone got some startup funding but lacks a killer app. Nice makes you wonder what you could do. So cute...

2011-09-27T23:55:00.001+01:00

Odd day - mostly working on CHI workshop proposals ( said I would have it done by yesterday). I experimented with being on train with WIFI ( which on east coast was remarkably good if with the occasional delay).

This morning had a great conversation with Ruth (waiting for train) about meaning of HCI and what that might mean for building usability.

Invited to give keynote in Chille for SSSx but I have to find my own airflight money ( about £1000) ( the recession has hit Chile too - very much chance of a life time). From conference could go to Easter island for another £500.

Visited space syntax group in new building near Euston station which not only sorted out a guest lecture some time before christmas but also let me find out that Alan has pushed through special case to make sure the PHD gets fully ratified. Which is fantastic - my parents are still keen to come down and attend the phd award ceremony which at their age is a big achievement. Just very nice seeing everyone again.

After getting to OU spent some time with Rowen going over basic intro to Space syntax. She told me she didn't know, I knew anything about space syntax until Paul prompted her. She was suitably impressed with my description and has a nice problem to solve for the interview best of luck there. Tempted to do the intro to space syntax in 4 You tube videos some time.

Felt guilty about no getting carpet tile working in time for demos.

Got back to visit C+J J's willowbussness is going well and I have a nice evening playing arm chair generals with him ( planning strategy for the business well he talks I listen). Easy for me, harder for him ( he has to do it) but I think this process of attaching distributing resources for maximum profit and minimum risk is the is the 'fun' part ( intellectually stimulating)of any small business. I am always quite envious.

Nice being back int he lab ( my dream about bike being stolen appears to have been about Bike being moved. I wonder if my dream about Fight club means anything). Made all the more wonderful with plaq from CHI with best paper award to J+Y + (+Rose not sure hanv't seen it) at Ubicomp in it. Should be somewhere more suitable.

Panic

2011-09-22T11:18:00.000+01:00

Why is it when I am in the midst of the final power diver towards the end of the CHI deadline that I get a demand to do another draft (# 5) of the student exercise with a deadline of today !!!
Crap crap crap!!!

And the last Yvonne paper is going so well.

AT&T 1993 "You Will" Ads

2011-09-19T22:28:00.000+01:00

Its odd seeing people predicting the future wrong, but its even more peculiar to get people who get it (just about ) right.

Statistics for HCI Research: Statistics for HCI Research

2011-09-19T17:51:00.000+01:00

Statistics for HCI Research: Statistics for HCI Research

On the subject of what to teach on an HCI course to make it look more computer sciency I've been thinking a small intro to relevant stats would be putting most software people into their comfort zone for a while plus get some basic stats knowledge into students ( useful for people doing performance improvements to pure software).

This is really nicely explained.

http://yatani.jp/HCIstats/HomePage

- you can tell the CHI2012 deadline is friday can't you?

Apples 1987 vision ( complete with agents).

2011-09-05T23:31:00.000+01:00

Paper 2 down

2011-09-05T23:28:00.002+01:00

Paper 2 is down, 2 to go - I'm off to a conference in Oxford tomorrow so I can get some time to get the next paper down.

Yvonne Rogers dream fellowship

2011-09-05T23:27:00.000+01:00

Yvonne's new job ( her second day) - what a second day.

I found this quite provocative - particularly the bid about going beyond assistive technologies.

Odd seeing Yvonne hanging out near UCL which is strange ( I spent so much time around UCL ... ).

Will look for the blog she mentioned.
<- look this amazon recommending thing is still working !!!!!

Back up to lab

2011-08-31T18:44:00.000+01:00

Got in today and all Yvonne's stuff had gone and all of Rose's stuff too. The lab feels far more empty than it ever has, almost forlorn.

On the plus side I can play music full blast.
On the down side the key to the valuables cabinet is missing - I wonder what was left?

MIT OpenCourseWare | Media Arts and Sciences | MAS.836 Sensor Technologies for Interactive Environments, Spring 2010 | Home

2011-08-31T18:26:00.003+01:00

MIT OpenCourseWare | Media Arts and Sciences | MAS.836 Sensor Technologies for Interactive Environments, Spring 2010 | Home

I'm suffering from course Envey- makes you wish the OU could do courses this quickly.

Course Description

This course is a broad introduction to a host of sensor technologies, illustrated by applications drawn from human-computer interfaces and ubiquitous computing. After extensively reviewing electronics for sensor signal conditioning, the lectures cover the principles and operation of a variety of sensor architectures and modalities, including pressure, strain, displacement, proximity, thermal, electric and magnetic field, optical, acoustic, RF, inertial, and bioelectric. Simple sensor processing algorithms and wired and wireless network standards are also discussed. Students are required to complete written assignments, a set of laboratories, and a final project.

This is nothing to do with it but I've noticed that the recommendation system is working again.
Why not buy it so I can check it's working.

Place-Specific Computing: A Place-centric Perspective for Digital Designs

2011-08-17T11:25:00.000+01:00

Jörn Messeter

In her influential book Plans and Situated Action, Lucy Suchman (1987) argues for an understanding of social conduct as emerging from a direct response to the immediate circumstances of interaction–a perspective labelled “situated action.”
In a frequently cited article, Harrison and Dourish (1996) critically explore the use of space as a basis for design. According to them, the way we manage collaborative activity is not rooted in space at all, but in a mutual cultural understanding of behavior and action. Place is space with invested understandings of behavioral appropriateness and cultural expectations: “space is the opportunity; place is the understood reality” (Harrison & Dourish, 1996, p. 67).
The architect Malcolm McCullough (2004) goes further, dismissing the notion of the Internet as a place for immersive inhabitance altogether and seeing it as a “societally enacted myth.”
In essence, the world would become the interface.
In addition, it has been suggested from an architectural perspective that the spatial structures of urban environments embody cultural patterns of interaction that form the basis for socially intelligible conduct (McCullough - Digital Ground, 2004)
One stream of current research that, implicitly or explicitly, refers to place from a broadened view of use context islocation-aware systems.
Ciolfi (2004) has successfully applied a perspective of place drawn from the phenomenological vein in human geography to the design of augmentations of physical environments in the form of interactive museum installations.
For example, Dourish (2001b) as well as Ciolfi (2004) define space as the physical and mechanical elements of the world that are devoid of meaning. Björgvinsson resists this view of physical artifacts and environmental elements as discrete and separate, and claims that a physical environment without meaning is inconceivable.
The bottom line here is that the construction of meaning is neither located in the technology nor in the social, but in the interaction between humans and non-human elements, or what he terms socio-material assemblages.
This is a position against social constructionism on the one hand and technological determinism on the other, and places Björgvinsson’s argument in line with human geographers like Malpas who claim that place is primary to the construction of meaning.
See for example Ciolfi (2004) for a summary of how the concept of place has been understood in environmental psychology
Ciolfi, L., & Bannon, L. (2003, December 12-13). Space, place and the design of technologically enhanced physical environments. Paper presented at the Workshop on Space, Spatiality and Technologies. Edinburgh, UK.
Another observation [ of Dourish] is that meaning arises in the course of action. This is to say that meaning is not inherent in the technology, and therefore not determined by the designer Rather, meaning emerges through the encounter with technology, making it open for various appropriations and adaptations as it is incorporated into a community of practice.
David Seamon regards bodily mobility as the key component to understanding place. Repeated movements such as walking to the mailbox or reaching for a pair of scissors in a drawer are established as time-space routines (Cresswell, 2004, pp. 33-34). Seamon uses a dance metaphor, describing these habitual movements as “body ballet.” From the collective effort of many time-space routines performed within a certain location, a “place-ballet” emerges that, according to Seamon, provides a strong sense of place.
Furthermore, for this position to be able to constructively contribute to informing design practice, we also need ways of constructing an account of the place-specific that avoids being caught in generalizations and vague typologies, and at the same time enables transcending the specific design situation to support the development of place-specific computing as a genre of interaction design
A source particularly relevant for understanding practice in relation to space and place is Michel de Certeau’s (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life, in which language is used as a guiding metaphor to describe our practices around place.
In short, to de Certeau space is a practiced place. Place is pre-structured and we follow its rules of grammar, i.e., we cannot walk through walls and we do not walk down the middle of a street. But our possibilities of operating within these structures are still as infinite as the expressive power of language. [ sounds like space syntax ]
To conclude, two important issues for place-specific computing thus become: (1) to develop an understanding of practice as developed under the specific structuring conditions of (a particular) place; and (2) to understand what roles applications of place-specific computing can play as part of such practices, and consequently as part of a larger social process of place construction.
The philosophically oriented geographer Yi-Fu Tuan (1977) has defined place through a comparison with space that suggests a wide range of scales for place. Place is about stopping, becoming involved and developing emotional attachment, whereas space is about openness, freedom and movement
Consequently, place is something that exists on many scales, according to Tuan – from the corner of a room to the whole of the earth. However, such an unbounded definition of place becomes problematic in the case of place-specific computing.

Makes we wonder about things like ecological validity and Living labs...

Uses of data | datagm

2011-08-16T17:07:00.000+01:00

Welcome to DataGM

DataGM has been created by public sector partners to free Greater Manchester’s public data.

Can't help I could find something useful syntactically here.

Power dive a new beginnings

2011-08-16T16:48:00.000+01:00

In the final power dive before Chi 2012 submission, One paper down and three more to go. Plus architecture workshop proposal and neurodiversity Alt.chi submission ( which is later ).

Just restarted the cloud - I think there was a power failure or something. So some data gone - but there is few people around to notice still irritating.

Talked to Gerd Kortuem ( www.kortuem.com ) the new pervasive professor - not an Yvonne replacement ( that will be someone else ) was supposed to work in parallel .Nice bloke and I think we got on well.

He told me they have a system at Lancaster which might let me return the ambient displays experiment again for more data. I think we have enough of an overlap to do something. He is interested in visualisations, hospitals and work flow ( in hospitals ) which is handy.

Invited to a multi-touch do at Oxford ( by Eva I suspect) and invited to review a journal paper ( by Jeff I suspect ).

The punch bag kids seem to be going well.

for the record amazon associates still doesn't work

So back to paper #2.

Idea of the day - wikipeida for structured knowledge

2011-07-17T11:00:00.000+01:00

I was talking in a co-worker who is developing tools to permit people to edit semantic information. It reminded me of CYC an attempt to create a comprehensive ontology of common sense knowledge.

Personally I've always been sceptical of these kinds of attempts to create formally verifiable structured knowledge.

That aside I mentioned to the co-worker that perhaps what someone should do is to build a crowd source engine - like Wikipedia. The engine would have enough tools to permit people to enter information in the network of knowlege directly. I guess something like DBpedia ( but being explicitly written rather than extracted from wikipeida ).

Perhaps its already in existence you see a lot of projects like this ( FreeBase, Open Cyc) - perhaps FreeBase is it( except that's commercially owned right?).

Large Displays in Urban Life - CHI 2011 workshop

2011-07-05T12:00:00.000+01:00

Large Displays in Urban Life - CHI 2011 workshop

The CHI workshop I tended has published it's conclusions. This is me holding up the notes I made during the sub-meeting.

Just in case your interested in my handwriting.

Space Syntax video

2011-07-01T10:27:00.001+01:00

My original work was on what is in a field known as 'space syntax'

I'm often asked about space syntax, its hard to track down a good overview, but this is quite a good video giving the urban version of space syntax. You can see some of my software ( and results of my analytic software ) in this video.

This is Alan's talk - its more building centric.

Nokia future vision - sort of

2011-07-01T09:52:00.000+01:00

I am a complete sucker for these type of videos.

OK the down side is that this kinds of eye tracking as user interface technology has been repeatedly tried and fails for the same reason. Our eye movements are not as smooth and deliberate as you might think. This kind of augmented reality interface might work but the haptic bracelet would be better. Notice she never types.

Didn't Bruce Stirling write about this glasses technology in Mona Lisa overdrive ?

Silicon.com reviews the lab

2011-06-24T15:32:00.001+01:00

Apparently this was sent round Warwick university saying what a cool research group is like.

Photos: Can tech change your behaviour? The Open University investigates | Page 10 | Hardware | silicon.com

Prediction of the day - Tractors

2011-06-14T21:20:00.000+01:00

Image Hinrich

I predict that someone will built a 'robot' tractor. This will either plough/spray/harvest e.c.t but will so with out infield supervision. That is the farmer will tack the tractor to the field set it up then leave. The robot will be able to navigate over the field to do its job. Farmers already use sat-nav to steer tractors already but they end up sitting on them doing little. I predict that the tractors will become fully autonomous but in the process they will become a lot smaller - I suspect that the gain of a big tractor will not be great when your not longer saving farmer time.

1966 prediction of the home computer

2011-06-05T00:25:00.000+01:00

I love this. One day it will all be true.

BBC News - Internet of things blurs the line between bits and atoms

2011-06-04T11:41:00.000+01:00

BBC News - Internet of things blurs the line between bits and atoms

If the BBC are saying it then the age of Ubicomp must have begun.

Cloud PIR sensor failure

2011-05-31T16:53:00.001+01:00

Looks like the cloud PIR sensor will not work on the cloud balls. But it will detect people motion ( I have a nice use for this ) .

Back to the grind

2011-05-31T15:34:00.000+01:00

Finally back in the lab - I haven't escaped M255 ( introduction to Java) exercises but just postponed it ( deadline for TMA is 6th Jan).

Got back to lab and the sensor network was down - I've managed to fix it, I think but needs some recalibration. I'm now working on sorting out the cloud display. Then I can get data for the paper.

Also spent today looking for drivers for the Diamond Touch for Khaled Bachour and we found them ( kind of ) . The new bulb is in so I've managed to run it with the Mac OK.

I wonder if I have time to do the ecology of devices before Yvonne takes the cool tables with her to UCL ?

PANIC

Space syntax and information communication

2011-05-31T12:11:00.001+01:00

I thought I would make some good work on communication in buildings .

This is Alan's talk on IKEA

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lhl/lhlpub_spring11/01-18012011

http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=b260193

The space of innovation: interaction and communication in the work environment

A Penn, J Desyllas, L Vaughan

Peponis naturally -

http://sss7.org/Proceedings/Seminars/Peponis%20et%20al%20-%20Designing%20Space%20to%20Support%20Knowledge%20Work.pdf

Gordon Brown ( another one ) good work.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1728148&show=abstractf

10.1108/14630010810881630

Flex irritation

2011-05-25T23:33:00.000+01:00

( Flash Builder 0 Flex 4.5's Rectangle class .contains(x,y) message looks to be broken. I had to write me own ;-(

Also I am annoyed that I can't draw more than a few objects with out it slowing the interaction process down. Oh Xor where are you ?

I made a list today of my projects I have on the go - I had 18 with about 8 which where really important for the near term.

Paranav Mistry

2011-05-25T23:18:00.003+01:00

Nice Ted talk about tangibles - I might have blogged this before. I love the phyilosphy but the implementation/proposed use is pretty dull ( except how to take a photo). I also like mixing projection and paper ( augmented paper). The sound detection ( with clipon ) is good( for clicking) . Pinch for copy ( across machines ). I like the cheap things he has been hacking.

BBC iPlayer - All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Love and Power

2011-05-25T23:00:00.000+01:00

Stimulating program but really about the economy and nothing to do with how humans have been colonised by machines they have built - might be more accurately said that this is about the formulas we have written or books we have sold ( but that wouldn't sound sinister enough )

BBC iPlayer - All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Love and Power

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b011k45f/

.::Safebook::.

2011-05-25T11:13:00.000+01:00

.::Safebook::.

This is a academic attempt to build a peer to peer social network like face book.

needs a big change in user interface ( I think ) but I like the idea. But having just finally watched the socialnetwork it was the mixture of technology and snobbery

Still nice idea.

Back to exam writing.

An Evolutionary Architecture - John Frazer

2011-05-23T16:35:00.000+01:00

This is his 1995 book ( which was brillant ) now avaiabel for free download.

An Evolutionary Architecture - John Frazer

More self aggrandisement

2011-05-22T00:05:00.001+01:00

Discovered that Microsoft ( which my son referes to as Microscopic i.e Microscopic office) are trying to match google scholar with Microsoft Academic. From this I get this nifty visualisation of my co-authorin.

explorer 7-8-9 what ever

2011-05-20T14:03:00.000+01:00

I found an interesting advert for MS explorer on the web last night. [

http://www.beautyoftheweb.co.uk/] Why was Microsoft advertising a product I can't use ? This was a flash advert so they new the browser and operating system I had ( I thought they had finally produced a new mac version ). Complete waste of their money ( and my time).

Another example of the inevitable failure of Microsoft (poor souls).

I saw something saying that Apple was now worth more than Microsoft - not surprising.

Idear of the day - bring back the command line!

2011-05-20T13:55:00.000+01:00

Thinking about the Newton/Iphone I realised I liked the command line interface it had
( Dinner John thursday ) ( remember milk )

If you could build an interface that was really really quick where basically you did a command key combination then it would send up a message box where you could type

dinner John Thursday

The system would be smart enough to guess who John was ( from your contacts [and your facebook links] ) or it would produce a list of best guesses. It would vaguely know when dinner was and then produce a dialog box ( which might prompt for more info).

I guess like Google it would have a good guess for miss typed commands (dinjer with jon - did you mean dinner with john Grady today at 6:00 ? ).

The idea would be to collect a number of things in the same interface.
Remind Ruth about milk
sets up an email with a template
Hi Ruth, I thought I would just take this opportunity to remind you about milk.
Thanks ... )

where as

Remind me milk

might set up an alarm

Tell Ruth late
Sets up and email to ruth saying I am late.
Phone ruth

The idea is to keep lots of stuff which might cause you to switch contexts. I've looked at quicksilver on the mac but its more of a better finder than anything.

The whole thing would have to be fast enough to stop you context switching with an interruption.

More near field technologies strikes

2011-05-20T13:31:00.000+01:00

The BBC are reporting on O2 introducing a Near Field equipped phone. Basically your phone becomes a top up small change ( up to £10). Nice attempt but I don't seeing it happen big time unless Apple goes with the flow and they won't do that unless they see an advantage for them - which they won't do unless they are first or can monopolise the market them selves ( like get money when you spend money).

Apples next iphone interface

2011-05-19T15:34:00.000+01:00

Wow I foggot how similar to the Newton the iPhone/iPad was in design terms ( row of most used apps at the bottom)

Naturally the Newton had things the iPhone/IPad doesn't ( in the OS)

hand writing recognition
narrow pen
drawing recognition
note pad centric interface
The agent like interface (type Lunch with Jon thursday - guesses )
Almost like a command line ( call bob, remind me to ... )
Animation interface
Use of sound
Undo button
Drawing tidying ( geometry recognition really nice )
I like the typing interface ( which I shouldn't )

Internally where was some nice stuff
- Ultra compressed programming language ( you got data AND functionality inheritance )
- SOUP ( nice open filling system )

Apples 1987 vision ( complete with agents).

2011-05-19T15:13:00.000+01:00

I liked this one - this is the iPad before iPads. This was when Agents was big ( before they were killed off by the Microsoft Paper clip ).

What to these things tell us - people like simple integration. What do I like - summary and speech synthesis. I wish my Mac or IPad/IPhone talked a bit more we really under use speech in the interface.

What killed this off ( I've been checking out the old Newton adds ) well I think to much partly functional AI. People have a low threshold to something that doesn't work well ( like FaceTime).

The Microsoft Courier/Ditto

2011-05-19T15:02:00.000+01:00

I just had to link to it. before the designers got there hands on it.
I thought the idea of something more like a pro version an Nintendo DS or the second generation onelaptop per child - you could use it like a laptop ( keyboard on one screen ) or a note book( with pen) or multi-touch ( like an Ipad). Most of these demos are using the two window approach ( which is still good ).
Now the courier is dead these guys at Tapose are making a iPad version. Perhaps some smart and desperate tablet maker will see it and use it.

and after

CHI 3 Towards a theory of Interaction design a critique of the workshop at CHI2011

2011-05-17T11:43:00.001+01:00

Towards a theory of Interaction design a critique of the workshop at CHI2011

I had the pleasure of attending the special interest group at CHI2011 entitled UX Research: What Theoretical Roots Do We Build On – If Any? The objective of the session was to attempt to investigate to see if there might be a common definition of and understanding of UX theory.

This is not the first time someone has attempted to do this. As just one example Paul Dourish in his book Where the Action is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction suggested that to find an area of common ground it is necessary to abandon disembodied rationality and focus on skilled engaged practice using phenomenological practices.
The move to find some common theoretical ground is a positive one but during the workshop I witnessed a number of conflicts which I believe where unnecessary and counter productive.
Many of these conflicts arise from confusion over the meaning of theory from the differing component disciplines. By understanding these misinterpretations over the role of theory I believe it is possible to eliminate a lot of the problems and move more rapidly toward some kind of fundamental interaction theory.

What is theory ?
Theory is a term from ancient greek derived from theoria meaning a looking at view or beholding. It refers to contemplation as opposed to praxis (action or practice). This description still assumes that all academic disciplines use the notion of theory in the same way, which I contend is not true. Being on the boarder between the arts and the sciences HCI has come across a collision in paradigms between the two areas of practice. The domains of the arts and sciences have different notions over the role of theory and as such have different theories.

Science theory

Science theory is a well studied area but basically has a number of components. Firstly and to refute one misconception commonly used during the workshop there is no ONE theory or grand unified theory of science. Each domain has different theories depending upon context, so chemistry has the periodic table of elements while physics has theories such as electromagnetism, biology has evolution theory.
Confusingly physics has experienced intertheoretic reduction – were two theories such as the theory of electricity and the theory of magnetism have been combined to form one theory of eletro-magnetism. These intertheoretic identities are how ever rare and important steps in the progress of physics as an endevor. intertheoretic identities might give the impression to the outsider that there is one theory in physics but infact there are still a multiplicity of theories.
What makes science theory different is that if there are two theories which explain the same phenomena then it is generally possible to perform an experiment which appear to support one theory over another. This happened for example when the medical theory of the four humors (blood,yellow bile,phlegem and black bile) succumbed to more complex theories including bacterial infection theory. Scientific theories can be conceived of as compact descriptions of the phenomena they describe. As such well-collected empirical evidence is an important material along with experiments which appear to support or refute one theory over another. Finally generally scientific theories are also predictive. The limits are known to a strong extend and the significant parameters are known well enough that predictions can be made and ultimately tested. Scientific theories also tend to be reductive, they describe one phenomena really well but don’t seek to explain everything. Thus Galileo explained the presence of gravity but did so assuming the absence of air resistance. From an outsiders perspective he didn’t explain everything that falls ( the theory of gravity cannot explain the fall of a feather) but he did explain one aspect of movement which he considered widely important.

In terms of interaction and design scientific theories don’t tell you what to do just permit the inferring of consequences of doing so. An architectural analogy might help. Structural theories used by engineers permit them to predict if a design might stand up. Equally it is possible to say if you want a platform to stick out this far, from this material then it must be this thick. If you went to a structural engineer and said ‘I want a museum please calculate what should I build’ they wouldn’t have any idea. Scientific theories are descriptive but not generative. This can be quite liberating, for architects this means they are free to design anything they feel expresses the idea they want. With out this structural theory they would be forced to rely on precedence – previous successful buildings – something common in pre- structural theoretic cultures such as the medieval cathedrals of Europe. From this we can conclude that science theories are flexible and liberating for design.

Art theories

The second group of theories that are relevant are art theories. Art theories or design theories don’t have the property of being exclusive. Consider Cubism vs Dadaism it doesn’t make sense to consider one to be better than another,. they are not mutually exclusive and so intertheoretic reduction doesn’t apply. From this perspective art theories tend to be more prescriptive – they give a domain of consideration and a background of rhetoric to launch from. Thus when you begin a design there is already a condition to begin from, this is importantwhen a designer could be faced with creating something from nothing. Art theories gives them the property of being broad and cohesive, you can have a modernist painting, a modernist building, a modernist chair. Consider the process of creating a website and mobile version of a product ( not to mention physical documentation) scientific theories ( narrow and deep) will not help create a framework for action at this point but art theories do. Art theories often exist as a response to current conditions and can prefigure the works that compose them. As such art theories are very powerful generative tools in the hands of a skilled designer.

Summary
I have described two types of theory –art and science, but there are others, Mathematics, History, Politics and Philosophy all of whom use the notion of theory differently. It is important not to use scientific views of theory as bench marks for artistic theory, as it is not to use art theories to understand scientific ones. This said the diversity of theories creates for a rich structure and description of evaluation of user experience. If user experience is to thrive it needs to embrace the multicultural inheritance by admitting it’s presence and stop false comparison. This is not to suggest that there should and could not be a group of theories which lay purely in the domain of interaction design, just that they will have to be constructed between the two primary regions.

Yvonne Rogers to leave OU and move to interaction group at UCL!

2011-05-16T23:15:00.000+01:00

See this link for all the gory details http://bit.ly/mc5pmy

Back from CHI part 2

2011-05-16T17:33:00.001+01:00

Well its nice to be back. I'm not good a socialising let a lone networking and I'm not fully socialised out.

On the plus side I met a number of architects including Martyn Dade-Robertson ( Newcastle), Anijo Pennen Mathew(Chicago) and Prof Keith Green (from Clemson). Which for a conference on human computer interaction was interesting.

It might have been the conference but the vibe emerged of doing a workshop on HCI and architecture ? At CHI for 2012. I think it would be interesting so am pushing it.

Overall the conference was good ( I'm never overly excited by the papers ) and I'm currently plowing through the proceedings.

Yvonne's book launch party was so cool and I'm walking away with a signed copy of the new BFB( big fat book) and had a fantastic talked to Claire O'[ gone black hang on]

I also got a free copy of Paul Dourish's book (no pictures, lets face it - its not going to make it to Kindle is it?). and I managed to meet Patrick Oliver so perhaps I'll be able to visit the Newcastle HCI people.

On the plus side I met Prof David Kirsh taking at the workshop on embodied cognition and he was quite inspiring. The outcome of a previous workshop ( on large displays ) was the inability to measure the 'impact' of an ambient display ( how do you measure the impact of a public clock?). David Kirsh had the mantra that anything can be measured ( then proceeded to tell me exactly how to do it) which was good.

The mighty Steve Benford was also there and mentioned there might be some money to fund me popping over to MRI to do some collaborative analysis of a recent experiment (yah nice).

I also bumped into Rachel Roumelitis from Morgan Kaufmann ( publishers) and did an elevator pitch on the Interaction programming in Java book. Was this the start of something good or did I get a polite brush off only time will tell.

CHI 2011 - Very inspiring but very wet.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Back from CHI part 1

2011-05-16T13:19:00.000+01:00

Love is a lab with a powerful electromagnet - I'm guessing its done with a sensor which keeps the balls at the right distanced ( so what are they putting in the balls?)

F5 2011 RE:PLAY Film Festival. Inductance from Physalia Studio on Vimeo.

entropy notes

2011-05-16T10:21:00.001+01:00

From a conversation at CHI with Nadia that interaction was different from traditional design because what you designed was complex. For me our comprehension and management of complexity & pattern lie at the heart of HCI.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjzc4-a6Iwg&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzdvX1ong18&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Interaction venice

2011-04-20T00:27:00.002+01:00

Gilian Crampton Smith is a god but strangely down to earth - I had a nice lunch with her on the grass in a park near the conferance at the last CHI. I used to work with her Husband at the Bartlett school of architecture - he's a really nice guy just wonderful - and met her though him. I used to demo NeXT machines to her students ( this was all pre-internet). Nina Pope and Rory Hamilton who had both been digital artists in residence who then went to work on Gillian's Computer related design course. I was always really jealous of her computer related design course at the RCA. I mean I loved the freedom for the students - provided it was related to computers and design and computers you could do it. Gillian ended up being on my executive committee for the virtual environments course ( now adaptive architectural computation at the Bartlett) which gave the course a lot of credibility to architecture back then. Now Gilian is work in Venice - could you imagine anything more cool ?
If I was young again I would definitely do that course.

Any way GCS is rightly famous for basically giving Durrell Bishop the space do to the marble answering machine. Still for me one of the clearst and most viable products for tangible technology. I remember seeing this video at the first Doors of Perception conference ( which was so cool). It was one of those - I know the world has change moments when I first saw it. Now you can judge for your self.

Durrell Bishop Marble Answer Machine from Luckybite on Vimeo.

Head Tracking for iPad: Glasses-Free 3D Display!

2011-04-13T11:51:00.001+01:00

IPad2 does 2D without glassess.

Oddly I thought of doing this with a desktop machine but the hand held does much better. Makes you wonder what kinds of affordances 3D gives you? I'm still impressed withe the graphics power of a machine that thin!

Floor walkers

2011-04-13T11:35:00.000+01:00

I have now heard about floor walkers ( people use different names ) in a number of different contexts

In a military planning centre floor walkers move around from static workstation to static workstation to assist the information conherance between 'workers' ( who can't move ).

In forensic accounting - someone from UCL interaction group talked about a floor walker in the context of a group of legal and accounts who take all the records from a large complex fraud. Each person looks at data bit by bit and the floor walker trys to make connections between diffrent people ( 'you thought john Smith was odd hmm jake also found a odd record about John Smith lets make a new file on him').

In air trafic control - someone talking about using multi touch for air traffic control talked about a floor walker moving between static workers who control zones. The floor walker is much more experienced and can solve co-oridination problems or just help individuals when work load is too high.

I wonder what this means in terms of colocated collaboration across an ecology of devices

neurodiversity dyslexia

2011-04-11T18:47:00.000+01:00

Baum, S. Gifted but learning disabled: A puzzling paradox. Eric Digest 3E479. Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children, (1990).

Interesting paper about the up sides of dyslexia.

Relates to an interesting lecturer on neurodiversity and dyslexia.

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/disability/lecture/lecture2010.html

Yvonne Rogers to leave OU and move to interaction group at UCL

2011-04-11T17:43:00.000+01:00

Well it's official and I'm slightly well numb.

Prof Yvonne Rogers is off to run the interaction group at UCL leaving the space for a new Professor of Interaction for pervasive computing here. Naturally I'm from UCL originally and I'm very excited for her, she's a top class userati person ( http://www.usabilityviews.com/userati_name.html ) and she will be going to what is arguably one of the top research places in the UK/World so I can't think of a better mix.

I think this is great for Yvonne and I'm really please for her.

For me I'm not sure - I've been left with a lot of stuff to play with and a nice space to do it in. I'll be continuing the blog, we have a new Pervasive professor joining this year and I'm told a replacement for Yvonne at some point within the next 12 months.

Mean while I'll take some time to absorb it and reflect on my current research agenda.

Multi-touch meets online collaboration for all the right reasons

2011-04-11T17:32:00.000+01:00

3 from B-Reel & B-Reel Films on Vimeo.

I remember seeing a proposal for this kind of system some years ago at an old MediaMatic/Door of Perception conference ( with out the sales angle) . I was excited then - you can have a display were everyone gets the text the right way round. Naturally easy to do multi-touch with a IR camera with this too.

I wonder what the client has - a flash plug-in or something ? How much do you get the feeling that the operator has to work blind ( not seeing the client ) .

Touch scree scrolling

2011-04-01T11:58:00.000+01:00

Interesting alternative to the normal pan based scrolling.
Is it just me or are people thinking that whole scroll bar thing on desktop GUI was a bad idea ?

I'm not 100% convinced this is better

More cool tables

2011-03-29T17:56:00.000+01:00

Also a link to useful collection of museum components at Open Exhibits

Idenum have made a very nice plasma based multi touch table - anyone got any budget left guys?

I can only say one thing - leg room!

Transparent computing

2011-03-21T22:44:00.000Z

I was writing a short description of what my research is and where it is going. This is the bit I've cut out

I call my current research area, transparent computing. Transparent computing looks to build and study a range of devices trying to investigate how computing will change over the next ten years.

Transparency has two opposing threads which make up the theme, how to make interaction with a device transparent - were the way you use a computer becomes so transparent you don’t have to think about how to use the computer but on how to achieve your goal. This is strongly related to W's calm computing but also has notions of embodied computing.

The other side of transparency is how to you remove the black box nature of current software systems? How to you visualise what’s going on inside the machine in order for users to better understand the limitations and conditions that the information being presented to them. Currently computation stands as a Deus ex machina information is captured and the machine delivers the results (‘the machine says no’). Frequently we don’t have the information to be aware of problems. The object of transparent computing is to give insights into the current state of the digital world.

visual finger tracking for mice ?

2011-03-16T16:06:00.000Z

stubled over this - Given you can connect via blue tooth can you use more than one ? I wonder what sized area it covers

ideal programming language thoughts

2011-03-11T17:00:00.000Z

I think things like strong and weak references have to be brought into the programming language.

so in the definition
class Telephone
{
  public:

   Number phoneNumberDigit ; // normal
   String weak name ;
   String lazy phoneNumber ; // regenerable
}

So when you assign elements you have

  thing.phoneNumberDigit = new Number( 230033) ; // normal
name <- "bob" ; // weak reference and don't forget it.
phoneNumber <- thing.phoneNumber.toString();// we can regenerate on demand

   when you accesses them you get the same kind of thing.

   this->name.something();
   if( this->phoneNumber != null )  this->phoneNumber.something() ; // forced by compiler

naturally you would put the access to a lazy value in an accessor to make sure it was there when
you needed it.

Basically weak things say - if everyone else has stopped looking at this then its OK to loose the object. I don't own this I just know about it.
Lazy objects say - hay if your short of space its OK to loose this reference too I will check each time I need it. Good for compact low memory environments.

A Day Made of Glass...

2011-03-10T10:25:00.000Z

I've found my self strangely drawn to these kinds of things. You know they are made by a 'brain storming' exercise and then made to look cool by a well funded corporate video production team.

They are the infeasible concept cars of the digital industries. Except now they are being made by the glass industry.

A good news day (

2011-03-02T18:24:00.003Z

Well what a busy day Its 5:46 and I'm about to have my morning coffee. Gonzalo turned with with some AAC students and Ava which was very nice. So they are mostly Architects and Sculptors with a curiosity in things digital ( this was the old UCL Virtual Environments course I set up a long time ago). They were very fun and it was nice to see some young faces for once.

Gonzalo and I had a good time running them through the final stage of the wineshop. while we did G, told me that Chirs Luebkeman ( Ducan Wilson's boss see my links ) from the mighty Ove Arups is doing a TED talk and he wants to use an image of the Wineshop as part of that talk eke!

Arups are also going to use run the experiment in their london space for a while as well. This would be really cool Yvonne asked about being truly ecologically valid.

So a happy day. It was interesting I was talking to the students and it made me realise how busy things are and how much we have to play with. The students were quite envious of the kinds of things we have done to the building and more importantly the space we have to do thing with. Which is quite nice its was very good to be reminded of the positive sides of being here.

Today both Gonzalo and I managed to get 6 people through our experiments ( cool!) but for me the most interesting aspect was Gonzalo sat down and did a focus group about the place stats. He started to use the Microsoft desirability cards but in a group context which I thought was interesting. It makes you wonder what kind of work has been done in the context of focus groups and HCI.

While I'm on the good news front OUR HCI2011 workshop has been accepted ( the link to the call is here ) and I'm in a workshop for CHI ( so time to hurriedly sort CHI attendance out too).

Oh and I did I mention that Rose has got most of the grey balls painted and I've nearly completed the pads for Nicolas experiment?

Also a copy of Analog In, Digital Out arrived on my desk - I thought I would check out the Associates widget worked.

Seminar: Prof. Richard Noss, University of London

2011-02-16T13:33:00.000Z

What we teach is dominated by what you could teach with pencil and paper 200 years ago.

The iPad is the moment when We discovered that office work is not the dominant mode of interaction.

I like any one who quotes Illich
Convivial computing anyone?

If your dealing with paper the starting with line graphs, the move to curves. With software why not start with curves and use lines as special cases.

AI is just getting to the point were is might be useful. AI ED is big but no AI in actual class rooms.

Technology is helping with inclusion.

We talk about using technology to affect how we tech but not what we teach.
Is Doing calculus on the bus is the definition of flexible learning?

Who,how ,what.

Personal inquiry project.
Simplifed problems in science are boring but the best you could with paper. Complexity is interesting and something you can do with computing.

Mi-gen some ideas look hard when you doing have the right way of dealing with them.
Find the right representation and you can teach anything.

People get lost at X and Y - when you get to the abstractions.

Xpresser the swimming pool calculator.

Algrebra is a set of rules for manipulating symbols.Algebra 1
Algebra is also way of thinking. The general case over specifics. Algebra 2

Algebra 2

Tool try's to use AI to diagnose problems make sense of what students are doing.
No ontology about how we think mathematically.
We don't need intelligent tutoring systems - we can't do them if we can't understand the ontology of the subject.

Responding to students emotional estate in maths panic is the emotional state.

Where is teachers facebook?

Personally I am tempted to wonder what would happen if you used a stream based programming language. Pipes moving data . Could you use this to create the balance

Like notion of jam jars on table with number underneath it.

Microsoft Surface watch out

2011-02-11T19:52:00.000Z

Looks like the age of projector based multi-touch is over.

<p><br /> </p>

Here in the lab we are busy with experiments and failing email.

trains and interfaces

2011-02-03T17:07:00.000Z

From my face book page.

Turns out that the super saver ticket the web site sold me will not let me travel on the train to Newcastle( even with the seat reservation) . Now have to wait. Until 7:00 to leave so all the rush to leave work early was for nothing. Current choice pay£101 or disappoint kids b not being back in time to read to them. I hate you trainline.co.UK website

Eva Hornecker I still prefer going to the trainstation to buy in person cause the websites don#t really explain which ticket options are valid - and sometimes do not list all the options!

Well I ended up going to the website because last time I spoke to the ticket office I was far to flexible. The ticket guy was irritated with how flexible I was. Unfortunately I am now living in small village with no ticket office so web is only choice.

Now I have had time to calm down I've started to wonder how complicit my dyslexia was. I find these very texty websites hard to follow and have noticed that for many non text centric tasks I find the iPhone/IPad interface much more comprehensible.

This inspires an interesting bit of research

eye track both web and mobile conditions for common web/mobile apps and see if there is any substantive usability issues.

Finally the experiment begins!

2011-02-03T12:10:00.000Z

Gonzalo's experiment has finally taken off with lots of visitors I think he could easily get the base condition done this week.

We also have three new visitors

Vaiva Kalnikaite

Pablo Haya

Estefanía Martín

so things are going to be quite busy for a while!

Microsoft gadgeteer

2011-02-02T17:39:00.000Z

Just saw a gadgetter processor in the lab.

Nice for building - less work connecting but more work programming. Processor much more powerful (16Mb of ram) but the whole thing is much more expensive than the Arudio. Reminds me of the sunSpot. nice but the complexities of getting java working was just to much.

perhaps this is better.

Gesture recognition from wearables

2011-01-18T09:55:00.000Z

I'm sitting waiting for Nicola to turn up to discuss some iPad stuff.

Over Christmas I wondered about creating a wearable which could act as a mobile surface - you could drag and used gestures on any object. This could be combined with a projector to make a multi touch table from anything or have other uses.

Came across this Korean wearable work (see link) Recognizing Hand Gestures using Wrist Shapes. . They use IR optic sensor to detect tendon movement. And a neural network to interpret the gestures.I like the idea of reaching further into the surface of the body to pick up more information t

Cinder - processing replacement

2011-01-11T16:26:00.000Z

Its in C++ ( so fast ) but not so all encompassing.

Its official even the BBC thinks multitouch will be big ( for something)

2011-01-10T20:50:00.000Z

Well it must be true. I can't embed the video this so follow the link..

"A touch screen that responds to many people using it has been revealed at the CES technology show in Las Vegas.

The 3M device runs on Windows and Linux. It can be manipulated through thin gloves and responds to more than 20 simultaneous points of contact.

Click's Marc Cieslak tries it out."

Looks like Microsoft finally did it

2011-01-06T23:00:00.000Z

A low formfactor MS surface 2 ! I've been predicting something like this as why we do the research now.

Evil idea of the day(2)

2010-12-16T15:18:00.001Z

We watched a demo of the (. Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures!) yesterday. It makes you do pretty extreme motions ( like holding your hand in the air for 3 seconds). Afterwards we got talking about how might do this with jewellery (a ring or bracelet) not image processing.

I realise that Rose's bands she is making for the violin work could be used to prototype some kind of interaction mechanism. High on the low effort stakes but need a good idea

I liked the potter wand
but would be more impressed if it did Bluetooth or 802.11g or something. So the notion of doing hand gestures to do things ( unlock doors?) would look cool.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of simple screen? based interaction I could use.

John Frazer had a student Nicola Lefever who did some great jewellery that you could use to recognise finger movements .

Oddness

2010-12-13T16:16:00.001Z

Gave talk about architecture and ubi-comp today. Oddly while chatting Afterwards I was accused of being behind the one behind a lot of space syntax theory.
Which is odd this is the second time someone has accused me of this . ( other time was by very knowledgeable outsider at space syntax conference ). Probably coincidence but I am feeling wonderfully flattered non the less.

Pay back

2010-12-06T16:12:00.000Z

I was reading about how the Kindle is the top selling item on Amazon, people seem not to be able to get enough of them. I was also saying to Gonzalo how green technology needs to get a new image.

As an example Richard M. started quoting pay back time as a reason not to buy a hybrid car.

But lets look at the Kindle

difference in price between Fellowship or the ring for kindle ($8.76) and real book ($9.64) so thats negative. Ok bad example. so Gulivers travels Kindle price $3.00 mass market paper ace £3.50 saving $0.5

To make this work you would have to buy (189/0.5) 378 books to make your original investment ( 189) back. Which admittedly won't fill the Kindle but (capacity 3,500 books ie more than your life time or books) but is more than I might buy for my self in a 15 year period ( will the Kindle last that long). In short in terms of pay back I don't think the Kindle is a winner.

But that's not the important part - its still selling "Kindle is our #1 bestselling item for two years running. It’s also the most-wished-for, most-gifted" and I don't blame anyone one
but I do blame people who use say that they won't by a hybrid car or a solar hot water panel or more insulation or double glazing or what ever because the pay back period is so low.

People are buying Kindles because they want them not because they have the right pay back and so what's wrong with doing that for green technology ?

Yes usual variations apply ( Kindles cost different amounts , some books are free, prices change according to what kinds of books you buy and yes I still might get one).

Training should never be a substitute for designing a usable application.

2010-12-06T10:38:00.000Z

Good article on training (the evils of such), on UXMatters

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/its-not-a-training-issue.php

The wineshop progresseth

2010-12-03T19:01:00.001Z

Not a bad week all told. Interesting talk on using hand recognition. Rose is doing great job with cloud mark II. Wood is being turned into intelligent wine tables. Gonzalo has sorted electronics and painted walls. I am hopeful that should be functioning soon.
Need to remember that parcel is ready to be picked up.
Sensors very quite possibly the quietest day this year.