Paper Reading #22: Mid-air Pan-and-Zoom on Wall-sized Displays

Mid-air Pan-and-Zoom on Wall-sized Displays

Chi '11

By:
Mathieu Nancel, Julie Wagner, Emmanuel Pietriga, Olivier Chapuis, Wendy Mackay.

• Mathieu Nancel is currently a HCI PhD student at the Universite Paris-Sud XI.
• Julie Wagner is a PhD student in the insitu lab in Paris.
• Emmanuel Pietriga is a Research Scientist working for INRIA Saclay-Ile-de-France.
• Olivier Chapuis is a Research Scientist working at LRI.
• Wendy Mackay is currently on Sabbatical at Stanford University, and is a Research Director with INRIA Saclay-Ile-de-France.

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper state that there is a dire need for greater research into complex interactions with high resolutions wall sized displays. They also hypothesise seven types of gestures used for interaction and their qualities. The seven gestures and qualities are: The use of two hands is quicker than one, Two handed gestures need to be more accurate and easier to use, Linear Gestures should map to zooming but should eventually slow down due to clutching, Users should prefer clutch free (circular) gestures, Using fingers should be quicker than using hands, Single Dimensional gestures should be faster, and Three Dimensional Gestures will prove to be far more tiring.

Methods
To validate their hypothesis the authors conducted a test/study involving 12 participants. The criteria for the study was Handedness, gestures and guidance. There was a Pan-Zoom task where users were asked to
navigate from one group of concentric circles to another group of concentric circles by zooming out, panning over and then zooming in.

Results
The results of the Pan-Zoom task greatly supported the hypothesis' that using two hands worked quicker than one, that the use of fingers was a lot quicker and that single dimensional actions were also a lot faster. As it turned out users preferred linear actions over circular actions. It was also proven that three dimensional actions are far more tiring.

Contents
This paper went through trying to figure out how best to use Wall-Sized displays and how to best control them. They tried to figure out how to precisely use the displays, how to optimise the use of the displays and how to do so for extended periods of time without fatigue.

Discussion
I found this paper to be interesting because to me it takes us once again into the area of star trek stuff because it's awesome. Huge High Resolution screens, controlling them using gestures its all quite exciting stuff. I feel optimising gestures is slightly useless now considering such displays aren't yet wide spread however whenever such displays become widespread these optimised gestures will become highly useful.

Paper Reading #21: Human Model Evaluation in Interactive Supervised Learning

Human Model Evaluation in Interactive Supervised Learning


Chi '11

By:
Rebecca Fiebrink, Perry R. Cook and Daniel Trueman.

• Rebecca Fiebrink has a PhD in Computer Science from Princeton University and a Post Doctoral from the University of Washington. She is Currently an Assistant Professor in the department of Computer Science at Princeton University.
• Perry R. Cook is Professor Emeritus at Princeton University in the department of Computer Science and Music.
• Daniel Trueman is a musician that teaches composition at Princeton University.

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper tried to figure out precisely what model for machine learning users prefer most so as to be able to figure out precisely what criteria is most preferred by the users.

Methods
To test their theory the authors of this paper conducted three studies. One study revolved around the improvement of the Wekinator, where participants met frequently to the uses of the wekinator in their areas of study and improvements needed. In a second study users were asked to create a system that used the wekinator to take in input gestures to create a musical performance system. The final study revolved around gathering data from professional musicians so as to build a sensor equipped cello bow so as to get a gesture classifier.

Results
The users in the first study found the sound control algorithm difficult to use and felt that it resulted in musically unacceptable sounds. The second and third study used cross validation which resulted in higher validation accuracy, which in turn was indicative of higher musical performance. Users in third study used cross validation as a quick check.

Contents
The paper revolves around machine learning and model optimisation. The users of the studies used direct validation far more frequently than cross validation (which was later determined to be the more complex but more accurate form of validation). The direct validation broke down into six key areas: Accuracy, Cost, Decision Boundary Shape, Label Confidence and Posterior Shape, Complexity and Unexpectedness.

Discussion
This paper wasn't easy to understand and I most certainly didn't get all of it. While the concept of Machine Learning and Model Optimisation is now a little more clear, I'm still not a completely certain as to what on earth is going on here. That being said I was very impressed by the tests run and the methodology used by the authors of this paper. It was very thorough and covered all questions that needed answering.

Paper Reading #20: The Aligned Rank Transform for Nonparametric Factorial Analyses Using Only ANOVA Procedures

The Aligned Rank Transform for Nonparametric Factorial Analyses Using Only ANOVA Procedures

Chi '11

By:
Jacob O. Wobbrock, Leah Findlater, Darren Gergle, James J. Higgins.

• Jacob O. Wobbrock is currently an Associate and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Information School and the CSE departments respectively at the University of Washington.
• Leah Findlater is currently an Undergraduate Research Advisor, also at the University of Washington.
• Darren Gergle is currently an Associate Professor in the school of Communication Studies and EECS at Northwestern University.
• James J. Higgins is a professor of Statistics at Kansas State University.

Summary
Hypothesis
The author hypothesises that current procedures for analysing non-parametric data arising from HCI experiments are inadequate, and proposes an better, simpler and easier to understand procedure to do the job instead.

Methods
Findlater et al. conducted a study in 2009 involving adaptive menus as used by the authors of this paper, and is therefore referenced in this paper. That study had 24 participants who were asked to use the menu and then asked to grade it upon accuracy and interface.

Results
The Findlater study was unable to come to a conclusion because the Friedman Test was insufficient and inadequate for the the purposes of analysing the gathered data. Running the same data through ART yields a far superior result; a legitimate analysable set of data points which support Findlater's comments in the original study. ART was similarly used to analyse data from previous studies that could not at the time be studied. At all attempts ART strongly supported author opinions on the data.

Contents
The ART method used by the system created for this paper essentially "aligns" input data in such away to allow analysis of non-parametric data to be analysed using a simple ANOVA test. ANOVA is infinitely easier to use and understand the results of than the other options out there to analyse non-parametric data. ART has 5 key steps: 1] computing residuals 2] computing estimated effects for all effects 3] compute aligned response Y' 4] assign averaged ranks Y'' 5) perform a full factorial ANOVA on Y''. This allows for an extremely high degree of accuracy thus allowing for more accurate end analysis.

Discussion
While I see the clear use for this system and most certainly see why and how it ties in with HCI. However I'm not a statistician or a mathematician and frankly half the stuff they talked about in the paper flew well over my head. Yes it is fantastic, yes it is highly useful and yes future researchers will thank the authors and creators of this paper and ART for their contribution; however wouldn't this paper be better off being presented in a Math or Statistics journal?

Paper Reading #19: Reflexivity in digital anthropology

Reflexivity in digital anthropology

Chi '11

By:
Jennifer A. Rode.

• Jennifer A. Rode is currently an Associate Professor at Drexel's School of Information.

Summary
Hypothesis
The author of this paper hypothesised that if people could more effectively and efficiently use the various types and opportunities of ethnographies that exist, the field of HCI would greatly benefit from such use and therefore allow for far superior user oriented development.

Methods
This paper was more of an opinion piece. The author put forward a hypothesis that couldn't really be tested. It was set up more along the lines where the author listed various types of ethnographies, defines them and then states a set scenario under which that type of ethnography is ideal. There was no user testing that needed to be prepared for.

Results
Considering the utter lack of testing, there weren't exactly a whole lot of results. She did however define 'reflexivity' as possessing four primary characteristics. She defines Digital Anthropology and how it affects her work and the field of HCI. She also makes some broad statements about the HCI community and their various methods of utilising ethnographies and their results.

Contents
The author of this paper attempted to bring the varying type of ethnographies to the front of the HCI community's collective mind and try to urge more frequent, effective and efficient use of ethnographies to further the field of HCI.


Discussion
I found this paper fairly awkward to read considering the type of papers we've read so far for this class. While this paper did refer to HCI I felt this was more of a Anthropology paper than a computer science paper. I agree with some of what she said, especially her statements regarding how members of the HCI field utilise ethnographies; however I still felt that this paper was very out of place in a Computer Science based journal.

Paper Reading #18: Biofeedback Game Design: Using Direct and Indirect Physiological Control to Enhance Game Interaction

Biofeedback Game Design: Using Direct and Indirect Physiological Control to Enhance Game Interaction

Chi '11

By:
Lennart E. Nacke, Michael Kalyn, Calvin Lough, Regan L. Mandryk.

• Lennart E. Nacke has a PhD in game development. He is currently a HCI and Game Science Assistant professor at UOIT.
• Michael Kalyn is currently working on his MSc in Computer Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Calvin Lough is also a student a the University of Saskatchewan.
• Regan L. Mandryk is currently an Assistant professor teaching HCI at the University of Saskatchewan.

 Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper have hypothesised that greater Biofeedback and increased Physiological control of games will results in a superior gaming experience for those involved.

Methods
To appropriately and fully test their system the authors had a set of users who were asked to participate in 3 different tests. There was a control test where users just played the author designed game with a traditional controller with no physiological augmentation. They played once with only direct physiological controls and once with only indirect physiological controls. At the end of all 3 runs the users were asked to answer a few questions so as to allow the authors to judge the success of their system.

Results
While users preferred the greater involvement in the game, they showed some hesitation towards the added complexity and the new existence of a learning curve. However all admitted that the new direct physiological sensors added a huge amount of novelty to the games and once the complexity and learning curve had been overcome the added benefit was found to be exceedingly desirable by most users.

Contents 
The researchers had two key points of interest they wished to investigate: Whether gamers are tolerant of physiological sensors being a part of their gaming experience and secondly  what type of gaming sensors work out best. To test their hypothesis they created a First Person Shooter that limited the input to a traditional gaming control and then further expanded upon that with physiological sensors.

Discussion
I personally found the entire idea to be brilliant. God knows the addition of vibrating remote controls did wonders for the Playstation. Given sufficient tweaking a game developer backing this idea has exceptional potential, not to mention the very real ability to put the Wii out of business. As far as the paper goes I feel it was well thought out, the authors knew precisely what they knew, and what they didn't and tested their system exceedingly well to get the answers they needed.

Paper Reading #17 : Privacy Risks Emerging from the Adoption of Innocuous Wearable Sensors in the Mobile Environment

Privacy Risks Emerging from the Adoption of Innocuous Wearable Sensors in the Mobile Environment

Chi '11

By:
Andrew Raij, Santosh Kumar, Animikh Ghosh, Mani Srivastava.

• Andrew Raij is currently a Post-Doctoral fellow at the University of Memphis  in the Wireless Sensors and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Lab.
• Santosh Kumar is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Memphis and in his capacity, leads the Wireless Sensors and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Lab.
• Animikh Ghosh is currently a Junior Research Associate at Infosys in India.
• Mani Srivastava is currently a professor in the ECEN and CSCE departments at UCLA.

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper are trying to figure out the possible negative outcomes of the popularity of wearable sensors. There's a concern about potential privacy violations.

Methods
The authors for this study used the scientific process for their experimentation. They had an experimental group of users and a control group. Both sets wore a set of sensors, however the control group had absolutely no data collected off their sensors while the experimental group had certain data that was collected from their sensors. At the end both groups were asked to fill out a survey to comment upon aspects of their behaviour while wearing sensors. The monitored group was later provided with results of their observation and then asked to fill out a survey regarding how the knowledge that they had been observed effected them.

Results
People were shown to be concerned about their privacy with a direct co-relation between the number of people who would have access to the data and the users concern about privacy. The statement that ignorance is bliss holds true here: the monitored group showed far more concern about the privacy matter after they had been showed the results of their observation period.

Contents
This paper used the scientific method to first and foremost figure out whether people even care about their privacy in regards to sensors. Once it was determined that they did care, more information was gathered regarding what precise topics were matters of privacy concern.

Discussion
I felt this was a useful paper in its ability to tell developers and researchers about how hard they need try and make their sensors and methods secure. If it had turned out that most people just straight up couldn't care less about their privacy, then this would allow researchers and developers to spend far more time on more goal oriented targets and less time trying to securely communicate information from the sensors to their objective, etc. While not a true "technological" study, this paper was still highly useful.

Paper Reading #15: Madgets: Actuating Widgets on Interactive Tabletops

Madgets: Actuating Widgets on Interactive Tabletops
 
UIST 2010

By:
Malte Weiss, Florian Schwarz, Simon Jakubowski, Jan Borchers.

 

• Malte Weiss is currently a PhD student at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He is in the Media Computing Group.
• Florian Schwarz has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts. He is currently an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Simon Jakubowski is currently a research scientist at AlphaFix.
• Jan Borchers has a PhD in Computer Science from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. He is currently a professor of Computer Science at RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
  

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper used electromagnetic actuation combined with optical fibers to track, move and operate physical controls. They also introduce an algorithm that can visually track touches and objects using a sample video.

Methods
They tested six different madgets to see how the system operated with them. They attempted to make their design as light weight and portable as possible. They tried to make their design flexible and easy to use. There weren't any user studies done as far as I could tell.

Results
This system provides a platform that is user friendly and great for widget developers. Creating widgets for this system is incredibly simple and quick and the physical set up is rather simple itself. The application of actuators is simple with simply gluing on markers where you want.

Contents
This design uses a 24" screen for display and the actuation is essentially an array of electromagnets and an Arduino board. The visual sensing done through a transparent acrylic widget controls. The tracking algorithm is aware of the materials of the design and thus is able to track touch and movement.

Discussion
I felt this paper was highly interesting though I found it difficult to understand everything. I was disappointed in the lack of user testing. I also felt they failed to create something that can be used quickly out of the box because while quick, the widgets still take some doing.

Paper Reading#14 : TeslaTouch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces

TeslaTouch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces

UIST 2010

By:
Olivier Bau, Ivan Poupyrev, Ali Israr, Chris Harrison.

• Olivier Bau is currently a Scientist at Disney Research in Pittsburgh. He has a PhD in Computer Science.
• Ivan Poupyrev is also a Scientist at Disney Research. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hiroshima, Japan.
• Ali Israr is a member of the Interaction Design team at Disney Research, and he has a PhD in Mechanics from Purdue University.
• Chris Harrison is currently a PhD student in HCI at Carnegie Mellon.

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper hypothesize that their electro-vibration based tactile feedback will enhance human - touch screen interaction thus opening up new applications for touch screens and just general improvement of touch screen use.

Methods
The authors of this test had users participate in three highly controlled psycho-physical studies so at to test the viability of their design along with coming up with improvements for their design. Along with the three psycho-physical studies they also had one subjective evaluation of their design.

For the subjective evaluation they had ten participants feel the touch screen at 4 different frequency levels and then asked to answer a few questions about what they felt.

The authors needed Absolute Detection thresholds along with discrimination thresholds. To get this information they used the psychophysical studies to get answers. To figure out the detection and discrimination thresholds the authors tested at five frequencies and went through them at a random fashion so as to figure out which frequency worked best.

For the absolute thresholds the authors set up a screen with a tactile stimulus showing up on a sections of the screen while the other section had no response. This alternated. As this was happening the amplitude and the frequencies were modified so as to figure out the precise value needed.

Results
For the subjective evaluation the users found the higher frequency higher amplification stimuli to be the smoothest while the low frequency low amplification was found to be rougher and stickier. Amplification's effect upon smoothness was dependent upon frequency.

The psychophysical studies provided the authors with the ideal range of frequencies and amplifications to use for their feed back on the electro-vibrations.

Contents
This paper referred to a large number of previous papers written by authors of this paper. They seemed to have found relationships between frequencies and forces required to work with each other and to thus optimise touch screens even further. They set up their experiments and design so as to revolve around safety and made sure no unsafe amounts of current could ever make it to the user.

Discussion
If such a touch screen feedback can be safely and cheaply built it would be spectacular. Perhaps a combination of this sort of a feedback along with other currently available feedbacks would allow for applications of touch screens where it is not currently possible. As discussed in class the shortcomings of virtual keyboards could be resolved using a combination of such feed backs. I was a little concerned about the safety of this set up, however if they limit the availability of current to the screen and can prevent spikes, then this should result in a fairly safe platform.