Joshua Mauldin, founder of Invisible Interface & Awesome Gifs, and app creator/manager for The Business Journals, gave a talk about best practices in touchable mobile design at a recent Charlotte User Experience meet-up. I especially liked his use of clips from Arrested Development to remind us of the wide range of emotional responses people get when they use technology, good or bad. (Take a moment and look over the slides for the meat of Joshua's talk.)
(Photo by Brad E.)
Slide-share of Joshua Mauldin's Mobile Design Best Practices talk:
The event was hosted by MyJive, located at the NC Music Factory. I was fortunate to grab a comfy spot to sit - there were about 85 in attendance.At the end of the meetup, I won a ticket to Web Afternoon!
It seems that the weekend is ripe for sharing interesting things on Facebook, judging from what I've seen from my FB friends. These are just a few that came my way:
This picture below is from the World is Beautiful FB page. Where? The Igloo Village of Hotel Kakslauttanen, in Finland. The igloos are made of glass, and according to the description, provide views of the Aurora Borealis:
In case you missed this--- at about 1:45 the dolphins appear. Beautiful!
Patent application for "peripheral treatment for head-mounted displays", for the above device. Michael Husted's post: Shared by Barbara Bray, via Smart Apps for Kids, via Success in Learning: My comment: "It doesn't hurt to take a few self-defense classes. I took kickboxing for the exercise and I do not feel defenseless. As adults, we encounter criminals who are beyond the bully stage, who don'e care if they hurt (or kill) when they want to engage in illegal activities. It makes sense to do the things that make us strong, healthy, fit, and safe. This means having the strength to help others during a crisis, such as the shootings at the movie theater and other seemingly "random" acts of local terrorism." I shared the following picture on Facebook: I set up the XBox 360 and the Kinect in the Activities of Daily Living room (it is also the music room), and when I went to take a picture of my rafting adventure, the system took a picture of me!
I happened to be listening to the radio and heard an interesting interview featuring on Dennis Baxter, the sound designer/engineer for the 2012 Olympics. The interview, along with examples of sounds, are provided on the NPR website:
Becky Sullivan, 7/28/12, NPR Listen to this story (All Things Considered featuring r, 5 min, 54 Sec)
Not all of the sounds you'll hear during the Olympics are "real". There are a few sports that are impossible to capture accurately, and for this reason, Dennis Baxter explains, special techniques are used.
If you'd like to dig deeper into the world of sound, take a look at "The Sonification Handbook", edited by Thomas Hermann, Andy Hunt, and John G. Neuhoff. The editors have backgrounds in computer science, physics, interactive sonification, multi-touch, music, psychology, auditory percpetion, and neuroscience, collectively.
Below is a description from the book's website: "This book is a comprehensive introductory presentation of the key research areas in the interdisciplinary fields of sonification and auditory display. Chapters are written by leading experts, providing a wide-range coverage of the central issues, and can be read from start to finish, or dipped into as required (like a smorgasbord menu)"
"Sonification conveys information by using non-speech sounds. To listen to data as sound and noise can be a surprising new experience with diverse applications ranging from novel interfaces for visually impaired people to data analysis problems in many scientific fields."
"This book gives a solid introduction to the field of auditory display, the techniques for sonification, suitable technologies for developing sonification algorithms, and the most promising application areas. The book is accompanied by the online repository of sound examples.The book is a comprehensive introduction to this interdisciplinary field."
I have a secret. I enjoy watching Extreme Sports HD videos. This one is from has breathtaking scenery. On a large screen, it might lure you into believing that you are the longboarder, gliding around the hills and curves!
"Put a longboarder at the top of that same hill with a longboard designed to handle it and he will get to heaven first, every time, no death required. A longboard is a stress relief, a mode of transportaton, and a sorce of surf, snowboard inspiration. Anyone can learn, it is safe, there are no age barriers and no one is going to charge you for a lift to the top."
Riders in the video were Petter Reinem, Axel Serrat, Brett Ciabattini, Will Stephan, Aleix Gallimo, Daniel Harris, Brian Bishop, Michael Virgin Jr. , Molly Lewis, and Scott Imbrie. Filmers were Nick Patrick, Brad Imbrie, Jay Cagney, Aleix Gallimo, Axel Serrat Dunia Vidal, and Sam Weaver. The video was edited by Nick Patrick.
One of the things I like to do is share updates about the world of multimedia, multi-touch, gesture, screen, surface, and interactive technologies, focusing on off-the-desktop applications and systems. When I started this blog, I had to put forth quite a bit of effort just to FIND interesting things to blog about.
These days, there are so many sources that focus on emerging - and now commonplace- interactive technologies, my main challenge is to filter the noise. Where do I begin?
My archives are vast. I randomly picked the year 2009 and came across one of my previous posts, "News, Videos, and Links about Multitouch and Screen Technologies." The post is long, and contains a number of videos and links that probably will be of value to a future curator of the history of technology.
I welcome comments from readers who might be able to help me update information about various applications and systems I've featured on this blog in the past.
The pictures are screenshots from the results of an image search for "interactivemultimediatechnology". Over the past 6 years, I've posted quite a few!
I was browsing at a Barnes & Noble in Charlotte, N.C. this weekend and was surprised when I looked up to see that I was in the "Men's Interest" section. Is this the message the bookseller wants to give to half of its potential customers?
I don't think it was intentional. It was just one of many subtle- and not-so-subtle - reminders that our society has a long way to go to encourage females, of any age, to consider computing and related technical fields of work and study.
Although women have made inroads in fields such as law and medicine, this is not true for many technical fields. According to a thoughtful article written by Rane Johnson-Stempson, of Microsoft Research, a study by the Computing Research Association indicated that female students were only 14% of computer science graduates in the U.S. in 2011. The under-representation of women in computer science and related technical fields in 2012 continues to be a problem, on many levels. RELATED Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computingwas published about ten years ago. The book was an outgrowth of the research of Allan Fisher and Jane Margolis, of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and is still worth reading.
Getting more women into computer science Connie Glasser, Atlanta Business Journal, 5/11/12 "Just when we need every available gifted mind to help business recover from the Great Recession, we can't afford to overlook the contributions that women could make if CS environments were more inclusive."
Marissa Mayer on Women in Tech: CNET's CES 2012 Panel (January, 2012) "Right now it is a good time for women to be in tech, but there are not a lot of women in tech..."
It just might be the right time for everyone to brush up on 21st century tech skills. iPads and touch-phones are ubiquitous. Touch-enabled interactive whiteboards and displays are in schools and boardrooms. With Microsoft's Windows 8 and the news that the company recently acquired Jeff Han's company, Perspective Pixel, I think that there will be good support - and more opportunities- for designers and developers interested in moving from GUI to NUI.
In the video below, from CES 2012, Jeff Han provides a good overview of where things are moving in the future. We are in a post-WIMP world and there is a lot of catching up to do!
CES 2012 Perceptive Pixel and the Future of Multitouch (IEEE Spectrum YouTube Channel)
During the video clip, Jeff explains how far things have come during the past few years:
"Five and 1/2 years ago I had to explain to everybody what multi-touch was and meant. And then, frankly, we've seen some great products from folks like Apple, and really have executed so brilliantly, that everyone really sees what a good implementation can be, and have come to expect it. I also think though, that the explosion of NUI is less about just multi-touch, but an awareness that finally people have that you don't have to use a keyboard and mouse, you can demand something else beside that. People are now willing to say, "Oh, this is something I can try, you know, touch is something I can try as my friendlier interface"."
Who wouldn't want to interact with a friendlier interface? Steve Ballmer doesn't curb his enthusiasm about Windows 8 and Perceptive Pixel. Jeff Han is happy how designs created in Windows 8 scales for use on screens large and small. He explains how Windows 8 can support collaboration. The Story Board application (7:58) on the large touchscreen display looks interesting.
I continue to be frustrated by the poor usability of many web-based and desk-top applications. I like my iPad, but only because so many dedicated souls have given some thought to the user experience when creating their apps. I often meet with disappointment when I encounter interactive displays when I'm out and about during the day. It is 2012, and it seems that there are a lot of application designers and developers who have never read Don Norman's The Design of Everyday Things!
I enjoy making working prototypes and demo apps, but my skill set is stuck in 2008, the last year I took a graduate-level computer course. I was thinking about taking a class next semester, something hands-on, creative, and also practical, to move me forward. I can only do so much when I'm in the DIY mode alone in my "lab" at home. I need to explore new tools, alongside like-minded others.
There ARE many more tools available to designers and developers than there were just four years ago. Some of them are available online, free, or for a modest fee. I was inspired by a link posted by my former HCI professor, Celine Latulipe, to her updated webpage devoted to Rapid Prototyping tools. The resources on her website look like a good place to start for people who are interested in creating applications for the "NUI" era. (Celine has worked many interesting projects that explore how technology can support new and creative interaction, such as Dance.Draw.) Below is her description of her updated HCI resources:
"New HCI resource to share: I have created a few pages on my web site devoted to Rapid Prototyping tools, books, and methods. These pages contain reviews of various digital tools, including 7 different desktop prototyping apps, and including 8 different iPad apps for wireframing/prototyping. I hope it's useful to others. Feel free to share... and please send me comments and suggestions if you find anything inaccurate, or if you think there is stuff that I should be adding. I will be continuing to update this resource." -http://www.celinelatulipe.com (click on the rapid prototyping link at the top)
IDEAS Below are just a few of my ideas that I'd like to implement in some way. I can't claim ownership to these ideas- they are mash-ups of what comes to me in my dreams, usually after reading scholarly publications from ACM or IEEE, or attending tech conferences.
An interactive timeline, (multi-dimensional, multi-modal, multimedia) for off-the-desktop interaction, collaboration, data/info analysis exploration. It might be useful for medical researchers, historians, genealogists, or people who are into the "history of ideas". Big Data folks would love it, too. It would handle data from a variety of sources, including sensor networks. It would be beautiful to use.
A web-based system of delivering seamless interactive, multi-modal, immersive experiences, across devices, displays, and surfaces. The system would support multi-user, collaborative interaction. The system would provide an option for tangible interaction.
A visual/auditory display interface that presents network activity, including potential intrusions, malfunctions, or anything that needs immediate attention that would be likely to be missed under present monitoring methods.
Interactive video tools for creation, collaboration, storytelling. (No bad remote controllers needed.)
A "wearable" that provides new ways for people to express and communicate creatively, through art, music, dance, with wireless capability. (It can interact with wireless sensor networks.)*
An public health application designed to provide information useful in understanding and sepsis prevention efforts.This application would utilize the timeline concept describe at the top of this list. This concept could also be useful in analyzing other medical puzzles, such as autism.
Most of these ideas could translate nicely to educational settings, and the focus on natural user interaction and multi-modal i/o aligns with the principles of Universal Design for Learning, something that is important to consider, given the number of "at-risk" learners and young people who have disabilities.
I welcome comments from readers who are working on similar projects, or who know of similar projects. I also encourage graduate students and researchers who are interested in natural user interfaces to and move forward with an off-the-desktop NUI project. I hope that my efforts can play a part in helping people make the move from GUI to NUI!
Below are a few videos of some interesting projects, along with a list of a few references and links.
