Hans Rosling Interacts with Health Data: 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes

Hans Rosling's enthusiasm for data visualization has increased my appreciation for statistics. In the video below, Rosling interacts with 120,000 data points related to 200 countries over 200 years. I especially like the "Alternate Reality" effect.



"Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view"

Hans Rosling is a Professor of Global Health in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Director of the Gapminder Foundation.  The Gapminder World website has a wealth of resources for teachers, students, and anyone who is interested in learning about things through the use of information visualization.

According to information from the website, "Gapminder is a non-profit venture – a modern “museum” on the Internet – promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.Gapminder was founded in Stockholm by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling on February 25, 2005. Gapminder is registered as a Foundation at Stockholm County Administration Board (Länstyrelsen i Stockholm) with registration number (organisationsnummer) 802424-7721."


Below is a list of annotated links to various Gapminder webpages:

Gapminder Labs: "Gapminder Labs is where we experiment with new features, visualizations and tools. Some of these might later gain a more prominent place on Gapminder.org."
Gapminder for Teachers: "This section is for educators who want to use Gapminder in their education. You'll find shortcuts to tools and guides for Gapminder in a classroom."
Gapminder Downloads: This section includes links to downloadable content, such as Gapminder Desktop, handouts, lesson plans, including teacher guides, and a good number of interesting interactive presentations.
Gapminder Videos: The videos include interesting presentations as well as a number of Hans Rosling's TED talks. The material is free to use and distribute under the Creative Commons License.
Data in Gapminder World:  This section includes all of the indicators displayed in Gapminder World.
Gapminder World
Gapminder FAQs

Cross-posted on the TechPsych and The World Is My Interface blogs

EyeTube for YouTube! Eye-gaze interaction software, free and downloadable from GazeGroup

Gaze interaction systems provide access to computers and the rich content now available on the web for many people with disabilities.  Unfortunately, commercial gaze tracking systems are very expensive and at times, difficult to calibrate.  There is hope!


Following up on my recent post, "Open-source Eye-tracking: The ITU Gaze Tracker 2.0 Beta", I thought I'd share the GazeGroup's EyeTube for YouTube interface.  


What is great about EyeTube for YouTube is that it provides two different interfaces. The simplified version looks good for younger children or people with cognitive disorders, and is icon-based.  The second version is appropriate for people who can navigate through more complex visual representations of content. 


EyeTube requires a Windows-based system and .Net 3.5 at this time. It can be downloaded from the GazeGroup website.  If you plan to download the application, you must also make sure you have a YouTube account. To get the application up and running, you'll need to change the settings (EyeTubeSettings.xml) to match your account.   (If you don't know much about changing settings or xml, ask someone you know who works in IT.)


Below is the icon-based version of the eye-gaze interface for YouTube:



Feature-rich version of the EyeTube interface for YouTube:


From the GazeGroup site:

"The EyeTube prototype offers a feature rich eye controlled interface for the popular YouTube service. Instead of emulating a mouse pointer and interacting with a web browser the EyeTube interface is especially designed to be driven by gaze input. It offers a wide range of features such as keyword searching, popular video feeds, favorites and social aspects such as subscriptions, friends and commenting on videos.The highly optimized interfaces allows for a streamline interaction which is aleviated from the Midas Touch problem. In most previous gaze interfaces selection is made by a dwell time activator, e.g fixat a button for a specific amount of time and it will execute the function. In the EyeTube interface a fixation on a U.I element will highlight it and a second fixation on the activation button is required to execute the function. This removes the stress of having to constantly move the eyes to avoid unintentional activation."

"The EyeTube also exists in another simplified incarnation developed for users whom are distracted by a larger number of options. It supports basic features such as browsing categories, optional keyword searching and favorites."

RELATED
The GazeGroup
(The individuals mentioned below may be currently working elsewhere, but involved in the gaze research in some way.)

• John Paulin Hansen, Head of group (Ph.D. in Psychology)
• Dan Witzner Hansen, Associate professor
• Javier San Agustin, PhD student
• Sune Alstrup Johansen, PhD student
• Henrik Hegner Tomra Skovsgaard, PhD student
• Martin Tall, PhD student (Now working at Duke University, North Carolina)

GazeGroup Research Areas

Development of Gaze Tracking Technology

Application of Eye Tracking for User Experience studies and HCI

Gaze based Interaction

COGAIN (Communication by Gaze Interaction)

ACM CHI Conference Articles
San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H., Hansen, J. P., and Hansen, D. W. 2009. Low-cost gaze interaction: ready to deliver the promises. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 4453-4458. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520682
San Agustin, J., Hansen, J. P., Hansen, D. W., and Skovsgaard, H. 2009. Low-cost gaze pointing and EMG clicking. In Proceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 3247-3252. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520466 
Tall, M., Alapetite, A., San Agustin, J., Skovsgaard, H. H., Hansen, J. P., Hansen, D. W., and Møllenbach, E. 2009. Gaze-controlled driving. InProceedings of the 27th international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Boston, MA, USA, April 04 - 09, 2009). CHI EA '09. ACM, New York, NY, 4387-4392. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1520340.1520671

UPDATE

Eye-controlled games and leisure applications from the COGAIN wiki: http://www.cogain.org/wiki/Leisure_Applications

• EyeArt - EyeArt eye-drawing program, developed by Andre Meyer and Markus Dittmar, Technical University of Dresden, Applied Cognitive Research Unit, Germany.
• GazeTrain - Gaze-controlled action oriented puzzle game, developed by Lasse Farnung Laursen, Technical University of Denmark
• Puzzle - Simple puzzle game that can be played with eye movements, developed by Vytautas Vysniauskas, Siauliai University, Lithuania
• Road to Santiago - Gaze-controlled adventure game (full game), developed by Javier Hernandez Sanchiz, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain
• Snap Clutch - An application that uses eye gaze data to generate key and mouse events for playing games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.
• ASE: Accessible Surfing Extension for Firefox - Follow this link to access ASE, an Accessible Surfing Extension for Firefox, developed by Emiliano Castellina and Fulvio Corno at Politecnico di Torino. (Note that this is a beta version.)
• Eye Gaze Music (SAW Selection Sets) - Point and Play – eye gaze (direct pointing) musical activities, developed by DART. Please note that SAW (Special Access to Windows) framework application is needed to play these 15 music selection sets. SAW is available for free athttp://www.oatsoft.org/Software/SpecialAccessToWindows
• EyeTube - Gaze interaction for YouTube - Follow this link to get more information and download EyeTube at ITU GazeGroup's web pages
• Eye3D and other head eye mouse software - Eye3D for education, and a collection of links to free software that works with head or eye mouse. Includes links to downloads and original sites.
• Gaze-controlled Breakout - Follow this link to access a modified version of the LBreakout2 game which can be operated by an SMI eye tracker, developed by Michael Dorr et al. at University of Luebeck
• Oleg Spakov's Freeware games for MyTobii - Follow this link to access MyTobii compatible games developed by Oleg Spakov, University of Tampere, Finland
• Free ITU Gaze Tracker and applications - Download a webcam based open-source gaze tracker and several applications that work with it, developed at IT University of Copenhagen
• GameBase - Check out the Eye-Gaze Games category at the SpecialEffect GameBase!
• More information about Gaze-Controlled Games - Follow this link to see a list of online information resources on using gaze for the control of games and other leisure applications

Video Experiments: Sea Life Medley: Extended version with music

I'm playing around with my sea life video clips to get ideas for creating interactive educational videos in the future for use on interactive whiteboards and other large touch-screen surfaces.

Here's my YouTube description:
This is a medley of several video clips taken of sea life, mostly living in aquariums. Awesome jellyfish can be viewed from 1:34- 3:45. The music consists of clips from iMovie, and then William Orbit's "Sea Green" and "Surfin". I created this video for students I work with who have more complex disabilities, such as severe autism.

Preview of the Official Boxee Video Streaming System: Digital Convergence in Action

In the following video, tech entrepreneur Zach Klein shows his company's official version of Boxee, a set-top box system that provides users a "plug-and-play" opportunity to view Web-based video on their televisions.


The first Boxee Box arrived from the D-Link Factory from Zach Klein on Vimeo.
Note:  Zach Klein is the co-founder of Vimeo.



Web video and content, viewed on a large-screen HD display, in the comfort of a cozy recliner or sofa, is in line with the "Slow Media" movement, as well as the concept behind Google's "YouTube Leanback" application (see links and info below).

Relax.  Share.  Interact.  Chill with your Web.

RELATED
Boxee Website
Boxee Readies Its Set-Top Box Nick Bilton, New York Times, 7/16/10
Boxee debuts Boxee Box, ready to take on Roku Jacob Brody, SocialBeat Venture, 12/7/09
Hands-On With the Boxee Set-Top Box and Remote Brian X. Chen, Wired Gadget Lab, 1/8/10
Designing for Interactive TV:  Boxee Case Study (Method)
Boxee and Digital Convergence Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 3/22/09


SOMEWHAT RELATED
Slow Media Manifesto
"The concept “Slow”, as in “Slow Food” and not as in “Slow Down”, is a key for this. Like “Slow Food”, Slow Media are not about fast consumption but about choosing the ingredients mindfully and preparing them in a concentrated manner. Slow Media are welcoming and hospitable. They like to share."
Google YouTube Leanback (Google)
YouTube Leanback offers effortless viewing (Google)
"YouTube Leanback a different way of watching videos on YouTube. Just as its name implies, YouTube Leanback is all about letting you sit back, relax and be entertained. Videos are tailored to autoplay as soon as you get started, in full screen and high definition, so watching YouTube becomes as effortless as watching TV. YouTube Leanback is simple to use, easy to navigate with your keyboard's arrow keys, and is personalized to your unique preferences."
YouTube's 'Leanback' Wants to Friend Your Television Remote Eliot Van Burskirk, Wired  7/8//10


Somewhat Related IMT Posts
All IMT posts referring to remote controls and usability (This will continue to be a problem as our digital streams converge)
Video and Links about Google TV: Another Flavor of Android - "Google TV brings everything you love about the Web to your television".
Designing for TV Screen Interaction:  Interesting IxDA Thread
Digital Convergence & Interactive Television
An Example of Convergence: Interactive TV - uxTV 2008

Collaborative Travel Planning App for Microsoft Surface, by Object Consulting

Information from the Microsoft Surface YouTube Channel:
"Object Explore is a collaborative travel planner for use by travel consultants and consumers on Microsoft Surface. Explore deep levels of interactive content through intuitive navigation, ensuring the customer doesn't get lost in the process. All content is tailored to the current client and can be taken away through mobile or email. Object Explore is built upon Object Consulting's Object Zoom framework, which brings intuitive Zoom exploration to sectors including retail, finance and museums." - Object Consulting


SOMEWHAT RELATED
I worked on a collaborative travel planning application a few years ago for an HCI class project- before the Surface was unveiled by Microsoft.  It would have been fun to implement it in a Surface environment, since applications on the Surface can easily interface with mobile devices.

Below is a screenshot of a working prototype of "navSmart", a mash-up using photo-overlays linking to travel related information, including YouTube videos of related travel videos and information. You spin the globe around to explore possible destinations and vacation activities.   This concept worked best on a large touch-screen display.

YouTube's Move to Slower Media: Leanback - in HD, full screen, minimal clicks, merges with your other online "stuff".

The details are demonstrated in the video below:

My hunch?
One motivation behind Leanback is to prepare us for the next wave of online 3D HDTV, which is a "slow media" experience, best viewed from a comfy sofa or recliner.  This is the "10-foot experience".

RELATED

YouTube Leanback offers effortless viewing

Broadcasting Ourselves ;): The Official YouTube Blog, 7/7/10

YouTube Leanback Formats Videos for TVs and Second Monitors

Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker, 7/8/10

YouTube Leanback is live. It's time to get chilled

Brad NcCartym, thenextweb, 7/8/10

YouTube Leanback caters to the lazy: The video service automatically strams HD content based on your prefs Wilson Rothman, msnbc.com, 7/7/10

YouTube Leanback Actively Wants Your Passive Attention

Brian Barrett, Gizmodo, 7/7/10
YouTube launches Leanback, mobile site gets HTML5 revamp (video)

Ross Miller, Engadget, 7/7/10
YouTube tries for the TV again with Leanback
Tom Krazit, CNET, 7/7/10

SOMEWHAT RELATED

Slow Media Manifesto

The Slide in the Subway, The Rocket Elevator, and the Skateboard- Propelled Shopping Cart Videos - Volkswagen's Fast Lane: True Use Experience (just in case you missed it all)

Via Pixelsumo -Just in case you missed this:


Here's a few others you'll enjoy.  The true meaning of user experience, out and about!

The Elevator


The Shopping Cart- I love the ending with the guy skateboard-propelling his shopping cart out to the parking lot!

3D TV on YouTube -- and the World Cup in 3D, too!

3D Update:  3D TV: Are we there yet?   (My post on the Innovative Interactivity (II) blog)

3D TV has been available on YouTube since mid-2009. For a brief overview, watch the following video from Epic Fu:

-jetsetshow

Grab your 3D glasses!

Peter Bradshaw's overview of YouTube in 3D: Go out there and make some 3d!

Nearly a year later, this short video clip has over 1,440,000 views. A sign of a meaningful trend?

YES!


UPDATE:  Links to information about the World Cup (Soccer) broadcasts in 3D:



-3dvision blog



-Graphic from Box Office Football:  Sky 3D-Will you watch the world cup in 3D Vote


AT &T U-Verse TV Launches ESPN 3D Channel for 2010 FIFA World CUP(TM)
(Auto-Mobi.Info)


ESPN 3D officially launches with FIFA World Cup coverage:  Live from Bristol
(Ben Drawbaugh, 6/11/10)
 "As for the tech side of things, ESPN was taking in the 1080i50 side by side 3D signal and converting it to the US-friendly 1080i60 side by side, and since DLP sets expect the checkerboard 3D format, a RealD POD was used to make the link between the cable set-top-box and the TV. The glasses were supplied by XpanD, but not the same universal shutter glasses that we expect to be available at retail soon."

Engdget Interview:  Chuck Pagano talks ESPN 3D, mobile streaming
(Darren Murph, 6/12/10)
"Chuck stated that ESPN first started taking the whole 3D idea seriously around four years ago, and while the FIFA World Cup feed isn't being shot / directed by ESPN, it's hard to turn down 25 live events in 3D that the entire world will take interest in. He noted that while DirecTV, Comcast and AT&T are signed on at launch, deals are in the works with "all available options" in the US; outside of America, he confessed that the company "isn't looking at anything internationally right now."'

RELATED
I'm Sold on 3D TVs...And I Kind of Hate Myself For It

(Mark Wilson, 1/11/10 Gizmodo)

"I wouldn't buy anything but a BIG 3D TV.

Without fail, the bigger the 3D, the better the illusion. Anything under 50 inches is basically a joke, unless it's your computer monitor or something. And I will say, even though Vizio's XVT Pro television wasn't my favorite experience (it's an LCD and thereby less smooth), the fact that it was 72-inches meant that a plane's wing almost hit me in the nose."

What's next on your 3D TV?  Get ready for 3D videogames!
(John Gaudiosi, Reuters/Christian Science Monitor 6/10/10)

-Newscom/Christian Science Monitor

PlayStation 3 to Soon Get Stereoscopic 3D Support in Firmware 3.3
(3D Vision Blog: A Normal User's Look Into the World of 3D Stereo Technologies)

Note:  I'll share more about 3D TV and related technologies in a post on the Innovative Interactivity blog this week.  There is a lot to learn!
 
 -XpanDX103 3D glasses universally compatible with 3DTVs, but not all wallets
(Richard Lawler, Engadget, 3/17/10)