Saturday, September 26, 2009
Natural User Interface News: Bamboo Wacom multi-touch gesture tablet; SnowFlake Suite and PresTop multi-touch kiosks
Cross-post:
Wacom Tablets Get Multi-Touch, Gestures
(Charlie Sorrel, Wired, 9/24/09)
"For the tech-curious, the new tablets have 512 pressure levels in the pen tip and the active area of the tablet is 5.8 x 3.6 inches, and all lose the in-pack mouse (for obvious reasons). The Touch and the Pen models are both $70, and the Pen & Touch is $100. Also, if you were thinking of buying Photoshop Elements 7 for the same price, get a tablet instead — Elements comes in the box."
Official Wacom Video
"Bamboo Touch is new type of computer input device by Wacom that lets you navigate and perform commands like zoom, scroll, rotate and more with a series of simple finger taps and hand gestures. Bamboo Touch brings Multi-Touch capability to your Mac or PC"
Video from a Wacom user:
A nice alternative to a mouse. I'm going to get one for my laptop!
Multi-touch Kiosks!
Press release: Dutch touchscreen supplier PresTop partners with Natural User Interface (NUITEQ)
RELATED
I couldn't find any video clips of PresTop's multi-touch interaction. From what I can tell, PresTop multi-touch screens will be using SnowFlake Suite from Natural User Interface Technogies AB.
How-to:SnowFlake Suite Flash multi-touch Interactable component (NUIversity)
Without a single line of code, you can do quite a bit with Snowflake Suite
"This video covers how to make a rotatable and scalable image. The beauty about this is, that we have developed a Flash mouse input simulator, so that there is no need for multi-touch hardware in order to develop your applications. Simply simulate multiple mouse inputs for multi-touch.This project is still in alpha phase and a download will become available with the next release of Snowflake Suite 1.7 for the NextWindow platform and camera based multi-touch solutions."
Below is a video of single-touch interaction for PresTop, from Omnivision:
PresTop PresTop offers interactive hardware and software solutions that can be used indoors as well as in outdoor environments.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Ethnography, Contextual Interviewing, and Participant Observation: Desiging Technology-Supported Interactions and Experiences in Ubiquitous Spaces
Ethnography and contextual interviewing strategies are important components in designing usable, useful products, services, interactions, and interfaces. It is apparent to me that many companies do not spend enough time on this component. Too many people must endure negative, even annoying technology-supported "user experiences" as they go about their daily lives.
Hopefully, these negative user experiences were not designed intentionally!
So how do we stamp out these problems?
I came across a very informative video that I'd recommend viewing for those of you who have an interest in user-centered design, user-driven design, usability, or user-experience design. The video provides specific examples of how to conduct user-centered interviews and ethnographic observation, highlights the importance of connecting with the user/customer/client, and includes a discussion about participant observation.
The video was created by Gabriel Biller and Kristy Scovel, graduate students from IIT, the Illinois Institute of Technology. They focused their video on a no-tech product - jeans, to highlight their key points.
The thirty minutes spent viewing the video will be well-spent.
Getting People to Talk: An Ethnography & Interviewing Primer from Gabe & Kristy on Vimeo.
I learned about participant observation techniques when I was involved in social science field research years ago, and similar techniques when I was learning about conducting home visits and observations when I was a graduate school psychology student, and more recently, in my HCI-related courses.
There is much to be said about the power of observation.
I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has been involved with ethnographic research and contextual interviewing related to off-the-desktop applications and technologies.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Off-the-desktop musings about future interactions: User experience, user-driven design, Universal Usability, Airports, and the "Internet of Things"
My vision for technology supported human-world interaction is much different than what I see cropping up in public spaces, despite emerging technological concepts such as the Internet of Things and Locative MediaIf you are familiar with my blogs, you know that I maintain an on-going quest for off-the-desktop examples for my "Usability Hall of Fame". While I'm out and about, I often meet with disappointment, especially when I come across large displays or interactive touch screens.
The video clip below, taken on June 26th at the Detroit Metro Airport, is an example of what I mean. I was excited to encounter a touch screen information kiosk. I was not impressed with the clunky look and feel of the application. It was more like a point and click web-page than an innovative interactive information portal.
If you look closely, you'll see that the weather posted on the screen did not accurately represent the near 90-degree heat that I encountered that day. The weather information must not have been updated!
This kiosk was located in a new terminal. Although there were many information displays dotted around, during the two hours that I was at the airport, I never once saw anyone use them.
It is sort of difficult to use a touch screen when there is a garbage can obstructing the interaction.
It is not possible to interact with an interactive touch screen that is not working.
I did see people take a look at the more traditional, non-interactive displays that were located in the center walkways:
Last week, when I went to find my baggage at the Detroit Metro Airport, I noticed three kiosks on my way to pick up my luggage. At the time, I didn't know where I needed to go to retrieve my bags, and I wasn't sure where I needed to go to take the shuttle to the rental car lot. I was a bit puzzled to find these kiosks in this spot, since they did not provide the kind of information that most people coming through this section of the airport would need.
The above information kiosks were situated in a row of three, one representing each of the counties that make up the Detroit metropolitan area. Since the kiosks were located at the foot of the escalators leading to the baggage claim section of the airport, people stopping to interact with the kiosks would most likely cause a minor traffic jam. Although the kiosks were in plain view, it was not difficult to see why they were not used, or even noticed.
- Most people who are on their way to the baggage claim area are focused on getting their luggage and heading out. They may not be in the mood to learn all that they can about the finer points of Macomb, Wayne, or Oakland counties from talking head infomercials.
- Although the kiosks provided a reasonable amount of screen "real estate", the design of the applications allowed for no innovative touch-screen interaction. The applications were displayed on touch-screen surfaces, with the upper section dedicated to video and the lower section activated for touch. This design provided only one type of touch interaction, a small area to touch in order to activate the video.
- The displays with information about baggage carousels were located in a spot out of view from this location.
Since I'm obsessed with displays, as soon as I found my bag, I walked up closer to see what was so important about this huge sign. Not until I got right up to the surface did I notice that it offered some interactivity:
If you happen to have your cell phone handy, you can get free sync ringtones from the display area while you wait for your bags, if you happened to notice this at first glance. Since I was carrying my purse and pulling a suitcase and smaller carry-on bag, I was in no position to fumble around for my phone to get a new ringtone. It wasn't a convenient location. Where could I set down my purse? What if I had kids in tow?
Obviously, the designers of this set-up thought that it would be a good idea to offer people the chance to download ringtones as they waited for their luggage. What did the designers forget? Perhaps they did not look at the bigger picture long enough to think through a workable, useful user experience.
It would make better sense to provide ringtones at a more convenient location in the airport, such as the waiting areas or around the food courts. A thoughtful re-design of this display would encourage this interaction in a way to let people know intuitively that a ringtone service was available.
After I left the baggage area, I headed to an information display that consisted of a small touch screen, an array of small lighted displays, and phones to find out how to get to the shuttle to the rental car lot. Again, I was not impressed. The applications were a bit more visually appealing than the displays in the terminal, but the touch screen interaction was clunky.
Related:
To get a better understanding of my message and the importance of looking at bigger picture issues such as user-experience, user driven design, and emerging off-the-desktop technologies, take some time to look over the work and writings of people like Julian Bleeker, Chris O'Shea, and others who are thinking along similar paths. Also check the resource links on the sidebar of this blog.
Below are a couple of interesting quotes from Julian Bleeker:
(Julian Bleeker is from the Near Future Laboratory, a design, development and research consultancy.)
"Forget about the Internet of Things as Web 2.0, refrigerators connected to grocery stores, and networked Barcaloungers. I want to know how to make the Internet of Things into a platform for World 2.0. How can the Internet of Things become a framework for creating more habitable worlds, rather than a technical framework for a television talking to an reading lamp? Now that we've shown that the Internet can become a place where social formations can accrete and where worldly change has at least a hint of possibility, what can we do to move that possibility out into the worlds in which we all have to live? " - Julian Bleeker, Ph.D: Why Things Matter: A Manifesto for Networked Objects: Cohabiting with Pigeons, Arphids and Aibos in the Internet of Things (pdf)
"At its core, locative media is about creating a kind of geospatial experience whose aesthetics can be said to rely on a range of characteristics ..from the quotidian to the weighty semantics of lived experience, all latent within the ground upon which we traverse". -Julian Bleeker; Jeff Knowlton Locative Media: A Brief Bibliography and Taxonomy of GPS-Enabled Locative Media Leonardo On-line Electronic Almanac
Coincidence?
Julian Bleeker spends time contemplating interactions while he's in airports: Time Spent, Well
Chris O'Shea's blog, Pixelsumo, "is a blog about play, exploring the boundaries of interaction design, videogames, toys, and playgrounds. Chris is a resident of somth;ng labs, a shared studio space full of creatives who incorporate technology into their work.
- SURFACES: Chris O'Shea's posts and links pertaining to interactive surfaces, displays, touch-screens, and multi-touch.
- PLAYGROUNDS: Posts and links about technology-supported playgrounds
Airport Technology for the Usability Hall of Fame!
Embedded Information: Airport
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Bill Gerba's Summer Reading List: Digital Signage and Kiosks
Bill Gerba's summer reading list is a must-see for those of you interested in the business/industry side of interactive displays and pervasive computing. Take a look!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Fresh example of a "D'oh!" from Interactive Kiosk News: "Leap Day" causes problems for United check-in kiosks
Via Interactive Kiosk News:
Bill Gerba cited an article from the Chicago Business News and the AP about a snag United Airline's "Easy Check-In" kiosks.
This problem could have been easily prevented, if the programmers thought to look at calendar quirks that occur just once every four years!
"Passengers using United Airlines' "Easy Check-In" found it anything but that on Leap Day when the automated system failed, resulting in longer lines at its U.S. airport counters.
The Chicago-based carrier blamed the service interruption on software issues related to the leap year."
"D'oh!"
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Interactive touch displays for ordering meals at the table? Link to article from the Sunday Times Online
Photo from the Sunday TimesAlthough this form of table-top computing is not the same as Microsoft's Surface concept, it is a move in the right direction.
Information from the Conceptic website:
"With networked LCD touch screens installed at each table, diners can - at the touch of a mouse or the screen- not only order and pay for their drinks or food, but also select music and video, play games, chat with other customers, and more."
(I'd like to test the system for usability.)
Links:
"A clever touch at the restaurant: Diners can now view and order their dishes using a touchscreen at the table"
Conceptic
Friday, February 22, 2008
Convergence: Digital Out of Home Experience, Marketing, Pervasive Computing...
It is interesting to see how various digital technology sectors are overlapping and converging as make attempts to expand their markets, improve education.or make a social impact.
One example of this convergence is described in a recent post in Future-Making Serious Games, by Eliane Alahdeff about Reatrix, a company that focuses on interactive digital OOH marketing and "brand play". 
Excerpt from the Reatrix website:
"The unique Reactrix advertising and entertainment experience leads to unsurpassed media effectiveness, made possible by proprietary reactive technology that projects vivid branded messages onto 6-foot by 8-foot surfaces. Images instantly respond to movement or gestures, creating a participatory media experience that allows brands to "come alive" and invites people to interact with them."
I haven't come across anything from Reactrix in the course of my daily life, but when I do, I'll be sure to have my video camera ready! I wouldn't want to be disappointed.
Note:
To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, do a search on the following terms or combination of terms:
Off-the-desktop, Internet tablets, interactive whiteboards, web-enabled cell phones, sensors, GPS, GIS, "digital-out-of- home" (Digital OOH),digital signage, interactive kiosks, advergaming, wayfinding, pathfinding, "in the wild", pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing, mobile, interactive, ambient, mScapes, serious games, social spaces, public places, networked real estate, touch screens, intelligent buildings, user-centered design, user-centered content, usability, user experience design, interaction design.
