| Banff to Banff: A UISTful Retrospective | | BIB | -- | |
| John Sibert | |||
| Usability Analysis of 3D Rotation Techniques | | BIBAK | PDF | 1-10 | |
| Ken Hinckley; Joe Tullio; Randy Pausch; Dennis Proffitt; Neal Kassell | |||
| We report results from a formal user study of interactive 3D rotation using
the mouse-driven Virtual Sphere and Arcball techniques, as well as
multidimensional input techniques based on magnetic orientation sensors.
Multidimensional input is often assumed to allow users to work quickly, but at
the cost of precision, due to the instability of the hand moving in the open
air. We show that, at least for the orientation matching task used in this
experiment, users can take advantage of the integrated degrees of freedom
provided by multidimensional input without necessarily sacrificing precision:
using multidimensional input, users completed the experimental task up to 36%
faster without any statistically detectable loss of accuracy.
We also report detailed observations of common usability problems when first encountering the techniques. Our observations suggest some design issues for 3D input devices. For example, the physical form-factors of the 3D input device significantly influenced user acceptance of otherwise identical input sensors. The device should afford some tactile cues, so the user can feel its orientation without looking at it. In the absence of such cues, some test users were unsure of how to use the device. Keywords: Arcball, Virtual sphere, 3D input devices, Interactive 3D rotation, Virtual
manipulation, Usability study, Evaluation | |||
| Immersion in Desktop Virtual Reality | | BIBAK | PDF | 11-19 | |
| George Robertson; Mary Czerwinski; Maarten van Dantzich | |||
| This paper explores techniques for evaluating and improving immersion in
Desktop Virtual Reality (VR). Three experiments are reported which extend
findings on immersion in VR reported by Pausch et al. [9]. In the current
experiments, a visual search paradigm was used to examine navigation in Desktop
VR both with and without navigational aids. Pausch et al. found that non-head
tracked users took significantly longer than predicted when the search target
was absent, which was interpreted as indicative of a loss of sense of
immersion. Our first experiment extended the Pausch et al. experiment to a
desktop display. Our findings differ in that search times matched prediction
when the target was absent, indicating that the Pausch et al. study does not
transfer to Desktop VR. In the second and third experiments, our visual search
task was performed while navigating a set of 3D hallways. We introduce a new
navigation aid called Peripheral Lenses, intended to provide simulated
peripheral vision. Informal studies suggested that Peripheral Lenses decrease
search time, indicating an enhanced sense of immersion in Desktop VR. However,
formal studies contradict that, demonstrating the importance of formal
usability studies in the development of user interface software. We also
gained evidence that visual attention findings transfer to Desktop VR. Keywords: Virtual reality, Immersion, Evaluation, Visual search paradigm | |||
| Worldlets -- 3D Thumbnails for Wayfinding in Virtual Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 21-30 | |
| T. Todd Elvins; David R. Nadeau; David Kirsh | |||
| Virtual environment landmarks are essential in wayfinding: they anchor
routes through a region and provide memorable destinations to return to later.
Current virtual environment browsers provide user interface menus that
characterize available travel destinations via landmark textual descriptions or
thumbnail images. Such characterizations lack the depth cues and context
needed to reliably recognize 3D landmarks. This paper introduces a new user
interface affordance that captures a 3D representation of a virtual environment
landmark into a 3D thumbnail, called a worldlet. Each worldlet is a miniature
virtual world fragment that may be interactively viewed in 3D, enabling a
traveler to gain first-person experience with a travel destination. In a pilot
study conducted to compare textual, image, and worldlet landmark
representations within a wayfinding task, worldlet use significantly reduced
the overall travel time and distance traversed, virtually eliminating
unnecessary backtracking. Keywords: 3D thumbnails, Wayfinding, VRML, Virtual reality | |||
| Pick-and-Drop: A Direct Manipulation Technique for Multiple Computer Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 31-39 | |
| Jun Rekimoto | |||
| This paper proposes a new field of user interfaces called multi-computer
direct manipulation and presents a pen-based direct manipulation technique that
can be used for data transfer between different computers as well as within the
same computer. The proposed Pick-and-Drop allows a user to pick up an object
on a display and drop it on another display as if he/she were manipulating a
physical object. Even though the pen itself does not have storage
capabilities, a combination of Pen-ID and the pen manager on the network
provides the illusion that the pen can physically pick up and move a computer
object. Based on this concept, we have built several experimental applications
using palm-sized, desk-top, and wall-sized pen computers. We also considered
the importance of physical artifacts in designing user interfaces in a future
computing environment. Keywords: Direct manipulation, Graphical user interfaces, Input devices, Stylus
interfaces, Pen interfaces, Drag-and-drop, Multi-computer user interfaces,
Ubiquitous computing, Computer augmented environments | |||
| A Finger-Mounted, Direct Pointing Device for Mobile Computing | | BIBAK | PDF | 41-42 | |
| John L. Sibert; Mehmet Gokturk | |||
| The index (first) finger of the dominant hand seems to be an intuitively
natural and efficient means for pointing tasks. This paper presents the design
of a device to enable pointing with the index finger as an interaction
technique in mobile computers. The device, which uses infrared emission and
detection to determine where on a screen the finger is pointing, is inexpensive
and can easily be incorporated into a laptop computer. Keywords: Pointing, Interaction devices, Input devices, Infrared detection | |||
| TimeSlider: An Interface to Specify Time point | | BIBAK | PDF | 43-44 | |
| Yuichi Koike; Atsushi Sugiura; Yoshiyuki Koseki | |||
| This paper introduces TimeSlider, a user interface technique that allows the
user to specify time points. TimeSlider is a kind of slider whose time scale
is nonlinear and which moves as a user operation. The nonlinearly enables it
to display a long time range in a small space, and the movement as a user
operation helps the user to specify time points quickly. An example
application, in which TimeSlider enabled the user to restore past WWW pages,
demonstrated the effectiveness of our technique. Keywords: Desktop software, Time machine, Selection technology, Slider | |||
| Pen-Based Interaction Techniques for Organizing Material on an Electronic Whiteboard | | BIBAK | PDF | 45-54 | |
| Thomas P. Moran; Patrick Chiu; William van Melle | |||
| This paper presents a scheme for extending an informal, pen-based whiteboard
system (the Tivoli application on the Xerox LiveBoard) to provide interaction
techniques that enable groups of users in informal meetings to easily organize
and rearrange material and to manage the space on the board. The techniques
are based on the direct manipulation of boundaries and the implicit recognition
of regions. The techniques include operations for shrinking and rearranging,
structured borders that tessellate the board, freeform enclosures that can be
split, fused, and linked, and collapsible annotations. Experience with using
these techniques, the results of a user test, some design trade-offs and
lessons, and future directions are discussed. Keywords: Whiteboard metaphor, Pen-based systems, Freeform interaction, Implicit
structure, Emergent structure, Structural grouping, Informal systems,
Recognition-based systems, List structures, Meeting support tools, Gestural
interfaces, User interface design | |||
| Transparent Sharing of Java Applets: A Replicated Approach | | BIBAK | PDF | 55-64 | |
| James Begole; Craig A. Struble; Clifford A. Shaffer; Randall B. Smith | |||
| People interact together in all aspects of life and, as computers have
become prevalent, users seek computer support for their interactions. The WWW
provides an unprecedented opportunity for users to interact with each other,
and the advent of Java has created a consistent computing environment to
support synchronous collaboration. We describe JAMM, a prototype Java runtime
environment that supports the shared use of existing Java applets, thus
leveraging the existing base of software for synchronous collaboration. Our
approach is based on a replicated architecture, where each user maintains their
own copy of the Java applet, and the users' input events are broadcast to each
applet copy. We discuss solutions to certain key problems, such as
unanticipated sharing, supporting late-joiners and replicating input sources
other than user inputs (e.g., files, sockets, and random number generators). Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Groupware, Collaboration transparency,
Java | |||
| Simplifying Component Development in an Integrated Groupware Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 65-72 | |
| Mark Roseman; Saul Greenberg | |||
| This paper describes our experiences implementing a component architecture
for TeamWave Workplace, an integrated groupware environment using a rooms
metaphor. The problem we faced was how to design the architecture to support
rapid development of new embedded components. Our solution, based on Tcl/Tk and
GroupKit, uses multiple interpreters and a shared window hierarchy. This
proved effective in easing development complexity in TeamWave. We discuss some
of the strategies we used, and identify the types of interactions between
system components. The lessons learned in developing this component model
should be generally applicable to future integrated groupware systems in
different environments. Keywords: Groupware, CSCW, Tcl/Tk, GroupKit, Component architecture | |||
| A Shared Command Line in a Virtual Space: The Working Man's MOO | | BIBAK | PDF | 73-74 | |
| Mark Guzdial | |||
| The WorkingMan's MOO extends a text-based virtual environment through a
small command server which sits on the user's workstation. The extended
virtual environment can offer the power of a command line, but embedded within
a virtual community, enabling the creation of new interface metaphors that
connect the virtual/MOO space with the desktop space. Keywords: Virtual environments, Command line interfaces, Computer-supported
collaborative work | |||
| CyberDesk: A Framework for Providing Self-Integrating Ubiquitous Software Services | | BIBAK | PDF | 75-76 | |
| Anind K. Dey; Gregory Abowd; Mike Pinkerton; Andrew Wood | |||
| Current software suites suffer from problems due to poor integration of
their individual tools. They require the designer to think of all possible
integrating behaviours and leave little flexibility to the user. CyberDesk is
a component software framework that automatically integrates desktop and
network services, reducing integrating decisions to be made by the tool
designers and giving more control to the user. Simple extensions to CyberDesk
have been made to obtain powerful integrating behaviours. Keywords: Adaptive interfaces, Automated integration, Dynamic integration, Software
components, Context-aware computing, Future computing environments, Ubiquitous
services | |||
| Alice: Easy to Use Interactive 3D Graphics | | BIBAK | PDF | EDU | 77-78 | |
| Jeffrey S. Pierce; Steve Audia; Tommy Burnette; Kevin Christiansen; Dennis Cosgrove; Matt Conway; Ken Hinckley; Kristen Monkaitis; James Patten; Joe Shochet; David Staack; Brian Stearns; Chris Sturgill; George Williams; Randy Pausch | |||
| Alice is a rapid prototyping system used to create three dimensional
graphics simulations like those seen in virtual reality applications. Alice
uses an interpreted language called Python as its scripting language to
implement user actions. This interactive development environment allows users
to explore many more design options than is possible in a compiled language
environment. The alpha version of Alice for Windows 95 is available for free
over the internet, with the beta release scheduled for August. Keywords: Virtual reality, 3D graphics, Rapid prototyping, Usability engineering | |||
| A Spreadsheet Approach to Information Visualization | | BIBAK | PDF | 79-80 | |
| Ed Huai-hsin Chi; Joseph Konstan; Phillip Barry; John Riedl | |||
| In information visualization, as the volume and complexity of the data
increases, researchers require more powerful visualization tools that allow
them to more effectively explore multi-dimensional datasets. In this paper, we
show a novel new visualization framework built upon the spreadsheet metaphor,
where each cell can contain an entire dataset. Just as a numerical spreadsheet
enables exploration of numbers, a visualization spreadsheet enables exploration
of visualizations of data. Our prototype spreadsheets enabled users to compare
visualizations in cells using the tabular layout. Users can use the
spreadsheet to display, manipulate, and explore multiple visual representation
techniques for their data. By applying different operations to the cells, we
showed how visualization spreadsheets afford the construction of 'what-if'
scenarios. The possible set of operations that users can apply consists of
animation, filtering, and algebraic operators. Keywords: Visualization, Information visualization, Interactive graphics, Spreadsheet | |||
| Gamut: Demonstrating Whole Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 81-82 | |
| Richard G. McDaniel; Brad A. Myers | |||
| Gamut is a new tool for building interactive, graphical software like games,
simulations, and educational software. A developer can build entire
applications in Gamut's domain using only programming-by-demonstration (PBD)
and never has to look at or modify code to build any behavior. To accomplish
this, we have developed a simple, streamlined interaction for demonstrating so
that developers can create new examples quickly and can specify negative
examples without confusion. Also, Gamut allows the developer to give hints to
point out objects in a relationship that would be too time consuming to find by
searching. Gamut automatically revises generated code using an efficient
algorithm that recursively scans for the differences between a new example and
the previous behavior. To correct the discovered differences, Gamut couples
heuristic search with a decision tree learning algorithm allowing it to build
more complicated behaviors than it could using heuristic search alone. Keywords: End-user programming, User interface software, Application builders,
Programming-by-demonstration, Programming-by-example, Inductive learning, Gamut | |||
| Orthogonal Extensions to the WWW User Interface using Client-Side Technologies | | BIBA | PDF | 83-84 | |
| Armando Fo; Steven D. Gribble; Yatin Chawathe; Anthony S. Polito; Andrew Huang; Benjamin Ling; Eric A. Brewer | |||
| Our work is motivated by three trends. First, the ubiquitous migration of services to the World Wide Web is due in part to its simple, consistent, and now universal user interface: navigation by following links and filling out HTML forms are interactions familiar to even novice Internet users. Second, client-side extension technologies such as Java and JavaScript allow sites to extend and "personalize" the behaviors and interfaces of their services, with portable user-interface elements that integrate transparently into the browser's existing interface. | |||
| The CSLU Toolkit: Rapid Prototyping of Spoken Language Systems | | BIBA | PDF | 85-86 | |
| Stephen Sutton; Ronald Cole | |||
| Research and development of spoken language systems is currently limited to
relatively few academic and industrial laboratories. This is because building
such systems requires multidisciplinary expertise, sophisticated development
tools, specialized language resources, substantial computer resources and
advanced technologies such as speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis.
At the Center for Spoken Language Understanding (CSLU), our mission is to make spoken language systems commonplace. To do so requires that the technology become less exclusive, more affordable and more accessible. An important step towards satisfying this goal is to place the development of spoken language systems in the hands of real domain experts rather than limit it to technical specialists. To address this problem, we have developed the CSLU Toolkit, an integrated software environment for research and development of telephone-based spoken language systems (Sutton et al., 1996; Schalkwyk, et al., 1997). It is designed to support a wide range of research and development activities, including data capture and analysis, corpus development, multilingual recognition and understanding, dialogue design, speech synthesis, speaker recognition and language recognition, and systems evaluation among others. In addition, the Toolkit provides an excellent environment for learning about spoken language technology, providing opportunities for hands-on learning, exploration and experimentation. It has been used as a basis for several short courses in which students have produced a wide range of interesting spoken language applications, such as voice mail, airline reservation and browsing the worldwide web by voice (Colton et al., 1996, Sutton et al., 1997). | |||
| Solving Linear Arithmetic Constraints for User Interface Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 87-96 | |
| Alan Borning; Kim Marriott; Peter Stuckey; Yi Xiao | |||
| Linear equality and inequality constraints arise naturally in specifying
many aspects of user interfaces, such as requiring that one window be to the
left of another, requiring that a pane occupy the leftmost 1/3 of a window, or
preferring that an object be contained within a rectangle if possible. Current
constraint solvers designed for UI applications cannot efficiently handle
simultaneous linear equations and inequalities. This is a major limitation.
We describe incremental algorithms based on the dual simplex and active set
methods that can solve such systems of constraints efficiently. Keywords: Linear constraints, Inequality constraints, Simplex algorithm | |||
| An Interactive Constraint-Based System for Drawing Graphs | | BIBAK | PDF | 97-104 | |
| Kathy Ryall; Joe Marks; Stuart Shieber | |||
| The GLIDE system is an interactive constraint-based editor for drawing
small- and medium-sized graphs (50 nodes or fewer) that organizes the
interaction in a more collaborative manner than in previous systems. Its
distinguishing features are a vocabulary of specialized constraints for graph
drawing, and a simple constraint-satisfaction mechanism that allows the user to
manipulate the drawing while the constraints are active. These features result
in a graph-drawing editor that is superior in many ways to those based on more
general and powerful constraint-satisfaction methods. Keywords: Graph drawing, Constraint-based layout, Drawing tools, Collaborative
interfaces | |||
| Interactive Beautification: A Technique for Rapid Geometric Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 105-114 | |
| Takeo Igarashi; Satoshi Matsuoka; Sachiko Kawachiya; Hidehiko Tanaka | |||
| We propose interactive beautification, a technique for rapid geometric
design, and introduce the technique and its algorithm with a prototype system
Pegasus. The motivation is to solve a problem with current drawing systems:
too many complex commands and unintuitive procedures to satisfy geometric
constraints. The Interactive beautification system receives the user's free
stroke and beautifies it by considering geometric constraints among segments.
A single stroke is beautified one after another, preventing accumulation of
recognition errors or catastrophic deformation. Supported geometric
constraints include perpendicularity, congruence, symmetry, etc., which were
not seen in existing free stroke recognition systems. In addition, the system
generates multiple candidates as a result of beautification to solve the
problem of ambiguity. Using this technique, the user can draw precise diagrams
rapidly satisfying geometric relations without using any editing commands.
Interactive beautification is achieved by three sequential processes: 1) inferring underlining geometric constraints based on the spatial relationships among the input stroke and the existing segments, 2) generating multiple candidates by combining inferred constraints appropriately, and 3) evaluating the candidates to find the most plausible candidate and to remove the inappropriate candidates. A user study was performed using the prototype system, a commercial CAD tool, and an OO-based drawing system. The result showed that users can draw required diagrams more rapidly and more precisely using the prototype system. Keywords: Drawing programs, Sketching, Pen-based computing, Constraints,
Beautification | |||
| UIST'007: Where Will We Be Ten Years From Now? | | BIBAK | PDF | 115-118 | |
| Robert J. K. Jacob; Steven K. Feiner; James D. Foley; Jock D. Mackinlay; Dan R., Jr. Olsen | |||
| The conference this year is the tenth anniversary of UIST. The keynote talk
discusses the history of UIST over the last ten years; this panel looks into
the future of the field over the next ten. Each of the panelists will describe
a scenario for what life will be like when we meet for UIST'07, ten years from
now. They will also have a chance to challenge or question each others'
scenarios and to participate in open discussion with the audience. Keywords: User interface software and technology, Human-computer interaction, Future,
Prediction, UIST'2007 | |||
| Designing and Implementing Asynchronous Collaborative Applications with Bayou | | BIBAK | PDF | 119-128 | |
| W. Keith Edwards; Elizabeth D. Mynatt; Karin Petersen; Mike J. Spreitzer; Douglas B. Terry; Marvin M. Theimer | |||
| Asynchronous collaboration is characterized by the degree of independence
collaborators have from one another. In particular, collaborators working
asynchronously typically have little need for frequent and fine-grained
coordination with one another, and typically do not need to be notified
immediately of changes made by others to any shared artifacts they are working
with. We present an infrastructure, called Bayou, designed to support the
construction of asynchronous collaborative applications. Bayou provides a
replicated, weakly-consistent, data storage engine to application writers. The
system supports a number of mechanisms for leveraging application semantics;
using these mechanisms, applications can implement complex conflict detection
and resolution policies, and choose the level of consistency and stability they
will see in their databases. We present a number of applications we have built
or are building using the Bayou system, and examine how these take advantage of
the Bayou architecture. Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Asynchronous interaction, Distributed
systems, Bayou | |||
| Supporting Cooperative and Personal Surfing with a Desktop Assistant | | BIBAK | PDF | 129-138 | |
| Hannes Marais; Krishna Bharat | |||
| We motivate the use of desktop assistants in the context of web surfing and
show how such a tool may be used to support activities in both cooperative and
personal surfing. By cooperative surfing we mean surfing by a community of
users who choose to cooperatively and asynchronously build up knowledge
structures relevant to their group. Specifically, we describe the design of an
assistant called Vistabar, which lives on the Windows desktop and operates on
the currently active web browser. Vistabar instances working for individual
users support the authoring of annotations and shared bookmark hierarchies, and
work with profiles of community interests to make findings highly available.
Thus, they support a form of community memory. Vistabar also serves as a form
of personal memory by indexing pages the user sees to assist in recall. We
present rationale for the assistant's design, describe roles it could play to
support surfing (including those mentioned above), and suggest efficient
implementation strategies where appropriate. Keywords: Desktop assistant, Browserware, WWW, Browser, Annotation, Asynchronous
collaboration, Community knowledge, Bookmarks, Indexing, Barcodes | |||
| Flexible Conflict Detection and Management in Collaborative Applications | | BIBAK | PDF | 139-148 | |
| W. Keith Edwards | |||
| This paper presents a comprehensive model for dealing with semantic
conflicts in applications, and the implementation of this model in a toolkit
for collaborative systems. Conflicts are defined purely through application
semantics -- the set of behaviors supported by the applications -- and yet can
be detected and managed by the infrastructure with minimal application code.
This work describes a number of novel techniques for managing conflicts, both
in the area of resolution policies and user interfaces for presenting standing
conflicts in application data. Keywords: CSCW, Collaborative infrastructure, Conflict Management, Timewarp | |||
| Fix and Float: Object Movement by Egocentric Navigation | | BIBA | PDF | 149-150 | |
| George G. Robertson; Stuart K. Card | |||
| The two traditional techniques for moving objects in graphical workspaces are dragging and cut and paste. Each method has some disadvantages. We introduce a new method, called fix and float, for moving objects in graphical workspaces. The new method fixes the object(s) to the gaze or viewpoint, thereby letting the user move objects implicitly while doing egocentric navigation. We describe the advantages this new method has over previous techniques, and give an example of its use in a 3D graphical workspace. | |||
| Systematic Output Modification in a 2D User Interface Toolkit | | BIBAK | PDF | 151-158 | |
| W. Keith Edwards; Scott E. Hudson; Joshua Marinacci; Roy Rodenstein; Thomas Rodriguez; Ian Smith | |||
| In this paper we present a simple but general set of techniques for
modifying output in a 2D user interface toolkit. We use a combination of
simple subclassing, wrapping, and collusion between parent and output objects
to produce arbitrary sets of composable output transformations. The techniques
described here allow rich output effects to be added to most, if not all,
existing interactors in an application, without the knowledge of the
interactors themselves. This paper explains how the approach works, discusses
a number of example effects that have been built, and describes how the
techniques presented here could be extended to work with other toolkits. We
address issues of input by examining a number of extensions to the toolkit
input subsystem to accommodate transformed graphical output. Our approach uses
a set of "hooks" to undo output transformations when input is to be dispatched. Keywords: User interface toolkits, Output, Rendering, Interactors, Drawing effects | |||
| Supporting Dynamic Downloadable Appearances in an Extensible User Interface Toolkit | | BIBAK | PDF | 159-168 | |
| Scott E. Hudson; Ian Smith | |||
| Most consumer products, from automobiles to breakfast cereals, pay
significant attention to the visual appearance they present to the consumer.
Designers of these products normally create custom appearances that reflect
things such as the functionality or purpose of the product, the market they are
trying to reach, and the image that the company creating the product is trying
to create. As graphical user interfaces begin to fully penetrate the consumer
market, we expect that similar customization of appearance will and should
become part of every day practice in user interface design as well. This paper
describes new user interface toolkit techniques designed to support dynamic,
even downloadable, appearance changes for graphical user interfaces. The long
term goal of this work is to create a system of styles which is analogous to
current systems of fonts. That is, to provide a system for applying a style of
visual appearance to an interface independent of the content of the interface,
and for allowing such styles to be developed at least partially independent of
specific user interface components, even in many cases supporting custom
interactive components that did not exist when a style was created. Keywords: User interface toolkits, User interface appearance, Look and feel,
Constraint systems, Web-based interfaces, Java | |||
| Flows in the Convergence of Television and Computing | | BIB | -- | |
| Jim Kajiya | |||
| Elastic Windows: A Hierarchical Multi-Window World-Wide Web Browser | | BIBAK | PDF | 169-177 | |
| Eser Kandogan; Ben Shneiderman | |||
| The World-Wide Web is becoming an invaluable source for the information
needs of many users. However, current browsers are still primitive, in that
they do not support many of the navigation needs of users, as indicated by user
studies. They do not provide an overview and a sense of location in the
information structure being browsed. Also they do not facilitate organization
and filtering of information nor aid users in accessing already visited pages
without high cognitive demands. In this paper, a new browsing interface is
proposed with multiple hierarchical windows and efficient multiple window
operations. It provides a flexible environment where users can quickly
organize, filter, and restructure the information on the screen as they
reformulate their goals. Overviews can give the user a sense of location in the
browsing history as well as provide fast access to a hierarchy of pages. Keywords: World-Wide Web, Window management, Information visualization, User
interfaces | |||
| Debugging Lenses: A New Class of Transparent Tools for User Interface Debugging | | BIBAK | PDF | 179-187 | |
| Scott E. Hudson; Roy Rodenstein; Ian Smith | |||
| The visual and event driven nature of modern user interfaces, while a boon
to users, can also make them more difficult to debug than conventional
programs. This is because only the very surface representation of interactive
objects -- their final visual appearance -- is visible to the programmer on the
screen. The remaining "programming details" of the object remain hidden. If
the appearance or behavior of an object is incorrect, often few clues are
visible to indicate the cause. One must usually turn to text oriented debugging
techniques (debuggers or simply print statements) which are separate from the
interface, and often cumbersome to use with event-driven control flow.
This paper describes a new class of techniques designed to aid in the debugging of user interfaces by making more of the invisible, visible. This class of techniques: debugging lenses, makes use of transparent lens interaction techniques to show debugging information. It is designed to work in situ -- in the context of a running interface without stopping or interfering with that interface. This paper describes and motivates the class of techniques, gives a number of specific examples of debugging lenses, and describes their implementation in the subArctic user interface toolkit. Keywords: Interactive debugging, Lens interaction techniques, Dynamic queries,
Context-based rendering, User interface toolkits, subArctic, Java | |||
| An Interactive Visual Query Environment for Exploring Data | | BIBA | PDF | 189-198 | |
| Mark Derthick; John Kolojejchick; Steven F. Roth | |||
| Direct manipulation of visualizations is a powerful technique for performing
exploratory data operations such as navigation, aggregation, and filtering.
Its immediacy facilitates rapid, incremental, and reversible forays into the
data. However it does not provide for reuse or modification of exploration
sessions. This paper describes a visual query language, VQE, that adds these
capabilities to a direct manipulation exploration environment called Visage.
Queries and visualizations are dynamically linked: operations on either one
immediately update the other, in contrast to the feedforward sequence of
database query followed by visualization of results common in traditional
systems.
These features are supported by the architectural concept of threads, which represent a sequence of navigation steps on particular objects. Because they are tied to particular data objects, they can be directly manipulated. Because they represent operations, they can be generalized into queries. We expect this technique to apply to direct manipulation interfaces to any object-oriented system that represents both objects and the relationships among them. Note: Color versions of the figures are at, e.g.,
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sage/UIST97/figure1.gif | |||
| A Virtual Office Environment Based on a Shared Room Realizing Awareness Space and Transmitting Awareness Information | | BIBAK | PDF | 199-207 | |
| Shinkuro Honda; Hironari Tomioka; Takaaki Kimura; Takaharu Ohsawa; Kenichi Okada; Yutaka Matsushita | |||
| In this paper, we describe a system that provides a "work-at-home"
environment based on a virtual shared room built on a 3D graphics workstation.
We realize "Awareness Space" on the system to avoid a tradeoff between
providing facility of informal communication and keeping one's workspace from
others' awareness information. Also, this system provides the feeling of the
presence at virtual office by using "Around View" and "Sound Effect". Keywords: Virtual office, Informal communication, Personal space, Presence, Awareness
space, Concentration | |||
| HoloWall: Designing a Finger, Hand, Body, and Object Sensitive Wall | | BIBAK | PDF | 209-210 | |
| Nobuyuki Matsushita; Jun Rekimoto | |||
| This TechNote reports on our initial results of realizing a computer
augmented wall called the Holo Wall. Using an infrared camera located behind
the wall, this system allows a user to interact with this computerized wall
using fingers, hands, their body, or even a physical object such as a document
folder. Keywords: Wall interfaces, Infrared, Augmented reality, Ubiquitous computing | |||
| Audio Aura: Light-Weight Audio Augmented Reality | | BIBAK | PDF | 211-212 | |
| Elizabeth D. Mynatt; Maribeth Back; Roy Want; Ron Frederick | |||
| The physical world can be augmented with auditory cues allowing passive
interaction by the user. By combining active badges, distributed systems, and
wireless headphones, the movements of users through their workplace can trigger
the transmission of auditory cues. These cues can summarize information about
the activity of colleagues, notify the status of email or the start of a
meeting, and remind of tasks such as retrieving a book at opportune times. We
are currently experimenting with a prototype audio augmented reality system,
Audio Aura, at Xerox PARC. The goal of this work is to create an aura of
auditory information that mimics existing background, auditory awareness cues.
We are prototyping sound designs for Audio Aura in VRML 2.0. Keywords: Audio, Augmented reality, Auditory icons, Active badge, VRML | |||
| The Omni-Directional Treadmill: A Locomotion Device for Virtual Worlds | | BIBAK | PDF | 213-221 | |
| Rudolph P. Darken; William R. Cockayne; David Carmein | |||
| The Omni-Directional Treadmill (ODT) is a revolutionary device for
locomotion in large-scale virtual environments. The device allows its user to
walk or jog in any direction of travel. It is the third generation in a series
of devices built for this purpose for the U.S. Army's Dismounted Infantry
Training Program. We first describe the device in terms of its construction
and operating characteristics. We then report on an analysis consisting of a
series of locomotion and maneuvering tasks on the ODT. We observed user
motions and system responses to those motions from the perspective of the user.
Each task is described in terms of what causes certain motions to trigger
unpredictable responses causing loss of balance or at least causing the user to
become consciously aware of their movements. We conclude that the two primary
shortcomings in the ODT are its tracking system and machine control mechanisms
for centering the user on the treads. Keywords: Virtual reality, Virtual environments, Exertion devices, Input devices,
Locomotion, Maneuvering | |||
| The MetaDESK: Models and Prototypes for Tangible User Interfaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 223-232 | |
| Brygg Ullmer; Hiroshi Ishii | |||
| The metaDESK is a user interface platform demonstrating new interaction
techniques we call "tangible user interfaces." We explore the physical
instantiation of interface elements from the graphical user interface paradigm,
giving physical form to windows, icons, handles, menus, and controls. The
design and implementation of the metaDESK display, sensor, and software
architectures is discussed. A prototype application driving an interaction
with geographical space, Tangible Geospace, is presented to demonstrate these
concepts. Keywords: Tangible user interfaces, Input devices, Haptic input, Augmented reality,
Ubiquitous computing | |||