Author: a.okane

Topic: New Directions in Haptic Interaction Research: Combining Force Feedback and Shape-Change
When: June 10, 2021 13:00–14:00 BST

Force feedback is rarely incorporated into commercial products, yet it has unique qualities to offer in a world that is slowly moving again towards tangible input controls and organic interaction.

Eve will talk about our design perspective on the compelling interplay between force feedback and shape change, with a focus on several shape-changing prototypes, as well as the design of active force feedback during shape-change.

To finish, Eve will also talk a little about some of the other HCI research being conducted at Aarhus.

Bio: As a Human-Computer Interaction researcher, Hoggan’s focus is on creating novel interaction techniques and non-visual multimodal feedback. Some of Hoggan’s most recent research has focused on haptic interpersonal communication, user interface optimisation and smart material shape-changing interfaces.

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Topic: Of Humans and Machines Entangled
When: May 27, 2021 13:00–14:00 BST

In this talk, I offer reflections on how humans and digital technologies have become intimately interwoven – entangled – through my own journey in designing computational artefacts for and with people. I use my work with autistic children and the elderly to think about how constructs such as disability, diversity or wellbeing influence what technology we build and in turn help shape these very terms and the people involved. Focusing on this mutual inter-dependency, I look to a range of philosophical theories and concepts that offer relational perspectives on humans and their machines and make some propositions for how these perspectives could shift the field of HCI more generally.

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Topic: Reflections on extending human capability with AI: the PeopleLens case study
When: May 20, 2021 13:00–14:00 BST

HCI has taken a strong stance that AI technologies augment or extend human-capabilities rather than mimic or replace them. This talk considers what extending human capability with AI might mean in practical terms and the challenges that arise. I draw upon examples designing and building out the PeopleLens, an AI experience intended to helps blind and low vision children understand who is in their immediate vicinity.

Bio: Cecily is a researcher in the Future of Work community at Microsoft Research Cambridge interested in developing novel technologies to enable people’s health and well-being in the broadest sense. Put simply, Cecily wants to build technologies that matter to people.

Cecily’s research lies at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. Working in a cross-disciplinary collaboration, her current focus is on AI applications for those with visual disabilities. Cecily is exploring the interaction paradigms between people and agents that can be brought to bear to extend human capability through subtle dialogues with agents that see.

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Topic: Augmented Materiality
When: May 6, 2021 13:00–14:00 BST

Work on augmented reality focuses predominantly on visual augmentation. However, reality presents rich material properties that are still largely unsupported by today’s computer interfaces. This talk calls for making materiality a central issue in the design of interactive systems. In this talk, Jürgen Steimle will discuss his explorations of integrating interfaces with materiality. He will show how the interplay of shape, material and the human body can generate rich interaction opportunities. These will be illustrated with examples from his work on touch interfaces, interactive objects, e-textiles and interactive skin.

Bio: Jürgen Steimle is a Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University, where he directs the HCI Lab. Previously he held appointments at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the MIT Media Lab. His research investigates user interfaces that offer rich material properties, to enable more effective, expressive, and engaging interactions with computers. His current focus areas include on-body interaction, embedded user interfaces, and computational fabrication. His work was awarded an ERC Starting Grant and has been supported by MIT, Bosch Research and Google.

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Topic: The Theory Predicament in HCI
When: Apr 15, 2021 13:00 – 14:00 BST

Nothing is as practical as a good theory. Or so they say. Yet, the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) lacks theory. We rarely build theory, routinely design user interfaces without using theory, and often add empirical findings to the literature without connecting them to existing theory. This situation hurts our field by preventing cumulative knowledge building and by leaving central questions unanswered (say, about usability or interaction). In this talk, I will substantiate these claims and discuss some ways forward for theory building and theory use in HCI.

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Topic: Accessible Virtual Reality for People with Limited Mobility
When: Mar 18, 2021 16:00 – 17:00 GMT

Virtual reality (VR) offers new and compelling ways for people to interact with digital content. VR provides immersive experiences that can be beneficial in various domains, such as gaming, training simulations, education, communication, and design. As VR technologies continue to mature, and as commercial VR systems continue to grow in popularity, an opportunity exist to understand how to incorporate accessibility as a fundamental component in the design of VR systems and applications. This talk will describe ongoing research to understand and eliminate accessibility barriers that prevent people with limited mobility from engaging with VR.

Bio: Martez Mott is a Senior Researcher in the Ability Group at Microsoft Research. His research is focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating intelligent interaction techniques that improve the accessibility of computing devices for people with diverse motor and sensory abilities. His current research focuses on identifying and overcoming accessibility barriers embedded in the design of virtual and augmented reality systems. Martez is passionate about improving diversity in the CS and HCI communities. He co-chaired the 2020 CHI Mentoring Workshop (CHIMe), is serving on the steering committee for CHIMe 2021, and co-founded the Black Researchers @ MSR group. Martez received his Ph.D. in Information Science from the Information School at the University of Washington. Prior to attending UW, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University.

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Topic:  Playful Communicators: Yo-Yo Machines for keeping in touch with family and friends
When: Mar 11, 2021 13:00 – 14:00 GMT

It’s important to stay in touch while physically separated, but teleconferencing tools like Zoom and Teams can be a lot of work. What if you just want to send somebody a wave, or a smile, without demanding too much attention?

That’s what Yo–Yo Machines are for. Simple devices you can make yourself, they connect across the Internet to let you send a signal that you’re thinking of somebody, and give just enough control to play around, or maybe invent a secret language.

In his talk, Bill Gaver will take through Goldsmiths’ Interaction Research Studio’s Yo-Yo Machine Project and then is happy to stick around for an extra long Q&A session on the project, design, or any other silly questions 🙂

To learn more about Yo-Yo Machines: https://www.yoyomachines.io/

Bio: Bill Gaver is Professor of Design and co-director of the Interaction Research Studio at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research on design-led methodologies and innovative technologies for everyday life led him to develop an internationally recognised studio bringing the skills of designers together with expertise in ubiquitous computing and sociology.

With the Studio, he has developed approaches to design ranging from Cultural Probes to the use of documentary film to help assess people’s experience with designs, and pursued conceptual work on topics such as ambiguity, interpretation and design-led research. These innovations have been driven by the design work that is at the heart of the Studio’s work, which centres around the production of highly-finished prototypes that have been deployed for long-term field trials and exhibited internationally at venues such as the V&A Museum, Tate Britain, and New York’s MOMA. He has published over 70 articles (h-index of 44) and is an elected member of the CHI Academy.

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Topic: Portable Laser Cutting
When: Feb 18, 2021 13:00-14:00 GMT

Laser-cut 3D models shared online tend to be basic and trivial—models build over long periods of time and by multiple designers are few/nonexistent. I argue that this is caused by a lack of an exchange format that would allow continuing the work. At first glance, it may seem like such a format already exist, as laser cut models are already widely shared in the form of 2D cutting plans. However, such files are susceptible to variations in cutter properties (aka kerf) and do not allow modifying the model in any meaningful way (no adjustment of material thickness, no parametric changes, etc.). I consider this format machine specific.

My first take on the challenge is to see how far we can get by still building on the de-facto standard, i.e., 2D cutting plans. I tackled the challenge by rewriting 2D cutting plans, replacing non-portable elements with portable ones. However, this comes at a cost of extra incisions, reducing the structural integrity of models and impacting aesthetic qualities and rare mechanisms or joints may go undetected. I thus take a more radical approach, which is to move to a 3D exchange format (kyub). This eliminates these challenges, as it guarantees portability by generating a new machine-specific 2D file for the local machine when exported. Instead, it raises the question of compatibility: Files already exist in 2D—how to get them into 3D? I demonstrate a software tool to reconstruct the 3D geometry of the model encoded in a 2D cutting plan, allows modifying it using a 3D editor, and re-encodes it to a 2D cutting plan. I demonstrate how this approach allows me to make a much wider range of modifications, including scaling, changing material thickness, and even remixing models.

The transition from sharing machine-oriented 2D cutting files, to 3D files, enables users worldwide to collaborate, share, and reuse. And thus, to move on from users creating thousands of trivial models from scratch to collaborating on big complex projects.

Bio: Thijs Roumen is a PhD candidate in Human Computer Interaction in the lab of Prof. Dr. Patrick Baudisch, Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany. He received his MSc from the University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg in 2013 and BSc from the Technical University of Eindhoven, Netherlands in 2011. Between the PhD and master he worked at the National University of Singapore as a Research Assistant with Prof. Dr. Shengdong Zhao. His research interests are in personal fabrication, digital collaboration and enabling increased complexity for laser cutting. His papers are published as full papers in top-tier ACM conferences CHI and UIST.

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Topic: Animal-Computer Interactions Panel with Fay Clark, Stuart Gray, Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, and Patricia Pons Tomás. Moderator: Daniel Bennett
When: Feb 4, 2021 13:00–14:00 GMT

Bios:

Fay Clark: Fay is a UK-based academic who is interested in the mental processes of animals. Fay looks for connections between animal cognition, behaviour and affective state. Fay’s work can best be described as experimental psychology with a comparative emphasis; developing cognitive task and cognitive challenge apparatuses to test cognitive skills, and/or provide enrichment. There is also a human twist; even though she specialises in the study of nonhuman animals Fay draws heavily from human principles. Most of Fay’s research takes place on animals housed in zoos (including traditional zoos, aquariums, safari parks and sanctuaries) and research centres.

Stuart Gray: Dr Stuart Gray is a researcher at the University of Bristol’s Department of Computer Science within the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Stuart joined the University of Bristol in 2017 after completing his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, where he undertook research in the field of serious games for children’s health and wellbeing. He has subsequently undertaken research at the University of Bristol in this area through a series of academic-industry secondments that have focused upon using games and play for behaviour change. Since 2017, Stuart has worked closely with Okko Health, a Bristol-based start-up who are revolutionising hospital eye care with the development of digital benchmarking and monitoring technologies. Moving away from children, Stuart was a key member of a project which aimed to support the cognitive enrichment of gorillas in captivity through the design of innovative games.

Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas: Ilyena is a Lecturer at The University of Glasgow running an Animal-Computer Interaction group. Day-to-day she works co-designing, building and testing novel technologies for animals from screen and internet systems for dogs to bespoke music and screen systems for monkeys. During her research, Ilyena has established several methods of researching with animals and computers, theories around co-design and animal-centered design, and is currently interested in how we can build systems for choice and autonomy.

Patricia Pons Tomás: Patricia Pons has a PhD in ACI & HCI and currently works as a researcher at Instituto Tecnológico de Informática in Valencia (Spain). Her PhD focused on the study of playful interactive systems for animals and children that allow to improve their well-being. She received the Award for Young Researchers in Computer Science 2019 from the Spanish Computer Science Scientific Society (SCIE) and Fundación BBVA for her doctoral thesis. She was selected to participate as a young researcher in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum 2019, an event that brings together promising researchers with Turing Awards in Computer Science. She was also awarded an Endeavor Research Fellowship from the Australian Government to undertake a research stay at the Microsoft Research Centre for Social NUI in 2016. Patricia has given talks at events such as TEDx, Ignite or Google Women Techmakers, and is actively involved in initiatives to promote the role of women in the tech sector, such as ACM-W UPV or Systers Spain.

Moderator, Daniel Bennett: Daniel Bennett is an EPSRC PhD Researcher in HCI at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on collaboration and communication in VR and AR, and on building interfaces for these technologies which foster a sense of agency, control and reflection in their users. Prior to joining BIG, Daniel had an academic background in Philosophy. He worked for several years in healthcare information systems before completing his MSc in computer science at Bristol. Daniel is also active as a musician, having performed across the UK and Europe, composed for theatre and art exhibitions, and curated event series for venues and galleries including Bristol’s Arnolfini and Southampton’s John Hansard.

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Topic: SuMMiT-D:South Asian patients’ perspectives on the relevance & acceptability of SNS to support medication adherence in type2 diabetes
When: Jan 28, 2021 13:00–14:00 GMT

Dr Nikki Newhouse is a Postdoctoral Researcher and tutor with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. She has a PhD from UCL in Computer Science, specifically human-computer interaction and the development and evaluation of complex digital interventions to support physical and psychological wellbeing across the lifespan. In this talk, Dr Newhouse will introduce the Support through Mobile Messaging and digital health Technology for Diabetes (SuMMiT-D) project, which is developing and testing a mobile-device based system delivering short automated messages to offer support for medicine use alongside usual care to people with type 2 diabetes in primary care. In particular, she will focus on the findings from an embedded qualitative study which explored the views of British South Asian patients with type 2 diabetes on the feasibility of such a system.

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