HCSNet Workshop on Natural User Interfaces: Multitouch and Gestural Interactions

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Description

What is the next major evolution in user interaction? Graphical user interfaces brought a new strategy that was more effective compared to their command-line predecessors. In recent years, Natural User Interfaces (NUI) have advanced user experiences and we believe multitouch and gesture technology to provide new opportunities for a variety of potential uses. How can these be leveraged in the design of interactive interfaces? Do gestures completely replace typical mouse pointers or simply augment it for some functionality? Do all applications work with gestures or only a select few?

This workshop is focused on discussing the role and nature of NUI within a variety of different academic and industry disciplines. NUI so far have been limited to technology demonstrations and research niche's, and have failed to gather a foothold in traditional environments. While specific elements of NUI have been identified and studied, there is a clear lack of design standards and practices surrounding these interfaces. Primarily, NUI suffers from a lack of context within generic user interfaces, and is reserved for systems that represent tangible objects. The goal of this workshop is to make a first step in identifying challenges and characterising NUI design obstacles. Possible themes of interest include:

* Multimodal interfaces
* Robust spoken-language interaction
* Intelligent user interfaces
* Social interaction strategies
* Gesture and embodied interaction
* Conversational agents
* Task and activity modelling
* Environment-specific issues
* Tangible and mobile devices

We are pleased to announce a keynote presentation by Daniel Wigdor. Daniel is the User Experience Architect on the Microsoft Surface project, where he leads a team developing fundamentals of touch and gestural interaction. Before joining Microsoft, he conducted research in advanced user interfaces and devices at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, at the Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard University, and at the University of Toronto where he completed an MSc and a PhD in computer science, specializing in multi-surface direct-touch environments. Learn more about Daniel Wigdor.

Our second international speaker is Jamie Zigelbaum. Jamie is now working at Oblong Industries in Los Angeles. He was a PhD student in the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab where he built and studied next generation computer interfaces. He specializes in gestural and tangible interfaces and works to create new interactions between humans and machines that enable the full use of our evolutionarily developed skills, expressive capabilities, and nuanced social behaviors. Oblong Industries is the developer of the g-speak spatial operating environment. Find out more about Oblong Industries.

Audience

It is expected that this workshop will be of special interest to a range of researchers and practitioners including those from areas such as Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, Information Technology, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Architecture, Language Technology, Psychology, Communication Science, Auditory Interfaces, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science and other related fields. Anyone interested in natural user interfaces is also welcomed.

Event Format

This workshop will include invited talks by established international researchers who has contributed to the area of interaction design, as well as other national speakers who are experts in relevant fields. We welcome participation from a range of disciplines, as outlined above, from both academia and industry. We want to involve as many as possible in discussions, in order to encourage the development of research collaborations and to foster inter-disciplinary work. Interested parties are asked to present short/long papers describing:

* research interests pertinent to the workshop theme(s);
* design methods and processes used when working with NUI;
* how NUI be extended to support generic systems;
* thoughts on issues deemed to be important and potential points of interaction with other disciplines.

Following from the paper presentations, participants will be divided into small, interdisciplinary working groups to share their own work, exchange ideas and meet others with similar interest. The workshop will conclude with a large discussion around the discoveries, ideas and issues identified throughout the workshop. We envision further discussions to continue online after the workshop.

Event Outcomes

A concrete outcome would be to define a series of multi-disciplinary topic themes that have the potential to lead to specific projects for future collaboration. The immediate outcome will be an edited journal/paper on multitouch and gesture interactions.

Important Dates

  • Submission Deadline: Friday 28th May 2010
  • Notification of Acceptance: Friday 4th June 2010
  • Notification of Award: Friday 4th June 2010
  • Registration: Closes Friday 11th June 2010
  • Event Date: Monday 28th to Tuesday 29th June 2010

Submission Format

Interested participants are invited to make an abstract submission (up to 300 words) for proposed presentations at the workshop. Prospective participants can choose either a long presentation or short presentation format.

Note that to make a submission (or to qualify for travel support) you need to sign up to the HCSNet community (it’s free!); you can register for HCSNet at (http://www.hcsnet.edu.au/user/register). Travel bursaries are only eligible to presenters.

Submission deadline: Friday 28th May 2010

Submit online.

Registration Information

Registration for the workshop is free for HCSNet members that have signed up to HCSNet 2 months in advance of the event. Non-members can join, free of charge, via the the HCSNet website http://www.hcsnet.edu.au/. For non-HCSNet members and new members (under 2 months membership) the registration is $50 per day. For members and non-members please follow the link below to register.

To pay for your registration please visit the UWS iPay website and follow the instructions below:

Step 1: Visit https://ipay.uws.edu.au/ in a new window.

Step 2: Review the iPay system information and click 'Continue'.

Step 3: Find the 'HCSNet Workshops' option in the products list by scrolling down, select it and click 'Submit'.

Step 4: Find and add the items listed in the table below to your order (using the 'Add to Order' button next to the item you want to add).

Item name - HCSNet Workshops
Products list- HCSNet 2 day workshp
Select Workshop -Effective Interfaces
Cost - $100
Quantity - 1

TOTAL COST $100

Step 5: When you have added all the items you need to add, confirm the total cost matches the cost in the table above and click 'Proceed to Purchase Order' to complete your registration purchase.

Registration: Closes Friday 11th June 2010

Register online for this event.

Getting There

TBD

Travel Bursaries

HCSNet will fund a number of travel grants of up to $500 to help cover the costs of travel and accommodation for participants from outside the Melbourne area. The provision of a submission as described above is a prerequisite for funding as well as HCSNet membership 2 months prior to the event. If not all participants can be covered, funding grants will be allocated based on the relevance of your abstract or statement of interests to the workshop theme; also, students and early career researchers (in HCSNet terms, those who have received their PhDs in the last fifteen years) will have priority.

Please ensure that you indicate at time of submission if you wish to be considered for a travel grant.

Dinner

There will be a dinner on Monday evening June 28 (at completion of the first day of the workshop):

Cost - Students $10, Non-Students $20

Additional details to follow.

Organisers

Mr Aaron Tan, The University of Queensland
Mr Andrew Dekker, The University of Queensland