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Research at the HCT lab focuses on the relationship between people and machines. The approach we take is that interaction aesthetics drive relationships that are at play as people learn to use devices in their external environment. An intimate relationship forms as people embody devices providing an aesthetic through control. I'll explore the nature of relationships and how that impacts design of new interfaces. I will discuss a few examples from the HCT lab demonstrating some of the ideas. The examples include: Glove-TalkII, Iamascope, 2 Hearts musical system, and other research projects. See http://hct.ece.ubc.ca/research for a list of the project going on at the HCT lab. ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This article examines types of interaction from the perspective of intervening agents and interaction outcomes. We argue that the strategic combination of these types of interaction with certain core features (such as dosified input, attainable goal-setting, personalization and collaboration) contribute to creating a more effective relationship between instructional design, use and the interactional purposes of learning activities. The paper also offers instructors and course designers various considerations regarding the pedagogical nature of learning activities and the actions that both learners and instructors can carry out to optimize the online educational experience. Consideration for emergent trends in research on related areas are also presented. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)

In theory, autonomous robotic swarms can be used for critical Army tasks (i.e., accompanying convoys); however, the Soldier controlling the swarm must be able to monitor swarm status and correct actions, especially in disrupted or degraded conditions. For this two-year Director's Research Initiative (DRI), we designed metacognition algorithms and Soldier-swarm display concepts to allow Soldiers to efficiently interact with a robotic swarm participating in a representative convoy mission. We used a potential field approach for swarm control because it scales easily to large heterogeneous swarms and allows users to dynamically alter swarm behavior by adjusting field parameters. The Soldier-swarm interface displayed swarm and convoy geospatial position; swarm health and communication; and convoy status information, using visual, auditory, and tactile combinations. We measured swarm metacognition by determining the proportion of time the simulated swarm could maintain a specific orbital ring around the convoy over six terrains in 13-min scenarios. We tested interface effectiveness in a laboratory study using 16 male Marines (volunteers) with a mean age of 19 years. The metacognition results showed that the swarm could maintain the pre-defined dispersion more than 85% of the time in each terrain. Using multimodal displays, Soldier workload decreased and performance increased (i.e., response time reduced).

Research at the HCT lab focuses on the relationship between people and machines. The approach we take is that interaction aesthetics drive relationships that are at play as people learn to use devices in their external environment. An intimate relationship forms as people embody devices providing an aesthetic through control. I'll explore the nature of relationships and how that impacts design of new interfaces. I will discuss a few examples from the HCT lab demonstrating some of the ideas. The examples include: Glove-TalkII, Iamascope, 2 Hearts musical system, and other research projects. See http://hct.ece.ubc.ca/research for a list of the project going on at the HCT lab. ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Research at the HCT lab focuses on the relationship between people and machines. The approach we take is that interaction aesthetics drive relationships that are at play as people learn to use devices in their external environment. An intimate relationship forms as people embody devices providing an aesthetic through control. I'll explore the nature of relationships and how that impacts design of new interfaces. I will discuss a few examples from the HCT lab demonstrating some of the ideas. The examples include: Glove-TalkII, Iamascope, 2 Hearts musical system, and other research projects. See http://hct.ece.ubc.ca/research for a list of the project going on at the HCT lab. ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Lecture from the 1996 Computer Game Developer's Conference (CGDC) titled "Designing For Social Interaction" presented by Danielle Berry.  

We are interested in designing artificial universes for artifi- cial agents. We view artificial agents as networks of high- level processes on top of of a low-level detailed-description system. We require that the high-level processes have some intrinsic explanatory power and we introduce an extension of informational closure namely interaction closure to capture this. Then we derive a method to design artificial universes in the form of finite Markov chains which exhibit high-level pro- cesses that satisfy the property of interaction closure. We also investigate control or information transfer which we see as an building block for networks representing artificial agents.

We are interested in designing artificial universes for artifi- cial agents. We view artificial agents as networks of high- level processes on top of of a low-level detailed-description system. We require that the high-level processes have some intrinsic explanatory power and we introduce an extension of informational closure namely interaction closure to capture this. Then we derive a method to design artificial universes in the form of finite Markov chains which exhibit high-level pro- cesses that satisfy the property of interaction closure. We also investigate control or information transfer which we see as an building block for networks representing artificial agents.

We are interested in designing artificial universes for artifi- cial agents. We view artificial agents as networks of high- level processes on top of of a low-level detailed-description system. We require that the high-level processes have some intrinsic explanatory power and we introduce an extension of informational closure namely interaction closure to capture this. Then we derive a method to design artificial universes in the form of finite Markov chains which exhibit high-level pro- cesses that satisfy the property of interaction closure. We also investigate control or information transfer which we see as an building block for networks representing artificial agents.

The characteristics of this Field Guide approach address the problems of designing innovative software to support user tasks. The requirements for novel software are difficult to specify a priori, because there is not sufficient understanding of how the users' tasks should be supported, and there are not obvious pre-existing design solutions. When the design team is in unfamiliar territory, care must be taken to avoid rushing into detailed design, requirements specification, or implementation of the wrong product. The challenge is to get the right design and requirements in an efficient, cost-effective manner. This document's purpose is to describe the methods we are using to design human interactions with intelligent systems which support Space Shuttle flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA/Johnson Space Center. Although these software systems usually have some intelligent features, the design challenges arise primarily from the innovation needed in the software design. While these methods are tailored to our specific context, they should be extensible, and helpful to designers of human interaction with other types of automated systems. We review the unique features of this context so that you can determine how to apply these methods to your project Throughout this Field Guide, goals of the design methods are discussed. This should help designers understand how a specific method might need to be adapted to the project at hand.

The characteristics of this Field Guide approach address the problems of designing innovative software to support user tasks. The requirements for novel software are difficult to specify a priori, because there is not sufficient understanding of how the users' tasks should be supported, and there are not obvious pre-existing design solutions. When the design team is in unfamiliar territory, care must be taken to avoid rushing into detailed design, requirements specification, or implementation of the wrong product. The challenge is to get the right design and requirements in an efficient, cost-effective manner. This document's purpose is to describe the methods we are using to design human interactions with intelligent systems which support Space Shuttle flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA/Johnson Space Center. Although these software systems usually have some intelligent features, the design challenges arise primarily from the innovation needed in the software design. While these methods are tailored to our specific context, they should be extensible, and helpful to designers of human interaction with other types of automated systems. We review the unique features of this context so that you can determine how to apply these methods to your project Throughout this Field Guide, goals of the design methods are discussed. This should help designers understand how a specific method might need to be adapted to the project at hand.

This report presents guidelines for designing human-computer dialogue for tactical operations. Researchers consolidated sources of information into a form intended for use by designers of tactical computer systems to give them a basis to assess the military impact of dialoge design and take leadership in improving the usability of future systems. This report was developed to support dialogue design for two general situations: (1) the generation of specifications for relatively large-scale systems in which the specific design and development will be performed by another, and (2) the development of relatively small-scale special-purpose systems in which the reader will be the designer and developer, perhaps with the aid of a programmer. The user-computer dialogue is clearly the key to developing systems that fit in with user's goals and tasks. Consequently, this guide will emphasize the essence of the dialogue, clarification of fundamental issues, performance of front-end analyses, selection between alternative dialogue types, and testing for usability. This guide will not address (at least to any major degree) the issues of data display, contents of on-line documentation and help, data transmission, hardware devices, or general human engineering considerations. For those interested in reading further, a reading list and a selected bibliography are provided. (Author)

This report presents guidelines for designing human-computer dialogue for tactical operations. Researchers consolidated sources of information into a form intended for use by designers of tactical computer systems to give them a basis to assess the military impact of dialoge design and take leadership in improving the usability of future systems. This report was developed to support dialogue design for two general situations: (1) the generation of specifications for relatively large-scale systems in which the specific design and development will be performed by another, and (2) the development of relatively small-scale special-purpose systems in which the reader will be the designer and developer, perhaps with the aid of a programmer. The user-computer dialogue is clearly the key to developing systems that fit in with user's goals and tasks. Consequently, this guide will emphasize the essence of the dialogue, clarification of fundamental issues, performance of front-end analyses, selection between alternative dialogue types, and testing for usability. This guide will not address (at least to any major degree) the issues of data display, contents of on-line documentation and help, data transmission, hardware devices, or general human engineering considerations. For those interested in reading further, a reading list and a selected bibliography are provided. (Author)

This report presents guidelines for designing human-computer dialogue for tactical operations. Researchers consolidated sources of information into a form intended for use by designers of tactical computer systems to give them a basis to assess the military impact of dialoge design and take leadership in improving the usability of future systems. This report was developed to support dialogue design for two general situations: (1) the generation of specifications for relatively large-scale systems in which the specific design and development will be performed by another, and (2) the development of relatively small-scale special-purpose systems in which the reader will be the designer and developer, perhaps with the aid of a programmer. The user-computer dialogue is clearly the key to developing systems that fit in with user's goals and tasks. Consequently, this guide will emphasize the essence of the dialogue, clarification of fundamental issues, performance of front-end analyses, selection between alternative dialogue types, and testing for usability. This guide will not address (at least to any major degree) the issues of data display, contents of on-line documentation and help, data transmission, hardware devices, or general human engineering considerations. For those interested in reading further, a reading list and a selected bibliography are provided. (Author)

In theory, autonomous robotic swarm can be used for critical Army tasks (i.e., accompanying convoys); however, the Soldier controlling the swarm must be able to monitor swarm status and correct actions, especially in disrupted or degraded conditions. For the concluding year of this two-tear Director's Research Initiative (DRI), we designed multimodal (speech and touch) Soldier-swarm control concepts to allow Soldiers to efficiently control a robotic swarm participating in a representative convoy mission. We used a potential field approach for swarm control because it scales easily to large heterogeneous swarms and allows users to dynamically alter swarm behavior by adjusting field parameters. We tested the effectiveness of the swarm controls in a laboratory study using 12 male Marines (volunteers) with a mean age of 19 years. The metacognition results showed that the swarm (which consisted of members fulfilling sentry and explorer functions) could maintain adequate coverage most of the time. Interface results showed that most participants, 58%, used speech commands first almost exclusively, while the remaining used touch commands first. Results can be applied to future swarm and command and control systems.

In theory, autonomous robotic swarm can be used for critical Army tasks (i.e., accompanying convoys); however, the Soldier controlling the swarm must be able to monitor swarm status and correct actions, especially in disrupted or degraded conditions. For the concluding year of this two-tear Director's Research Initiative (DRI), we designed multimodal (speech and touch) Soldier-swarm control concepts to allow Soldiers to efficiently control a robotic swarm participating in a representative convoy mission. We used a potential field approach for swarm control because it scales easily to large heterogeneous swarms and allows users to dynamically alter swarm behavior by adjusting field parameters. We tested the effectiveness of the swarm controls in a laboratory study using 12 male Marines (volunteers) with a mean age of 19 years. The metacognition results showed that the swarm (which consisted of members fulfilling sentry and explorer functions) could maintain adequate coverage most of the time. Interface results showed that most participants, 58%, used speech commands first almost exclusively, while the remaining used touch commands first. Results can be applied to future swarm and command and control systems.

In theory, autonomous robotic swarm can be used for critical Army tasks (i.e., accompanying convoys); however, the Soldier controlling the swarm must be able to monitor swarm status and correct actions, especially in disrupted or degraded conditions. For the concluding year of this two-tear Director's Research Initiative (DRI), we designed multimodal (speech and touch) Soldier-swarm control concepts to allow Soldiers to efficiently control a robotic swarm participating in a representative convoy mission. We used a potential field approach for swarm control because it scales easily to large heterogeneous swarms and allows users to dynamically alter swarm behavior by adjusting field parameters. We tested the effectiveness of the swarm controls in a laboratory study using 12 male Marines (volunteers) with a mean age of 19 years. The metacognition results showed that the swarm (which consisted of members fulfilling sentry and explorer functions) could maintain adequate coverage most of the time. Interface results showed that most participants, 58%, used speech commands first almost exclusively, while the remaining used touch commands first. Results can be applied to future swarm and command and control systems.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Includes bibliographical references and indexes