Extra Credit Paper #8 (CHI 2010 #16)

Title: Planz to Put Our Digital Information in Its Place

Authors: William Jones, Dawei Hou, Bhuricha Deen Sethanandh, Sheng Bi, and Jim Gemmell

Venue: CHI 2010

Summary
Planz is a personal project planner that works as an application overlay for the existing file system, or email and web pages. The author's state that they envision folders as working somewhat like doors, but would prefer them to work more like windows, and this is what their application attempts to implement. Planz focuses on a primary document that functions as an outline. Two primary features of Planz are "Drag & Link" and "In-context Create".

Discussion
This seems like a neat idea, but I think the author's are attempting to do too much. Its really hard to make an interface with lots of features that people still want to use, because the more features you add the more trouble people will have learning to use the software. This is a problem I think Planz will suffer from. Additionally, removing the windows style of file management altogether will raise heavy handicaps in the time it takes users to learn the new system, a price that probably doesn't justify the implementation of the interface.

Extra Credit Paper #7 (CHI 2010 #15)

Title: Manual Deskterity: An Exploration of Simultaneous Pen + Touch Direct Input
Authors: Ken Hinckley, Koji Yatani, Michel Pahud, Nicole Coddington, Jenny Rodenhouse, and Andy Wilson, Hrvoje Benko, Bill Buxton
Venue: CHI 2010

Summary
Manual Deskterity is a scrapbook application that  uses pen and touch devices to allow user to create a digital scrapbook. Although the application can certainly be used to create scrapbooks, the focus of the project was on the HCI elements between the users and the interface. The use of both a pen and touch input is important to this study, and was part of the reason why an application for scrapbooking was chosen for study.

Author's compared how users interacted with a real scrapbook and the digital version. While the digital interface was not intended to fully mimic how users interact with the real thing, it does have elements from this. For example, the pen is typically used for writing, while touch is used for object manipulation.

Discussion
I liked this application, although mostly for the elements of HCI study that the author's implemented into the application design. This application was extremely heavy on user studies, which I think is a good thing, and something other papers could use more of.

Extra Credit Paper #6 (CHI 2010 #14)

Title: Adaptive Mouse: A Deformable Computer Mouse Achieving Form-Function Synchronization
Authors: Shen Kai Tang and Wen Yen Tang
Venue: CHI 2010

Summary

This paper introduces a new input device termed Adaptive Mouse, which is similar to the existing device from which it got its name. The new device is intended to have a flexible shape that fits each user's hand differently, unlike existing models. The most interesting aspect of the Adaptive Mouse however, is that the device is initially circular, and users can hold it anyway they like. As the device is composed of eight subsections, clicking on any one of those locations will register a different click. Through the use of a hall-sensor, a magnet and a special algorithm, the device determines the location of the hand placed on it and activates appropriate regions to correspond to right and left clicks.

Discussion
I don't personally think this device has much application, or a future really beyond someone's pet project. While it is interesting to be able to hold the device any way you like, this is really more of a novelty and does little to enhance the user's interaction with a given interface. I feel the real innovations in HCI will come from voice and touch activated interfaces. The authors in this article are focusing on a device that is already extremely well established and requires virtually no improvement.

Extra Credit Paper #5 (CHI 2010 #13)

Title: Tangible Video Bubbles
Authors: Kimiko Ryokai, Hayes Raffle, Hiroshi Horii, and Yotam Mann
Venue: CHI 2010

Summary

Tangible Video Bubbles is an interface for children that allows for video recording manipulation. The interface is intended to be both fun and instructive, by helping to stimulate the understanding of semantics. Videos are recorded, and then displayed on a screen, where they can be repositioned and played back to the user through interaction with a ball. As the video is displayed in a bubble on the screen, it resembles the shape of the ball. Speed and position within the recorded clip can be controlled by various manipulations on the ball, such as squeezing.

Discussion
This is an interesting concept, and certainly very innovative. It would be interesting to incorporate some other type of visuals in the display, such as perhaps graphically displaying audio recorded by the child. Children could then manipulate the words and letters to play some type of game. The existing system is still very good though, and could be useful in enhancing basic intelligence in children.

Extra Credit Paper #4 (CHI 2010 #12)

Title: Tangible Interfaces for Download: Initial Observations from Users' Everyday Environments
Authors: Enrico Costanza, Matteo Giaccone, Olivier Kung, Simon Shelley, and Jeffrey Huang
Venue: CHI 2010

Summary
This paper presents Audio d-touch, a low cost tangible user interface for musical composition. As the software is free, the only costs associated with the interface are those related to hardware components required. A folded piece of paper is used to define the interface with key visual markers used as a reference. Interactions with objects on the paper are recorded by a webcam, and music composed can be played back to the user.

Discussion
While this software is still in the early phases of development, as freeware the authors are likely to do well with it. Projects like Audio d-touch represent an important counterbalance to commercial software, by forcing companies to maintain quality standards, and proving that sometimes their software isn't worth as much as they claim it is. A good example of this would be open office and Microsoft word, where the latter is encouraged to refine its interface, support, and features to continue to be distinguished as a superior product.

Extra Credit Paper #3 (CHI 2010 #11)

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Extra Credit Paper #2 (CHI 2010 #10)

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