Browsing by Author "Fakourfar, Omid"

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    Collaboration in 360° Videochat: Challenges and Opportunities
    (2017-04-18) Tang, Anthony; Fakourfar, Omid; Neustaedter, Carman; Bateman, Scott
    We designed a videochat experience where one participant can experience a remote environment from a 360° camera. This allows the remote user to view and explore the environment without necessitating interaction from the local participant. We designed and conducted an observational study to understand the experience, and the challenges that people might encounter. In a study with 32 participants (16 pairs), we found that remote participants could actively participate in the experience with the environment in ways that are not possible with current mobile video chat. However, we also found that participants had challenges in communicating location and orientation information because many of common communication resources we rely on in collocated chat are not available. Based on these findings, we discuss how future mobile video chat systems need to balance immersion with interaction ease.
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    A SOFTWARE TOOL TO GREATLY REDUCE THE INSTRUCTIONAL TIME NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT THE SCIENCE GENIUS RAP PROGRAMME
    (2016-12-20) Fakourfar, Omid; Tse, Edward; Tang, Anthony; Boyle, Michael
    Urban youth of color from low socioeconomic status are generally known to be less engaged in STEM in the United States. On the other hand, the same demographic is usually engaged in hip-hop culture and rap music. Emdin et. al. (2016) have introduced a 12-week teaching model through a hip-hop based science programme which encourages students to come up with hip-hop songs by connecting their everyday life to scientific concepts. This method has shown considerable promise: students have used it mainly as a way of disclosing their emotion while learning scientific concepts at the same time. However, the length of this programme could dissuade teachers from adopting this method. In this work, we introduce a software tool to facilitate the same process and achieve many of its outcomes all within a single instructional period, i.e., an hour.
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    Stabilized Annotations for Mobile Remote Assistance
    (2016) Fakourfar, Omid; Tang, Anthony; Jacob, Christian; Oehlberg, Lora
    Recent mobile technology has provided new opportunities for creating remote assistance systems. However, mobile support systems present a particular challenge: both the camera and display are held by the user, leading to shaky video. When pointing or drawing annotations, this means that the desired target often moves, causing the gesture to lose its intended meaning. To address this problem, this thesis investigates an annotation stabilization technique, which allows annotations to stick to their intended location. I studied two different forms of annotation systems, with both tablets and head-mounted displays. To differentiate my work from the prior research, I considered a number of task factors that might influence system performance in remote assistance scenarios. My analysis suggests that stabilized annotations and head-mounted displays are only beneficial in certain situations. I conclude with reflections on system limitations and potential future work.