SurfNet
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NSERC SurfNet is a Canadian alliance of academic researchers, industry partners and government collaborators. The goal of SurfNet is to improve the development, performance, and usability of software applications for surface computing environments of digital display surfaces, such as multi-touch screens, tabletops, wall-sized displays and hand-held devices. We develop innovative collaboration techniques for digital display surfaces to encourage interaction with data in a productive and creative way.
SurfNet’s vision is to integrate innovative research in two critical areas – software engineering (SE) and human-computer interaction (HCI) – to identify critical requirements, design new engineering processes, and build new tools for surface-based application development.
SurfNet’s fundamental research is clustered into three research themes and four application areas.
RESEARCH THEMES:
APPLICATION AREAS:
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Item Metadata only Low-Cost Malleable Surfaces with Multi-Touch Pressure Sensitivity(IEEE, 2007) Smith, J.D.; Graham, T.C.N.; Holman, D.; Borchers, J.While touch sensitivity has today become commonplace, it is oftentimes limited to a single point of contact with a hard, rigid surface. We present a novel technique for the construction of a malleable surface with multi-touch sensitivity. The sensor is pressure sensitive and responds to near zero-force touch from any object. The technique is an extension of previous work based on frustrated total internal reflection.Item Metadata only A low-cost infrastructure for tabletop games(ACM, 2008) Wolfe, Christopher; Smith, J. David; Graham, T.C. NicholasTabletop games provide an intimate gaming experience where groups of friends can interact in a shared space using shared physical props. Digital tabletop games show great promise in bringing this experience to video game players. However the cost of developing tabletop games is high due to the need for expensive hardware and complex software. In this paper, we introduce EquisFTIR, a low-cost hardware and software infrastructure for digital tabletop gaming. We illustrate the infrastructure through Asterocks, a novel tabletop game.Item Metadata only Item Metadata only Visualizing Emotional Requirements(IEEE, 2009) Callele, D.; Neufeld, E.; Schneider, K.Emotional requirements capture the game designer's vision for the player's emotional experience and are used to facilitate communication between pre-production and production teams. However, production-phase deficiencies in emotional requirements have been identified. In this work, we extend the definition of emotional requirements to include emotion prototypes and emotion markers and present improved techniques for eliciting, capturing and visualizing emotional requirements. A detailed investigation of one gameplay scenario is presented, with a focus on evaluating visualization techniques for emotional requirements. The solutions developed in this work met the needs of all development team members and appear to be general solutions for the domain.Item Metadata only Investigating teamwork and taskwork in single- and multi-display groupware systems(Springer, 2009) Wallace, James R.; Scott, Stacey D.; Stutz, Taryn; Enns, Tricia; Inkpen, KoriMulti-display groupware (MDG) systems, which typically comprise both public and personal displays, promise to enhance collaboration, yet little is understood about how they differ in use from single-display groupware (SDG) systems. While research has established the technical feasibility of MDG systems, evaluations have not addressed the question of how users’ behave in such environments, how their interface design can impact group behavior, or what advantages they offer for collaboration. This paper presents a user study that investigates the impact of display configuration and software interface design on taskwork and teamwork. Groups of three completed a collaborative optimization task in single- and multi-display environments, under different task interface constraints. Our results suggest that MDG configurations offer advantages for performing individual task duties, whereas SDG conditions offer advantages for coordinating access to shared resources. The results also reveal the importance of ergonomic design considerations when designing co-located groupware systems.Item Metadata only Wii all play: the console game as a computational meeting place(ACM, 2009) Voida, Amy; Greenberg, SaulIn this paper, we present results from a qualitative study of collocated group console gaming. We focus on motivations for, perceptions of, and practices surrounding the shared use of console games by a variety of established groups of gamers. These groups include both intragenerational groups of youth, adults, and elders as well as intergenerational families. Our analysis highlights the numerous ways that console games serve as a computational meeting place for a diverse population of gamers.Item Metadata only The Haptic Tabletop Puck: The Video(ACM, 2009) Marquardt, Nicolai; Nacenta, Miguel A.; Young, Jim; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Greenberg, Saul; Sharlin, EhudIn everyday life, our interactions with objects on real tables include how our fingertips feel those objects. In comparison, current digital interactive tables present a uniform touch surface that feels the same, regardless of what it presents visually. In this video, we demonstrate how tactile interaction can be used with digital tabletop surfaces. We present a simple and inexpensive device -- the Haptic Tabletop Puck -- that incorporates dynamic, interactive haptics into tabletop interaction. We created several applications that explore tactile feedback in the area of haptic information visualization, haptic graphical interfaces, and computer supported collaboration. In particular, we focus on how a person may interact with the friction, height, texture and malleability of digital objects.Item Metadata only The Haptic Tabletop Puck: Tactile Feedback for Interactive Tabletops(ACM, 2009) Marquardt, Nicolai; Nacenta, Miguel A.; Young, Jim; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Greenberg, Saul; Sharlin, EhudIn everyday life, our interactions with objects on real tables include how our fingertips feel those objects. In comparison, current digital interactive tables present a uniform touch surface that feels the same, regardless of what it presents visually. In this paper, we explore how tactile interaction can be used with digital tabletop surfaces. We present a simple and inexpensive device -- the Haptic Tabletop Puck -- that incorporates dynamic, interactive haptics into tabletop interaction. We created several applications that explore tactile feedback in the area of haptic information visualization, haptic graphical interfaces, and computer supported collaboration. In particular, we focus on how a person may interact with the friction, height, texture and malleability of digital objects.Item Metadata only UI traces: Supporting the maintenance of interactive software(IEEE, 2009) Sutherland, Andrew; Schneider, KevinWe propose a method to support the maintenance of interactive software systems with user interface traces, that involves: (1) collecting execution traces of an interactive system, (2) segmenting execution traces into user interface traces according to user interface activity, and (3) mapping the user interface activity to the implementation activity. To support our approach, we developed a tool that uses aspect-oriented programming and load-time weaving to collect user interface traces from an interactive system. The tool allows us to browse the user interface traces and view user interface related data such as: user input, display updates, and thread activity. Using our tool, we demonstrate how developers can orient themselves and identify the slice of code relevant to performing common software maintenance tasks.Item Metadata only Augmenting Emotional Requirements with Emotion Markers and Emotion Prototypes(IEEE, 2009) Callele, David; Neufeld, Eric; Schneider, KevinA production-phase weakness in emotional requirements was identified and resolved during a follow-up study. The definition of emotional requirements was extended to include emotion prototypes and emotion markers. Improved practices for identifying media assets for emotional requirements were developed, enhancing their utility to the production process.Item Metadata only ActiveStory Enhanced: Low-Fidelity Prototyping and Wizard of Oz Usability Testing Tool(Springer, 2009) Hosseini-Khayat, Ali; Ghanam, Yaser; Park, Shelly; Maurer, FrankThis paper presents “ActiveStory Enhanced” as a tool that enables prototyping user interfaces and conducting usability tests in a way that is aligned with agile principles. The tool allows designers to sketch user interface prototypes as well as add basic interactions to provide navigation. Sketching can be done using a mouse or stylus on tablet PCs. Designers can then export the prototype to a web-based Wizard of Oz testing tool, allowing test participants to remotely walk through a UI while recording metrics such as mouse movements and time spent on pages. ASE improves on the original by providing some usability improvements, improved browser support, undo support, more control over the design and an improved pen and paper metaphor.Item Open Access Haptic Puck Development Tools(2009)Haptic Tabletop Puck development tools is a set of files, instructions and software that facilitate the creation and development of haptic experiences for tabletop computers. It is still under active development. For more information, http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/cookbook/index.php/Toolkits/HTPItem Metadata only InfoFlow Framework for Evaluating New Healthcare Technologies(Taylor & Francis, 2010) Tang, Charlotte; Scott, Stacey D.; Carpendale, SheelaghThis article presents a framework of 6 distinct yet interrelated factors for describing information flow that arose from a combination of field studies in a hospital ward and a review of literature. These studies investigated the dynamics of nurses' information flow, focusing on shift change. The InfoFlow Framework's 6 interrelated factors that affect the information flow are information, personnel, artifacts, spatiality, temporality, and communication mode. The framework is presented as a tool for evaluating new health care technologies. The 6 factors and their interrelationships are described first. Next, this structure is applied as a tool to aid in the analysis of the data generated in a study that assesses technology in use. Then the use of the framework is illustrated by structuring it as a set of questions that can be used as a guide for other researchers to generate coherent descriptions of the information flow and to evaluate technology deployments. Finally, there is a discussion of areas where the InfoFlow framework may be applied to allow an evaluation of the extent to which the framework may be generalized to other settings.Item Metadata only What Caused That Touch? Expressive Interaction with a Surface through Fiduciary-Tagged Gloves(ACM, 2010) Marquardt, Nicolai; Kiemer, Johannes; Greenberg, SaulThe hand has incredible potential as an expressive input device. Yet most touch technologies imprecisely recognize limited hand parts (if at all), usually by inferring the hand part from the touch shapes. We introduce the fiduciary-tagged glove as a reliable, inexpensive, and very expressive way to gather input about: (a) many parts of a hand (fingertips, knuckles, palms, sides, backs of the hand), and (b) to discriminate between one person's or multiple peoples' hands. Examples illustrate the interaction power gained by being able to identify and exploit these various hand parts.Item Metadata only Agile Interaction Design and Test-Driven Development of User Interfaces – A Literature Review(Springer, 2010) Hellmann, Theodore D.; Hosseini-Khayat, Ali; Maurer, FrankThis chapter describes the development of GUI-based applications, from usability engineering and prototyping to acceptance test-driven development, in an agile context. An overview of current agile interaction design practices will be presented, including a thorough analysis of the current role of prototyping and current attempts to facilitate test-driven development of GUI systems, as presented in academic and industrial literature. Traditional usability engineering approaches shows that if user input is taken into consideration early in the development process by repeatedly conducting usability tests on low-fidelity prototypes of the GUI system, the final version of the GUI will be both more usable and less likely to require revision. The major risk associated with test-driven development of GUIs is the high likelihood of change in the target GUI, which can make test development unnecessarily expensive and time consuming. A unification of these styles of development will be presented, along with a prediction of how this process can be used to simplify creating testable GUI-based applications by agile teams.Item Metadata only Supporting sandtray therapy on an interactive tabletop(ACM, 2010) Hancock, Mark; ten Cate, Thomas; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Isenberg, TobiasWe present the iterative design of a virtual sandtray application for a tabletop display. The purpose of our prototype is to support sandtray therapy, a form of art therapy typically used for younger clients. A significant aspect of this therapy is the insight gained by the therapist as they observe the client interact with the figurines they use to create a scene in the sandtray. In this manner, the therapist can gain increased understanding of the client's psyche. We worked with three sandtray therapists throughout the evolution of our prototype. We describe the details of the three phases of this design process: initial face-to-face meetings, iterative design and development via distance collaboration, and a final face-to-face feedback session. This process revealed that our prototype was sufficient for therapists to gain insight about a person's psyche through their interactions with the virtual sandtray.Item Open Access A Proximity and Orientation Aware Video Playback Application(2010) Ballendat, Till; Marquardt, Nicolai; Greenberg, SaulThis application, built atop the proximity toolkit, controls video playback on a large screen and reacts accordingly to a number of implicit actions. It shows different views on video data depending on the user’s presence and proximity. It allows one to select and browse by touching or by pointing from a distance with a mobile phone.Sitting down and looking at the screen automatically enables video playback and other people that enter the room will be provided with additional information about the playing video. The system can recognize user actions, like making a call or looking away and pause the playback. For more information, http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/cookbook/index.php/Demos/ProximityVideoItem Metadata only Information needs in bug reports: improving cooperation between developers and users(ACM, 2010) Breu, Silvia; Premraj, Rahul; Sillito, Jonathan; Zimmermann, ThomasFor many software projects, bug tracking systems play a central role in supporting collaboration between the developers and the users of the software. To better understand this collaboration and how tool support can be improved, we have quantitatively and qualitatively analysed the questions asked in a sample of 600 bug reports from the MOZILLA and ECLIPSE projects. We categorised the questions and analysed response rates and times by category and project. Our results show that the role of users goes beyond simply reporting bugs: their active and ongoing participation is important for making progress on the bugs they report. Based on the results, we suggest four ways in which bug tracking systems can be improved.Item Metadata only Adapting Existing Applications to Support New Interaction Technologies: Technical and Usability Issues(ACM, 2010) Andreychuk, Darren; Ghanam, Yaser; Maurer, FrankEngineering interactive systems for use on emerging technologies such as touch-enabled devices and horizontal displays is not straightforward. Firstly, the migration process of a system from an old hardware platform to new multi-touch displays is challenging. Issues pertaining to scaling, orientation, new input mechanisms, novel interaction techniques and different SDKs need to be examined. Secondly, even after we manage to understand and resolve these issues, we need to find effective ways to migrate applications and maintain them. This paper contributes a thorough analysis of the technical and usability issues that need to be considered when migrating systems to different touch-enabled technologies including vertical and horizontal displays.Item Metadata only Evaluation of optimized staffing for feature development and bug fixing(ACM, 2010) Rahman, Md. Mainur; Sohan, S.M.; Maurer, Frank; Ruhe, GuentherSkill level and productivity varies substantially between developers. In current staffing practices, however, developers are largely treated as the same. In this paper, an empirical analysis of the tow formulations of assignment of developers to tasks and bug fixing activities is studied. Two related problems are considered: (i) Assignment of developers to bug fixing with the objective to achieve best match between requested skill profile and assigned developer's skill profile. (ii) Assignment of developers to feature-related tasks in iterative development process. Two optimization approaches have been customized to determine qualified staffing plans. They are based on greedy optimization respectively genetic algorithm (GA). Empirical analysis is done for nine milestones of the open source Eclipse JDT project and two industrial case study projects. The main conclusion drawn from the analysis is that substantial savings can be achieved from optimized staffing policies when compared to the manual plans formerly applied. More specifically, the GA results are mostly the best, and the (lightweight) Greedy search becomes the better the bigger the look-ahead time L. Overall, the results are considered as decision support in finding better staffing policies in shorter time.