Interaction Design Group Seminars RSS Feeds

PhD Completion Seminar: Voice in Virtual Worlds

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 31 Jul 2009
3.00 - 3.45 pm

For his PhD, Greg has conducted four studies of communication in online virtual environments, focusing on voice and text modalities ahd how these interact with three-dimensionality, multiple contexts, and fluid identity. The studies included ethnographies of voice use in MMORPGs and Second Life, and studies of collaboration at large and small scales of virtual distance. Greg's website contains some publications from these studies. This talk will run from 3.00 to 3:45 pm, including time for discussion.

Greg is a PhD candidate in the Interaction Design Group at the University of Melbourne, supervised by Martin Gibbs and Steve Howard. He plans to submit his thesis this year.

Collaborative Building in Second Life

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 31 Jul 2009
3.50 - 4.15 pm

Greg will preview a talk he is giving at ECSCW09 on collaboration around objects in Second Life. This study, conducted at PARC in 2008, re-enacted classic 'quasi-experiments' into problems of reference to objects and places. The detachable camera feature of SL makes it especially hard to deduce a collaborator's focus of attention via their avatar's gaze or gesture; yet users discovered interesting ways to directly refer to locations. This talk will run from 3.50 to 4:15 pm, including time for discussion.

The paper is "The 'out-of-avatar experience': object-focused collaboration in Second Life" by Greg Wadley and Nicolas Ducheneaut.

The Commodification of Location: Dynamics of Power in Location-based Systems

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 07 Aug 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Location-based ubiquitous computing systems are entering mainstream society and becoming familiar parts of everyday life. However, the settings in which they are deployed are already suffused with complex social dynamics. We report on a study of parole officers and parolees whose relationships are being transformed by location-based technologies. While parolees are clearly subjects of state discipline, the parole officers also find themselves subject to new responsibilities. This study highlights the complexities of power in sociotechnical systems and what happens when location becomes a tradable, technological object.

Paul Dourish is professor of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. His research interest lies at the intersection of computer science and social science, with a particular interest in ubiquitous and mobile computing and the practices surrounding new media.

Ambient Awareness and Situated Displays

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 14 Aug 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Ambient awareness technologies bring information into peripheral attention, allowing people to be aware of the information without necessarily focusing on it or explicitly attending to it. A number of different techniques can be used to provide information in this manner. Situated displays are one such technology. In this talk, I will describe two projects which have attempted to explore the ideas of ambient awareness from different perspectives and in different application areas. In the domestic realm, we explored how a situated display might be useful as an SMS communication device. After developing prototype technology we performed an ethnographic evaluation with four households, including two non-family households, and found some interesting results. In another project, which is ongoing, we are exploring the ways in which software development teams communicate information relating to their day-to-day project status. Having recently completed a qualitative case study with a large software team we are now looking to augment their work practices with technologies drawn from the field of ambient awareness.

John Downs is a student with the Human-Computer Interaction Rearch Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland.

Sex Toys – Design, Technology and the Future for Human/Machine Sexual Interaction

Mon 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 21 Aug 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Sex toys and their precursors are not a product genre you will find mentioned in the canons of design history and theory. In fact, as a field of research, they appear infrequently in any field of study. Yet they are manufactured and consumed in their millions year after year and have done so for decades in their modern form. There is evidence they have been manufactured for thousands of years and Victorian England and America supported a thriving vibrator industry treating middle class women for hysteria. As mass produced objects they are embedded with the socio-cultural meanings of constructed gender ideology and sexual control. As technological objects they are as complicated and harmless as an electric toothbrush. So, 30 years after the sexual revolution, why are they still socially taboo? What if they weren’t and what if they were designed using the innovation methods and strategies of industrial, product, multimedia, interface and HCI designers?

Judith Glover is a lecturer in Industrial Design and Product Design Engineering at Swinburne University. Her PhD topic investigates the taboo nature of the sex toy industry and argues industrial design methods are central to bringing this product genre into mainstream commerce through appropriate female-centric design.

Finding the Other 5%: Understanding the Role of Social Networking Technologies in Building Personal Networks for Young Adults with Cancer

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 28 Aug 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

In this paper, we explore the ways in which young adults with cancer (aged 17-24) build support networks through computer mediated personal networks. The support networks are influenced by technological affordances and the ongoing experiences of living with the illness and treatment regimes. We report a single, in-depth case study of one young adult with cancer and her use of mobile telephony and web based social networking sites in building support networks. Three important themes emerge from this case. First, in this context, computer mediated communications (CMC) are not exclusive to the maintenance of online relationships, but mediate networks of "core", "significant," and new ties (primarily online) over time. Second, the social engagement between the subject and members of their social networks is dynamic with different modes of communication predominant at different points in time and different relationships significant at different points in time depending on state of illness, treatment and context. Finally, the interplay between CMC and different ties influence the characteristics of the networks, which is characterized by bridging and segmenting networks.

Shawn Ashkanasy is a PhD student of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include the study of computer mediated social support and, in particular, life changing events in late adolescents and young adulthood and the use of social networking media.

"Slippery" Interactions: Exploring Informal Interaction and Co-Presence in Hybrid Spaces for the Support of Student Learning

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 04 Sep 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

The aim of this project is to investigate how students informally interact across hybrid learning spaces, with a particular consideration for the qualities of co-presence and proximity. A hybrid learning space describes a convergent physical and virtual environment that can facilitate learning-related events and behaviours. For example, when a student is talking to other individuals or group members in a room (physical), while simultaneously using an instant messaging client or sending a text message (virtual). The informal interactions that occur here may have both social outcomes, such as strengthening social bonds between students, and learning related outcomes, such as unexpected information transfer that contribute towards informal learning. In this presentation, I will outline the background to the project and the proposed research methodology. It is hoped that this research will lead to the design of a prototype or other technology that can build on our understanding of how co-presence impacts on informal interaction in hybrid learning spaces. The ultimate goal would be to have a prototype design that could be adopted for use in higher education to better support student learning experiences.

Kate Goodwin is a first-year Master of Science (Information Systems) student in the Department of Information Systems (DIS), University of Melbourne. Her main research interests are learning technologies, ubiquitous computing and HCI. Her supervisors are Dr Frank Vetere (DIS) and Dr Gregor Kennedy (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences). Kate has worked in the education software industry for over 4 years, and prior to this was a freelance multimedia designer focusing on interface design for educational applications.

The Melbourne Punk Scene in Australia’s Independent Music History

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 11 Sep 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

The existence of independent music communities and culture within Australia’s major cities today is largely attributed to the introduction of punk in the late 1970s. Among the inner city youth, a tiny subculture emerged around this sprawling, haphazard style of music that was quickly dismissed by the major players in the Australian music industry as bereft of commercial possibilities. Left to its own devices, punk was forced to rely solely on the strength of the independent music network to release some of the most original music of the era and lay the foundations for a celebrated musical culture. This paper examines the factors that contributed to and influenced the early Australian punk scenes, focusing in particular on Melbourne between 1975 and 1981. It shows that the emergence and characteristics of independent music communities within individual cities can be attributed to the existence of certain factors and institutions, both external and internal to the city.

Morgan Langdon completed her Honours degree in Media Studies at La Trobe University in 2008. This paper is an excerpt from her Honours thesis on independent music culture in Melbourne. She plans to commence her PhD in 2010.

Reality Mash Up: Second Life Teleports into the Contemporary Art World (Artist Talk)

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 18 Sep 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Primarily an installation artist, Georgie Roxby Smith challenges the relationship between analogue and digital systems, questioning materiality and exploring new possibilities of virtual reality software. Her practice is engaged with the themes of digital and global systems and the glitches created when these systems meet with the analogue or the everyday. Through extracting and reinjecting her Second Life avatar into physical space, her work exists on a kaleidoscope of planes - "in world", within a body of physical sculptures, as ephemeral projections in space and as recreated performances by both humans and avatars. Forming a virtual hall of mirrors, these realities bleedthrough and overlap into each other, creating an indeterminate state where audiences are in two, three, four realities at once.

Georgie has recently been accepted into the Watermill Center Residency Program (New York) and the Linden Centre for Contemporary Art Innovators Program. She has also been selected as guest reviewer for Second Life simulator Brooklyn is Watching, presented by Jack the Pelican Presents (New York). As well as exhibiting in local ARI's, Georgie has taken part in the Melbourne International Arts Festival for the past three years including 'Navigators' 2006 (for which she received the Eldon and Anne Foote Trust Travel Grant), 'John Cage's Musicircus' 2007 and, in 2008, contributed to 'Longing Belonging Land' and assisted artist Chris Doyle with his 'Ecstatic City' installation.

Georgie Roxby Smith is an artist and production manager and is currently completing her Master of Visual Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Travelling Without Moving: Greece-USA-Australia

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 25 Sep 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Based on the famous Jamiroquai song, this presentation will introduce and unveil the secret life of a new member of the IDG group. Kostantinos (preferably Kostas even though Kon starts sounding appealing) will introduce himself, his aspirations, beliefs, life journey as well as his PhD research under the tight supervision of Prof. Steve Howard. Complimentary Greek delicacies will be offered.

Kostas is a new PhD student in the Department of Information Systems and member of the Interaction Design Group. His main research interests are Ubiquitous Computing, HCI and Software Engineering. His supervisor is Prof. Steve Howard. Kostas has over 3 years of hardware and software engineering experience both in industry and academic labs. Having lived for 2 years in USA he is still struggling to get accustomed to the Australian way of life :-)

Blended Interaction Spaces for Distributed Team Collaboration

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Monday 28 Sep 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

The Blended Interaction Space (BIS) concept combines video conferencing elements and distributed shared interactive digital screen elements to support distributed hands-on collaboration in the workplace in a way that participants feel as if they are together. This feeling is achieved by a "blending" of the two spaces, which allows participants of a meeting to communicate and interact as they would if they were located face-to-face.

The interaction design for the physical and the digital workspace is an important part of achieving this "blending". Project teams are often created across several physical locations, and we have an expectation to be able to collaborate in such ways with the aid of technology. BIS sets itself apart from previous work in media spaces and telepresence by combining both support for natural person-to-person communication and distributed shared interactive media spaces for data sharing and collaborative manipulation. This work was done as a cross organisational collaboration itself, under the banner of the Braccetto project, as part of the HxI initiative, between CSIRO Sydney, NICTA Sydney and DSTO Adelaide – I will be presenting the design process and the outcomes of this project.

Jeni Paay is a senior research scientist and interaction designer with the User Experience Group, CSIRO.

The Seduction of the New: Balancing Web 2 Cool with Coalface Realities

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 09 Oct 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

An array of new Web 2.0 technologies has risen to prominence in the last few years (Flickr, Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, Del.ici.ous, Twitter). These technologies are characterised by users’ ability to create content and then, with relative ease, publish it to the world or share it with others in their social network. The widespread popularity and potential learning applications of these technologies has not gone unnoticed by educational technology commentators and university administrators alike. As a result there is increasing pressure on teaching staff – implicit and explicit – to incorporate Web 2.0 learning activities into their curriculum. And while there are certainly examples of how this has been done well, there are also significant ‘coalface’ challenges associated with effectively incorporating ‘Web 2 Cool’ into students’ learning experience.

I will argue in this presentation that, in part, the perceived need to use Web 2.0 technologies in learning is based on fundamental assumptions about (i) the technological experiences and preferences of students who are entering higher education, and (ii) perceptions that Web 2.0 technologies offer straightforward opportunities to enhance students’ learning experiences. I will present findings from a number of programs of research that test these assumptions. I will also discuss the lessons learnt from the implementation of a collaborative writing exercise, in which 750 first-year students were asked to use a wiki to create, publish and share material in their psychology studies. I will conclude by reflecting on how key attributes of Web 2.0 technologies can sometimes run counter to traditional practices of learning and teaching within universities.

Gregor Kennedy is head of the Biomedical Multimedia Unit at the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne.

PhD Confirmation Seminar: The Role Of Visualisation For Understanding Complex Systems

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 16 Oct 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Complex systems are systems of interconnected parts where the behaviours at one level can give rise to emergent patterns at another level. Understanding complex systems is difficult due to the number of parts and internal and external factors involved that need to be considered simultaneously. Structure-behaviour-function (SBF) theory has been used to identify differences between expert and novice approaches to complex systems with the greatest disparity in comprehending behaviour and function. The instructional implications of these expert-novice differences have led to the development of various inquiry-based computer simulations and learning-by-design activities. These developments focus primarily on behaviour and function which can be problematic for mechanical and biological complex systems where form dictates function. The aim of this project is to investigate how visual representations of structure, behaviour, and function can be effectively integrated to support understanding of emergence in complex systems.

Ardis Cheng is a PhD student in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne with interests in visual communication and interaction design in medical education.

Pre-OZCHI Presentations

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:30:00 GMT+1100

Friday 23 Oct 2009
3.00 - 4.30 pm

Long Papers
Beyond The User: Use And Non-Use In HCI Christine Satchell, Paul Dourish
You Can Be Too Rich: Mediated Communication In A Virtual World Greg Wadley, Martin Gibbs, Nicolas Ducheneaut

Short Papers
Truce In Online Games Mitchell Harrop
Having Fun At Home: Interleaving Fieldwork And Goal Models Sonja Pedell, Tim Miller, Frank Vetere, Leon Sterling, Steve Howard, Jeni Paay

The Role of Mood in How We Perceive Interface Agents That Express Emotions

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 30 Oct 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Affective computing originated in the field of Artificial Intelligence. However, in the last decade or so it has found its way into the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Currently, we see emotions being utilised from attempts to create/enhance basic ‘social interaction’ among human and computers, effective teaching and learner engagement, and persuasion. One of the common methods of delivering emotions at an interface level is with a use of an interface agent and is commonly used in teaching, e-commerce and the health domain. Although, technologies such as interface agents that express emotions are said to allow more natural or more enhanced interactions with computers, the opposite is often true. This can be directed to the fact that little work has been conducted to understand the implications of these ‘synthetic’ emotions on users’ perceptions, behaviours and emotions.

Whilst trying to investigate effects of emotions expressed by interface agents on their users, I found that users can ‘catch’ emotions expressed by an interface agent, similar to how humans transmit and catch one another’s emotions. This can be a used to regulate and optimise one’s emotions to best suite the interaction at hand. For example, expressions of positive emotions by an interface agent can lead to reduction in the user’s boredom. However, it seems that we need to pay particular attention to the user’s mood when designing such technology.

In this presentation I will show (i) empirical evidence to support how users’ mood can influence users’ perceptions of the interface agent and (ii) discuss how not addressing users’ mood may lead to failure in technologies such as interface agents that express emotions.

Nilma Perera is a PhD student at the Department of Information Systems (DIS) and the Biomedical Multimedia Unit (BMU). Her research interests are Affective Computing, Emotions and Flow theory. Nilma is supervised by Jon Pearce (DIS) and Gregor Kennedy (BMU).

PhD Confirmation Seminar: Community Negotiated Game Rules In Online Multiplayer Games

Tues, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Friday 20 Nov 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

Remember when you were a little kid and you played a game with your friends where you chased each other? Sometimes you'd feel someone wasn't playing fairly (they ran out of bounds, they climbed a tree, they hid, they kicked you in the shins) and a huge debate/riot would ensue about what rules to play by. Sometimes the riot was half the fun.

Well, I'm here to tell you that half of the fun also happens in online multiplayer games today. There are programmed rules, there are rules at a social level and sometimes programmers change which are which through the magic of engineering. The aim of this project is to investigate the nature of these rules and how people bring them into play within computer mediated environments. Of particular interest is the role of rules in the ongoing design process of games. We'll be running through the design of three studies which aim to get this done.

Mitchell also does stuff on iFish: http://disweb.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/jonmp/projects/iFISH/rFISH/runifish.html, http://disweb.dis.unimelb.edu.au/staff/jonmp/projects/iFISH/

Comparative Ethnography: An Alternative Approach to the Evaluation of Unruly Technology in the Health Care Sector

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT+1100

Thursday 17 Dec 2009
3.00 - 4.00 pm

In this presentation I talk about current work seeking to introduce insights from ethnography and social studies of medical technology into practices of measuring effects of IT in the health care sector. Presently, there is much frustration among vendors and users of of health care IT around precisely this issue. In the talk I hypothesize that the understanding of IT-effects is largely influenced by an evidence-based medicine approach to effects. I argue that this is problematic for a number of reasons having to do with the unruliness of both IT and disease and propose and alternative approach. The alternative approach comparative ethnography is practice-based and compares the effect of IT in different sociotechnical configurations. It uses contrast and continuous analytical provocation as its working tool.

Unlike other approaches to effect measurement, our approach takes as its point of departure that the specific ways in which IT and care practices connect, are extremely hard to predict. This should acknowledged and not considered something to control or work-around.

Brit Ross Winthereik is an associate professor at the IT University of Copenhagen.