Mobile Human Computer Interaction

Transgender and gender diverse people often experience voice-gender incongruence, which is inversely correlated with health and quality of life. Such incongruence could be reduced with voice and communication training, but expert-administered training is often inaccessible while self-guided training is difficult and potentially risky. Training could alternatively be provided through software (eg, smartphone apps), but such software is at an early stage. This qualitatively driven mixed-methods study thus includes surveys and interviews with 21 transfeminine, transmasculine and nonbinary people to identify general views of voice and communication training software as well as most desirable features of such software. Participants were positive about the general idea and described ways to effectively implement four critical features: feedback, accountability, automated goal setting, and training characteristics other than pitch. They also discussed optional or undesirable features. These findings may inform development of voice and communication training software, thus improving health and quality of life for gender minorities.

This paper provides a comparative evaluation study with totally blind participants to evaluate their performance using two braille input methods. BrailleEnter, a gesture based input method, is compared to the Swift Braille keyboard, which requires finding the location of six buttons representing braille dots. Six blind participants assessed the performance of both keyboards on Android platforms. There were significant differences between both braille keyboards in term of typing speed, error rate and usability. We found that BrailleEnter was more accurate than the Swift Braille keyboard. BrailleEnter also received higher ratings for usability based on Lewis questionnaire on input methods. At the same time, this study found that the speed of BrailleEnter was significantly slower than the Swift Braille keyboard since it required users to interact six times with the screen to insert just one character. Participants were able to quickly understand the BrailleEnter and Swift Braille input methods. Given their knowledge of Braille patterns, they were also quick to learn how to type on their touchscreen devices using the keyboards. The study indicates both keyboards strengths and weaknesses, and highlights a set of recommendations for developing a more accessible keyboard for blind people. In doing so, we consider possible design improvements for the future development of accessible keyboards for blind users.

This paper discusses our ongoing research on user interaction with autonomous mobile agents. The overarching project, DIADEM, involves the development of a (semi-)autonomous system that detects potential environmental hazards in heavily populated urban- industrial areas by using input from both a distributed sensor network and humans through their mobile devices. User experiments in this project will focus on social and affective issues in interacting with autonomous mobile agents (such as positioning of mobile agents in relation to the user, empathic interaction and user trust). We describe the project and research context for our studies.

In this paper, we introduce a geographic information system using camera phone equipped with GPS and its exhibitions. We have proposed a new kind of interface to see lost of pictures which have location information, and in the exhibition, we projected our system onto a shopping street in Japan and held it as a photography exhibition. We studied 700 pictures sent for the exhibition and three peculiar motifs were found.

Map applications for smartwatches present new challenges in cartography, a domain in which large display sizes have significant advantages. In this paper, we introduce StripeMaps, a system that adapts the mobile web design technique of linearization for displaying maps on the small screens of smartwatches. Just as web designers simplify multiple column desktop websites into a single column for easier navigation on mobile devices, StripeMaps transforms any two-dimensional route map into a one-dimensional " stripe ". Through a user study, we show that this simplification allows StripeMaps to outperform both traditional mobile map interfaces and turn-by-turn directions for pedestrian navigation using smartwatches. In addition to introducing StripeMaps, this paper also has a secondary contribution. It contains the first empirical comparison of different approaches for pedestrian smartwatch navigation and illuminates their pros and cons.

For pedestrian navigation support, we report on how the feeling of being in control about receiving updates impacts navigation efficiency and user experience. In an exploratory field study, 24 participants navigated to previously unknown targets using a wristband which conveyed tactile information about targets' bearing. Information was either pulled by the user at times of her choosing via a simple arm gesture, or was pushed by the armband at a regular, preset interval. While the push mode resulted in higher efficiency, more users preferred actively pulling information, possibly as this afforded feeling more in control. Interestingly, mode preference was independent of individual navigation ability. Results suggest that properties of the specific navigation context should be used to determine whether an interface offers push or pull modes for navigation support.

We have developed a system for automatic facial expression recognition, which runs on Google Glass and delivers real-time social cues to the wearer. We evaluate the system as a behavioral aid for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who can greatly benefit from real-time non-invasive emotional cues and are more sensitive to sensory input than neurotypically developing children. In addition, we present a mobile application that enables users of the wearable aid to review their videos along with auto-curated emotional information on the video playback bar. This integrates our learning aid into the context of behavioral therapy. Expanding on our previous work describing in-lab trials, this paper presents our system and application-level design decisions in depth as well as the interface learnings gathered during the use of the system by multiple children with ASD in an at-home iterative trial.

The IST European co-funded project DANAE is providing a full framework for the dynamic and distributed adaptation of scalable multimedia content based on media streaming technologies. It forms the backbone for the public release of a nomadic, interactive, multimedia guide that is expected to reach its final form by mid 2006 in the framework of an experimental deployment at the Museon. By using technological bricks provided by all partners involved in the DANAE project, this interactive guide will take advantage of the best of the wireless connectivity and multimedia capabilities of the new devices to offer innovative and therefore largely unexplored ways of presenting information. It will use for example 3D avatars for presenting the information and will deal as well with real time visitor contextual parameters. Other key issues like content creation techniques, content adaptation, dynamic update of multimedia applications and interactive presentation design will be also discussed in this paper. Das IST Projekt DANAE -ko-gesponsort durch die EU -stellt einen vollständigen Rahmen für die dynamische und verteilte Adaptation von skalierbaren Multimediainhalten zur Verfügung. Es stellt das Rückgrat für das öffentliche Release eines nomadischen, interaktiven Multimedia-Guides dar, dessen endgültige Form zur Mitte des Jahres 2006 erwartet wird. Dieser interaktive Guide macht Gebrauch von den besten Multimedia-und Vernetzungserrungenschaften neuer Geräte, indem er von dem technologischem Know-how aller am Projekt beteiligten Partner profitiert. Dadurch ist der Guide in der Lage Information innovativ zu präsentieren. Es werden dreidimensionale Avatars verwendet, um Informationen darzustellen. Außerdem wird die Erkennung von Umgebungsänderungen integriert ("context awareness"). Weitere Kernthemen wie Techniken zur Kreierung von Inhalten, Adaptierung von Inhalten, das ICHIM 05 -Digital Culture & Heritage / Patrimoine & Culture Numérique © Archives & Museum Informatics Europe, 2005 3 dynamische Update von Multimediaanwendungen und interaktive Präsentationsdesigns werden ebenfalls in diesem Artikel besprochen. Schlüsselwörter (DE): MPEG21, MPEG4, Media streaming, dynamische Adaption, 3D Avatars, Context Awareness, Geo-lokalisierung, Museum Handy. Résumé (FR) DANAE, projet européen IST (Information Society Technologies), a pour objectif de fournir un système complet permettant l'adaptation dynamique et distribuée de contenus multimédias « scalables » en utilisant des informations contextuelles. Ce système formera le squelette d'une plate-forme offrant aux visiteurs une application nomade de guide multimédia interactif qui sera finalisée mi-2006 dans le cadre d'une expérimentation au Museon. En s'appuyant sur les modules technologiques fournis par les différents partenaires impliqués dans le projet DANAE, ce guide interactif saura tirer profit au mieux de la connectivité sans fil ainsi que des possibilités multimédia des nouveaux terminaux portables. Il offrira alors aux visiteurs un moyen innovant et encore largement inexploré d'accéder à du contenu multimédia grâce par exemple à des avatars 3D tout en étant capable de tenir compte en temps réel des paramètres contextuels du visiteur

In mobile computing, a fundamental problem is maintaining awareness of the environment and of information presented as messages on a mobile device. In mobile police patrol, officers need to pay attention to their direct environment and stay informed of incidents elsewhere. To prevent unwanted interruption, a context-aware notification system adapts the timing and appearance of incident messages, based on user activity (available, in transit or busy) and message priority (high, normal or low). We evaluated the benefits and costs of adaptive notification compared to three uniform notification styles (presenting full messages, postponing messages or presenting indicators). Thirty-two trained student participants used a prototype notification system in a controlled mobile patrol task. The results were validated in a follow-up study with twenty-four police officers. We found that full messages elicited a quick, but sometimes incorrect response to incident messages, whereas with adaptive notification responses were slower but only for lower priority messages. The results are discussed in view of notification systems' design for mobile professionals.

Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This paper describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players should explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this paper is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. We explore how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.