http://www.hindawi.comThe latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2010/209801.htmlThe 3D virtual world of “Second Life” imitates a form of real life by providing a space for rich interactions and social events. Second Life encourages people to establish or strengthen interpersonal relations, to share ideas, to gain new experiences, and to feel genuine emotions accompanying all adventures of virtual reality. Undoubtedly, emotions play a powerful role in communication. However, to trigger visual display of user's affective state in a virtual world, user has to manually assign appropriate facial expression or gesture to own avatar. Affect sensing from text, which enables automatic expression of emotions in the virtual environment, is a method to avoid manual control by the user and to enrich remote communications effortlessly. In this paper, we describe a lexical rule-based approach to recognition of emotions from text and an application of the developed Affect Analysis Model in Second Life. Based on the result of the Affect Analysis Model, the developed EmoHeart (“object” in Second Life) triggers animations of avatar facial expressions and visualizes emotion by heart-shaped textures.Alena Neviarouskaya, Helmut Prendinger, and Mitsuru Ishizuka© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2010/319406.htmlThis paper presents the SEMAINE API, an open source framework for building emotion-oriented systems. By encouraging and simplifying the use of standard representation formats, the framework aims to contribute to interoperability and reuse of system components in the research community. By providing a Java and C++ wrapper around a message-oriented middleware, the API makes it easy to integrate components running on different operating systems and written in different programming languages. The SEMAINE system 1.0 is presented as an example of a full-scale system built on top of the SEMAINE API. Three small example systems are described in detail to illustrate how integration between existing and new components is realised with minimal effort.Marc Schröder© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/901707.htmlWe introduce a new type of perception aid device based on user's exploration action, which is named as CyARM (acronym of “Cyber Arm”). The user holds this device in her/his arm, the extension of the arm is controlled by tension in wires, which are attached to her/his body according to the distance to the object. This user interface has unique characteristics that give users the illusion of an imaginary arm that extends to existing objects. The implementations of CyARM and our two experiments to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of CyARM are described. The results show that we could confirm that CyARM can be used to recognize the presence of an object in front of the user and to measure the relative distance to the object.Junichi Akita, Takanori komatsu, Kiyohide Ito, Tetsuo Ono, and Makoto Okamoto© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/713516.htmlRFID technology provides an economically feasible means to embed computing and communication capabilities in numerous physical objects around us, thereby allowing anyone to effortlessly announce and expose varieties of information anywhere at any time. As the technology is increasingly used in everyday environments, there is a heightening tension in the design and shaping of social boundaries in the digitally enhanced real world. Our experiments of RFID-triggered information sharing have identified usability, deployment, and privacy issues of physically based information systems. We discuss awareness issues and cognitive costs in regulating RFID-triggered information flows and propose a framework for privacy-observant RFID applications. The proposed framework supports users' in situ privacy boundary control by allowing users to (1) see how their information is socially disclosed and viewed by others, (2) dynamically negotiate their privacy boundaries, and (3) automate certain information disclosure processes.Shin'ichi Konomi and Chang S. Nam© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/642929.htmlA Benefit-Cost-Deficit (BCD) model is proposed for analyzing such intentional human errors as barrier removal, the deliberate nonrespect of the rules and instructions governing use of a given system. The proposed BCD model attempts to explain and predict barrier removal in terms of the benefits, costs, and potential deficits associated with this human behaviour. The results of an experimental study conducted on a railway simulator (TRANSPAL) are used to illustrate the advantages of the BCD model. In this study, human operators were faced with barriers that they could choose to deactivate, or not. Their decisions were analyzed in an attempt to explain and predict their choices. The analysis highlights that operators make their decisions using a balance between several criteria. Though barriers are safety-related elements, the decision to remove them is not guided only by the safety criterion; it is also motivated by such criteria as productivity, workload, and quality. Results of prediction supported by the BCD demonstrate the predictability of barrier violationPhilippe Polet, Frédéric Vanderhaegen, and Patrick Millot© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/121494.htmlGuidelines for designing usable interfaces recommend reducing short term memory load. Cognitive load, that is, working memory demands during problem solving, reasoning, or thinking, may affect users' general satisfaction and performance when completing complex tasks. Whereas in design guidelines numerous ways of reducing cognitive load in interactive systems are described, not many attempts have been made to measure cognitive load in Web applications, and few techniques exist. In this study participants' cognitive load was measured while they were engaged in searching for several products in four different online book stores. NASA-TLX and dual-task methodology were used to measure subjective and objective mental workload. The dual-task methodology involved searching for books as the primary task and a visual monitoring task as the secondary task. NASA-TLX scores differed significantly among the shops. Secondary task reaction times showed no significant differences between the four shops. Strong correlations between NASA-TLX, primary task completion time, and general satisfaction suggest that NASA-TLX can be used as a valuable additional measure of efficiency. Furthermore, strong correlations were found between browse/search preference and NASA-TLX as well as between search/browse preference and user satisfaction. Thus we suggest browse/search preference as a promising heuristic assessment method of cognitive load.Peter Schmutz, Silvia Heinz, Yolanda Métrailler, and Klaus Opwis© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/362651.htmlLaban movement analysis (LMA) is a systematic framework for describing all forms of human movement and has been widely applied across animation, biomedicine, dance, and kinesiology. LMA (especially Effort/Shape) emphasizes how internal feelings and intentions govern the patterning of movement throughout the whole body. As we argue, a complex understanding of intention via LMA is necessary for human-computer interaction to become embodied in ways that resemble interaction in the physical world. We thus introduce a novel, flexible Bayesian fusion approach for identifying LMA Shape qualities from raw motion capture data in real time. The method uses a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) to fuse movement features across the body and across time and as we discuss can be readily adapted for low-cost video. It has delivered excellent performance in preliminary studies comprising improvisatory movements. Our approach has been incorporated in Response, a mixed-reality environment where users interact via natural, full-body human movement and enhance their bodily-kinesthetic awareness through immersive sound and light feedback, with applications to kinesiology training, Parkinson's patient rehabilitation, interactive dance, and many other areas.Dilip Swaminathan, Harvey Thornburg, Jessica Mumford, Stjepan Rajko, Jodi James, Todd Ingalls, Ellen Campana, Gang Qian, Pavithra Sampath, and Bo Peng© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2009/619405.htmlThe key problem of successful developing of the software intensive system (SIS) is adequate conceptual interactions of stakeholders at the early stages of designing. Nowadays the success of development is extremely low. It can be increased with using artificial intelligence (AI) means including models of reasoning supported by the human-computer interaction in collaborative development activity. In this paper, a number of question-answer means for modeling reasoning are suggested. Such kind of means is defined and implemented in order to get effects of integrating the collective reasoning for their positive influence on the intellectual activity of designers. Question-answer means are arranged as a specialized processor opening the possibility to question-answer programming of the tasks on the conceptual stage of designing. Suggested and investigated means can be used for solving any complicated task.Petr Sosnin© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/954013.htmlAdrian Cheok, Hiroshi Ishii, Junichi Osada, Owen Noel Newton Fernando, and Tim Merritt© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/387076.htmlThis paper focuses on developing, testing, and examining the Proagents multimodal learning environment to support blind children's explorative learning in the area of astronomy. We utilize haptic, auditive, and visual interaction. Haptic and auditory feedbacks make the system accessible to blind children. The system is used as an exploration tool for children's spontaneous and question-driven explorations. High-level interaction and play are essential with environments for young children. Proactive agents support and guide children to deepen their explorations and discover the central concepts and relations in phenomena. It has been challenging to integrate together in a pedagogically relevant way the explorative learning approach, proactive agents' actions, haptic perception's possibilities, and the selected astronomical phenomena. Our tests have shown that children are very interested in using the system and the operations of the agents.Eva Tuominen, Marjatta Kangassalo, Pentti Hietala, Roope Raisamo, and Kari Peltola© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/381086.htmlYoung children with multiple disabilities (e.g., both cognitive and motor disabilities) are confronted with severe limitations in language development from birth and later on. Stimulating the adult-child communication can decrease these limitations. Within LinguaBytes, a three-year research program, we try to stimulate language development by developing an interactive and adaptive play and learning environment, incorporating tangible objects and multimedia content, based on interactive storytelling and anchored instruction. The development of a product for such a heterogeneous user group presents substantial challenges. We use a Research-through-Design method, that is, an iterative process of developing subsequent experiential prototypes and then testing them in real-life settings, for example, a center for rehabilitation medicine. This article gives an outline of the development of the LinguaBytes play and learning environment from the earliest studies up to the current prototype, CLICK-IT.Bart Hengeveld, Riny Voort, Caroline Hummels, Jan de Moor, Hans van Balkom, Kees Overbeeke, and Aadjan van der Helm© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/680640.htmlDesigning an effective mobile search user interface is challenging, as interacting with the results is often complicated by the lack of available screen space and limited interaction methods. We present Mobile Findex, a mobile search user interface that uses automatically computed result clusters to provide the user with an overview of the result set. In addition, it utilizes a focus-plus-context result list presentation combined with an intuitive browsing method to aid the user in the evaluation of results. A user study with 16 participants was carried out to evaluate Mobile Findex. Subjective evaluations show that Mobile Findex was clearly preferred by the participants over the traditional ranked result list in terms of ease of finding relevant results, suitability to tasks, and perceived efficiency. While the use of categories resulted in a lower rate of nonrelevant result selections and better precision in some tasks, an overall significant difference in search performance was not observed.Tomi Heimonen© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/874563.htmlWe present concurrent theoretical work from HCI and Education that reveals a convergence of trends focused on the importance of three themes: embodiment, multimodality, and composition. We argue that there is great potential for truly transformative work that aligns HCI and Education research, and posit that there is an important opportunity to advance this effort through the full integration of the three themes into a theoretical and technological framework for learning. We present our own work in this regard, introducing the Situated Multimedia Arts Learning Lab (SMALLab). SMALLab is a mixed-reality environment where students collaborate and interact with sonic and visual media through full-body, 3D movements in an open physical space. SMALLab emphasizes human-to-human interaction within a multimodal, computational context. We present a recent case study that documents the development of a new SMALLab learning scenario, a collaborative student participation framework, a student-centered curriculum, and a three-day teaching experiment for seventy-two earth science students. Participating students demonstrated significant learning gains as a result of the treatment. We conclude that our theoretical and technological framework can be broadly applied in the realization of mixed reality, student-centered learning environments.David Birchfield, Harvey Thornburg, M. Colleen Megowan-Romanowicz, Sarah Hatton, Brandon Mechtley, Igor Dolgov, and Winslow Burleson© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/719291.htmlA theoretical framework and practical case for designing likeable interactive media applications for preschoolers in the home environment are introduced. First, we elaborate on the theoretical framework. We introduce the uses and gratifications paradigm (U&G). We argue that U&G is a good approach to researching likeability of media applications. Next, we complete the U&G framework with expectancy-value (EV) theory. EV theory helps us move from theoretical insights to concrete design guidelines. Together, the U&G framework and the EV model form the foundation of our extended likeability framework for the design and evaluation of interactive media applications, for preschoolers in the home environment. Finally, we demonstrate a practical case of our extended likeability framework via the research project CuTI. The CuTI project aims at revealing those particular user gratifications and design attributes that are important to support playful behaviour and fun activities of preschoolers in the home environment.Vero vanden Abeele and Bieke Zaman© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/614987.htmlMobile communication technology offers a potential platform for new types of communication applications. Here, we describe the development and experiences with a mobile group communication application, mCell, that runs on a mobile phone. We present the underlying design implications, the application implementation, and a user study, where three groups used the application for one month. The findings of the user study reveal general user experiences with the application and show different patterns of usage depending on the social setting of the group and how the preferred features vary accordingly.Jyri Virtanen, Merja Haveri, Jan Blom, Jonna Häkkilä, and Mikko T. Tarkiainen© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/612679.htmlUsing images of objects as queries is a new approach to search for information on the Web. Image-based information retrieval goes beyond only matching images, as information in other modalities also can be extracted from data collections using an image search. We have developed a new system that uses images to search for web-based information. This paper has a particular focus on exploring users' experience of general mobile image-based web searches to find what issues and phenomena it contains. This was achieved in a multipart study by creating and letting respondents test prototypes of mobile image-based search systems and collect data using interviews, observations, video observations, and questionnaires. We observed that searching for information based only on visual similarity and without any assistance is sometimes difficult, especially on mobile devices with limited interaction bandwidth. Most of our subjects preferred a search tool that guides the users through the search result based on contextual information, compared to presenting the search result as a plain ranked list.Konrad Tollmar, Ted Möller, and Björn Nilsved© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/341615.htmlShort message service (SMS) is extremely popular today. Currently, it is being mainly used for peer-to-peer communication. However, SMS could be used as public media platform to enhance social and public interactions in an intuitive way. We have developed BlogWall to extend the SMS to a new level of self-expression and public communication by combining art and poetry. Furthermore, it will provide a means of expression in the language that children can understand, and the forms of social communication. BlogWall can also be used to educate the children while they interact and play with the system. The most notable feature of the system is its ability to mix up and generate poetry in multiple languages such as English, Korean, Chinese poems, or Japanese “Haiku” all based on the SMS. This system facilitates a cultural experience to children unknowingly, thus it is a step into new forms of cultural computing.Adrian David Cheok, Owen Noel Newton Fernando, Janaka Prasad Wijesena, Abd-ur-Rehman Mustafa, Ramkumar Shankar, Anne-Katrin Barthoff, Naoko Tosa, Yongsoon Choi, and Mayank Agarwal© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/357270.htmlThis paper presents a pool supporting system with a camera-mounted handheld display based on augmented reality technology. By using our system, users can get supporting information when they once capture a pool table. They can also watch visual aids through the display while they are capturing the table. First, our system estimates ball positions on the table with one image taken from an arbitrary viewpoint. Next, our system provides several shooting ways considering the next shooting way. Finally, our system presents visual aids such as shooting direction and ball behavior. Main purpose of our system is to estimate and analyze the distribution of balls and to present visual aids. Our system is implemented without special equipment such as a magnetic sensor or artificial markers. For evaluating our system, the accuracy of ball positions and the effectiveness of our supporting information are presentedHideaki Uchiyama and Hideo Saito© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/597629.htmlSome settings challenge a literal interpretation of user-centered design orthodoxy; that design is best done for a user, by designing with that user. We explore the value that a copresent proxy and interpreter can bring to certain hard-to-reach or difficult-to-interpret situations; in this case the evaluation of educational software intended to be used by children. We discuss the effect that introducing a teacher had on the results of the evaluation and conclude that adding an expert-based component to evaluations increased its diagnostic power.Sofia Pardo, Steve Howard, and Frank Vetere© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/384749.htmlWe propose a vision-based method for tracking guitar fingerings made by guitar players. We present it as a new framework for tracking colored finger markers by integrating a Bayesian classifier into particle filters. This adds the useful abilities of automatic track initialization and recovery from tracking failures in a dynamic background. Furthermore, by using the online adaptation of color probabilities, this method is able to cope with illumination changes. Augmented Reality Tag (ARTag) is then utilized to calculate the projection matrix as an online process which allows the guitar to be moved while being played. Representative experimental results are also included. The method presented can be used to develop the application of human-computer interaction (HCI) to guitar playing by recognizing the chord being played by a guitarist in virtual spaces. The aforementioned application would assist guitar learners by allowing them to automatically identify if they are using the correct chords required by the musical piece.Chutisant Kerdvibulvech and Hideo Saito© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/450385.htmlInformation navigation on handheld displays is characterized by the small display dimensions and limited input capabilities of today’s mobile devices. Special strategies are required to help users navigate to off-screen content and develop awareness of spatial layouts despite the small display. Yet, handheld devices offer interaction possibilities that desktop computers do not. Handheld devices can easily be moved in space and used as a movable window into a large virtual workspace. We investigate different information navigation methods for small-scale handheld displays using a range of sensor technologies for spatial tracking. We compare user performance in an abstract map navigation task and discuss the tradeoffs of the different sensor and visualization techniques.Michael Rohs and Georg Essl© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/258516.htmlThis paper proposes a novel strategy of designing play equipments. The strategy introduces two loose constraints as a guideline for designers. The first constraint is “describing unit of play action chain” 〈O,S,V〉 based on Barthes' semiology, and the second is the infomorphism between designer, play equipment, and players based on channel theory. We provide detailed explanation of the strategy through an example of a designing process of playing environment where the players usage of the play equipment cannot be foreseen.Tatsuo Motoyoshi, Takashi Hattori, Hiroshi Kawakami, Takayuki Shiose, and Osamu Katai© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/597971.htmlThis paper discusses the implementation details of a child friendly, good quality, English text-to-speech (TTS) system that is phoneme-based, concatenative, easy to set up and use with little memory. Direct waveform concatenation and linear prediction coding (LPC) are used. Most existing TTS systems are unit-selection based, which use standard speech databases available in neutral adult voices. Here reduced memory is achieved by the concatenation of phonemes and by replacing phonetic wave files with their LPC coefficients. Linguistic analysis was used to reduce the algorithmic complexity instead of signal processing techniques. Sufficient degree of customization and generalization catering to the needs of the child user had been included through the provision for vocabulary and voice selection to suit the requisites of the child. Prosody had also been incorporated. This inexpensive TTS system was implemented in MATLAB, with the synthesis presented by means of a graphical user interface (GUI), thus making it child friendly. This can be used not only as an interesting language learning aid for the normal child but it also serves as a speech aid to the vocally disabled child. The quality of the synthesized speech was evaluated using the mean opinion score (MOS).Agnes Jacob and P. Mythili© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/145363.htmlThis paper presents visually enhanced sports entertainment applications: AR Baseball Presentation System and Interactive AR Bowling System. We utilize vision-based augmented reality for getting immersive feeling. First application is an observation system of a virtual baseball game on the tabletop. 3D virtual players are playing a game on a real baseball field model, so that users can observe the game from favorite view points through a handheld monitor with a web camera. Second application is a bowling system which allows users to roll a real ball down a real bowling lane model on the tabletop and knock down virtual pins. The users watch the virtual pins through the monitor. The lane and the ball are also tracked by vision-based tracking. In those applications, we utilize multiple 2D markers distributed at arbitrary positions and directions. Even though the geometrical relationship among the markers is unknown, we can track the camera in very wide area.Yuko Uematsu and Hideo Saito© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/680159.htmlThis paper reviews existing measures used for evaluating the usability of information systems and those used for evaluating the level of the productivity of a company. We discuss the usefulness of the existing measures in the mobile business context, where both mobility and work-context pose specific demands for the mobile business services. The review showed that the existing measures rarely consider the great contextual variation caused by the mobility of the services and the demands this poses on usability; which, in turn, affects productivity. To build a measurement tool that better meets the requirements of mobile business services, we completed case studies on two mobile business services, one used in passenger transport and the other in construction sites. Based on the understanding gained from the case studies, we propose a list of dimensions and items addressing both usability and productivity aspects that work as the basis for a multidisciplinary measurement tool.Maiju Vuolle, Anne Aula, Minna Kulju, Teija Vainio, and Heli Wigelius© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/639435.htmlThis paper presents guidelines for designers to help them consider what children with autism value in interactions with their environment. The guidelines were developed during the LINKX project in order to design a language learning toy for these children and are based on literature study, expert interviews, generative techniques, and prototype testing with users. We present both the theoretical or practical background of each guideline together with a discussion how the guideline was evident in the prototype of LINKX. Testing the prototype in the real world helped us to shape the prototype and the guidelines. This paper aims to share our guidelines with the design research community, so that others can use them as steppingstones in their work.Helma van Rijn and Pieter Jan Stappers© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/284056.htmlEnd users' expertise in the development of new applications is acknowledged in user-centered and participatory design. Similarly, children's experience of what they find enjoyable and how they learn is a valuable source of inspiration for the design of products intended for them. In this paper, we explore experiences obtained from collaboration with elementary school children in the design of learning environments, based on three projects and three requirements gathering techniques. We also discuss how the children experienced the participation. The children's contribution yielded useful, both expected and unanticipated, outcomes in regard to the user interface and contents of the learning environments under development. Moreover, we present issues related to design collaboration with children, especially in terms of the children's feeling of ownership over the final outcome.Tuula Nousiainen and Marja Kankaanranta© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2008/931701.htmlThis paper reports the results of a field experiment where home-dwelling elderly people used a mobile technology-based service to interact with a home care service to order meals to be delivered to their homes. The primary research focus was on examining the suitability of touch-based interaction in the everyday life activities of elderly users. The eight-week experiment took place in the autumn of 2006. The findings are based primarily on user experience and on the socioeconomic analysis done from the data collected before, during, and after the experiment. The results show that touch-based interaction was easy to learn and adopt, and that the users were able to successfully use it regardless of their physical or cognitive weaknesses. However, the socioeconomic value of the service was questionable. The paper also summarises methodological issues and findings related to user experience evaluation in an experimental setting.Minna Isomursu, Juha Häikiö, Arto Wallin, and Heikki Ailisto© 2010, Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.