Paper Reading #13: Multiple Depth Cameras and Projectors

Combining multiple depth cameras and projectors for interactions on, above and between surfaces

by: Andrew D. Wilson and Hrvoje Benko


Authors
Wilson and Benko both do research with Microsoft Research in Washington.

Presentation Venue
"UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology" as per the document specs from the ACM digital library, dl.acm.org. The presentation took place in New York City, NY, 2010.

Summary


The title of this paper sums up the contents pretty well.  It's about creating a 3D space where users can interact with almost arbitrary surfaces as if they were computer interfaces.

Hypothesis
Wilson hypothesized that using multiple depth cameras combined with projectors was a viable environment for immersing users in an interaction environment that uses an entire room, rather than a single surface.

Methods
The system was set up using multiple depth cameras and projectors set up above the room.  In the room, defined points were used to calibrate each of the cameras and projectors so that all information was recorded on the same coordinate system and interchangeable.  The system was then able to capture data about the users and the surfaces and transfer data according to the users' interactions.

Results
The system was successfully created, and users were able to do things such as touch a "screen" on one surface, and then touch another surface to move the screen over to that surface.  Users were also successfully able to scoop screens onto their hand to carry and then move onto a new surface.  There were some difficulties, such as too many users lagging the system or confusing it by being too close together.  There were also issues with users' heads getting in the way of the cameras perceiving interactions, and thereby missing important gestures.

Discussion
This environment actually impressed me.  I have often thought about when we would successfully devise a system in which we enter an entire room and are able to interact with it as an environment - not unlike Star Trek's Holo-Deck, or Star Ocean's game center, or -insert more examples here.-  The unanticipated power of the system was cool, too.  I can imagine making a chain of people around a room, just to see if the system correctly transmitted the screen across all of the people to the end surface - and see what happens if someone in the middle of that chain also touches a surface.  Overall, I think this system was a major success, with only minor technical difficulties which were to be expected.

On Sudhir

Gang Leader For A Day struck me on several different layers.  The top layer is simple, I hated it.  If I had a desire to better understand the situations of people who I know are living at a considerably lower standard than myself, I would go try to interact with them myself.  I would start with an "in" though.  None of this random walking into a place where I can get shot and not considering the consequences.  That's pure nonsense.  I honestly wonder if this guy actually had the brains that his degree suggested he had.

Beneath that layer, I appreciated the work.  It is always encouraging to see people who take an interest in other peoples' lives and try to understand them, even if only superficially.  I enjoyed seeing him take a branch in life that would probably influence him in ways he could never have predicted for the rest of his life.

Beneath that layer, I hate it again.  He had the actions, but none of the reasons.  And, his small attempts at service might as well have never started for all the impact they had.  I acknowledge that he may have done all he could do in the situation, which only further deepens my dislike his decision to enter the projects in the first place.

As a book for a paid class, I detested it.  I do not need to do a full blown ethnography to learn how the end users think with my application.  I had no desire to actually be graded on reading a book that focuses on such vile behavior in society - and blatantly describes it no less!  The very idea that I spent money on this filth infuriates me.

In the end, whatever my small positives from the encounter, I am left with a very negative attitude towards Gang Leader For A Day - acknowledging that a good deal of that attitude comes from my own previous bias.

Paper Reading #10: Sensing Foot Gestures

Sensing Foot Gestures from the Pocket

by: Jeremy Scott, David Dearman, Koji Yatani, and Khai N. Truong


Authors
Scott did research for this project as an undergrad at the University of Toronto, and now attends MIT as a graduate student.  Dearman seems nonexistent but clearly has associations with the U of T like everyone else, possibly as a PhD candidate like Yatani, or another professor like Truong.

Presentation Venue
"UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology" as per the document specs from the ACM digital library, dl.acm.org. The presentation took place in New York City, NY, 2010. (They think they can, they think they can...)

Summary


The title of this paper mostly sums it up.  It is about using foot gestures to perform actions on a mobile device in a pocket or holster at the hip.

Hypothesis
Scott hypothesizes that gestures performed by a foot are viable modes of input for mobile devices, and that they save precious screen space in addition to not consuming the user's entire attention for performing those actions.

Methods
The study was performed using mobile devices with standard accelerometers, motion capture cameras, and a normalized foot model.  Users wore the normalized foot model to account for people with larger/smaller feet than other participants. Motion capture helped the researchers to monitor and measure their data, while the accelerometer in the mobile device did the actual work of sensing gestures performed to decide what action or selection is supposed to be performed.  Participants were instructed to make various types of selections with these gestures.

Results
Gesture search found that most gestures were accurate to within about 10 degrees, but of the four gestures, participants preferred only two, heel rotation, and lifting the heel.  The device seemed to be more accurate when placed in the side holster than when placed in the front or back pocket of the participant, and overall it seemed able to correctly determine the action about 80% of the time.

Discussion
First off, does this make anyone else think of the April Fools joke played by Google this year?  In theory, the idea has potential.  We save screen space, as they desired to accomplish.  The gestures do not require looking at the screen at all, and can be performed without even taking the device out of the pocket.  But, say you're walking down the street and you see someone pause and just slightly lift his leg...  All that needs to happen now is for said person to wave his hand behind him, and you know he just let loose a present for other passerby's noses.  But wait, that's just a gesture!  Or, that guy over there paused mid disco dance... wait! that's a gesture, too!  I think these gestures are unnatural because they do not take into account whether or not people would actually feel comfortable making such body language in public settings.  It also does not account for the tendency for people to move along not wanting to be noticed, rather than acting rather animated wherever they happen to be standing.  Hence, my comment on Gmail actions.  As a slightly more serious question, do we all have to wear foot normalizers for this to work?

Ethnography Proposal

(It's a bit silly to have the Proposal after two updates, isn't it? :D)

Ethnography Topic Proposal

Group: Daniel Aninag, Xandrix Baluyot, Will Hausman, Jonathan Wiese

Target Group: Quidditch Players

We propose a study of students who play Quidditch.  Quidditch is a game played on broomsticks in a field with three types of balls and hoops at either end.  Points are scored by throwing one of the balls through a hoop on the opposing team’s side.  Three balls are used to send players running back to their team’s hoops before returning.  The last ball is attached to a neutral runner and upon its capture, the game is ended.

We hypothesize that people who play Quidditch have unique, specific strategies they follow when playing and are not merely imitating a sport in a popular fictional book.  We also hypothesize that people who fulfill the individual roles will play based on prior experience with games (e.g. Seekers and Snitch Runners are associated more with individual running games/sports while Chasers are associated more with full contact sports).  Furthermore, we hypothesize that the coherent team as a unit will have some element that ties them all together and helps them to function as a team rather than a scattered set of individuals.

By studying the Quidditch team, we will be able to see how actively becoming engaged in a team that already functions autonomously.  Becoming engaged in a new team will always mean getting to know the roles required of everyone inside the team, understanding the scope of the team’s responsibilities and fostering a relationship with the team members as individuals that is conducive to productive work.  Another element of engaging with a team is the unique element.  There is always something specific to the circumstances that requires some adjustment to normal practices in order to smoothly make progress.  This means that studying the Quidditch team with all of its eccentricities and successfully being able to design a project that suits their needs will teach us how to understand a demographic or audience and be able to deliver a piece of technology that suits their needs.  Because Quidditch is a silly looking sport, we get to obtain this experience with a rather entertaining example.  

The Quidditch team practices three times a week for 1-1.5 hours and have weekly scrimmages on Sundays for A&M.  Intercollegiate games and scrimmages are also held on some Saturdays, so there is more than enough time available to spend observing the team and playing the game to understand the individual aspects within it.  It will be relatively simple to observe consistent behavioral tactics of players by observing and learning the roles.  Learning players’ prior gaming experiences can come from informal interviews during practice, team dinners, or just hang-out time.  The vague element of team cohesiveness will have to be monitored from many angles during practice when captains give instructions, players decide whether or not to obey, an especially during scrimmages and tournaments against other Quidditch teams.

Ethnography: Muggle Quidditch! #1

After spending another week with the Quidditch team, I have learned more about them, both inside and outside my area of focus.

"Inside" (AKA Snitch Related Things)
Through experience, I discovered that one of the best tactics a Snitch Runner has at his disposal is the rest of the game itself.  There are a lot of players running around on the field that get in the Seekers' way and make it easier for the Snitch to escape.  Additionally, the other team generally does not want the opposing Seeker to catch the Snitch, so they will employ their Beaters to target the Seekers with the Bludgers.  Just like other players, if a Seeker is hit by a Bludger, they are affected by the "Knockout Effect" which requires them to stop what they're doing and run back to their team's goal hoop before continuing.  This can be more than invaluable because it pulls the Snitch out of the situation where it must keep an eye on both Seekers at the same time.

There were other little details that were explained to me by other players and the team's usual Snitch, but many of these things did not fully sink in until I read the official Rules which spelled out interactions between players.  The Snitch is not held to the same rules as the other players by any means.  The players have rules against body contact tackles/grabs, etc. from outside of view (mostly behind), but these sorts of rules do not apply to the Snitch.  Additionally, the Snitch does not have to hold onto a broom, so both of his hands are free.  The Snitch is allowed and even encouraged to "be inventive" in getting away from the Seekers.  As a Snitch, it would be perfectly legal for me to catch the arm of an oncoming Seeker, pull him past me, and trip him to the ground with a foot while I run off in the other direction.  This element of open-ended attack makes the Snitch have the clear upper hand in the game.  With this in mind, I have to wonder if good Seekers don't follow some amount of working together to snare the Snitch Runner before turning on one another when the time comes to actually seize the Snitch itself (the little ball in a sock).  That is something I will look into with other Seekers when I next have the opportunity to play as one and talk to others.

All of these elements combine to say that the Snitch Runner is most often an extremely agile person who can continue to run and avoid capture for extended periods of time and who enjoys being somewhat aggressive towards his would-be captors.  For the core purpose of defending the Snitch, I do wonder if a stockier person COULD do it well, though.  Rather than run away swiftly, he could be very good at throwing the Seekers to the side and then going a short distance away. Most likely, he would quickly be out maneuvered by the existence of two Seekers, though.  Still, it's a possibility I shall entertain until proven otherwise.

I witnessed two different techniques employed on the Snitch Runner by Seekers.  One Seeker has extremely long arms and goes for the "obvious" attack of just trying to get close and wrap his arm around the Snitch Runner to grab the Snitch.  The other Seeker was smaller, and Snitch Runners tended to grab him and push him aside, so he will actually turn into the Snitch with his back to him where he appears weaker.  From there, he whips his hand around from behind and snatches the Snitch.  Both techniques proved effective for the player.

"Outside"
It may seem like an obvious note that doesn't matter, but I did learn that the Beaters cannot touch the Quaffle, and the Chasers/Keepers cannot touch the Bludgers.  I am not yet sure how/if this affects their strategies very much, or if it is simply the rule of the game which they follow and otherwise ignore.

Because I was focusing on the Snitch Runner, it took me some time to recognize that players practice their throws and catches with one hand.  The presence of the broom is a unique element that almost requires actions be done with only a single hand.  Several Chasers wear a single glove on their throwing hand for increased grip of the Quaffle.  I have not noticed any such gear on the Beaters for assistance with gripping the Bludgers.  I am currently guessing that this has something to do with the different texture of the balls used as Bludgers, or because the Chasers maintain an active grip on the Quaffle while trying to prevent other Chasers from stealing it, whereas Beaters can more or less grab one of the three Bludgers at their leisure as needed.  I did not even realize it until I saw it, but this is different from what I initially expected where the Beaters were getting in the "rougher" sections of the sport.  The Chasers and Keepers with the Quaffle are where the real action is happening.

"Outside the Outside"
I have been investigating the Quidditch team as an insider, but had the chance to talk with another about Quidditch who believed the game to essentially be Live Action Role Play.  This actually astounded me because I have played the game before and found it to be its own entity with only its roots coming from a fictional story.  Thinking more objectively, I can see how someone might suspect such a relationship, even if I do not endorse such a belief.

Paper Reading #9: Jogging over a Distance

Jogging over a Distance between Europe and Australia

by: Florian 'Floyd' Mueller, Frank Vetere, Martin R. Gibbs, Darren Edge, Stefan Agamanolis, Jennifer G. Sheridan


Authors
Mueller has affiliations with each of the institutions the other authors are affiliated with.  Vetere and Gibbs (Mr. Gibbs! He got off Jack's ship!) both do research with the Interaction Design Group at the University of Melbourne in Australia.  Edge is a Microsoft researcher in Beijing.  Agamanolis did his research at the Institute of Technology in Massachusetts and now does research at the Distance Lab in the UK.  Sheridan does research at the London Knowledge Lab in London.

Presentation Venue
"UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology" as per the document specs from the ACM digital library, dl.acm.org. The presentation took place in New York City, NY, 2010. (Yay!)

Summary


As restated in this paper several, several, SEVERAL times, it is about the social experience shared between people engaged in similar physical exertion activities and how technological design can enhance this experience.

Hypothesis
Their hypothesis was basically that a system could be designed that enhanced the social experience between two people during physical activity involving technology.

Methods
The technology already existed, so Mueller just conducted research with 17 participants running different paths, and sometimes in different countries, and monitoring how they interacted with one another.  Afterwards, the participants were interviewed for qualitative research with open ended questions about their experience.

Results
Mueller recorded mostly positive results about the experience, albeit with a couple of hiccups.  The participants enjoyed feeling like they were running with one another and found that the exertion and social experience were nicely balanced because they were both running at their own pace. One participant pair noted that the exertion monitoring made a new way for them to look at competing with one another, but eventually decided that a standard "finish line" was still better for comparing competition.

Discussion


I cannot believe that I just read ten pages of the same thing.  The hypothesis and results were rather obvious to me.  It's cool that there are systems for people to jog together across the world.  And, it's cool that the said system allows for people of different fitness levels to exercise together at their own desired paces.  But, seriously.  OF COURSE systems can be designed to do this!  Asking if technology can solve the problem of people interacting while exercising is like asking of email will really change how people communicate with each other.  The obvious solution (given that you are ABLE to be co-located): treadmills right next to each other!  Need fresh air? Stick them outside!  Still... they set out to say it's possible, and they successfully did that... many MANY times.  Think this blog was redundant?  Go read the paper. THAT's redundant.  Stick a fork in my thigh while I'm running, why don't you...

Ethnography: Muggle Quidditch! #0

My preliminary thoughts before visiting the Quidditch intramural gathering:

Going into this, I had only a vague idea of what to expect.  I imagined it would be silly to watch people running around with brooms between their legs.  A couple of Youtube videos confirmed this for me.  I considered that maybe there would be a lot of hardcore Harry Potter fans into the game, and maybe the few stragglers who came in because of their friends.  I was interested to know how they managed the rules to accommodate the lack of magical enchantments.   Beyond that, I expected it to be just like any other outdoor sports gathering – just with the slight nerdy twist.  I did not expect any sort of specific behavior from the people as individuals; just average college-age humans with a love for the wizarding world.

The Aftermath:

After going to visit one of their scrimmages to see how they operate, one thing caught my attention very quickly.  The people are VERY NICE!  I counted four different people get offered a broom and a chance to play when they paused to watch.  Oddly, this did not extend to me.  I got the impression it was because of my blue jeans which are clearly not suitable for running; or perhaps because I didn’t have a completely confused look on my face.  I took the time to speak with different players who had been on the team in years past.  I discovered that because the game is relatively new, the players are particularly fond of finding loopholes to make the game more fun (such as the Snitch riding off in the bed of a truck).  After the first fifteen minutes of relatively nonspecific chatter, I got my first reminder that essentially everyone around me was a Harry Potter fan.  A couple of people started talking about Rupert Grint, actor for Ron Weasley in the movies, showing up at a Quidditch game.  What struck me the most was the fact everyone present knew the actor by name as if he had turned up at their own practice.  This led to two comments that sent my mind reeling at the notion of just how deep this fan group went.  This was a retelling of a comment made by Daniel Radcliffe, actor for Harry Potter, when asked if he would go to any Quidditch games to which he responded (according to this speaker talking to me), “Do you have any idea what would happen to me if I did that?”  The other comment was along the lines of, “Just imagine if Emma Watson walked onto the field right now and how quickly she’d be dog piled by like 30 guys.”  This was such a brief exchange, but it so completely opened my eyes that I remembered I wasn’t simply at another athletic meet (albeit a slightly silly one).  I look forward to seeing how this common knowledge base among the players influences their behaviors, jokes, etc.

As curious as the Harry Potter culture underneath Quidditch is, I’m actually more interested in the game itself and the mentality of its players.  Specifically, I’m extremely interested in the mentality and relationship between the Snitch and Seekers in a game.  Much of the remainder of the game I can vaguely wave off as a combination of rugby and dodge ball.  Watching the Seekers try to catch the Snitch is more like watching a one vs. one vs. one capture the flag game where the flag is moving and pushing back.  To research this, I plan to join the Quidditch practices (and perhaps travel to some intercollegiate tournaments with the team) and train as a Seeker, then play as the Snitch in several games.  These are the “personal experience” approach, but I will also spend more time around Snitches and Seekers, investigating their thoughts on the interactions.  Since, being a full-contact sport, Quidditch requires a waiver to play, I contented myself with just talking to the charismatic Snitch who was on the field.  Multiple games were played, so he was taking a rest while new players took turns being the Snitch.  This taught me some of the most important things about the Snitch.  In Harry Potter, the Snitch is what ends the game.  It is all about finding that Snitch.  In real life, that’s not practical.  The players get tired running around in the heat while the Snitch is way out of the way minding its own business.  Having the Snitch on the field, where Seekers actively try to catch it, is when the most fun occurs because the excitement of the end of the game is near.  New Snitches tended to be gone for 20+ minutes with the game just rushing along at its fast pace, whereas the Snitch I was talking to would normally come back in around 10 or maybe 15 minutes.  I understood this Snitch to enjoy pushing the Seekers around when they tried to catch him (that is, the black sock with a tennis ball in it that hung from his waist).  He was a fit long distance runner and very agile, so he could continue to do so for extended periods of time.  Of course, being on the team will also lead me to the “insider’s” point of view for the ethnography, and I hope will provide me with additions “ins” to the team.  I greatly anticipate this research project.