Figure 1. SonicData interaction techniques: (a) responding to traffic updates from a TV and sugge... more Figure 1. SonicData interaction techniques: (a) responding to traffic updates from a TV and suggesting a new route; (b) showing received charity advertisement on the status bar; (c) notifying a final boarding call; (d) suggesting powering off before taking off.
Today's technology enhanced ... more Today's technology enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially-oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for ITSs in particular, is related to the ability of leveraging these new paradigms for creating, maintaining and sharing the knowledge that these systems embed. This will enable learning environments to benefit from shared ...
Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Patients typically undergo physiotherapy with the help of a physiotherapist who teaches,... more ABSTRACT Patients typically undergo physiotherapy with the help of a physiotherapist who teaches, guides, and corrects the patients as they perform exercises. It would be nice if people could repeat these exercises at home, potentially improving their recovery rate. However, without guidance and/or corrective feedback from a physiotherapist, the patient will not know whether they are doing their exercises correctly. To address this problem, we implemented a prototype that guides patients through pre-recorded exercise movements using visual guides overlaid atop a mirror-view of the patient on a wall-mounted display. We conducted informal evaluations and pilot studies to assess our prototype and identified some working designs and design characteristics. Collected data will assist us in developing future iterations of the system and designing improved guides for physiotherapy sessions at home.
Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Aim-assistance techniques have been shown to work for player balancing in 2D environment... more ABSTRACT Aim-assistance techniques have been shown to work for player balancing in 2D environments, but little information exists about how well these techniques will work in a 3D FPS game. We carried out three studies of the performance of five different aim assists in an Unreal-based game world. The assists worked well in a target-range scenario (study 1), but their performance was reduced when game elements were introduced in a walkthrough map (study 2). We systematically examined the relationships between realistic game elements and assist performance (study 3). These studies show that two techniques -- bullet magnetism and area cursor -- worked well in a wide variety of situations. Other techniques that worked well were too perceptible, and some previously-successful techniques did not work well in any game-like scenario. Our studies are the first to provide empirical evidence of the performance of aim assist techniques in 3D environments, and the first to identify the complexities in using these techniques in real FPS games.
Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work - CSCW '13, 2013
ABSTRACT Many web-based information-seeking tasks are set in a social context where other people&... more ABSTRACT Many web-based information-seeking tasks are set in a social context where other people's knowledge and advice improves success in finding information. However, when tightly-knit contacts (friends, family, colleagues) are not available, information seeking becomes more difficult. Inspired by previous work in social navigation, we developed WebWear, a system that collects and displays traces of activity for tightly-knit groups. WebWear allows people to use contextual knowledge of contacts' interests and activities to interpret the meaning of the traces, improving their usefulness. In a comparative study, we found that WebWear helped people complete information-seeking tasks more accurately, without requiring additional effort. A one-week field trial found that WebWear was both usable and useful, and that privacy concerns were reduced in the small-group context. WebWear shows that small-scale social navigation systems are feasible, and that they can improve the effectiveness of information seeking on the World-Wide Web.
2008 Eighth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2008
Abstract The social semantic Web has recently emerged as a paradigm in which ontologies (aimed at... more Abstract The social semantic Web has recently emerged as a paradigm in which ontologies (aimed at defining, structuring and sharing information) and collaborative software (used for creating and sharing knowledge) have been merged together. Ontologies provide an effective means of capturing and integrating knowledge for feedback provisioning, while using collaborative activities can support pedagogical theories, such as social constructivism. Both technologies have developed separately in the e-learning domain; ...
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2015
Data surrounds each and every one of us in our daily lives, ranging from exercise logs, to archiv... more Data surrounds each and every one of us in our daily lives, ranging from exercise logs, to archives of our interactions with others on social media, to online resources pertaining to our hobbies. There is enormous potential for us to use these data to understand ourselves better and make positive changes in our lives. Visualization (Vis) and visual analytics (VA) offer substantial opportunities to help individuals gain insights about themselves, their communities and their interests; however, designing tools to support data analysis in non-professional life brings a unique set of research and design challenges. We investigate the requirements and research directions required to take full advantage of Vis and VA in a personal context. We develop a taxonomy of design dimensions to provide a coherent vocabulary for discussing personal visualization and personal visual analytics. By identifying and exploring clusters in the design space, we discuss challenges and share perspectives on future research. This work brings together research that was previously scattered across disciplines. Our goal is to call research attention to this space and engage researchers to explore the enabling techniques and technology that will support people to better understand data relevant to their personal lives, interests, and needs.
Page 1. Determining the Important Ideas in Sub-Groups of Interest in Social Software NetworksScot... more Page 1. Determining the Important Ideas in Sub-Groups of Interest in Social Software NetworksScott Bateman CMPT 810 [email protected] ABSTRACT Social networking websites allow users to connect, organize and share information and ideas online. ...
ABSTRACT Crisis command centres often gather data from disparate locations and collect it for vis... more ABSTRACT Crisis command centres often gather data from disparate locations and collect it for visualization on a large, shared screen. However, the resulting visualization often lacks expressiveness: it fails to express nuanced mediating characteristics about the information, such as specificity, urgency, awareness, or reliability. We suggest that our previous work on creating expressive realtime embodiments can inform the design of crisis management embodiments on large displays, improving communication and decision-making. We make several recommendations for future research directions.
ABSTRACT Pointing at displays from a distance is becoming a common method of interacting with com... more ABSTRACT Pointing at displays from a distance is becoming a common method of interacting with computer applications and entertainment systems, using devices such as the Wii Remote, the PlayStation Move controller, or the Microsoft Kinect. These systems often implement relative forms of ray-cast pointing, in which the user simply points a hand-held input device towards targets on the screen. Ray-casting interaction is easy for novices to learn and understand, but this technique often suffers from accuracy problems: for example, hand jitter, arm fatigue, calibration drift, or lack of skill can all reduce people’s ability to acquire and select on-screen targets. In this paper, we analyse and evaluate the idea of target assistance as a way to address the accuracy problems of ray-cast pointing. Although several assistance schemes have been proposed for mouse-based pointing, these ideas have not been tested in distant-pointing settings, and there is little knowledge available to guide design in this increasingly common interaction scenario. To establish this basic design knowledge, we carried out four studies of relative ray-casting using three different target assistance techniques—two motor-space techniques (sticky targets and a novel form of target gravity), and one acquisition-feedback technique that combined visual, tactile, and auditory feedback. Our first three studies tested each assistance technique separately, to explore how different parameters for each method affected performance and perceptibility. Our fourth study carried out a direct comparison of the best versions of each technique, and also examined the effects of distractor objects placed in the path to the target. Our studies found that the two motor-space techniques were extremely effective in improving selection accuracy without being highly obvious to users, and that the new gravity-based technique (which attracts the cursor even when it is not over the target) performed best of all. There was no observed effect on performance when the combined acquisition-feedback technique was used. Our studies are the first to comprehensively explore the optimization, performance, and perceptibility of target assistance techniques for relative ray-casting—our results provide designers with clear guidelines about what methods to use, how to configure the techniques, and what effects can be expected from their use.
Most searchers do not know how to use Web search engines as effectively as possible. This is due,... more Most searchers do not know how to use Web search engines as effectively as possible. This is due, in part, to search engines not providing feedback about how search behavior can be improved. Because feedback is an essential part of learning, we created the Search Dashboard, which provides an interface for reflection on personal search behavior. The Dashboard aggregates and presents an individual's search history and provides comparisons with that of archetypal expert profiles. Via a five-week study of 90 Search Dashboard users, we find that users are able to change aspects of their behavior to be more in line with that of the presented expert searchers. We also find that reflection can be beneficial, even without comparison, by changing participants' views about their own search skills, what is possible with search, and what aspects of their behavior may influence search success. Our findings demonstrate a new way for search engines to help users modify their search behavior for positive outcomes.
Guidelines for designing information charts often state that the presentation should reduce ‗char... more Guidelines for designing information charts often state that the presentation should reduce ‗chart junk'visual embellishments that are not essential to understanding the data. In contrast, some popular chart designers wrap the presented data in detailed and elaborate imagery, raising the questions of whether this imagery is really as detrimental to understanding as has been proposed, and whether the visual embellishment may have other benefits. To investigate these issues, we conducted an experiment that compared embellished charts with plain ones, and measured both interpretation accuracy and long-term recall. We found that people's accuracy in describing the embellished charts was no worse than for plain charts, and that their recall after a two-to-three-week gap was significantly better. Although we are cautious about recommending that all charts be produced in this style, our results question some of the premises of the minimalist approach to chart design.
In games where skills such as targeting are critical to winning, it is difficult for players with... more In games where skills such as targeting are critical to winning, it is difficult for players with different skill levels to have a competitive and engaging experience. Although several mechanisms for accommodating different skill levels have been proposed, traditional approaches can be too obvious and can change the nature of the game. For games involving aiming, we propose the use of target assistance techniques (such as area cursors, target gravity, and sticky targets) to accommodate skill imbalances. We compared three techniques in a study, and found that area cursors and target gravity significantly reduced score differential in a shooting-gallery game. Further, less skilled players reported having more fun when the techniques helped them be more competitive, and even after they learned assistance was given, felt that this form of balancing was good for group gameplay. Our results show that target assistance techniques can make target-based games more competitive for shared play.
Abstract Tag clouds are a popular method for visualizing and linking socially-organized informati... more Abstract Tag clouds are a popular method for visualizing and linking socially-organized information on websites. Tag clouds represent variables of interest (such as popularity) in the visual appearance of the keywords themselves-using text properties such as font size, weight, or colour. Although tag clouds are becoming common, there is still little information about which visual features of tags draw the attention of viewers.
Figure 1. SonicData interaction techniques: (a) responding to traffic updates from a TV and sugge... more Figure 1. SonicData interaction techniques: (a) responding to traffic updates from a TV and suggesting a new route; (b) showing received charity advertisement on the status bar; (c) notifying a final boarding call; (d) suggesting powering off before taking off.
Today's technology enhanced ... more Today's technology enhanced learning practices cater to students and teachers who use many different learning tools and environments and are used to a paradigm of interaction derived from open, ubiquitous, and socially-oriented services. In this context, a crucial issue for education systems in general, and for ITSs in particular, is related to the ability of leveraging these new paradigms for creating, maintaining and sharing the knowledge that these systems embed. This will enable learning environments to benefit from shared ...
Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Patients typically undergo physiotherapy with the help of a physiotherapist who teaches,... more ABSTRACT Patients typically undergo physiotherapy with the help of a physiotherapist who teaches, guides, and corrects the patients as they perform exercises. It would be nice if people could repeat these exercises at home, potentially improving their recovery rate. However, without guidance and/or corrective feedback from a physiotherapist, the patient will not know whether they are doing their exercises correctly. To address this problem, we implemented a prototype that guides patients through pre-recorded exercise movements using visual guides overlaid atop a mirror-view of the patient on a wall-mounted display. We conducted informal evaluations and pilot studies to assess our prototype and identified some working designs and design characteristics. Collected data will assist us in developing future iterations of the system and designing improved guides for physiotherapy sessions at home.
Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '14, 2014
ABSTRACT Aim-assistance techniques have been shown to work for player balancing in 2D environment... more ABSTRACT Aim-assistance techniques have been shown to work for player balancing in 2D environments, but little information exists about how well these techniques will work in a 3D FPS game. We carried out three studies of the performance of five different aim assists in an Unreal-based game world. The assists worked well in a target-range scenario (study 1), but their performance was reduced when game elements were introduced in a walkthrough map (study 2). We systematically examined the relationships between realistic game elements and assist performance (study 3). These studies show that two techniques -- bullet magnetism and area cursor -- worked well in a wide variety of situations. Other techniques that worked well were too perceptible, and some previously-successful techniques did not work well in any game-like scenario. Our studies are the first to provide empirical evidence of the performance of aim assist techniques in 3D environments, and the first to identify the complexities in using these techniques in real FPS games.
Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work - CSCW '13, 2013
ABSTRACT Many web-based information-seeking tasks are set in a social context where other people&... more ABSTRACT Many web-based information-seeking tasks are set in a social context where other people's knowledge and advice improves success in finding information. However, when tightly-knit contacts (friends, family, colleagues) are not available, information seeking becomes more difficult. Inspired by previous work in social navigation, we developed WebWear, a system that collects and displays traces of activity for tightly-knit groups. WebWear allows people to use contextual knowledge of contacts' interests and activities to interpret the meaning of the traces, improving their usefulness. In a comparative study, we found that WebWear helped people complete information-seeking tasks more accurately, without requiring additional effort. A one-week field trial found that WebWear was both usable and useful, and that privacy concerns were reduced in the small-group context. WebWear shows that small-scale social navigation systems are feasible, and that they can improve the effectiveness of information seeking on the World-Wide Web.
2008 Eighth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2008
Abstract The social semantic Web has recently emerged as a paradigm in which ontologies (aimed at... more Abstract The social semantic Web has recently emerged as a paradigm in which ontologies (aimed at defining, structuring and sharing information) and collaborative software (used for creating and sharing knowledge) have been merged together. Ontologies provide an effective means of capturing and integrating knowledge for feedback provisioning, while using collaborative activities can support pedagogical theories, such as social constructivism. Both technologies have developed separately in the e-learning domain; ...
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2015
Data surrounds each and every one of us in our daily lives, ranging from exercise logs, to archiv... more Data surrounds each and every one of us in our daily lives, ranging from exercise logs, to archives of our interactions with others on social media, to online resources pertaining to our hobbies. There is enormous potential for us to use these data to understand ourselves better and make positive changes in our lives. Visualization (Vis) and visual analytics (VA) offer substantial opportunities to help individuals gain insights about themselves, their communities and their interests; however, designing tools to support data analysis in non-professional life brings a unique set of research and design challenges. We investigate the requirements and research directions required to take full advantage of Vis and VA in a personal context. We develop a taxonomy of design dimensions to provide a coherent vocabulary for discussing personal visualization and personal visual analytics. By identifying and exploring clusters in the design space, we discuss challenges and share perspectives on future research. This work brings together research that was previously scattered across disciplines. Our goal is to call research attention to this space and engage researchers to explore the enabling techniques and technology that will support people to better understand data relevant to their personal lives, interests, and needs.
Page 1. Determining the Important Ideas in Sub-Groups of Interest in Social Software NetworksScot... more Page 1. Determining the Important Ideas in Sub-Groups of Interest in Social Software NetworksScott Bateman CMPT 810 [email protected] ABSTRACT Social networking websites allow users to connect, organize and share information and ideas online. ...
ABSTRACT Crisis command centres often gather data from disparate locations and collect it for vis... more ABSTRACT Crisis command centres often gather data from disparate locations and collect it for visualization on a large, shared screen. However, the resulting visualization often lacks expressiveness: it fails to express nuanced mediating characteristics about the information, such as specificity, urgency, awareness, or reliability. We suggest that our previous work on creating expressive realtime embodiments can inform the design of crisis management embodiments on large displays, improving communication and decision-making. We make several recommendations for future research directions.
ABSTRACT Pointing at displays from a distance is becoming a common method of interacting with com... more ABSTRACT Pointing at displays from a distance is becoming a common method of interacting with computer applications and entertainment systems, using devices such as the Wii Remote, the PlayStation Move controller, or the Microsoft Kinect. These systems often implement relative forms of ray-cast pointing, in which the user simply points a hand-held input device towards targets on the screen. Ray-casting interaction is easy for novices to learn and understand, but this technique often suffers from accuracy problems: for example, hand jitter, arm fatigue, calibration drift, or lack of skill can all reduce people’s ability to acquire and select on-screen targets. In this paper, we analyse and evaluate the idea of target assistance as a way to address the accuracy problems of ray-cast pointing. Although several assistance schemes have been proposed for mouse-based pointing, these ideas have not been tested in distant-pointing settings, and there is little knowledge available to guide design in this increasingly common interaction scenario. To establish this basic design knowledge, we carried out four studies of relative ray-casting using three different target assistance techniques—two motor-space techniques (sticky targets and a novel form of target gravity), and one acquisition-feedback technique that combined visual, tactile, and auditory feedback. Our first three studies tested each assistance technique separately, to explore how different parameters for each method affected performance and perceptibility. Our fourth study carried out a direct comparison of the best versions of each technique, and also examined the effects of distractor objects placed in the path to the target. Our studies found that the two motor-space techniques were extremely effective in improving selection accuracy without being highly obvious to users, and that the new gravity-based technique (which attracts the cursor even when it is not over the target) performed best of all. There was no observed effect on performance when the combined acquisition-feedback technique was used. Our studies are the first to comprehensively explore the optimization, performance, and perceptibility of target assistance techniques for relative ray-casting—our results provide designers with clear guidelines about what methods to use, how to configure the techniques, and what effects can be expected from their use.
Most searchers do not know how to use Web search engines as effectively as possible. This is due,... more Most searchers do not know how to use Web search engines as effectively as possible. This is due, in part, to search engines not providing feedback about how search behavior can be improved. Because feedback is an essential part of learning, we created the Search Dashboard, which provides an interface for reflection on personal search behavior. The Dashboard aggregates and presents an individual's search history and provides comparisons with that of archetypal expert profiles. Via a five-week study of 90 Search Dashboard users, we find that users are able to change aspects of their behavior to be more in line with that of the presented expert searchers. We also find that reflection can be beneficial, even without comparison, by changing participants' views about their own search skills, what is possible with search, and what aspects of their behavior may influence search success. Our findings demonstrate a new way for search engines to help users modify their search behavior for positive outcomes.
Guidelines for designing information charts often state that the presentation should reduce ‗char... more Guidelines for designing information charts often state that the presentation should reduce ‗chart junk'visual embellishments that are not essential to understanding the data. In contrast, some popular chart designers wrap the presented data in detailed and elaborate imagery, raising the questions of whether this imagery is really as detrimental to understanding as has been proposed, and whether the visual embellishment may have other benefits. To investigate these issues, we conducted an experiment that compared embellished charts with plain ones, and measured both interpretation accuracy and long-term recall. We found that people's accuracy in describing the embellished charts was no worse than for plain charts, and that their recall after a two-to-three-week gap was significantly better. Although we are cautious about recommending that all charts be produced in this style, our results question some of the premises of the minimalist approach to chart design.
In games where skills such as targeting are critical to winning, it is difficult for players with... more In games where skills such as targeting are critical to winning, it is difficult for players with different skill levels to have a competitive and engaging experience. Although several mechanisms for accommodating different skill levels have been proposed, traditional approaches can be too obvious and can change the nature of the game. For games involving aiming, we propose the use of target assistance techniques (such as area cursors, target gravity, and sticky targets) to accommodate skill imbalances. We compared three techniques in a study, and found that area cursors and target gravity significantly reduced score differential in a shooting-gallery game. Further, less skilled players reported having more fun when the techniques helped them be more competitive, and even after they learned assistance was given, felt that this form of balancing was good for group gameplay. Our results show that target assistance techniques can make target-based games more competitive for shared play.
Abstract Tag clouds are a popular method for visualizing and linking socially-organized informati... more Abstract Tag clouds are a popular method for visualizing and linking socially-organized information on websites. Tag clouds represent variables of interest (such as popularity) in the visual appearance of the keywords themselves-using text properties such as font size, weight, or colour. Although tag clouds are becoming common, there is still little information about which visual features of tags draw the attention of viewers.
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Papers by Scott Bateman