Project Highlights
New to HCI? Or want to see some lab highlights? Read the following introductory short stories that describe the bigger picture of some of our most exciting projects.
"I Hear the Pattern" -- Listening to Geographical Data
Have you smelled bright colors lately? Or seen pleasant odors? No; our senses aren't interchangeable. They are cooperative, though, since a deficiency in one heightens others. Research investigated sonification (data-driven non-speech sound) to present geographical patterns in statistical data. In addition to helping blind users, this benefits low-vision and sighted users in visually overloaded situations. Goals are improving access to geo-referenced data and enhancing citizen access to government statistics for queries and decision making.
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Concentrate, You'll Get the Job Done Faster
Things haven't slowed down since Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit was running late. It's increasingly trendy to discuss, claim to practice, and sometimes simultaneously bemoan multitasking. A recent article claimed that people cram 31 hours into the (still only!) 24-hour day by doing multiple things at once. While it focused on plausible combinations such as watching television and instant messaging, I'm less enthusiastic about people driving and cell phoning, tweaking navigation systems, reading, applying makeup, or shaving.
Some people thrive on multi-tasking: can a teenager get homework done without music playing and multiple instant messaging dialogues open? But if an intrusion causes frustration, distraction, or interruption, the primary task at hand suffers.
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Distinguishing forests from trees in search engine results
Some people cherish details without grasping the big picture. They can't see the forest for the trees, always miss the landscape's glory. Searching the Web can feel like this.
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International Children's Digital Library helps young readers worldwide
Libraries have come a long way since Andrew Carnegie's vision of developing citizenship through increased literacy. Generations have benefited from abundant books in free libraries, purchased with his donated wealth. Times change. Imagine a virtual library of international children's literature available to kids around the world, created and shared using unique technology. The online International Children's Digital Library provides a supportive and safe environment for children to communicate with each other, even across language barriers.
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RouteLens Is Your Personal Route Planning Consultant
People pick driving routes in different ways. I work out a good route and stick with it; for new trips I'll check online maps or my fat road atlas.
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Shared calendars link family members
Modern life can be complicated, often accommodating complexities of multi-tasking, multi-generational, distributed, and extended families Research explored how technology can best match and serve family dynamics, focusing on "calendaring" -- tracking what's planned, who's involved, when and where. Though well explored and commercialized in office settings, this hasn't much been a home-use topic.
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When You're Hot, You're Hot -- And the Computer Knows It
We've all got favorite authors, books, movies, and music. But while we
can easily distinguish our likes from dislikes, it's sometimes hard
explaining our choices to others, or even understanding them ourselves!
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