[Ltg] HAIL Seminar *Reminder* (30th January): Trent Apted, University of Sydney

[Andrew Lampert]

                      H.A.I.L. Seminar series
                          CSIRO ICT Centre
                   http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/


Title:          Engineering an Effective Social Interface for
                    Sharing Digital Photographs

Speaker:        Trent Apted
                School of Information Technologies
                University of Sydney

Date:           Tuesday 30th January 2007 at 11am

Location:       CSIRO ICT Centre,
                Building E6B, Macquarie University.

                See <http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/location.htm> for details.


Video:          We are trialling live VIDEO streaming of seminars.

                At the nominated time above, point your browser at:
                <http://webcast.nsw.csiro.au/httpfs/ICT/HailSeminar/live.asx>


Abstract

The digital camera has changed the nature of photography and the photographic process, and the need for more suitable ways to share digital photographs is well understood. Digital photos may be printed, but this adds an expense, and reduces the search and distribution capabilities of photos in digital form, so some opt not to print at all. Thus some of the traditional methods of sharing photographs, such as photo albums, have been lost; along with the emotional attachment and social interaction that is possible with physical items.

We have recently begun to see hardware support for the "tabletop" user interface, offering a number of new ways for humans to interact with computers.  Our interface, currently in the form of a high-fidelity prototype, leverages the multi-user and direct-interaction capabilities of the tabletop, as well as aspects of multimodal and pervasive computing to provide a natural interface for sharing digital photographs in a collocated social setting. However, designing such an interface and making it effective is not a straightforward task. Such an interface needs to overcome problems of clutter and orientation inherent in tabletop interfaces, and provide an experience that allows the users to ignore the computer and conduct their dialogue unhindered for a truly social interaction.

This talk will discuss our approach taken to engineer a highly usable and versatile software platform, and the high-quality graphical environment used in our prototype. The development is driven by a number of application "modes" allowing multiple, collocated users to load, share, search, browse, augment (with audio), tag, annotate, associate, crop, combine and present digital photographs on the tabletop interface. This will also be covered, as well as a facility for "live" photos -- interactive images updated from a remote computer screen.


Short resume

In March 2005, Trent Apted started his PhD at the University of Sydney after working with NICTA for one year as a research engineer on Project Nightingale; a joint research project with the University of Sydney and the Smart Internet CRC. In his PhD work, Trent is exploring the potential of the "tabletop interface" as a platform for formal and informal face-to-face collaboration, multimedia display and exchange, information visualisation and entertainment.

After studies in 2003, Trent was awarded the University Medal and first class Honours in the Bachelor of Computer Science and Technology (Advanced) at the University of Sydney. For his honours thesis he investigated learning techniques for interactive tangible user interfaces, or "Smart Toys", and graduated with the highest fourth-year weighted average mark in the Faculty of Science. While undertaking his degree he did tutoring and gained experience in a range of computer science disciplines including machine learning, knowledge representation, database design, computer security, networking and user interfaces as a result of coursework and research projects while participating in the Science Talented Student Programme.

During the last two years of his undergraduate degree, he published papers in four international conferences and submitted a paper to the International Journal on Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning (special issue on Concepts and Ontologies in WBES), which appeared in 2004. He has since published work in a number of workshops and conferences, as his tabletop research matures.


----------------------------------------
The HAIL Seminars' URL:
http://www.ict.csiro.au/HAIL/

Contacts:       Andrew Lampert
Address:        CSIRO HAIL Seminars,
                c/o Andrew Lampert,
                Locked Bag 17,
                North Ryde NSW 1670

Phone:  (02) 9325 3100
Email:  Andrew.Lampert at csiro.au


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