NiCE (Natural user Interfaces for Collaborative Environments) is one out of 14 Austrian Research Studios which has been accepted. The studio will start in October 1, 2008. For the next 3 years we will focus on novel large surfaces and new interaction techniques which are going to be embedded in our daily-life environment (e.g. living room, conference room etc.). We will primarily focus on new interaction methods and build new hardware.
The research goal is to design, develop, and evaluate natural user interfaces for collaborative environments that will enable everyone, not just experts, to use our interactive systems. Thus, the focus is on creating natural systems and interfaces that increase users’ productivity. There are four main thrusts to our research:
- The first is designing and developing interactive surfaces. We have developed already large interactive tables and whiteboards, which were presented on several high quality academic conferences. In particular, we are developing pen-based tracking possibilities for very large surfaces. We presented our results for both top-projection and rear-projection surfaces. The goal here is to embed these initial ideas in daily-life objects.
- Secondly, our work introduces novel graphical user interfaces and rendering methods for non-traditional displays focusing on the problems of large interactive displays. Our current research addresses the lack of suitable interfaces and associated software applications for these systems. Our core areas of expertise are visualization and interaction. Therefore, we are working on visualization techniques that help users view and interact with large surfaces.
- Thirdly, we present new interaction techniques and develop adequate applications. Our work focuses on interaction metaphors that help users interact with large display systems.
- Fourthly, we evaluate natural user interfaces. Our research will also improve our understanding of how interactive wall and tabletop systems can be effectively utilized in the context of complex, time-critical task domains.
Our research follows a human-centered design approach. This begins with extensive software prototyping grounded in our investigations of task and group interactions. Early user evaluation will then occur using discount usability methods (e.g., cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluation). These methods involve user-performing representative task scenarios using the prototype, looking for potential design flaws. Formal user testing will then occur. Finally, the technology will be refined based on the user testing results.
NiCE will be supported by FFG and by the following partners: AMS Research (Austria), Ferrari (Italy), Microsoft (Austria), Nortel (Canada, USA), RTT (Germany), Sony DADC (Austria), Team7 (Austria), voestalpine group-IT (Austria). Moreover, the following companies expressed their interest to support this project as well: Natural User Interface (Sweden), vodafone Group R&D (Germany). If you have a passion for this topic or if you are interested in joining the team, please send an email to us.
