Mobile Applications Research Group
Center for Human-Computer
Interaction
Department of Computer
Science
Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
The Center for
Human-Computer Interaction (CHCI) in the Department
of Computer Science at Virginia Tech has
been involved with diverse basic and applied projects in areas such as
multimedia information systems, visualization of scientific data and processes,
electronic conferencing, instructional technology, computer-supported
cooperative work, community computing, user interface design, and usability
evaluation methods and tools. As mobile devices and their networking become
affordable, reliable, and engrained into everyday lives, CHCI has taken an
initiative to layout a creative research trajectory in this field. Following is
a brief overview (listing of project and abstract) of ongoing research related
to mobile and wireless technologies at CHCI. Most projects are administered by
graduate students, either as a Master’s Thesis or PhD Dissertation.
1. Mobile Collaborative Virtual Environments
Most collaborative virtual environments are
confined to the desktop and thus preclude collaboration while users are on the
move. Mobile accessibility for collaborative environments renders them
ubiquitous—they can be used anywhere and at any time. A working prototype has
been developed to port an existing desktop-based online virtual environment to
handheld devices. The prototype illustrates a generic, extensible and
platform-independent architecture for translating a desktop-based collaborative
environment into a mobile system.
Publications
“MOOsburg++:
Moving Towards a Wireless Virtual Community” (2002), Proceedings of the International Conference
on Wireless Networks.
“MobileTrade:
A Distributed Wireless Application for Trading Stocks” (2001), ACM
Southeast Conference.
2. Ubiquitous Interaction between Multiple Devices
To support the ideals of ubiquitous and calm
computing we must find ways to collectively bring current computing devices
together in a way that will support our daily activities and provide a user
interface that integrates multiple computing devices into useful tools. For
example, when a team gathers in a meeting room, each participant should be able
to carry or access their own data on a personal device. They should be able to
use those devices to share that data with the rest of the team, merge it with
information from others, display it on public displays in the room, and
collectively produce a result from those parts. Such multiple-device systems
provide the many design challenges for human-computer interaction. A wide
variety of interaction techniques, from using PDAs as simple remote controls to
fully synchronous collaborative applications as well as dividing functionality
between devices, could be developed to support the combination of these devices
in the face-to-face meeting room setting. We are actively working to understand
those tradeoffs to guide the design of multiple-device interactions.
Publications
“Supporting
the Collaborative Meeting Place” (2002), Proceedings of CHI.
“Methods
Supporting Usability Evaluation of the Collaborative Meeting Place” (2001),
Workshop on Evaluation Methodologies for Ubiquitous Computing.
3.
Location-based Alerting Service
With Global Positioning System (GPS) technology
becoming more common, context-sensitive and location-based services (LBS) are
being realized. Consider a scenario where a user forgets to collect his
laundry, but uses his handheld device (e.g. cellular phone) to active an
alerting service that will notify him the next time he passes by the
Laundromat. This technology and infrastructure is being explored, and a user
study being executed on the prototype to establish the usefulness of such a
system.
Publications
“An
Analysis of Location Models for MOOsburg” (2001), Workshop on Location
Modeling for Ubiquitous Computing.
4.
Mobile Assistive Technologies
Disabled students, such as the visually impaired,
require tools to help them keep up with lectures and presentations (methods for
automatically getting the necessary files, offering enhanced audio, etc). Such
applications require special attention to the usability engineering techniques that
are employed to evaluate the software. A trajectory for this research is being
developed to explore usability issues for PDAs with limited display and input
capabilities.
5.
Mobile Education
Research has compellingly established the
importance of learning communities. At the same time, mobility, flexibility and
instant access of handheld devices add considerable freedom for people to
collaborate anywhere, anytime. However, not enough research has been done in
integrating the two concepts; for example, trying to coordinate the use of
desktop computers and handheld devices in a cross-platform collaborative
manner. Mobile Education or M-Education is a new paradigm in collaboration
where people from desktops interact with peers in the field using handheld
devices. An example is an ongoing project called “Save Our Streams”, where
collaborators monitoring stream health require interaction capabilities with
their counterparts in offices and homes through handhelds.
Publications
“M-Education:
Bridging the Gap of Mobile and Desktop Computing” (2002), IEEE
International Workshop on Wireless and Mobile Technologies in Education.
6.
Mobilizing Community Networks
Community networks are
created to facilitate the development and management of information and
activity in a proximate community. Porting community networks on different form
factors, like handheld devices, will afford additional channels of
accessibility and opportunities for collaboration. Mobile community networks
afford place-based interactions while users are on the move. They also
facilitate local community growth and build social capital. Mobile community
networks will eventually coordinate actions of groups in geographic space and
supplement social arenas.
Publications
“Mobilizing
Community Networks” (2003), Conference on Home Oriented Informatics and
Telematics.
7.
Handheld Technologies in Education
Traditionally, computer supported collaborative
learning (CSCL) has focused on using desktop computers to support and
facilitate group processes and group dynamics in ways that are not achievable
by face-to-face interaction. By allowing the use of handheld technology by
students in classrooms, both students and teachers can take advantage of the
many affordances that together are unique to handheld computing: mobility,
individuality, affordability, and location sensitivity. Leading researchers in
this field are using handheld technology in education, especially in K-12
classrooms and location-based learning settings. Delegating handheld
technologies at a post-secondary educational level (universities) is a worthy
area of exploration. Software requirements will dictate new applications to be
developed for the changing needs of students in different subject domains.
Umer Farooq (PhD Candidate, ufarooq@vt.edu)
Craig Ganoe (PhD Candidate, ganoe@vt.edu)
John M. Carroll (Professor, carroll@cs.vt.edu)