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A large-scale study of information needs by Karen Church

In recent years, mobile phones have evolved from simple communication devices to sophisticated personal computers enabling anytime, anywhereaccess to a wealth of information. Understanding the types of information needs that occur while mobile and how these needs are addressed is crucial in order to design and develop novel services that are tailored to mobile users.

To date, studies exploring information needs, in particular mobile needs, have been relatively small in terms of scope, scale and duration. The goal of this work is to investigate information needs on a much larger-scale and to explore, through quantitative analysis, how those needs are addressed.To this end, we conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of information needs to date, spanning a 3-month period and involving over 100 users. The study employed an intelligent experience sampling algorithm, an online diary and SMS technology to gather insights into the types of needs that occur from day to day.

Our results not only complement earlier studies but also shed new light on the differences between mobile and non-mobile information needs as well as the impact of demographics like gender have on the types of needs that arise and on the means chosen to satisfy those needs. Finally, we point to a number of design implications for enriching the future experiences of mobile users based on our findings..

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Event details

  • When: 5th March 2012 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Phys Theatre C
  • Series: CS Colloquia Series
  • Format: Colloquium, Seminar

Multimodal mobile interaction – making the most of our users’ capabilities by Stephen Brewster, University of Glasgow

Title: Multimodal mobile interaction – making the most of our users’ capabilities


Mobile user interfaces are commonly based on techniques developed for desktop computers in the 1970s, often including buttons, sliders, windows and progress bars. These can be hard to use on the move which then limits the way we use our devices and the applications on them. This talk will look at the possibility of moving away from these kinds of interactions to ones more suited to mobile devices and their dynamic contexts of use where users need to be able to look where they are going, carry shopping bags and hold on to children. Multimodal (gestural, audio and haptic) interactions provide us new ways to use our devices that can be eyes and hands free, and allow users to interact in a ‘head up’ way. These new interactions will facilitate new services, applications and devices that fit better into our daily lives and allow us to do a whole host of new things


I will discuss some of the work we are doing on input using gestures done with fingers, wrist and head, along with work on output using non-speech audio, 3D sound and tactile displays in applications such as for mobile devices such as text entry, camera phone user interfaces and navigation. I will also discuss some of the issues of social acceptability of these new interfaces; we have to be careful that the new ways we want people to use devices are socially appropriate and don’t make us feel embarrassed or awkward


Biography: Stephen is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, UK. His main research interest is in Multimodal Human-Computer Interaction, sound and haptics and gestures. He has done a lot of research into Earcons, a particular form of non-speech sounds. He completed his degree in Computer Science at the University of Herfordshire in the UK. After a period in industry he did his PhD in the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the University of York in the UK with Dr Alistair Edwards. The title of his thesis is “Providing a structured method for integrating non-speech audio into human-computer interfaces”. That is where he developed his interests in earcons and non-speech sound. After finishing his PhD he worked as a research fellow for the European Union as part of the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM). From September, 1994 – March, 1995 he worked at VTT Information Technology in Helsinki, Finland. He then worked at SINTEF DELAB in Trondheim, Norway.

Event details

  • When: 20th February 2012 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Phys Theatre C
  • Series: CS Colloquia Series
  • Format: Colloquium

Workshop on Computational Logic in honour of Roy Dyckhoff

The University of St Andrews is hosting a 2-day workshop on Computational Logic in honour of Roy Dyckhoff, who has retired this year.

The workshop will be held in Parliament Hall at the University of St Andrews on November 18-19, 2011, and is very generously sponsored by the SICSA Modelling and Abstraction Theme.  Topics include Proof Theory, Natural Deduction, Verification, Combinatory Logic and Semantics.

More details, including the programme can be found at: http://www.lix.polytechnique.fr/~lengrand/Events/Dyckhoff/index.php?page=programme

Attendance at the workshop is free to SICSA researchers, but we do ask you to register through the web site so that we can arrange catering.

Event details

  • When: 18th November 2011 - 19th November 2011
  • Format: Workshop

A Decade of Research on Constraint Modelling and Reformulation:The Quest for Abstraction and Automation by Alan M Frisch

Abstract:

To mark the Tenth International Workshop on Constraint Modelling and Reformulation, this talk reviews research in the field over the past decade, focusing on the key themes of abstraction and automation.

Looking to the future, the talk identifies key issues that must be confronted in furthering the quest for abstraction and automation.

Biography:

Dr Alan M Frisch is a Reader in Intelligent Systems and Head of the Artificial Intelligence Group in the Dept. of Computer Science at the Univ. of York.  He is currently a SICSA Distinguished Visiting Fellow.

For over 30 years he has been teaching artificial intelligence and researching various topics within the field, including a focus on constraint programming over the past decade.  He is an acknowledged
leader in constraint modelling, best known for his pioneering contributions in the automation of constraint modelling, in inventing the ESSENCE problem specification language, and in developing symmetry-breaking constraints.

Alan M Frisch – Artificial Intelligence Group – Department of Computer Science – University of York, UK.

Event details

  • When: 7th November 2011 14:00 - 15:00
  • Where: Phys Theatre C
  • Series: CS Colloquia Series
  • Format: Colloquium

Summer School on Multimodal Systems for Digital Tourism

The focus of this summer school is to introduce a new generation of researchers to the latest research advances in multimodal systems, in the context of applications, services and technologies for tourists (Digital Tourism). Where mobile and desktop applications can rely on eyes down interaction, the tourist aims to keep their eyes up and focussed on the painting, statue, mountain, ski run, castle, loch or other sight before them. In this school we focus on multimodal input and output interfaces, data fusion techniques and hybrid architectures, vision, speech and conversational interfaces, haptic interaction, mobile, tangible and virtual/augmented multimodal UIs, tools and system infrastructure issues for designing interfaces and their evaluation.
We have structured this summer school as a blend of theory and practice.

Further information on the summer school on the SACHI site.

Event details

  • When: 27th June 2011 - 1st July 2011
  • Where: Honey Bldg
  • Format: Summer School