Although augmented reality (AR) has gained much research attention in recent years, the term AR was given different meanings by varying researchers. In this article, we first provide an overview of definitions, taxonomies, and technologies of AR. We argue that viewing AR as a concept rather than a type of technology would be more productive for educators, researchers, and designers. Then we identify certain features and affordances of AR systems and applications. Yet, these compelling features may not be unique to AR applications and can be found in other technological systems or learning environments (e.g., ubiquitous and mobile learning environments). The instructional approach adopted by an AR system and the alignment among technology design, instructional approach, and learning experiences may be more important. Thus, we classify three categories of instructional approaches that emphasize the ''roles,'' ''tasks,'' and ''locations,'' and discuss what and how different categories of AR approaches may help students learn. While AR offers new learning opportunities, it also creates new challenges for educators. We outline technological, pedagogical, learning issues related to the implementation of AR in education. For example, students in AR environments may be cognitively overloaded by the large amount of information they encounter, the multiple technological devices they are required to use, and the complex tasks they have to complete. This article provides possible solutions for some of the challenges and suggests topics and issues for future research.

Current status, opportunities and challenges of augmented reality in education

We present steps toward a conceptual framework for tangible user interfaces. We introduce the MCRpd interaction model for tangible interfaces, which relates the role of physical and digital representations, physical control, and underlying digital models. This model serves as a foundation for identifying and discussing several key characteristics of tangible user interfaces. We identify a number of systems exhibiting these characteristics, and situate these within 12 application domains. Finally, we discuss tangible interfaces in the context of related research themes, both within and outside of the human-computer interaction domain.

/pdf/emerging-frameworks-for-tangible-user-interfaces-254dznxose.pdf

Emerging frameworks for tangible user interfaces

Mathematica--A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer.

We are living in a world which faces a rapidly increasing amount of data to be dealt with on a daily basis. In the last decade, the steady improvement of data storage devices and means to create and collect data along the way influenced our way of dealing with information: Most of the time, data is stored without filtering and refinement for later use. Virtually every branch of industry or business, and any political or personal activity nowadays generate vast amounts of data. Making matters worse, the possibilities to collect and store data increase at a faster rate than our ability to use it for making decisions. However, in most applications, raw data has no value in itself; instead we want to extract the information contained in it.

/pdf/visual-analytics-definition-process-and-challenges-3mll5saq86.pdf

Visual Analytics: Definition, Process, and Challenges

Even though interaction is an important part of information visualization (Infovis), it has garnered a relatively low level of attention from the Infovis community. A few frameworks and taxonomies of Infovis interaction techniques exist, but they typically focus on low-level operations and do not address the variety of benefits interaction provides. After conducting an extensive review of Infovis systems and their interactive capabilities, we propose seven general categories of interaction techniques widely used in Infovis: 1) Select, 2) Explore, 3) Reconfigure, 4) Encode, 5) Abstract/Elaborate, 6) Filter, and 7) Connect. These categories are organized around a user's intent while interacting with a system rather than the low-level interaction techniques provided by a system. The categories can act as a framework to help discuss and evaluate interaction techniques and hopefully lay an initial foundation toward a deeper understanding and a science of interaction.

https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~john.stasko/papers/infovis07-interaction.pdf

Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization

It is becoming increasingly more common for people to own botha smartphone and a tablet, providing a design opportunity to leverage the combination of these two formfactors. Our work aims to explore this by: a) defining the design space of distributed input and output solutions that rely on and benefit from phone--tablet collaboration, both physically and digitally; andb) reveal the idiosyncrasies of each particular device combination via interactive prototypes. Our research provides actionable insight in this emerging area by defining a design space, suggesting a developer's framework and implementing prototypical applicationsin such areas as distributed information display, distributed control and various configurations of these. For each of these, we present several example techniques and demonstrate an application that combinessuch techniques.

Holy smartphones and tablets, Batman!: mobile interaction's dynamic duo

This chapter presents a brief history of scientific research into interactive tabletops, associated emerging technologies, and commercial products. It summarizes and visualizes a body of scientific work, identifies major advances during the past 15 years, and thereby draws a picture of the research landscape to date. Key innovations during this period are identified and their research impact is discussed. We synthesize historical information into a synoptic landscape including research highlights, enabling technologies, prototypes, and products. On top of this landscape, we point out and trace innovations as they stimulated and triggered key transitions in research and technology. These innovations have also played a major role in leveraging ideas from a conceptual level to widespread adoption and use. Finally, the chapter examines possible future trends of tabletop research, technologies, and applications.

Introduction: A Short History of Tabletop Research, Technologies, and Products

This paper introduces Thaddeus---a mobile phone-tablet system for mobile interaction with information visualisations. Our work is motivated by the roles smartphones and tablets play in everyday interactive spaces as well as anticipated developments in mobile sensing technology. We also aim to meet the social challenges of a data-driven society. We designed and implemented a system that uses mutual spatial awareness as an input mode, producing new interaction patterns for mobile settings. We gathered extensive user insight from two design studies and evaluated the system in a controlled experiment. We used qualitative and quantitative measures in the final evaluation. The results show that the system does not have a significant impact on performance, but users perceive it as pleasurable and easy to use. Thaddeus offers an enhanced user experience when exploring information on the go, and provides insights for future designs of mobile multi-device systems.

Thaddeus: a dual device interaction space for exploring information visualisation

The widespread use of the mouse as an input device for notebook computers indicates that many users are reluctant to use alternative built-in pointing devices. We present a novel input method called Touch&Type™ which is meant to overcome some of the drawbacks encountered with conventional built-it pointing devices. Touch&Type™ combines a conventional keyboard with an extended touch pad whereby the touch pad's sensitive area is formed by the surface of the keys themselves and thus can be made as large as the whole key area. A comparative study of pointing operation is presented with a Touch&Type™ prototype in comparison with the mouse and the conventional touch pad. While the mouse outperformed its two counterparts, Touch&Type™ was found to be superior to the conventional touch pad (after a short learning period) with a confidence level of 73%. The study investigated pointing operation only, not taking homing time into account.

http://www.fjeld.ch/pub/Fallot_NordiCHI06.pdf

Touch&Type: a novel pointing device for notebook computers

BUILD-IT is a Tangible User Interface (TUI) developed to facilitate collaboration between a group of designers or planners seated around a table. We briefly describe a task analysis conducted to determine what the target users of the system do in the course of their work. The responses provided by 16 potential users are summarised as design insights. The system designed to facilitate dealing with these tasks, described in more detail by Rauterberg et al. (1) and Fjeld et al. (2), is then outlined. The remaining sections of the paper present an informal evaluation of BUILD-IT consisting of the first author's responses to questions selected from the Activity Checklist devised by Kaptelinin et al. (3). The relationship between BUILD-IT and activity theory is a theme throughout the paper since tangible bricks - physical objects which users manipulate - bring behavioural ('objective') elements of activity particularly close to the decision-making, cognitive ('subjective') elements of activity involved in planning and design.

http://www.fjeld.ch/pub/media/2004_Fjeld_et_al_IJHRDM.pdf

Morten Fjeld

Papers

Holy smartphones and tablets, Batman!: mobile interaction's dynamic duo

Introduction: A Short History of Tabletop Research, Technologies, and Products

Thaddeus: a dual device interaction space for exploring information visualisation

Touch&Type: a novel pointing device for notebook computers

Activity theory and the practice of design: evaluation of a collaborative tangible user interface