Browsing by Author "Tang, Anthony"

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    An Autobiographical Reflection on Designing Visualizations for Personal Contexts
    (2020-10-23) Aseniero, Bon Adriel; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Tang, Anthony; Willett, Wesley; Neustaedter, Carman; Liang, Hung-Ling (Steve); Vande Moere, Andrew
    Understanding personally relevant data can help us reflect upon ourselves or learn something new. Research in information visualization has shown that the use of interactive, graphical representations of data (data visualizations) enhance our ability to process information and learn. However, most of our current understanding of designing these representations stem from task-oriented professional/work contexts. In contrast, recently, the Infovis community has been interested in designing visualizations for more personal contexts. This knowledge can be applied to emergent research on data visualization usage in broader perspectives such as casual and personal visualizations, and visualizations for public engagement, where end-users tend to be non-experts, and where aesthetics and engagement may take precedence over task efficiency. In this thesis, I take an autobiographical approach in which I analyzed eight years’ worth of archived data (through design journals) on my work in designing and implementing data visualizations. These visualizations’ use cases range from individuals logging their activities, to several people (both novices and experts) convening in public engagement settings. Central to my body of work is an emphasis on the intentional use of visual aesthetics in designing data representations. Reflecting upon this body of work and experiences, I give a case-by-case, narrative reconstruction of my design process. In these narratives, I explore the prioritization of the aesthetic look-and-feel of visual encodings on the same level as people’s data exploration tasks. With this longitudinal insight, my thesis outlines a process of how a data visualization designer can design nonconventional data representations for personal contexts from sketches to working prototypes.
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    Applying Geocaching to Mobile Citizen Science through Science Caching
    (2013-07-09) Dunlap, Matthew; Tang, Anthony; Greenberg, Saul
    Citizen science occurs when volunteers work with scientists to collect data at particular field locations. The benefit is greater data collection at lesser cost. Yet this type of citizen science has a variety of known problems. Of these, we focus on four specific problems that we believe can be mitigated by applying aspects from another thriving location-based activity: the geocaching treasure hunt as enabled by mobile devices. To flesh out this idea, we developed SCIENCE CACHING, a prototype mobile system and site preparation strategy that leverages concepts from geocaching. To ease problems in data collection, sites are treated as geocaches: volunteers find them opportunistically and use equipment and other materials pre-stored in caches. To ease problems in data validation, outlier data is flagged immediately on-site so that it can be immediately checked and corrected, and/or other volunteers are directed to that site for additional readings. To ease problems in training, volunteers visit training sites where they are both taught and tested against known measures. To ease problems in volunteer coordination, volunteers are automatically directed at particular sites of interest, and real-time communication enabled. We showed SCIENCE CACHING to citizen science experts, who confirmed the merit in applying geocaching and mobility to citizen science.
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    Body as a Workspace: Design for Remote Physiotherapy
    (2015-04-15) Dillman, Kody; Tang, Anthony
    Many common injuries can be treated effectively with physiotherapy, but accessing this treatment is difficult for those in rural locations. We seek to design video-based systems to support remote physiotherapy, so patients can access and engage with therapy and a professional from their homes. We conducted design sessions with practicing physiotherapists to iteratively design and build technology sketches to understand communication challenges and practices for remote therapy. Our analysis of these sessions reveals new challenges in designing video media space tools for telerehabilitation. Chief among these lessons: supporting body-based communication between therapist and patient is challenging because the object of conversation is the patient’s body rather than an external object that can be manipulated.
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    Body-Centric Interaction: Using the Body as an Extended Mobile Interaction Space
    (2011-10-17T22:21:35Z) Chen, Xiang (Anthony); Tang, Anthony; Boring, Sebastian; Greenberg, Saul
    Current mobile devices require a person to navigate and interact with applications and their content via on-screen operations. The problem is that mobility trades off with screen size, providing limited space for interactions. To mitigate this problem, we explore how our body can extend the interaction space of a mobile device. We call this Body- Centric Interaction (BCI), a design space comprised of three dimensions. First, interactions occur in different proximal spaces on/around/far-from the body. Second, different mapping strategies can associate digital knowledge or interactions with these spaces. Third, various input techniques can help perform such interactions. We make use of this design space to 1) unify existing BCIrelated research, and 2) generatively design a set of proofof- concept prototypes. Overall, we contribute a design space that articulates and envisions how our body can be leveraged to create rich interaction possibilities that extends beyond a mobile device’s limited screen space.
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    CipherCard: Enhancing Security on Common Touchscreen Devices using Two-factor Authentication
    (2014-10-29) Seyed, Teddy; Yang, Xing-Dong; Tang, Anthony; Greenberg, Saul; Gu, Jiawei; Zhu, Bin; Cao, Xiang
    We present CipherCard, a physical token that defends against shoulder-surfing attacks on user authentication on touchscreen devices. Placed over a touchscreen pin-pad, CipherCard remaps a user’s touch points on the physical token to different locations on the pin-pad (i.e. as a substitution cipher). It translates a visible user password into a different system password received by a touchscreen, hiding the system password from observers. CipherCard enhances authentication security through Two-Factor Authentication (TFA), in that both the correct user password and a specific card are needed for authentication. We explore the design space of CipherCard, and describe three implemented variations each with unique capabilities. Based on user feedback, we discuss the security and usability implications of CipherCard, and describe several avenues for continued exploration.
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    Collaboration in 360° Videochat: Challenges and Opportunities
    (2017-04-18) Tang, Anthony; Fakourfar, Omid; Neustaedter, Carman; Bateman, Scott
    We designed a videochat experience where one participant can experience a remote environment from a 360° camera. This allows the remote user to view and explore the environment without necessitating interaction from the local participant. We designed and conducted an observational study to understand the experience, and the challenges that people might encounter. In a study with 32 participants (16 pairs), we found that remote participants could actively participate in the experience with the environment in ways that are not possible with current mobile video chat. However, we also found that participants had challenges in communicating location and orientation information because many of common communication resources we rely on in collocated chat are not available. Based on these findings, we discuss how future mobile video chat systems need to balance immersion with interaction ease.
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    Design and Evaluation of a Self-monitoring Application for Chronic Headaches
    (2015-11-19) Rahman, S. M. Waliur; Maurer, Frank; Tang, Anthony
    Chronic headache sufferers use headache diaries to learn about their headache symptoms and triggers. But the existing headache diaries do not support identification of probable headache triggers which is a critical requirement for self-monitoring of headaches. The literature describes several applications that keep track of headaches, but none of them allow the patients to identify potential headache triggers by exploring the correlations between the self-tracked factors and the onset of headaches. In this thesis, a self-monitoring application is designed that supports reviewing of headache trends and enables interactive visual exploration of potential correlations between the headaches and the putative triggers based on temporal data analysis. The design of the application reflects the data collection and the analytical needs of the headache patients. The evaluation results suggest that the application can be useful for the headache patients to identify their potential headache triggers, and hence enable better self-monitoring of headaches.
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    Designing for the Mindbody in Technology-Mediated Music-Making
    (2018-01-26) Pon, Aura; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Radford, Ronald Laurie Charles; Sallis, Friedemann; Tang, Anthony; Katz, Larry; McPherson, Andrew
    Together as attributes of one entity, the mind and body determine how we experience, understand, and make music. Our bodily experiences in the world shape how we comprehend music. In turn, our music cognition and expressive intentions, which are based on our bodily experiences, are mediated through the body when we make music. This inseparable mind-body interaction is essential to our sense of meaning, connection, and embodiment in our musical experiences, yet this dynamic is not always intact in today's technology-mediated music-making. Digital technology offers endless possibilities for new musical sounds and the mechanisms to control them, but the relationship between musical intentions, human action, and sound in such technology must be deliberately designed. Some current approaches to designing computer-based musical experiences dichotomize these mental and physical aspects of music-making, causing issues of disembodiment and disengagement. Employing a practice-based research methodology, the author's project explores the potential of considering the “mindbody” in the design of interactive computer systems for music-making. This thesis presents the motivation, background context, mindbody concept development, research methodology, and the documentation and analysis of practical project work. Five interactive systems for music-making designed for this practical exploration are: 1) Vuzik, an interface for composing through painting gestures, 2) Womba, a musical instrument for a fetal child to play in in utero, 3) R-oboe, a system for digitally extending an oboe, 4) Mindsets, a system using brainwaves to transform an instrumentalist’s sound, and 5) Torrent, a system that musifies and physicalizes muscle tension. Four music compositions composed with these systems are: 1) Concordia discors for Vuzik interactive display and three ChoirMob instruments, 2) Being and Becoming for oboe and interactive electronics, 3) Mindsets for violin, brainwaves and digital signal processing, and 4) Torrent for flutes and water. This exploratory creative and design process also yielded a set of design heuristics for considering the mindbody in technology design, pertaining to 1) valuing and awareness of process, 2) integrating intention, action, and sound, and 3) whole-body engagement.
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    Designing Remote Collaboration Technologies for Wilderness Search and Rescue
    (2021-06-28) Jones, Brennan David Gorham; Tang, Anthony; Neustaedter, Carman; Sharlin, Ehud; Willett, Wesley; Suzuki, Ryo; Semaan, Bryan
    Wilderness search and rescue (WSAR) is the search for and extraction of one or more lost people (e.g., hikers, skiers) from a wilderness area. WSAR is time-critical, and even with current technologies, workers still face challenges in effective remote collaboration, information sharing, and awareness. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to understand how user interfaces can be designed to better support WSAR distributed collaboration. I approach this first by understanding how WSAR workers collaborate remotely using today's technologies. In the first phase of my research, I ran an investigative study in which I interviewed WSAR workers and observed a mock WSAR response. My findings demonstrate that the main goal of a system for WSAR distributed collaboration should be to help workers construct and maintain a shared mental model, but there are unique challenges to doing this when scattered and moving around the wilderness. Following this, I designed a prototype of a system for WSAR commanders. This system aims to provide commanders with more implicit awareness of events in the field and the experiences of field teams. It does this through (1) body cameras worn by field teams, streaming photos periodically to the command post; and (2) aggregating existing information channels together into one interface, allowing commanders to explore this information together as part of a bigger picture. I then evaluated this system through a remote user study. I found that the awareness provided by body-camera footage could give commanders additional confidence and comfort while reducing the need for explicit communications with field teams. However, it could also shift the burden of responsibility toward commanders. Overall, this work contributes the following: (1) an understanding of WSAR remote collaboration practices; (2) the design of an interface for providing commanders awareness of events in the field; (3) a method for studying WSAR user-interface technologies remotely through simulated scenarios; and (4) an understanding of the potential opportunities and challenges of new information streams and communication modalities in WSAR. Beyond WSAR, this work contributes more broadly to our understanding of how to design remote collaboration technologies for serious team-based activities in large outdoor environments.
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    Display and Presence Disparity in Mixed Presence Groupware
    (2003-09-02) Tang, Anthony; Boyle, Michael; Greenberg, Saul
    Mixed Presence Groupware (MPG) supports both co-located and distributed participants, working over a shared visual workspace. It does this by connecting multiple single-display groupware workspaces together through a shared data structure. Our implementation and observations of MPG systems exposes two problems. The first is display disparity, where connecting heterogeneous tabletop and vertical displays introduces issues in how one seats people around the virtual table and how one orients work artifacts. The second is presence disparity, where a participant's perception of the presence of others is markedly different depending on whether a collaborator is co-located or remote. This is likely caused by inadequate consequential communication between remote participants, which in turn disrupts group collaborative and communication dynamics. To mitigate display and presence disparity problems, we determine virtual seating positions and replace conventional telepointers with digital arm shadows that extend from a person's side of the table to their pointer location.
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    Effects of a Structured Exergaming Curriculum on Postural Balance in Older Adults
    (2019-07-03) Hashim, Jawad; Katz, Larry; Doyle-Baker, Patricia; Din, Cari; Tang, Anthony
    Postural balance is a key component of mobility and functional independence, and it progressively declines in older adults. This randomised control trial (n=42) assigned participants aged 65 and over, in a six-week exergaming balance training (EBT) program using the Nintendo® Wii Fit U™ platform, a traditional balance training (CBT) program, and a control group in order to examine the effectiveness of these training programs in improving balance. The outcomes were measured at pre, post and three weeks follow up. The results suggested that dynamic balance improved in the EBT group as measured by Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale (Pre: 31.797 ± 1.556 SE, Post: 34.130 ± 1.315 SE, p<0.05) and Gait Speed (Pre: 0.865 m/s ± 0.040 SE, Post: 1.013 m/s ± 0.040, p<0.05). No significant changes were observed in self-reported measures of balance (Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale and Tinetti Falls Efficacy Scale) and static balance as measured by center of pressure excursion in the intervention groups. These findings should guide future researchers and health professionals about exergames selection, utility and application in balance rehabilitation programs.
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    Elevating Communication, Collaboration, and Shared Experiences between Peers in Mobile Video Communication using Drones
    (2016) Jones, Brennan; Tang, Anthony; Sharlin, Ehud; Katz, Larry
    People are increasingly using mobile video conferencing (e.g., Skype, FaceTime, Hangouts) to communicate, collaborate, and share experiences while on the go. Yet this presents challenges in adequately sharing camera views with remote users. In this thesis, I study the use of semi-autonomous drones for video conferencing, where an outdoor user (using a smartphone) is connected to a desktop user (e.g., who is at home or in an office) who can explore the environment from the drone's perspective. I describe findings from a study where pairs collaborated to complete shared navigation and search tasks. I illustrate the benefits of providing the desktop user with a view that is elevated, manipulable, and decoupled from the outdoor user. In addition, I articulate how participants overcame challenges in communicating environmental information and navigational cues, negotiated control of the view, and used the drone as a tool for sharing experiences. This provides a new way of thinking about mobile video conferencing, where cameras that are decoupled from both users play an integral role in communication, collaboration, and sharing experiences.
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    Embodiments and VideoArms in Mixed Presence Groupware
    (2004-03-29) Tang, Anthony; Neustaedter, Carmen; Greenberg, Saul
    Mixed Presence Groupware (MPG) is software that connects collocated and distributed collaborators together in a shared visual workspace. The problem is that collaborators in MPG focus their collaborative energies almost exclusively on their collocated partners, ignoring their distributed counterparts. This arises because remote collaborators are disembodied when compared to their collocated cohorts: they lack the material presence that informs others of their actions. In this paper, we recap how physical bodies facilitate collaboration in physical workspaces via feedthrough, consequential communication and gestures. We recast this theory as four design implications for virtual embodiments that minimize the disparity between collocated and remote collaborators within MPG. We use these properties to design VideoArms, a video-based mechanism that captures people�s body actions within a physical workspace, and then digitally recreates them as virtual embodiments throughout the MPG workspace.
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    Embodiments for Mixed Presence Groupware
    (2004-12-23) Tang, Anthony; Neustaedter, Carmen; Greenberg, Saul
    Large surfaces such as tabletop and whiteboard displays naturally afford collocated collaboration, where multiple people work together over the shared workspace. As large digital displays become more ubiquitous, it becomes increasingly important to examine their role in supporting groups of distributed collaborators working over the digital work surface. In particular, Mixed Presence Groupware (MPG) is software that connects both collocated and distributed collaborators and their disparate displays via a common shared virtual workspace. We have built several MPG systems by connecting several distributed displays, each with multiple input devices, thereby connecting both collocated and distributed collaborators. By observing how these systems are used, we found that MPG presents a unique problem called presenc1e disparity: collaborators focus their energies on collocated collaborators at the expense of their distributed counterparts. Presence disparity arises because the physical presence of collaborators varies across the MPG workgroup: physically collocated collaborators are seen in full fidelity, while remote participants are represented by only virtual embodiments. Consequently, we propose four design principles for MPG systems that we believe will help mitigate the problem of presence disparity in MPG. We then introduce how these principles are realized in VideoArms, an embodiment technique that digitally captures people s arms as they work over large work surfaces, and redisplays them as digital overlays on remote displays. Our evaluation of VideoArms validates its use in principle as an effective embodiment technique for MPG systems.
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    Experiences of Autistic Twitch Livestreamers: "I have made easily the most meaningful and impactful relationships"
    (ACM, 2023-10-22) Mok, Terrance; Tang, Anthony; McCrimmon, Adam; Oehlberg, Lora
    We present perspectives from 10 autistic Twitch streamers regarding their experiences as livestreamers and how autism uniquely colors their experiences. Livestreaming offers a social online experience distinct from in-person, face-to-face communication, where autistic people tend to encounter challenges. Our reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with 10 participants showcases autistic livestreamers’ perspectives in their own words. Our findings center on the importance of having streamers establishing connections with other, sharing autistic identities, controlling a space for social interaction, personal growth, and accessibility challenges. In our discussion, we highlight the crucial value of having a medium for autistic representation, as well as design opportunities for streaming platforms to onboard autistic livestreamers and to facilitate livestreamers communication with their audience.
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    Exploring 3D volumetric medical data using mobile devices
    (IEEE, 2014) Seyed, Teddy; Rodrigues, Francisco Marinho; Maurer, Frank; Tang, Anthony
    Medical imaging specialists have traditionally used keyboard and mouse based techniques and interfaces for examining both 2D and 3D medical images, but with newer imaging technologies resulting in significantly larger volumes of 3D medical images, these techniques that have become increasingly cumbersome for imaging specialists. To replace traditional techniques, using mobile devices present an effective means for navigating and exploring complex 3D medical data sets, as they provide increased fluidity and flexibility, leveraging people's existing skills with tangible objects. 3D interactions using mobile devices may provide benefit for imaging specialists, but little is known about using these interactions in the medical imaging domain. In this paper, we explore the design of 3D interaction techniques using mobile devices and preliminary feedback from imaging specialists suggests that these interactions may be a viable solution for the medical imaging domain.
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    Exploring and Understanding Physical Activity Amoung Older Adults
    (2015-12-08) Tang, Anthony; Alizadeh, Hesam; Witcraft, Anna; Sharlin, Ehud
    This report explores the question of how older adults understand and experience exercise (and physical activity) in their everyday lives. We provide this understanding by deploying a cultural probe study with seven participants in two local retirement communities. The result of our work is a set of design goals for a system to support remote activity.
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    Exploring Video Streams using Slit-Tear Visualizations
    (2008-01-07) Tang, Anthony; Greenberg, Saul; Fels, Sidney
    Video slicing a variant of slit scanning in photography extracts a scan line from a video frame and successively adds that line to a composite image over time. The composite image becomes a time line, where its visual patterns reflect changes in a particular area of the video stream. We extend this idea of video slicing by allowing users to draw marks anywhere on the source video to capture areas of interest. These marks, which we call slittears, are used in place of a scan line, and the resulting composite timeline image provides a much richer visualization of the video data. Depending on how tears are placed, they can accentuate motion, small changes, directional movement, and relational patterns.
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    The Fat Thumb: Using the Thumb's Contact Size for Single-Handed Mobile Interaction
    (2011-12-02T21:11:14Z) Boring, Sebastian; Ledo, David; Chen, Xiang (Anthony); Marquardt, Nicolai; Tang, Anthony; Greenberg, Saul
    Modern mobile devices allow a rich set of multi-finger interactions that combine modes into a single fluid act, for example, one finger for panning blending into a two-finger pinch gesture for zooming. Such gestures require the use of both hands: one holding the device while the other is interacting. While on the go, however, only one hand may be available to both hold the device and interact with it. This mostly limits interaction to a single-touch (i.e., the thumb), forcing users to switch between input modes explicitly. In this paper, we contribute the Fat Thumb interaction technique, which uses the thumb’s contact size as a form of simulated pressure. This adds a degree of freedom, which can be used, for example, to integrate panning and zooming into a single interaction. Contact size determines the mode (i.e., panning with a small size, zooming with a large one), while thumb movement performs the selected mode. We discuss nuances of the Fat Thumb based on the thumb’s limited operational range and motor skills when that hand holds the device. We compared Fat Thumb to three alternative techniques, where people had to pan and zoom to a predefined region on a map. Participants performed fastest with the least strokes using Fat Thumb.
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    A Framework for Visual Information Analysis
    (2007-07-12) Neumann, Petra; Tang, Anthony; Carpendale, Sheelagh
    To design information visualization tools that support users needs, we need to understand how users engage with information visualizations in their analysis process. With the rapid growth in size and complexity of datasets, the practicality of an individual analyzing an entire dataset is becoming unrealistic. Instead, the expertise to make informed decisions about these information-rich datasets is often best accomplished by a team. However, there exist relatively few models that describe the visual analysis process, and only few studies that explore the differences between how individuals and teams use visualizations. We present an observational study where we explored the information analysis process of groups and individuals in the context of visual information. From the analysis of our study, we derive a framework that captures the activities of co-located teams and individuals engaged in information analysis. This framework has implications for the design, heuristic evaluation, and analysis of both collaborative and single-user digital information visualization tools.