Jan Humble - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jan Humble
sensor architecture for unobtrusive routine
Proceedings of the 27th international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '09, 2009
Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Collaborative virtual environments - CVE '02, 2002
In this paper we describe The Pond, a system used to search for and visualise data elements on an... more In this paper we describe The Pond, a system used to search for and visualise data elements on an engaging tabletop display. The Pond uses methods of unencumbered interaction and audio feedback to allow users to investigate data elements, and supports shoulder-to-shoulder collaboration with the physical Pond artefact mediating the collaboration between those people gathered around it. The user interface is based on an ecosystem metaphor, presenting data elements in the form of shoals of aquatic creatures inside a virtual 3D pond. The Pond is an interactive system offering an appealing and novel way to search for and interchange information. We describe the motivation and design choices behind The Pond, the system as it stands today, details of its implementation, and observations from a study of The Pond in use.
Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on ... more Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on the domestic situation. We built two prototypes of different threshold devices and studied them in field trials with participant households. The Local Barometer displays online text and images related to the home’s locality depending on the local wind conditions to give an impression of the sociocultural surroundings. The Plane Tracker tracks aircraft passing overhead and imagines their flights onscreen to resource an understanding of the home’s global links. Our studies indicated that the experiences they provided were compelling, that participants could and did interpret the devices in various ways, that their form designs were appropriate for domestic environments, that using readymade information contributed to the richness of the experiences, and that situating the information they provided with respect to the home and its locality was important for the ways people engaged with them...
Abstract. The use of positioning systems is an important but problematic aspect of ‘context aware... more Abstract. The use of positioning systems is an important but problematic aspect of ‘context aware ’ applications. Through focusing on location-based games, we introduce the approach of self-reported positioning in which players explicitly and implicitly reveal their positions by manipulating electronic maps. A study of a game that piloted this approach demonstrates that self-reported positioning can be a reliable low-tech alternative to automated systems such as GPS. We contrast the strategies used by humans to generate position updates – reporting at landmarks and junctions and ahead and behind themselves – with automated approaches, drawing out implications for how we think of positioning error and design positioning systems. 1
In 1984, Robert Axelrod reported the results of two iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) compet... more In 1984, Robert Axelrod reported the results of two iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) competitions [Axelrod (1984)]. The booked was to be a catalyst for much of the research in this area since that time. It is unlikely that you would write a scientic paper about IPD, without citing Axelrod's
Pervasive computing systems such as smart spaces typically combine multiple embedded and/or mobil... more Pervasive computing systems such as smart spaces typically combine multiple embedded and/or mobile sensing, computing and interaction devices. A variety of distributed computing approaches are used to integrate these devices to support coordinated applications. This paper describes how simple user descriptions of (primarily) physical aspects of such a system can be combined with information from system introspection to make the system and its log recordings more understandable to potential users, as well as supporting easier configuration and monitoring, and allowing the expression of certain kinds of system behaviour that are otherwise hard to achieve.
Abstract. In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible... more Abstract. In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote medical monitoring applications on the Grid. We use two lightweight monitoring devices (a java phone and a wearable computer), which monitor blood glucose levels and ECG/SpO2 activity. We have connected those devices to the Grid by means of proxies, allowing those devices to be intermittently connected. The data from the devices is collected in a database on the Grid, and practitioners can obtain real time data or observe the patients historical data. -Making remote data available to the Grid in order that a wider scientific community can access scientific data as quickly as possible often using varying quality communication services.
Abstract. This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user t... more Abstract. This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. Interaction techniques developed through userparticipation enable household members -rather than designers -to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As part of this we have developed a tablet-based editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as jigsaw pieces that can be dynamically recombined. We conclude by considering the broad implications for the design of interactive domestic environments suggested by our approach.
We describe the motivation, design and initial implementation of the Equip Component Toolkit (ECT... more We describe the motivation, design and initial implementation of the Equip Component Toolkit (ECT), a software toolkit for ubiquitous computing that is intended to reduce the cost – especially in time and effort – of developing ubicomp installations, applications and environments, and increase the potential involvement of designers and users in this process. The toolkit supports distributed applications running over multiple hosts by the creation, configuration and interconnection of software components (especially existing/legacy components) and components which represent physical devices and sensors. Users are supported by graphical tools which provide various representations of the running environment, plus facilities for monitoring, (re)configuration, scripting and learning by example.
Digital Replay System (DRS) is an application for replaying and analyzing combinations of video r... more Digital Replay System (DRS) is an application for replaying and analyzing combinations of video recordings, transcriptions and system log files. The W3C’s Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL) are used to define and maintain the application’s internal data model, based on the JENA RDF library. Each application has its own persistent RDF models, provided by a database-backed JENA model. A top-level division is made into “projects”, each of which has its own RDF model for scalability and manageability. An in-memory model cache and carefully limited use of inference yields acceptable interactive performance. OWL is used for data modeling, both for primary data objects used in the application, supported by a Java wrapper generating tool, and for more general descriptive metadata, accessed via ontology-driven generic interfaces. The RDF data model is complemented by relational databases for storing system events and XML-encoded files for editable “rich” doc...
This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage t... more This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. The model is responsive to ethnographic studies of the interplay between the Space-plan or interior layout and Stuff or artefacts placed within the fabric of the home. Interaction techniques developed through user-participation enable household members -rather than designers -to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As a result, we have developed a tabletbased editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as 'jigsaw pieces' that can be dynamically assembled and recombined.
Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on ... more Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on the domestic situation. The Local Barometer displays online text and images related to the home’s locality depending on the local wind conditions to give an impression of the sociocultural surroundings.
The Plane Tracker is an example of a ‘threshold device’ that presents information gathered from t... more The Plane Tracker is an example of a ‘threshold device’ that presents information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on domestic circumstances. A focus on the home and its surroundings complements more traditional applications for domestic computing. Whereas conventional systems for the home focus on bringing placeless and generic content into the home, Threshold devices, in contrast, particularise content by linking it to the home’s physical location. Further examples of Threshold Devices include the ‘Drift Table’, the ‘Local Barometer’ and the ‘Video Window’.
This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage t... more This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. Interaction techniques developed through user- participation enable household members - rather than designers - to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As part of this we have developed a tablet-based editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as jigsaw pieces that can be dynamically recombined. We conclude by considering the broad implications for the design of interactive domestic environments suggested by our approach.
Ercim News, 2001
The Pond is a desk-projection-based system for search, visualisation and transactions of data ele... more The Pond is a desk-projection-based system for search, visualisation and transactions of data elements stored in local databases or on the Internet. Based on a 3D ecosystem metaphor, the Pond approach to querying, presenting and manipulating data elements differs considerably from more conventional information systems.
In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote me... more In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote medical monitoring applications on the Grid. We use two lightweight monitoring devices (a java phone and a wearable computer), which monitor blood glucose levels and ECG/SpO2 activity. We have connected those devices to the Grid by means of proxies, allowing those devices to be intermittently connected. The data from the devices is collected in a database on the Grid, and practitioners can obtain real time data or observe the patients historical data. Making remote data available to the Grid in order that a wider scientific community can access scientific data as quickly as possible often using varying quality communication services. Introduction The emergence of e-science and initiatives such as the UK e-science programme has been driven from the initial suggestion of “the Grid” as a distributed computing infrastructure for advanced science [1]. We have already seen considerable progress ...
In this paper we describe an ongoing project that aims to create tools for computer based role-pl... more In this paper we describe an ongoing project that aims to create tools for computer based role-playing games that utilize the physical world as setting. Tools for creating and authoring as well as support for a game-master controlling the game will be developed. We briefly describe a first prototype and the results gathered from reviewing it.
DRS, the Digital Replay System, is a software tool being developed by the DReSS node of the UK ES... more DRS, the Digital Replay System, is a software tool being developed by the DReSS node of the UK ESRC-funded National Centre for e-Social Science. It has been developed from the previous ReplayTool application to support the coordinated replay, annotation and analysis of combinations of video, audio, transcripts, images and system log files. DRS uses a new internal data model which gives it much greater flexibility than ReplayTool. It also provides new facilities for project and data management and organization, complex synchronization between related media, structured annotation including transcription and coding (classification), and new support for processing and visualizing log files and databases. It is publicly available under an open source license and is hosted by SourceForge. The current (first public) release emphasizes usability with a core feature set. Two further releases are planned which will make more experimental facilities available to general users. Introduction Rep...
sensor architecture for unobtrusive routine
Proceedings of the 27th international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems - CHI EA '09, 2009
Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Collaborative virtual environments - CVE '02, 2002
In this paper we describe The Pond, a system used to search for and visualise data elements on an... more In this paper we describe The Pond, a system used to search for and visualise data elements on an engaging tabletop display. The Pond uses methods of unencumbered interaction and audio feedback to allow users to investigate data elements, and supports shoulder-to-shoulder collaboration with the physical Pond artefact mediating the collaboration between those people gathered around it. The user interface is based on an ecosystem metaphor, presenting data elements in the form of shoals of aquatic creatures inside a virtual 3D pond. The Pond is an interactive system offering an appealing and novel way to search for and interchange information. We describe the motivation and design choices behind The Pond, the system as it stands today, details of its implementation, and observations from a study of The Pond in use.
Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on ... more Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on the domestic situation. We built two prototypes of different threshold devices and studied them in field trials with participant households. The Local Barometer displays online text and images related to the home’s locality depending on the local wind conditions to give an impression of the sociocultural surroundings. The Plane Tracker tracks aircraft passing overhead and imagines their flights onscreen to resource an understanding of the home’s global links. Our studies indicated that the experiences they provided were compelling, that participants could and did interpret the devices in various ways, that their form designs were appropriate for domestic environments, that using readymade information contributed to the richness of the experiences, and that situating the information they provided with respect to the home and its locality was important for the ways people engaged with them...
Abstract. The use of positioning systems is an important but problematic aspect of ‘context aware... more Abstract. The use of positioning systems is an important but problematic aspect of ‘context aware ’ applications. Through focusing on location-based games, we introduce the approach of self-reported positioning in which players explicitly and implicitly reveal their positions by manipulating electronic maps. A study of a game that piloted this approach demonstrates that self-reported positioning can be a reliable low-tech alternative to automated systems such as GPS. We contrast the strategies used by humans to generate position updates – reporting at landmarks and junctions and ahead and behind themselves – with automated approaches, drawing out implications for how we think of positioning error and design positioning systems. 1
In 1984, Robert Axelrod reported the results of two iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) compet... more In 1984, Robert Axelrod reported the results of two iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) competitions [Axelrod (1984)]. The booked was to be a catalyst for much of the research in this area since that time. It is unlikely that you would write a scientic paper about IPD, without citing Axelrod's
Pervasive computing systems such as smart spaces typically combine multiple embedded and/or mobil... more Pervasive computing systems such as smart spaces typically combine multiple embedded and/or mobile sensing, computing and interaction devices. A variety of distributed computing approaches are used to integrate these devices to support coordinated applications. This paper describes how simple user descriptions of (primarily) physical aspects of such a system can be combined with information from system introspection to make the system and its log recordings more understandable to potential users, as well as supporting easier configuration and monitoring, and allowing the expression of certain kinds of system behaviour that are otherwise hard to achieve.
Abstract. In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible... more Abstract. In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote medical monitoring applications on the Grid. We use two lightweight monitoring devices (a java phone and a wearable computer), which monitor blood glucose levels and ECG/SpO2 activity. We have connected those devices to the Grid by means of proxies, allowing those devices to be intermittently connected. The data from the devices is collected in a database on the Grid, and practitioners can obtain real time data or observe the patients historical data. -Making remote data available to the Grid in order that a wider scientific community can access scientific data as quickly as possible often using varying quality communication services.
Abstract. This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user t... more Abstract. This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. Interaction techniques developed through userparticipation enable household members -rather than designers -to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As part of this we have developed a tablet-based editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as jigsaw pieces that can be dynamically recombined. We conclude by considering the broad implications for the design of interactive domestic environments suggested by our approach.
We describe the motivation, design and initial implementation of the Equip Component Toolkit (ECT... more We describe the motivation, design and initial implementation of the Equip Component Toolkit (ECT), a software toolkit for ubiquitous computing that is intended to reduce the cost – especially in time and effort – of developing ubicomp installations, applications and environments, and increase the potential involvement of designers and users in this process. The toolkit supports distributed applications running over multiple hosts by the creation, configuration and interconnection of software components (especially existing/legacy components) and components which represent physical devices and sensors. Users are supported by graphical tools which provide various representations of the running environment, plus facilities for monitoring, (re)configuration, scripting and learning by example.
Digital Replay System (DRS) is an application for replaying and analyzing combinations of video r... more Digital Replay System (DRS) is an application for replaying and analyzing combinations of video recordings, transcriptions and system log files. The W3C’s Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL) are used to define and maintain the application’s internal data model, based on the JENA RDF library. Each application has its own persistent RDF models, provided by a database-backed JENA model. A top-level division is made into “projects”, each of which has its own RDF model for scalability and manageability. An in-memory model cache and carefully limited use of inference yields acceptable interactive performance. OWL is used for data modeling, both for primary data objects used in the application, supported by a Java wrapper generating tool, and for more general descriptive metadata, accessed via ontology-driven generic interfaces. The RDF data model is complemented by relational databases for storing system events and XML-encoded files for editable “rich” doc...
This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage t... more This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. The model is responsive to ethnographic studies of the interplay between the Space-plan or interior layout and Stuff or artefacts placed within the fabric of the home. Interaction techniques developed through user-participation enable household members -rather than designers -to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As a result, we have developed a tabletbased editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as 'jigsaw pieces' that can be dynamically assembled and recombined.
Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on ... more Threshold devices present information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on the domestic situation. The Local Barometer displays online text and images related to the home’s locality depending on the local wind conditions to give an impression of the sociocultural surroundings.
The Plane Tracker is an example of a ‘threshold device’ that presents information gathered from t... more The Plane Tracker is an example of a ‘threshold device’ that presents information gathered from the home’s surroundings to give new views on domestic circumstances. A focus on the home and its surroundings complements more traditional applications for domestic computing. Whereas conventional systems for the home focus on bringing placeless and generic content into the home, Threshold devices, in contrast, particularise content by linking it to the home’s physical location. Further examples of Threshold Devices include the ‘Drift Table’, the ‘Local Barometer’ and the ‘Video Window’.
This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage t... more This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. Interaction techniques developed through user- participation enable household members - rather than designers - to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As part of this we have developed a tablet-based editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as jigsaw pieces that can be dynamically recombined. We conclude by considering the broad implications for the design of interactive domestic environments suggested by our approach.
Ercim News, 2001
The Pond is a desk-projection-based system for search, visualisation and transactions of data ele... more The Pond is a desk-projection-based system for search, visualisation and transactions of data elements stored in local databases or on the Internet. Based on a 3D ecosystem metaphor, the Pond approach to querying, presenting and manipulating data elements differs considerably from more conventional information systems.
In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote me... more In this paper we show how we have used and adapted GT3 to support scalable and flexible remote medical monitoring applications on the Grid. We use two lightweight monitoring devices (a java phone and a wearable computer), which monitor blood glucose levels and ECG/SpO2 activity. We have connected those devices to the Grid by means of proxies, allowing those devices to be intermittently connected. The data from the devices is collected in a database on the Grid, and practitioners can obtain real time data or observe the patients historical data. Making remote data available to the Grid in order that a wider scientific community can access scientific data as quickly as possible often using varying quality communication services. Introduction The emergence of e-science and initiatives such as the UK e-science programme has been driven from the initial suggestion of “the Grid” as a distributed computing infrastructure for advanced science [1]. We have already seen considerable progress ...
In this paper we describe an ongoing project that aims to create tools for computer based role-pl... more In this paper we describe an ongoing project that aims to create tools for computer based role-playing games that utilize the physical world as setting. Tools for creating and authoring as well as support for a game-master controlling the game will be developed. We briefly describe a first prototype and the results gathered from reviewing it.
DRS, the Digital Replay System, is a software tool being developed by the DReSS node of the UK ES... more DRS, the Digital Replay System, is a software tool being developed by the DReSS node of the UK ESRC-funded National Centre for e-Social Science. It has been developed from the previous ReplayTool application to support the coordinated replay, annotation and analysis of combinations of video, audio, transcripts, images and system log files. DRS uses a new internal data model which gives it much greater flexibility than ReplayTool. It also provides new facilities for project and data management and organization, complex synchronization between related media, structured annotation including transcription and coding (classification), and new support for processing and visualizing log files and databases. It is publicly available under an open source license and is hosted by SourceForge. The current (first public) release emphasizes usability with a core feature set. Two further releases are planned which will make more experimental facilities available to general users. Introduction Rep...