Steve Benford | University of Nottingham (original) (raw)

Papers by Steve Benford

Proceedings of the eighth ACM international conference on Multimedia, 2000

IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, 1997

This paper presents new approaches for accessing the World Wide Web using multiuser three dimensi... more This paper presents new approaches for accessing the World Wide Web using multiuser three dimensional spaces, or collaborative virtual environments (CVEs.) The major sections of the paper deal with the aspects of browsing and navigating, searching, populating and displaying information within, and about the WWW. The methods described are illustrated with examples of working applications developed by the authors which together present an image of a possible future for Web access and collaboration based around the Web and its contents.

Proceedings of the ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology, 1999

Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are shared virtual spaces designed to enhance collabora... more Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are shared virtual spaces designed to enhance collaboration between the-usually remote-participants. The deployment of Collaborative Virtual Environments over wide area networks increases typical network delays, potentially breaking the consistency between the replicated versions of an environment at the participants' sites. This paper presents our qualitative observations of an experiment involving two players engaged in a virtual ball game in the presence of increasing network delays. It also describes how network delay affected the participants' behaviour and produced collaboration breakdowns. We observed that, as the network delay increases, the users modify their playing strategies in an attempt to cope with the situation, presenting several types of adaptation strategy. Knowledge of the presence and effect of delays is a major factor in allowing users to adopt strategies for coping with inconsistencies. We propose that if the participants were made more aware of the behaviour of the system, e.g. the presence of delays, then they might be able to improve their performance. Consequently, we propose a number of techniques to increase the user's knowledge of infrastructural characteristics such as delay.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2002

Large displays have several natural affordances that can simplify small group collaborative work.... more Large displays have several natural affordances that can simplify small group collaborative work. They are large enough to hold multiple work areas, they are easy to see and can be manipulated directly via touch. When placed into group and public spaces, such displays create pervasively available working surfaces for lightweight, temporary walkup use. The BlueBoard is a large plasma display with touch sensing and a badge reader to identify individuals using the board. The onboard software acts as a thin client giving access to each participant's web-based content (e.g., home pages, project pages). The client also has a set of tools and mechanisms that support rapid exchange of content between those present. The overall design of the BlueBoard is one that is easily learnable (under 5 minutes), very simple to use, and permits novel uses for collaboration. Our initial field study revealed a number of social issues about the use of a large pervasively available display surface, yet indicates that a shared public display space truly has distinct properties that lend themselves to sharing content. Extreme learnability & overall simplicity of design makes BlueBoard a tool for collaboration that supports intermittent, but effective use for side-by-side collaboration between colleagues.

Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '98, 1998

We extend previous work on texture mapping video streams into virtual environments by introducing... more We extend previous work on texture mapping video streams into virtual environments by introducing awareness driven video QoS. This uses movements within a shared virtual world to activate different video services. In turn, these services have different settings for underlying QoS parameters such as frame-rate, resolution and compression. We demonstrate this technique through a combined conferencing! mediaspace application which uses awareness driven video for facial expressions and for views into remote physical environments. We reflect on the issues of spatial consistency, privacy, seamless shifts in mutual involvement and making underlying QoS mechanisms more visible, malleable and flexible.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2005

The most common approach to creating interactive narrative involves interactive experiences which... more The most common approach to creating interactive narrative involves interactive experiences which take place within the constraints of a previously constructed story. In this paper we explore an alternative approach in which participants in a virtual world, e.g., a game, simulation or large online community improvise events. These events form the raw material for the subsequent creation of narrative sequences. Building on the theoretical concept of narrative voices-fictional personas that deliver information in narrative form-we suggest some new approaches to creating narratives from live events. We then present one such approach, embodied reporting agents, in which automated non-player characters inhabiting a virtual world report on ongoing events to editor agents. The editor agents, in turn, compile their information and pass it to presenter agents who ultimately narrate it to external viewers. We sketch how such 'witness-narrators' can be used to investigate creation of tension and drama in the interactive story world.

CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computer systems - CHI '02, 2002

A projection screen in the shape of a tent provides children with a shared immersive experience o... more A projection screen in the shape of a tent provides children with a shared immersive experience of a virtual world based on the metaphor of camping. RFID aerials at its entrances sense tagged children and objects as they enter and leave. Video tracking allows multiple flashlights to be used as pointing devices. The tent is an example of a traversable interface, designed for deployment in public spaces such as museums, galleries and classrooms.

Proceedings of the 1996 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work - CSCW '96, 1996

We begin by reviewing current spatial approaches to CSCW (mediaspaces, spatial video conferencing... more We begin by reviewing current spatial approaches to CSCW (mediaspaces, spatial video conferencing, collaborative virtual environments and telepresence applications) and classifying them along the proposed dimensions of transportation, artificiality and spatiality. This classification leads us to identify new shared space applications; so called mixed realities. We present an example of a mixed reality called the Internet Foyer, an application which provides a unified entry point into an organisation's physical and electronic environments and which supports awareness and chance encounters between the occupants of physical and synthetic space.

Proceedings of the international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology, 2007

We present a system that uses wireless telemetry to enhance the experience of fairground and them... more We present a system that uses wireless telemetry to enhance the experience of fairground and theme park amusement rides. Our system employs wearable technologies to capture video, audio, heart-rate and acceleration data from riders, which are then streamed live to large public displays and are also recorded. This system has been embedded into a theatrical event called Fairground: Thrill Laboratory in which riders are first selected from a watching audience and their captured data is subsequently presented back to this audience and discussed by experts in medical monitoring, psychology and ride design. Drawing on our experience of deploying the system on three contrasting rides, during which time it was experienced by 25 riders and over 500 audience members, we reflect on how such telemetry data can enhance amusement rides for riders and spectators alike, both during and after the ride.

CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2010

This paper illustrates our preliminary studies of new interactive tools that support the generati... more This paper illustrates our preliminary studies of new interactive tools that support the generation of sequential art for entertainment, learning and scientific discourse. In the first of two examples, primary school students document a practical science session through the creation of a photostory. In the second, participants in a study on the biological nature of thrill create a souvenir photostory by selecting images from a DVD. The paper is written in a comic-book format to further explore and highlight the communicative capabilities of the medium, one that can be visually attractive and facilitate rapid dissemination to a wide audience.

CHI '11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2011

We introduce an interface for horror-themed entertainment experiences based on integrating breath... more We introduce an interface for horror-themed entertainment experiences based on integrating breath sensors and WiFi into gas masks. Beyond enabling the practical breath control of entertainment systems, our design aims to heighten the intensity of the experience by amplifying the user"s awareness of their breathing, as well as their feelings of isolation, claustrophobia and fear. More generally, this interface is intended to act as a technology probe for exploring an emerging research agenda around fearsome interactions. We describe the deployment of our gas masks in two events: as a control mechanism for an interactive ride, and to enhance a theme park horror maze. We identify six broad dimensions-cultural, visceral, control, social, performance and engineering-that frame an agenda for future research into fearsome interactions.

Virtual Reality, 1996

The aims of this paper are twofold. First, it identifies the general requirements of future large... more The aims of this paper are twofold. First, it identifies the general requirements of future large-scale distributed virtual reality (VR) systems based on an analysis of current VR systems, of more general distributed systems platforms and a consideration of the key issues of scale and heterogeneity. These requirements subsequently reform the development of a general VR reference architecture; and a framework which identifies the key software components which will comprise future distributed VR systems. Second, it uses this reference architecture as a vehicle tbr conducting a broad review of current distributed VR products and research prototypes. The review covers twelve well known VR systems and is intended as a general resource for researchers entering the field. These systems are: AVIARY, BrickNet, DIVE, dVS, MASSIVE, the MR Toolkit, NPSNET, Superscape, VEOS, VUE, WAVES and WorldToolkit. The review also identifies relevant standards in the areas of computer graphics and distributed systems. The paper finishes by drawing out a number of more general conclusions from the review including the urgent need to conduct research into the subjects of security and resource discovery for distributed VR systems. 1 9 Cooperation -VR offers great potential as a communication tool. Systems to support cooperative work, especially over wide-area networks, necessarily require distribution. There is also the need to make virtual worlds and their associated resources (e.g. libraries of objects) shareable over wide-area networks. Hence, we see a growing interest in VR systems which are publicly accessible using personal computing platforms (e.g. the use of the emerging VRML standard to enable public access to 3-D scene descriptions stored on the World Wide Web).

The Computer Journal, 1994

Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 2004

... Two UVB sensors (Skye Instru-ments SKU-430 UVB) were deployed, one on the platform as a refer... more ... Two UVB sensors (Skye Instru-ments SKU-430 UVB) were deployed, one on the platform as a reference for surface values and the other in the water column at 3 m on a frame. ... On activation the transducer sends a 500-kHz ultra-sonic signal with a 6° conical beam width. ...

Interacting with Computers, 2008

The development of multimedia annotation technique provides the possibility to redesign the inter... more The development of multimedia annotation technique provides the possibility to redesign the interfaces of widely used media players, and EmoPlayer is such a media player that can be used to play video clips with affective annotations. A user can select a character in a video clip ...

Interacting with Computers, 2007

Local-lag mechanism can maintain consistency for replicated continuous applications, but with a t... more Local-lag mechanism can maintain consistency for replicated continuous applications, but with a tradeoff of adding delay to local operations. To relieve the negative effects of the delay, this paper proposes an HCI method named echo. With the help of the echo method users can immediately perceive the results of their operations and how large the lag is. In order to evaluate the proposed method, a desktop collaborative virtual environment (CVE) system and a virtual object control task were employed to study the effects of the echo method on human performance (including task completion time, error count, and interaction quality). Experimental results indicate that when the lag exceeds 100 ms the echo method can improve human performance with the effects becoming more evident when a larger lag is used.

IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 2000

... Object-centered interaction. One way of focusing an angel's attention on the poets might... more ... Object-centered interaction. One way of focusing an angel's attention on the poets might have been to provide them with a similar navigation ... Adrian Bullock is a researcher in the Interactive Collaborative Environments laboratory at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science. ...

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 2006

In this paper we consider the development of 'digital records' to support ethnographic study of i... more In this paper we consider the development of 'digital records' to support ethnographic study of interaction and collaboration in ubiquitous computing environments and articulate the core concept of 'record and replay' through two case studies. One focuses on the utility of digital records, or records of interaction generated by a computer system, to ethnographic inquiry and highlights the mutually supportive nature of digital records and ethnographic methods. The other focuses on the work it takes to make digital records support ethnography, particularly the work of description and representation that is required to reconcile the fragmented character of interaction in ubiquitous computing environments. The work involved in 'making digital records work' highlights requirements for the design of tools to support the endeavour and informs the development of a Replay Tool. This tool enables ethnographers to visualize the data content of digital records; to extract sequences of relevance to analysis and remove non-relevant features; to marry recorded content with external resources, such as video; to add content from internal and external resources through annotation; and to reorder digital records to reflect the interactional order of events rather than the recorded order of events.

Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, 1997

This paper presents new services for accessing, exploring and collaborating via the World Wide We... more This paper presents new services for accessing, exploring and collaborating via the World Wide Web. These are based on the use of Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) technology which is used to create navigable 3-D graphical, textual, audio and video representations of the structure of the Web and also of its users. The paper describes a number of different services which address the issues of: browsing the Web; searching the Web; directly representing the presence of other users on the Web and enabling communication with them; and finally new forms of interface to the Web, based on the notion of "mixed realities" which are used to create new forms of boundary between physical and virtual spaces.

Computer Graphics Forum, 1995

We present a virtual reality application called VR-VIBE which is intended to support the cooperat... more We present a virtual reality application called VR-VIBE which is intended to support the cooperative browsing and filtering of large document stores. VR-VIBE extends a visualisation approach proposed in a previous two dimensional system called VIBE into three dimensions, allowing more information to be visualised at one time and supporting more powerful styles of interaction, The essence of VR-VIBE is that multiple users can explore the results of applying several simultaneous queries to a corpus of documents. By arranging the queries into a spatial framework, the system shows the relative attraction of each document to each query by its spatial position and also shows the absolute relevance of each document to all of the queries. Users may then navigate the space, select individual documents, control the display according to a dynamic relevance threshold and dynamically drag the queries to new positions to see the effect on the document space. Cooperative browsing is supported by directly embodying users and providing them with the ability to interact over live audio connections and to attach brief textual annotations to individual documents. Finally, we conclude with some initial observations gleaned from our experience of constructing VR-VIBE and using it in the laboratory setting.