D’source 1 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course Tangible User Interface (TUI) - I Digital Data and Information by Prof. Keyur Sorathia DoD, IIT Guwahati Source: http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- face-tui-i 1. Introduction 2. About 3. Evolution 4. Major Considerations 5. Basic Model 6. Types 7. Key Question 8. References 9. Contact Details D’source 2 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course Introduction Tangible User Interface We live in a real world, surrounded by real people & ob- (TUI) - I jects and interact with them in a real space; however Digital Data and Information most of our digital data and information is restricted by to a set of metaphors such as keyboard, mouse and Prof. Keyur Sorathia screen. We have relied majorly on screen based text DoD, IIT Guwahati and graphics to interact with computer, specifically digital data or information for more than 3 decades. Consider it wall mounted screen, hand held device, head mounted displays etc. Source: Interfaces are not designed to immerse into spaces http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- and objects, instead it forces people to interact with face-tui-i/introduction screen-based metaphors. We as human beings have a great ability to perform gestures, speech, remember interactions with natural objects; however computers 1. Introduction do not use these mediums. They ask users to sit on 2. About a chair, play with keyboard, learn to use mouse, drop downs, software to know even a tiny set of informa- 3. Evolution tion. 4. Major Considerations 5. Basic Model Here comes tangible user interfaces (TUI), where digi- 6. Types tal information is presented through interacting with physical metaphor. Physical objects play a central role 7. Key Question as physical representations and control of digital infor- 8. References mation (augmenting physical and virtual realities). TUI 9. Contact Details thinks beyond desktop metaphor of mouse, keyboard, icon, drop-down, files, folders etc. and embeds informa- tion in real world. D’source 3 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course About Tangible User Interface There is many ways one can define Tangible User (TUI) - I Interface (TUI), although all of them convey almost the Digital Data and Information same message. Below are the few of them: by Prof. Keyur Sorathia • “Giving physical form to digital information that fits DoD, IIT Guwahati to our social, cultural and physical context”. • “Computation that moves beyond the traditional confines of desktop & blends into our daily experiences 2. Urban Planning Workbench (Urp): of physical and digital world”. Urban planning workbench uses scaled physical mod- Source: • “Augmentation of Physical & Virtual world”. els of architectural buildings to configure and con- http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- trol an underlying urban simulation of shadow, light face-tui-i/about • “Integrating information with Everyday Physical reflection, wind flow, etc, based on the positions and Objects”. orientations of physical models of buildings, on the table surface. • “Mapping physical objects to digital data”. 1. Introduction Physical environment input becomes an interface to 2. About interact with digital information as subtle changes in 3. Evolution color, movement, smell, form, sound, light, audio, video 4. Major Considerations etc. 5. Basic Model • Hiroshi Ishii and Brett Ulmer says, “Tangible user interface = user interfaces that aug- 6. Types ment the real physical world by coupling digital infor- 7. Key Question mation to everyday physical objects and environment.” 8. References Few examples are mentioned below for appropriate 9. Contact Details understanding of above statements. 1. Marble Answering Machine: The physical marbles represent incoming messages. The number of marbles that have moved intothe pin-ball like chute indicates the number of messages. When a marble is dropped into a slot in the machine, the recorded message is played. Dropping the same marble into another slot on the phone dials the caller who left the message. D’source 4 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course 3. Music Bottles: Music bottles project is a designed table and various Tangible User Interface sets of three corked bottles that “contain” the sounds (TUI) - I of three instruments or tracks of various musical Digital Data and Information genres. When a bottle is placed onto the stage area of by the table and the cork is removed, the corresponding Prof. Keyur Sorathia instrument becomes audible. DoD, IIT Guwahati Tangible interaction is an interdisciplinary area. It in- cludes a span of several disciplines such as HCI, inter- action design, product/industrial design, ubiquitous computing, electronics and computer science. Source: http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- face-tui-i/about 1. Introduction 2. About 3. Evolution 4. Major Considerations 5. Basic Model 6. Types 7. Key Question 8. References 9. Contact Details D’source 5 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course Similarly, MIT’s Tangible Media Group developed a Evolution project called Urp (Urban Planning Workbench), where Tangible User Interface they created a map that was manipulated with placing The traditional screen based interfaces and disciplines iconic representation of central buildings on it and (TUI) - I like virtual reality, which embedded people into virtual Digital Data and Information moving these apart. The Urp and the more advanced world and were seen as estranging people from the Augmented Urban Planning Workbench allowed digital by real world. Additionally, with technology becoming simulations of air flow, shadows, reflections, and other Prof. Keyur Sorathia cheaper, smaller, smarter and coming quickly to the data based on the positions and orientations of physi- DoD, IIT Guwahati market, it was possible to embed information into cal models of buildings, on the table surface. our surrounding objects, spaces, environment, fabrics etc. This motivated the development of the discipline Later, researchers and scientists around the world called Tangible User Interface. developed interesting projects such as Topbo, Jive, Reactable, Microsoft Surface, Siftablesand many more. Source: The notion of Tangible User Interface constituted an http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- Today almost every appliance contains electronic & alternative vision for computer interfaces that brings face-tui-i/evolution digital components and becoming smart & intelligent, computing back into the real world, which was origi- which has formed new challenges and opportunities to nally conceived in the mid 90’s. (Wellner, Mackay, Gold bring back various design disciplines together. TUI not 1993; Ishii, Ullmer 1997).Tangible user interface was en- only includes the interface, but aspects such as form visioned as an alternative to graphical user interface. 1. Introduction factor, physical properties of the object, materials, It was proposed to represent digital content through 2. About technology etc. forced computer scientists, interaction tangible objects, which could then be manipulated designers and industrial designers to focus on design- 3. Evolution via physical interaction with tangibles. The idea was ing complex behaviour that is digitally controlled. 4. Major Considerations to grasp data with hand and to unify representation 5. Basic Model and control. The thought behind it was to use physical 6. Types devices to interact with digital content. 7. Key Question In 1996, Fitzmaurice’s PhD thesis had explored the use 8. References of graspable bricks as a more direct input mechanism 9. Contact Details for the interaction with graphical representations. It also suggested the use of multiple graspable objects instead of the generic input device such as mouse, keyboard etc. An early example of TUI was marble answering machine by Durrel Bishop in early 1990s, where marbles were used to represent message left on answering machine. Placing those marbles plays the message recorded in it. D’source 6 Digital Learning Environment for Design - www.dsource.in Design Course Major Considerations Tangible User Interface Major Considerations include: (TUI) - I 4.1 Tangible Input Digital Data and Information 4.2 Output by 4.3 Input-Output Technology Prof. Keyur Sorathia DoD, IIT Guwahati 4.1 Tangible Input: Tangible input presents the input modalities used to interact with information. • “What kind of medium is used for input? What kind of interface we use to interact with information?” Source: http://www.dsource.in/course/tangible-user-inter- There are wide range of possibilities to decide the in- face-tui-i/major-considerations 4.2 Output: put modalities depending on the content and context. Output represents the output possibilities used to For example, placing a product introduction card on provide information/ required data to users. the surface must provide information about the prod- • “What kind of a medium is used for output? How the uct or placing a cube on the table surface. 1. Introduction information is been showcased?” 2. About E.g. Wall, table, document, 3D objects. 3. Evolution There are several possibilities to decide the output 4. Major Considerations medium to showcase information to users. The output may range from a desktop screen to wall-projected 5. Basic Model surface to audio output and mechanical movement of 6. Types 3D objects. 7. Key Question 8. References