Interactive technology has a complicated relationship with recreation in nature. Many people have praised, and many have lamented the impact of interactive technology on recreation in nature. Because nature recreation has important wellness benefits and interactive technology is likely to remain a part of nature recreation, there is a need to design interactive technology for nature recreation. Unfortunately, little generalized knowledge exists on how to design such technology. We create new intermediate design knowledge for interactive technology in nature recreation by drawing from others’ work, our prior work, and specifically Borgmann and Verbeek’s philosophies of technology. Our contribution is a framework based on a decomposition of engagement into nine facets related to engagement with place, time, and community. Four examples demonstrate the descriptive and generative power of the framework. This framework may enable the creation of interactive systems that complement rather than compete with nature recreation and may better preserve the wellness benefits of nature recreation.

The field of Sports Human-Computer Interaction (SportsHCI) investigates interaction design to support a physically active human being. Despite growing interest and dissemination of SportsHCI literature over the past years, many publications still focus on solving specific problems in a given sport. We believe in the benefit of generating fundamental knowledge for SportsHCI more broadly to advance the field as a whole. To achieve this, we aim to identify the grand challenges in SportsHCI, which can help researchers and practitioners in developing a future research agenda. Hence, this paper presents a set of grand challenges identified in a five-day workshop with 22 experts who have previously researched, designed, and deployed SportsHCI systems. Addressing these challenges will drive transformative advancements in SportsHCI, fostering better athlete performance, athlete-coach relationships, spectator engagement, but also immersive experiences for recreational sports or exercise motivation, and ultimately, improve human well-being.

We explore motivations for the use and non-use of headphones while hiking. In order to understand why people bring, or don’t bring, headphones while hiking we analyzed 247 written responses to the question “why do you prefer to bring (or not bring) headphones when hiking?” We study headphones, rather than other forms of interactive computing like mobile phones, because headphone use and non-use splits survey respondents nearly in half with 51.5% stating that they do prefer to bring headphones while hiking and 48.5% stating that they do not. Those who bring headphones did so to enhance their hike by listening to music or other audio and to avoid social interaction. Those who do not bring headphones do so to fully enjoy the sounds of nature, to invite social interaction and to increase safety. Our results suggest that within the context of hiking as constructed in the United States, use and non-use decisions are motivated by shaping the intended hiking experience, social factors and safety. We view these motivations for non-use not as obstacles to be overcome in the proliferation of technology into hiking, but as nuanced themes to be considered as part of understanding technology in the broader context of hiking.

Wearable displays can be helpful in the winter outdoors, where using a mobile phone is difficult due to gloves. In this paper, we explore the concept of integrating a graphical navigator display into a skiing glove. We created a prototype that was trialed on the slopes while snowboarding. After this, we organized a focus group with snowboarders and downhill skiers to evaluate the concept and wearable display use cases in the winter mountain context. The results emphasize use cases that focus on the awareness of group members for safety, navigation, and unobtrusive and simple design.

Human activities can be recognized in sensor data using supervised machine learning algorithms. In this approach, human annotators must annotate events in the sensor data which are used as input to supervised learning algorithms. Annotating events directly in time series graphs of data streams is difficult. Video is often collected and synchronized to the sensor data to aid human annotators in identifying events in the data. Other work in human activity recognition (HAR) minimizes the cost of annotation by using unsupervised or semi-supervised machine learning algorithms or using algorithms that are more tolerant of human annotation errors. Rather than adjusting algorithms, we focus on the performance of the human annotators themselves. Understanding how human annotators perform annotation may lead to annotation interfaces and data collection schemes that better support annotators. We investigate the accuracy and efficiency of human annotators in the context of four HAR tasks when using video, data, or both to annotate events. After a training period, we found that annotators were more efficient when using data alone on three of four tasks and more accurate when marking event types when using video alone on all four tasks. Annotators were more accurate when marking event boundaries using data alone on two tasks and more accurate using video alone on the other two tasks. Our results suggest that data and video collected for annotation of HAR tasks play different roles in the annotation process and these roles may vary with the HAR task.

We found significant gaps in the climates and built environments used as settings for studies of HCI outdoors. The experience of using a computer outdoors varies widely depending on location-specific factors such as weather and the availability of electricity. We surveyed 699 papers from CHI venues and found 101 studies involving a person and a computer interacting outdoors for which we could determine the study location. We categorized each study location by climate using the Köppen-Geiger scheme and by built environment using the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum. 91 of 101 studies took place in temperate or continental climates and 82 took place in urban settings. Emerging understanding of the ongoing impacts of climate change increases the importance of investigating HCI outdoors in a wider range of weather conditions. While some primitive natural settings have been preserved against development at great cost, we found no studies of HCI outdoors in those settings.

This work in progress explores tangible interaction in the context of scraping tools commonly used in physical Therapy. Physical therapy is a health profession which uses mechanical force or motion to improve a person's mobility and physical motion. We began with an open-ended research through design process that resulted in a scraping tool that gives the PT feedback on applied force using embedded pressure sensors and an ambient light display. At the conference, we will display a prototype interactive scraping tool and several other design artifacts. We invite participants to use the tool on a human calf simulant made from ballistics gel. We hope our work-in-progress will encourage new work exploring tangible interaction and physical therapy.

Sign language narration is difficult to view at live planetarium shows because the room is dark and the signer is not located near images projected onto the planetarium dome. We have designed and implemented a system using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and infrared light to support viewing real-time sign language narration of live planetarium shows. Results from a series of 3 studies involving 29 students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing suggest that viewing properly configured video of sign language narration in an HMD may increase learning in this setting. Participants expressed no single preference regarding signer position in the video feed but did indicate that the relative brightness of the HMD must be tuned to match the apparent brightness of images broadcast on the planetarium dome. We also identified other issues related to HMD fit and the appearance of the signer in the video.

Tourists often turn to strangers when they need a photographer while traveling; however, they do so at a cost. Strangers are not typically trained photographers, nor are they telepathically intuiting what composition the tourist wants. Existing smartphone camera interfaces do not communicate the desired framing to the stranger, and prior work in mobile photography guidance does not manage the 3D movement required when composing the tourist's ideal photo. We offer a new kind of mobile interaction for communicating the intended photo to a stranger without instructions. In our methodology, the tourist first composes a photo with the desired framing. The app, Cake Cam, then stores the camera position and orientation. Finally, 3D augmented reality markers guide the stranger to retake the photo with the tourist now standing in the frame. Our study resulted in more accurate camera placements and required fewer additional instructions than the traditional tourist photography method (n=40).

We seek to make physical user interface (PHUI) design more like graphical user interface (GUI) design by using a drag-and drop interface to place widgets, allowing widgets to be repositioned and by hiding implementation details. PHUIs are interfaces built from tangible widgets arranged on the surfaces of physical objects. PHUI layout will become more important as we move from rectangular screens to purpose-built interactive devices. Approaches to PHUI layout based on sculpture make it difficult to reposition widgets, and software approaches do not involve placing widgets on the device exterior. We created PHUI-kit, a software approach to PHUI layout on 3D printed enclosures, which has a drag-and-drop interface, supports repositioning of widgets, and hides implementation details. We describe algorithms for placing widgets on curved surfaces, modifying the enclosure geometry, and routing wiring inside the enclosure. The tool is easy to use and supports a wide range of design possibilities.

Recent work in tangible interfaces, including widget sets like .NET Gadgeteer and Phidgets, has enabled prototyping of rich physical interaction at a handheld or tabletop scale. But it remains unclear how participants respond to physical widgets at larger scales. What kinds of interaction would larger widgets enable, and what kinds of systems - if any - can or should be built with them? We built unusually-sized widgets, or "mega-widgets" in order to explore this territory. We present the results of two iterations of building mega-widgets and accompanying user studies designed to help understand participants» reactions to mega-widgets and probe possible applications. Responses indicated, among other things, a correlation between widget size and the perceived size or importance of what it might control. Mega-widgets were also perceived as increasing the precision of user input control and providing a fun and playful element. We hope that knowledge gained from this exploratory work can help lay groundwork for further exploration of widgets at larger scales.

Cell autonomous cancer dependencies are now routinely identified using CRISPR loss-of-function viability screens. However, a bias exists that makes it difficult to assess the true essentiality of genes located in amplicons, since the entire amplified region can exhibit lethal scores. These false-positive hits can either be discarded from further analysis, which in cancer models can represent a significant number of hits, or methods can be developed to rescue the true-positives within amplified regions. We propose two methods to rescue true positive hits in amplified regions by correcting for this copy number artefact. The Local Drop Out (LDO) method uses the relative lethality scores within genomic regions to assess true essentiality and does not require additional orthogonal data (e.g. copy number value). LDO is meant to be used in screens covering a dense region of the genome (e.g. a whole chromosome or the whole genome). The General Additive Model (GAM) method models the screening data as a function of the known copy number values and removes the systematic effect from the measured lethality. GAM does not require the same density as LDO, but does require prior knowledge of the copy number values. Both methods have been developed with single sample experiments in mind so that the correction can be applied even in smaller screens. Here we demonstrate the efficacy of both methods at removing the copy number effect and rescuing hits from some of the amplified regions. We estimate a 70-80% decrease of false positive hits with either method in regions of high copy number compared to no correction.

Tools for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) hide implementation details associated with changing the position, size or shape of a widget. For example, a GUI designer can change the position of a button without explicitly reimplementing the code that determines if the button has been clicked. We seek to provide a similar experience for moving tangible widgets on physical interactive devices (PIDs). One reason that GUI design tools can hide implementation details is that widgets are modules. In this work in progress, we describe a system for leveraging modularity to hide implementation details associated with changing the position, size and shape of widgets in pid interfaces. We have used the system to design, redesign and fabricate 10 interfaces for 3 example applications. Fundamentaly, working with atoms to make pid interfaces is different than working with pixels to make GUI interfaces--but modularity in pid widgets appears to be a promising way to hide implementation details in pid interface redesign and fabrication.

We present a method for fabricating prototypes of interactive computing devices from clay sculptures without requiring the designer to be skilled in CAD software. The method creates a "what you sculpt is what you get" process that mimics the "what you see is what you get" processes used in interface design for 2D screens. Our approach uses clay for modeling the basic shape of the device around 3D printed representations, which we call "blanks", of physical interaction widgets such as buttons, sliders, knobs and other electronics. Each blank includes 4 fiducial markers uniquely arranged on a visible surface. After scanning the sculpture, these fiducial marks allow our software to identify widget types and locations in the scanned model. The software then converts the scan into a printable prototype by positioning mounting surfaces, openings for the controls and a splitting plane for assembly. Because the blanks fit in the sculpted shape, they will reliably fit in the interactive prototype. Creating an interactive prototype requires about 30 minutes of human effort for sculpting, and after scanning, involves a single button click to use the process.

We have built a functional prototype of a mobile phone app that allows children who are deaf to look up American Sign Language (ASL) definitions of printed English words using the camera on the mobile phone. In the United States, 90% of children who are deaf are born to parents who are not deaf and who do not know sign language [3]. In many cases, this means that the child will not be exposed to fluent sign language in the home and this can delay the child's acquisition of both their first signed language and a secondary written language [1]. Another consequence is that outside of school the child may not have easy access to people or services that can translate written English words into ASL signs. We have developed a prototype phone app that allows children who are deaf and their parents to look up ASL definitions of English words in printed books. The user aims the phone camera at the printed text, takes a picture and then clicks on a word to access the ASL definition. Our next steps are to explore the idea with children who are deaf and their parents, develop design guidelines for sign language dictionary apps, build the app using those guidelines and then to test the app with children who are deaf and their hearing parents.

Headmounted displays (HMDs) are evaluated as a tool to facilitate studentteacher interaction in sign language. Deaf or hardofhearing children who communicate in sign language receive all instruction visually. In normal deaf educational settings the child must split visual attention between signed narration and visual aids. Settings in which visual aids are distributed over a large visual area are particularly difficult. Sign language displayed in HMDs may allow a deaf child to keep the signed narration in sight, even when not looking directly at the person signing. Children from the community who communicate primarily in American Sign Language (ASL) participated in two phases of a study designed to evaluate the comfort and utility of viewing ASL in an HMD.

This demonstration will provoke discussion of the role of head mounted displays (HMD) in Deaf science education for children. The demonstration mimics the classroom laboratory experience of children who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing. When these children dissect an owl pellet, their teachers can not stand behind them and offer instruction over their shoulder while the students looks at the specimen. A teacher can sign for the student but this requires the student to switch visual attention back and forth between the specimen and the signing teacher. This can be difficult if the specimen is on a table and the teacher is standing nearby. HMDs allow students to put the signing teacher and the laboratory specimen in close visual proximity. Participants in our demonstration will be given an owl pellet study kit and no verbal instruction. Participants will be asked to use visual aids to identify bones in the pellet. Some participants will view the visual aids on a poster placed behind them. Others will view visual aids in an HMD.

Abstract Animating trees in wind has long been a problem in computer graphics. Progress on this problem is important for both visual effects in films and forestry biomechanics. More generally, progress on tree motion in wind may inform future work on two‐way coupling between turbulent flows and deformable objects. Synthetic turbulence added to a coarse fluid simulation produces convincing animations of turbulent flows but two‐way coupling between the enriched flow and objects embedded in the flow has not been investigated. Prior work on two‐way coupling between fluid and deformable models lacks a subgrid resolution turbulence model. We produce realistic animations of tree motion by including motion due to both large and small eddies using synthetic subgrid turbulence and porous proxy geometry. Synthetic turbulence at the subgrid scale is modulated using turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Adding noise after sampling the mean flow and TKE transfers energy from small eddies directly to the tree geometry. The resulting animations include both global sheltering effects and small scale leaf and branch motion. Viewers, on average, found animations, which included both coarse fluid simulation and TKE‐modulated noise to be more accurate than animations generated using coarse fluid simulation or noise alone.

We address the problem of directable weathering of exposed concave rock for use in computer-generated animation or games. Previous weathering models that admit concave surfaces are computationally inefficient and difficult to control. In nature, the spheroidal and cavernous weathering rates depend on the surface curvature. Spheroidal weathering is fastest in areas with large positive mean curvature and cavernous weathering is fastest in areas with large negative mean curvature. We simulate both processes using an approximation of mean curvature on a voxel grid. Both weathering rates are also influenced by rock durability. The user controls rock durability by editing a durability graph before and during weathering simulation. Simulations of rockfall and colluvium deposition further improve realism. The profile of the final weathered rock matches the shape of the durability graph up to the effects of weathering and colluvium deposition. We demonstrate the top-down directability and visual plausibility of the resulting model through a series of screenshots and rendered images. The results include the weathering of a cube into a sphere and of a sheltered inside corner into a cavern as predicted by the underlying geomorphological models.