Learning sciences research shows that intuitive physics knowledge productively supports disciplinary learning through the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) framework, which treats learners’ everyday intuitions as productive resources. We argue that similar parallels exist in HCI education, where students’ intuitive design knowledge can ground the development of interaction design expertise. Students live in a world saturated with professionally designed artifacts and routinely engage in “everyday design”, cultivating tacit knowledge about interfaces long before formal HCI instruction. This mirrors how intuitive physics knowledge develops through daily physical experience. To support this argument, we analyze first-week assignment submissions from an introductory HCI course in which students critiqued interactive systems. Our findings show that students enter HCI instruction with rich, nuanced intuitions about interface evaluation. We therefore suggest that (1) students’ prior intuitive knowledge is a valuable pedagogical resource for HCI educators, and (2) operationalizing a KiP approach can advance future HCI education research.

Capturing data from dynamic processes through cross-sectional measurements is seen in many fields, such as computational biology. Trajectory inference deals with the challenge of reconstructing continuous processes from such observations. In this work, we propose methods for B-spline approximation and interpolation of point clouds through consecutive averaging that is intrinsic to the Wasserstein space. Combining subdivision schemes with optimal transport-based geodesic, our methods carry out trajectory inference at a chosen level of precision and smoothness, and can automatically handle scenarios where particles undergo division over time. We prove linear convergence rates and rigorously evaluate our method on cell data characterized by bifurcations, merges, and trajectory splitting scenarios like \emph{supercells}, comparing its performance against state-of-the-art trajectory inference and interpolation methods. The results not only underscore the effectiveness of our method in inferring trajectories but also highlight the benefit of performing interpolation and approximation that respect the inherent geometric properties of the data.

Voice conversion (VC) aims at altering a person's voice to make it sound similar to the voice of another person while preserving linguistic content. Existing methods suffer from a dilemma between content intelligibility and speaker similarity; i.e., methods with higher intelligibility usually have a lower speaker similarity, while methods with higher speaker similarity usually require plenty of target speaker voice data to achieve high intelligibility. In this work, we propose a novel method Phoneme Hallucinator that achieves the best of both worlds. Phoneme Hallucinator is a one-shot VC model; it adopts a novel model to hallucinate diversified and high-fidelity target speaker phonemes based just on a short target speaker voice (e.g. 3 seconds). The hallucinated phonemes are then exploited to perform neighbor-based voice conversion. Our model is a text-free, any-to-any VC model that requires no text annotations and supports conversion to any unseen speaker. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations show that Phoneme Hallucinator outperforms existing VC methods for both intelligibility and speaker similarity.

This paper describes the design of an online learning platform that empowers musical creation and performance with Python code. For this platform we have developed an innovative computational notebook paradigm that we call TunePad playbooks. While playbooks borrow ideas from popular computational notebooks like Jupyter, we have designed them from the ground up to support creative musical expression including live performances. After discussing our design principles and features, we share findings from a series of artifact-centered interviews conducted with experienced TunePad users. Our results show how systems like ours might flexibly support a variety of creative workflows, while suggesting opportunities for future work in this area.

Over the last decade, large multitouch displays have become commonplace in museums and other public spaces. While there is preliminary evidence that exhibits based on tangible technologies can be more attractive and engaging for visitors than displays alone, very little empirical research has directly compared tangible to large multitouch displays in museums. In this paper, we present a study comparing the use of a tangible and a multitouch tabletop interface in an exhibit designed to explore musical rhythms. From an observation pool of 791 museum visitors, a total of 227 people in 82 groups interacted with one of the two versions of our exhibit. We share the exhibit design, experimental setup, and methods and measures. Our findings highlight advantages of tangible interaction in terms of attracting and engaging children and families. However, the two exhibits were equally effective at supporting collaborative interaction within visitor groups. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for museum exhibit design vis-a-vis visitor engagement and learning.

How can we use interactive displays in museums to help visitors appreciate authentic objects and artifacts that they can't otherwise touch or manipulate? This paper shares results from a design-based research study on the use of interactive displays to help visitors learn about artifacts in an exhibit on the history and culture of China. To explore the potential afforded by these displays, we unobtrusively video recorded 834 museum visitor groups who stopped in front of one collection of objects. Drawing on cognitive models of curiosity, we tested three redesigns of this display, each focusing on a different strategy to spark visitor curiosity, interest, and engagement. To understand the relative effectiveness of these designs, we analyzed visitor interaction and conversation. Our results uncovered significant differences across the conditions suggesting implications for the use of such technology in museums.

We present the design and evaluation of Ghost Hunter, an interactive system to engage parents and children in seeking out hidden sources of energy consumption in their homes. Our system combines an electro-magnetic field (EMF) detector with a mobile tablet computer. Bringing Ghost Hunter within range of an electrical current activates the detector. Through the Ghost Hunter design we attempted to evoke the cultural form of hide-and-seek as a way to help children and parents structure their activity. We present our design and implementation followed by a qualitative evaluation conducted with seven families in their homes. Our findings describe how parents supported their children's learning about energy consumption, and ways in which the activities led to unexpected discoveries.

Ultimate frisbee is a rapidly growing sport that is played in more than 42 countries. Although it is often seen as a lighthearted pastime, significant training and practice are necessary to achieve an average level of throwing proficiency, and it is difficult for new players to map the flight of the frisbee to their throwing action. In this paper, we present Ultimate Trainer, a frisbee augmented with electronics that gives a player visual and haptic cues based on grip strength and angle of release, along with flight information such as rotation speed and time of flight. We give a brief account of our design and implementation with results of preliminary testing.

I present the design of Eco-Buzz, an interactive system designed to engage families in informal learning activities in which they seek out hidden sources of energy consumption in their homes. The system combines an electro-magnetic field (EMF) detector with a mobile tablet computer. Bringing the Eco-Buzz device within range of an electrical current activates the detector; the output from the detector is used to provide feedback during the activity.

We present FlexView, a set of interaction techniques for Z-axis navigation on touch-enabled flexible mobile devices. FlexView augments touch input with bend to navigate through depth-arranged content. To investigate Z-axis navigation with FlexView, we measured document paging efficiency using touch, against two forms of bend input: bending the side of the display (leafing) and squeezing the display (squeezing). In addition to moving through the Z-axis, the second experiment added X-Y navigation in a pan-and-zoom task. Pinch gestures were compared to squeezing and leafing for zoom operations, while panning was consistently performed using touch. Our experiments demonstrate that bend interaction is comparable to touch input for navigation through stacked content. Squeezing to zoom recorded the fastest times in the pan-and-zoom task. Overall, FlexView allows users to easily browse depth arranged information spaces without sacrificing traditional touch interactions.

We present Unifone, a prototype mobile device that explores the use of auxiliary finger input in one-handed mobile interaction. Using force-distributed pressure sensing along the side of device, we examine how squeeze-based gestures impact four common mobile interactions: scrolling, map navigating, text formatting, and application switching. We evaluated the use of Unifone in these tasks using one-handed interactions by the non-dominant hand. Our user study shows that one-handed isometric gestures perform best when they augment rather than restrict or alter the primary pointing action of the thumb and, generally, are suitable for coarse isometric pressure input.