Immersive environments have gradually become standard for visualizing and analyzing large or complex datasets that would otherwise be cumbersome, if not impossible, to explore through smaller scale computing devices. However, this type of workspace often proves to possess limitations in terms of interaction, flexibility, cost and scalability. In this paper we introduce a novel immersive environment called Dataspace, which features a new combination of heterogeneous technologies and methods of interaction towards creating a better team workspace. Dataspace provides 15 high-resolution displays that can be dynamically reconfigured in space through robotic arms, a central table where information can be projected, and a unique integration with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets and other mobile devices. In particular, we contribute novel interaction methodologies to couple the physical environment with AR and VR technologies, enabling visualization of complex types of data and mitigating the scalability issues of existing immersive environments. We demonstrate through four use cases how this environment can be effectively used across different domains and reconfigured based on user requirements. Finally, we compare Dataspace with existing technologies, summarizing the trade-offs that should be considered when attempting to build better collaborative workspaces for the future.

In the past few years, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies have experienced terrific improvements in both accessibility and hardware capabilities, encouraging the application of these devices across various domains. While researchers have demonstrated the possible advantages of AR and VR for certain data science tasks, it is still unclear how these technologies would perform in the context of exploratory data analysis (EDA) at large. In particular, we believe it is important to better understand which level of immersion EDA would concretely benefit from, and to quantify the contribution of AR and VR with respect to standard analysis workflows.

The Dubuque Water Portal is a system aimed at supporting voluntary reductions of water consumption that is intended to be deployed city-wide. It provides each household with fine-grained, near real time feedback on their water consumption, as well as using techniques like social comparison, weekly games, and news and chat to encourage water conservation. This study used logs, a survey and interviews to evaluate a 15-week pilot with 303 households. It describes the Portal's design, and discusses its adoption, use and impacts. The system resulted in a 6.6% decrease in water consumption, and the paper employs qualitative methods to look at the ways in which the Portal was (or wasn't) effective in supporting its users and enabling them to reduce their consumption. The paper concludes with a discussion of design implications for residential feedback systems, and possible engagement models.

In this work we study the actual requirements of a multimedia chat system for helpdesks by quantifying the verbal imagery communication in 115 real transcripts. The data shows that in chats which use verbal imagery, it corresponds to about 25% of the total time, most of it (75%) coming from the agent. These results clearly show that multimedia support for contact center chat systems is called for. But unlike in personal chat systems, the existing 3rdparty chat services for helpdesk centers are text-based only. To circumvent this issue, an innovative, practical SOA-based chat system architecture is proposed in this paper that creates multimedia chat services by decomposition and re-composition of the services from an existing 3rdparty text-based helpdesk chat product. Our SOA architecture implements uniquely a session-based interactive mash up mechanism and bundles it to the previous operations in the same chat session. However, to be effective in the context of technical support, a multimedia chat system must be provided with user and agent interfaces which address the distinctive aspects of technical support communication and imagery use in the conversations. We present an interface prototype that address those issues through the use of persistent imagery, linking instructions and imagery, use of common images,and easy screen sharing.

Consumers are increasingly relying on Web-based social content, such as product reviews, prior to making to a purchase. Recent surveys in the retail industry confirm that social content is indeed the #1 aid in a buying decision. Currently, accessing or adding to this valuable Web-based social content repository is mostly limited to computers far removed from the site of the shopping experience itself. We present a mobile augmented reality application, which extends such social content from the computer monitor into the physical world through mobile phones, providing consumers with in situ information on products right when and where they need to make buying decisions.

In many technical support systems, live support agents help end-users resolve issues with computer software/hardware and appliances/gadgets in the real world. The dominant mode of communication in such systems is still the telephone, while instant messaging, video communication, and remote take-over have emerged as additional modalities in recent years. In contrast to these, 3D avatar based visual co-presence offers a unique combination of gestural interaction, shared reality, agent multitasking, and anonymity. Our paper argues that such 3D co-presence is viable in computer chat/remote help sessions, as well as real world support over camera equipped devices, offering an attractive alternative and enhancement to today's support modalities.

Rapid advances in mobile computing devices and sensor technologies are enabling the capture of unprecedented volumes of data by individuals involved in field operations in a variety of applications. As capture becomes ever more rich and pervasive the biggest challenge is in developing information processing and representation tools that maximize the utility of the captured multi-sensory data. The right tools hold the promise of converting captured data into actionable intelligence resulting in improved memory, enhanced situational understanding, and more efficient execution of operations. These tools need to be at least as rich and diverse as the sensors used for capture, and need to be unified within an effective system architecture. This paper presents our initial attempt at such a system and architecture that combines several emerging sensor technologies, state of the art analytic engines, and multi-dimensional navigation tools, into an end-to-end electronic chronicling solution for mobile surveillance by humans.

Current tools for contact centers provide simple mechanisms for manually logging a technical problem, and recording the route of the problem, from agent to agent, until a solution is identified and then recorded in a "problem ticket." These tools fall far short of accurately capturing the intricacies of technical problems, or providing the details of solution procedures to the right people at the right time. We present a multimedia chronicling system called blogIT that enhances the richness of capture of problem resolution activities, provides the ability to share and socially annotate experiences and solutions, and enables automatic retrieval of relevant solutions in response to a user's desktop activities.

Are the object manipulation techniques traditionally used in head-mounted displays (HMDs) applicable to augmented reality based projection systems? This paper examines the differences between HMD- and projector/camera-based AR interfaces in the light of a manipulation task involving documents and applications projected on common office surfaces such as tables, walls, cabinets, and floor. We report a Wizard of Oz study where subjects were first asked to create gesture/voice commands to move 2D objects on those surfaces and then exposed to gestures created by the authors. Among the options, subjects could select the object to be manipulated using voice command; touching, pointing, and grabbing gesture; or a virtual mouse. The results show a strong preference for a manipulation interface based on pointing gestures using small hand movements and involving minimal body movement. Direct touching of the object was also common when the object being manipulated was within the subjects' arm reach. Based on these results, we expect that the preferred interface resembles, in many ways, the egocentric model traditionally used in AR.

Symbiotic displays are intelligent network devices that can be enlisted on demand by mobile devices, offering higher resolutions and larger viewing areas. Users of small mobile devices can consequently map various kinds of information to the displays that are most appropriate for comfortably viewing them. The availability of these displays in public areas, where passersby may glimpse another's sensitive information, introduces a privacy issue. To address this, we suggest a technique that combines the blurring of sensitive words on the public symbiotic display with a user interface that allows these words to be read on the display of a personal mobile device. We describe three ways in which such interactions can be enabled and discuss the architectural trade-offs associated with these approaches. We also describe a prototype implementation of an email reading application utilizing an IBM WatchPad and an Everywhere Display projector. This prototype was demonstrated at PerCom'04

Several researchers have pointed out and begun to demonstrate that it is now possible to digitize an entire lifetime of experiences into a pocket-sized storage device, and thus to create a rich and portable electronic chronicle of an individual's life and activities. This possibility has brought with it a host of significant challenges: How can the creation of these electronic chronicles be natural and effortless? How should these chronicles be organized? What kinds of navigation and search tools unleash the potential of the chronicled data allowing the user to receive and retrieve the information most relevant to their context at any time? How can such chronicles impact business organizations? How can people in organizations share chronicles and effectively combine chronicled data from different individuals in collaborative settings? Our research is beginning to address these issues with a focus on the business organizational setting. In this paper we introduce PICASSO, our work on pervasive chronicle creation and exploitation in enterprise applications. PICASSO enables the capture of rich user context (including PC/PDA interactions, audio, video, images, and location) and provides tools that enable users to search, navigate, share, and merge personal events, both from desktop computers and from mobile devices

We demonstrate a system that combines steerable projection and computer vision technologies to create "touch-screen" style interactive displays on any flat surface in a space. A high-end version of the system -- the Everywhere Display (ED) -- combines an LCD projector with motorized focus and zoom, a computer controlled pan-tilt mirror, and a pan-tilt zoom camera to enable steering of interactive projections around space. A low-end version (ED-lite) enables creation of interactive displays using a portable projector and camera attached to a laptop computer. Unlike traditional augmented reality systems, the ED systems enable delivery of interactive multimedia content on ordinary objects without requiring users to wear head mounted displays or carry special input devices.

This paper introduces a new class of interactive interfaces that can be moved around to appear on ordinary objects and surfaces anywhere in a space. By dynamically adapting the form, function, and location of an interface to suit the context of the user, such steerable interfaces have the potential to offer radically new and powerful styles of interaction in intelligent pervasive computing spaces. We propose defining characteristics of steerable interfaces and present the first steerable interface system that combines projection, gesture recognition, user tracking, environment modeling and geometric reasoning components within a system architecture. Our work suggests that there is great promise and rich potential for further research on steerable interfaces.

Traditionally, a user has positioned himself/herself to be in front of a display in order to access information from it. In this information age, life at work and even at home is often confined to be in front of a display device that is the source of information or entertainment. The paper introduces another paradigm where the display follows the user rather than the user being tied to the display. We demonstrate how steerable projection and people tracking can be combined to achieve a display that automatically follows the user.

This paper presents a method for analyzing the performance of individual products in an online store in relation with the store's merchandising efforts.For this analysis, we introduce a visualization tool which is based on a starfield display [1].We also use a framework for understanding Web merchandising with a set of metrics referred to as micro-conversion rates which were defined in our previous work [12].This analysis of Web merchandising effectiveness relies on clickstream data which is visitors' paths through an online store.Clickstream data of an online store shows how the store is navigated and used by its customers, and provides useful information for understanding the effectiveness of its marketing and merchandising efforts.To demonstrate how the presented visualization system helps explore and understand the performance of individual products of an online store, we present a series of extended starfield visualizations which display clickstream data from an operating online retail store.