This paper presents an interactive installation for a public space aimed at motivating new behaviors by augmenting the space with subtle and playful audiovisual interaction aesthetically integrated in a shared environment. Designed to complement an existing water fountain with projected light and sound, the embedded installation encouraged people to take a drink, increasing the proportion of people who used the water fountain by 42% to 57% approximately for nine months. Sensors evaluated the impact of multiple interaction modalities on actual water usage. We found that subtle interaction can improve the experience of a space, in particular for those that use it frequently, and lead to sustained behavior change, especially when its modalities are responsive to the level of activity in the space.

This paper introduces sustainable design applications for small businesses through the Life Cycle Assessment and supply chain publishing platform Sourcemap.org. This web-based tool was developed through a year-long participatory design process with five small businesses in Scotland and in New England. Sourcemap was used as a diagnostic tool for carbon accounting, design and supply chain management. It offers a number of ways to market sustainable practices through embedded and printed visualizations. Our experiences confirm the potential of web sustainability tools and social media to expand the discourse and to negotiate the diverse goals inherent in social and environmental sustainability.

We introduce a technique for exploring multi-layered images by scraping arbitrary areas to determine meaningful relationships. Our system, called Wetpaint, uses perceptual depth cues to help users intuitively navigate between corresponding layers of an image, allowing a rapid assessment of changes and relationships between different views of the same area. Inspired by art diagnostic techniques, this tactile method could have distinct advantages in the general domain as shown by our user study. We propose that the physical metaphor of scraping facilitates the process of determining correlations between layers of an image because it compresses the process of planning, comparison and annotation into a single gesture. We discuss applications for geography, design, and medicine.

Touch is fundamental to our emotional well-being. Medical science is starting to understand and develop touch-based therapies for autism spectrum, mood, anxiety and borderline disorders. Based on the most promising touch therapy protocols, we are presenting the first devices that simulate touch through haptic devices to bring relief and assist clinical therapy for mental health. We present several haptic systems that enable medical professionals to facilitate the collaboration between patients and doctors and potentially pave the way for a new form of non-invasive treatment that could be adapted from use in care-giving facilities to public use. We developed these prototypes working closely with a team of mental health professionals.

Stop-motion animation brings the constraints of the body, space and materials into video production. Building on the tradition of video prototyping for interaction design, stop motion is an effective technique for concept development in the design of Tangible User Interfaces. This paper presents a framework for stop-motion prototyping and the results of two workshops based on stop-motion techniques including pixillation, claymation and time-lapse photography. The process of stop-motion prototyping fosters collaboration, legibility and rapid iterative design in a physical context that can be useful to the early stages of tangible interaction design.

Ubiquitous computing is fostering an explosion of physical artifacts that are coupled to digital information -- so-called Spimes. We introduce a tangible workbench that allows for the placement of hyperlinks within physical models to couple physical artifacts with located interactive digital media. A computer vision system allows users to model three-dimensional objects and environments in real-time using physical materials and to place hyperlinks in specific areas using laser pointer gestures. We present a working system for real-time physical/digital exhibit design, and propose the means for expanding the system to assist Design for the Environment strategies in product design.

Tangible User Interfaces are well-suited to handling three-dimensional data sets by direct manipulation of real objects in space, but current interfaces can make it difficult to look inside dense volumes of information. This paper presents the Handsaw, a system that detects a virtual cut-plane projected by an outstretched hand or laser-line directly on an object or space and reveals sectional data on an adjacent display. By leaving the hands free and using a remote display, these techniques can be shared between multiple users and integrated into everyday practice. The Handsaw has been prototyped for scientific visualizations in medicine, engineering and urban design. User evaluations suggest that using a hand is more intuitive while projected light is more precise than keyboard and mouse control, and the Handsaw system has the potential to be used effectively by novices and in groups.

Networked appliances might make them aware of each other, but interacting with a complex network can be difficult in itself. KitchenSense is a sensor rich networked kitchen research platform that uses Common Sense reasoning to simplify control interfaces and augment interaction. The system's sensor net attempts to interpret people's intentions to create fail-soft support for safe, efficient and aesthetic activity. By considering embedded sensor data together with daily-event knowledge, a centrally-controlled system can develop a shared context across various appliances. The system is a research platform that is used to evaluate augmented intelligent support of work scenarios in physical spaces.

This paper presents an exploration of user interfaces, persuasive interfaces and feedback techniques in the domain of the sink. Waterbot is a system to inform and motivate behavior at the sink for the purpose of increasing safety and functionality and ultimately motivating behavior change. Waterbot can be adapted to many current sink scenarios and demonstrates the breadth of interaction possible at the point of use of water. It functions as a platform for experimenting with safety, hygiene and water conservation in a sink. This paper presents the feedback and persuasion techniques of augmented physical interfaces with value-added design, automation, just-in-time prompts, positive and negative reinforcement, social validation and adaptive interfaces. Four design iterations are presented to affect behavior at the increasing cognitive levels of safety, functionality and behavior change.

A task-oriented space can benefit from an augmented reality interface that layers the existing tools and surfaces with useful information to make cooking more easy, safe and efficient. To serve experienced users as well as novices, augmented reality interfaces need to adapt modalities to the user's expertise and allow for multiple ways to perform tasks. We present a framework for designing an intelligent user interface that informs and choreographs multiple tasks in a single space according to a model of tasks and users. A residential kitchen has been outfitted with systems to gather data from tools and surfaces and project multi-modal interfaces back onto the tools and surfaces themselves. Based on user evaluations of this augmented reality kitchen, we propose a system to tailor information modalities based on the spatial and temporal qualities of the task, and the expertise, location and progress of the user. The intelligent augmented reality user interface choreographs multiple tasks in the same space at the same time.