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Interactive Pattern Recognition (IPR) is an emergent framework in which the user is involved actively in the recognition process by giving feedback to the system when an error is detected. Although this framework is expected to reduce the number of errors to correct, it may increase the time required to complete the task since the machine needs to recompute its proposal after each interaction. Therefore, a fast computation is required to make the interactive system profitable and user-friendly. This work presents an efficient approach to deal with IPR tasks when data has a sequential nature. Our approach includes some computation at the very beginning of the task but it then achieves a linear complexity after user corrections. We also show how these tasks can be effectively carried out if the solution space is defined with a Regular Language. This fact has indeed proven to be the most relevant factor to improve the efficiency of the approach. Several experiments are carried out in which our proposal is faced against a classical search. Results show a reduction in time in all experiments considered, solving efficiently some complex IPR tasks thanks to our proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of using eye-gaze tracking based interaction for Indian computer-novice users. Introduction of interactive technologies were not synchronous in developed and developing countries, resulting in India a middle-aged population, who did not ‘grow up’ with technology and find existing computer interfaces and interaction devices counter-intuitive. We investigated how these users interact with an eye-gaze tracker, which has potential to be more intuitive than a mouse or touchpad. During the study, we designed and validated a new target prediction model and used the model in implementing a design bed. The design bed was used to develop interfaces for common computing tasks like shopping, banking, travelling and so on. Our study found that novice users can undertake pointing and selection tasks significantly faster using the eye-gaze tracker than mouse at a cost of higher but statistically non-significant cognitive load. We also conducted a longitudinal study which found users can reach their optimum speed (about 2 secs per selection) within approximately 20 minutes with less than 5% error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) is a complex communication phenomenon involving human beings and computer systems that gained large attention from industry and academia with the advent of new types of interactive systems (mobile applications, smart cities, smart homes, ubiquitous systems and so on). Despite of its importance, there is still a lack of formal and explicit representations of what the HCI phenomenon is. In this paper, we intend to clarify the main notions involved in the HCI phenomenon, by establishing an explicit conceptualization of it. To do so, we need to understand what interactive computer systems are, which types of actions users perform when interacting with an interactive computer system, and finally what human–computer interaction itself is. The conceptualization is presented as a core reference ontology, called HCIO (HCI Ontology), which is grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO). HCIO was evaluated using ontology verification and validation techniques and has been used as core ontology of an HCI ontology network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a method to navigate getting a correct answer for Question Answering (QA) system using user interaction. QA is a technology which extracts appropriate answer strings for a given question sentence from huge documents such as Web, newspaper articles etc. If a given question is ambiguous, answers will be various ones according to its possible understandings and retrieved documents with query words of the question sentence will consists of various types of information. In order to focus on intended topic, it is necessary to provide more information to narrow down search area for a question. In our approach, a QA system selects a clue word to decide an appropriate topic from topics in retrieved documents and interacts with a user whether this clue word is appropriate one or not. Then, search space will be reduced using this clue word. However, such narrowing down reduces the number of answer candidates because the number of target documents will be decreased. We will re-retrieve documents using this clue words and expand search space to increase possibility of getting correct answer candidates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The capacities of the Internet provide a flexible platform for learning that has overcome the limitations of time and space. To compensate for the lack of face-to-face communication in online education, interactivity design has become an important factor affecting online learning. This study examines how different levels of interactivity in Web-based instruction (WBI) influence learners’ perceptions of using WBI systems with a comprehensive interaction design. Three WBI systems were developed with low, medium, and high levels of interactivity, and the effect of interactivity on learners’ perceptions was investigated in a real class. The findings suggest a relationship between the interactivity level and learners’ attitudes, learning, and satisfaction, but not perceived interactivity. The results indicated that the learners required a certain amount of mental effort to access the system initially; however, repeated exposure to the WBI systems increased their ability to operate the systems, which in turn increased the similarity of the interactivity perceptions of the three groups. Although the learners felt no differences in the interactivity toward the end of the 6-week class owing to familiarity with the system, the benefits of higher interactivity remained. This indicates that learners’ interactivity perceptions may change as their experience increases, but different interactivity designs do indeed influence their performance and attitudes in learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Selfishness vs. fairness are basic dimensions of relating to others, and many computer-mediated communications among young people involve subtle decisions balancing selfishness vs. fairness. We report five experiments investigating the influence of affect on interpersonal decisions in CMC in strategic games such as the dictator game and the ultimatum game. In the dictator game, proposers have unlimited power to make selfish or fair allocations. In the ultimatum game, decisions by proposers are subject to the veto powers of responders. These experiments predicted and found that negative mood consistently increased, and positive mood reduced concern with the fairness of allocations. Proposers in a negative mood showed greater fairness and offered more resources to a partner than did those in a positive mood, and such decisions also took longer confirming mood-induced processing differences. The results are discussed in terms recent affect-cognition theories, suggesting that positive affect recruits more assimilative, internally focused processing promoting selfishness, while negative affect induces more externally oriented, accommodative thinking and greater concern with social norms. The implications of the findings for everyday interpersonal behaviors and computer-mediated interactions involving selfishness vs. fairness are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite the massive body of research on the effect of media and entertainment on children’s development, especially through computer that clearly stands as the most interactive and appealing medium not only between children but also among people, the research, up to date, still lacks a true understanding of the powerful effect of the communication between children, generally all users, and the content of the entertainment. Thus, the present reflection paper was conducted towards clarifying the directions of the future research concerning the effect of media and entertainment on young children’s development based on the literature’s theoretical critiques. However, the present paper only paid attention to the most effective studies in the literature given the fact that many and many studies are just repeating what already available in the literature. The conclusion came up with two main directions of the future research on children’s development, (1) media as a quasi-human’s external regulator and (2) entertainment as a context of the learning process. Both directions yielded a new phase of learning (Self-Arousal Learning (SAL)) that the future research has to take it into account and consideration. The main topics of the SAL were stated as guidance for the main two directions of the future research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Within agent-based Ambient Intelligence applications agents react to humans based on information obtained by sensoring and their knowledge about human functioning. Appropriate types of reactions depend on the extent to which an agent understands the human and is able to interpret the available information (which is often incomplete, and hence multi-interpretable) in order to create a more complete internal image of the environment, including humans. Such an understanding requires that the agent has knowledge to a certain depth about the human’s physiological and mental processes in the form of an explicitly represented model of the causal and dynamic relations describing these processes. In addition, given such a model representation, the agent needs reasoning methods to derive conclusions from the model and interpret the (partial) information available by sensoring. This paper presents the development of a toolbox that can be used by a modeller to design Ambient Intelligence applications. This toolbox contains a number of model-based reasoning methods and approaches to control such reasoning methods. Formal specifications in an executable temporal format are offered, which allows for simulation of reasoning processes and automated verification of the resulting reasoning traces in a dedicated software environment. A number of such simulation experiments and their formal analysis are described. The main contribution of this paper is that the reasoning methods in the toolbox have the possibility to reason using both quantitative and qualitative aspects in combination with a temporal dimension, and the possibility to perform focused reasoning based upon certain heuristic information. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines some aspects of the usefulness of interactive tabletop systems, if and how these impact collaboration. We chose creative problem solving such as brainstorming as an application framework to test several collaborative media: the use of pen-and-paper tools, the “around-the-table” form factor, the digital tabletop interface, the attractiveness of interaction styles. Eighty subjects in total (20 groups of four members) participated in the experiments. The evaluation criteria were task performance, collaboration patterns (especially equity of contributions), and users’ subjective experience. The “around-the-table” form factor, which is hypothesized to promote social comparison, increased performance and improved collaboration through an increase of equity. Moreover, the attractiveness of the tabletop device improved subjective experience and increased motivation to engage in the task. However, designing attractiveness seems a highly challenging issue, since overly attractive interfaces may distract users from the task. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The University of Sussex In-School Teacher Education Project (InSTEP) uses interactive video technologies to enhance initial teacher education programmes for science trainee teachers. With four Internet Protocol cameras and mounted microphones in both school laboratories and the university teaching room, trainees and their tutors have access to live interaction with schools. This paper presents some of the findings of a 2 year evaluation of InSTEP aimed at identifying the benefits for trainee teachers. There has been an increase in the use of video material for teacher training purposes, however, trainee teachers are often intimidated by carefully selected extracts featuring experienced teachers. InSTEP activities are live and capitalise on all the opportunities associated with normal classroom practice. Literature points to InSTEP-type activities having the potential to enhance the development of trainees’ observation skills, develop reflective thinking, to provide authentic illustrations of classroom practice, enable remote observation and facilitate the coaching of trainees by mentors. A fourth generation model of evaluation was undertaken with data generated by semi-structured interviews with university tutors and mentors supported by a questionnaire and group interviews with the trainees. Our main findings point to InSTEP enhancing and accelerating the growth of trainee teachers’ professional knowledge through enabling reflective practice, facilitating collaborative learning and supporting the development of the language of pedagogy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is concerned with the design of interactive virtual musical instruments. An interaction design strategy which uses on-screen objects that respond to user actions in physically realistic ways is described. This approach allows musicians to ‘play’ the virtual instruments using the sound of their familiar acoustic instruments. An investigation of user experience identified three modes of interaction that characterise the musicians'' approach to the virtual instruments: instrumental, ornamental and conversational. When using the virtual instruments in instrumental mode, musicians prioritise detailed control; in ornamental mode, they surrender detailed control to the software and allow it to transform their sound; in conversational mode, the musicians allow the virtual instrument to ‘talk back’, helping to shape the musical direction of performance much as a human playing partner might. Finding a balance between controllability and complexity emerged as a key issue in facilitating ‘conversational’ interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A main goal of special education is the teaching of skills needed for an independent life. Virtual worlds are a valuable tool for this, enabling users to train real-world tasks in a save environment. An intuitive interaction device for mentally handicapped users are props on a board, but until now their interaction space has been limited to the size of the board, whereas the training of realistic tasks requires the use of a large and complex environment, detailing different aspects of everyday life. We devised four navigation strategies for props on a board and tested them with mentally handicapped users. The most suitable strategy was implemented in an educational game teaching common tasks, which may even span multiple locations, such as shopping at the supermarket and then preparing a meal at home. A user study with 24 participants showed that the system enabled all of them to navigate through the virtual environment to complete given tasks and indicated that the system supports learning processes. With our system, mentally handicapped people will be able to train everyday tasks in realistic surroundings, using intuitive prop-based navigation and a navigation strategy tailored to their needs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Internet addiction is “an individual’s inability to control their Internet use, which in turn leads to feelings of distress and functional impairment of daily activities” [Shapira, N., Lessig, M., Goldsmith, T., Szabo, S., Lazoritz, M., Gold, M. et al. (2003). Problematic Internet use: Proposed classification and diagnostic criteria. Depression and Anxiety, 17(4), 207–216]. Previous research in this field has offered inconclusive data on whether Internet addiction can be classified as a disorder. This study provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of internet addiction through a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies on excessive Internet use published during the period of 1996–2006. Several constructs pertaining to the domain of Internet addiction have been identified and a theoretical model of Internet addiction has been proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Computers As Social Actors (CASA) research paradigm has examined how individuals respond to computers programmed to interact in various ways. In the current research, we extend the principles of CASA to determine whether computer icons can be used to produce social facilitation effects. Varying task difficulty and the presence or absence of a computer icon (i.e., Microsoft word’s Clip), performance on a typing task is considered. Overall, results provide some support for the contention that the mere presence of a computer icon may influence task performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an overview of methods that can be used to collect and analyse data on user responses to spoken dialogue system components intended to increase human-likeness, and to evaluate how well the components succeed in reaching that goal. Wizard-of-Oz variations, human-human data manipulation, and micro-domains are discussed in this context, as is the use of third-party reviewers to get a measure of the degree of human-likeness. We also present the two-way mimicry target, a model for measuring how well a human-computer dialogue mimics or replicates some aspect of human-human dialogue, including human flaws and inconsistencies. Although we have added a measure of innovation, none of the techniques is new in its entirety. Taken together and described from a human-likeness perspective, however, they form a set of tools that may widen the path towards human-like spoken dialogue systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Head pose and gesture offer several conversational grounding cues and are used extensively in face-to-face interaction among people. To accurately recognize visual feedback, humans often use contextual knowledge from previous and current events to anticipate when feedback is most likely to occur. In this paper we describe how contextual information can be used to predict visual feedback and improve recognition of head gestures in human–computer interfaces. Lexical, prosodic, timing, and gesture features can be used to predict a user's visual feedback during conversational dialog with a robotic or virtual agent. In non-conversational interfaces, context features based on user–interface system events can improve detection of head gestures for dialog box confirmation or document browsing. Our user study with prototype gesture-based components indicate quantitative and qualitative benefits of gesture-based confirmation over conventional alternatives. Using a discriminative approach to contextual prediction and multi-modal integration, performance of head gesture detection was improved with context features even when the topic of the test set was significantly different than the training set. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nowadays, computer graphics courses are usually taught with traditional teaching methodologies and tools, which have several limitations. In this paper, we present an online interactive computer graphics (CG) tutorial, which supports the collaborative learning of the concepts and algorithms of computer graphics in a networked virtual environment. The practical part of the tutorial consists of example programs for users to test the theoretical concepts and to obtain their own experiments. The integration of the different theoretical and practical parts of the course is realized through a common Web-based interface to the system. The main objectives are to (1) allow the users to learn and practice with the algorithms of computer graphics in a virtual environment, (2) support avatar-based collaborative learning based on avatars involving, several users connected through the Internet. Two versions of the system in Chinese and English language, respectively, have been implemented and are described in the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we report on five years of teaching experience with our introductory course “Graphical-Interactive Systems”, which covers basic topics of human–computer interaction and computer graphics for students in the third year of their major in computer science. Although the two fields of human–computer interaction and computer graphics are usually taught in different courses, we believe that they have much in common and can therefore be integrated into a combined course. “Graphical-Interactive Systems” builds a foundation for advanced courses in both disciplines and achieves an efficient use of teaching time due to synergy effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The intelligent machine vision technology based on man-machine interaction mode has the advantages of weak intrusion, low adhesion and no device binding. With the development and progress of science and technology, the intelligent machine vision technology has become one of the most important directions in the field of human–computer interaction. Compared with the traditional interactive mode, the intelligent machine vision interaction technology is quite convenient, and the existence of these problems can also influence the vision of the intelligent machine to a certain extent. And the wide application of the sense interaction. At present, the operation precision is the main basis of the machine vision interaction design. Therefore, this paper studies the precision of the visual interaction of the intelligent machine. In this paper, three point-to-click experiments will be carried out on the basis of the Fitts' Law. The accuracy of the machine vision algorithm is experimentally studied from the operating direction, the mapping scale equation and the machine vision algorithm, and a reasonable suggestion is made for the intelligent machine vision interactive design of the human interaction mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]