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The thrill of scientific discovery, the excitement of engineering development, and the fresh thinking of design explorations were invigorating as we participated in the birth of a new discipline: Information Visualization. This discipline, based on graphical user interfaces with pointing devices, became possible as software matured, hardware sped up, and screen resolution improved. Driven by the concepts of direct manipulation and dynamic queries, we made interactive interfaces that empowered users and opened up new possibilities for the next generation of designers. We worked with professionals who had real problems and tested real users to get their feedback. Some projects failed and some papers never got published, but many of the new ideas found their way into widely used commercial products. Our great satisfaction is that our students have spread the community spirit of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory as they continue to make further contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem that the hardware cost of the interactive interface of the large screen interactive system is high and the noise disturbance can lead to the inaccurate positioning of the interactive target. This paper proposes an any-wall touch system with the switching filter based on 3-D sensor. The proposed any-wall touch system can be achieved by connecting only one computer and the human-computer interaction effect can be well obtained. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: 1) introduce the switching system method into the filter for the first time and propose a switching filter based on the average dwell time switching rule to realize the balance between accuracy and real-time and 2) this presented method can realize touching technology on the wall, which does not need liquid crystal display screen or LED large screen and other expensive display side of the hardware. Using the projector projection wall as a display side and the independent development of interactive software, it can achieve any wall touch function. Many experiments show that the proposed technology has a multi-functional, simple and portable, high precision, which can be widely extended to the classroom, corporate conference room and display platform and other interactive sites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gary McGraw sits down with Marie Moe, a SINTEF research scientist and associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, to talk about medical device security. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To support the study of effective human-surrogate interaction techniques and modalities, the Office of Naval Research awarded an equipment grant to support the development of a Human-Surrogate Interaction Space (HuSIS) at the University of Central Florida in the Institute for Simulation & Training. The HuSIS consists of a dedicated physical space, structures, and components designed specifically for carrying out controlled studies related to human-surrogate interactions. This article describes the motivation, design, and realization of the HuSIS and the benefits of the common data-collection and analysis framework developed for HuSIS research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students at Colorado State University built a virtual reality prototype for experimenting with cognitive control of connected household devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article proposes a methodological approach to the historiography of computing in terms of information hiding--that is, the introduction of levels of abstraction (LoAs) between the human being and the computing machine. This approach applies the LoAs, in terms of the epistemological levelism proposed within the philosophy of information, to the transition from ancient to modern computing. In particular, the black-box metaphor and von Neumann's architectures are discussed. Also, the authors propose a formal LoAs method as a mathematical counterpart. Information itself is then treated as structure-preserving functions so that a LoA can distinguish what kind of information gets hidden when human beings interact with computing machines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present a field study on how testers use knowledge while performing exploratory software testing (ET) in industrial settings. We video recorded 12 testing sessions in four industrial organizations, having our subjects think aloud while performing their usual functional testing work. Using applied grounded theory, we analyzed how the subjects performed tests and what type of knowledge they utilized. We discuss how testers recognize failures based on their personal knowledge without detailed test case descriptions. The knowledge is classified under the categories of domain knowledge, system knowledge, and general software engineering knowledge. We found that testers applied their knowledge either as a test oracle to determine whether a result was correct or not, or for test design, to guide them in selecting objects for test and designing tests. Interestingly, a large number of failures, windfall failures, were found outside the actual focus areas of testing as a result of exploratory investigation. We conclude that the way exploratory testers apply their knowledge for test design and failure recognition differs clearly from the test-case-based paradigm and is one of the explanatory factors of the effectiveness of the exploratory testing approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many software systems must adapt to suit the particular context in which they are operating. Runtime variability mechanisms are suitable for systems that must configure optimally during execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 20 years, there has been a debate on the effectiveness of virtual reality used for learning with young children, producing many ideas but little empirical proof. This empirical study compared learning activity in situ of a real environment (Real) and a desktop virtual reality (Virtual) environment, built with video game technology, for discovery-based learning. The experiences were in the form of two field trips featuring statistically identical wildflower reserves. While the results support that the Real is superior for learning activity, they also show that the Virtual is useful for priming and reinforcing in-curriculum material, or for situations when the real environment is inaccessible. Offering the Virtual first primes for learning activity in the Real; if used second, it reinforces the Real experience, as supporting evidence shows significant transfer effects. Thus, the Virtual may serve educational goals, if used appropriately, and can come close to the Real. As informal learning environments, such as field trips and video games, are accepted as motivational, an attitudinal survey was conducted postexperiences to capture motivational factors at play, to aid in comparison and contrast, and to provide context to the empirical results on learning activity in situ; however, more work is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Usability problems can persist even for software designed with human-centered design principles, especially when the software replaces or augments intelligent human capabilities. In these cases, users might have incorrect expectations about what the automated system is doing, and training and guides are necessary to help them understand the software's workings. Usability problems can often be overcome by trial-and-error experience or when communities pass down information to newer users, but the authors believe that the genuine cognitive challenges to forming functional and accurate mental models can be formalized, documented, and "trained in." This article describes the Experiential User Guide (EUG), a concept designed to address these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]