TAICHI ’18 Day 2
Top Conference Paper Session & Bridging the gap between research and design
TAICHI is the abbreviation of Taiwan Computer-Human Interaction, though HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) is still a relatively new field in Taiwan, it’s fascinating to see conferences like this is getting bigger and bigger every year.
This year there are 4 keynotes, 1 joint panels, 30 papers and a more-than-63-posters session! That could sound like a lot, but if you really think about it, it’s more like a fest treating very early at 8:30 am, but hey we are all here for some HCI fun. Below would be my (attempted) brief and takeaway for each of the keynotes, and some of the papers that interest me.
Keynote: Translational Work to Bridge the Research and Design Chasms by Gary Hsieh
Gary talked about the gap between research and design, and walked us through the possible positive impacts adopting research into design could have.
“Why designers don’t intertwine research when designing?” is the key question in this presentation(at least in my own understanding).
And to answer the question Gary and his PhD student came up with “Behavior Change Design Sprint”. The bcds is a sprint for designers to conduct research-supported design, the set, therefore, includes example scenarios, selected research materials, and an overall guide.
Keynote : AMA by Audrey Tang
AUDREY IS AMAZING, this is all I could say since the keynote is in a AMA style it’s a bit hard to list out the linear logic like the other keynote speakers.
Top HCI Conference Session
- PuPoP: Pop-up Prop on Palm for Virtual Reality
Though the pronunciation is a bit mouthful, the idea and the implementation is astonishing, PuPoP is an accessory for hand gestures in VR setting. Just like its name it assists the grasping with a prop, the demos, a Quidditch stimulation, they showcased are interesting and I am so tempted to try if given an opportunity. (I mean the Quidditch setup looks amazing imo, but maybe as a potterhead I am biased.) - FacePush: Introducing Normal Force on Face with Head-Mounted Displays
This is another amazing VR accessory yet it’s a head-wear. The invention is an installation that could create pressure on users’ face this making the experience in VR more realistic. They also have three demos showing how FacePush could be used, the demo mocked the water pressure and the physical pressure in a boxing match. - iTour: Making Tourist Maps GPS-Enabled
This is an interesting one, too. It dives into the difference between of a realistic map and a simplified tourist map, and how can we merge them together to better the experience of tourists. iTour is the system allow users to map the tourist version into the detailed google map, and after doing so the system would then be able to tell the GPS location via google map, and thus provides a real time reference spot on the tourist map. - Botanical Printer: An Exploration on Interaction Design with Plantness
This is a printer that automatically printed out texts, and such context varied from how strong the wifi is and the tensity of CO2 in the air. If wifi network would effect the context would become more real, and would print out social media like context; if the wifi is not as strong, it would print out more wi-fi like texts. CO2 will effect the color of ink of the printer. It’s a very zen feeling design I would say. - ShareSpace: Facilitating Shared Use of the Physical Space by both VR Head-Mounted
This is yet another interesting one, share space is also a VR related project, it explores the realism of VR users and non-VR users sharing the same space. There are doomed to be conflicts since VR users move around in the space, as for the non-VR users their needs can be separated into protective demands and aggressive demands. The ShareSpace has different modes for the two demands, for the protective demand it will identify the obstacles, for aggressive demands the whole VR environment would froze. It’s actually quite amazing if you ask me since this really could solve the space-consuming problems VR would have. - RollingStone: Using Single Slip Taxel for Enhancing Active Finger
We really do have many VR related papers going, but they are all stunning in their very different way. RollingStone is a new type of controller for VR, it focuses on how to stimulate different textures when interacting with environment in VR. They propose a controller with a sphere interacting interface, the texture would change based on the speed of the ball rolling.
Takeaway
There are more VR related things than I expected, but I am not complaining it’s fun, it’s innovative, it’s inspiring. My brain is partially shutting down but it’s okay, cause this is truly an unforgettable day.
