daY in The LaB

What kind of facilities do you have?
We have four labs on campus. Our
main lab is a ubiquitous comput-
ing room called the Media Room,
which accommodates two interac-
tive tabletops, multiple high-reso-
lution wall displays, and a variety
of mobile devices. This room pro-
vides a rich interactive space for
exploring multi-user, multi-modal,
and multi-device interactions for
prototyping purposes but also
serves as a controlled environ-
ment for user studies. The room
also features an optical tracking
system for gesture interaction and
user identification. We are also
very proud to have a “public-living
lab” with tabletops and large dis-
plays situated inside the university
library. It allows us to explore
novel ideas with real library users
amidst the library’s shelves and
enables us to conduct longitudinal
studies of new interaction con-
cepts in realistic use contexts. Our
usability lab is a fully equipped
laboratory for controlled user stud-
ies of traditional desktop applica-
tions. It features up-to-date facili-
ties for eye tracking and controlled
observations. Finally, our interac-
tion lab is a workspace equipped
with tools and machinery for
working with hardware and elec-
tronics. It includes workbenches
and soldering equipment for creat-
ing tangible interface artifacts.

How many people are in your
group, and what is the mix of
backgrounds and roles?
Currently one post-doc researcher,
eight Ph.D. students working as
research assistants, and about 15
research students work on our six
research projects. Each project has
a team of up to six members led
by one or two research assistants.
Their team members are typically
undergraduate or graduate students
who have decided to specialize in
human-computer interaction. Our
project teams are co-located in
offices in the same hall. Most of
us have a background in computer
and information science, but we
also have some people who joined
us from other fields such as design,
psychology, and even mathematics,
making us a quite interdisciplinary
group. I’m head of the group, and
my faculty position at the univer-
sity is professor of human-computer
interaction in the Department of
Computer & Information Science.
I established the lab in 1997 with
an initial focus on visual informa-
tion seeking systems. In the last
few years our research has shifted
toward more holistic interaction
paradigms for the post-WIMP world.

What makes your group unique?
Our common vision, our research
agenda, and our system-oriented
approach make our group unique.
We primarily create entire sys-
tems or applications with a prac-
tical value for their users rather
than design isolated interaction

November + December 2011

interactions