As we progress towards a remote working world the commercial solutions to collaborate over a distance remain handicapped by their design. With sponsorship from Microsoft I built a system called CONIS and set out to explore how we may improve remote collaboration using emerging technology and contextually implicit and explicit interactions.
With the support of a specialised research team I defined a set of standards for interaction design to utilise over the next decade when using gestural, speech, and eye gaze technologies for the purposes of remote collaboration.
Opportunity statement
How might we design interactions for gestural, speech, and eye gaze technology
For remote workers
So that distributed collaboration is as effective as colocated collaboration
Project Stages
DISCOVER
Analysis of existing research
To begin the study I first broadened my understanding of the intricate topics that
formed the current knowledge in this research space.
To achieve this I explored academic literature across both interaction design and remote communication fields and met with several leading human computer interaction researchers from different parts of the world. Using this understanding I was able to form a strong foundation to undertake a significant research study.
formed the current knowledge in this research space.
To achieve this I explored academic literature across both interaction design and remote communication fields and met with several leading human computer interaction researchers from different parts of the world. Using this understanding I was able to form a strong foundation to undertake a significant research study.
DEFINE
Explorative experiments
To understand the difference in interaction paradigms, the experiment was designed to contrast implicit and explicit experiences when collaborating over a distance. I built a system called CONIS to utilise an xBox Kinect for users to interface with and a video feed to collaborate with their partner. The task required participants to come to a conclusion on several theme park destinations they would like to visit together. Participants were recorded, observed, interviewed and open discussion groups were held after tasks.
DESIGN & REFINE
Theming and data consolidation
Data was collected from participants, transcribed and analysed using categorisation techniques such as affinity mapping and focus groups with assistant researchers.
Once core concepts were highlighted as findings I used member checking to ensure the captured information aligned with the participants experiences, and to reinforce the qualitative data in the proposed narrative.
Once core concepts were highlighted as findings I used member checking to ensure the captured information aligned with the participants experiences, and to reinforce the qualitative data in the proposed narrative.
DELIVER
Thesis and conference presentations
My research was initially written as a thesis exploring several themes including both implicit and explicit interaction paradigms as well as the affordances and benefits of using each interaction method in relation to distance collaboration. The thesis was later slimmed down and several key findings were extracted to write a conference paper for OzCHI. After publishing the paper I have presented the topic to several audiences including, professionals, students and academics.
Result
My research plays a valuable role towards the movement of understanding how we should interact with advanced technologies in remote environments.
I had the opportunity to present my findings at Australia’s leading human computer interaction conference: OzCHI, and the paper was accepted for publishing in ACM press, New York.
I’m excited to know that areas of my research are already being further investigated by other academics. It is my hope that these findings and many other emerging research studies will be built upon so that the design community can continue to accelerate into the next wave human computer interactions.