Instructor: Hiroshi Ishii ishii-at-media.mit.edu,
One Cambridge Center 5F, Tel. 3-7514
TAs: James
patten jpatten-at-media.mit.edu,
Angela
Chang anjchang-at-media.mit.edu
Secretary: Lisa Lieberson lisasue-at-media.mit.edu
One Cambridge Center 5F, Tel. 3-9836
Email for instructor and TAs: ti01-staff-at-media.mit.edu
Course
description
People have developed sophisticated skills for perceiving and manipulating
their physical environments. However, most of these skills
are not engaged by the traditional Graphical User Interface (GUI) that
has become the central approach in Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI) design.
The GUI represents information mainly as abstract pixels on flat rectangle
screens, allowing people to manipulate them only indirectly
with a remote controller such as a mouse and keyboard. The Tangible
User Interface (TUI) is an attempt to give physical form to
digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible
by people. The goal of TUI research and design is to build the next
generation of interfaces that go beyond the current and dominant GUI
paradigm.
This course will explore the design space of TUIs, a new form of HCI
which focuses on the physical embodiment of computational
media. Tangible Interfaces will make bits accessible through
augmented physical surfaces (e.g. walls, desktops, ceilings, windows),
graspable objects (e.g. building blocks, models, instruments) and ambient
media (e.g. light, sound, airflow, water-flow, kinetic
sculpture) within physical environments.
This is a project course with enrollment limited to keep a design studio
atmosphere. We will explore different ways of broadening the
bandwidth of interaction between people and digital information through
Tangible Interfaces that help people learn, design, and
communicate using the full range of human senses and skills.
We will pursue the interfaces that are not only practical, but
also aesthetically pleasing and engaging.
Students will design/develop experimental Tangible Interfaces, applications,
underlying technologies, and/or theories using concept
sketches, posters, physical mockups, and working prototypes. Use of
posters and physical mockups are encouraged to solicit studio
discussion. Studio discussions of these ideas using tangible materials
will be a vital way to refine designs collaboratively. Over the
course of the semester, each student is required to complete one warm-up
exercise, two design projects, and one final presentation.
For class on 9/28 Margot Brereton and Ben McGarry An Observational Study of How Objects Support Engineering Design Thinking and Communication: Implications for the design of tangible media
For class on 9/28 Marc Weiser The Computer for the 21st Century
For class on 9/28 Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms
For class on 10/5 Brygg Ullmer and Hiroshi Ishii Emerging Frameworks for Tangible User Interfaces.
For class on 10/5 Holmquist, L., Redstrom, J., and Ljungstrand, P. Token-Based Access to Digital Information
For class on 10/5 David Kirsh Complimentary Strategies: Why we use our hands when we think.
For class on 10/5 David Kirsh The Intelligent Use of Space
For class on 10/19 Hinckley et al. Passive Real-World Props for Neurosurgical Visualization
For class on 10/19 Fitzmaurice et al. Bricks:
Laying the Foundations for Graspable User Interfaces