30.10.04 blip @ Newlyn

Newlyn art gallery hosted a forum open to anyone interested in new forms of art that explore generative and procedural processes, interaction, emergence and artificial life. Included in this exhibition was an interactive installation set up by the Interact Lab which made use of the Equip Component Toolkit (ECT).

The interactive skipping/jumping installation gave children - and the young at heart - an opportunity to program and interact with computers without having to touch a keyboard. It demonstrated a vision of the future where technology will be embedded in our everyday lives and where we can interact with computers as easily as moving around pieces of wooden blocks or skipping with a rope.

ECT is a software platform developed as part of the Equator project which facilitates the rapid prototyping of ubiquitous environments. It is designed to be used by experience builders who wish to manipulate emerging technologies into novel arrangements, these being created by artists and technologist alike.

16.06.04 InTouch Seminars, London

InTouch is a collaborative project between the Interact Lab at the University of Sussex, BT/chimera and Victoria Real, and is funded by the UK’s ESRC, EPSRC and DTI PACCIT initiative. The project has been looking at online services that make use of broadband technology in the home to support social networks.

There will be two seminars: (i) Supporting social networks: design and evaluation of social software and (ii) Impact of Voiceover IP on the online gaming experience. The cost for the day will be £125.00 per seminar. For further information please contact: Linda Kennedy, CASA, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH. Telephone 01273 678 367. Email l.e.kennedy@sussex.ac.uk.

A copy of the seminar flyer can be downloaded at intouch.pdf

07.05.04 HCT Open Day

The Human-Centred Technology (HCT) Research Group at Sussex is one of the UK’s leading, internationally renowned research centres in Human Computer Interaction, interaction design, interactive learning environments and socio-cognitive analysis. The HCT Research Group comprises both The Interactive Digital Educational Applications Lab (IDEAs) and the INTERACT lab. This years HCT Open Day will take place on 7 may at 2.00pm. Hands-on sessions, demonstrations, posters and presentations of the innovative applications and systems we have built will be provided. The open day will provide opportunities for our colleagues in commerce, industry, academia, government and the media to meet the researchers and faculty who work in the research centre and to discuss further collaborative enterprises.

For a copy of the current newsletter please download hct-news.pdf.

03.07.03 Go Digital Radio Listeners Hear About Ambient Wood

The BBC World Service radio programme Go Digital featured the Interact Lab's Ambient Wood project on 1st July (click to hear the programme from archives). Ambient Wood, part of the Equator project, produced a second successful experience for local school children last week. Pupils from Varndean School in Brighton came to the wood in small groups to explore a number of different habitats. Their experiences were digitally enhanced with probing and listening devices, walkie talkie radios and handheld computers. The pupils reported back what they had found to a "den" area, and received messages back via the handheld. In this way an individualised electronic journal was kept that was later used to discuss a variety of aspects about the wood.

Harry, an ethusiastic pupil who is familiar with technology like this, told the presenters, "It could help get people interested in nature because nowadays people are just sitting on the couch watching TV a lot". The benefits of children using such novel technologies were confirmed by BBC News Online's technology analyst Bill Thompson, who said, "It gets away from the idea that using technology in education is about sitting students in front of a computer and getting them typing on keyboards". Click here to see the BBC Online article.

Ambient Wood's Sussex researchers collaborate with Equator partners at Bristol, Southampton and Nottingham Universities.

Around 100 invited guests from industry, academia, consultany companies and local government were treated to an array of novel and exciting demonstrations at today's Human Centred Technology Open Day, jointly run by the Interact Lab and the Ideas Lab. A number of exhibits and hands-on demonstrations were presented from over 20 projects. These included the Ambient Wood project's Periscope navigation and information device and the Elvin-based environmental probing tool used to provide children with a novel learning experience. Textured haptics and vibrating shapes that trigger provocative images and sounds were also demoed as part of the Equator project. The successful eSPACE project attracted much interest (see below for other news events on this product), where visitors were invited to plan their holiday of a lifetime.

08.04.03 - Interacting at the Home Oriented Informatics and Telematics Conference, California

The HOIT conference this year was hosted by the University of California, Irvine. Two Interact Lab researchers, Hilary Smith and Jon Matthews, enthusiastically presented their work on new metaphors for personal message storing (the InTouch project, and a collaborative wedding planning tool (the Always On project). They participated in three intensive days of discussions under the southern Californian sunshine, including internationally renowned specialists Alladi Venkatesh (UC, Irvine); Andy Sloan (Univ. Wolverhampton); Lee Rainie of Pew Internet; and Barry Wellman (Univ. Toronto). Topics included ethnographic analysis of communication within domestic spaces from the Equator project (Andy Crabtree, Univ. Nottingham); requirements gathering for a home information centre (Lynne Baillie, formerly Napier University); and an introduction to a collection of web use survey data based at the University of Maryland by John P. Robinson, University of Maryland.

26.11.02 - Interact's leading-edge travel technology showcased at Comdex '02

Las Vegas Nevada was host to this year's Comdex - among the largest IT tradeshows in the world. The Interact Lab, along with Sussex IP, joined the UK@Comdex stand, where iris recognition, 3D-scanning, and nanotechnology were just three of some 20 projects handpicked by organisers Ontrac Communications, designed to bring leading-edge UK academic innovations to the IT industry. Showcasing 'The Trip', a groundbreaking interactive travel planner developed by the eSPACE project team, John Halloran and Ted Phelps were on hand to run live demos, deliver presentations, talk with the media, and interface with some of the major players sourcing IT for the travel industry. Russ Bown of Sussex IP commented 'Innovation in customer relations is where the travel industry is now heading, and Sussex is leading the way in developing key technologies. We are excited not only by the positive feedback from industry, but also the clear commercialisation opportunities which have arisen here at Comdex'.

8.11.02 - Even HRH The Duke of Edinburgh has trouble using his VCR!

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, President of the Royal Society of Arts, recently chaired a one day design conference on the interface between users and machines at the RSA. The theme of the conference was: Technology affects our lives in different ways. All too often, though, the interaction between that technology and the user becomes frustrating and at worst debilitating - this conference will set an agenda for future action. In his opening speech HRH commented on the problems of nearly losing one's teeth when trying to program the VCR, through being forced to lie on the carpet and read the very small LCD screen on the machine, conveniently located on the floor under the television. The Espace project was presented at the conference by Anne Anderson, director of the PACCIT initiative and demo-ed by the eSpace team throughout the day. The system exemplified how to integrate disparate information and multiple representations, by making a rich multi-media experience for supporting complex planning in the retail business. Click here to find more about the project.