| Preface |
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| Section 1 Interfaces That Support Communication |
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Chapter 1 An Intuitive Interface for Interactively Pairing Multiple Mobile Devices: Dynamic Reconfiguration of Multiple Screens and a Variety of Content Designs |
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1 | (26) |
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We designed an intuitive user interface to connect multiple mobile devices over a network and relate the applications running on them. |
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We proposed a pinching gesture for making a connection between two devices, which is realized by swiping the touch screens of the two annexed mobile devices as if to stitch them together. |
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We believe that this user interface can create new user experiences for multiple-screen usage, especially by designing the application content to react instantly to the connection and disconnection triggered by the gesture. |
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We expect this interface to fulfill a great potential in inspiring application designers to conceive various ideas, particularly suited for visually fascinating content that takes advantage of the dynamic reconfigurable multi-display feature. |
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To demonstrate the potential, we produced some prototype applications. |
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In this article, we explain the idea and details of the interface mechanism, and introduce the design of the sample applications. |
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Chapter 2 Expressive Avatars in Psychological Intervention and Therapy |
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27 | (22) |
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A wide range of applications for virtual humans can be envisaged for the needs of both research and intervention in Psychology. |
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This chapter describes the development and preliminary testing of an interactive virtual reality application "Virtual Spectators" - whereby virtual humans with expressive behaviour modelled on the basis of field research in human facial expression in real emotion contexts can be configured to interact with people in an interview or jury. |
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We discuss the possibilities of this application in cognitive behavioural therapy using virtual reality and in nonverbal behaviour. |
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Chapter 3 Creating Characters for Various Interfaces |
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49 | (33) |
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This chapter is focused on the theme of creating characters for visual storytelling discussed in practical, theoretical, and historical terms. |
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The description includes a discussion of artistic forms acting as characters for telling stories, various meanings conveyed by characters in semiotic terms, the creating of characters by drawing, and then a set of learning projects follows, on creating characters for various interfaces. |
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Chapter 4 Visual Storytelling for Various Interfaces |
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82 | (28) |
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This chapter is focused on text visualization and storytelling delivered in various literary styles adopted for various delivery systems. |
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Discussion pertains first storytelling by drawing, both with traditional techniques and digital storytelling for various media and technologies. |
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Transition from a sketch to sculpted forms converted to 3D printing, animation, and video is then discussed. |
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Projects offer practical examples of the visual storytelling production and examine the possible usage of visual storytelling for different kinds of interfaces conducive to human communication through mass media, digital interactive, social, and printed media, with the use of mobile apps, web app, or application software. |
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Chapter 5 How We Hear and Experience Classical, Computer, and Virtual Music |
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110 | (19) |
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This chapter examines occurrences and events associated with the experience of composing, playing, or listening to music. |
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Discussion of popular music and computer music begins the chapter, including issues pertaining the tuning systems, digital interfaces, and software for music. |
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It then recounts an experiment on the nature of pitch and psychoacoustics of resultant tones. |
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Chapter 6 Dialogue With Interfaces: Beyond the Visual Towards Socio-Spatial Engagement |
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129 | (21) |
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Ana Paula Baltazar dos Santos |
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Guilherme Ferreira de Arruda |
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Jose dos Santos Cabral Filho |
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Lorena Melgaco Silva Marques |
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This chapter grapples with the hegemony of the visual and its pervasiveness in current urban installations. |
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It discusses how technology and the visual are fetishized instead of used in their dialogical potential to engage people in socio-spatial transformation. |
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This chapter presents the trajectory of the Graphics Laboratory for Architectural Experience at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil (LAGEAR) in its theoretical and practical development. |
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This chapter then discusses LAGEAR's main drives, which are the playful interaction, the distinction between interface, and interaction and dialogue, in order to create interactive interfaces that actually engage people in socio-spatial transformation. |
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It presents examples of the authors' works, drawing from visually based to bodily engaging and socio-political installations. |
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Discussion concerns the problematization that leads to the need of engagement rather than the bodily engagement. |
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Emphasis was put on working with the socio-spatial context and proposing interfaces that take into account the process in its openness and indeterminacy instead of prescribing a product (even if an interface-product). |
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| Section 2 Interfaces That Support Art |
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Chapter 7 The Forking Paths Revisited: Experimenting on Interactive Film |
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150 | (17) |
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Based on the triad, film-interactivity-experimentation, the applied research project, The Forking Paths, developed at the Centre for Research in Arts and Communication (CIAC) endeavors to find alternative narrative forms in the field of cinema and, more specifically, in the subfield of interactive cinema. |
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The films in the project invest in the interconnectivity between the film narrative and the viewer, who is given the possibility to be more active and engaged. |
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At same time, the films undertake a research on the development of audio-visual language. |
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The project is available at an online platform, which aims to foster the creation and web hosting of other interactive cinema projects in its different variables. |
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This chapter focuses on the three films completed up to the moment: Haze, The Book of the Dead, and Waltz. |
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Chapter 8 CulturalNature Arga#2 |
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167 | (18) |
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CulturalNature Arga#2 is an interactive audio-visual installation intended to explore the concept of landscape as a verb (to landscape) questioning and reflecting about the semiotic discourses associated with this concept. |
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The landscape as something natural, static, peaceful, silent, etc. |
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is a semiotic discourse with roots in a past related with the representation of a point of view, not only perceptual but also conceptual, ideological. |
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These representations informed the visual culture leading to a particular discourse. |
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The installation proposes a reflexion about the way different elements associated with a particular territory shape this territory's landscape, giving it a dynamic existence, a product of cultural activity. |
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Chapter 9 Aesthetic Composition Indicator Based on Image Complexity |
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185 | (18) |
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Nereida Rodriguez-Fernandez |
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Several systems and indicators for multimedia devices have appeared in recent years, with the goal of helping the final user to achieve better results. |
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Said indicators aim at facilitating beginner and intermediate photographers in the creation of images or videos with more professional aesthetics. |
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The chapter describes a series of metrics related to complexity which seem to be useful for the purpose of assessing the aesthetic composition of an image. |
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All the presented metrics are fundamental parts of the prototype "ACIC" introduced here, which allows an assessment of the aesthetics in the composition of the various frames integrating a video. |
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Chapter 10 Approach to Minimize Bias on Aesthetic Image Datasets |
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203 | (17) |
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Nereida Rodriguez-Fernandez |
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Over the last few years, numerous studies have been conducted that have sought to address automatic image classification. |
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These approaches have used a variety of experimental sets of images from several photography sites. |
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In this chapter, the authors look at some of the most widely used in the field of computational aesthetics as well as the capacity for generalization that each of them offers. |
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Furthermore, a set of images built up by psychologists is described in order to predict perceptual complexity as assessed by a closed group of persons in a controlled experimental setup. |
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Lastly, a new hybrid method is proposed for the construction of a set of images or a dataset for the assessment and classification of aesthetic criteria. |
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This method brings together the advantages of datasets based on photography websites and those of a dataset where assessment is made under controlled experimental conditions. |
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Chapter 11 The Origins of Music and of Tonal Languages |
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220 | (26) |
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This chapter offers the author's theory of the origins of music in ancient primates a million years ago, and what music would have sounded like. |
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Origins of nasal and tone languages and the anatomy of larynx is discussed, and then a hypothesis is presented that these creatures would fashioned a tone language. |
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They had absolute pitch that allowed them to recognize other voices, to read each other's emotions from the sounds they made with their voices, and to convey over long distances specific information about strategies, meeting places, etc. |
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Having an acute sense of pitch, they would have sung, essentially using tonal language for aesthetic and subjective purposes. |
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Thus, they would have invented music. |
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Then the physicality of the human (or hominid) voice is discussed and the way an absolute pitch can be acquired, as the musicality still lies in the vocalisms it expresses. |
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The reason for this is that music is actually contained in the way the brain works, and the ear and the voice are parts of this system. |
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The final part discusses the origins of musical emotion as the case for imprinting in the perinatal period. |
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| Section 3 Interfaces That Support Learning |
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Chapter 12 Leveraging Computer Interface to Support Creative Thinking |
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246 | (20) |
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How to design computer interface that facilitates learners' creative thinking can be challenging. |
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This chapter discusses the cognitive processes, the types of divergent thinking, visualization, and brain-functions in relation to human learning. |
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Informed by the research in previous areas, the authors examine the features of computer interface that aligns with brain-functions to support various types of creative thinking. |
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An example is included to demonstrate, at the conceptual level, how computer interface can be leveraged to support learners' creativity, imagination, originality, and expressiveness in learning. |
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Discussions are made with respect to the implication and limitation of the chapter. |
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The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research and studies. |
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Chapter 13 Cognitive Learning Through Knowledge Visualization, Art, and the Geometry of Nature |
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266 | (15) |
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Scientific modeling applied to the study of a mineral structure at the unit level provides a fertile ground from which to extract significant representations. |
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3D graphics visualization is equal part mathematics, geometry, and design. |
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The geometric structure of 52 minerals was investigated in a specific modeling program to find if meaningful visualization pertaining to the field of art can be extracted from a mathematical and scientific resource. |
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Working with the lines, spheres, and polygons that define crystal at the nanoscale provided the author with an exceptional environment from which to extract coherent visualizations sustainable in the art environment. |
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The results were tested in various interactive platforms and opened a larger debate on cross-pollination between science, humanities, and the arts. |
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Additionally, the experiment provided new ground of investigation for unexpected connections between mathematics, earth sciences, and local cultures. |
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Chapter 14 Augmented Reality in Informal Learning Environments: A Music History Exhibition |
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281 | (25) |
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Jose Duarte Cardoso Gomes |
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Mauro Jorge Guerreiro Figueiredo |
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Lucia da Graca Cruz Domingues Amante |
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Cristina Maria Cardoso Gomes |
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Augmented reality (AR) allows computer-generated imagery information overlays onto a live real-world environment in real time. |
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Technological advances in mobile computing devices (MCD) such as smartphones and tablets (internet access, built-in cameras and GPS) made a greater number of AR applications available. |
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This chapter presents the Augmented Reality Musical Gallery (ARMG) exhibition, enhanced by AR. |
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ARMG, focused on twentieth century music history, and aimed at the students from the 2nd Cycle of basic education in Portuguese public schools. |
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In this chapter, the authors introduce AR technology and address topics like constructivism, art education, student motivation, and informal learning environments. |
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They conclude by presenting the first two parts of the ongoing research conducted among a sample group of students contemplating the experiment in an educational context. |
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Chapter 15 Building Virtual Driving Environments From Computer-Made Projects |
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306 | (15) |
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The virtual environments used in scientific driving simulation experiments require extensive 3D models of road landscapes, correctly modeled and similar to those found in the real world. |
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The modeling task of these environments, addressing the terrain definition and the specific characteristics required by the target applications, may result in a complex and time-consuming process. |
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This chapter presents a procedural method to model large terrain definitions and adjust the roadside landscape to produce well-constructed road environments. |
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The proposed procedural method allows merging an externally modeled road into a terrain definition, providing an integrated generation of driving environments. |
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The road and terrain models are optimized to interactive visualization in real time, by applying most state-of-art techniques like the level of detail selection and spatial hierarchization. |
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The proposed method allows modeling large road environments, with the realism and quality required to perform experimental studies in driving simulators. |
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| Compilation of References |
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321 | (23) |
| About the Contributors |
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344 | (9) |
| Index |
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