hj – Page 17 – Jun HU

Posted on December 8, 2008December 8, 2009 by hj

ALICE’s adventures in cultural computing

Jun Hu, Christoph Bartneck, Ben Salem, Matthias Rauterberg

Abstract – In the paradigm of cultural computing, different cultures need different approaches to address the cultural determinants that strongly influences our way of thinking, feeling and worldview in general. For the western culture, our answer to this need is an artistic and interactive installation (ALICE) based on the narrative ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. To address the western culture characteristics highlighted in the narrative, six stages were selected and implemented as an interactive experience. From start to end, the user undergoes an immersive environment that integrates embodied and virtual agents, real and nature mimicking, and both virtual and augmented reality. Every stage challenges the hardware and software design to provide the intended experience, which at the overall system level yet have to be seamlessly integrated. A distributed and multi-layered architecture is designed to accommodate this need. After several pilot tests, the installation is ready as a cultural computing platform for the experiments that address the western cultural determinants.
Keywords: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; western culture; cultural computing; human-computer interaction; HCI; art installation; interactive installation; virtual agents; virtual reality; augmented reality; immersive environments; Alice in Wonderland

J. Hu, C. Bartneck, B. Salem, and M. Rauterberg, “ALICE’s Adventures in Cultural Computing ” International Journal of Arts and Technology, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 102-118, 2008.
FULLTEXT: PDF HTML REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote

Posted on December 8, 2008December 8, 2009 by hj

AIRSF: A New Entertainment Adaptive Framework for Stress Free Air Travel

Hao Liu, Jun Hu, Matthias Rauterberg

ABSTRACT
Travel by air, especially long distance, the combination of long flight duration, limited space and an unusual cabin environment causes physical and psychological discomfort and even stress for a large group of passengers. In-flight entertainment systems are commonly installed on the long haul flights to increase the passenger’s comfort level. However, the current installed and commercially available in-flight entertainment systems do not explore how the entertainment services can be adapted to reduce the passenger’s stress level systematically and intelligently. Also, these systems are designed and implemented based on a pre-set concept of what customer likes and requires as a homogeneous passenger group that has similar tastes and desires. In this paper, we present a new entertainment adaptive framework AIRSF for stress free air travel. Compared to the current in-flight entertainment framework, it can regulate the passenger’s physical and psychological states at comfort physical and psychological states with context-aware and personalized stress reduction entertainment service provision intelligently; What is more, based on the passenger’s bio and explicit feedback, it can automatically track, learn and adapt to the passenger’s preferences.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.1.2 [Models and Principles]: User/Machine Systems – Human factors, Human information processing.
General Terms
Design, human Factors, languages.
Keywords
Adaptive framework, context-awareness, in-flight entertainment.

H. Liu, J. Hu, and M. Rauterberg, “AIRSF: A New Entertainment Adaptive Framework for Stress Free Air Travels,” in International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE 2008), Yokohama, Japan, 2008, pp. 183-186.
FULLTEXT: PDF HTML REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote
DOI: 10.1145/1501750.1501793

Posted on October 8, 2008December 8, 2009 by hj

Culture Matters: A Study on Presence in an Interactive Movie

Abstract – A cross cultural study was conducted to test the influences of different cultural backgrounds on the user’s presence experience in interacting with a distributed interactive movie. The effects of embodied interaction on presence were also investigated because embodiment is often used to enrich the experience and to reduce the complexity of distributed interaction. In absence of a clear definition of what cultural factors might influence presence, Dutch and Chinese participants were invited to the study to optimize cultural diversion. The results suggested that Chinese participants perceived more presence than Dutch participants in all conditions. The results also show that interaction methods (direct touch against remote control) had no influence, while embodiment (robot against screen agent) had mixed effects on presence.
Keywords: culture, interactive movie, presence

J. Hu, and C. Bartneck, “Culture Matters – a Study on Presence in an Interactive Movie,” CyberPsychology and Behavior, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 529-535, 2008.
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DOI: 10.1089/cpb.2007.0093

Posted on October 8, 2008December 8, 2009 by hj

Designing for Experience: Arousing Boredom to Evoke Predefined User Behaviour

Joran van Aart, Ben Salem, Christoph Bartneck, Jun Hu, Matthias Rauterberg

Abstract – In the light of Cultural Computing, this study influences user affect and behaviour by touching upon core values of Western culture. We created an augmented reality environment in which users experience a predefined sequence of emotional states and events. This study concerns two typically Western drives: boredom and curiosity. We specifically address the arousal of boredom, a mental state characterized by a heightened drive for exploration, making it easier to guide people in their decision making. Based on psychology literature, we introduce general design guidelines for arousing boredom. We report on the design of the augmented reality environment, the experiment effectively arousing boredom and on the redesign of the environment based on the experimental results.

Keywords: User Affect, Emotions, Cultural Computing, Boredom, Diversive Exploration, Alice in Wonderland, User Behaviour, Modelling Experience, Design, Affective Computing

J. van Aart, B. Salem, C. Bartneck, J. Hu, and M. Rauterberg, “Designing for Experience: Arousing Boredom to Evoke Predefined User Behaviour,” in 6th Design and emotion conference, Hong Kong, 2008.
FULLTEXT: PDF HTML REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote

Posted on September 21, 2008December 21, 2009 by hj

Applying Virtual and Augmented Reality in Cultural Computing

Christoph Bartneck, Jun Hu, Ben Salem, Razvan Cristescu and Matthias Rauterberg

Abstract— We are exploring a new application of virtual and augmented reality for a novel direction in human-computer interaction named ‘cultural computing’, which aims to provide a new medium for cultural translation and unconscious metamorphosis. In this application both virtual and robotic agents are employed as an interactive dialogue figure. The main objective of this project is to create an interactive installation named ALICE that encourages people in Western culture to reflect on themselves, based on the narrative of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ which address issues such as logic, rationality, and self.

Index Terms— Alice in Wonderland, cultural computing, experience, sub-
consciousness.

C. Bartneck, J. Hu, B. Salem, R. Cristescu, and M. Rauterberg, “Applying Virtual and Augmented Reality in Cultural Computing ” International Joural of Virtual Reality, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 11-18, 2008.
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Posted on July 19, 2008March 19, 2011 by hj

Communication of remote context through lighting

A very nice project done by Bram Knaapen. “The non face-to-face communication of social and emotional experiences between people usually happens through phone or other media like e-mail, IM (instant messaging or webcam (e.g. Skype). The context in which the experiences were experienced plays an important role. Neither the technology nor our way of describing enables us to communicate this visual context in a way it can be “experienced” by the other person. There still are a few layers of formulation & interpretation in between: you can only imagine. This project focuses on the design of a system that is able to communicate the real-time visual context of a remote user so that the receiving person is able to “ feel” as if he/she is there without the translation steps that are required when describing an experience. Emphasis is on the visual element in experience and thus imaging technology. The final concept is a modular system of connectable triangles that can be mounted to the wall and can project areal-time abstract display system of a remote visual context.”

For more information, download the project report: [PDF, 2.5M]

Posted on June 30, 2008December 7, 2009 by hj

Teaching Machine Learning to Design Students

Bram van der Vlist, Rick van de Westelaken, Christoph Bartneck, Jun Hu, Rene Ahn, Emilia Barakova, Frank Delbressine, and Loe Feijs

Abstract – Machine learning is a key technology to design and create intelligent systems, products, and related services. Like many other design departments, we are faced with the challenge to teach machine learning to design students, who often do not have an inherent affinity towards technology. We successfully used the Embodied Intelligence method to teach machine learning to our students. By embodying the learning system into the Lego Mindstorm NXT platform we provide the student with a tangible tool to understand and interact with a learning system. The resulting behavior of the tangible machines in combination with the positive associations with the Lego system motivated all the students. The students with less technology affinity successfully completed the course, while the students with more technology affinity excelled towards solving advanced problems. We believe that our experiences may inform and guide other teachers that intend to teach machine learning, or other computer science related topics, to design students.

Keywords: teaching, machine learning, design, lego

B. van der Vlist, R. van de Westelaken, C. Bartneck, J. Hu, R. Ahn, E. Barakova, F. Delbressine, and L. Feijs, “Teaching Machine Learning to Design Students,” Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment, Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series, 5093/2008, Z. Pan, X. Zhang, A. E. Rhalibi et al., eds., pp. 206-217, Nanjing, China: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 2008.
FULLTEXT: PDF HTML REFERENCE: BibTeX EndNote
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-69736-7_23

Posted on April 30, 2008April 16, 2011 by hj

“Er loopt een patentaanvraag voor het ontwerp van ID-studente Alice Verdonk”

Alice Verdonk’s final project “Personal Alarm System” appeared in Cursor (or a PDF version from here):

“Er loopt een patentaanvraag voor het ontwerp van ID-studente Alice Verdonk. ‘’Ik wil graag vertellen over mijn project, maar ik mag niet te veel details prijsgeven.’’ Verdonk wist wat ze wilde als afstudeerstage: bij een bedrijf en in het buitenland. Haar begeleider Jun Hu had contacten met de researchafdeling van Philips Healthcare in Sjanghai. ‘’Dus werd het Sjanghai.’’ Het werd geen liefde op het eerste gezicht. ‘’Toen ik aankwam dacht ik “wat een vieze stad’’, vertelt Verdonk. Gelukkig waren de mensen er toegankelijker en behulpzamer dan ze had verwacht.

Haar opdracht was de ontwikkeling van een product dat ouderen moet helpen om langer zelfstandig te blijven wonen. ‘’Het ging om apparaatje dat op het lichaam gedragen moet worden, waar sensoren inzitten. Dat apparaat moet zorgen dat er sneller hulp komt bij noodgevallen, maar het moet daarnaast ook voorkomen dat dat nodig is.’’ Er was al een eerste prototype toen Verdonk arriveerde. ‘’Daarmee hebben we praktijktesten gedaan. Ik heb hem zelf gedragen, maar we hebben hem ook getest bij bewoners in een verpleeghuis. Zij hebben het apparaatje een maand gedragen.’’ Met de evaluatie van die test en een grote stapel literatuur ging Verdonk aan de slag. ‘’Ik heb een interactiemethode bedacht op basis van de criteria die daar uitrolden. Zo is het bijvoorbeeld belangrijk dat het apparaatje met één hand kan worden bediend. Ook moest ik er rekening mee houden dat de fijne motoriek het bij ouderen niet meer zo goed doet. En de werking moet heel eenvoudig zijn; de drager moet er ook mee overweg kunnen als hij in de war is.’’ Over het daadwerkelijke ontwerp mag ze vanwege de patentaanvraag niets zeggen.

Verdonk besteedde ook tijd aan een plan van aanpak om het product op de Chinese markt te brengen. ‘’Philips richt zich hiermee vooral op de Europese en Amerikaanse markt, terwijl China zelf ook een groeimarkt is. Door de eenkindspolitiek kunnen ouderen vaak niet meer worden opgevangen door hun kinderen.’’ De ideeën van Verdonk gaan nu naar de afdeling Design van Philips. ‘’Zij richten zich helemaal op het ontwerp.

Uiteindelijk kan het er nog helemaal anders uit komen te zien. Ik ben benieuwd hoe dat uitpakt.’’ De verwachting is dat het apparaatje over een paar jaar te koop is.”

[Final report, 1.4M PDF]

Posted on March 17, 2008March 19, 2008 by hj — Leave a comment

How to relocate Microsoft Groove data storage

It is quite annoying that Microsoft Groove 2007 stores its data files in the user’s profile directory, usually on the C: disk. There is no way in Groove 2007 to change it to a different place, for example, a seperated disk that many people prefer for the data files.

Kevin Reeuwijk in his blog suggests a solution, but only if you have Vista:

http://www.buit.org/2007/02/19/how-to-relocate-your-groove-2007-files-to-another-disk/

The idea is to create a symbolic link under the user profile directory, pointing to another preferred directory. However if you have Windows XP or 2000, you have no luck — There is no easy way in Windows XP and 2000 to create a symbolic link to a directory. But, if your file system is NTFS, you have your luck back.

Continue reading How to relocate Microsoft Groove data storage