In this talk we will present some of the initial work that we have been doing with haptic (or touch) interaction. There are two parts:
Visualisation for blind people - One of the main deprivations caused by blindness is the problem of access to information. Visualisation is an increasingly important method for people to understand complex information (using tables, graphs and 3D plots, etc.) and also to navigate around structured information. Computer-based visualisation techniques, however, depend almost entirely on high-resolution graphics and for visually-impaired users the problems of using complex visual displays are great. There are currently only limited methods for presenting information non-visually and these do not provide an equivalent speed and ease of use to their graphical counterparts. This means it is impossible for blind people to use visualisation techniques, so depriving them further.
We will report on our initial designs for some haptic graphs and tables and also disuss the preliminary evaluation of these. This was a two-part process with a detailed pilot study and then a full study with 10 sighted users (who could not see the graphs). We tested with sighted users as our supply of blind users is limited. We used a qualitative questionnaire approach as we needed to explore the space of possible designs from high-level questions such as "what is the maximum value on the graph?" to much lower level things like "should there be a gap between each of the bars in the bar chart?"
Veterinary education -
One major problem in the education of veterinary students is the danger
faced by animals when being examined by inexperienced students. The
students need to gain experience in internal examinations (a key method for
diagnosing problems and diseases) but it can be dangerous. The animals may
become stressed, be injured or may even die because of unskilled internal
examinations. Large classes of students mean that each person may only get
a very limited amount to time learn the practical examination skills
required. Another problem is that the students must learn about a whole
range of diseases and problems as part of their education. At the time
during their training when they are learning about a particular disease
there may be no animal available with the particular disease in question.
This means that students may not be able to consolidate their learning with
practical experience.
We will present some on-going work into the development of haptic models to facilitate non-invasive training. We have developed various models of horse ovaries. The ovaries feel correct and they move in appropriate ways (if pressure is applied they can be moved in three dimensions in a realistic way). We have simulated various different types of ovaries and their stages of development. The construction of the models has been performed using an iterative, participatory approach. Computing scientists have been working closely with vets to ensure that the models are correct. This has involved the building of initial prototype models and their continual refinement via expert user evaluation. After five iterations we now have a set of models that feel correct to expert vet evaluators.
For more information contact: stephen@dcs.gla.ac.uk