Tangible Interfaces

The video of our initial efforts with the Trackmate system was posted on the NiCHE website. If you didn't see it, you can check it out here.

I was drawn to this system because tangible interfaces seem to be a more organic way of dealing with information than typing on keyboard or moving and clicking a mouse. Users interact with different things, move them around, and things happen. They have control over what goes where, and in what orders they want to try things. It seems to offer more power to the user.

This isn't entirely true, though. The system is designed to operate in particular ways and under certain conditions. The program and interface is also ultimately determined by the one who makes it, and it can only do what it is programmed to do.

Still, creative applications of such systems can hide that. Affordances may be worked into the interface that guide the user through the interaction in a subtle and non-obtrusive manner. The aesthetics of the device could be masked so it all seems more natural or commonplace to a user. From my research on magic, there seems to be a potential to make such devices and their use seem almost magical.

This would be great for museums and schools, particularly where resources are limited, as it could encourage playful interaction with a topic. The activities would assist in learning and communicating, and the user could gain knowledge and insight via the total experience.

The video from the Trackmate page shows some useful and interesting applications of their system. Prior to that, I had read about the Augmented Reality Toolkit (ARToolkit), which also attempts to offer an accessible way to comingle digital information with the physical world. A unique demonstration of the toolkit was provided by Julian Oliver's levelHead spatial memory game. A series of blocks are set before a webcam, and the image rendered on the screen is not of the designs on the blocks, but instead depict small rooms. One of the rooms contains a person, and you rotate and reorient the cubes to move the avatar through a maze-like system of rooms that appear within the blocks.

The equipment to do these things includes a computer, suitable webcam, the software, and the physical objects. Lighting may need to be controlled, and calibration of the system prior to use is important. Additionally, one will need to spend some time to learn and practice with the system in order to design with it. This technology, popularly applied, is still not widely in use, but it is becoming more accessible and straightforward to work with, as evidenced by a comparison of the ARToolkit and Trackmate.

These tools seem to be at a point where they are there for interested individuals to experiment with. Even small museums, with limited resources, might have a volunteer or staff member interested in these sorts of things who could learn to work with the technology and apply it to their institution's situation. An educator could attempt to create an interactive system for their classroom.

The impressive processing capabilities of digital technology can be subtly integrated with the physical world, so one can enjoy the benefits of both.