It's go time at HFES 2009, the annual meeting of Human Factors professionals. Though my research on visceral perception for web sites was not accepted for this meeting, I did get to present on two other lines of research. The first was a research effort we undertook with Stottler Henke AI. This phase 1 project was an attempt to determine what knowledge, skills, and attitudes were involved in team operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. This is not something I am usually involved in, so presenting on it was a bit tricky for me. Lots of studying up and making sure I could talk with an informed position. Thankfully, the presentation went fairly well, and was well-received.

The second presentation was a lot more dear to me. Serious games are a favorite topic of mine, and one of our research projects recently completed a round of experimentation. I got to present the results thereof in a symposium in front of a very good crowd, alongside other great researchers. Lots of excellent discussion on how games create learning and the specific challenges facing serious games. Good times! Once the project finishes completely, hopefully I can share some information on this site.

The Society for Computers in Psychology meeting is in another month -- time to get ready for the next round of presentations.

Clayton Miller's 10/GUI video showcases one of the most interesting multitouch systems thought up to date. Rather than provide an entirely new paradigm for human-computer interaction, 10/GUI provides an evolutionary step in cursor input. The thought process behind it is very thorough, and it is exceptionally useful to see actual day-to-day operations mocked up in the video. Despite all the glitz of this presentation, one thing kept coming to mind when viewing it: what about accessibility?

At first, the obvious thought is that 10/GUI is simply not usable by individuals who require assistive technologies, are older and have reduced motor skills, or are otherwise unable to use two hands. One of the chief concerns I've had with the multitouch revolution is that it seems to be designed with young users in mind, without any nod towards accessibility. With the US population increasingly skewing old, this is a problem for any up-and-coming technology. Consider the Microsoft Surface. It is difficult to imagine how assistive technology can be married to a system that effectively requires hand-based, from-the-top interaction.

What 10/GUI gets right, though is that it doesn't change the entire system around. It just allows for more complicated input, with a user interface tailored towards that style of input. And what that means for accessibility is that old systems (e.g., mice, screen readers) are easily adapted to work with a 10/GUI style system. The notion of a window environment is not lost, and able-bodied users are simply afforded additional input choices. Thus, it is possible for designers to work for the majority of users without abandoning an audience that requires additional accessibility considerations.

Even though 10/GUI is just a mockup, it's a gratifying development from the multitouch community. I don't know if Mr. Miller thought of accessibility when conceptualizing the system, but it is promising to see the technology considered in an evolutionary rather than revolutionary capacity.

So what is this Projects section going to be about? There's three main things I'm involved in that are projects: science, design, and programming. The latter is something I'm desperately trying to avoid, but the former two somehow end up requiring code. If you know me, you know that I'm currently a grad student and working at the Institute for Simulation & Training. That means I spend a lot of time writing, and, if I have my way, doing studies. Some of my own work, which focuses on aesthetics and usability, will be detailed here.

That might sound rather boring to some, but I'm going to try to make it all accessible and interesting. We get to study some pretty cool stuff at IST, like game-based learning (serious games). Should be interesting, and at least an exercise in writing about science for a non-journal audience.

I'm also involved in a good amount of odd problem-solving with the various programs, testbeds, and web sites we use. When something interesting crops up, you'll find a post-mortem here (assuming I can talk about it).