Victor rants that this future vision is not visionary at all. It focuses too much on screen interaction, which is is not that much different from our experience with our current devices. Case in point, look at all these ‘future’ interactions in Microsoft’s concept:

Each one of these scenes involves a flat screen. Yet, Victor also points out (and passionately so) that each interaction touchpoint involves the use of… hands! As humans, we have not only our fingers but our hands, arms and entire bodies that enable us to manipulate and interact with the natural world and to understand the tactile feedback we receive in return. So why should we be limited to finger pointing on a screen?

He illustrates the many ways in which we can use our hands to manipulate things that we could not possibly express via screen-based interactions:

Rather than limiting people to finger tapping/swiping, we should be inspired by our own human capabilities to design and enable a richer and more expressive interaction with our future tools.

Despite how it appears to the culture at large, technology doesn’t just happen. It doesn’t emerge spontaneously, like mold on cheese. Revolutionary technology comes out of long research, and research is performed and funded by inspired people.

And this is my plea — be inspired by the untapped potential of human capabilities. Don’t just extrapolate yesterday’s technology and then cram people into it. [...] Pictures Under Glass is old news. Let’s start using our hands.

Victor ends with a question that nicely sums up his entire point:

With an entire body at your command, do you seriously think the Future Of Interaction should be a single finger?

Combining aspects of Lego, video game, and board games, Sifteo Cubes are a new way to play. The prototype concept was introduced in a 2009 TED talk by David Merrill, and now these interactive wireless blocks are coming to market. Showcasing innovating interaction design, these 1.5″-inch cubes with full colour screens are motion- and context-aware allowing players to shake, tilt, jolt, rotate, slide and click to affect neighbouring tiles.

They pioneer something the company calls “Intelligent Play,” which is a vaguely elevated term for a toy that manages to be both fun and smart. They’re video games for people who hate video games. [...] “We’re not trying to compete with Nintendo, Microsoft, EA and others,” Sifteo spokesman Paul Doherty tells Co.Design. “We’re trying to create games that promote learning, spatial reasoning and truly interactive play.”

See the Sifteo cubes in action:

via Co.Design

MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group have developed Recompose, an experimental touch interface that provides tactile feedback.

Recompose is a new system for manipulation of an actuated surface. By collectively utilizing the body as a tool for direct manipulation alongside gestural input for functional manipulation, we show how a user is afforded unprecedented control over an actuated surface.

Made up of motorized tiles that pop up/down, the 3D interface can be directly manipulated by pressing down on the tiles or simply using gestures by waving your had over various areas of the surface, which move in response to your input. The feedback is a 3D visualization of the user’s physical interaction with the tiles. A camera and projector, combined with computer vision are used to recognize and understand the language of the physical interactions.

via Fast Company

Master’s Capstone Project
Spring/Summer 2009
School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Team: Michelle Li
Role: Everything
Process blog

To lose one’s marbles is an expression meaning to lose one’s mind or to forget. I play on this phrase for my concept direction. Baby Boomers are afraid of forgetting, whether through the natural aging process of inheriting Alzheimer’s Disease. Marbles harken back to childhood nostalgia; they can be used as playful, portable, tangible devices to store tidbits of memories for reflection, sharing and exploration.

Memorables is composed of a set of devices designed for recording, playing and transferring/sharing memories. Pictures, sounds, videos, and text can be transferred to marbles via the Recorder device. Memories can be transferred between people through the simple click of two marbles together. Memory players come in multiple forms that play on the various tactile qualities of marbles, whether it be swirling a handful in the Mixer bowl or stacking them in the Tumbler. The Reminder system is a portable way of carrying and displaying reminder events and lists.

Electro-pop artist, Calvin Harris, uses bodies as a human synthesizers to create music using Bare Conductive, a skin-safe conductive ink. By applying ink onto the skin, a closed circuit can be created via touch, gesture and movement to allow electrical currents to flow through. Watch the making of video below.

Here is a video explaining more about Bare and the exploration of the technology through dance and movement.

Sketching out possible interactions with Memory Marbles.

User Research, Interaction Design
Spring 2009
School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University in collaboration with Beijing Tsing Hua University

Team:
Omar Ramirez, Rui Wang, Michelle Li (Hong Kong PolyU)
Pai Liu, Han Tang, Litang Wang (Tsing Hua University)
Role: User research and interviews, concept development, web UI, interaction model poster, product photography, process report, presentation

Named after the Chinese goddesss of the sea, protector and guiding light of sailors and fishermen out at sea, Mazu is a modular communication system that keeps solo travellers in touch with loved ones back home while also providing a safety net for the traveller in medical emergencies. The system consists of a sleek tabletop device holding four wearable devices. The independent traveller will take and wear one of the Mazu pieces, which transmits GPS data and emotional state information back to the core Mazu block as a way for loved ones to keep an eye on the traveller as he embarks on his adventures.

Tangible Interaction
Winter 2009
School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Team: James Geng, Michelle Li
Role: Task scenario analysis, interaction/UI design, physical prototyping, user testing & evaluation

In a Tangible Interaction workshop we examined existing examples of physical interaction to explore alternate solutions to improve the interaction. My partner and I considered the example of the vending machine, in which the physical action sequence of inserting coins, pressing a button to select a drink and bending down to collect the drink completes the interaction process. In Hong Kong, rather than inserting coins however, one may simply swipe the Octopus to deduct the stored-value on the card rather than using coins. The common swooping action of inserting coins/swiping card and collecting the drink is quite simple and universal among vending machines, but there are problem interaction points one may encounter with this existing model. We focused our analysis on the drink machines we found on the HK PolyU campus and carried out a task analysis of buying a drink.

After walking through the scenario we documented the problems we encountered during the phases of transaction, information display and selection, accessibility. Design requirements we considered for a new concept included: natural and intuitive gestures and process, contextualized interaction based on learning and social awareness, easy-to-use interface to reduce errors, encourage exploration and and browsing, create an enjoyable, delightful, and sociable user experience. We then decided on incorporating a contextualized touch screen interface to give users a (virtual) tangible interaction while providing visual information and creating an enjoyable experience.