UArts Portal
How can University of the Arts use a large scale multi-touch interface to connect its population?
In an age of information overload, it is imperative that we get our messages across clearly. Campus boards are over saturated with information, making it difficult to access and process important information. The goal in addressing this problem was to cut through the printed and online clutter, and provide a clear and easy system that gives students access to information while maintaining a simple method for student input and usability.
The PORTAL System provides an interface that resembles a message board for familiarity, but can be easy organized for better navigation. Using a gesture-based interface that products like the iPhone have made familiar, it becomes intuitive for students to approach and navigate the board.
Further Information
The Technology
The technology we are using is called Diffused Infrared. We choose this method for a couple reasons. It lends itself to the space we were provided, as well as rear projection. It is quick to prototype, and most importantly, it’s cheap.
The process of how it works is quite simple. IR arrays flood a screen, and as your fingers touch the screen, the IR camera picks up the light as hot points. The points, or “blobs” are translated by an open source touch recognition software that tags the blobs and feeds those tags to a server which interprets them as mouse points.
The Interface
Multi-touch technology adds a dynamic element to touch screen technology. The ability to “pinch” and “spread” are already natural movement languages that at least 71% of all cell phone carriers understand. However, beyond a multi-finger interface, the board can also become a multi-user interface that allows any number of students to interact with each other and the board at the same time.
In its dormant state, the portal looks like the same jumbled message board. Digital flyers strewn every which way. Once the User walks up to the board, or if the board is seeking attention, it sorts. Further more, events are now tied to both departments and locations via “Threads.” Students can choose to “tie” themselves to an event, thus tying themselves to one another.
The Future
The PORTAL System a lots for much more than just an event board. The ability to effortless aid a University User in wayfinding, information, and communication is merely it’s facade. Being teachers as well as students, we experience many of the issues facing the common student populace. Printing issues, no stable, simple-to-use online classroom, or inaccessible information.
Unfortunately, ideas create waste. There are 75.5 million students who attend school in the United States. U.S. colleges and universities create about 3.6 million tons of waste a year which amounts to 2 % of the country’s total waste stream. Almost half of that waste comes from paper. Much is recycled and more than half of it is not.
Imagine if you will this simple scenario. Students now each carry a school issued iPad as part of their tuition. As they approach the PORTAL, it can communicate with each student directly, greeting them, checking them in to class, and uploading their assignments automatically, before they even reach the elevator.
Upon entering their classroom, the Professor already has them checked in on the roster, and has their work on the wall ready to be critiqued. No need to print out the work, or wait for projection screens to log in. Class can begin immediately on arrival, thus making the experience more about the learning and less about the technology.
