Abstract

Natural user interfaces, such as tangibles, multitouch, gestural, etc. are one of the hot topics of recent years. Whatever the definition that we try to provide, intuitive, familiar, predictable, understandable, one thing that characterizes natural interfaces is that they often foster social communication and cooperation. Observing what happens when people use a multitouch table, compared for example to a shared workstation: you will see a lot of gesturing and movement, either to point, explain, negotiate space, etc. This is hardly a surprise: People rely on gestures and manipulations not only to operate machinery, but also to communicate with others and to assist themselves in thinking. Focusing on what happens within one meter from the screen helps to better understand the values, goals, practices and expectations of people, and, ultimately, to design better interactive spaces.

Biography

Alessandro Soro holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Cagliari. He has been a Researcher at CRS4 (Italy) since 2001. His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Supported Cooperative Work. His research activity is focused on the design of multitouch interactive surfaces (tables and walls) and their application to collaborative activities. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cagliari, School of Mathematics and Computer Science and a Visiting Fellow at QUT in the Urban Informatics Research Lab. His PhD activities are aimed at studying gestures and non-verbal communication as they happen and can be exploited in interactive spaces.