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Microsoft Research Connections funded projects at five universities to explore potential applications of Microsoft Surface technology in education. Topics included input methods for mathematical and scientific diagramming applications, approaches for managing research and teaching materials and facilitating collaborative laboratory work, hybrid applications with other technologies, control systems for mixing music, and gestural vocabularies.<\/p>\n
MetaSurfacing with the Microsoft Surface: Manipulating Harvested Project Maps<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/strong>Jeremy J. Baumberg,\u00a0University of Cambridge, United Kingdom<\/p>\n By harvesting real data from current electronic lab-books in Microsoft OneNote across the Cambridge NanoPhotonics Centre (NP), our aim was to investigate several approaches to management of research and teaching material facilitating collaborative work. Using multi touch, 2-D and 3-D gestures, and integration with Tablet PCs, we aimed to design and evaluate methods for bringing to the surface (“surfacing”) deeply embedded information to enable “iconic capture” and overviews of research projects\u2019 structure and themes. We anticipated that diverse 2-D and 3-D representations of content allow for rapid visual negotiation through complex multi-component projects. Combined with natural 2-D and 3-D gestures, these concepts are aimed to give rise to novel working practices and support effective management, adoption, and ownership of evolving creative research processes. Our conclusion is that Microsoft Surface and other multi-touch systems can play a strong role within information work environments as a way to explore complex, rich, and evolving data spaces. Together with tablet PCs\u2014which are ideal pen-based input and large vertical displays\u2014multi-touch works well for exploration, mapping, and linking different content and views.<\/p>\n Hands-On-Math<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/strong>Andries van Dam,\u00a0Brown University, United States<\/p>\n Having developed pen-based interfaces for more than a decade, including pen-centric systems for mathematics, we believed that the pen was overloaded for many tasks that could naturally be off-loaded onto touch interfaces. Our aim with this project was to explore three areas:<\/p>\n Our expectation was that such a hybrid system would provide a non-trivial example of the potential synergistic benefits of pen and multi-touch computing. We presented a prototype system, Hands-On-Math, which reduces the barriers to accessing computational assistance during math problem solving by unifying CAS functionality with a virtual paper UI. This system contributes novel bi-manual and gestural techniques for managing and writing on virtual note pages in addition to direct manipulation techniques for algebraically transforming mathematical expressions. Pilot studies indicate that, after refinement, a mature version of Hands-On-Math would be a desirable tool for scientific and academic note-taking and ideation.<\/p>\n Garibaldi<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/strong>Andries van Dam, Brown University, United States<\/p>\n Our goal was to provide a research and visualization tool for a specific large piece of artwork\u2014the Garibaldi Panorama. The work so far has been positively received\u2014the application was on show at the British Library as a centerpiece of their \u201cGrowing Knowledge \u2013 The Evolution of Research\u201d exhibit that opened in mid-October, 2010. This project also led to the new research project also funded by Microsoft Research, code-named HumBub, which is shorthand for Bubbles for the Humanities. Bubbles are a light-weight, minimal-chrome, window-like container for fragments of code (the Code Bubbles system is also partially sponsored by Microsoft Research), as well as other text and multi-media content.<\/p>\n Creative Production Environments |\u00a0<\/strong>Mark Bolas,\u00a0University of Southern California, United States<\/p>\n We focused on two areas that are typically challenging in recording studios: Collaborative Mixing and Simultaneous Multi-Axis Control. Our design process was iterative: we tested and changed our approach based on input from identified partners in a professional mixing environment. This resulted in the discovery and fine-tuning of radically new gestures and interface models that are new both to Microsoft Surface and to recording studios. Windows 7 Multitouch will likely be embraced by vendors of existing digital audio workstations\u2014when this happens, we would like to be ready with new interface ideas that put Multitouch ahead of the pack and brand Surface as the ultimate interface. Additionally, it is hoped that such work is generally useful for signal processing and non-linear editing in other domains.<\/p>\n Putting the Surface in Context<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/strong>Steven Feiner,\u00a0Columbia University, United States<\/p>\n Columbia\u2019s Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab performed research that addressed two main ways in which the Microsoft Surface could be used in context with other computing devices and systems. First, we explored how the Surface could be used with existing vision-based recognition algorithms, ranging beyond those supported by existing Surface software. Second, we explored how the Surface could be used along with other displays to create a heterogeneous information space in which users can benefit from the complementary interaction and display capabilities of each device. Our Surface botanical field guide was installed in the exhibit, \u00a0“Since Darwin: The Evolution of Evolution” (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, June\u2013July 2010), and other live demonstrations of this work were presented at various conferences.<\/p>\n\n