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Conceptualising mixed spaces of interaction for designing continuous interaction

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Abstract

Recent progress in the overlay and registration of digital information on the user’s workspace in a spatially meaningful way has allowed mixed reality (MR) to become a more effective operational medium. However, research in software structures, design methods and design support tools for MR systems is still in its infancy. In this paper, we propose a conceptual classification of the design space to support the development of MR systems. The proposed design space (DeSMiR) is an abstract tool for systematically exploring several design alternatives at an early stage of interaction design, without being biassed towards a particular modality or technology. Once the abstract design possibilities have been identified and a concrete design decision has been taken (i.e. a specific modality has been selected), a concrete MR application can be considered in order to analyse the interaction techniques in terms of continuous interaction properties. We suggest that our design space can be applied to the design of several kinds of MR applications, especially those in which very little user focus distraction can be tolerated, and where smooth connections and interactions between real and virtual worlds is critical for the system development. An image-guided surgery system (IGS) is used as a case study.

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Notes

  1. According to Poupyrev et al. (2002) and Rekimoto and Saitoh (1999), tangible interfaces are those in which each virtual object is linked to a (tangible) physical object and the user interacts with the virtual object by manipulating the corresponding physical object.

  2. We use the terms “digital” and “virtual” indiscriminately to refer to a world that is not physical or real. We also consider that “real” and “physical” share the same meaning of “not digital or virtual.”

  3. More details of this technology can be found at http://www.alterface.com.

  4. Following Brown (1997) and Pressman (2001), we are assuming here that the methodology corresponds to the process description necessary for the system development based on human–computer interaction approaches or based on paradigms of the software engineer.

  5. This approach was developed from the definitions given by Vanderdonckt and Bodart (1993).

  6. More details about this technology can be found at http://www.mimio.com.

  7. The complete analysis of this system can be found in Trevisan et al. 2003).

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Belgian Région Wallonne under contract WALEO 21/5129. The work described here is a part of the VISME/MERCATOR projects, available at http://www.isys.ucl.ac.be/bchi/research/visme.htm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Communication and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Levant 2, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Daniela Gorski Trevisan & Benoît Macq

  2. Belgium Laboratory of Computer–Human Interaction, Université catholique de Louvain, Place du Doyens 1, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Daniela Gorski Trevisan & Jean Vanderdonckt

Authors
  1. Daniela Gorski Trevisan
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  2. Jean Vanderdonckt
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  3. Benoît Macq
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Correspondence to Daniela Gorski Trevisan.

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Trevisan, D.G., Vanderdonckt, J. & Macq, B. Conceptualising mixed spaces of interaction for designing continuous interaction. Virtual Reality 8, 83–95 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-004-0140-2

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