Paper Reading # 1: Imaginary Interfaces: Spatial Interaction with Empty Hands and without Visual Feedback

Reference Information: Imaginary Interfaces: Spatial Interaction with Empty Hands and without Visual Feedback by Sean Gustafson, Daniel Bierwirth, and Patrick Baudisch.
UIST 2010 New York, New York. 

Author Bios: Sean Gustafson studied computer science in Canada, earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba. Currently, he is a PhD student at the HCI lab of the Hasso-Plattner Institute.

Daniel Bierwirth holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Media from Bauhaus University and a Master's degree in IT-Systems Engineering from the Hasso-Plattner Institute. He is a co-founder of Matt Hatting and Company UG and the Agentur Richard GbR.

Patrick Baudisch is the chair of the HCI lab at the Hasso-Plattner Institute. He earned his PhD in Computer Science from Darmstadt University of Technology.

Summary

• Hypothesis: Users of Imaginary Interfaces can interact spatially with an acceptable degree of effectiveness using only their imagination.
• Methods: The authors conducted three studies to test users' abilities to interact spatially using Imaginary Interfaces. The first study focused on simple drawings. In the second study, users drew a simple design and then pointed to specified locations on the drawing. Lastly, the third study investigated the accuracy of using coordinates based on finger (index and thumb) lengths.
• Results: It was shown in the first study what short-term memory (referred to as visuospatial memory by the authors) was sufficient enough to handle simple shapes using Imaginary Interfaces. In the second study, interference with the visuospatial memory was caused by having the user to physically turn. Although this caused higher errors, the errors were minimized by the use of one hand as a frame of reference. The third study demonstrated the increasing errors as users had to point further away from the coordinate hand.
• Contents: Gustafso, Bierwirth, and Baudisch wanted to test a system that completely minimized mobile spatial interaction. They explained that while many devices are already ultra-portable due to their tiny screen sizes, that portability was still limited by a screen. They posited that having no screen would lead to ideal on-the-go spatial interaction.

Discussion
I was quite surprised when I read the premise of this paper. Even with such gaming equipment as the Wii, Xbox Kinect, and Playstation Move, I didn't make the connection that similar technology was already being developed for more practical, mobile applications. I have to say, though, that relying on imagination for spatial interactions definitely has its limitations, at least initially.

Imaginary Interfaces is obviously still in its infancy, but I still found this paper fascinating. Besides some English errors (understandably, they're based in Germany), it was hard to stop reading. The user studies seemed well thought out and, for the most part, proved their hypotheses. At the rate they are going, I'd say a public release of this technology will come much sooner than the world expects.

One thing about Imaginary Interfaces that really intrigued me was the fact that it implemented the natural gestures that people make in everyday conversations. I think people will have little to no problem integrating such a device into their daily life. Who knows, maybe this would lead to better memory retention and expanded imaginative capabilities.