Human Computer Interaction Research Lab at SFSU
Computer Science Home | San Francisco State |CS Department Research Page  
HCI Lab Home
Research Overview
On-Going Projects
  Pen Computing
  Bioinformatics
  Information Visualization
  Smart Classroom
Publications
People
Projects for New Students
Collaborators and Funding

Smart Classroom

Designing environments for the ubiquitous computing paradigm presents challenges. First, the integration of personal devices is a necessity. This allows these devices to be integrated into a computational infrastructure that supports collaboration. Second, designing software artifacts to support collaboration is essential. Finally, some mechanism for visualizing user activity is needed so people can be aware of the activities of other participants in the environment.
Software Infrastructure
When users bring their personal devices into the environment, it makes sense to integrate these devices directly. Previous work typically involved either the use of web portals and html (sacrificing interactivity) or the installation of software on a user device. We have designed an architecture that delivers applications on a temporary basis without any installed client-side software. More information is available on our project page.
Visualizing User Behavior
A second challenge for users is in perceiving the activities in the environment that they can join. Interfaces are needed that communicate awareness of the activities of other participants and allow users to control aspects of the environment. Our project page describes the implementation of this controller.
Supporting User Interaction
Finally, the design of software in support of collaboration is essential. We have designed a rich suite of applications that provide for user collaboration in our environment. More information is available on our project page.