VIPP in 2008–2010 is over

New blog: http://blogs.aalto.fi/oopa/

Visiting Professor Martin Eppler (University of St. Gallen) will give an open lecture titled

Science meets Business meets Technology (and a little Art):
How Visualization improves Knowledge Sharing in Teams

on Monday, February 15 at 16.15 – 17.30 in room C350 (Töölö Campus, Main Building).
Professor Eppler is one of the top international professors invited by Aalto University to offer a course open to all Aalto students this spring. His course “Knowledge Communication & Visualization” is lectured in January-February. All Aalto faculty and students interested in the power of visuals are WELCOME to attend the lecture and discuss knowledge communication and knowledge sharing.

More information

Leena Louhiala-Salminen (at hse dot fi)
Professor (acting), International Business Communication

Speakers’ presentation notes and related discussion forums can be found at:
http://lemill.net/community/groups/vipp-workshop-and-symposium-2010-seeing-red

Moderator: Suvi Kitunen

09.30-10.00 Opening by Antti Raike and Suvi Kitunen: Practical issues (wlan, webcasting etc.)

10.00-10.30 Kirsikka Vaajakallio: Designing with colours

Kirsikka will ground her presentation to her personal experiences as being a color blind person in the color coded world. Thus the presentation will highlight the “users” perspective instead of the designers’ view and try rather to promote discussion than provide academic knowledge.

10.30-11.00 Discussion: How to select the colour chart for the interface

11.00-11.30 Sonja Iltanen-Tähkävuori: Colours, aesthetics, and values

Values are connected to the visual elements of products in at least two ways: designers’ values may become visible in the products, and visual elements may have consequences that raise ethical questions. In this presentation, design of patient clothing is discussed from these perspectives.

11.30-12.00 Discussion: Colours and values

12.00-13.00 LUNCH

13.00-13.30 Akira Sano: Computer Vision (CV) and the future of imaging

Computer vision (CV) is a technology of recognition and analysis images by computers. If computer can watch and recognize images as human do, the possibility of imaging will expand dramatically. Especially in these days, Augmented Reality (AR) has a big progress. I will introduce CV and AR technology and applications, and show some applications which I made.

13.30-13.45 Discussion

13.45-14.30 Markku  Hauta-Kasari: Applications of Spectral Colour Research

In my presentation I will introduce the spectral color research at the University of Eastern Finland from the application point of view. I will show industrial applications in which the spectral color is key technology to solve the color related task. Also the research center called InFotonics Center Joensuu at the University of Eastern Finland will be introduced.

14.30-15.00 Discussion

15.00-15.30 BREAK

15.30-16.00 Lecture by Harald Arnkil: Colours in context

Colour exists only in context, but we are still able to name and conceptualize colour in our heads. How is this done and how accurately can we remember colours? Colour also seems to change constantly in juxtaposition with other colours and with changes in lighting, but we are still able to identify objects by their colour in widely varying situations. In order to fully understand colours’ relativity and constancy, we need to address human ecology and evolution.

16.00-16.30 Discussion

16.30-17.00 Conclusion by Jussi Lohijoki and Antti Raike: How to visualise the film post-production manual?

Registration: Join the LeMill group for Seeing Red

Read the paper of the final day before the fourth symposium session, please: Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances

Venue

Speakers’ presentation notes and related discussion forums can be found at:
http://lemill.net/community/groups/vipp-workshop-and-symposium-2010-seeing-red

09.30-10.00 Opening: Antti Raike

10.00-10.30 Markku Reunanen: Subcultural visual practices

The presentation deals with the visual language of the underground community known as the demoscene. Starting from the 1980s the scene has reflected the technology, society and popular culture of its time. The developments have all contributed to the audiovisual artifacts produced by the community, and here we will look into some of those factors.

10.30-11.00 Discussion:

11.00-11.30 Tommi Jantunen: On the perception of  allegedly word-like units in signed language

The talk demonstrates two experiments dealing with sign (cf. word) perception in signed language. The results of the experiments indicate that there exists a categorical difference between what the sign is argued to be in (and by) the linguistic theory and what the sign actually appears to be on the basis of perceptual experiments. Consequences of this conflict are outlined.

11.30-12.00 Discussion

12.00-13.00 LUNCH

13.00-13.30 Philip Dean: Digital photography, perception  and colour management

Long White Cloud

13.30-14.00 Discussion: Reproduction of colours

14.00-14.30 Antti Raike and Jyrki Messo:  Results of colour naming test

14.30-15.00 Discussion:

15.00-15.30 BREAK

15.30-16.00 Lauri Ahonen: Lessons of eye-tracking

The speech will present the foundation of the eye tracking. The basic physiology behind the eye movements will be introduced but focus is in the today’s eye tracking methods. Examples of the existing systems for eye tracking will also be listed

16.00-16.30 Discussion

16.30-17.00 Conclusion

Registration: Join the LeMill group for Seeing Red

Read the paper of the second day before the second symposium session, please: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Users’ Perceptions of a Webpage: With a Focus on the Cognitive Styles of Chinese, Koreans and Americans

Venue

Speakers’ presentation notes and related discussion forums can be found at:
http://lemill.net/community/groups/vipp-workshop-and-symposium-2010-seeing-red

09.15-10.00 Opening: Antti Raike

10.00-10.30 Raija Talvio: Film production workflow and post production

How to keep the story alive through pre production, production and post production – and is this possible? The different forms the story takes before it reaches the screen.

10.30-11.00 Discussion: How to visualise film production

11.00-11.30 Anna Heiskanen: Film production manual fort the students and staff

Post production workflow has gone through rapid change and keeps on changing. Presenting up-to-date material to the students is a challenge as seems to be understanding the process to the students. So this opportunity for understanding visualizing this maze of phases is very much appriciated.

11.30-12.00 Discussion: The use of film production manual

12.00-13.00 LUNCH

13.00-13.45 Simo Vanni: Visual cortex: one for all and all for one

A single neuron in the visual cortex is sensitive to stimulation not only locally, within classical reseptive field (CRF), but also to stimulation outside the CRF. This extra-CRF sensitivity modulates neural responses, and we have proposed a hypothesis that this modulation render neural responses to distinct visual objects more independent throughout the visual system. This hypothesis connects the well known psychological and physiological principles of contextual modulation to efficient coding of sensory information, and is in line with a view that the hierarchical system of visual cortices comprise a functionally homogenous, but multidimensional network of representations, reflecting learned regularities in the visual environment.

13.45-14.15 Discussion:

14.15-14.45 Samu Mielonen: Data visualisation & colour blindness

14.45-15.00 Discussion:

15.00-15.30 BREAK

15.30-16.00 Markus Koskela: Content-Based Video Analysis

Digital video has become commonplace both in professional use and in various consumer products, and the capturing, storing, and transmitting of digital video has steadily become easier and more cost-effective. However, the current methods for the analysis and semantic representation of the video content are considerably less mature. In this talk, I will introduce the research done at Aalto University ICS Department on content-based video analysis, and present some applications such as automatic video summarization and mobile augmented reality.

16.00-16.30 Discussion

16.30-17.00 Conclusion

Registration: Join the LeMill group for Seeing Red

Read the paper of the first day before the first symposium session, please: Measuring visual clutter

Venue

The Seeing Red symposium and workshop will be held on January 12th, 14th, 19th, and 21st at Aalto University School of Art and Design (former TAIK), Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki, Finland. Researchers, doctoral students, and MA students working on thesis: Welcome!

Venue

Program

First day, January 12th, 2010, Aalto University School of Art and Design (open for all)

• Program for Jan 12th, 2010

Second day, January 14th, 2010, Aalto University School of Art and Design (open symposium for all)

• Program for Jan 14th, 2010

Third day, January 19th, 2010, Aalto University School of Art and Design (closed workshop for invited participants)

09.15-10.00 Opening and discussion for the program: Suvi Kitunen and Antti Raike

10.00-10.30 Michihito Mizutani: Principles of Interaction design

10.30-11.00 Tarmo Toikkanen: Agile prototyping

When creating innovative software solutions, they cannot be specified in advance. Traditional linear development models do not work, so iterative and agile methods are needed. This talk will present an R&D method that is used design and create software solutions that truly deliver what their target audience needs.

11.00-11.30 Prototyping with Rasmus Vuori, Jyrki Messo, Markku Reunanen and Tarmo Toikkanen

11.30-12.00 Prototyping continues

12.00-13.00 LUNCH

13.00-13.30 Rasmus Vuori: Narrative inertia

13.30-14.00 Discussion: Emotion colours

14.00-14.30 Prototyping continues

14.30-15.00 BREAK

15.00-15.30 Prototyping continues

15.30-16.00 Discussion & demos

16.00-16.30

16.30-17.00 Conclusion

• Registration for the workshop: mail to Antti Raike
• LeMill and webcast
• Venue: Room 4319

Final day, January 21st, 2010, Aalto University School of Art and Design (open symposium for all)

• Program for Jan 21st, 2010

Invited speakers

Raija Talvio

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0848338/

Anna Heiskanen

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0374679/

Simo Vanni

• https://ltl.tkk.fi/wiki/Simo_Vanni

Samu Mielonen

Markus Koskela

• http://www.cis.hut.fi/markus/

Markku Reunanen

Tommi Jantunen

Philip Dean

• http://www.aaltomediafactory.fi/?p=405

Lauri Ahonen

I had to cancel – or rather postpone – this year’s symposium due to eye-tracking tests that took place from Oct 15th to Dec 2nd 2009. Eye-tracking tests were made by Tobii equipment of TKK at Konemiehentie 2, Otaniemi. Total of 67 participants with 15 different native languages were tested with the set of 35 pictures that included the six proposals made by 6 designers. After the eye-tracking test each participant made the colour naming test. Thus we are able to analyse both the data of eye-tracking tests and the data of the colour naming test in the next workshop in January 2010. The January workshop is also the third VIPP symposium.

Experiments in October – December 2009

Participants

The participants were from Asia, Europe, and Latin America between the ages of 22 and 63, with 31 males and 36 females using total of 15 languages as mother tongues. All of the participants had experience browsing webpages, and all were living in Finland during the test. The participants had following 14 languages as native languages:

• Finnish
• English
• Portuguese
• Hindi
• Turkish
• Japan
• Tamil
• Finnish Sign Language
• Chinese
• Spanish
• German
• Malayalam
• French
• Russia

The youngest participant was 22 years and the oldest was 63 years. After the eye-tracking tests 7 participants made the colour naming test at Media Lab, TAIK. The “new” languages in these test were

• Korean
• Swedish spoken in Finland
• Serbian

Thus the total set of languages in colour naming test is 17 languages.

Eye tracking in colour testing

Eye-tracking movement was measured based on eye-tracking metrics using Tobii equipment. The main measurements used in eye-tracking research are “fixation” and “saccades.” These are defined by Dong & Lee (2008) as follows:

• Fixation: The focusing of the eye on an object is termed fixation. A fixation defined by the eye position stabilizes within some threshold of dispersion (typically ~2°) over a duration lasting from 66 to 416 milliseconds (218 ms on average).
• Saccade: A rapid eye movement from one location to another is termed a saccade. It is the movement occurring between fixations, typically lasting for 20 to 35 milliseconds (Poole & Ball, 2005). During a saccade, no information is obtained.

Several other eye-tracking metrics are also commonly used:

• Scan path: A spatial arrangement of a sequence of fixations. It usually consists of a sequence of fixations and interconnecting saccades.
• Area of Interest (AOI): Area of a display or visual environment that is of interest to the researcher or design team and is thus designed by them (not by the participant).
• Gaze duration: Cumulative duration and average spatial location of a series of consecutive fixations within an area of interest. Gaze duration typically includes several fixations and may include a relatively small amount of time for the short saccades between these fixations.

Modern eye-tracking equipment makes it possible to track and analyse the process of visual perception that is an essential part of a user’s interaction with an interface. Research in eye movement has flourished with major advances in both eye-tracking technology and the psychological theories that link eye-tracking data and cognitive processes. Eye tracking provides insight into a user’s cognitive strategies and allows identifying unconscious patterns. Cowen, Ball, and Delin (2002) claimed that eye movement data can augment data obtained through user testing by providing more specific information about a user’s cognitive processes. Most of the work in this area is focused on research in psychology and physiology and explores how the human eye operates and what this can reveal about perceptual and cognitive processes. Salvucci (1999) has stated that eye movements provide a rich and informative window into a person’s thoughts and intentions.

Procedure

Participants were given brief instructions after they arrived in the experiment room. They were told that the purpose of the test was to clarify how people using different languages might use different search strategies while seeking film post production information. They were informed that an eye-tracking device would be used in the test and that it would not directly come into contact with them. In the experiment, their eye movements would be recorded, and the recorded results would be used only for the research and not for evaluating users. They were encouraged to relax during the test.

After being seated in front of the monitor and eye-tracking device, participants were informed of the details of the experiment, including how the eye-tracking device would work and what they would be asked to do during the experiment. After instruction the participants’ eyes were calibrated in relation to the screen of the monitor on which the photograph was to be presented in the end of test set of pictures. After calibration several pictures were shown to participants, and they were asked to freely look at the each picture to find film production related pages. The task was to determine how people actually view a webpage when specifically searching film post production information and thus to reveal their natural viewing pattern. The colour naming test was made after the participants’ eye movements were recorded.

DfA workshop 2009, the PROGRAMME. Lectures are open for all!

Wednesday 21.1.2009

10-11 Workshop in practice: introductions of the participants, agreements for the outcomes etc.
11-12 Introduction: Collaboration in DfA and projects improving accessibility (Antti)
12-12.30 Discussion

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-15.30 Päivi Rainò: SYKE-PULSE – a different project in Dfa. Visualizing rhythm and music for the deaf and hard of hearing.

13.30-15.00 Presentation of the participant: Suvi Kitunen’s pre-assignments exposed.

Programme ends, but participants should continue working with own texts and an assignment given by Antti

Thursday 22.1.2009

10-12 Marketta Kyttä: Theory of affordances and softGIS methodology in person-environment research
12-12.30 Discussion

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-17.00 Presentations of the participants, pre-assignment exposed:
- Joanna Saad-sulonen
- Tarja Toikka
- Hans Põldoja
- Kati Heljakka
- Batsirai Chivhanga
- Juhani Tenhunen

Friday 23.1.2009

10-12 Sonja Iltanen: Aesthetics in DfA and special needs design
12-12.30 Discussion

12.30-13.30 Lunch

13.30-15.00 Discussion and conclusions

Welcome to listen (and watch) the lectures!

The Feeling Blue symposium will be held on 10th December 2008 at TaiK.  Researchers, doctoral students and MA students working on thesis: welcome! 

Programme 

Session 1, Sampo Hall, LUME, TaiK (open for all)

9:15 Fade in by Antti Raike.

9:20 Mobile Phone as SprayCan by Jürgen Scheible.

9:30  Anatomy and physiology of colour vision. Keynote by Simo Vanni. 

10:00 Discussion

10:30  What is colour? How we see it? How we measure it? Keynote by Timo Jääskeläinen.

11:00 Discussion

11:30 Lunch

12:30 Parallel demos: 1) Accidental Lovers show at Sampo Hall and 2) The Finnish Pavilion 1900 (max 5 person for a show) at alalämpiö

Session 2, Eisenstein, LUME, TaiK (for researchers and DA/PhD candidates)

13:00 Colour as Subconscious Guide in Interactive Drama – Case Study: Accidental Lovers, Interactive Dark Musical Comedy for Television by Mika Tuomola.

13:30 Colour and Memory by Lily Díaz.

14:00 PhD project: Business power of colours. Narratives on colour culture in China and in Finland by Kirsi Kommonen.

14.15 Discussion

14:30 Coffee

14:45 Panel: Colour related research in Aalto University. Moderator: Kirsti Lehtimäki

Panelists: Timo Jääskeläinen, Simo Vanni, Harald Arnkill, Kanerva Cederström, Mika Tuomola and Lily Díaz

16:30 Concluding remarks

17:00 Fade out

Venue

Taideteollinen korkeakoulu – University of Art and Design, Hämeentie 135 C, 00560 Helsinki

How to get in TaiK (map)

TaiK floor plan for Media Center Lume: Sampo Hall (morning) & Eisenstein (afternoon)

Reittiopas – Journey planner

Lunch

Antell-ravintola Arabiakeskus, Hämeentie 135 A

Meccala, 5th floor, TaiK

Kipsari, Hämeentie 135 E

Keynote speakers

Timo Jaaskelainen (University of Joensuu) received his PhD in Physics in 1982 from University of Joensuu in Finland. He has been a Professor and head of the Department of Physics and Mathematics at University of Joensuu since 1992. He teaches advanced courses of physics, optics, and color science. He has more than 30 years teaching experience in physics, computer science, and photonics at three universities. His research interests are focused nowadays on color science and applied optics including lighting and display technology, color vision models, color measurement etc.  Publication list contains about 150 refereed journal articles, and he has supervised or co-supervised 18 PhDs. 

Simo Vanni (TKK) is docent in neurophysiology, and works as senior researcher in the Brain Research Unit of Low Temperature Laboratory at Helsinki University of Technology. His group studies visual information processing at systems level, using functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography. The presentation includes introduction to anatomy and physiology of color vision, from photoreceptor at retina to higher visual cortices. Current models have reasonable view of processing at the retina and primary visual cortex, but the emergence of color perception and color constancy at high-level visual cortex is still under debate.

Shows

Accidental Lovers

The Finnish Pavilion 1900 is a virtual reconstruction of the Finnish pavilion – an important historical milestone in the path of becoming an independent nation – that was constructed for the Paris World Expo of year 1900. The installation enables the visitors to experience the building in real scale and real-time using 3D glasses and immersive display technology. The work was done by the Systems of Representation group as part of the Tekes-funded HandsOn project dealing with spatial interaction.

About the symposium

Visualisation of data and types of knowledge is a major component of ICT across the sciences and the humanities. Global access to information challenges the transfer of knowledge increasingly towards compressing knowledge into models, schemata and graphs, animations, films, pictures, and augmented reality. Hence it is important to pay attention to technological issues such as data-capture, encoding and multimedia software standards. However, it is similarly important to understand accessing and searching datasets of visual imagery on the one hand, and human issues such as the connection between perception and cognition, the visual mode and language, and useful typologies of linguistic and symbolic semiosis. All these provide challenges for the transfer of technology mediated types of knowledge through visual processes of learning. 

Human brain is not a fixed system but rather has the ability to adjust its functions according to the demands set and statistical properties of the surrounding environment. These general principles hold also when it comes to visualisations of any kind. Many of the obtained results of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) indicate an action-perception connection within each individual and both motor and sensory mirroring between individuals. Perception and action form an ongoing loop of interaction and the mind emerges in the context of this loop. While some information can be read by brain imaging, sensory experiences are not explained by the results of brain research. Understanding the biological mechanisms and psychology of perception may help to define the limits and variance of perception in situational context of behaviour (like film making, painting, design). 

Participants of the ‘Feeling Blue’ symposium will contribute to same goal while seeking the potential of different disciplines to understand the meaning and use of colours and how knowledge building happens with interactive visualisations and tools in diverse communities. The ‘Feeling Blue’ symposium will focus on recent trends in cognitive, cartographic and design principles in mashups and other complicated layering used in computer displays and visualisations. The term mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool; an example is the use of cartographic data e.g. from Google Maps to add location information to e.g. film scheduling and budgeting data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source.