http://cs1.cs.nyu.edu/~dqu2556/Multimedia/smps.htm

(Java audio and pitch recognition; maybe focus only on rhythmic games/learning).

link at bottom of http://www.darkever.com/multimedia/bigproject/

There was another group from last night's brainstorming session which was the direction of improving the table infrastructure from a code perspective and a interaction library perspective. By interaction library I mean what kind of puck movements or how a user should use the puck, or what the table should do in response to the pucks can be cataloged by what worked well and what doesn't.

Also this would also be the group that is interested in working on Jeff's table also. The common theme between working on table improvements and Jeff's table is to create shoulders future students can stand on.

Additionally I would be interested in improving the table so we can more more trips to the Hall of Science, perhaps an exhibit for the museum, or workshops with kids to teach a couple of concepts in a fun way. I definitely think that my "research" interests would involving using computers and novel user interfaces as teaching tools for children, in a low cost manner. My motivation comes from my interest to teach programming but also I see the opportunity to teach children using computers not a replication of a book and paper but rather use them as a medium to build a curriculum. So I see the importance of user interfaces like the table to help educators break out of the using the computer as a book or paper mentality.

I think that a better job on creating table experiences can be created as a result of the knowledge from reading the papers on tangible user interfaces and the Hall of Science exhibition.

Improvement and advances to the infrastructure to the existing table should be made. In the spirit of sharing from the previous class I think it would be beneficial to take the knowledge learned from the tangible user interface papers and the Hall of Science visit and apply the newly acquired knowledge to create better interactions using the table as the interface.

The table vision system can be improved to perform near real time tracking of the pucks. The vision system can track more than the current number of pucks.

The graphics system can be sped up with the use of JOGL, this could potentially allow the system to be run on one machine since computation can be performed by the GPU.

The table has a space of interaction where it can work well, we need to find the boundaries of that space. It it more than just using the puck as a pointer or selector and more than using the graphics generated by programs to be simple icons.

The opportunity to create shared networked experiences using the table is a realistic goal before the semester ends. The Hall of Science had many exhibits on the topic of networking.

The table has a potential to be a teaching aid to children based on the Hall of Science exhibition. Personally I have a great interest in the education of children not only from a pedagogical perspective but also from a user interface point of view. From my observations the children worked well with viewing graphics on a projection table. The concept of using the pucks to interact with the world within the table was not a hard one to acquire. This gives me hope that exposing children to non windows, mouse, keyboard, and monitor interfaces can help them think of computers in a broader sense. I would like to go back and try to create games that try teach topics like sorting, simple math, simple physics. Interactive physical simulations teaching tools can bee created using the table.

I guess one can rewrite my thoughts as my desire to redo this semester with the knowledge I currently have on tangible user interfaces and the Hall of Science exhibition to create better table experiences because I do not believe that the class has pushed the limits of the table. The topic of nanotechnology was too restrictive and abstract because it was hard enough to create interesting table interactions but the topic of nanotechnology was too ambitious. I think removing the topic constraint will allow more creative table programs and games, the children of the museum enjoyed the games most.

We would like to work on the device more than on the content. If the primary interest for the class is still to use the projection table, we would like to add extra functionality to it, in order to give a more complete experience to the user. For example we could work on the different pucks that are also pressure sensible, or that can be detectable also when covered by the hands of the user.

Another direction would be to work on a different interface form scratch. We could either work on a different output instead of a projection, or we could still use projection on something else, lie a wall, and try to find another way to interact with the content displayed on it.

since yesterday we had no time for extra comment, i wasn't able to give a suggestion to the large scale game group. instead of projecting the game on a plaza, it could be interesting to use the Courant building as "screen for a game, such as tetris" and use the lights, on and off at the window as sprites. in that case is necessary to create a switch for every light that should turn on-off in the office at the window, so it can be displayed outside. then u can control them remotely and actually create the game... i can explain this better in class.