We are happy to announce a NEW master programme in Human-Computer Interaction*!

It is a joint degree master programme of the University of Salzburg together with the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

This interdisciplinary degree programme combines principles from computer science, design and psychology and is dedicated to understanding the evolving relationship between people and interactive systems.

The programme prepares future experts to ideate, design, implement and evaluate novel interfaces and innovative forms of interaction that better respond to the needs of users. Topics include HCI theory, methodology and prototyping, human factors & user experience engineering, interaction design & digital innovation, contextual interfaces, HCI innovations & future technologies and their application in research and industry.

Student Profile

The joint degree master’s degree programme is designed for international graduates from fields such as human-computer interaction, computer science, design, media, communication studies, psychology, sociology and engineering. Preparation courses help students from diverse backgrounds to develop basic skills in programming, visual design and research methodology.

If you have questions on the study programme or application procedures, please contact

Curriculum

Human-Computer Interaction is a large, cross-disciplinary and dynamic field. Professionals require an understanding of the interactive systems, the capabilities of the people using them as well as the context in which the interaction occurs. The curriculum is designed to reflect that diversity and provides the theoretical grounding, practical knowledge, and hands-on experience for students to become technologically competent designers and design-minded engineers.

Students will learn:

• Fundamentals of HCI theory and methodology, paradigms and trends
• Theories of human behaviour and user-centred design methods
• Usability and experience engineering methods
• To analyse and specify the context of use in various fields of applications
• Methods of innovation management and design thinking
• To assess and use novel forms of interactive technologies such as mixed reality,
  multimodal interaction and tangible interfaces
• To design and develop interface prototypes
• Advanced research methods
• Project and team management skills
• Ethical, legal and cultural factors

 

Contextual HCI

As technology evolves, Human-Computer Interaction is all about innovation and finding solutions to novel problems. Students can specialise in the research and development of interactive prototypes in application areas such as industrial settings, ambient assisted living, public spaces, smart mobility or virtual and augmented reality.

Research & Industry

The curriculum is based on a research and an industry pillar including several courses targeting both areas. Students will undertake one research and one industry project under the supervision of academic staff members. The research topic can range from purely theoretical studies to empirical user studies or practical design work, developing and evaluating prototypes of novel interaction techniques. Students will also take part in a practical project solving a real-world problem in cooperation with an industry partner, e. g. creating an enterprise UX strategy, developing an interface for an interactive system and conducting an empirical study.

Elective Courses

Students can choose elective courses from each university with a total sum of 12 ECTS or gain industry experience as an intern. Lectures offered by Salzburg University of Applied Sciences include e.g., Game Design, Recommender Systems, Mixed Reality Technologies, Digital Ideation, Data Analysis, Information Visualization, Predictive Analytics, Realtime Visualization or Interaction Design. Paris Lodron University Salzburg provides lectures such as Data Science and Big Data, Geoinformatics and Cognitive Psychology.

Application

Interested? The initial registration is done via the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences: Please apply online.

*The Master Programme is subject to approval by AQ Austria and committees of PLUS.

We are very happy to announce a Special Issue on Automotive User Interfaces for the MTI (Multimodal Technologies and Interaction) Open Access Journal.

The overall goal of this Special Issue is to explore and evaluate automotive user interfaces, interaction design, and user experience. It targets original and scientifically-grounded research, as well as design-oriented research undertaken in the automotive realm.

This Special Issue is focused on novel multimodal technologies and interactions, such as rich touch, gesture interaction, Augmented Reality, etc. In a time of automation, we are also interested in new interaction approaches with Advanced Driver Assistant Systems and more broadly the interaction with automated vehicles. Approaches to study driver distraction and engagement, design for trust and ethics in automotive research are welcomed. Work on multimodal user interfaces in special vehicles, such as trucks or electric vehicles is appreciated.

Submissions can include empirical and theoretical research, or be more interaction design focused, ranging from thought-provoking theory, novel methods, creative interaction concepts and innovative prototypes, to laboratory and field studies.

Topics included (but not limited to):

• MTI – Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (ISSN 2414-4088) is an international, scientific, open access journal of multimodal technologies and interaction published quarterly online by MDPI.
• MDPI is an open access journal based in Basel, Switzerland. It fosters open scientific exchange across all disciplines. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

More information can be found at the Special Issue website.

Guest Editors:
Dr. Alexander Meschtscherjakov
Dr. Ronald Schroeter
Prof. Dr. Manfred Tscheligi

From the 24^th until the 27^th of May, 2016, Katja Neureiter visited the International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems (COOP2016) in Trento, Italy, which is one of the key conferences in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Together with researchers from the University of Siegen, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), and the Roessingh Research and Development Institute, a Symposium was organized that focused on challenges and experiences for an ageing society (for more infos, please visit the Symposium website). More than 20 researchers having different backgrounds took part in this interactive and highly interdisciplinary Symposium and contributed to fruitful discussions upon concepts of age(ing) and challenges with regard to communication practices in European research projects. Based on these discussions, a special issue on Challenges and Experiences in designing for an Age(ing) society will be published in the International Reports on Socio-Informatics (IRSI). We would like to  thank all participants for their contributions and are looking forward to further discussions on this topic.

 

In the first week of April and in cooperation with the AIT (Austrian Institute of Technology), we welcomed  120 scientists from 23 nations for the 11th International Conference on Persuasive Technology. This year’s topic Contextual Persuasion: Supporting Life Situations and Challenges by Persuasive Design was all about the use of persuasive technologies in the context of individual life situations and the related challenges.

In order to foster changes in individuals’ behavior, persuasive technologies analyze user behavior with, e.g., sensors – like in smart phones or watches – or methods from the world of games to achieve changes with customized nudges. Therefore, the main target of persuasive technologies is to support individuals to reach their goals in various domains such as healthcare, sustainability, education, or marketing.

The four-day conference was full of scientific highlights, including a tutorial by the renowned author and user-interface and information-visualization designer and computer graphics artist Aaron Marcus, as well as doctoral thesis presentations by 12 international students of the Doctoral Consortium. For the first time in PT-history, a one-day Persuasive Game Jam took place where participants developed innovative teamwork approaches, concepts, and prototypes and then presented the outcomes to the scientific audience. Seven workshops gave the researchers the opportunity to discuss various topics such as Persuasive Designs for Learning, Persuasion in Transport Applications, and more.

The two-days of the main conference at the Edmundsburg were full of remarkable contributions from the present international scientific community containing thirty paper presentations and fruitful discussions.  The keynote speeches from Dr. Mark Aloia, the Global Lead for Behavior Change at Philips HealthTech and an Associate Professor of Medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver, CO, and Prof. Cees Midden, the Persuasive Technology Livetime Achievement Award winner and retired professor of Human-Technology Interaction at Eindhoven University of Technology, made this event the place to be in the area of Persuasive Technology research.

The social events, including the reception hosted by Salzburg´s Mayor Dr. Heinz Schaden in Schloss Mirabell, the conference dinner at the Festung Hohensalzburg, and the accompanied walk through the historical downtown of Salzburg rounded off the multifaceted program of Persuasive Technology 2016.

We proudly look back to four successful, exciting, informative, and entertaining days of conference. A big thank you goes out to all our guests for their contributions! We are looking forward to meeting again at next years´ Persuasive Technology Conference at the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

Please find further information here.

 

Wir suchen eine/n studentische/n Mitarbeiter/in!!

Das Car Interaction Lab des Centers for Human-Computer Interaction (Fachbereich Computerwissenschaften) sucht ab sofort eine/n studentische/n Mitarbeiter/In zur Mitarbeit in verschiedenen Forschungsprojekten des Labs.

Die Aufgaben umfassen dabei insbesondere:

• Betreuung der Fahrsimulationsumgebung des Labs (Software [insb. OpenDS] und Hardware)
• Programmierung und/oder handwerkliche Umsetzung von Prototypen
• Mitarbeit bei der Vorbereitung, Durchführung und Auswertung wissenschaftlicher Studien

Gewünschtes Profil:

• Programmierkenntnisse (Kenntnisse in Java, Android, Processing, Web [HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, jQuery, node.js, python, Ruby], sowie C, C++, C#, ObjC sind von Vorteil)
• Grundkenntnisse Datenbanken (z.B. MySQL) wünschenswert
• Fähigkeit und Interesse, sich in neue Programmiersprachen einzuarbeiten
• Technisches Verständnis (Physical Computing, Elektronik)
• Handwerkliche Fähigkeiten und Interesse (Prototyping)
• Interesse an Human-Computer Interaktion und wissenschaftlichem Arbeiten
• Teamfähigkeit
• Fähigkeit zum selbstständigen Arbeiten
• Englisch in Wort und Schrift
• Grundkenntnisse in Statistik von Vorteil

Wir bieten:

• Projektstelle als studentische/r MitarbeiterIn im Ausmaß von 20 Wochenstunden, befristet auf 6 Monate mit Option auf Verlängerung
• Spannende Forschung rund um den Kontext HCI im Auto
• Freundliches und flexibles Arbeitsklima
• Junges und interdisziplinäres Team
• Beginn ehestmöglich

Bewerbungsfrist: 28.03.2016

Practice- and user-oriented design approaches, e.g., user centered design (UCD) and participatory design (PD), have largely decided how we create innovations in IT projects that aim to create a healthy, connected and mobile ageing society. However, there still seem to be many blind spots within design methodology, which are just overlooked or taken-for-granted. For example, the way different stakeholders perceive older adults or old age may highly influence their input in the design process. This symposium is devoted to opening up space for reflections of projects from two perspectives in two separate tracks. On top of these tracks, we will have a panel discussion with Carla Simone (University of Milano-Bicocca), Hilda Tellioğlu, (Vienna University of Technology),  Ina Wagner (University of Oslo), and Volker Wulf (University of Siegen).

Track A addresses the discussion and reflection of images of age and ageing from a meta-perspective. The focus will be set on the social construction of concepts of ageing, and how these are being framed in (taken-for-granted) theories of age and ageing, from deficit- to activity-oriented stances.

Track B focuses on communication practices in UCD and PD projects. The main goal is to discuss and reflect upon notions, best practices, and recommendations for successful communication (among the design team, as well as with end-users and other stakeholders) to better address user requirements throughout the development process.

We invite scholars and practitioners with a variety of backgrounds, who share an interest these topics to submit a position paper and to take part in this symposium to share their experiences and to learn from each other. The symposium will have an open atmosphere that allows for out-of-the-box thinking. At least one author of each accepted paper is expected to attend the symposium and to present their position .

The workshop is organized in conjunction with the Austrian Institute of Technology (Markus Garschall), the University of Siegen (Claudia Müller, Dominik Hornung, Theo Hamm) and Roessingh Research and Development (Lex van Velsen).

For more details, check the workshop website or contact organizer team.

Do you want to ride in one of Goolgle cars?

Then you might have the chance at our CHI’16 workshop on “HCI and Autonomous Vehicles: Contextual Experience Informs Design” in in San Jose, USA, in May 2016!

On the day before the workshop participants are invited to visit together with workshop organizers Google Partnerplex and Stanford University. At Google participants will have the opportunity to explore Google’s autonomous car simulator and might have the chance to experience one of the Google Cars (if available). At Stanford participants are invited to ride in a Wizard-of-Oz autonomous vehicle.

Based on this first-hand experience we will discuss design approaches and prototype interaction system during the next day’s workshop. The outcome of this workshop will be a set of concepts, interaction sketches, and low-fidelity paper prototypes that addresses constraints and potentials of driving in an autonomous car.

The actual workshop on the next day will focus on an exploration of the design space of autonomous vehicles from a experience-based perspective. The outcome of this workshop will be a set of concepts, interaction sketches, and low-fidelity paper prototypes that address constraints and potentials of driving in an autonomous car.

The workshop is organised by Alexander and Manfred together with Dalila Szostak (Goolge, USA), Sven Krome (RMIT University, Australia), Rabindra (Robby) Ratan (Michigan State Universit, USA), Bastian Pfleging (University of Munich (LMU), Germany), Ioannis Politis (University of Glasgow, UK), Sonia Baltodano (Stanford University, USA), David Miller (Stanford University, USA), Wendy Ju (Stanford University, USA).

The call for participation, details about the workshop and the organizers can be found on the workshop website. Extended submission deadline is January 13, 2016!

Join us in San José in April 2016!

On October 27, Alexander Mirnig and Thomas Grah attended the 2nd BAIKA conference „mobilität querdenken“ in Munich, Germany.

The conference was an interesting get-together between industry (established and startups), academia, and governmental institutions, with the aim of bringing these parties together for potential collaborations.

The talks at “Bayern Innovativ – mobilität querdenken” were mainly focusing on the challenges of the automotive industries and mobility enterprises, which evolve with the so called “mega trends”:

• Urbanization
• Sharing economy
• Autonomous driving
• Always connected society
• Access›ownership

Although electric mobility was omnipresent in nearly all talks, it was mainly presented as a solution, not a trend.

Alexander and Thomas also presented the Car Interaction Lab in the networking sessions.

We are proud to announce that we will host the 11th international conference on Persuasive Technologies (PT-16) at the Center for HCI in Salzburg. PT-16 will take place April 5-7 at the Center for HCI and the Edmundsburg.

The conference will bring together young and senior researchers as well as colleagues and friends from industry who are working in the field persuasive technologies. As a community we aim at enriching peoples lives in various domains by supporting their personal goals to change their behavior.

The conference theme for PT-16 is Contextual Persuasion: Supporting Life Situations and Challenges by Persuasive Design. With the conference theme for PT-16 being “Contextual Persuasion“, we emphasize the situatedness of interactions. How are interactions with persuasive technologies influenced by spatial, temporal, social, or individual conditions? How can we analyze and design for specific contexts or conditions? We will put emphasis on special target groups (e.g. children with anxiety disorders, adults with obesity, etc.) and stimulate the audience with potential technologies (e.g. platforms such as the Health Suite Digital Platform, the use of advanced sensing technologies such as NeuroSky devices, etc.).

For more information visit the conference website.

 

 

This year’s International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications took place from 1^st – 3^rd September in Nottingham, England, and attracted around 280 attendees from research and industry from all over the world. Sandra Trösterer, Ilhan Aslan, Thomas Grah, Alexander Meschtscherjakov, and Manfred Tscheligi attended the conference and presented work from the Center for Human-Computer Interaction in several talks and poster presentations.

Ilhan Aslan gave a talk on „A Leap for Touch: Proximity Sensitive Touch Targets in Cars“ (co-authored by Alina Krischkowsky, Alexander Meschtscherjakov, Martin Wuchse, and Manfred Tscheligi). He provided insights on the design space of touch screen technology combined with mid-air gestures and its high potential to improve interaction with touch interfaces in cars.

Alexander Meschtscherjakov gave a talk on “ChaseLight: Ambient LED Stripes to Control Driving Speed” (co-authored by Christine Döttlinger, Christina Rödel and Manfred Tscheligi), in which he showcased an LED-based persuasive system, which changes the perceived driving speed and was evaluated in a study in the driving simulator. He further presented the paper “Co-Navigator: An Advanced Navigation System for Front-Seat Passengers” on behalf of Nicole Perterer, (co-authored by Alexander Meschtscherjakov and Manfred Tscheligi), thereby providing insights on the Co-Navigator prototype, its elements, and an explorative in-situ evaluation of a navigation system specifically designed to foster the potential of a co-driver interacting with the driver for navigation.

Also, Sandra Trösterer presented her paper “Light My Way: Visualizing Shared Gaze in the Car“ (co-authored by Martin Wuchse, Christine Döttlinger, Alexander Meschtscherjakov and Manfred Tscheligi), providing insights on how to allow the co-driver to help the driver during a navigational task by sharing his/her gaze using two visual modalities. Furthermore, she presented a poster on “LCTNav: A Method for Investigating Collaborative Navigation” (co-authored by Martin Wuchse, Axel Baumgartner, Bernhard Maurer, Magdalena Gärtner, Alexander Meschtscherjakov and Manfred Tscheligi), in which she provided details about the ongoing work on a method for investigating collaborative navigation in the driving simulator.

Thomas Grah presented “Dorsal Haptic Display: A Shape-changing Car Seat for Sensory Augmentation of Rear Obstacles” (co-authored by Felix Epp, Martin Wuchse, Alexander Meschtscherjakov, Frank Gabler, Arnd Steinmetz and Manfred Tscheligi) as a poster. It showed the potential of shape-changing interfaces for haptic sensory augmentation in the car domain. The developed shape-changing car seat backrest lets the driver haptically sense obstacles in the rear periphery. The poster was nominated second place for the “best poster award” from 48 posters by the conference’s attendees.

Alexander Meschtscherjakov further presented the poster “MaDSAV: Maintaining Driving Skills in Semi-Autonomous Vehicles” which showed the current state of the recently started project in cooperation with the University of Luxembourg.

He also presented several works that have been developed by students within different teaching courses:

“Advanced Traffic Light Interface: Countdown Timers to Increase User Experience” (Andreas Frank, Fabian Schneider, Alexander Meschtscherjakov and Julian Stadon), which granted insights on how to improve user experience of drivers using LED based traffic light as displays.

“LED-A-pillars: Displaying Distance Information on the Cars Chassis” (Alexander Meschtscherjakov, Lukas Wanko and Fabio Batz). Different LED-visualizations for overcoming the A-pillar blind spot were evaluated in this work.

“Adaptive Digital Sunshade: Blocking the Sun From Blinding the Driver” (Alexander Meschtscherjakov, Nino Marcel Kratzer, Hubert Scharfetter, Julian Stadon and Stefan Paul Kernjak), which provided insights on the design of different shaped digital sunshades, which where evaluated in the driving simulator using a projector to simulate sun and sunshades.

During the poster sessions, also the paper „Everyday Commuting: Prediction, Actual Experience and Recall of Anger and Frustration in the Car“ (by Daniela Wurhofer, Alina Krischkowsky, Marianna Obrist, Evangelos Karapanos, Evangelos Niforatos, Manfred Tscheligi) was presented by Evangelos Niforatos from Università della Svizzera italiana Lugano, Switzerland. This work provides insights on driver’s User Experience (UX) in terms of systematically investigating predicted experience, actual experience, and recalled experience. Evangelos further presented “eMotion: Retrospective In-Car User Experience Evaluation” (co-authored by Evangelos Karapanos, Marc Langheinrich, Daniela Wurhofer, Alina Krischkowsky, Marianna Obrist and Manfred Tscheligi), a mobile application that provides a lightweight alternative to Experience Sampling for application while driving.

In addition, Alexander and Manfred Tscheligi organized the “3rd Workshop on User Experience of Autonomous Driving” together with Dalila Szostak, Rabindra Ratan, Rod McCall, Ioannis Politis, Sven Krome, Andreas Riener, Myounghoon “Philart” Jeon and Jacques Terken. This workshop was the third in the series that started 2013. The objective of the workshop was to identify challenges in societal acceptance for Autonomous Driving and develop a ten-point plan of research goals in order to improve UX in Autonomous Driving. The workshop focused on the areas of methodological issues, human factors, entertainment, social driving, and novel user interface approaches.