william r. hazlewood

The hunt for the great white solenoid

2007-11-06T03:12:35Z

I'm working on a physical prototype that requires a device that I can send power to, and have it make a sort of punching motion. Luckily for me there is just such a device. It is called a linear actuator, or solenoid.

Devices such as these are EVERYWHERE. There are dozens of them in your car for example. When you push a button, and your door locks click open or closed, that my friend is the work of the solenoid. They are in our cars, our hot water heaters, our thermostats, our doorbells, our security systems, and just about everywhere.

Unless you need to just buy one...

In the case that you just want to buy some solenoids your options are extremely limited.

Essentially, for the everyman, here is what you get...

I know... wow.

This device consists of a magnetic coil with a plunger. The catch is... that's it. You can stick in the plunger, apply voltage, and wham, the plunger moves forward. If you want it to do anything else, for example return to the starting position, you have to do all the engineering yourself. If you have a highly equipped metal shop, no sweat, but who has that?

I've found several companies that produce more complex solenoids, but they do not usually sell to people like me, who need 5-10 units. They want to sell me 1000 units at about $18 each.

This is by far, the most frustrating thing about doing physical design; simply finding the right materials. Sometimes things just don't exist, and sometimes they do, but you don't get to play with them, but at the end of the day you still need to finish that prototype, and the duct-tape solution you've rigged up is not going to cut it. I've spent several weeks working on this prototype, and the vast majority of time has been searching for the right solenoid, or trying to figure out a way to modify the one I have such that it does not require blow-torches, or look like that breakfast making contraption in beginning of Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

All of this has given me a lot of respect for artists who do large scale installations. They really must spend a lot of time just looking for the right materials. In art and design, I have to wonder how much the ability to find these materials separates those who end up being mediocre to those who end up being renown.

Status Report

2007-10-30T02:41:05Z

CHI Workshop paper :: Ambient persuasion
Gettting very close, I don't think I'll have a hard time getting this submitted by Wednesday. Once Kevin gets his revision to me I'll send it out the door. I should have sent a copy of this to Kay for comments, but I'm running out of time.
Paperwork for Qualification Completion
This one is easy, I just need to get signatures from Kay, Erik, and David.
Time-line for Kay
Need to start putting together a timeline of my progress over the next 2 years for my PhD.
Get paperwork for SLIS course (enroll)
This one should also be easy. I just need to pick up the paperwork from SLIS, and then get signatures from two Deans and Katy.
Plan a teaching exercise for the pedagogy course
This one is a week or two away. I need to come up with a teaching exercise for my pedagogy course. 15 minuets, assume it is for an undergrad class, not too technical I suppose.
CIxD Meeting on Friday
This Friday I'll be discussing the sound prototype to the group. I suppose we'll talk about alternate prototypes and developing a plan for completing the prototypes.
HCI/d Group Presentation on Wednesday
For this presentation I'll talk about the Workshop paper from above to the HCI/d group.
Workshop Proposal for UbiComp
This is further down the road, but I think it will be sometime in April.
Upcomming CHI-Note Plan
Kay and I discussed maybe not doing a CHI-Note, but perhaps sending this to UbiComp or UIST. UbiComp is in Korea, and so it would really be important for me to have a few things accepted
Start thinking about a table project for Yvonne
This is a ways away, but I should have it on the list

Status Report

2007-08-13T15:41:50Z

Current Primary Tasks

Ambient Orb Study Paper
Living Lab Specifications
SoundWall Prototype
Find out how many classes I still need to take

1) Ambient Orb Study Paper
I've worked a bit more on how to restructure the paper, and I've been editing the orginal draft to match the revamped emphasis. We will be focusing on the issues that arise when attempting to conduct user studies on technologies that act as ambient information displays. I'm pretty sure this will be a relevant contribution if we can get it published. I generated a nice infographic showing what the state of each user's orb was over the course of the study. It does a nice job at showing just how little the orbs changed in regard to the data. Hopefully this will make a strong case that the reason that people did not perceive it is because it did not ever appear to change. I am not sure how to articulate it yet, but I think this means that the ambient device is doing its job. It is telling the user that they do not need to check up on the data, but at the same time telling them the current steady state of the data. I'll have to work on that. See current draft of paper here.

2) Living Lab Specifications
I met with Jason Pierce (former Aware Home lab manager) and got a little bit of insight as to how the Aware Home functions as a research/project space. I started to get a little concerned that no one was preparing for my visit so I sent out an email reminding them that I was coming. Sure enough someone emailed me back saying the were not aware that I had scheduled a trip. Some of the issues that Jason Pierce brought up were

The amount of wiring added to the space can mess with wireless functionality
The logistics of keeping the demo's running are difficult
Lots of projects died because students graduated and moved on

I did get an email from Brian Jones, who is the current lab manager for the Aware Home. He said he did not know that I was coming, but that he should have time on Wed to give me a tour. I am really concerned that they have no interest in my visit :-). It's costing $500 to make the trip, I hope we can get our money's worth.

3) SoundWall Prototype
I haven't touched this since last week. What I would like, at the very least, is to have the solenoids mounted behind the stonework and write a small program that will take input from the motion sensors to trigger them. I did send a detailed message to Leslie Sharpe to ask if she would be interested in collaborating on this project. It is as much fine arts related as it is HCId after all. She said that she liked the idea and had some students that may be interested. We are planning to meet after she gets back to Bloomington sometime after the 22nd of August.

4) Finding out how many credits I have left
I spoke to Erik about this and he suggested that I speak with Marty. I need to have this figured out by the time school starts, but I'll be starting qualification exams on the 20th. I probably will not work on this until after quals are done, probably the 9th of September.

Note: The DiamondTouch table we were awarded has arrived. I am working with Erik now to find a place to install it and a computer to drive it. I really hope we can get some students doing interesting projects.

Plan for the rest of this week: Work on the Paper, prep for the Atlanta trip, prepare for quals.

Status Report

2007-07-31T16:37:18Z

Current Primary Tasks

Ambient Orb Study Paper
Living Lab Specifications
SoundWall Prototype
Find out how many classes I still need to take

1) Ambient Orb Study Paper
After discussing the paper with Kay last week I've got a good idea of how the paper will be structured, and where the emphasis will be. The purpose of the paper will be to describe the issues that arise when doing user studies involving ambient information systems. I need to re-examine what I've already written and start the paper anew with this focus in mind.

2) Living Lab Specifications
I've booked a flight to Atlanta to visit their Aware Home Lab. Also, I've started a google document with a list of things that I need to make sure and ask about while I'm there. I still need to send an email to Jason Pierce, a former member of that lab who is now here at IU, and go over this list with him before I go. Kay is paying for the trip so I need to get as much out of the visit as possible.

3) SoundWall Prototype
I've figured for the most part how solenoids work and how I can make use of them. Also, I've gathered parts and constructed a crude prototype, the only problem is that it sounds like garbage. I guess you need a little bit of expertise when working with musical equipment. Until I can figure out how to mount the tuned bars w/o them being deadened I am kind of stuck.

4) Finding out how many credits I have left
As far as I know, I only have 1 required class (pedagogy) and one minor class (SLIS) left to me, but I'm not certain.

Plan for the rest of this week: Work on the Paper, maybe play with the prototype, take another look into the list of things to prep for the Atlanta trip.

Getting a new DiamondSpin table for the HCI students

2007-04-30T19:57:45Z

I've been talking to all the people I can find from the Mitsubishi Electronics Research Lab in a mad attempt to talk them into giving us a DiamondTouch table. We used to have one but Yvonne took it to the UK.

When I was working on the DiamondTouch table, the Java API (DiamondSpin) was in version 1.0 and was miserable to use. Needless to say, I was very burned out on it when we finished out project. However I was looking at DiamondSpin again now that it has become opensourced. So many improvements have been made that I am feeling antsy to do a new project. We have several students at Informatics that have project ideas that would be perfect for the ole DT Table.

I guess now what I need to do is get together with anyone who thinks they want to do a project and try to write up a project proposal to send to MERL.

I never got into the flow...

2007-04-30T19:35:56Z

In many ways, this has been one of the most painful semesters to date. Usually, the beginning of the semester is chaotic, you have new classes, new meetings, new due dates, and new deadlines. However, usually you make it through your first one or two weeks and finally get a hold of your schedule, letting you go into a sort of auto-pilot in terms of attending meetings and getting work done.

This has yet to happen this semester for me. I make good use of my calendars and to-do lists, but somehow I have spent a semester begging forgiveness from my advisers, peers, and students. I've been the king of broken promises.

I am somewhat excited to fill out the end of the year PhD review paperwork though. In all of this chaos I've had a really difficult time figuring out what actually was accomplished this semester.

My course went fine I think, the students seemed pleased.

My progress in the seminar class has been fine I think, I have gotten some sort of insight from all the readings. I'm not sure I can apply it, but I think most people have that trouble.

I am working on two seperate papers, one was submitted to INTERACT07, the other is just beginning.

I think i need to write a post on that paper, it will help me lay it out mentally.

A Guaranteed Trip to CHI2007

2006-08-26T19:34:13Z

At CHI last year I was complaining to the Student Volunteer Chair about how much I hated the way SV's had to schedule their tasks. Each student is expected to work at least 20 hours to justify their free hotel and registration at the conference, and this is done by selecting from several available tasks on a website. Anyhow, the conference chair emailed both me and Jonathan Diehl, who was also an SV that year, and gave us a chance to remake the interface. We've put several hours into it and I think the final result is leaps and bounds above the old one. Our reward is a guaranteed spot as SV's this year at CHI in San Jose California. For the rest of you, I highly recommend you apply to be SV's particularly the PhD students. It is important to go to these conferences to meet the important members of your field, but it is just as important to meet the people who are going to be the big names in your field 10 years from now. Being an SV at CHI and at PERVASIVE has opened the way to a lot of opportunities for me, I never would have guessed it would be so beneficial. Open registration for SVs will probably open up on September 1st.

On a related note, Justin emailed me earlier this month and told me he was going to go ahed and submit what he's been working on to the Doctoral Consortium at the i-Conference this year. Of course I couldn't let him be the only one from Informatics, so I shaped up a submission as well. I've been told by my adviser that the Doctoral Consortium is similar to being an SV in the sense that you have a golden opportunity to make connections with people who may be close colleagues in the future. The more I think about it, the more I hope that I'm selected to attend, and Justin to I suppose.

Testing A song on PlanetInfo

2006-04-18T02:46:32Z

I added the macro code to my rss feed, lets see if it shows up in planet info

Long live Techno!

Tell me if this would creep you out?

2006-04-17T05:05:09Z

There is an act that everyone does, but no one will admit it. I think its time that people just accept it as a natural act of human curiosity. I'm sure you've all guessed that I'm referring to the act of Googlig your own name to see what comes up :-).

Any how, what came up for me has disturbed me to no end. It was an obituary of a person with the same name, from the same state, that died on my birthday! Here is the entry:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * William R. Hazlewood August 7, 2003 – February 18, 2003 Graveside funeral services will be held on Wednesday morning, February 26, 2003, at 11:00 a.m. in Gafford Chapel Cemetery in Hopkins County, Texas, for Westside resident, William R. Hazlewood, 81. Mr. Hazlewood was born on August 7, 1921, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and passed away in Bakersfield on February 18, 2003. He was the owner of Hazlewood Drilling and worked as a driller for 65 years. He was preceded in death by his mother, father, brothers and sisters and is survived by his sons and their wives, Brad and Lorelei Hazlewood of Taft and Greg and Jocelyn Hazlewood of Scottsdale, Arizona; his grandson, Bob Hazlewood of Taft; had by his granddaughters Lacey Hazlewood, Malory Robbins, Tess Robbins and Mary Hazlewood all of Taft. The arrangements are under the direction of Erickson and Brown Funeral Home. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What are the odds!?

How do people figure it out?

2006-04-16T23:34:41Z

I am working on a study that asks participants to figure out how to use a device that offers no affordances or clues as to what it actually does, and looks nothing like what it actually is. The device I am using is the Mathmos AirSwitch 1. It is a lamp, shaped like an erlenmeyer flask, and is operated via an infra-red sensor that is hidden inside. I've now conducted 5 separate sessions where I had 2 participants sit together and attempt to simply figure out what it is, and how it works.

The reason for this study is that I'm trying to understand how people figure out how to interact with devices when they have no examples to compare them with. Of course this is because in ambient displays and information devices, one of the main challenges is letting people know how to interact with devices that are designed to blend into their surroundings.

After viewing the video footage collected during the experiments, I've started work with Erik on a model which may help explain how people figure out how to use devices in general. After all, in order to understand how people could figure out ambient devices (which are designed to somewhat conceal themselves), I will need to know how they figure out devices designed to explicitly reveal their functions. For example, how does someone figure out how to operate a set of computer speakers that they have never seen before, or a new mp3 player, or a novelty cigarette-lighter?

Just from everyday observations, I believe that we store abstract notions of the devices we interact with in our heads. For example, we have a notion of "computer speaker" or of "cigarette-lighter", which is formed from all the computer speakers or cigarette-lighters we've ever seen. Also, we have abstract notions of interactions that belong to each of these abstract devices. For example, cigarette-lighter may have associations with the abstract "flick" or "push". So when someone presents us with a novel cigarette-lighter, we create a mental matrix of every cigarette-lighter we've seen, along with every interaction we've observed involving cigarette-lighters. If we are lucky, the lighter presented matches one of the combinations we came up with, in which case we can predict the new lighter's operation.

I thought of this example after noticing some cheap cigarette-lighter's for sell at a gas station. They were made to look like the expensive Zippo brand lighters, but when flipped open they revealed electric coils where the wick should be. These coils heated up and turned red when the button was pressed, which is similar to how the cigarette lighters in cars function. I already knew that the device purported to be a cigarette-lighter, and I've seen both a Zippo and a car cigarette-lighters, so it was easy to deduce a hybrid of the two. One pushes the button, waits for the coils to turn red, and then pushes the end of the cigarette to the coils as you do with the car version. Other examples I've noticed involve the hybridization of a cigarette-lighter with a digital camera, and a cigarette-ligter with a pig.

If this model is accurate, then how do we figure out devices that do not have any similarity with the set of abstract devices we already understand? This leads to the research question for this study, "How do people figure out the operation of devices when the devices are completely novel?" In the Mathmos lamp study, the most interesting part of the footage may be in the short amount of time before the participants realized that it was actually a lamp. Unfortunately, that time was very short because the first thing that several of the participants did was pick up the device and look inside at the light-bulb. Once the participants had decided that the device was a lamp, they quickly started forming their map of what its possible functions could be and how to evoke them (in this case, on/off, and brightness). However, in this case none of the participants had the necessary interactions associated with their abstract notion of "lamp" in their pool of abstract interactions. They instantly started looking for a knob, switch, or button. When none of the usual interaction mechanisms for "lamp" were found, the participants began a very erratic search to fill in the gaps. The participants blew on the lamp, tapped the lamp, and came up with interesting theories, like that the rings on their fingers were causing the lamp to turn on or off.

I guess what I have to do now is design a study to test my assumption about how we rationalize the use of novel devices. I think the method would involve providing groups with two unrelated devices, and then a third that was a hybrid of the other two. If I can show that I can provide the abstract notions necessary for figuring out the third device, then I believe that will support the model.

Is Ambient Technology the Opposite of Virtual Reality?

2006-01-17T19:45:37Z

A professor here at IU named Gregory Rawlins wrote an interesting book called “Moths to the Flame: The Seductions of Computer Technology.” The book is interesting because Rawlins is a futurist who does a very thorough job of taking into account lessons from history and current pop culture. In a section of his book called “In the Screen of the Machine,” Rawlins gives a scenario of what the working day may be like if Virtual Reality ever became… well… a reality.

I bring up Rawlin’s book because, as you probably know, I’ve been thinking a lot about the domain of Ambient Intelligence, and I found a definition idea on a site talking about Ubiquitous Computing.

From the site:

Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people. Virtual reality is primarily a horsepower problem; ubiquitous computing is a very difficult integration of human factors, computer science, engineering, and social sciences.

I think this is an intriguing perspective, and it may apply to the notion of Ambient Intelligence. The advantage to virtual reality is that we don’t have to worry much about silly things like materials or physics, but since I last checked, virtual reality seems to be a lot further off than Hollywood would have us believe. Rawlin’s scenario would require us to know how to directly interface with the brain in order to make us see, feel, smell, hear, and taste, things that are not really in existence. I have not seen any new VR research in a while, so I assume that the concepts have been placed on the backburner until we figure out a little more on how the body works.

Regardless, in Rawlin’s scenario he paints a picture of the virtual office.

From Moths to the Flame:

What looks like a paper calendar is really an agenda file, and the clock is an electronic simulation that tells him about upcoming appointments. The tiny file cabinet is an enormous filing system, which contains electronic, not paper files. The health of the flower reflects the state of his business. Its color, the shape of the vase, and the amount of water in it reflect orders, contracts, and service requests. It gives him a quick way to estimate how well he's doing. Right now it is blooming in a tall thin crystal vase with plenty of water.

The thing I find most interesting is the flower vase. When you consider the definition above, you can imagine a version of this device in the physical world. Of course now we do have to worry about the materials, and stupid physics, but this seems to be to be a prime examples of an ambient display device. Consider how different this is than the Nabaztag. The vase constantly makes subtle changes but is always providing information in the peripherie. I would love to figure out a way to build a device like this vase and do a proper study, but I’m not even sure how it could be built.

Pervasive vs. Ubiquitous vs. Ambient

2006-01-15T22:44:49Z

It may seem like a silly inquiry, but I've been doing some researching to find full definitions of Pervasive Computing, Ubiquitous Computing, and Ambient Intelligence in order to understand the difference between the three. It seems to me that people use all of these terms interchangeably, but I don't know if that is because the fields are relatively new and still defining themselves, or just because I'm relatively new and don't know anything.

I have been under the impression that Pervasive computing refers to embedding technology into everyday devices/areas in such a way that people interact with the technology directly. For example, the computer screen on the refrigerator that helps you keep track of what food items are in stock, or perhaps things like Dynamo where a high-tech item is placed in a shared space.

In contrast, I thought that Ubiquitous Computing refered to technology embedded in objects around us in such a way that we interact with them indirectly. Several Ubiquitous projects describe, “making the computer disappear,” which really only allows for indirect interaction. Most of the good examples I can think of in this domain involve RFID and remote sensor technologies. For example, look at the smart pantry, in contrast with the smart fridge. With the smart fridge, the interfaces is directly on the front of the device, people can touch buttons on the screens, read information, make selections, etc. With the smart pantry however, the system is using RFID tags to log the existance of all the goods available. The user never knows what is happenening, never tells the system what to do or how to do it, but when they go to the grocery there is a nice shopping list waiting.

I know that the difference I describe is subtle but I have not found anything that compares these areas directly by describing how one technology may be EITHER ubiquitous OR pervasive. Lets look at the definitions of the words themselves...

Pervasive: spread throughout
Ubiquitous: Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent.

Besides these two terms, there is Ambient Intelligence, which may just be a newer way of saying Ubiquitous Computing. I've looked at several products claiming to be Ambient Device Technologies, but several of the examples include things like the Nabaztag or "Ambient Bunny.” It seems to me that this is a novel communications interface, but is it an ambient technology? What is the definition of ambient?

Ambient: Surrounding; encircling.

Hmm.... All of these definitions seem to mean the same thing according to the dictionary, but the question is, do they mean the same thing in terms of Human-Computer Interaction? There are a few websites that offer some definitions, but I don't know when the definition becomes official. There is a bit of one for ubiquitous computing here. And, this site seems to have some nice projects, but are these, or are they not, seperate domains?

Special thank you to the Design Club

2005-11-09T00:12:46Z

I've been kicking around the idea of implementing some sort of awareness system for our lovely tower of power over here at Eigenmann. After talking to Yvonne and seeing Paul Dourish's talk on Place and Space, I think it would be a good exercise and could even evolve into a publishable experiment.

I've seen several of these sorts of systems published, but all of them seem to involve simply putting a microphone, camera, and display at everyone's workstation, or placing a shared display device out in the lobby or in the coffee room. I think a lot more can be done, and I think the way to go is with some sort of ambient device.

The problem with the microphone/camera enabled workstations is that people don't really like to feel that they are being monitored, so they usually just turn off the mic, or cover the camera with a post-it note. In the situations where a shared display is placed in a public place, people usually mark it as a novelty and never really use it.

I think that an ambient device will work nicely because its not something people need to actively think to use or monitor, it can be something mounted on a wall or sitting on a desk in each user's office that just changes slightly depending on the information its given.

The Design Club came up with several possible solutions. The one that seems to have some real possibilities is the idea of an ambient waterfall device, that is somewhat in the shape of the floor plan of the building. Erik P. came up with a very interesting sketch of how it would look and even how it could work. I think this device works on several different levels. (1) It provides visual and audio ambient output. One can look at it and get an idea of which areas are being occupied, and the more areas occupied will cause a variation in the trickling sound the water makes. (2) It will be visually interesting. If we are going to convince several faculty and staff members to keep one of these in their offices, we have to make sure its something they would really want in their offices. (3) It is not invasive. It is easy to ignore, and it should not make people feel as though they are being monitored. The device will not tell you who-is-where, but it will tell you that some person is in a particular space. That alone will give people a feeling that they are not completely sequestered in this building. It is my thought that people will be more inclined to stay focused if they feel they are in a place that is buzzing with lots of other busy people.

I don't know where Erik put his sketch, but eventually I'll add it to this post. I hope that this project can continue so I'll need to get started on some literature review, and even though we feel like we have a pretty good idea, we need to explore other alternatives. That is fine however, because I had a good time debating along with these bright students.

More and more great ambient devices

2005-09-24T16:15:29Z

So over the past few weeks, I've been thinking more and more about "Ambient Intelligence." Specifically Ambient Display Devices. I had thought that the domain had already been viewed and discarded by the side of the road, however since I've started looking for examples, I'm finding them all over. I found "Ambient Devices" a spinoff company from the MIT media lab. They had some fairly interesting devices like the Stock Orb, the Weather Forecast Beacon, and the Executive Dashboard. I think all of these are excellent examples of glanceable interfaces. Another company I recently discovered is called Violet. It's a French company, and you can see how the difference in culture from MIT really affects the design of their products. My favorite is probably the Nabaztag, a weird little rabbit looking device that can be set up to react in different ways depending on the information it receives.

So, what I'm learning is that there are a few different categories to consider when thinking about Ambient Intelligence. The products at AmbientDevices are pure ambient display devices. That means they are meant to blend into the environment they are placed in, and are not really designed to grab your attention. I think this is the essence of a glanceable interface.

The other category is "Smart Objects," like what we see from the products at Violet. These devices are meant to be able to grab a user's attention on various events, and to be interacted with directly if the occasion calls for it.

I would be very interested to see any comments from you guys on interesting ideas you may have for uses of the products at these two sites. Or any ideas on Ambient Intelligence in general. This is an official call for comments :-)

P.s. I think we should talk Tim Tucker into starting a blog, that guy is nuts.

Still Fighting for Anarchy at Informatics

2005-09-23T15:07:26Z

I've been told that I am "blackballed" for my insidious acts in the PhD office over here at Eigenmann. Apparently, the file cabinets in the vacant offices were providing some sort of function, and my involvement in moving them so they could actually be used, has somehow altered the stable universe. Informatics can be such a weird place politically. I've been told that it is the same way in most other departments but I can hardly believe that anything ever gets done if everyone has to subscribe to this level of bureaucracy. At times things seem to get better, but I still find myself astounded with the extreme lack of efficiency in acquiring resources here. I have been around this campus for several years now, and I have worked for many departments, and I have to say that it seems to me that more was accomplished with less in all of those cases. One of the departments I worked for had 300+ users in offices all over the campus, all of which were supported effectively by me and one other person above me. Another place I worked had no more than 50 users in 3 separate buildings, but we had no budget, and somehow we made that work. Where am I going with this? Informatics is somewhere in the middle, probably < 300 users, and what seems like a never ending budget. So why then, do I have to get in trouble just because I started using an unused filing cabinet? Also, why do people have to dread asking for help or recourses from Informatics? My hope is that it is not sheer incompetence that causes these problems, but rather that there are issues that are unclear to me. I am not trying to stir the pot, I just wish I knew what was going on some of the time.