Human Media Lab

<h2 id="research">Research</h2>
In 2003, researchers at the Human Media Lab helped shape the paradigm <a href="/facts/Attentive_user_interface/fxfUUHR0">Attentive User Interfaces</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> demonstrating how groups of computers could use human social cues for considerate notification.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> Amongst HML's early inventions was the eye contact sensor, first demonstrated to the public on <a href="/facts/Good_Morning_America/PGspN5sj">ABC Good Morning America</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> Attentive User Interfaces developed at the time included an early iPhone prototype that used eye tracking electronic glasses to determine whether users were in a conversation,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> an attentive television that play/paused contents upon looking away, mobile Smart Pause and Smart Scroll (adopted in Samsung's <a href="/facts/Galaxy_S4/USmlyPNV">Galaxy S4</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> as well as a technique for calibration-free eye tracking by placing invisible infrared markers in the scene.
Current research at the Human Media Lab focuses on the development of <a href="/facts/Organic_User_Interfaces/ev36xfr2">Organic User Interfaces</a>: user interfaces with a non-flat display. In 2004, researchers at the HML built the first bendable paper computer, PaperWindows,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> which premiered at CHI 2005. It featured multiple flexible, hires, colour, wireless, thin-film multitouch displays through real-time depth-cam 3D <a href="/facts/Spatial_Augmented_Reality/nsBj2uJa">Spatial Augmented Reality</a>. In May 2007 HML coined the term <a href="/facts/Organic_User_Interfaces/ev36xfr2">Organic User Interfaces</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> Early Organic User Interfaces developed at HML included the first multitouch spherical display,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> and Dynacan, an interactive pop can: early examples of everyday computational things with interactive digital skins.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a> 

In 2010, the Human Media Lab, with <a href="/facts/Arizona_State_University/e4lLNfmP">Arizona State University</a>, developed the world's first functional flexible smartphone, PaperPhone. It pioneered bend interactions and was first shown to the public at ACM CHI 2011 in <a href="/facts/Vancouver/rn2AKA1n">Vancouver</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> In 2012, the Human Media Lab introduced the world's first pseudo-holographic, live size 3D video conferencing system,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a> TeleHuman.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a> 
In 2013, HML researchers unveiled PaperTab,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a> the world's first flexible tablet PC, at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, in collaboration with Plastic Logic and Intel.

<h2 id="location-and-facilities">Location and Facilities</h2>
The Human Media Lab is located in Jackson Hall on <a href="/facts/Queen%27s_University_at_Kingston/Jkd3dze2">Queen's University</a> campus in Kingston, Ontario. The facilities were designed by <a href="/facts/Karim_Rashid/rwAg01v3">Karim Rashid</a>.

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.hml.queensu.ca">Human Media Lab website</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Holman, D., Vertegaal, R. and Troje, N. (2005). PaperWindows: Interaction Techniques for Digital Paper. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 2005 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, 591-599. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Lahey, B., Girouard, A., Burleson, W. and R. Vertegaal. (2011). PaperPhone: Understanding the Use of Bend Gestures in Mobile Devices with Flexible Electronic Paper Displays. In Proceedings of ACM CHI’11 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, 1303-1312. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Warner, B. (2013). PaperTab a Fold-Up, Roll-Up Tablet Computer. Bloomberg Businessweek, May 2013. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Dickie, C., Vertegaal, R., Sohn C., and Cheng, D. (2005). eyeLook: using attention to facilitate mobile media consumption. In Proceedings of the 18th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (UIST '05). ACM Press, 103-106. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Vertegaal, R. (2003). Attentive User Interfaces. Editorial, In Special Issue on Attentive User Interfaces, Communications of ACM 46(3), ACM Press, 30-33. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Gibbs, W. (2005) Considerate Computing. Scientific American 292, 54 - 61 <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Vertegaal, R., Dickie, C., Sohn, C. and Flickner, M. (2002). Designing attentive cell phone using wearable eyecontact sensors. In CHI '02 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, pp. 646-647. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Vertegaal, R., Dickie, C., Sohn, C. and Flickner, M. (2002). Designing attentive cell phone using wearable eyecontact sensors. In CHI '02 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, pp. 646-647. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Dickie, C., Vertegaal, R., Sohn C., and Cheng, D. (2005). eyeLook: using attention to facilitate mobile media consumption. In Proceedings of the 18th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (UIST '05). ACM Press, 103-106. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Holman, D., Vertegaal, R. and Troje, N. (2005). PaperWindows: Interaction Techniques for Digital Paper. In Proceedings of ACM CHI 2005 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM Press, 591-599. <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Vertegaal R., and Poupyrev, I. (2008). Introduction to Organic User Interfaces. In Special Issue on Organic User Interfaces, Communications of the ACM 51(6), 5-6. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Holman, D. and Vertegaal, R. (2008). Organic User Interfaces: Designing Computers in Any Way, Shape, or Form. In Special Issue on Organic User Interfaces, Communications of the ACM 51(6), 48-55. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Akaoka, E., Ginn, T. and R. Vertegaal. (2010). DisplayObjects: Prototyping Functional Physical Interfaces on 3D Styrofoam, Paper or Cardboard Models. In Proceedings of TEI’10 Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction. ACM Press, 49-56. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Vertegaal, R. (2011). The (Re)Usability of Everyday Computational Things. In ACM Interactions Magazine, ACM Press, Jan/Feb 2011, 39-41 <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Lahey, B., Girouard, A., Burleson, W. and R. Vertegaal. (2011). PaperPhone: Understanding the Use of Bend Gestures in Mobile Devices with Flexible Electronic Paper Displays. In Proceedings of ACM CHI’11 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, 1303-1312. <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Kingsley, J. with will.i.am. (2013). Use Your Illusion. Wired UK, August 2013, 140-141. <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Kim, K., Bolton, J., Girouard, A., Cooperstock, J. and Vertegaal, R. (2012). TeleHuman: Effects of 3D Perspective on Gaze and Pose Estimation with a Life-size Cylindrical Telepresence Pod. In Proceedings of CHI’12 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, 2531-2540. <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Warner, B. (2013). PaperTab a Fold-Up, Roll-Up Tablet Computer. Bloomberg Businessweek, May 2013. <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Human Media Lab open-in-new

Human Media Lab