astronomy

Human Media Lab

Human Media Lab is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Human Media Lab rather than just read about it. In short: The Human Media Lab (HML) is a research laboratory in Human-Computer Interaction at Queen's University's School of Computing in Kingston, Ontario. Its goals are to advance user interface design by creating and empirically evaluating disruptive new user interface technologies, and educate graduate students in this process.

Key takeaways

Human Media Lab belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Human Media Lab to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Human Media Lab from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Human Media Lab (HML) is a research laboratory in Human-Computer Interaction at Queen's University's School of Computing in Kingston, Ontario. Its goals are to advance user interface design by creating and empirically evaluating disruptive new user interface technologies, and educate graduate students in this process. The Human Media Lab was founded in 2000 by Prof. Roel Vertegaal and employs an average of 12 graduate students. The laboratory is known for its pioneering work on flexible display interaction and paper computers, with systems such as PaperWindows (2004), PaperPhone (2010) and PaperTab (2012). HML is also known for its invention of ubiquitous eye input, such as Samsung's Smart Pause and Smart Scroll technologies.

Research In 2003, researchers at the Human Media Lab helped shape the paradigm Attentive User Interfaces, demonstrating how groups of computers could use human social cues for considerate notification. Amongst HML's early inventions was the eye contact sensor, first demonstrated to the public on ABC Good Morning America. 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, an attentive television that play/paused contents upon looking away, mobile Smart Pause and Smart Scroll (adopted in Samsung's Galaxy S4) 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 Organic User Interfaces: user interfaces with a non-flat display. In 2004, researchers at the HML built the first bendable paper computer, PaperWindows, which premiered at CHI 2005. It featured multiple flexible, hires, colour, wireless, thin-film multitouch displays through real-time depth-cam 3D Spatial Augmented Reality. In May 2007 HML coined the term Organic User Interfaces. Early Organic User Interfaces developed at HML included the first multitouch spherical display, and Dynacan, an interactive pop can: early examples of everyday computational things with interactive digital skins.

In 2010, the Human Media Lab, with Arizona State University, 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 Vancouver. In 2012, the Human Media Lab introduced the world's first pseudo-holographic, live size 3D video conferencing system, TeleHuman. In 2013, HML researchers unveiled PaperTab, the world's first flexible tablet PC, at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, in collaboration with Plastic Logic and Intel.

Location and Facilities The Human Media Lab is located in Jackson Hall on Queen's University campus in Kingston, Ontario. The facilities were designed by Karim Rashid.

External links Human Media Lab website

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Human Media Lab

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Human Media Lab claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Human Media Lab before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Human Media Lab ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Human Media Lab

In research: Human Media Lab appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Human Media Lab in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Human Media Lab is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Flexible displays, Human–computer interaction, Queen's University at Kingston, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Human Media Lab outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Human Media Lab in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Human Media Lab means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Human Media Lab out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Human Media Lab in simple terms?

Why does Human Media Lab matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Human Media Lab?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Human Media Lab.