11月3日, 由英国UiGarden网站组织策划、本地化易用性研究和交互设计组织ChinaHCI网站协办的世界可用性日北京站活动正式在北京翠宫饭店拉开帷幕，本次可用性日的主题为“Make it easy”。来自IBM中国研究中心、中国科学院软件所等众多单位的可用性和用户研究方面的从业人事以及高校的师生们共聚一堂，共同关注并探讨出现在城市公共设施中的可用性问题。（ChinaHCI.Org：何潇 北京报道）
Summary: This article looks at a handful of new smart tag enhancements introduced with Microsoft Office 2003 that are designed to make smart tags easier to develop and also addresses a few limitations of smart tags in Microsoft Office XP. (7 printed pages)Note The information in this article is based on Office 2003. As always, information can and will change. I have made effort to focus on things that I think will hold true when the product ships.
Introduction
Smart tags first appeared in Microsoft® Office XP with a great deal of fanfare, as they represented an innovative new way to make the data in Microsoft Office documents more meaningful and actionable. How often have you found yourself typing in the name of a customer contact, an invoice number, a tracking number, or some other form of relevant information with meaning to you or your company? In the old world without smart tags, that information just sat in the document as static text. Smart tag technology makes it possible to link that relevant information to other resources that might provide you with additional information that is useful in creating a document, or better yet, it might bring that relevant information right back into your document.
In the previous two years, I have seen many implementations of custom smart tags. Two scenarios stand out in my mind:
Corporate usage:
These smart tags are developed by companies that wish to link their users to critical internal corporate resources based on the types of documents they are creating. For example, imagine typing in an invoice tracking number and being able to go view that order in the accounting system from the Office document, or have the details of the order returned as a Microsoft Word table or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
Third-party usage
: These smart tags are developed by independent software vendors (ISVs) who are looking for additional ways to integrate their products into the day-to-day desktop experience for their customers. For example, some companies sell financial information that might include current stock prices, historical stock information, company profiles, and news. A smart tag designed to detect traded companies makes it easy for users to return this type of information into Office documents.
Additionally, I have personally seen smart tags deployed in many industries, including finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, to name a few. For a new technology, smart tags have been tremendously successful.
Even so, new technologies often have limitations, and smart tags are no exception. Most innovative technologies take time to mature and to adapt to the diverse variety of customer needs. In Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft is adding numerous enhancements based on customer feedback to broaden the potential for smart tag technology. I summarize these enhancements to meet the following objectives:
Make smart tags easier to develop.
Simplify smart tag deployment.
Fix the limitations of the current smart tag infrastructure.
These enhancements are too numerous to discuss in one article. With this in mind, I will focus on some of the key improvements that will be welcomed by the smart tag developer. Let’s take a closer look at some of the new features.
If you are new to smart tags or it has been a while since you have developed one, I would recommend brushing up with these articles:
Developing Simple Smart Tags
Developing Smart Tag DLLs
Smart Tag SDK 1.1
Smart Tag Enterprise Resource Kit
Getting Started
To get started, there are a few things that have changed in Office 2003 that you’ll want to know about. First, the applications that support smart tags have been expanded. In Office XP, smart tags worked in Word, Excel, Microsoft Outlook® (with Word enabled as your Outlook e-mail editor), and Microsoft Internet Explorer (smart tag actions only, no recognizers). Office 2003 now adds smart tag support for Microsoft PowerPoint® and Microsoft Access. For more information on the Access 2003 smart tag support, see Smart Tags in Microsoft Office Access.
I am excited about the addition of PowerPoint smart tags. PowerPoint is one of those applications everyone uses, but developers often overlook it. PowerPoint automation benefits corporations where presentations, often for sales support, are critical. Many tech-savvy corporations have invested in presentation assembly tools through Microsoft Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) automation that helps expedite presentation creation. You may have heard of them referred to as pitchbook applications. Smart tags will go a long way in making relevant information more accessible from within presentations in the presentation assembly process.
For example, in the finance industry, many banks spend a great deal of time preparing presentations to pitch their custom business services to corporations. An example of a bank pitch might be to try to sell retirement planning services (401(k) and so on). This type of sale often requires knowing a customer’s employee statistics along with information specific to a customer’s industry. With the aid of a smart tag, a user could easily pull in information from a variety of internal sources and back-end systems that can add weight to the value of the bank’s services and make for a more effective presentation.
In addition to new application support, the smart tag application programming interface (API) library has been extended to support a number of new interfaces that enable new functionality. This library is named Microsoft Smart Tags 2.0 Type Library. This library is also backward compatible. This means that it is possible to develop a smart tag for Office XP and Office 2003 with one smart tag dynamic-link library (DLL). As you might expect, the new features won’t work in Office XP, but at least you can address customers running both versions.
How is this backward compatibility achieved? Under Office XP you had to implement the following two interfaces as defined in the Microsoft Smart Tag 1.0 Type Library:
With the new type library, those interfaces still exist unchanged. By adding the following interfaces to your new DLL, you can enable the new Office 2003 functionality:
This adds a number of new methods that you now have to implement. Here is a list of the ISmartTagRecognizer2 members:
SmartTagInitialize:
A new initialize method that is fired before any other event. This event allows you to trap the name of the application calling the smart tag.
Recognize2:
A new recognize method that simplifies identifying recognized text.
PropertyPage:
You can now display a custom dialog box for configuring a smart tag through the smart tags dialog box. This property tells the calling application that you support customization.
DisplayPropertyPage:
This method is called when the user requests configuring your smart tag. Here is a list of the ISmartTagAction2 members:
SmartTagInitialize:
Similar to the SmartTagInitialize method for the recognizer, but this method handles the action class.
ShowSmartTagIndicator:
A Boolean value that indicates if the smart tag underline indicator is displayed.
IsCaptionDynamic:
A Boolean value that indicates if the caption for the action in the smart tag menu is dynamic. If it is dynamic, the SmartTagInitialize method will be called every time the menu is displayed.
VerbCaptionFromID2:
The caption for an action menu item.
InvokeVerb2: Similar to the InvokeVerb method from the previous smart tag interface, however this new method passes in a local ID (LCID) for locale identification.
Cascading Menus
Under Office XP, smart tag menus only supported one level of menu items. You could not cascade or group menu items. Overall, this was not much of an issue until your smart tag had eight or more actions. This is not to say that the menu items did not appear if you had more menu items. However, if the menus got too deep, not all users would look through the list of actions. Office 2003 now adds support for cascading menus, allowing the developer to group related actions and simplify navigating the options. Figure 1 shows a cascading menu for a smart tag in Office 2003.
Figure 1. Smart tag cascading menu in Office 2003
Creating a cascading menu is fairly simple. When the VerbCaptionFromID2 property is called, a caption can be specified as it normally would with a simple caption:
ISmartTagAction2_VerbCaptionFromID2 = "Create an Order"
Going a step further, if you separate a caption with three forward slash marks (///) such as:
ISmartTagAction2_VerbCaptionFromID2 = "Orders///Create an Order"
Then the smart tag will have a top-level menu item named “Orders” with a “Create an Order” child menu item. Menu items can go many levels deep as illustrated in Figure 1.
The following code shows how the cascading menu in Figure 1 was created:
Private Property Get ISmartTagAction2_VerbCaptionFromID2(...)
Dim sCaption as String
Select Case VerbID
Case 1
sCaption = “Orders///Create an Order”
Case 2
sCaption = “Orders///View Open Orders”
Case 3
sCaption = “Orders///View Shipped Orders///Last 90 days”
Case 4
sCaption = “Orders///View Shipped Orders///Last 150 days”
Case 5
sCaption = “Orders///View Shipped Orders///Last 365 days”
End Select
ISmartTagAction2_VerbCaptionFromID2 = sCaption
End Property
Dynamic Captions
In addition to cascading menus, smart tags in Office 2003 can now be dynamic. This is a significant change from Office XP where once a caption was set, you couldn’t change it during the run time of the host application.
Setting the IsCaptionDynamic property to True will cause the VerbCaptionFromID2 property to be called whenever the smart tag menu is displayed. This allows the developer to customize the captions’ presentation. This is useful in scenarios where recognized text can have more than one meaning.
In our previous example, a company name was recognized. What happens if that company is both a customer and a vendor? Dynamic captions provide a solution. When this is the case, we can display vendor actions in addition to the customer’s actions. Another example might be that we offer different services depending on the type of customer that is recognized. With dynamic captions, we can better tailor the smart tag menus to the presented information.
Smart Tag Customization
In Office 2003, smart tags now share a consistent way for users to access custom settings. Figure 2 shows the smart tag configuration dialog box:
Figure 2. Smart tag configuration dialog box
Using the PropertyPage property in the smart tag action class, you can indicate if your smart tag supports customization. If a smart tag supports customization, the Properties button is enabled (as shown in Figure 2); otherwise it is disabled. If the user clicks the Properties button for your smart tag, the DisplayPropertyPage method is called. At this point, the smart tag API does not specify how your smart tag is customized. You may use a form or some other method.
On the surface, this feature seems rather trivial, but it is not. It is important to provide users with a consistent entry point to customize all smart tags.
Other Features
The features presented so far are only a snapshot of the overall list of smart tag enhancements. When Office 2003 ships, we can expect to see some other interesting goodies. For example:
The ability to control which Microsoft Office Smart Tag List (MOSTL) XML-based smart tags are enabled or disabled.
MOSTL XML adds support for regular expression and context-free grammar recognition. This should simplify recognizing simple and complex patterns of text.
Smart documents, which complement smart tags, include a new technology that simplifies securely installing smart tag DLLs, Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, and other files that extend Office. This will simplify deploying smart tags to the desktop and keeping them up to date.
Some smart tags should only be valid for a certain period of time, and with Office 2003, smart tags can be marked to expire on a certain date.
Temporary smart tags are smart tags that are not saved with the document but are active when the document is open. This ensures that private information is not forwarded with a document.
The smart tag Recognize method now has a new parameter that passes in the application name. There are times when you want to change the behavior of recognition depending on the application in use. This new parameter makes the recognition more reliable.
Most developers new to smart tags have found it challenging to figure out how to efficiently parse text in documents to identify recognized terms. The Recognize2 method now sports an ISmartTagTokenList object. This object breaks down the text sent to the Recognize2 method into individual words. This object will greatly simplify text-parsing code for new developers. Even so, experienced smart tag developers will find this a welcome enhancement.
The Word smart tag object model is extended to improve compatibility with the Excel smart tag object model. These extensions allow for firing a smart tag action and enabling and disabling recognizers.
This provides an interesting option for working with smart tags in Microsoft Word. It’s also possible to use the new XML features of Word to insert the necessary XML that turns text into a smart tag. This is a truly compelling scenario for any company that produces reports or auto-generates documents. Because these documents are being generated (repeatedly) from known data with an XML structure, it’s a simple and logical step to provide smart tag actions for this XML structure. It’s assumed that the users will frequently use these reports/documents, so it’s a perfect scenario to give them smart tag actions to take the next steps, which are actions they would normally do with this data.
Consider a company that publishes research data. The information they publish as XML can embed XML smart tag markup that allows people to access the next level of data through the actions of the smart tag. Or, if their data is surfaced in the research task pane (see the March 2003 Office Talk column for more information on the Research library), when someone inserts a chunk of that data into a document, it can be tagged with an XML tag. When someone else opens that document without the research task pane, they would have access to that smart tag to get back to more research data or to bring up the original source entry in the task pane.
Basically, the key value of this scenario is that we know what the terms inserted into a document mean at the time they are being inserted. So, why not intelligently mark them as smart tags, thus bringing additional benefits to the user.
——————————————————————————–
Chris Kunicki works with customers, architects, and engineers to build cool desktop, enterprise and Web applications at OfficeZealot.com. Chris is a long time enthusiast of Office development and has been evangelizing Office as an important platform for building solutions by writing and speaking to users and developers. You can reach him at chris@officezealot.com. Check out his slant on things at http://www.officezealot.com.
Note This month Paul Cornell is moving on to a new position in Microsoft that is closely related to Office solutions development. Although Paul is stepping down as a regular columnist, he may continue to make guest appearances.
The CRIWG 2005 workshop follows the success of the previous international CRIWG events held in Costa Rica (San Carlos), France(Autrans) in 2003, Chile (La Serena) in 2002, Germany (Darmstadt) in 2001, Portugal (Madeira Island) in 2000, Mexico (Cancun) in 1999, Brazil (Buzios) in 1998, Spain (El Escorial) in 1997, Chile (Puerto Varas) in 1996, and Portugal (Lisbon) in 1995. This event is organized in cooperation with the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil.
Welcome
September 25-29, 2005
Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brasil
Check for travel and accomodation information.Registration for CRIWG2005 is open. Cheaper fees until August, 31.
The CRIWG workshops have been motivated by advances in Computer Supported Cooperative Work, and by the need for CSCW to meet the challenges of new application areas. This workshop aims at providing a forum for academic researchers and professionals to exchange their experiences and their ideas about problems and solutions related to the design, development and use of groupware applications. Researchers can report their ideas, models, designs and experiences to CRIWG submitting full paper contributions to present achieved or mature works, and shorter papers to report work in progress. PhD students are invited to present their research in the doctoral colloquium.
It is expected that the workshop will promote a very intensive interaction among those attending it, giving ample time to discuss papers.
Important Dates
CRIWG 2005 Workshop: September 25-29, 2005
Full and Work in Progress Papers
Submission deadline: April 25, 2005
Notification of acceptance: June 14, 2005
Camera ready papers: July 12, 2005
Doctoral Colloquium: September 25, 2005
Submission deadline for doctoral colloquium papers : August 15, 2005
MobileHCI provides a forum for academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges, potential solutions and innovations towards effective interaction with mobile systems and services. It covers the analysis, design, evaluation and application of human-computer interaction techniques and approaches for all mobile computing devices and services.
MobileHCI
The MobileHCI series provides a forum for academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges and potential solutions for effective interaction with mobile systems and services. It covers the design, evaluation and application of techniques and approaches for all mobile and wearable computing devices and services.
This format of associating with a major conference was repeated in 2001 when Mobile HCI 01 was held at the IHM-HCI 2001 conference in Lille, France and again organised by Stephen and Mark.
Following the success of the series, the meeting stepped up a gear to a stand-alone symposium for Mobile HCI 02, which was held in Pisa, Italy, under the symposium chair of Fabio Paternò from I.S.T.I. - C.N.R. Pisa.
In 2003, Luca Chittaro of The University of Udine took over the conference chair for Mobile HCI 03: The Fifth International Symposium on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services held in Udine, Italy.
In 2004, Mark Dunlop and Stephen Brewster hosted the MobileHCI 04: The Sixth International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services at the University of Strathclyde.
In 2005 the conference moves to the University of Salzburg, Austria under the chair of Manfred Tscheligi.
Each year the conference has its own website hosted by the conference chair, however the address www.mobilehci.org will always point to the next (or current) conference.
About DUX2005
ACM SIGCHI, ACM SIGGRAPH, and AIGA are excited to collaborate again in developing the Designing for User eXperience conference (DUX2005). Building on the success of the inaugural 2003 conference, DUX2005 will gather together researchers and practitioners of all the design disciplines and related fields to share their stories and experiences on how the needs and goals of both users and businesses are met through design. Sponsored by three premiere societies, the conference will feature case studies drawn from practitioners around the world, selected through a rigorous peer-review process that emphasizes practical, real-world learning.
The conference will take place at the beautiful Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, CA, from November 3-5. See the Call for Participation section for more details on how to submit.
Tutorials - Thursday, November 3, 2005 Morning Tutorial 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Layers of Experience - Tutorial Leader: Marc Retting Afternoon Tutorials 1:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Whose Line is it Anyway: Innovation, Ethnography, and Improv - Tutorial Leader: Steve Portigal
The ROI of User Experience: Measurement and the Context of UX Practice - Tutorial Leader: Janice Fraser Full Day Tutorials 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Designing for Service - Tutorial Leader: Shelley Evenson
Methodology of Visualization - Tutorial Leader: Mark Baskinger
Designing Story - Tutorial Leaders: Brian Lanahan & Gary Hirsch
“Of all the courses and workshops I’ve attended over the last three years, Adaptive Path’s
are the best! I want all of my colleagues to attend.”
— Esha Bhatia, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
We’ll be heading to Washington, D.C. with Jesse James Garrett, Jeffrey Veen, Lane Becker, Janice Fraser, Peter Merholz, along with guest presenters Jared Spool, Marc Rettig, Nate Bolt, and others.
Agenda Day 1, Monday, August 22nd
To attend Day 1, please register for a Full-Week Pass.
Single-Day Registration for Day 1 is sold out. A Whole New Internet
Time Activity
9:00-9:45am Introduction to A Whole New Internet
Janice Fraser, CEO, Adaptive Path
Ten years ago, Netscape’s IPO indicated the launch of the internet into mainstream culture. The subsequent boom was followed by a harrowing bust, where companies retrenched and avoided risk. But change is in the air, as companies and individuals return to the internet’s original promise and develop products that truly improve our users’ experiences.
9:45-11:00am Introduction to Ajax/New Web Technology
Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy, Adaptive Path
When Jesse wrote his essay describing the suite of new web technologies he termed Ajax, we had no idea that this idea would take the internet by storm. It’s been covered by everything from CNET to the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, the discussion focuses on the technology. In this talk, Jesse will describe the current state of new web technologies, and their implications on design.
11:00-11:30am Break
11:30am-12:30pm Flickr Case Study
Eric Costello, Ludicorp/Yahoo!
The photo-sharing site Flickr has emerged as one of the most influential of the new breed of Web applications. Countless small-scale projects and major online offerings alike have been inspired by elements of Flickr’s design. In this case study, Flickr interface developer Eric Costello takes you inside Ludicorp’s design process to see the thinking that went into the creation of Flickr’s innovative interface.
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-2:15pm Mass Amateurization
Jeff Veen, Director of Product Design, Adaptive Path
Blogs, wikis, social software, RSS, open APIs and more are leading to placing the tools of content, and even application, generation in the hands of your users. What does the mass amateurization mean for your organization? In this session, Jeff will discuss the mass amateurization landscape, and its implications for enterprises of all sizes.
2:15-3:00pm What the Whole New Internet Means for Business
Janice Fraser, CEO, Adaptive Path
The technologies of the “whole new internet” will drastically affect how you do business – from changing the look and feel of your web presence to impacting your knowledge management solutions and intranet. Within two years, businesses who don’t adapt will be left behind. Janice will discuss how these groundbreaking and exciting new technologies should fit into your two- and five-year web development and business plans.
3:00-3:30pm Break
3:30-5:00pm Ajax Case Study
Jeff Veen, Director of Product Design, Adaptive Path
Adaptive Path has been working on a variety of projects that utilize the capabilities in the Whole New Internet. Jeff will walk through a case study of how he built a product based on these philosophies in this session.
5:30pm Cocktails at location TBD
Day 2, Tuesday, August 23rd Content and Information Architecture
Time Activity
9:00-9:10am Introduction to Information Architecture
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
9:10-9:30am The IA of Everyday Things
Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy, Adaptive Path
Jesse shows us the information architecture all around us – and how it can help us in our work.
9:30-10:30am Brand Driven Information Architecture
Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy, Adaptive Path
Jesse explains the similarities between brand positioning and information architecture, and how one benefits from the other.
10:30-11:00am Break
Content Strategy and Effectiveness
11:00am-12:30pm Content Architecture
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
When your users approach you, what they are there for can be summarized in four words: “It’s the content, stupid.” A well-built structure is meaningless without good content. Sadly, content crafting and presentation never gets its due in typical user experience processes. We’ll address that by providing frameworks for thinking through the design of content for optimal understanding, use, and effectiveness.
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3:00pm WellsFargo.com Case Study
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
Melanie Arens, Senior Information Architect, Wells Fargo
In 2003, Adaptive Path performed an extensive content strategy project for WellsFargo.com, interviewing nineteen people about their content needs when researching financial products and services. The research led to a series of models, metrics, and recommendations for the website. In the ensuing two years, Wells Fargo has taken this work and rolled it into a Content Effectiveness Program. Melanie Arens from Wells Fargo will explain how the content strategy work has evolved in the organization.
3:00-3:30pm Break
3:30-4:00pm WellsFargo.com Case Study continued
Future of IA
4:00-4:30pm Algorithmic IA
Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy, Adaptive Path
Increasingly, we’re seeing website information architectures evolve as they adapt to the use of their users. Jesse will describe the underpinnings of such systems.
4:30-5:00pm Metadata for the Masses
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
A lot of buzz has been generated on the topic of user-generated tagging and folksonomy. How can your organization take advantage of your users’ ability to tag content in a way that’s meaningful to them? We’ll discuss strategies for marrying this bottom-up approach with more standard classifications.
5:30pm Cocktails at location TBD
Day 3, Wednesday, August 24th
New User Research Methods
Time Activity
9:00-9:30am Adapting Research Methods to the Web
Lane Becker, Director of Professional Services, Adaptive Path
When people think of user research on the Web, they usually think of post-design usability testing. But there’s a lot more to it. Though usability is a tried-and-true research practice for software development, Web development differs from traditional application development, and new approaches to provide a much richer range of research about a site’s users, by taking advantage of the networked environment.
9:30-10:30am Remote User Research: National Gallery of Art
Lane Becker, Director of Professional Services, Adaptive Path
Nate Bolt, Bolt Peters
Typical usability practices are insufficient for truly understanding visitors’ experiences with networked products and services. Having users come into a lab and run through a pre-determined set of tasks might have been fine when testing software 20 years ago, but it doesn’t address the reality of context and content that are essential to the user experience today.
A new method for truly appreciating your visitors experience is remote usability. Through a form of web conferencing, you observe actual visitors to your website, “following” them around as they attempt to get things done. Since the visitor is in their natural environment (home or office), engaging in a passionate task, you get a truer impression of their experience.
In this session, we’ll be joined by Nate Bolt, who worked with us on conducting remote usability for the National Gallery of Art. We’ll walk you through the process, and make it clear how you can begin using this innovative approach the moment you return to your office.
10:30-11:00am Break
11:00am-12:30pm Princess Cruises: Research Findings
Lane Becker, Director of Professional Services, Adaptive Path
Andy Crow, Princess Cruises
Adaptive Path is known for its rigorous task analysis and mental model process, which allows deep customer insight to drive strategy and design. However, many organizations don’t often have the time or resources to engage in such deep work.
In this discussion, we’ll present a case study of a more expedient approach to analyzing customer data, and how it worked for Princess Cruises. We will also share with you a new approach for presenting research findings, the Vision Prototype. Though they look like wireframes, they’re designed to capture the essence of the research in such a way as to help people see its design implications.
The discussion will end with Andy Crow from Princess talking about how they were able to take the research and extend it throughout their organization.
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3:00pm Jared’s Method
Jared M. Spool, User Interface Engineering
Jared Spool probably needs no introduction. The principal researcher at User Interface Engineering, Jared has been watching how people use technology for more than 15 years. Recently, he’s extended standard usability methods to capture a deeper and wider variety of interesting detail about customer’s experiences.
In this discussion, Jared will present his new approaches for uncovering user’s needs, desires, and capabilities, and he’ll talk about how to get these approaches inside your organizations.
3:00-3:30pm Break
3:30-4:15pm Field Research - Strategies for Achieving It
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy, Adaptive Path
As the products we work on become more integrated in our users’ lives, it’s increasingly important to deeply understand the contexts of use. The best way to do is with field research – going out to where your users are and observing them.
However, for many teams, field research is a distant dream. We’ll discuss strategies for selling and conducting field research.
4:15-5:00pm Documenting Research
Peter Merholz, Director of Practice Development, Adaptive Path
Lane Becker, Director of Professional Services, Adaptive Path
One of the biggest challenges we face in our research is sharing our findings and recommendations with others. How do we help them understand what we saw, and appreciate what needs to change? Peter and Lane will provide guidelines for presenting research findings so that they have the appropriate impact in your organization.
Day 4, Thursday, August 25th
Time Activity
9:00-9:30am Intro to Web 2010
We look back over the prior three days, and discuss their implications for the future. What will the Web look like? How will it be integrated with other parts of the user experience? How will technology help and hinder us?
9:30-10:30am Designing for Experience: Frameworks and Project Stories
Marc Rettig, Founder, Fit Associates
This talk is intended to show what it really looks like when a team designs and builds for human experience. Marc will share frameworks and stories from projects that took a broad view of “experience,” effecting interfaces, systems, environments, training, and communication. These stories illustrate how good research was translated into good designs, which enabled pleasant experiences for the people who use those designs. Along the way he will show actual work artifacts, taking time to suggest how they could be generalized for use by any team.
Among the projects Marc discusses are: discovering opportunities for improving experiences in the household, medical software that became both a learning aid and a communication tool, and a redesign of the entire human interface to a public library (featuring special guest Aradhana Goel of MAYA Design, a member of the library project team).
10:30-11:00am Break
11:00am-12:30pm Designing for Experience: Frameworks and Project Stories
continued
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm Field Trip!
You can’t possibly spend an entire week sitting in a workshop. Last year’s curator-led tour was such a hit, we’re heading back for more. We’ve made arrangements for a private tour of the National Building Museum. (Museum entry is on us!)
Featuring 16 paper presentations: almost one-sixth of the total selected, and a particularly prolific complement of studies from its Asia lab, Microsoft Research was a key player during SIGGRAPH 2005, the 32nd International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, which ran from July 31 through Aug. 4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
George Lucas, world-renowned director, producer, and screenwriter, provided the Aug. 1 keynote address for SIGGRAPH, the world’s leading computer-graphics conference.
Hugues Hoppe, a Microsoft Research senior researcher who in 2004 was named the recipient of the Computer Graphics Achievement Award, served as chair for the Aug. 2 session on “meshes,” a method for representing the underlying geometry of three-dimensional images.
Nine of the 16 Microsoft Research papers accepted for presentation during SIGGRAPH 2005 came from Microsoft Research Asia. Eleven of the 16 represented collaborations with universities from around the world, including Zhejiang University, the University of Oslo, Technion (the Israel Institute of Technology), Harvard University, the University of Washington, Tsinghua University, Yale University, Nankai University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, National Taiwan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology, and the California Institute of Technology.
Papers presented during SIGGRAPH 2005 that included participation by Microsoft Research:
Large Mesh Deformation Using the Volumetric Graph Laplacian: Kun Zhou (Microsoft Research Asia), Jin Huang (Zhejiang University), John Snyder (Microsoft Research), Xinguo Liu (Microsoft Research Asia), Hujun Bao (Zhejiang University), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Mesh Manipulation, Aug. 1, 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Fast Exact and Approximate Geodesics on Meshes: Vitaly Surazhsky (University of Oslo and Technion), Tatiana Surazhsky (University of Oslo and Technion), Danil Kirsanov (Harvard University), Steven J. Gortler (Harvard University), Hugues Hoppe (Microsoft Research). Session: Meshes I, Aug. 1, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Interactive Video Cutout: Jue Wang (University of Washington), Pravin Bhat (University of Washington), Alex Colburn (Microsoft Research), Maneesh Agrawala (Microsoft Research), Michael F. Cohen (Microsoft Research). Session: Video & Image Matting, Aug. 1, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Video Object Cut and Paste: Yin Li (Microsoft Research Asia), Jian Sun (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Video & Image Matting, Aug. 1, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Real-Time Rendering of Plant Leaves: Lifeng Wang (Microsoft Research Asia), Wenle Wang (Tsinghua University), Julie Dorsey (Yale University), Xu Yang (Nankai University), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Plants, Aug. 2, 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Parallel Controllable Texture Synthesis: Sylvain Lefebvre (Microsoft Research), Hugues Hoppe (Microsoft Research). Session: Texture Synthesis, Aug. 2, 1:45-3:30 p.m.
Modeling Hair from Multiple Views: Yichen Wei (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Eyal Ofek (Microsoft Research Asia), Long Quan (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Capturing Reality II, Aug. 2, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Panoramic Video Textures: Aseem Agarwala (University of Washington), Ke Colin Zheng (University of Washington), Chris Pal (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Maneesh Agrawala (Microsoft Research), Michael F. Cohen (Microsoft Research), Brian Curless (University of Washington), David H. Salesin (University of Washington and Microsoft Research), Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research). Session: Capturing Reality II, Aug. 2, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Animating Pictures with Stochastic Motion Textures: Yung-Yu Chuang (National Taiwan University), Daniel B. Goldman (University of Washington), Ke Colin Zheng (University of Washington), Brian Curless (University of Washington), David H. Salesin (University of Washington and Microsoft Research), Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research). Session: Image Processing, Aug. 3, 8:30-10:15 a.m.
Image Completion with Structure Propagation: Jian Sun (Microsoft Research Asia), Lu Yuan (Tsinghua University), Jiaya Jia (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Image Processing, Aug. 3, 8:30-10:15 a.m.
Resolution-Independent Curve Rendering Using Programmable Graphics Hardware: Charles Loop (Microsoft Research), Jim Blinn (Microsoft Research). Session: Geometry on GPUs, Aug. 4. 8:30-10:15 a.m.
Modeling and Rendering of Quasi-Homogeneous Materials: Xin Tong (Microsoft Research Asia), Jiaping Wang (Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Steve Lin (Microsoft Research Asia), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Transparency & Translucency, Aug. 4, 8:30-10:15 a.m.
Visual Simulation of Weathering by Gamma-Ton Tracing: Yanyun Chen (Microsoft Research Asia), Lin Xia (Zhejiang University), Tien Tsin Wong (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Xin Tong (Microsoft Research Asia), Hujun Bao (Zhejiang University), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Appearance & Illumination, Aug. 4, 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
TextureMontage: Seamless Texturing of Arbitrary Surfaces from Multiple Images: Kun Zhou (Microsoft Research Asia), Xi Wang (Microsoft Research Asia), Yiying Tong (California Institute of Technology), Mathieu Desbrun (California Institute of Technology), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Shape & Texture, Aug. 4, 1:45-3:30 p.m.
Precomputed Shadow Fields for Dynamic Scenes: Kun Zhou (Microsoft Research Asia), Yaohua Hu (Microsoft Research Asia), Steve Lin (Microsoft Research Asia), Baining Guo (Microsoft Research Asia), Harry Shum (Microsoft Research Asia). Session: Precomputed Light Transport, Aug. 4, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
Local, Deformable Precomputed Radiance Transfer: Peter-Pike Sloan (Microsoft), Ben Luna (Microsoft), John Snyder (Microsoft Research). Session: Precomputed Light Transport, Aug. 4, 3:45-5:30 p.m.
User Experience 2005 Conference
Six days of in-depth training, with the same program in both cities. Come for as few or as many days as you want.
Learn
Industry leaders offer thirty-three full-day tutorials on everything from must-know usability basics to advanced methods in testing and design. Highlights include:
·A new session on content management for intranets and websites
·The leaders of eBay’s user experience and creative design departments present a detailed case study of multi-disciplinary design collaboration
·How design patterns can increase usability
·How to quantify Web usability
·New research on wish lists and gift-giving in e-commerce
Improve
Every day offers a variety of full-day seminars. There are no “tracks.” Choose freely from all of the following categories:
·Introduction. From fundamental guidelines for Web usability, to interaction design.
·Fundamentals. Learn about everything from information architecture and content usability to rapid iterative design and using Web metrics.
·Advanced. Hone your expert review, cross-product design, and other specialized usability skills.
·Specialized Topics. Sessions include advanced CSS skills, essentials for intranet usability and search, and designing Web-based applications.
And More…
In addition to practical knowledge and big-picture insights, UE 2005 offers:
·Networking opportunities. Throughout the event, you’ll have ample opportunity to connect with top professionals from across the usability spectrum.
·Offsite adventures. Located in the heart of world-class cities, UE offers you an array of options for offsite networking and fun.
And, at UE 2005, you pay only for the tutorials you need. The more sessions you attend, the deeper the discount. Early-bird rates will save you even more, so sign up early.
课程简介： 课程1：可用性测试入门（ Introduction to Usability Testing） Daniel Szuc先生主讲
该课程讲述应用可用性提高网站及其他产品设计所带来的商业利益，重点分析由于没有在项目计划中包含可用性所付出的代价，和在以用户为中心的设计方法上的投入所产生的回报。 课程2：信息架构（ Information Architecture） Gerry Gaffney先生主讲
该课程讲述如何把网站或内部网上的信息结构化使之既易于维护又易于用户查找。虽然课程的重点是放在网站信息处理上，但是所运用的原则同样适用于其他信息系统。
UPA China: Usability Training in Shanghai, 20-21 August 2005
Web: http://www.upachina.org/training UPA China welcomes Daniel Szuc (Hong Kong) and Gerry Gaffney (Australia) to Shanghai to run Usability Workshops over 2 days from 20-21 August 2005
Course 1 - Introduction to Usability Testing - Daniel Szuc
This course looks at the business benefits of usability in improving web sites and other products. It is focused on the costs of not including usability in project planning and the return on the investment in user-centered design.
Course 2 - Information Architecture - Gerry Gaffney
Structuring information for use - Learn how to structure information for use on web sites or intranets. This course is intended for people involved in structuring information for ease of maintenance and retrieval. While we will focus on websites, the principles are applicable to information systems in general.
Discounts:
* Day 1 & 2 - RMB2500
* 10% discount if you register before 12 August 2005
* 10% discount for UPA China members
We look forward to seeing you in Shanghai.
SIGGRAPH 2005 will bring nearly 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles for the week-long conference, 31 July-4 August. A comprehensive technical program and special events focusing on research, art, animation, games, interactivity, and the web are planned. SIGGRAPH 2005 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services for the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 2-4 August 2005.
SIGGRAPH 2005 runs from 31st July to 4th August 2005 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
SIGGRAPH 2005 will bring nearly 30,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles for the week-long conference, 31 July-4 August. A comprehensive technical program and special events focusing on research, art, animation, games, interactivity, and the web are planned. SIGGRAPH 2005 includes a three-day exhibition of products and services for the computer graphics and interactive marketplace from 2-4 August 2005.
Some of the more frequently updated parts of the wiki are likely to be parties and Birds of a Feather (aka BOFs).
Here’s what’s happening:
PRESENTATIONS
Courses
Educators Program
Exhibitor Tech Talks
Keynote Address/Awards
Panels
Papers
Posters
Sketches
Special Events
Special Sessions
Web Program
EXPERIENCES
Art Gallery
Computer Animation Festival
Emerging Technologies
Guerilla Studio
Reception
SERVICES
Birds of a Feather
Get Involved
GraphicsNet
International Resources
Job Fair
Pathfinders
The conference Final Program is available in PDF format. 详细的Workshop 以及课程设置见这里，而具体的tutorials也将在近日向大家公布，方便大家交流学习。
Registration
On-line registration through the Conference Management System is now closed.
Conference Registration, as well as purchase of additional items such as tutorials, journals, etc., will be available on site at the Conference Secretariat.
Registration hours during the Conference
Conference Registration takes place at the Conference Secretariat, where Conference participants can pick up their badges and Conference matterial, during the following hours:
Thursday, July 21 16:00 - 19:00
Friday, July 22 07:30 - 17:00
Saturday, July 23 07:30 - 17:00
Sunday, July 24 07:30 - 17:00
Monday, July 25 07:30 - 18:00
Tuesday, July 26 07:30 - 18:00
Wednesday, July 27 07:30 - 18:00
Registration fees
Summary of Registration Fees per participant category and registration date Early: Before 27 Jan 2005 Mid: 28 Jan - 20 May 2005 After 20 May 2005
Best Deal 1 $1740 $1940 $2150
Discounted fee 2 $495 $575 $685
Additional fee if NO discount applies $100 $100 $100
Student fee 3 $285 $335 $385
Full Day Tutorial $495 $545 $585
Half Day Tutorial $255 $275 $295
Student fee for Full Day Tutorial 3 $245 $265 $295
Student fee for Half DayTutorial 3 $135 $135 $165
Exhibition $1095 $1295 $1495
The Conference registration fee includes participation in all open technical sessions (SIGs & Parallel Paper Presentations - except Tutorials), refreshment breaks, Conference proceedings, and one ticket for the Welcome Gala Reception.
Note 1 Get a Free Half Day Tutorial with Best Deal Registration.
This package includes conference registration and your choice of any combination of three full day equivalent tutorials on Friday, July 22, through Sunday, July 24, 2005. Your savings is equal to the cost of one half day tutorial.
Note 2. All invited session organizers, invited presenters, presenters, chairs, board members, members of cooperating or sponsoring organizations, SIG organizers and participants receive this discounted registration fee. A supplemental registration fee of 100 US dollars is added, if you are not eligible for the discounted registration fee.
Note 3. An official letter or other formal document confirming current full-time student status must be provided upon registration.
Optional items available through the on-line Registration Form
Miscellaneous
Extra Reception tickets $65
Jubilee! Backstage Tour $48
Grand Canyon Scenic Flight $127
Souvenir T-Shirt $18
Journals
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction $72
International Journal of Universal Access in the Information Society $69
Cancellation Policy
All cancellations received in writing by April 15, 2005 will be fully refunded, less 10% of the total registration which will be deducted for administrative expenses. One-half of the registration will be refunded for cancellations received in writing between April 16-June 15, 2005. No refunds will be made after June 15, 2005.
For any information regarding the registration process please contact the Conference Registration Chair:
Nancy Lightner
HCII2005 Registration Chair
109 Old Hall Road
Irmo, SC 29063-9277 USA
Blog 
