steven strachan

Steven Strachan

Contact Address: Hamilton Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co.Kildare, Ireland
Mobile: +353(0)85 7078295
Office: +353(0)1 7084534
Fax: +353 (0)1 7086269
Email: steven.strachan@nuim.ie
Home page: www.hamilton.ie/steven
Place of Birth: Scotland
Date of Birth: 17/November/1980

Education

PhD in Computing Science - Hamilton Institute, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland, November 2003 - January 2007

Thesis: Multimodal, Embodied and Location-Aware Interaction
Abstract: This work demonstrates the development of mobile, location-aware, eyes-free applications which utilise multiple sensors for the design of a continuous, rich and embodied interaction. We bring together ideas from the fields of gesture recognition, continuous multimodal interaction via novel input devices, human modelling, dynamic methods, pattern recognition, probability theory and audio interfaces to design and develop location-aware applications and embodied interaction in both a small-scale, egocentric body-based case and a large-scale, exocentric `world-based' case.

BodySpace is a gesture-based application for mobile devices, which utilises multiple sensors and pattern recognition to enable the human body to be used as the interface for an application. As an example, the development of a gesture controlled music player is described, which functions by placing the device at different parts of the body. A new approach to the segmentation and recognition of gestures for this kind of application is demonstrated and it is shown how the use of simulated physical model-based interaction techniques for feedback and the use of real world constraints can shape the gestural interaction in a natural manner.

GpsTunes is a mobile, GPS-based multimodal navigation system equipped with inertial control that enables users to actively explore and navigate through information in a hybrid pysical/virtual space, incorporating and displaying the uncertainty resulting from inaccurate sensing and unknown user intentions. The system propagates uncertainty appropriately via Monte Carlo sampling and output is displayed both visually and in audio. The use of uncertain prediction in the real world is demonstrated and it is shown that appropriate display of the full distribution of potential future user positions with respect to sites-of-interest can improve the quality of interaction over a simplistic interpretation of the sensed data that takes no account of real-world uncertainties.
Thesis Advisor: Prof. Roderick Murray Smith.

Msc Information Technology - Department Of Computer Science, University Of Glasgow, Scotland, September 2002 - September 2003

This taught masters introduced me to the formal side of computer science including systems analysis and design, algorithms and data structures, operating systems and networked computer systems. The Msc project was a 3 month project conducted with the GIST group within the Department Of Computing Science at the University Of Glasgow under the supervision of Prof. Roderick Murray-Smith.

Thesis: Gesture Map: A gesture based map drawing program
Abstract:Gesture Recognition is one candidate in the search for a more natural, less obtrusive human-computer interaction technique. This project describes the implementation and characterisation of a simple gesture-based map drawing application. A gesture recognition algorithm is implemented with a general architecture and user interface constructed around this. An evaluation of both the accuracy of the classification algorithm and the general usability of the interface is given, which indicates that the Gesture-Map application constructed was both accurate and very usable.pdf

Bsc (Hons) Astro/Physics - Department Of Physics and Astronomy, University Of Glasgow, Scotland, September 1998 - June 2002

Conducted my final year project with the Experimental Particle Physics research group within the physics department at the University Of Glasgow. This project involved the characterisation of some specific properties of the medipix single photon counting chip and the writing of a program in C for use by people within the group.

Research/Experience

December 2003 - present, Hamilton Institute hamilton institute
I am a full-time Postdoctoral researcher at the Hamilton Institute where I pursued my Phd degree (from December 2003 - January 2007). The Hamilton Institute is a multi-disciplinary research centre formally established at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth in November 2001. The Institute seeks to provide a bridge between mathematics and its applications in ICT and biology. My thesis is based primarily on continuous gestural interaction and location aware computing with mobile devices equipped with multiple sensors. In my thesis I attempt to draw together different ideas from gesture recognition, continuous interaction via novel input devices, human modelling and location aware computing. This has all been developed and implemented using Visual C++, Embedded Visual C++, OpenGL, FMOD, GAPI, and operating systems such as Windows XP and Win CE on pocket PC's.

November 2003 - January 2005, Media Lab Europe Media Lab Europe
As my PhD project was officially a collaboration between the Hamilton Institute and Media Lab Europe I was required to spend part of my time working with researchers at Media Lab. Media Lab Europe was the European partner of the MIT Media Lab based in Dublin, Ireland. It was a multi-disciplinary research centre bringing together scientists, engineers and artists from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures and nationalities to create new technologies and explore new applications. This provided me with the opportunity gain invaluable experience working along side and sharing ideas with researchers from diverse design, arts and human-computer interaction backgrounds.

Contributions

  • R. Murray-Smith, S. Strachan, "Rotational Dynamics for Design of Bidirectional Feedback during Manual Interaction.", Fun and Games, Second International Conference, Markopoulos, P. Ruyter, B.D. Ijsselsteijn, W. Rowland, D. (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 5294, p1-10, 2008.pdf

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "GeoPoke: Rotational Mechanical Systems Metaphor for Embodied Geosocial Interaction", NordiCHI 2008: Using Bridges, 18-22 October, Lund, Sweden, 2008. pdf

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "Bearing-based selection in Mobile Spatial Interaction" Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Vol. 13, No. 4, 2009.pdf

  • R. Murray-Smith, J. Williamson, S. Hughes, T. Quaade and S. Strachan, "Rub the Stane", Extended abstracts of ACM SIGCHI 2008 , Florence, Italy 2008. pdf

  • S. Strachan, J. Williamson, R. Murray-Smith, "Show me the way to Monte Carlo: density-based trajectory navigation", Proceedings of ACM SIG CHI Conference, San Jose, 2007. pdf

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, S. O'Modhrain, "BodySpace: inferring body pose for natural control of a music player", Extended abstracts of ACM SIG CHI Conference, San Jose, 2007. pdf

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "airMessages: embodied, location-aware interaction", CHI 2007 Workshop on Mobile Spatial Interaction, San Jose, April 28th, 2007.

  • J. Williamson, S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "Its a long way to Monte Carlo: Probabilistic display in GPS navigation", Proceedings of Mobile HCI 2006, Helsinki, 2006. pdf

  • S. Strachan, P. Eslambolchilar, R. Murray-Smith, S. Hughes, S. O'Modhrain, "gpsTunes - controlling navigation via audio feedback", Mobile HCI 2005. pdf

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "BodySpace: Multi-Modal Interation with Mobile Devices", 2nd Joint Workshop in Multimodal Interaction and Related Machine Learning Algorithms, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, UK, July 2005. pdf,poster

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, "Muscle Tremor as an Input Mechanism", UIST 2004, Santa Fe, 2004. pdf video

  • S. Strachan, R. Murray-Smith, I. Oakley, J. Ängeslevä,"Dynamic Primitives for Gestural Interaction", Mobile Human-Computer Interaction – MobileHCI 2004: 6th International Symposium, Glasgow, UK, September 13-16, 2004. Proceedings. Stephen Brewster, Mark Dunlop (Eds), LNCS 3160, Springer-Verlag, p325-330, 2004. pdf Springerlink

Presentations

  • "Programming for Mobile Devices", Bridging the Global Digital Divide Workshop, Loughborough, UK, 27th November, 2007

  • "Haptic Mobile Interfaces", Enterprise Ireland: South Korea Telecom, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 8th Aug, 2007

  • "Dynamics and Mobile Interaction", WebCamp: Emerging Mobile Internet, University College Dublin, 17th May, 2007

  • "Show me the way to Monte Carlo: density-based trajectory navigation", ACM SIG CHI Conference, San Jose, 2007.

  • "BodySpace: inferring body pose for natural control of a music player", ACM SIG CHI Conference, San Jose, 2007.

  • "airMessages: embodied, location-aware interaction", CHI 2007 Workshop on Mobile Spatial Interaction, San Jose, April 28th, 2007.

  • "Dynamics and Interaction for Automotive Applications", Enterprise Ireland: CEL, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, 4th April, 2007

  • "Its a long way to Monte Carlo: Probabilistic display in GPS navigation", Mobile HCI 2006, Helsinki.

  • "gpsTunes - controlling navigation via audio feedback", Mobile HCI 2005, Salzburg.

  • "BodySpace: Multi-Modal Interation with Mobile Devices", 2nd Joint Workshop in Multimodal Interaction and Related Machine Learning Algorithms, Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, UK, July 2005.

  • "Muscle Tremor as an Input Mechanism", UIST 2004, Santa Fe.

  • "Dynamic Primitives for Gestural Interaction presented at Mobile Human-Computer Interaction", Mobile HCI 2004, Glasgow

Research Interests

  • Human-Computer Interaction (man-machine interfaces)
  • Applied manual control theory, dynamics and modelling in HCI
  • Gesture recognition
  • Multimodal User Interfaces
  • Auditory interfaces (Sonification)
  • Location-Aware Computing and Interaction
  • Mobile Spatial Interaction

References

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