Our last session of the season will begin with our Annual General Meeting in which we briefly reviewed the activities and finances from this year, and make plans for next year (including election to the Officers). CapCHI is looking for new volunteers! We need people to recruit interesting speakers, organize events, and even shop for cookies. If you want to get involved, come to this meeting and/or send email to andrew@capchi.org.

The Design Challenge is a special event in which 3 or 4 design teams work for a short time on an interaction design challenge in real time, in a competitive and fun format. It provides the participating teams with the opportunity to contribute to the CapCHI community, as well as an opportunity to show off their design process and skills in an event that is sure to draw a big audience and generate a buzz! The session will be entertaining and educational, demonstrating ‘live’ some of the less tangible aspects of team design processes, as well as the more formal elements. For more information on the Design Challenge, contact michelle@capchi.org

When and Where:

This event will take place on Thursday, June 24, 6:00pm at The Clocktower Brew Pub, 575 Bank Street (just south of the Queensway/Hwy 417), in the downstairs room.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required.

Who:

CapCHI is a social and professional society of people who work as user interface designers, researchers, educators, software developers, web designers, graphic designers and human factors engineers in and around Canada’s National Capital Region. Founded in 1991, CapCHI’s goal is to bring together local professionals interested in how humans and computers interact, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

CHIlights will feature highlights from the CHI 2010 conference and other conferences. Members from the CapCHI community will present their own personal views of recent HCI-related conferences, including highlights, lowlights, trends, observations and photos.

CHIstuds will feature brief presentations highlighting student projects and research from the past year. Speakers will include Elizabeth Stobert, a recipient of our Student Research Travel Supplement. The speakers for this evening will be as follows…

• Alain Forget: Shoulder-Surfing Resistance with Eye-Gaze Entry in Click-Based Graphical Passwords
• Aren Hunter: Recovering Dynamic Objects after Interruptions
• Stephanie Pineau: Visual Attributes Contributing to Web Page Appeal
• Patrick Noonan: Deriving User Requirements for an CBRNE Emergency Support System
• Elizabeth Stobert: Usability and Strength in Click-based Graphical Passwords

When and Where:

This event will take place on Tuesday, May 18, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

Who:

CapCHI is a social and professional society of people who work as user interface designers, researchers, educators, software developers, web designers, graphic designers and human factors engineers in and around Canada’s National Capital Region. Founded in 1991, CapCHI’s goal is to bring together local professionals interested in how humans and computers interact, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

The Student Research Competition is a forum for undergraduates and graduate students to share their research results, exchange ideas, and improve their communication skills while competing for prizes at CHI 2010.

Students submit a short (6 pages max.) paper describing their research. Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of experts, and evaluated based on

• Quality of work
• Novelty of approach
• Significance of the contribution to the field of HCI
• Clarity of written presentation

Up to twenty-five students (15 undergraduate and 10 graduate) will be chosen to participate in the competition at CHI 2008.

Students accepted to the competition are entitled to a travel grant covering expenses for travel to CHI, including conference registration, transportation, lodging, and meals, up to a limit of US$500. Students must be members of ACM to qualify for these awards.

For any Ottawa-area students who are chosen to participate in the competition in Atlanta, CapCHI will award and additional CAN$500 travel grant (one student per paper) towards incurred expenses.

At the CHI 2010 conference, students will be competing for cash prices of US$500, US$300, and US$200 for first, second, and third place (separate categories for undergraduate and graduate students).

More information on the competition can be found at

http://www.chi2010.org/authors/cfp-src.html

Abstract:
Even before Microsoft announced the Surface system in 2007, the Human-Computer Interaction community was actively researching digital tabletop technologies since Pierre Wellner proposed the DigitalDesk in 1991. Yet only very recent and emerging hardware and software advances have begun to make digital tabletops a feasible technology for real-world markets. Innovations in operating systems (e.g. Microsoft 7), development environments (e.g. Windows Presentation Foundation), and input technologies (e.g. FTIR and TouchCo “multitouch” technologies) are enabling a move beyond proof-of-concept tabletop systems, beyond demonstrations of simple applications that show new interface metaphors and interaction techniques for manipulating and sharing digital photos. Though we are still a few years away from consumer-grade interactive tabletop systems being sold at Best Buy, more specialized markets are emerging and early-adopter markets are on the horizon. This talk will overview some of the digital tabletop research being conducted in the Collaborative Systems Laboratory at the University of Waterloo in two specific application areas: military command and control operations, and digital board gaming.

Speaker Bio:
Stacey D. Scott, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Human Systems Engineering in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, Canada. Dr. Scott received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (specializing in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaboration) from the University of Calgary in 2005. She received her B.Sc. in Computing Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) in 1997. She completed two years of postdoctoral studies in the Humans and Automation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) from 2005-2007, where she developed awareness technologies to facilitate collaborative decision-making in time-critical military command and control operations. Dr. Scott’s graduate research focused on understanding collaborative tabletop work practices with traditional media and developing interface design requirements for digital tabletop platforms. She is now combining this previous
theoretical and high-level requirements work with the applied research experience gained in her postdoc to pursue the development of digital tabletop systems that support real-world collaboration in complex task domains. In general, her research interests include computer-supported collaboration, large-screen displays, interface and interaction design, and information visualization.

When and Where:

This event will take place on Tuesday Dec 15th, 2009, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

Date: Tuesday Nov. 17, 2009
Time: 6:00pm
Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa

Abstract
Secure socket layer (SSL) certificates have been deployed to provide security for web-based transactions, which allow information to be transmitted securely as well as provide information about the party a user is transacting with. There has been a loss of confidence in the security provided by SSL certificates and browser interfaces in the face of various attacks. As one response, Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates have been proposed, which are intended to restore confidence among users that a website operator is legitimate. Unfortunately, EV SSL certificates may complicate the already difficult design challenge of effectively conveying certificate information to the average user. This talk describes a user study that explored the interfaces related to SSL certificates in the most widely deployed browser (Internet Explorer 7), proposed an alternative set of interface dialogs, and compared their effectiveness through a user study involving 40 participants. The alternative interface was found to offer statistically significant improvements in confidence, ease of finding information, and ease of understanding. Such results from a modest re-design effort suggest considerable room for improvement in the user interfaces of browsers today. This work motivates further study of whether EV SSL certificates offer a robust foundation for improving Internet trust, or a further compromise to usable security for ordinary users.

Biography
Tara Whalen is a post-doctoral research associate at Carleton University, who received her PhD in the human factors of security in 2008 at Dalhousie University. She previously worked in network security at the Communications Research Centre Canada. Her current research interests include usable security, privacy, and the social implications of technology.

When and Where:

This event will take place on Tuesday Nov. 17, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

Graphics Interface 2010 will have joint sessions for the graphics and HCI tracks. Topics of interest at GI include (but are not restricted to):

* Shading and rendering
* Geometric modeling and meshing
* Graphics in simulation
* Image-based rendering
* Image synthesis and realism
* Medical and scientific visualization
* Computer animation
* Real-time rendering
* Non-photorealistic rendering
* Interaction techniques
* Computer-supported cooperative work
* Human interface devices
* Virtual reality
* Augmented reality
* Data and information visualization
* Multimedia
* Mobile computing
* Haptic and tangible interfaces
* Affective interfaces
* Aesthetic design
* Perception

Paper submissions are due December 16, 2009.

Posters are due April 21, 2010.

Time and Date: Thursday Nov. 12, 2009, 5:30-7:30pm

Location: The Code Factory, 246 Queen St., 2nd Floor, Ottawa

Organizers: Macadamian, Akendi, CapCHI

The global theme for World Usability Day 2009 is how our products and services impact our world. Let World Usability Day 2009 be your impetus to create greater awareness for designs, products and services that improve the sustainability of our world.

The Ottawa World Usability event will feature local experts in the area of designing for a sustainable world. The keynote presentation will be given by David Berman, author of Do Good Design: How Designers Can Change the World: “In this lively presentation, design expert David Berman discusses the power and effectiveness of good design, and therefore the need to incorporate notions of social responsibility into design principles. Berman is a Canadian communications strategist, designer and author, and a vice-president of Icograda, the world body for graphic design.

Presentations will also be made by:

Natasha Wilson, Director, Community Relations, Ottawa Riverkeeper. The Ottawa Riverkeeper takes action to defend the Ottawa River and to influence decisions that affect the health and future of the river. Natasha will discuss the design challenges involved in bringing municipal water to the 2009 Ottawa Folk Festival in lieu of environmentally unsustainable plastic water bottles.

Kevin Bailey, President, Neal Cowan, Director of Design, Design 1st. Kevin and Neal will examine the balance between Product Design and Mechanical Engineering in sustainability-related product decisions using real life product development examples. The presentation will be an interactive discussion on sustainable thinking within the framework of a several real product developments. Design 1st was founded in 1996 and the team is hired by companies developing new products in medical, retail, commercial and communications markets.

Snacks and drinks provided, and a trip to a local pub will follow the event.

No Cost: There is no cost for this event.

WAITING LIST: We have reached room capacity and have created a waiting list for this event. Please register at http://world-usability-day-ottawa-2009.eventbrite.com/

ACM SIGCHI, our parent organization, is conducting a survey about local chapters and the people who participate in their events. Please read the following introduction letter and participate in the survey.

Hello SIGCHI Chapter Leaders and Members,

The SIGCHI Executive Committee is working to better meet the needs of its members, and especially local chapters. As part of that effort, we hope you will take a few minutes to complete a short survey.

Your feedback will help us better understand who you are and what your needs are.

Survey Link:
SIGCHI Local Chapters Survey, 2009

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Sincerely,

Nick Sabadosh, Vice President for Chapters, ACM/SIGCHI, sigchi-vp-chapters@acm.org
Elizabeth Churchill, Executive Vice President, ACM/SIGCHI, sigchi-executive-vp@acm.org

Title: Applying Privacy by Design concepts to Copyright Policy presented by Sam Trosow

Date: Thursday October 22, 2009
Time: 6:00pm
Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa

Abstract:

There is a growing convergence in the areas of copyright and privacy policies and it is becoming problematic to think of these two distinct fields in isolation. This discussion will focus on the intersection of copyright and privacy issues in the context of the recent consultations to amend Canada’s Copyright Act and how the concepts of /Privacy by Design/ might be applied to public policy as well as design concepts in the private sector.

In the area of privacy policies, there has been recent interest about extending privacy concerns to the level of design of technological systems. /Privacy by Design/ is a concept that is now being IT systems; business practices; physical design and infrastructure. Yet these principles may be also be fruitfully applied to the /design/ of public policies as well.

The recent round of submissions in the government’s copyright consultations, as well as many of the concerns raised about the provisions of Bill C-61, demonstrate that there are many outstanding copyright policy issues which directly implicate privacy interests including digital rights management, technological protection measures, the anti-circumvention rules and Internet Service Provider liability rules.

Bio:

Dr. Samuel Trosow is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario jointly appointed to the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Information & Media Studies (FIMS). Trosow’s research, which is at the intersection of Library & Information Science and Law, focuses on information policy issues. He is a frequent speaker on information law and policy issues and is the co-author of Canadian Copyright: A Citizen’s Guide (with Laura Murray, Between the Lines, 2007). In the Law Faculty his teaching has included Intellectual Property, International Intellectual Property, Comparative Copyright, Copyright Theory Seminar, Information Law, Urban Law and the graduate seminar in legal theory. In FIMS he has taught Legal Issues for Information Professionals, International Documents, Information Policy, Legal Information Sources and Services, Political Economy of Information Seminar, and Perspectives in Library and Information Science. Before coming to Western in 2001, Trosow was a law librarian at the Boalt Hall Law Library at UC Berkeley and was previously engaged in the private practice of law. His doctoral work at UCLA in Library & Information Science focused on information policy issues and his dissertation (/Information for Society: Towards a Critical Theory of Intellectual Property Policy/, 2002) received the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) – Eugene Garfield Dissertation Award. During the 2007-08 year he served as the Faculty Scholar in Residence at the Canadian Association of University Teachers in Ottawa and he is also a member of the Copyright Working Group of the Canadian Library Association. He maintains a website at http://samtrosow.ca/ where he comments on copyright and other issues.

When and Where:

This event will take place on Thursday October 22, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

Date: Tuesday Sept. 15, 2009
Time: 6:00pm
Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa
See http://www.capchi.org/events

Title: Personal Sensor Networks as Input Devices

Abstract:

Personal sensor networks are also known as Body Area Networks and consist of sensor placed on various parts or around the body. In this talk we look at a heterogeneous accelerometer based sensor network and how we use it as an interface device for entertainment, fitness, training and health applications. We will discuss the potential of sensor networks, some background, the technical issues and provide a demonstration of several game applications developed as a proof of concept.

Bio:

Dr. Anthony Whitehead is the Director of the School of Information Technology at Carleton University and a Professor in the Interactive Multimedia and Design Program. His research focus is on entertainment technologies and personal sensor networks from a human computer interaction point of view. His research team has devised the SNAP system (Sensor Network for Active Play) which can be previewed here: http://iv.csit.carleton.ca/~awhitehe/research/videos/SNAP.html

When and Where:

This event will take place on Sept. 15, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.