INTERACT 2005: Hot Ideas for Interfaces in the Kitchen

A fire projected onto a heating oven? A blizzard raging every time the freezer is open? A blue light for the moment that the cold tap runs cold? Leonardo Amerigo Bonanni of the MIT Media Lab was presenting what he called "Cooking with the Elements" at INTERACT2005 in Rome.

Perhaps the single most inspiring application of ambient information this year, Bonnani's research looks at what happens if you represent the behaviour of the appliances in the kitchen in a visually meaningful way using augmented reality.

He ran through a history of, on the one hand, ambiguous ambient information design and, on the other, the addition of overly prescriptive visuals into kitchens (see the link to his slides below). He explained that limited elbow room and too much information can make following virtual cooking instructions projected into real space impractical and people were found better to manage with a paper recipe card. Then he showed how combining ambience and augmented reality could produce useful peripheral information to kitchen users.

'Modern kitchens are complex laboratories full of processors and displays but modern kitchens
offer almost no sensory feedback,' he said.

A red light for hot water and a blue light for cold, set to come on at particular temparatures in the "Heat Sink", was interpretable to all but one of the 16 novice users aged 18-35 who tried it out, on first use. In addition, it was found to cut the amount of time that the tap was left running.

Other tests with a cooker that showed flames when hot, and with a fridge that showed falling snow when open, produced similar levels of comprehension and some environmental benefits - less waste, and less chance of scalds and burns.

'A projected fire costs more than a small red light, but it's better. It's a chance to spice up these mundance appliances a little. It brings back some of the sensory pleasure of cooking without the fire, smoke and other disadvantages,' he said, 'but it also changes what people do.'

Bonanni concluded that 'Synesthetic mapping allows for intuitive interfaces in critical
situations.'

He is now running a test with 20 people in their homes to see if the beneficial effects wear off as the novelty does.

Associated Link: Cooking with the Elements (pdf)

'Internet addiction' linked to Depression
Source: BBC, 9 February 2010
 
There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, UK psychologists have said.

Could *You* be more Usable?
Source: UN, 8 February 2010
 
Bet you could.

Stowe Boyd on 'Steampunk' thinking about the Future of Computing
Source: Stowe Boyd's blog via Experientia, 6 February 2010
 
Are established metaphors of user experience holding us back from new ways of structuring our interaction through computers?

Nokia's User Experience Programme
Source: UN, 5 February 2010
 
Nokia has put together a rich and informative website covering the key elements of user experience.

Interfaces magazine: latest issue available now
Source: HCI News Service, 4 February 2010
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available in pdf format, free from the Interaction Website.

A Lighter Brigade of Chargers
Source: UN, 3 February 2010
 
Lots of gadgets, one charger. At last.

Mobile Touch Screens could soon Feel the Pressure
Source: MIT Technology Review, 2 February 2010
 
A quantum switch could add pressure sensing to mobile screens.

Usability, Usability, Usability: why the iPad will Succeed
Source: Econsultancy, 1 February 2010
 
The tech critics love it, hate it, love it again, shrug it off. What do usability experts say?

British Airways - at last some good news
Source: Loop11, 30 January 2010
 
In a recent website usability study for the world's leading airlines, the British Airways website proved to be the most user friendly, with Malaysia Airlines and Virgin Atlantic having the lowest user experience rating.

Computation of Emotions in Man and Machine
Source: Royal Society, 29 January 2010
 
Advances in computer technology now allow machines to recognise and express emotions, paving the way for improved human-computer and human-human communications.