Emerging interaction styles such as tangible computing, gesture-based interfaces, and virtual reality, extend beyond the desktop paradigm and offer a more natural, intuitive, and accessible form of interaction.

With a broad range of application-domains, including scientific visualization, energy management, and education, these interfaces show a potential to significantly enhance the way people interact and leverage digital information.

Through my research I seek to contribute to next generation human-computer interaction by developing frameworks, software tools, and specification techniques that aid their design, implementation, and evaluation. In addition I am investigating the strengths and limitations of next generation interfaces by building interactive systems that leverage users' spatial, social, and kinesthetic skills.

Human-Computer Interaction Lab

Check out the Wellesley College HCI Lab to learn about current research projects.

G-Nome SurferG-Nome Surfer
Enhancing scientific discovery through reality-based interaction.

 O. Shaer, M. Strait, C. Valdes, T. Feng, M. Lintz and H. Wang, Enhancing Genomic Learning through Tabletop Interaction, Proc. ACM CHI 2011.

O. Shaer, G. Kol, M. Strait, C. Fan, C. Grevet and S. Elfenbein, G-nome Surfer: a Tabletop User Interface for Collaborative Exploration of Genomic Data, Proc. ACM CHI 2010.

Phylo-Genie

Phylo-Genie

Teaching "tree-thinking" through interactive table-top applications.

 

 

ArteMuse and Garden Gnome projectArt-eMuse & Garden G-Nome
Increasing engagement at museums through social-mobile applications.

 O. Shaer, J. Olsen, C. Valdes, M. Edwards, M. Ferreirae, L. Napolitano, Art App-reciation: Fostering engagement and reflection in museums through a social mobile application, Museums and the Web 2011 conference. 

 

Morphess

Morphess
Envisioning mundane objects with actuation and transformation.

 

 

Brainstorm logoBrainstorm: 

Exploring group brainstorming through reality-based interaction.

D. Garrahan, O. Shaer, Piplica, K. Gold. Leveraging Gesture and Voice Data to Improve Group Brainstorming. Proceedings of CHI 2010.

Publications

Journal and Magazine Articles (Peer Reviewed)

Conference Papers (Peer Reviewed)

Workshop Papers (Peer Reviewed)

Other

Technical Reports

News

December 2010, our paper on Enhancing Genomic Learning through Tabletop Interaction was accepted to the ACM CHI 2011 conference.

December 2010, CS320 Tangible User Interfaces students have presented their projetcs. Click here to see the projects: from Superheros to the solar system.

December 2010, our paper Art App-reciation: Fostering engagement and reflection in museums through a social mobile application, was accepted for the Museums and the Web 2011 conference.

October 2010, the Wellesley College HCI Lab has a new website. Click here to learn more about the HCI lab: ongoing research, team, and opportunities for students.

September 2010, our research proposal on "Enhancing Genomic Exploration through Reality-Based Interaction" has been awarded funding from the NSF IIS division.

August 2010, the WCHCI Lab summer research students shared their results with the community at a poster session celebrating the end of the Wellesley College Summer Research program.Click here to read about summer research topics at Wellesley.

August 2010, our research on increasing engagement in museums through social mobile applications is featured in the Boston Globe. Click here to read the article.

May 2010, CS220 HCI students presented their projects - iPhone applications for the Wellesley community. Click here to see the projects.

March 2010, a survey paper about Tangible User Interfaces: Past, Present, and Future Directions that I co-authored with Eva Hornecker was accepted for publication in the journal of Foundations and Trends of Human-Computer Interaction.

February 2010, Our paper on Leveraging Gesture and Voice Data to Improve Group Brainstorming for accepted as a Work in Progress paper to the ACM CHI 2010 conference.

January 2010, Our paper on G-nome Surfer: a Tabletop Interface for Collaborative Exploration of Genomic Data was accepted to the ACM CHI 2010 conference.

December 2009, CS349 TUI students presented their projects on the Microsoft Surface and LilyPad Arduino. Click here to see the projects.

July 2009, Our paper on a Specification Paradigm for the Design and Implementation of Tangible User Interfaces was accepted for publication in the ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI).

March 2009, Honda R&D sponsors a User Interface Design Competetion for Wellesley Students enrolled in CS249: Human-Computer Interaction.

January 2009, I serve as a Program Co-Chair for TEI 2010, the international conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction.

August 2008, I am co-editting an ACM TOCHI special issue on User Interface Description Languages for Next Generation User Interfaces, with Rob Jacob, Mark Green, and Kris Luyten. Submissions are due November 7th 2008.

July 2008, Our paper on Teaching Tangible Interaction in Practice will appear in AIEDAM Special Issue on Tangible Interaction for Design , Spring 2009.