Extrapolating the Research Timeline of HCI: Cyber Meets Physical
Extrapolating the Research Timeline of HCI: Cyber Meets Physical
November 17, 2021
Speaker:Dr. Max Mühlhäuser, Professor, University of Darmstadt
Moderated by Dr. Reza Rawassizadeh, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Abstract:We witness the era of digital transformation: ever more areas of our business and everyday lives are pervaded by information and communication technologies. However, the majority of *interactions* between humans and this “new digital world” still happens through traditional computer-based means. This implies interaction via screens, which by their very nature *separate* the physical world—and thus people—from the digital world.
In order to overcome this barrier, two ‘movements’ must be pursued in HCI research and development: in one direction, the digital world and corresponding interaction must become tightly integrated with the physical world and with the way we perceive and interact with it; in the other direction, physical objects must become ‘naturally’ digitally interactive in the sense of Human Cyber-Physical Interaction (“HCI” revisited).
The talk will first explain the interaction obstacle mentioned in the first paragraph from a historic perspective of HCI. Thereafter, the two required grand directions of HCI R&D will be discussed. A number of recent research advancements will be mentioned as examples, and showcased via video. The talk will end with a (not so serious) sneak preview into the newest interaction modality.
Speaker Bio: Max Mühlhäuser is a full professor at Technical University of Darmstadt and head of the Telecooperation Lab. He holds key positions in several large collaborative research centers and is leading the Doctoral School on Privacy and Trust for Mobile Users. He and his lab members conduct research on Human Computer Interaction, the future Internet, Intelligent Systems, and Cybersecurity including Privacy & Trust. Max founded and managed industrial research centers, and worked as either professor or visiting professor at universities in Germany, the US, Canada, Australia, France, and Austria. He is a member of acatech, the German Academy of the Technical Sciences. He was and is active in numerous conference program committees, as organizer of several annual conferences, and as a member of editorial boards or a Guest Editor for journals such as ACM IMWUT, ACM ToIT, Pervasive Computing, ACM Multimedia, and Pervasive and Mobile Computing.