Abstract:
Contrary to traditional personal computers, interpersonal computers enable several users to interact in the same place, at the same place. I will explore the design and use of interpersonal computers for higher education through the discussion of specific examples developed and tested in our lab: a table, a lamp and a robotic display. Research in collaborative learning invites us to consider two key features for these new tools. Such systems should permit fluid interactions among group memebers and not act as an obstacle to natural collaboration but also offer means to influence ongoing interactions: augmenting the frequency of conflicts, fostering elaborated explanations, supporting mutual understanding, etc. How can the same tool be sufficiently transparent to foster natural interaction dynamics and be sufficiently present to shape group processes? These two contradictory goals act as guidelines for designing efficient interpersonal computers.
Biography:
Frédéric Kaplan graduated as an engineer of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris and received a PhD degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Paris VI. He worked ten years as a researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris and supervises now a new team on interactive furniture at CRAFT laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). His most recent research focuses on the design of new kinds of interpersonal computers and robotic objects.
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