Eddie Ishak

We present a case study illustrating how a user experience (UX) team performs user research in the finance industry. In particular, we focus on the impact of salespeople and financial professionals on how the research is conducted. Challenges stemming from this--such as recruitment, time constraints, and conflicting expectations--and potential ways to mitigate them are discussed. Our work contributes to an understanding of how to do research in time-sensitive, high pressure environments while… Show more

We present a case study illustrating how a user experience (UX) team performs user research in the finance industry. In particular, we focus on the impact of salespeople and financial professionals on how the research is conducted. Challenges stemming from this--such as recruitment, time constraints, and conflicting expectations--and potential ways to mitigate them are discussed. Our work contributes to an understanding of how to do research in time-sensitive, high pressure environments while also working with gatekeepers to accessing users. Show less

Ph.D. Thesis at the Computer Graphics and User Interfaces Lab at Columbia University.

We describe content-aware layout (CAL), a technique that automatically arranges windows on a user’s desktop. Unlike conventional window managers that automatically cascade or tile each window without regard to its content, CAL uses information about the contents of windows to help decide if and where they should be placed. We present the approach to designing CAL, as well as its implementation. We then conclude with a discussion about future work and CAL’s potential use in large display… Show more

We describe content-aware layout (CAL), a technique that automatically arranges windows on a user’s desktop. Unlike conventional window managers that automatically cascade or tile each window without regard to its content, CAL uses information about the contents of windows to help decide if and where they should be placed. We present the approach to designing CAL, as well as its implementation. We then conclude with a discussion about future work and CAL’s potential use in large display environments. Show less

Scrolling is used to navigate large information spaces on small screens, but is often too restrictive or cumbersome to use for particular types of content, such as multi-page, multi-column documents. To address this problem, we introduce content-aware scrolling (CAS), an approach that takes into account various characteristics of document content to determine scrolling direction, speed, and zoom. We also present the CAS widget, which supports scrolling through a content-aware path using… Show more

Scrolling is used to navigate large information spaces on small screens, but is often too restrictive or cumbersome to use for particular types of content, such as multi-page, multi-column documents. To address this problem, we introduce content-aware scrolling (CAS), an approach that takes into account various characteristics of document content to determine scrolling direction, speed, and zoom. We also present the CAS widget, which supports scrolling through a content-aware path using traditional scrolling methods, demonstrating the advantages of making a traditional technique content-aware. Show less

An intelligence analyst often needs to keep track of more facts than can be held in human memory. As a result, analysts use a notebook or evidence file to record facts learned so far. In practice, the evidence file is often an electronic document into which text snippets and hand-typed notes are placed. While this kind of evidence file is easy to read and edit, it provides little help for making sense of the captured information. We describe Entity Workspace, a tool designed to be used in place… Show more

An intelligence analyst often needs to keep track of more facts than can be held in human memory. As a result, analysts use a notebook or evidence file to record facts learned so far. In practice, the evidence file is often an electronic document into which text snippets and hand-typed notes are placed. While this kind of evidence file is easy to read and edit, it provides little help for making sense of the captured information. We describe Entity Workspace, a tool designed to be used in place of a traditional evidence file. Entity Workspace combines user interface and entity extraction technologies to build up an explicit model of important entities (people, places, organizations, phone numbers, etc.) and their relationships. Using this model, it helps the analyst find and re-find facts rapidly, notice connections between entities, and identify good documents and entities to explore next Show less

We present a set of cross-dimensional interaction techniques for a hybrid user interface that integrates existing 2D and 3D visualization and interaction devices. Our approach is built around oneand two-handed gestures that support the seamless transition of data between co-located 2D and 3D contexts. Our testbed environment combines a 2D multi-user, multi-touch, projection surface with 3D head-tracked, see-through, head-worn displays and 3D tracked gloves to form a multi-display augmented… Show more

We present a set of cross-dimensional interaction techniques for a hybrid user interface that integrates existing 2D and 3D visualization and interaction devices. Our approach is built around oneand two-handed gestures that support the seamless transition of data between co-located 2D and 3D contexts. Our testbed environment combines a 2D multi-user, multi-touch, projection surface with 3D head-tracked, see-through, head-worn displays and 3D tracked gloves to form a multi-display augmented reality. We address some of the ways in which we can interact with private data in a collaborative, heterogeneous workspace. We also report on a pilot usability study to evaluate the effectiveness and ease of use of the cross-dimensional interactions. Show less

We present content-aware free-space transparency, an approach to viewing and manipulating the otherwise hidden content of obscured windows through unimportant regions of overlapping windows. Traditional approaches to interacting with otherwise obscured content in a window system render an entire window uniformly transparent. In contrast, content-aware free-space transparency uses opaque-to-transparent gradients and image-processing filters to minimize the interference from overlapping material,… Show more

We present content-aware free-space transparency, an approach to viewing and manipulating the otherwise hidden content of obscured windows through unimportant regions of overlapping windows. Traditional approaches to interacting with otherwise obscured content in a window system render an entire window uniformly transparent. In contrast, content-aware free-space transparency uses opaque-to-transparent gradients and image-processing filters to minimize the interference from overlapping material, based on properties of that material. By increasing the amount of simultaneously visible content and allowing basic interaction with otherwise obscured content, without modifying window geometry, we believe that free-space transparency has the potential to improve user productivity. Show less

We present VITA (Visual Interaction Tool for Archaeology), an experimental collaborative mixed reality system for offsite visualization of an archaeological dig. Our system allows multiple users to visualize the dig site in a mixed reality environment in which tracked, see-through, head-worn displays are combined with a multi-user, multi-touch, projected table surface, a large screen display, and tracked hand-held displays. We focus on augmenting existing archaeological analysis methods with… Show more

We present VITA (Visual Interaction Tool for Archaeology), an experimental collaborative mixed reality system for offsite visualization of an archaeological dig. Our system allows multiple users to visualize the dig site in a mixed reality environment in which tracked, see-through, head-worn displays are combined with a multi-user, multi-touch, projected table surface, a large screen display, and tracked hand-held displays. We focus on augmenting existing archaeological analysis methods with new ways to organize, visualize, and combine the standard 2D information available from an excavation (drawings, pictures, and notes) with textured, laser rangescanned 3D models of objects and the site itself. Users can combine speech, touch, and 3D hand gestures to interact multimodally with the environment. Preliminary user tests were conducted with archaeology researchers and students, and their feedback is presented here. Show less