2026
Malaika Pandit
Whiskers: A Descriptive Study of Children's Engagement with an Interactive Textured Book Masters Thesis
Dalhousie Univerity, 2026.
Abstract | BibTeX | Tags: book, child-computer interaction, sound & music computing, tangible interfaces, touch
@mastersthesis{Pandit2026,
title = {Whiskers: A Descriptive Study of Children's Engagement with an Interactive Textured Book},
author = {Malaika Pandit},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-08-31},
urldate = {2026-08-31},
school = {Dalhousie Univerity},
abstract = {Electronically augmented children’s books have existed for over two decades, and
commonly respond with a discrete event: a touch selects a pre-authored sound, which
plays to its end regardless of what the hand does next. This thesis asks what such a
book would be like if sound instead followed the hand continuously. An interactive
textured book was built with a fur-covered page over a pressure-sensitive sensor and
two audio engines sharing one contact stream: one synthesizing sound continuously
from the position and movement of an ongoing touch, the other triggering a discrete
recorded sound at touch-down. Eight children aged four to six met both versions in
counterbalanced order, with no task imposed. Every child spent a greater share of
the session in contact under continuous feedback; smiling was coded more often under
discrete feedback for six of eight. Neither is concluded better. What sustained a child
and what delighted one proved to be different measures.},
keywords = {book, child-computer interaction, sound & music computing, tangible interfaces, touch},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {mastersthesis}
}
Electronically augmented children’s books have existed for over two decades, and
commonly respond with a discrete event: a touch selects a pre-authored sound, which
plays to its end regardless of what the hand does next. This thesis asks what such a
book would be like if sound instead followed the hand continuously. An interactive
textured book was built with a fur-covered page over a pressure-sensitive sensor and
two audio engines sharing one contact stream: one synthesizing sound continuously
from the position and movement of an ongoing touch, the other triggering a discrete
recorded sound at touch-down. Eight children aged four to six met both versions in
counterbalanced order, with no task imposed. Every child spent a greater share of
the session in contact under continuous feedback; smiling was coded more often under
discrete feedback for six of eight. Neither is concluded better. What sustained a child
and what delighted one proved to be different measures.
commonly respond with a discrete event: a touch selects a pre-authored sound, which
plays to its end regardless of what the hand does next. This thesis asks what such a
book would be like if sound instead followed the hand continuously. An interactive
textured book was built with a fur-covered page over a pressure-sensitive sensor and
two audio engines sharing one contact stream: one synthesizing sound continuously
from the position and movement of an ongoing touch, the other triggering a discrete
recorded sound at touch-down. Eight children aged four to six met both versions in
counterbalanced order, with no task imposed. Every child spent a greater share of
the session in contact under continuous feedback; smiling was coded more often under
discrete feedback for six of eight. Neither is concluded better. What sustained a child
and what delighted one proved to be different measures.
2017
Juliano Franz; Derek Reilly
TangiWoZ: A Tangible Interface for Wizard of Oz Studies Conference
Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 2017), ACM Denver, USA, 2017.
BibTeX | Tags: tangible interfaces, TangiWoZ, Wizard of Oz
@conference{Franz2017_CHIEA,
title = {TangiWoZ: A Tangible Interface for Wizard of Oz Studies},
author = {Juliano Franz and Derek Reilly},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-05-06},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA 2017)},
address = {Denver, USA},
organization = {ACM},
keywords = {tangible interfaces, TangiWoZ, Wizard of Oz},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
2016
Hossein Salimian; Stephen Brooks; Bonnie Mackay; Derek Reilly
Physical-Digital Privacy Interfaces for Mixed Reality Collaboration: An Exploratory Study Conference
Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS 2016), ACM, Niagara Falls, Canada, 2016.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: collaborative systems, embodied interaction, mixed presence, mixed reality, natural user interface, privacy, tangible interfaces, virtual environment
@conference{Salimian2016,
title = {Physical-Digital Privacy Interfaces for Mixed Reality Collaboration: An Exploratory Study},
author = {Hossein Salimian and Stephen Brooks and Bonnie Mackay and Derek Reilly},
doi = {10.1145/2992154.2992167},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-06},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS 2016)},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {Niagara Falls, Canada},
keywords = {collaborative systems, embodied interaction, mixed presence, mixed reality, natural user interface, privacy, tangible interfaces, virtual environment},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
Aniruddha Waje; Khalid Tearo; Raghav V. Sampangi; Derek Reilly
Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS '16), ACM, Niagara Falls, Canada, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: children, collaborative systems, embodied interaction, gesture, museum, tabletop, tangible interfaces
@conference{Waje2016,
title = {Grab This, Swipe That: Combining Tangible and Gestural Interaction in Multiple Display Collaborative Gameplay},
author = {Aniruddha Waje and Khalid Tearo and Raghav V. Sampangi and Derek Reilly},
doi = {10.1145/2992154.2996794},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-11-06},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS '16)},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {Niagara Falls, Canada},
abstract = {In this paper, we explore the use of multimodal interfaces (tangible and gestural) in collaborative gameplay. In our setup, gestural interaction is performed to perform tasks with reference content on a wall display, in support of a main activity involving tangible interaction on a tabletop display. We designed two games using this configuration, in order to explore how children share these multimodal tasks during collaborative gameplay. We conducted a pilot within-subjects user study, piloting the games with 35 children between the ages of 8 and 15, and considered the impact of a number of factors (group size, age range, game type and interaction style) on gameplay. We present lessons learned from prototyping and pilot testing tangible+gestural multi-display systems, and describe the resulting refinements made in our design and implementation.},
keywords = {children, collaborative systems, embodied interaction, gesture, museum, tabletop, tangible interfaces},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}
In this paper, we explore the use of multimodal interfaces (tangible and gestural) in collaborative gameplay. In our setup, gestural interaction is performed to perform tasks with reference content on a wall display, in support of a main activity involving tangible interaction on a tabletop display. We designed two games using this configuration, in order to explore how children share these multimodal tasks during collaborative gameplay. We conducted a pilot within-subjects user study, piloting the games with 35 children between the ages of 8 and 15, and considered the impact of a number of factors (group size, age range, game type and interaction style) on gameplay. We present lessons learned from prototyping and pilot testing tangible+gestural multi-display systems, and describe the resulting refinements made in our design and implementation.