Engaging your body with the mouse, screen, motor and room

                        Scott S. Snibbe
            Interval Research Corporation

How can we overcome the cognitive distance imposed by traditional
screen-based user interfaces? In the real world, there exist a broad
class of actions that are characterized by a type of thinking that
occurs directly with your body, rather than with the conscious
mind. Technology can access this corporeal intelligence through the
development of interfaces that engage the body in a meaningful way. I
will discuss instances in which computers makes use of body
intelligence using both traditional and experimental devices:
gesture-based animation tools for the mouse and screen; haptic tools
which engage your muscles for tasks in drawing and media manipulation;
and a room-based computer vision/computer graphics system. The topics
covered will range from practical, consumer-oriented research
prototypes to works of purely conceptual art. I will also discuss the
importance of public spaces, such as art galleries, as environments
for pure experimentation with new forms of computer / human
interaction.
  
Biography

Scott Snibbe's work emphasizes human expression through movement and
gesture. His output includes interactive artwork, animated films and
commercial and research software. His commercial projects have
included tools for interactive 3D animation; motion control and image
processing; data visualization; computer vision; and dynamic systems
for interaction and animation.

Snibbe has worked at the Brown University Computer Graphics Group as a
researcher, at the Rhode Island School of Design as an animation
instructor, and at Adobe Systems as a computer scientist on the After
Effects team. Currently he is employed as a researcher at Interval
Research in Palo Alto, California where his work focuses on haptics
(the field of engaging touch through digital computers), digital video
and interactive graphics.

Snibbe's commercial work has informed his personal artwork and
films. Among his interactive projects are the Motion Phone, a
networked experiment in abstract visual communication; and Boundary
Functions, a body-centric visualization of personal space. His
animated films focus on nonverbal storytelling through movement and
subtle significances. Both his interactive work and animated films
have been featured internationally in such venues as The Tokyo
InterCommunications Center, SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, the Stuttgart,
Hiroshima and Ottawa Animation Festivals, and the San Francisco and
Seattle film festivals.