TANGIBLE TOOLKITS Integrating Application Development across Diverse MultiUser and Tangibl.pdfVIP

TANGIBLE TOOLKITS Integrating Application Development across Diverse Multi-User and Tangible Interaction Platforms ALI MAZALEK Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Abstract. We are creating unified programming tools that allow developers to easily build applications for many different tangible platforms, and that can accommodate the continued evolution of the underlying sensing technologies. The Synlab API extends across several media table object-tracking platforms, RFID tagged object interactions, manipulable displays and multi-touch surfaces. 1. Introduction While the digital realm enables a range of media content to be stored and manipulated, the promise of truly malleable digital information is limited by the means through which we can access the digital space. The interfaces that lie between our everyday physical environment and the digital world remain dominated by displays coupled with single-channel input devices (mice, keyboards). While these platforms are well suited for many desktop and mobile applications, it has been long acknowledged that they do not necessarily meet the needs of a multi-user application space in shared physical contexts such as living rooms, meeting rooms, classrooms and public spaces. Over the past decade, researchers in areas such as tangible and ubiquitous computing have begun to address these needs by developing interaction techniques that can more seamlessly bridge the physical and digital worlds. Applications have been demonstrated across a range of domains, such as design and sim