Final Project Displays
10/03/11 12:32
We’ll do the final project displays on Thu, Mar 10, from 2:10 - 4:30 in 14-301. The feedback form is at https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDYwVEJyNWpyeXRiWFl2Tm1KcUxvZWc6MA
0 Comments
Class Participation
08/03/11 13:24
Since class participation contributes to the overall grade, and I’m not keeping explicit attendance, I’m using a Web form at https://spreadsheets1.google.com/viewform?formkey=dERkZlhMWDRORlhxUmVtb0k2bmNILXc6MA to give you an opportunity to remind me of your contributions to class.
Class Feedback
08/03/11 13:15
In addition to the official Cal Poly instructor evaluations, I’m using a Web form (https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDVYajc5aTVIUHRtWkVlelFfX1daNFE6MA) to collect additional feedback on the lecture material, guest presentations, assignments, and project work.
Team Member Feedback
08/03/11 12:51
Similar to what we did a few weeks ago, I’m using a Web form at https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGxiT0R0UGVHdVZWNENlUW1qdURFbmc6MA to collect feedback on the collaboration and work distribution in your team. This time, however, the feedback will be taken into account for the grade on the project part of the class; it contributes 20% of the project grade. I normally take the average of the scores submitted by the team members (including your self-evaluation), although I reserve the right to adjust this if I have evidence that the score does not reflect the actual performance of the team member.
A4 - Mobile App Evaluation Feedback
08/03/11 12:47
Please provide feedback on the mobile app evaluations through the form at https://spreadsheets1.google.com/viewform?hl=en&hl=en&formkey=dFNtaFFTbUN0dW5CRG05MUZHZUVGVHc6MA#gid=0.
Android Apps for A4 Available;
01/03/11 19:50
Most of the Android Apps from Dr. Janzen’s course are available at https://sites.google.com/site/androidhowto/app-ads . To give you more time to do the evaluations, I’ve moved the due date for A4 to Tuesday, March 8.
A3 - Data Collection Feedback Form
24/02/11 13:18
The form for this assignment is at https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGxFemt0NjY2a3JTOWVKbDRFU21JNEE6MA
581-W11 - Project Theme, Permission Numbers
19/02/11 19:14
If you're interested in taking 581 next quarter, and don't have the prerequisite listed in PASS, send me an email. I'll forward it to Christy Zolla from our department office, and she'll send you a permission number.
For a preview of the format and content, check out last year's 581 class.
The class again incorporates elements of 486 (Human-Computer Interaction) since I'm on a reduced teaching schedule for next quarter.
There's also a good chance that we will use a common theme for the class projects, based on an idea by Anna Gold from Cal Poly's library to extend the Science Cafe towards an online marketplace for events, ideas, projects, etc. I'm also in contact with several people from industry (mostly Cal Poly alums) to get involved with this. Individual teams would still be able to select their own projects, but the projects would have to fit into the overall theme.
For a preview of the format and content, check out last year's 581 class.
The class again incorporates elements of 486 (Human-Computer Interaction) since I'm on a reduced teaching schedule for next quarter.
There's also a good chance that we will use a common theme for the class projects, based on an idea by Anna Gold from Cal Poly's library to extend the Science Cafe towards an online marketplace for events, ideas, projects, etc. I'm also in contact with several people from industry (mostly Cal Poly alums) to get involved with this. Individual teams would still be able to select their own projects, but the projects would have to fit into the overall theme.
Mid-Quarter Team Member Feedback
15/02/11 15:31
Please give me some feedback on how the work on your team is going, including the performance of the team members. We’ll do the same thing again at the end, and then your answers will contribute to the score for the project. The main purpose of this one is to alert me about discrepancies within teams, such as imbalanced work loads, or members not contributing their share.
A3 and A4 (Draft) Available
31/01/11 17:02
The remaining assignments are now available; A3 is about data collection, and A4 consists of a usability evaluation. For A4, we’ll do usability evaluations of mobile apps. Most of them will be from Dr. Janzen’s Android class, but there’s also a commercial iOS app currently under development by Sam Li and collaborators. Sam is a CSC Cal Poly alum, and the co-author of SimpleDraw, an iPhone drawing app that made it to the top five in its category.
A2: Rapid Prototyping and Storyboards Available
20/01/11 12:13
A1 Presentations
20/01/11 11:54
I’ve revised the presentation part of the description for A1 as below; the most relevant part is the link to the feedback form.
We'll do the A 1 presentations during Week 4 primarily in the lab. By default, we'll proceed in the order in which the teams are listed on the Project Teams page. You can put the presentation material on your team’s TRAC wiki (if you want to make it publicly available), or on the Blackboard Wiki (where it is only available to this class and students in future 484 classes). In either case, put a link on the overview table on the Blackboard Wiki. The accompanying material for the presentation must be available on the respective repository at the time the presentation is given. The teams will have an opportunity to revise their presentation materials in response to feedback given by class mates and possibly the external customers.
Please use the A1 Presentation Feedback form for feedback on the presentations.
We'll do the A 1 presentations during Week 4 primarily in the lab. By default, we'll proceed in the order in which the teams are listed on the Project Teams page. You can put the presentation material on your team’s TRAC wiki (if you want to make it publicly available), or on the Blackboard Wiki (where it is only available to this class and students in future 484 classes). In either case, put a link on the overview table on the Blackboard Wiki. The accompanying material for the presentation must be available on the respective repository at the time the presentation is given. The teams will have an opportunity to revise their presentation materials in response to feedback given by class mates and possibly the external customers.
Please use the A1 Presentation Feedback form for feedback on the presentations.
UCD Nuggets: Web Snippets on Usability and User-Centered Design
12/01/11 11:41
I’m collecting interesting Web snippets in a few Evernote notebooks; the one on UCD and usability issues is at http://www.evernote.com/pub/franzkurfess/UCD-Nuggets. If you’re curious, I also have a few others:
- AI Nuggets: Artificial Intelligence
- KM Nuggets: Knowledge Management, Semantic Web
Additional Project Topic Proposals
05/01/11 12:16
If you have additional project ideas, please post them here as comments. If possible, they should
- involve outside customers
- utilize interaction methods or devices that do not rely on keyboard/screen/pointing devices for input/output
- identify potential users that are different from the computer science students typical for a class like this.
- involve outside customers
- utilize interaction methods or devices that do not rely on keyboard/screen/pointing devices for input/output
- identify potential users that are different from the computer science students typical for a class like this.
Project Topic Proposal: 3D Manipulation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFG) with Kinect
05/01/11 12:08
This is a project with Dr. David Marshall from the Aerospace Engineering department. He has a Microsoft Kinect and other equipment available for this project. Since the project also incorporates aspects relevant for other courses (parallel processing, graphics, I’m open to proposals that span those courses as well. The following is an excerpt from Dr. Marshall’s email describing the project.
The basic project that I am starting is to use CFD algorithms to perform simulations of galaxy formation/evolution and related astrodynamical flows. I have a couple of very motivated students that want to work on this, and this has been a background interest of mine for a while. [...]
There are two parts to this project. One is the computation of the simulations. We were looking at purchasing a GPU cluster for this to see what kind of parallel computing algorithms we can apply to CFD and GPU. [...]
The other part of this project is the post-processing part. This work would be focused on developing software to do 3D visualization of the galaxy formation datasets (as well as other CFD datasets that my research group generates). I just purchased a 55" LED 3D TV to use as the 3D visualization architecture. I also wanted to see how we could use an Xbox Kinect as an interface to the visualization environment.
The basic project that I am starting is to use CFD algorithms to perform simulations of galaxy formation/evolution and related astrodynamical flows. I have a couple of very motivated students that want to work on this, and this has been a background interest of mine for a while. [...]
There are two parts to this project. One is the computation of the simulations. We were looking at purchasing a GPU cluster for this to see what kind of parallel computing algorithms we can apply to CFD and GPU. [...]
The other part of this project is the post-processing part. This work would be focused on developing software to do 3D visualization of the galaxy formation datasets (as well as other CFD datasets that my research group generates). I just purchased a 55" LED 3D TV to use as the 3D visualization architecture. I also wanted to see how we could use an Xbox Kinect as an interface to the visualization environment.
Project Topic Proposal: Usability Considerations for Repair Manuals
05/01/11 12:08
iFixit, a company co-founded by another CSC Alum, has recently provided the infrastructure for a user-generated collection of instructions to repair all kinds of devices. There is an API to access the information about repairs. There are several opportunities for projects related to this:
- evaluation of their current design (generic Web page, iFixit iPad app)
- design and development of new interfaces, possibly on other platforms or devices
- consideration of usage in situation with limited interaction options (e.g. voice-based interaction to have the hands free for the repair)
Project Topic Proposal: Evaluation Methods for Mobile Devices
05/01/11 12:07
Since mobile devices with significant computational power have not been around that long, there is little experience with usability evaluation methods for such devices. I’m not sure if it’s suitable for a project in this class, but it would be interesting to do a survey of such methods, and maybe come up with a more generic framework.
Project Topic Proposal: Interaction Spaces
05/01/11 12:06
Interaction Spaces
I’m working with researchers from the University of Bremen, Germany, on a few projects related to “Spatial Cognition”, which investigates how human and computer-based agents deal with and communicate about spatial aspects of the world. While this is mostly related to AI, there are also possibilities for projects in this class. This might be especially interesting for students taking both classes, and would also be an excellent preparation for a possible summer internship in Bremen. Below is the abstract of a paper that we will present at the AAAI Spring Symposium Series in March at Stanford University.
“While computers assist humans with tasks such as navigation that involve spatial aspects, agents that can interact in a meaningful way in this context are still in their infancy. One core issue is the mismatch in the representation of spatial information a computer-based system is likely to use, and the one a human is likely to use. Computers are better suited for quantitative schemes such as maps or diagrams that rely on measurable distances between entities. Humans frequently use higher-level, domain-specific conceptual representations such as buildings, rooms, or streets for orientation purposes. Combined with the person-centric world view that we often assume when we refer to spatial information, it is challenging for agents to convert statements using spatial references into assertions that match their own internal representation. In this paper, we discuss an approach that uses natural language processing and information extraction tool kits to identify en- tities and statements about their spatial relations. These extractions are then processed by a spatial reasoner to convert them from the human conceptual space into the quantitative space used by the computer-based agent.”
I’m working with researchers from the University of Bremen, Germany, on a few projects related to “Spatial Cognition”, which investigates how human and computer-based agents deal with and communicate about spatial aspects of the world. While this is mostly related to AI, there are also possibilities for projects in this class. This might be especially interesting for students taking both classes, and would also be an excellent preparation for a possible summer internship in Bremen. Below is the abstract of a paper that we will present at the AAAI Spring Symposium Series in March at Stanford University.
“While computers assist humans with tasks such as navigation that involve spatial aspects, agents that can interact in a meaningful way in this context are still in their infancy. One core issue is the mismatch in the representation of spatial information a computer-based system is likely to use, and the one a human is likely to use. Computers are better suited for quantitative schemes such as maps or diagrams that rely on measurable distances between entities. Humans frequently use higher-level, domain-specific conceptual representations such as buildings, rooms, or streets for orientation purposes. Combined with the person-centric world view that we often assume when we refer to spatial information, it is challenging for agents to convert statements using spatial references into assertions that match their own internal representation. In this paper, we discuss an approach that uses natural language processing and information extraction tool kits to identify en- tities and statements about their spatial relations. These extractions are then processed by a spatial reasoner to convert them from the human conceptual space into the quantitative space used by the computer-based agent.”
Project Topic Proposal: Touch Feedback for Materials Data Base
05/01/11 12:05
Use of a haptic mouse (with touch-based feedback) to give users the ability to feel the objects in a database of materials created by Dr. Robert Arens from Architecture Engineering. The Materials Collection for the the Architecture-Engineering-Construction industry is planned to have two related components: a physical collection located in Cal Poly's CAED MRC (Materials Resource Center) and a searchable database. The physical collection allows easy access to specific products or simply browsing the shelves and exploring the sensory world of materials. Samples may be checked out for student use. Every material or product in our physical collection has a barcode that potentially links it to a searchable database. The database will provide basic information and links to more in-depth information that enables thoughtful and informed selection of materials.
Project Topic Proposal: Brain-Computer Interfaces
05/01/11 12:05
I have several BCI devices (one Emotiv Epoch head set, and a few OCZ NIAs) that, in principle, can be used for interaction with a computer. In practice, however, the cheap ones we can afford have serious limitations - they are difficult to calibrate and set up correctly, and do not work reliably. Students have used these before with mixed results, so the emphasis here will have to be more on the conceptual exploration of what could be done with such devices, and less on using the devices for a working system.
For more information on the experiences with previous projects, see
For more information on the experiences with previous projects, see
- M. Murray: https://wiki.csc.calpoly.edu/BCI-Prosthesis (Epoch)
- 480 Team 2: Maria and Luicia Teach Brain Waves (Epoch)
- 480 Team 3: Brain-Computer Interface B (Epoch)
- B. Reynolds Brain-Computer Interface (NIA)
- J. DeWan Brain-Computer Interface (NIA)
Project Topic Proposal: Xbox Kinect for gesture- and voice-based interaction
05/01/11 12:03
I have one Xbox/Kinect combination, and possibly another Kinect that could be used for a project. There are a few topics that I've been toying with, but haven't given much thought yet. If you have an interesting idea, let me know. There are plenty of hacks out there for inspiration (http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=xbox+kinect+hack&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8), but the emphasis for this class should be on interaction methods, not on the actual implementation.
Project Topic Discussions
05/01/11 11:59
I just realized that we could use the Comments feature of these pages for additional project proposals and discussions of the topic I mentioned yesterday. So I’m going to create a new entry for each topic. Please add a comment if the topic sounds interesting to you (this does not constitute a commitment to actually select it), or if you have questions.
I’ll also create another entry for additional project ideas. If you have one, add it there as a comment.
I’ll also create another entry for additional project ideas. If you have one, add it there as a comment.
Slides Chapter 1 Available
04/01/11 15:58
The slides that I would have used today are now available through the schedule page. You can also go to the directory that contains them: http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~fkurfess/Courses/484/W11/Slides/. This gives you access to both the PowerPoint and Keynote versions.
Syllabus and Schedule available
04/01/11 10:58
The syllabus and schedule are available now. Many of the links in the schedule, however, are broken, and will be instantiated as the quarter progresses.
Welcome to 484-W11!
03/01/11 21:40
Welcome to the Web site for the CPE/CSC 481 Knowledge-Based Systems class in Winter 2011! I’ll be using this page to post news relevant for the class. The page is also available as an RSS feed. To subscribe, copy and past the link from the sidebar on the right to your favorite RSS reader.