Beyond Talking Heads to Sharing Experiences: A Research Invitation

Speaker
John Tang
Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 3305

Description

Decades of research have gone into developing video communication technologies. Most of that has been invested in providing talking heads in enterprise work settings. More recently, infrastructures and technologies have matured to the point that video communication in the personal/consumer realm has become readily accessible. In our research, we have begun to see compelling uses of personal video communication, and it often goes beyond talking heads to sharing experiences. In this talk, I’ll share some observations from ethnographic studies of people who actively use personal video communication. I’ll also share some examples of how usage of a video messaging prototype (VideoThreads) and a shared drawing tool (PixIO) really took off when we deployed it in homes and with kids. More importantly, we are inviting academic groups to join us as we explore research opportunities in using video and other telepresence technologies to support shared experiences in the home and consumer settings.

Speaker's Bio

John C. Tang works at Microsoft Research where he designs and studies new tools to support distributed collaboration. He is also a customer of his own work, using it to connect with his research team up in Redmond, WA from Silicon Valley, CA. John’s approach to designing begins with understanding users’ needs through a mix of qualitative (interviews, surveys, video-based observation) and quantitative (usage logs) methods. Before joining Microsoft, John worked at IBM Research Almaden, Sun Microsystems (moment of silence in fond remembrance), and Xerox PARC, and received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Speaker's Website
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/johntang/

Host
Scott Hudson