Fantasy play is when children explore and travel through time and space, to interpret experiences into stories and to act them out. Children love this kind of play and it is really important for developing skills which will be used later in life. Today, computers are increasingly present in children's lives, and the development of technology over recent decades has changed the way children play. This thesis explores the possibility of young children (aged 3-4) enacting their fantasy play in a virtual environment. Three different games were designed and implemented on a Mitsubishi DiamondTouch (DT) multi-touch interactive tabletop. Three evaluation studies were conducted and the performance of the children's fantasy play was examined. In each study, children were recruited from a local preschool class. The first study was designed to compare fantasy play in physical and virtual settings. Children from the preschool class in a state primary school were invited to play with both a real tree house and its virtual implementation on a Mitsubishi DiamondTouch (DT) multi-touch interactive tabletop. Overall, the children played quietly and alone. The results evinced several problems in the interaction with the tabletop as children struggled to drag the objects displayed on the table surface. Therefore, the study did not provide conclusive evidence of a distinction in fantasy in physical and virtual environments. The second study was concentrated on testing solutions for the interaction difficulties evinced in the first study. A new application named The Magic House was developed and implemented on a Mitsubishi DT multi-touch interactive tabletop and tested twice with the preschool children. The results showed that most of the interaction problems from Study 1 were eliminated; evidence of more fantasy play was captured, and children played more confidently in the second evaluation session. The third study was designed to investigate and to compare children's fantasy play in physical and virtual settings. A new physical setting and the virtual implementation on the Mitsubishi DT multi-touch interactive tabletop of materials named The Farm were designed and examined with a group of preschool children. The results revealed that high occurrence of fantasy play was observed in the virtual setting and several similarities and dissimilarities between the two settings was also highlighted. Overall, this thesis produced knowledge on how the application on the multi-touch interactive tabletop environment was designed and evaluated with preschool children. The thesis results demonstrate that appropriate interaction design of virtual environments could stimulate preschool children's fantasy play and the tabletop can be operated by children as young as three. This thesis also specified requirements for designing and facilitating tabletop environments for preschool children's fantasy play.

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.

As technology evolves, new devices and interaction techniques are developed. These transformations create several challenges in terms of usability and user experience. Our research faces some challenges for data input or content exploration in scenarios with restrictions. It is not our intention to investigate all possible scenarios, but we deeply explore a broad range of devices and restrictions. We start with a discussion about the use of an interactive coffee table for exploration of personal photos and videos, also considering a TV set as an additional screen. In a second scenario, we present an architecture that offers to interactive digital TV (iDTV) applications the possibility of receiving multimodal data from multiple devices. Our third scenario concentrates on supporting text input for iDTV applications using a remote control, and presents an interface model based on multiple input modes as a solution. In the last two scenarios, we continued investigating better ways to provide text entry; however, our restriction becomes not using the hands, which is the kind of challenge faced by severely motor-disabled individuals. First, we present a text entry method based on two input symbols and an interaction technique based on detecting internal and external heel rotations using an accelerometer, for those who keep at least a partial movement of a leg and a foot. In the following scenario, only the eyes are required. We present an eye-typing technique that recognizes the intended word by weighting length and frequency of all possible words formed by filtering extra letters from the sequence of letters gazed by the user. The exploration of each scenario in depth was important to achieve the relevant results and contributions. On the other hand, the wide scope of this dissertation allowed the student to learn about several technologies and techniques. / Com a evolução da tecnologia, novos dispositivos e técnicas de interação são desenvolvidas. Essas transformações criam desafios em termos de usabilidade e experiência do usuário. Essa pesquisa enfrenta alguns desafios para a entrada de dados e exploração de conteúdo em cenários com restrições. Não foi intenção da pesquisa investigar todos os possíveis cenários, mas sim a exploração em profundidade de uma ampla gama de dispositivos e restrições. Ao todo cinco cenários são investigados. Primeiramente é apresentada uma discussão sobre o uso de uma mesa de centro interativa para a exploração de fotos e vídeos pessoais, a qual também considera um aparelho de TV como tela adicional. Com base no segundo cenário, uma arquitetura que oferece a aplicações de TV digital interativa (TVDI) a possibilidade de receber dados multimodais de múltiplos dispositivos é apresentada. O terceiro cenário se concentra no suporte a entrada de texto para aplicações de TVDI usando o controle remoto, resultando na apresentação de um modelo de interface baseado em múltiplos modos de entrada como solução. Os dois últimos cenários permitem continuar a investigação por melhores formas de entrada de texto, porém, a restrição se torna a impossibilidade de usar as mãos, um dos desafios enfrentados por indivíduos com deficiência motora severa. No primeiro deles, são apresentados um método de entrada de texto baseado em dois símbolos de entrada e uma técnica de interação baseada na detecção de rotações do pé apoiado sobre o calcanhar usando acelerômetro, para aqueles que mantêm pelo menos um movimento parcial de uma perna e um pé. No senário seguinte, apenas os movimentos dos olhos são exigidos. Foi apresentada uma técnica de escrita com o olho que reconhece a palavra desejada ponderando o comprimento de a frequência de ocorrência de todas as palavras que podem ser formadas filtrando letras excedentes da lista de letras olhadas pelo usuário. A exploração de cada cenário em profundidade foi importante para a obtenção de resultados e contribuições relevantes. Por outro lado, o amplo escopo da dissertação permitiu ao estudante o aprendizado de diversas técnicas e tecnologias.

Les travaux de cette thèse en informatique s’inscrivent dans le domaine de l’interaction homme-machine (IHM). Le sujet de ce mémoire concerne l’utilisation d’une nouvelle forme d’ordinateur appelée table interactive. Il s’agit d’une table dont le plateau est à la fois un écran et une surface de détection multi-tactile. Les tables interactives ouvrent de nouveaux usages de l’informatique en permettant des applications multi-utilisateurs en coprésence. Les utilisateurs d’une même table interactive ont naturellement envie d’interagir simultanément sur la surface partagée. Cette simultanéité est toutefois difficile à observer dans un contexte collaboratif et non artificiel. Les études existantes n’ont pas suffisamment analysé les problèmes rencontrés ni cherché comment le système peut aider à gérer les accès simultanés.Notre approche a consisté à étudier les interactions simultanées en nous orientant vers des situations originales où la couche applicative du système exerce une forte pression sur le rythme d’utilisation. Nous justifions ainsi l’utilisation d’un jeu vidéo comme outil d’exploration et d’expérimentation. Ce mémoire retrace la conception et le développement de RealTimeChess, un jeu pour 2 à 4 joueurs, adapté aux caractéristiques des tables interactives, et inspiré des échecs dans une version s’affranchissant du tour par tour. Nous rapportons les résultats d’expériences menées sur des groupes de 2 à 4 participants en situations de coopération et de compétition, qui ont permis de mettre en évidence des problèmes de gênes physiques et d’accessibilité aux objets distants ; de perception des informations importantes en contexte dynamique ; et de contrôle du rythme de l’interaction.Ce mémoire expose en outre les leçons apprises au niveau de l’interaction simultanée de plusieurs utilisateurs, des aspects de territorialité, des comportements collaboratifs et enfin en proposant des recommandations de Game Design pour tables interactives. / This thesis presents our work in computer science in human-computer interaction (HCI). The subject concerns the use of a new kind of computer called the interactive tabletop display. It is a table whose top is both a screen and a multi-touch detection device. Interactive tabletops open up new uses of computer applications by allowing several co-located users to work or play together on the same system. Tabletop’s users naturally want to interact simultaneously on the shared surface. This simultaneity is difficult to observe in a collaborative and not artificial environment. Existing studies have not sufficiently analyzed the problems nor sought how the system can help manage concurrency.Our approach was to exploring simultaneous interactions by studying original situations where the system puts pressure on users. We explain how we used a video game as an exploration and experimentation tool. This thesis traces the design and development of RealTimeChess, a game for 2-4 players, a real-time version of Chess adapted to tabletops. We report the results of experiments on groups of 2 to 4 participants in situations of cooperation and competition, which helped to highlight problems and physical discomfort of access to remote objects, awareness in dynamic context, and control the pace of interaction.This thesis also presents lessons learned on simultaneous interactions of multiple users, territoriality aspects, collaborative behavior, and finally gives tabletop Game Design guidelines.