News

The Queen’s School of Computing will be participating in the University’s March Break Open House on Monday March 12 and Tuesday March 13.  You can find us in Grant Hall with three tables of demos, displays, and more.  Our enthusiastic faculty, staff, and students will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

The full schedule is also available.

Patrick Martin and his team consisting  of Hossam Hassanein (School of Computing), Mohammad Zulkernine (School of Computing) and Kathryn Brohman (School of Business) have received $480,000 to develop new research into the integration of two emerging technologies: cloud computing and mobile communication networks. As more of the services we use in our daily lives are offered through the Web, consumers’ expectations continue to grow. The next generation of services will be “elastic” in the sense that they will automatically grow and shrink in response to user demand and will be accessible anywhere, anytime from mobile devices.

“The funding facilitates new collaborations among researchers at Queen’s and training for our students in an exciting new area that would not otherwise be available,” says Dr. Martin.

(From the Queen’s News Centre – February 24, 2012)

As nominations for this year’s Teaching awards are being accepted, the February edition of OnQ featured last year’s award winners. Recognized last year for their contributions were two members of the School of Computing – Professor Nick Graham received the Howard Staveley Teaching Award, and Eric Rappos received the Excellence in Teaching Asssitance award.

For the complete February issue of OnQ, click here.

Gamers don’t just play Nicholas Graham’s new video game, Liberi Live – they design it. While one player is rolling and bouncing a ball over obstacles and collecting coins another player can control the course design. The two interact together and with a touch of a button, obstacles or ramps can be added to completely change the game.

“Gaming has reached a bit of a cul de sac. There are first-person shooters, strategy and role-playing games; but it’s been ages since a new type of game came out, and that’s what we’re aiming for – creating a game where the players can change the game itself,” says Dr. Graham, a professor in the School of Computing who also runs the EQUIS Lab, which deals with video game development. “Somebody engaging in the design of the game at the same time as somebody is playing it allows everyone far more creativity.”

Dr. Graham’s video game, Liberi Live, was on display at one of the world’s top conferences in human-computer interaction, TEI 2012 (Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction), which took place at Queen’s University earlier this week.

Some of the other technology on display at the conference included a two-sided flexible TV screen that can be folded like paper; socially networked yoga mats; a glove for deaf-blind people that translates the hand-touch alphabet Lorm (a common form of communication used by deaf-blind people) into text; and a wearable system of sensors designed to improve posture among office workers by rewarding regular body movement with access to a video game during the workday.

The conference was organized by the Queen’s Human Media Lab. “One of the missions of the Queen’s Human Media Lab is to develop the high tech sector for Canada and Queen’s. To have all the top researchers from around the world come to Kingston shows we are on the right track,” says School of Computing professor Roel Vertegaal, who runs the Human Media Lab at Queen’s.

(From the Queen’s News Centre 2/17/12)

Roel was interviewed by CKWS TV about TEI2012 (The Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction) organized by the Human Media Lab of the Queen’s School of Computing and currently in progress on campus.

Click here to see the entire interview.

The website, CrazyEngineers, features an article about Nick Graham and the EQUIS Lab’s new video game, Liberi Live, a multi-player game which puts you in a world where you are either the creator or the player. It will be featured at TEI 2012, which is being hosted by Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab February 19-22. Read all about it here.

There was widespread interest in David’s viewpoint as he was asked to comment by the Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Montreal Gazette and several other Postmedia newspapers, on a report that says hackers had access to Nortel Networks Inc.’s corporate computer network for at least a decade.

The School of Computing’s David Skillicorn commented on the decision by Twitter to restrict tweets in certain countries, on the Roy Green Show (syndicated radio show carried on 11 stations across Canada, including AM 640 Toronto).

ACM SIGCHI TEI 2012 (Tangible Embedded, Embodied Interaction) 19-22 February 2012, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

The 6th ACM SIGCHI conference on Tangible Embedded, Embodied Interaction (TEI 2012) is one month away! Register soon as space is limited.

The conference will be held 19th-22nd of February 2012, at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Come join us to celebrate a fantastic week of new ideas, cool crowds and a winter wonderland filled with great music and excellent food & drink.

Work presented at TEI addresses Human-Computer Interaction issues, design, interactive art, user experience, tools and technologies, with a strong focus on how computing can bridge atoms and bits into cohesive interactive systems. The intimate size of this single-track conference provides a unique forum for exchanging ideas and presenting innovative work through talks, amazing interactive demonstrations, videos, hands-on studios, posters, art installations. Enjoy keynote talks by Matthew Gardiner of Ars Electronica in Austria and Joanna Berzowska of XS Labs in Montreal, and special musical performances by Edwin van der Heide, and Steve Mann and Ryan Janzen in the TEI 2012 theatre.

The peer-reviewed technical program comprises talks, interactive demonstrations, and posters on tangible interaction. A juried Art Salon comprises tangibly interactive art and performance; and a design challenge will feature design teams pitching their ideas for real products. Come early to enjoy winter sports activities on Sunday, February 20th, with a variety of skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and rock climbing events. Don’t miss the great art, including the Bader collection of Dutch Masters, during the opening night reception on Sunday. Get a hands-on experience of building your own hardware, including electronic glass blowing, with the Studio track, which take place on Tuesday, February 21st. The conference theme, FOLD UNFOLD, will be celebrated through a special invited workshop on Origami by MIT’s Jason Ku. And don’t forget to go for a late night pub crawl in a city renowned for its great live music.

TEI 2012 is sponsored by the ACM SIGCHI with support from Disney Research, Seeed Studio, Sparkfun, the US National Science Foundation, GRAND, Kingston Tourism and the Human Media Lab.

TEI 2012’s official airline, Air Canada, offers discounted travel to Kingston from anywhere in the world. Or travel to Kingston by rail using a 10% discount through VIA Rail Canada.

We look forward to seeing you at TEI 2012 in Kingston, February 19th-22nd, 2012!

The School of Computing’s Nick Graham was recently asked by Sun News Network to talk about today’s ultra-violent video games and how that violence is likely to affect our youth. See the whole interview here.