Dr. Chat Wacharamanotham

Alumnus

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Chat completed his PhD on input accuracy on and above touch screens at the Media Computing Group under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jan Borchers in 2016. To find out what he did next, check out our alumni page.

 I started my new job at the People and Computing Lab at the University of Zurich in November 2015. This table shows who took over my responsibilities at the Media Computing Group:

For further contact, please use my ACM email address, which will be redirected to my current email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Hi, Chat’s here! I am interested in reinterpreting human motions for input to improve accessibility, expressivity, and ergonomics. One track of this is to empower users with hand tremor to use touchscreens with Swabbing input. Since 2011, I directed the second track of my research to mid-air inputs. I also have several works on interactive surfaces. I am interested in research methods and statistics, and even hosted a bookclub in 2012.

My lifetime goal is to find a reliable way to make people understand and practice a right mixture of design thinking and scientific method in their everyday life. Specifically, I am interested the role of HCI to encourage users to be aware of the extent of their knowledge and their inherent biases that influences their day-to-day decisions.

Projects

	Statsplorer is a software tool that allows users to do statistical analysis by interacting with visualizations. It guides the user to select appropriate statistical analysis tasks based on her research questions. It also prevents common statistical analysis mistakes and promotes understanding by collocating appropriate visualizations with statistical analysis results. (read more) Full paper at CHI 2015, Student Research Competition (Krishna Subramanian) at CHI 2014
	FINS: Understanding Finger Input in Near-Surface Space leverage midair space near device, e.g., above keyboards or mouses, as additional input modality. (read more) Full paper at CHI 2014
	Swabbing is a touchscreen target selection method designed for users with hand tremor. Instead of touching on the target, the user slides his hand towards a target placed along the edge of the screen. In collaboration with Alexander Mertens, Chair and Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics (read more) Note and workshop paper at CHI 2011. Workshop paper at CHI 2013.
	Aixplorer is a mobile audio and multimedia tour guide that will help you explore Aachen and its rich cultural and historical heritage (read more)
	How We Gesture is a study of how users’ perception and behavior of gestural interaction differ between gesturing to human vs. gesturing to computer. In collaboration with Sukeshini A. Grandhi (previously at Natural Media & Engineering Lab, now at Eastern Connecticut State University). (read more) Work-in-progress at CHI 2013
	Indirect Touch is a multitouch system in which users indirectly manipulate objects on the vertical screen by with touches on the horizontal screen. This interaction improves ergonomics of interactions over an extended period by reducing gorilla arm (vertical screen) and stiff neck (horizontal screen). (read more) Full paper CHI 2013
	Fillables are low-cost and ubiquitous everyday vessels that are appropriated as tangible controllers whose haptics are tuned ad-hoc by filling, e.g., with water. (read more) Extended abstract for alt.chi at CHI 2013
	Forceposé uses a pressure-sensitive touchpad to enable quick glances and interactions with occluded windows in Mac OS X. (read more) Demo at UIST 2012 Student Innovation Contest
	FingerFlux is a haptic output technique that provides near-surface haptic feedback on interactive tabletops. It combines an electromagnetic display with a permanent magnet attached to the user’s index finger. (read more) Paper and demo at UIST 2011. Received 3rd place in the category “Best demo”.
	Dynamic Portals is a light-weight touch-based technique that allows to transfer virtual objects to distant locations on an interactive tabletop. (read more) Note at ITS 2011. Received Best Note Award.
	Silhouettes is an interactive collaborative gesture-based experience for the German-Chinese House at the World EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. (read more)  Software Developer
	The goal of the Personal Orchestra series of projects is to adapt this centuries-old interaction metaphor to digital multimedia so that everyone may enjoy the wonderful experience of conducting world-famous orchestras. (read more)  Student Assistant: Content Preparation for Personal Orchestra 6
	Aixplorer is your mobile guide to the Route Charlemagne, Aachen’s new tourist concept. It is a mobile audio and multimedia tour guide that will help you explore the city and its rich cultural and historical heritage. (read more)  Student Assistant: Location Tracking
	The goal of the TWEND is a prototype for direct-manipulation by deformation in mobile devices. (read more)  Student Assistant: Programmer

Publications

An arrow marks a major peer-reviewed archival publication. PDF of papers published by ACM are available at no charge from my ACM Author-izer page.

2018

• Krishna Subramanian, Johannes Maas, Michael Ellers, Chat Wacharamanotham, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. StatWire: Visual Flow-based Statistical Programming.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '18, pages LBW104:1–LBW104:6, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2018.
  

2016

• Nur Al-huda Hamdan, Florian Heller, Chat Wacharamanotham, Jan Thar and Jan Borchers. Grabrics: A Foldable Two-Dimensional Textile Input Controller.  In Extended Abstracts of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '16, pages 2497–2503,May 2016.
  
• Philipp Wacker, Chat Wacharamanotham, Daniel Spelmezan, Jan Thar, David A. Sánchez, René Bohne and Jan Borchers. VibroVision: An On-Body Tactile Image Guide for the Blind.  In Extended Abstracts of the CHI'16 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 3788–3791, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2016.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham. Drifts, Slips, and Misses: Input Accuracy for Touch Surfaces. PhD Thesis, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, February 2016.
  

2015

• Simon Voelker, Kjell Ivar Øvergård, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Knobology Revisited: A Comparison of User Performance between Tangible and Virtual Rotary Knobs.  In ITS '15: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 35–38, ACM, New York, NY, USA, November 2015.
  
• Florian Heller, Simon Voelker, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Transporters: Vision & Touch Transitive Widgets for Capacitive Screens.  In CHI '15: Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1603–1608,April 2015.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham, Krishna Subramanian, Sarah Theres Völkel and Jan Borchers. Statsplorer: Guiding Novices in Statistical Analysis.  In CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 2693–2702,New York, NY, USA, April 2015.
  

2014

• Florian Heller, Stefan Ivanov, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. FabriTouch: Exploring Flexible Touch Input on Textiles.  In ISWC '14: Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers, pages 59–62,September 2014.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham, Kashyap Todi, Marty Pye and Jan Borchers. Understanding Finger Input Above Desktop Devices.  In CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1083–1092,New York, NY, USA, April 2014.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham. Making Bare Hand Input More Accurate.  In CHI '14: Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 307–310,April 2014.
  

2013

• Christian Corsten, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Fillables: Everyday Vessels as Tangible Controllers with Adjustable Haptics.  In CHI '13: Extended Abstracts of the 31st Annual Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 2129–2138,April 2013.
  
• Sukeshini A. Grandhi, Chat Wacharamanotham, Gina Joue, Jan Borchers and Irene Mittelberg. How We Gesture Towards Machines: an Exploratory Study of User Perceptions of Gestural Interaction.  In CHI '13: Extended Abstracts of 2013 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing, pages 1209–1214, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2013.
  
• Simon Voelker, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. An Evaluation of State Switching Methods for Indirect Touch Systems.  In CHI '13: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 745–754, ACM, New York, NY, USA, April 2013.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham, Dennis Kehrig, Alexander Mertens, Christopher Schlick and Jan Borchers. Designing a Touchscreen Web Browser for People with Tremors.  In CHI 2013 Workshop on Mobile Accessibility, Workshop Paper, Paris, France, April 2013.
  

2012

• Alexander Mertens, Chat Wacharamanotham, Jan Hurtmanns, Martin Kronenbuerger, Peter H. Kraus, Arndt Hoffmann, Christopher Schlick and Jan Borchers. Model Based Processing of Swabbing Movements on Touch Screens to Improve Accuracy and Efficacy for Information Input of Individuals Suffering from Kinetic Tremor.  In Human -- Computer Systems Interaction: Backgrounds and Applications 2, Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, pages 503–522, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, August 2012.
  

2011

• Alexander Mertens, Chatchavan Wacharamanotham, Jan Hurtmanns, Niels Huck and Jörg Schulz and. SWABBING: Touchscreen-basierte Mensch-Rechner-Interaktion für Personen mit Tremorerkrankungen des Hand-Arm-Apparats. In das wissenschaftliche Programm des Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurologie (DGN), Poster, September 2011.
  
• Tongyan Ning, Jörg Müller, Robert Walter, Gilles Bailly, Chat Wacharamanotham, Florian Alt and Jan Borchers. No Need to Stop: Menu Techniques for Passing by Public Displays.  In CHI 2011 Workshop on Large Displays in Urban Life: from Exhibition Halls to Media Facades, Workshop Paper, Vancouver, Canada, May 2011.
  
• Chat Wacharamanotham, Jan Hurtmanns, Alexander Mertens, Martin Kronenbuerger, Christopher Schlick and Jan Borchers. Evaluating Swabbing: a Touchscreen Input Method for Elderly Users with Tremor.  In CHI '11: Proceedings of the 29th Annual SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 623–626, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, May 2011.
  
• Malte Weiss, Chat Wacharamanotham, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. FingerFlux: Near-surface Haptic Feedback on Tabletops.  In UIST '11: Proceedings of the 24th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology, pages 615–620, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2011.
  
• Simon Voelker, Malte Weiss, Chat Wacharamanotham and Jan Borchers. Dynamic Portals: A Lightweight Metaphor for Fast Object Transfer on Interactive Surfaces.  In ITS '11: Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, pages 158–161, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2011.
  

2010

• Chatchavan Wacharamanotham, Jonathan Meyer, Jonathan Diehl and Jan Borchers. The Interactive Bracelet: An input device for bimanual interaction.  In Mobile HCI 2010 Workshop on Ensembles of On-Body Devices, Workshop Paper, Lisbon, Portugal, September 2010.
  

2007–09 (Publications outside HCI area)

• Chatchavan Wacharamanotham. Using semantic web technologies for data update, Master Thesis, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2009.
• Chatchavan Wacharamanotham, Mukda Suktarachan, Asanee Kawtrakul. The Development of Web-based Annotation System for Thai Treebank, The Seventh International Symposium on Natural Language Processing (SNLP2007), Bangkok, Thailand, 2007.

Teaching

 Supervised Thesis Students

(B): Bachelor’s thesis. (M) Master’s thesis, (D) Diploma’s thesis, * as a second supervisor
Mouse over each name for the thesis title.

Code

 Apps for the User of One

Series of applications that I wrote and fine-tuned to suit my unique use. These apps are usually too trivial or too silly to be made by others.

Composer allows you to send an email without being distracted to check your mailbox. (iPhone)

Services

You can ask me about:

• Programming: OS X & iOS programming with Objective-C, R, Processing, Python
• HCI research method: Experimental design, Quantitative/Qualitative analysis, Statistics, and Survey design.
• Hardware: I know my way around expensive stuff around the chair: Vicon motion tracking system, OptiTrack, Kinect, Anoto digital pen, Inkling, and ForcePad.

 HCI knowledge pointers

• Theoretical model list provides a one-sentence summary of existing theoretical models in HCI.

 Research Tools

• Latin square generator: a Python script to generate Latin square from a given number of conditions.
• Kinect Cocoa Framework: I made Kinect works with Mac OS X nicely .
• PenStrokeExtractor: A tool to extract pen strokes recorded in LiveScribe digital pens. (internal)
• Whitelines: blank template and an Automator droplet for Whitelines app.

 Teaching Goodies

• examsummary: R script to convert a table of exam scores to meaningful graphs
• Basic statistics for DIS1: a part of DIS1 lecture showing how statistics is used in design evaluation
• Research Methods for HCI Book Club: I host a small book club aiming to increase awareness and understanding of different research methods in HCI.

 Guides

• Working with me? This guide will lead us to work happily and effectively together.

Etc., etc.

As an HCI researcher, I am honored to be a reviewer for publications in these venues: CHI (2011–15), UIST (2012, where I blessed with a “Great Reviewer” star, 2013-14), MobileHCI (2013–14), ITS (2014), GI (2013), SUI (2013), DIS (2012), TVX (2014), C&C (2015), and APCHI (2012).

I also designed Student Volunteer t-shirts for UIST ’10 (not selected), UIST ’11, and CHI ’13 (not selected).

I am a strong proponent of Getting Things Done. In my free time, I love reading popular psychology books and listen to classical music. I tweet @chatchavan.

• A guide for extending a resident permit in Germany (Internal access only, contains dark arts :D )

[Google Scholar] [ORCID] (internal access: vcard)