Dr. Oussama Metatla
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I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Electornic Engineering and Computer Science [EECS] at Queen Mary University of London [QMUL]. My main research interests are in: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) - Auditory Display (AD) - Haptics - Multimodal and Cross-modal Interaction - Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) - Information Representation - Accessibility and Assistive Technology.
I am a named researcher on the EPSRC funded project Collaborative Cross-modal Interfaces (CCmI), with Nick Bryan-Kinns (PI) and Tony Stockman (CI), in partnership with the RNIB and BCAB. [MORE] on CCmI Home page. CCmI draws on and extends my PhD work by exploring the design of computer-supported collaboration between users with differring access to modalities (visual, auditory and haptics). In particular, we are exploring how to support visually impaired and sighted co-workers in the context of editing diagrams in the software engineering workplace. [MORE]
Contacts
Email: oussama [AT] eecs [DOT] qmul [DOT] ac [DOT] uk
Phone: +44(0) 207 882 7249
Room CS321,
School of Electornic Engineering & Computer Science
Queen Mary University of London,
Mile End road, London, E1 4NS, UK.
Research
Research Interests
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) - Auditory Display (AD) - Haptics - Multimodal and Cross-modal Interaction - Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) - Information Representation - Accessibility and Assistive Technology
Current Project
Collaborative Cross-modal interfaces (CCmI): Accessible Diagrams for Workplace Inclusion
Collaboration is a fundamental form of human interaction. However, software tools which support collaboration assume that all collaborators have access to the same sets of modalities. For example, audio-video conferencing systems assume all participants can see and hear the outputs of the system, and shared whiteboards assume equal access to the visual modality. This disadvantages users with differing access to sensory channels due to their context and abilities. It is a critical problem for distributed team work where participants are likely to use different communication technologies to collaborate (e.g. mobile teamwork) as well as co-located work groups involving elderly participants or participants with perceptual impairments (e.g. visual impairments).The CCmI project will refine and adapt my PhD work to demonstrate its utility for improving the accessibility of collaboration in real world scenarios. The challenge is to design support for collaboration where participants have differing access to modalities - we refer to these situations as cross-modal collaboration. In particular, we are working with the Royal National Institute of the Blind [RNIB] and the British Computer Association of the Blind [BCAB] to explore how to support visually impaired and sighted co-workers in the context of editing diagrams in the software engineering workplace. [MORE] on the CCmI Home page.
Previous Projects
Collaborating Through Sounds: Audio-only Interaction with Diagrams
The research that I conducted during my PhD investigated aspects of diagram accessibility when using sound as the only means of interaction. The research aimed to empirically explore the potential of using auditory display for accessing and manipulating graphically represented information, in both individual and collaborative usage scenarios.In other (simpler) words, I looked into how diagrams can be transformed from visual to auditory artefacts, how audio can be used to access and manipulate diagrams; how interaction with diagrams (inspecting, constructing, editing) can be supported through audio-only interfaces, and how the dynamics of collaboration are affected when groups of people work together on auditory diagrams. I asked and worked on answering questions such as; What might a graph or a diagram sound like? How do we hear - and learn to hear - a diagram? How do we work together on diagrams when we can only hear each other?
This work was nominated for and received the prize of International Excellence in HCI Research by the British Computer Society Interaction Group. [MORE]
The PhD Thesis is now online.
Accessible Music Studio (AMuST)
Modern sound editors employ multi-function mixing and transport controls that rely heavily on visual displays for multi-track editing and production. This situation imposes severe limitations on the autonomy of visually impaired users within a field that could be a natural one for them, that of sound and music production. The AMuST project was a Technology Strategy Board (TSB) funded feasibility study which aimed to identify usability issues in current accessibility solutions, and ways in which they could be overcome through employment of novel interactive design techniques. This was achieved through an examination of state-of-the-art approaches to providing accessibility to mainstream sound editing tools, as well as through close interaction with experienced visually impaired and blind audio engineering practitioners.Interactive Audio Soccer
This project explored basic questions in the design and implementation of an audio-only computer-base football game; such as size of playing area, orientation, awareness of team mates and opponents and basic navigation. The project also explored more advanced design issues, not addressed by previous audio only ball games, involving the provision of a multi-player perspective, requiring the provision of an intuitive means of supporting changes in the focus of the interaction in audio. In general the dynamic, multi-player perspective poses interesting questions of how to provide real time and interactive sonification of ball and player positions and how these should be managed within the context of the changes in interaction focus mentioned above.To assist with these and other design questions, advice was sort from past and present players of the British blind soccer squad. The information gathered ranged from basic facts about the rules and conditions under which games are played, through to discussions about the role of echo location in providing an awareness of physical features of the pitch and the proximity of other players. This in turn led to the question of how realistically to present the information provided through echo location in a virtual auditory display. Thus the project also explored the potential roles of audio-only game systems in team coaching, exploring the practical applications of audio game representations to realistic coaching scenarios.
A list of my publications can be found here, or on my Publications page.
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Publications
2011/ to appear
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Interactive Hierarchy-Based Auditory Displays for Accessing and Manipulating Relational Diagrams. Submitted to the Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, under review.2010
Oussama Metatla. Collaborating Through Sounds: Audio-only Interaction With Diagrams, PhD thesis, Queen Mary University of London. [PDF](Talk) Oussama Metatla, Tony Stockman, Nick Bryan-Kinns. Collaborative Cross-modal Interfaces: Editing Diagrams Through Sounds. DMRN+5 Digital Music Research Network One-day Workshop 2010, London, UK.
Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman, Oussama Metatla. Collaborative Cross-Modal Interfaces. In the Proceedings of Digital Futures 2010 Research Councils UK Digital Economy All Hands Meeting, Nottingham, UK.
Nick Bryan-Kinns, Robin Fencott, Oussama Metatla, Shahin Nabavian, Jennifer Sheridan. Interactional Sound: Listening to CSCW, Sonification, and Sound Art. In the proceedings of NIME2010, Sydney, Australia
2009
(Invited Talk) Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Constructing Relational Diagrams in Audio: The Multiple Perspective Hierarchical Approach. Nomination and prize for International Excellence in HCI Research at the 23rd BCS HCI Conference, Cambridge, UK.2008
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Constructing Relational Diagrams in Audio: The Multiple Perspective Hierarchical Approach. In the proceedings of ASSETS2008, Halifax, Canada. ACM Press. [PDF]Tony Stockman & Oussama Metatla. The Influence of Screen-Readers on Web Cognition. In the Proceedings of ADDW'08, York, UK. [PDF]
(Talk) Oussama Metatla. Auditory Interaction With and Through Diagrams. The 7th Annual Postgraduate Conference in Computer Science, 27-28 March 2008, Queen Mary University of London, UK.
(Talk) Oussama Metatla. Auditory Display For Accessing & Manipulating Relational Diagrams. Doctoral Colloquium of NordiCHI'08, Lund, Sweden.
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Comparing Interaction Strategies for Constructing Relational Diagrams in an Audio-Only Interface. In Vol2 of the proceedings of HCI2008, Liverpool, UK. ACM Press [PDF]
2007
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Using Hierarchies to Support Non-Visual Access to Relational Diagrams. In the Proceedings of HCI2007, Lancaster UK. ACM Press [PDF]Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-kinns, Tony Stockman. Auditory External Representation: Exploring and Evaluating the Design and Learnability of an Auditory UML Diagram. In the Proceedings of ICAD2007, Montreal Canada. [PDF]
(Talk) Oussama Metatla. What Makes an Auditory Diagram Diagrammatic? The 6th Annual Postgraduate Conference in Computer Science 20-21 March 2007, Queen Mary University of London, UK.
Tony Stockkman, Neil Rajgor, Oussama Metatla, Lila Harrar. The Design of Interactive Audio Soccer. In the Proceedings of ICAD2007, Montreal Canada. [PDF]
(Talk) Oussama Metatla. Proximity and Scientific Collaboration. The 2nd IBScientific Annual Conference in association with the FOREM 16-18 April 2007, Algiers, Algeria
Tony Stockkman, Neil Rajgor, Oussama Metatla, Lila Harrar. The Design of Interactive Audio Soccer. In Proceedings of ISon2007, York UK.
2006
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. A Model for Structuring UML Class Diagrams to Support Non-Visual Interpretation and Navigation. In Vol2 of the Proceedings of HCI2006, London UK. ACM PressOussama Metatla, Lila Harrar. Listening to Graphs & Hearing Diagrams. Extended abstract in the Proceedings of IBSAC2006, London UK. [PDF]
(Talk) Oussama Metatla. The Quest for Non-Visual Diagrammatic Representations. The 5th Annual Postgraduate Conference in Computer Science 30-31 March 2006, Queen Mary University of London, UK.
Oussama Metatla, Nick Bryan-Kinns, Tony Stockman. Diagrams As Sonified Trees: The Design and Implementation of Auditory UML. poster presentation at HAID2006, Glasgow, Scotland. [PDF]
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Links
Computing
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Portal - dgital library and guide to computing literature [ACM]The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction [SIGCHI]
The British Computer Society Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Group [INTERACTION]
HCI Bibliography: Human-Computer Interaction Resources [HCIbib]
International Community for Auditory Display [ICAD]
Activity
Ibn Badis Scientific Publishing Group [IBScientific]Algerian Competences Association [ACA]
Algerian Postgradautes in the UK Network (Facebook group) [APGUK]
Other
I come from here, read [MORE].I'm a fan of Noureddine's photography, which really captures the diverse beauty of Algeria.
I learn about human bone regeneration here.
Qur'an explorer, interactive recitations and translations in a variety of languages [Qur'an] [Tanzil]
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