DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATICS SYSTEMS

The Interactive Systems research group (IAS) was founded in 2000 by Pro­fessor Martin Hitz. Its core com­pe­tencies span the areas of usability eng­ineering, novel inter­action mech­a­ni­sms, non-classical user inter­faces, cogni­tive psy­chology in the con­text of user inter­faces, smart home con­trol and inter­action, and design and modelling of in­for­mation systems.

Human centered com­puting and design is the central theme of most of our teaching and research activities. Currently, much of our work is focused on the inter­action between the human and the artifacts or digital devices she uses. Thereby we are par­ticularly in­te­rested in various aspects of user-friendliness within the context of:

• mobility and inte­gration of com­puterized com­po­nents into every­day artefacts/­devices (form factors, inter­action mech­­anisms, appli­cation areas),
• accessi­bility (under-served popu­lation groups, digital divide, e-government), and
  
• new interface paradigms (3D, virtual- and augmented reality, ubiquitous/­pervasive computing).