Elastic, deformable displays allow users to give input by pinching, pushing, folding, and twisting the display. However, little is known about what gestures users prefer or how they will use elasticity and deformability as input. We report a guessability study where 17 participants performed gestures to solve 29 tasks, including selection, navigation, and 3D modeling. Based on the resulting 493 gestures, we describe a user-defined gesture set for elastic, deformable displays. We show how participants used depth and elasticity of the display to simulate deformation, rotation, and displacement of objects. In addition, we show how the use of desktop computers as well as multi-touch interaction affected users' choice of gestures. Finally, we discuss some unique uses of elasticity and deformability in gestures.

Deformable interfaces offer new possibilities for gestures, some of which have been shown effective in controlled laboratory studies. Little work, however, has attempted to match deformable interfaces to a demanding domain and evaluate them out of the lab. We investigate how musicians use deformable interfaces to perform electronic music. We invited musicians to three workshops, where they explored 10 deformable objects and generated ideas on how to use these objects to perform music. Based on the results from the workshops, we implemented sensors in the five preferred objects and programmed them for controlling sounds. Next, we ran a performance study where six musicians performed music with these objects at their studios. Our results show that (1) musicians systematically map deformations to certain musical parameters, (2) musicians use deformable interfaces especially to filter and modulate sounds, and (3) musicians think that deformable interfaces embody the parameters that they control. We discuss what these results mean to research in deformable interfaces.

Background: There have been increasing calls for integrating computational thinking and computing into school science, mathematics, and engineering classrooms. The learning goals of the curriculum in this study included learning about both computational thinking and climate science. Including computer science in science classrooms also means a shift in the focus on design and creation of artifacts and attendant practices. One such design practice, widespread in the design and arts fields, is critique. This paper explores the role of critique in two urban, heterogenous 8th grade science classrooms in which students engaged in creating computer games on the topic of climate systems and climate change. It explores and compares how practices of critique resulted from curricular decisions to (i) scaffold intentional critique sessions for student game designers and (ii) allow for spontaneous feedback as students interacted with each other and their games during the process of game creation. Results: Although we designed formal opportunities for critique, the participatory dimension of the project meant that students were free to critique each other's games at any time during the building process and did so voluntarily. Data indicate that students focused much more on the game play dimension of the design than the science, particularly in those critique sessions that were student-initiated. Despite the de-emphasis on science in spontaneous critiques, students still focused on several dimensions of computational thinking, considering user experience, troubleshooting, modeling, and elegance of solutions. Conclusions: Students making games about science topics should have opportunities for both formal and spontaneous critiques. Spontaneous critiques allow for students to be authorities of knowledge and to determine what is acceptable and what is not. However, formal, teacher-designed critiques may be necessary for students to focus on science as part of the critique. Furthermore, one of the benefits to critiquing others was that students were able to see what others had done, how they had set up their games, the content they included, and how they had programmed certain features. Lastly, critiques can help facilitate iteration as students work to improve their games.

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