The Inclusive Interaction Lab Presents

Francisco R. Ortega's Headshot

Francisco R. Ortega

Associate Professor

Colorado State University

Friday, February 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM in COB1-263

Design and Application of Extended Reality Notifications

Abstract

Notifications are essential for keeping users informed but can also be disruptive. With XR headsets becoming more compact and integrated into daily life, managing notifications effectively is crucial. These headsets occupy the user's field of view, requiring safe and efficient UI design, especially with something as distracting as notifications. Our research on augmented reality notification positioning found that placing them near relevant objects, the user's task, or the bottom center of their field of view improves usability, with spatial sound enhancing recognition. Users preferred touch interaction for speed and ease, while multimodal input could serve as a backup when touch is impractical, prioritizing stability and reliability. To understand real-world behavior, we conducted a five-day study where participants used smartglasses to display their phone notifications and logging experiences through diaries and interviews. This talk will give an overview of our research and the opportunities ahead.

Short Bio

Francisco R. Ortega is an Associate Professor at Colorado State University (CSU) and has been Director of the Natural User Interaction lab (NUILAB) since Fall 2018. Dr. Ortega earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science (CS) in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) from Florida International University (FIU). He also held the Post-Doc and Visiting Assistant Professor position at FIU between February 2015 and July 2018. His research has focused on (1) multimodal and unimodal interaction (gesture-centric), which includes gesture elicitation (e.g., a form of participatory design), (2) information access effort in augmented reality (e.g., visual cues and automation bias), (3) AR notifications, and (4) stress reduction using virtual reality forest bathing. For multimodal interaction research, Dr. Ortega focuses on improving user interaction by (a) multimodal elicitation, (b) developing interactive techniques, and (c) improving augmented reality visualization techniques. The primary domains for interaction include general environments, immersive analytics, and VR sketching. His research has resulted in over 90 peer-reviewed publications, including books, journals, conferences, workshops, and magazine articles, in venues such as ACM CHI, ACM VRST, IEEE VR, IEEE TVCG, IEEE ISMAR, ACM PACMHCI, ACM ISS, ACM SUI, IEEE 3DUI, HFES, and Human Factor Journals, among others. Dr. Ortega has experience with multiple projects awarded by the government. For example, Dr. Ortega was a co-PI for the DARPA Communicating with Computers project. He is a PI for a 3-year effort for ONR titled Perceptual/Cognitive Aspects of Augmented Reality: Experimental Research and a Computational Model. He was recently awarded a new ONR grant titled “Assessing Cognitive Load and Managing Extraneous Load to Optimize Training.” The National Science Foundation and other agencies and companies have also funded him. This includes the NSF CAREER 2023 for microgestures and multimodal interaction. Since his tenure-track appointment at CSU in August 2018, Dr. Ortega has brought over 4.2 million dollars in external funding (with 3.7 million as principal investigator). Finally, Dr. Ortega is committed to diversity and inclusion, and his mission is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in CS, rooted in his own experiences and from the time spent at FIU - the largest R1 Hispanic serving institution.