Information processing by computers must be accompanied by the capacity to present results to users in an efficient and usable way, using human-computer interfaces. In the case of interactive systems, these interfaces must also allow users to enter information in a simple and reliable way, and in the most advanced cases to acquire information from users in a non-disruptive ways. Current research directions at Idiap focus on multimedia information systems, user interfaces, and the evaluation of interactive systems, explained below in more detail.
Multimedia information systems
The results of processing multimedia streams, using perceptual and
cognitive systems for instance, can be shown to have potential value for
users if they are integrated in information systems that take advantage
of the content abstraction annotations over the streams. These
annotations speed up access to the content of multimedia data, and
facilitate search for specific bits of information. The current research
focus at Idiap is on building an Automatic Content Linking Device that
facilitates real-time access to multimedia archives of past meetings,
using speech recognition and language processing to infer the
information needs of a group during a discussion, and displaying
documents and excerpts of the archive that appear to be relevant at a
given moment in the discussion.
Projects: AMIDA, IM2,
MULTI08
Contact: 
Andrei Popescu-Belis
User interfaces
Research on human-computer interaction spans a large body of work in
several fields (graphics, design, ergonomics, human-computer dialogue,
etc.), but the current focus at Idiap is on meeting browsers, i.e
interfaces that give access to multimedia databases of meeting
recordings, accompanied by annotations (indications of content-related
features) added, for instance, by perceptual and cognitive systems.
Idiap develops meeting browsers under the JFerret framework for
interface design, which allows the combination of input and output
modules into a graphical layout, and enables their real-time connection
to other modules and to databases of annotated meetings.
Projects: AMIDA, IM2,
MULTI08
Contact: Andrei Popescu-Belis
System evaluation
Evaluation of computer systems can adopt a performance-based approach
(measuring accuracy of results with respect to desired ones) or a
task-based one (quantifying how helpful is a system to achieve the
task(s) for which it was designed). At Idiap, the evaluation of
information interfaces is done through a task-based, yet precise and
reproducible framework named the BET, for browser evaluation test. The
BET is based on a list of information gathering tasks over a given
meeting recording, which users of browsers, or automatic retrieval
tools, have to complete, their performances being measured in terms of
precision and speed.
Projects: AMIDA, IM2,
MULTI08
Contact: Andrei Popescu-Belis
Andrei Popescu-Belis