Dr. Ravi Kuber

Short Biography

Ravi Kuber is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems, UMBC. His research examines the ways that touch-based (haptic) technologies can be used to support interaction with an interface, when the user's visual channel is blocked or restricted. He has designed haptic and multimodal interfaces to support individuals who are blind and older adults to overcome the barriers faced when accessing graphical user interfaces. He has also examined ways to develop tactile feedback to augment the process of mobile interaction. Other areas of interest include applying non-visual technologies to address the trade-offs associated with authentication. He received his Ph.D. from Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from University College London, UK.

Teaching

• IS 303: Fundamentals of Human-Computer Interaction - 303 Spring 2009, 303 Spring 2011, 303 Spring 2012, 303 Spring 2013
• IS/HCC 629: Fundamentals of Human-Centered Computing - 629 Fall 2009, 629 Fall 2010, 629 Fall 2012
• IS 698/800: Special Topics in IS: Developing Interfaces for Rehabilitation - 698 Fall 2011, 698 Spring 2013
• IS/HCC 729: Human-Centered Design - 729 Spring 2010, 729 Spring 2011, 729 Spring 2012

Current Projects

• Developing haptic feedback to support GUI exploration
• Using touch to support physical activity
• Developing tactile feedback to augment mobile interaction
• Authentication using non-visual feedback
• Communication through Brain-Computer Interface and gestural technologies
• Supporting individuals with learning differences through mobile interface design

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

1. Kuber, R. & Wright, F.P. 2013: Augmenting the Instant Messaging Experience through the Use of Brain Computer Interface and Gestural Technologies. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 29 (3), 178-191.
2. Zhu, S., Kuber, R., Tretter, M. & O'Modhrain, M.S. 2011: Identifying the Effectiveness of Using Three Different Haptic Devices for Providing Non-visual Access to the Web Interacting with Computers 23, 565-581.
3. Qian, H., Kuber, R. & Sears, A. 2011: Towards Developing Perceivable Tactile Feedback for Mobile Devices. International Journal of Human Computer Studies 69, 705-719.
4. Qian, H., Kuber, R., Sears, A. & Murphy, E. 2011: Maintaining and Modifying Pace through Tactile and Multimodal Feedback. Interacting with Computers, 23 (3), 214-225.
5. Kuber, R., Yu, W. & O'Modhrain, M.S. 2011: Evaluation of Haptic HTML Mappings Derived from a Novel Methodology. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, 3 (4), Article 12.
6. Kuber, R. & Yu, W. 2010: Feasibility Study of Tactile-based Authentication. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68, 158-181.
7. Murphy, E., Kuber, R., McAllister, G., Strain, P. & Yu, W. 2008: An Empirical Investigation into the Difficulties Experienced by Visually Impaired Internet Users. Universal Access in the Information Society, 7(1), 79-91.
8. Yu, W., Kuber, R., Murphy, E., Strain, P. & McAllister, G. 2006: A Novel Multimodal Interface for Improving Visually Impaired People's Web Accessibility. Journal of Virtual Reality, 9, 2 (Jan 2006), 133-148.

Other Publications

1. Qian, H.,Kuber, R. & Sears, A. 2013: Tactile Notifications for Ambulatory Users. In Extended Abstracts of CHI'13, Paris, France, 1569-1574.
2. Anthony, L., Prasad, S., Hurst, A. & Kuber, R. 2012: A Participatory Design Workshop on Accessible Apps and Games with Students with Learning Differences. In proceedings of ASSETS'12, Boulder, USA, 253-254.
3. Krishnaswamy, K. & Kuber, R. 2012: Toward the Development of a BCI and Gestural Interface to Support Individuals with Physical Disabilities. In proceedings of ASSETS'12, Boulder, USA, 229-230.
4. Brunschwyler, C. & Kuber, R. 2012: Determining the Accessibility of Social Networking Sites. In proceedings of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Computing'12, Baltimore, USA.
5. Carrington, P., Kuber, R., Anthony, L., Hurst, A. & Prasad, S. 2012: Developing an Interface to Support Procedural Memory Training using a Participatory-Based Approach. In proceedings of BCS HCI'12, Birmingham, UK, 333-338.
6. Kuber, R., Hastings, A., Tretter, M. & Fitzpatrick, D. 2012: Determining the Accessibility of Mobile Screen Readers for Blind Users. In proceedings of IASTED HCI'12, Baltimore, USA, 182-189.
7. Kuber, R. & Sharma, S. 2012: Developing an Extension to an Existing Tactile Authentication Mechanism to Support Non-Visual Interaction. In proceedings of IASTED HCI'12, Baltimore, USA, 190-198.
8. Kuber, R., Tretter, M. & Murphy, E. 2011: Developing and Evaluating a Non-Visual Memory Game. In proceedings of INTERACT'11 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6947), Lisbon, Portugal, 541-553.
9. Qian, H., Kuber, R. & Sears, A. 2011: A Longitudinal Pilot Study to Evaluate Non-Visual Icons in a Mobile Exertion Application. In proceedings of INTERACT'11 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6949), Lisbon, Portugal, 458-461.
10. Kuber, R. & Sharma, S. 2010: Toward Tactile Authentication for Blind Users. In proceedings of ASSETS'10, Orlando, USA, 289-290.
11. Kuber, R., Yu, W. & O'Modhrain, M.S. 2010: Tactile Web Browsing for Blind Users In proceedings of Haptic Audio Interaction Design'10 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6306), Copenhagen, Denmark, 75-84.
12. Kuber, R. & Yu, W. 2010: Tactile vs Graphical Authentication. In proceedings of Eurohaptics'10 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6191), Amsterdam, Netherlands, 314-319.
13. Qian, H.,Kuber, R. & Sears, A. 2010: Maintaining Levels of Activity using a Haptic Personal Training Application. In Extended Abstracts of CHI'10, Atlanta, USA, 3217-3222.
14. Qian, H., Kuber, R. & Sears, A. 2009: Towards Identifying Distinguishable Tactons for Use with Mobile Devices. In proceedings of ASSETS'09, Pittsburgh, USA, 257-258.
15. Kuber, R., Yu, W. & McAllister, G. 2007: A Non-Visual Approach to Improving Collaboration between Blind and Sighted Internet Users. In proceedings of Human Computer Interaction International'07 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4556), 913-922.
16. Kuber, R., Yu, W. & McAllister, G. 2007: Towards Developing Assistive Haptic Feedback for Visually Impaired Internet Users. In proceedings of CHI'07, San Jose, USA, 1525-1534.
17. Murphy, E., Kuber, R., Strain, P., McAllister, G. & Yu, W. 2007: Developing Sounds for a Multimodal Interface: Conveying Spatial Information to Visually Impaired Web Users. In proceedings of ICAD'07, Montreal, Canada, 348-355.
18. Strain, P., McAllister, G., Murphy, E., Kuber, R. & Yu, W. 2007: A Grid-Based Extension to an Assistive Multimodal Interface. In Extended Abstracts of CHI'07, San Jose, USA, 2675-2680.
19. Kuber, R., Sulaiman, S. & Blandford, A. 2006: Investigating the Communication of Emotions through Multimodal Technologies and Gestures. In proceedings of BCS HCI'06 Volume 2, London, UK, 205-207.
20. Kuber, R. & Yu, W. 2006: Authentication using Tactile Feedback. In proceedings of BCS HCI'06 Volume 2, London, UK, 141-145.

Comprehensive listing of all my publications

Workshops

• Introducing High School Students with Disabilities to a Four Year College (2012)
• Participatory Design with Individuals with Learning Differences (2011)
• Accessibility Training Workshop (2010)

Supervision

Please make contact if you are interested in doing a Senior Project (B.A./B.S.), Independent Study (M.S./Ph.D.), or a Thesis (M.S./Ph.D.) in one or more of the following areas:

• Studies relating to technology usage amongst the blind and older adult communities
• Development of haptic and auditory interfaces
• Non-visual authentication

Contact

ITE 435

UMBC

1000 Hilltop Circle

Baltimore, MD 21250

Phone: (410) 455-3268

Email: rkuber AT umbc DOT edu

Web: http://www.umbc.edu/~rkuber

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