Alan Esenther

MERL Research / Technical Staff
Principal Technical Staff
M.Sc., Boston University, 1993

Phone: (617) 621-7564
Email:



Alan Esenther enjoys HCI (human-computer interaction), distributed software development, graphical user interfaces, Internet technologies, and creating new applications before dawn. Recent work includes touch applications that support multiple concurrent users (think multiple mice), rapid image presentation for video browsing, and instant co-browsing (lightweight real-time distributed collaboration using unmodified web browsers). Previous work includes interactive web page generation for mobile agents, an email gateway for offline surfing, transaction monitors, kernel-level volume management, and microprocessor development. Interests include rock climbing, adventure travel, and learning new technologies.

Recent Projects:

DiamondTouch
SOA Integration Technology

Recent Publications:

Wigdor, D.; Penn, G.; Ryall, K.; Esenther, A.; Shen, C., "Living with a Tabletop: Analysis and Observations of Long Term Office Use of a Multi-Touch Table", IEEE International Workshop on Horizontal Interactive Human-computer Systems, ISBN: 978-0-7695-2013-1, October 2007 (IEEE Explore, TR2007-076)

Forlines, C.; Esenther, A.; Shen, C.; Wigdor, D.; Ryall, K., "Multi-User, Multi-Display Interaction with a Single-User, Single-Display Geospatial Application", ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), ISBN: 1-59593-313-1, pp. 273-276, October 2006 (ACM Press, TR2006-083)

Shen, C.; Ryall, K.; Forlines, C.; Esenther, A.; Vernier, F.D.; Everitt, K.; Wu, M.; Wigdor, D.; Morris, M.R.; Hancock, M.; Tse, E., "Informing the Design of Direct-Touch Tabletops", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, ISSN: 0272-1716, Vol. 26, Issue 5, pp. 36-46, September 2006 (IEEE Xplore)

Ryall, K.; Esenther, A.; Forlines, C.; Shen, C.; Shipman, S.; Morris, M.R.; Everitt, K.; Vernier, F.D., "Identity-Differentiating Widgets for Multiuser Interactive Surfaces", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, ISSN: 0272-1716, Vol. 26, Issue 5, pp. 56-64, September 2006 (IEEE Xplore)

Esenther, A.; Ryall, K., "RemoteDT: Support for Multi-Site Table Collaboration", International Conference on Collaboration Technologies (CollabTech), July 2006 (CollabTech 2006, TR2006-084)

Esenther, A.; Ryall, K., "Fluid DTMouse: Better Mouse Support for Touch-Based Interactions", Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI), May 2006 (AVI 2006, TR2006-001)

Shen, C.; Esenther, A.; Forlines, C.; Ryall, K., "Three Modes of Multi-Surface Interaction and Visualization", ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), April 2006 (CHI 2006, TR2006-025)

Esenther, A.; Wittenburg, K., "Multi-User Multi-Touch Games on DiamondTouch with the FTFlash Toolkit", Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN), November 2005 (INTETAIN 2005, TR2005-105)

Ryall, K.; Li, Q.; Esenther, A., "Temporal Magic Lens: Combined Spatial and Temporal Query and Presentation", IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT), To Appear September 2005 (INTERACT 2005, TR2005-031)

Ryall, K.; Esenther, A.; Everitt, K.; Forlines, C.; Ringel Morris, M.; Shen, C.; Shipman, S.; Vernier, F., "iDwidgets: Parameterizing Widgets by User Identity", IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT), September 2005 (INTERACT 2005, TR2005-055)

Furuichi, M.; Mihori, Y.; Muraoka, F.; Estenther, A.; Ryall, K., "DTMap Demo: Interactive Tabletop Maps for ubiquitous Computing", International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp), September 2005 (UbiComp 2005, TR2005-091)

Recent Technical Reports:

TR2007-028 DiamondTouch Mouse Users Manual