Mark Hancock

Mark Hancock is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Sciences, and is cross-appointed to the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science and the Systems Design Engineering department at the University of Waterloo. He is also the Director of his TouchLab, as well as the Associate Director of the Games Institute.

Dr. Hancock’s research interests lie in human-computer interaction, multitouch surfaces, 3D interaction, computer-supported cooperative work, serious games, gamification, embodied interaction, and interaction design.

His research goal is to design, develop and evaluate technology that can support new ways of interacting with computers and information. His research focuses on the science of games and interaction—using concepts from game design, such as engagement, immersion, and enjoyment, to inform the design of more motivating and compelling novel interfaces. A central part of this goal is his interest in providing the ability for richer and faster interaction through the use of one’s body, hands, and fingers. The demand for compelling, motivating, and playful interaction is rising in response to the recent surge in commercial and research hardware that supports the sensing of human movement.

Dr. Hancock’s primary motivation is to harness some of the richness of interaction that is possible with our hands and bodies in how we interact with computers. He considers the fundamental nature of human movement and perception to help inform the design of interaction for new media.

Dr. Hancock is known for his foundational work on “shallow-depth 3D interaction”, which is one of the most highly cited papers in tabletop display research.

• Human-computer Interaction
• Computer-supported Cooperative Work
• Tabletop Displays
• Large-screen Displays
• Smartphones
• Multi-touch Interaction
• 3D Interaction
• Collaboration
• Narrative
• Games

• 2010, Doctorate, Computer Science, University of Calgary
• 2004, Master of Science, Computer Science, University of British Columbia
• 2002, Bachelor of Science (BSc), Mathematics & Computer Science, Simon Fraser University

• MSCI 730 - Human Computer Interaction
  • Taught in 2013, 2015
• MSCI 720 - Topics in Information and Information Systems
  • Taught in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017
• MSCI 121 - Introduction to Computer Programming
  • Taught in 2017
• MSCI 240 - Algorithms and Data Structures
  • Taught in 2015, 2016, 2017
• MSCI 343 - Human-Computer Interaction
  • Taught in 2013, 2017

• Nacenta, Miguel A and Hancock, Mark and Gutwin, Carl and Carpendale, Sheelagh, The Effects of Changing Projection Geometry on Perception of 3D Objects on and Around Tabletops, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 23(2), 2016
• Hancock, Mark and Collins, Christopher and Cook, Zachary and Sikes, Kalev Kalda and Paluka, Erik, The Simple Multi-touch Toolkit, , 2015
• Miguel Nacenta, Mark Hancock, Carl Gutwin, and Sheelagh Carpendale, The effects of changing projection geometry on the perception of 3D objects on tabletops, Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction (ToCHI), 2016
• Cook, Zachary and Paluka, Erik and Collins, Christopher and Hancock, Mark, The Simple Multi-Touch Toolkit, University of Ontario Institute of Technology Student Research Showcase. http://vialab. science. uoit. ca/wordpress/wp-content/papercite-data/pdf/coo2013a. pdf, 2013
• Chang, Y-LB and Hancock, M and Scott, SD and Pape, J and Graham, TCN, Improving the Social Gaming Experience by Comparing Physical and Digital Tabletop Board Games, , 2012