Dr Rachel Blagojevic staff profile picture

Contact details +6469516170

Dr Rachel Blagojevic PhD

Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Information Technology

Doctoral Supervisor
School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences

My research interests are in human computer interaction. In particular I am interested in the use of gesture-based interaction. One area of work is developing recognizers for sketched diagrams using digital pen input devices. Another area is exploring multi-modal interfaces using tangible and touch input.

Professional

Contact details

  • Location: B3.32, Science tower B
    Campus: Manawatu

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy - University of Auckland (2012)

Certifications and Registrations

  • Licence, Supervisor, Massey University

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Human computer interaction, user experience design, sketch recognition, tangible user interfaces, gesture-based interaction

Research Opportunities

  • Sketch recognition of digital ink diagrams  (01/01/2021) Development of new techniques to automatically interpret hand-drawn digital ink diagrams.
  • E-assessment of STEM subjects  (01/01/2021) Exploring new ways of completing STEM subjects assessments online.
  • Using tangible tools in differing cultural contexts  (01/01/2021) Developing tangible applications for learning and preservation of indigenous cultures or languages.

Thematics

21st Century Citizenship, Design – for Commerce, Community and Culture

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing (080100): Computer-Human Interaction (080602): Information And Computing Sciences (080000): Information Systems (080600): Pattern Recognition and Data Mining (080109)

Keywords

Human Computer Interaction

User experience design

Sketch recognition

Tangibles

Pen-based interfaces

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Position Current Completed
Project Leader 1 2

Completed Projects

Project Title: Automatically deriving the model of a digital ink sketches

Date Range: 2015 - 2021

Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand

Project Team:

Research Outputs

Journal

Chang, SHH., Blagojevic, R., & Plimmer, B. (2012). RATA.Gesture: A gesture recognizer developed using data mining. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing: AIEDAM. 26(3), 351-366
[Journal article]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Plimmer, B., Reid, P., Blagojevic, R., Crossan, A., & Brewster, S. (2011). Signing on the Tactile Line: A Multimodal System for Teaching Handwriting to Blind Children. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 18(3), 1-29
[Journal article]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Plimmer, B., Reid, P., Blagojevic, R., Crossan, A., & Brewster, S. (2011). Signing on the tactile line: A multimodal system for teaching handwriting to blind children. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 18(3)
[Journal article]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Plimmer, B., Grundy, J., & Wang, Y. (2011). Using data mining for digital ink recognition: Dividing text and shapes in sketched diagrams. Computers and Graphics (Pergamon). 35(5), 976-991
[Journal article]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.

Thesis

Blagojevic, R. (2011). Using data mining for digital ink recognition. (Doctoral Thesis, The University of Auckland)
[Doctoral Thesis]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Patel, RV. (2007). Exploring better techniques for diagram recognition. (Master's Thesis, The University of Auckland)
[Masters Thesis]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.

Conference

Taele, P., Blagojevic, R., Hammond, T., Ray, S., Cherian, J., & Koh, JI.SketchRec 2023: 3rd Workshop on Sketch Recognition. International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, Proceedings IUI. (pp. 202 - 204).
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Singh, A., Imtiaz, MA., & Blagojevic, R.Towards an Explainable Machine Learning Framework for Sketched Diagram Recognition. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. (pp. 190 - 197). 1613-0073.
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Ghodrati, A., Blagojevic, R., Guesgen, HW., Marsland, S., & Plimmer, B.The role of grouping in sketched diagram recognition. Proceedings - Expressive 2018: Computational Aesthetics Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering.
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R., Guesgen, H.
Imtiaz, MA., Blagojevic, R., Luxton-Reilly, A., & Plimmer, B.A survey of intelligent digital ink tools use in STEM education. ACM International Conference Proceeding Series.
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Whiteley, B., Zhen, S., & Plimmer, B.TUI-Geometry: A tangible user interface for geometric drawing on an interactive tabletop. OzCHI 2015: Being Human - Conference Proceedings. (pp. 566 - 574).
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Dhir, D., Ranganathan, K., Lutteroth, C., & Plimmer, B. (2015). Recognizing hand-drawn glyphs from one example and four lines of code. Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology Series. Vol. 162 (pp. 21 - 29).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Whiteley, B., Blagojevic, RV., & Plimmer, B. (2015). Tangible-tango: Designing and fabricating tangibles with tangibles. In S. Marks, & R. Blagojevic (Eds.) Proceedings of the 16th Australasian User Interface Conference (AUIC 2015). Vol. 162 (pp. 31 - 39). : Australasian User Interface Conference
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.Edited by: Blagojevic, R.
Plimmer, B., He, L., Zaman, T., Karunanayaka, K., Yeo, AW., Jengan, G., . . . Do, EYL. (2015). New interaction tools for preserving an old language. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. Vol. 2015-April (pp. 3493 - 3502).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Zhen, S., Blagojevic, R., & Plimmer, B. (2013). Tangeo: Geometric Drawing with Tangibles on an Interactive Table-Top. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. Vol. 2013-April (pp. 1509 - 1514).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Stevens, PC., Blagojevic, R., & Plimmer, B. (2013). Supervised machine learning for grouping sketch diagram strokes. Proceedings - Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling, SBIM 2013 - Part of Expressive 2013. (pp. 43 - 52).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., & Plimmer, B. (2013). CapTUI: Geometric drawing with tangibles on a capacitive multi-touch display. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). Vol. 8117 LNCS (pp. 511 - 528).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Chen, X., Tan, R., Sheehan, R., & Plimmer, B. (2012). Using tangible drawing tools on a capacitive multi-touch display. Proceedings of the 26th Annual BCS Interaction Specialist Group Conference on People and Computers. (pp. 315 - 320). Birmingham, United Kingdom: BCS-HCI '12
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Zhen JS, ., Blagojevic, RV., & Plimmer, B. (2012). Automated labeling of ink stroke data. In K. Singh, & LB. Kara (Eds.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling. (pp. 67 - 75). Annecy, France: International Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Plimmer, B., Blagojevic, RV., Chang, SHH., Schmieder, P., & Zhen, JS. (2012). RATA: Codeless generation of gesture recognizers. Proceedings of the 26th Annual BCS Interaction Specialist Group Conference on People and Computers. (pp. 137 - 146). Birmingham, United Kingdom: BCS-HCI '12
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, RV., Chang, HH., & Plimmer, BE.(2010, June). The Power of Automatic Feature Selection: Rubine on Steroids. Proceedings of the Seventh Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling Symposium. (pp. 79 - 86).
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Chang, HH., Plimmer, BE., & Blagojevic, RV.(2010, June). Rata.SSR: Data Mining for Pertinent Stroke Recognizers. SBIM 2010.
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Plimmer, B., Grundy, J., & Wang, Y. (2010). Building digital ink recognizers using data mining: Distinguishing between text and shapes in hand drawn diagrams. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics). Vol. 6096 LNAI (pp. 358 - 367).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, RV., Schmieder, P., & Plimmer, BE.(2009, February). Towards a Toolkit for the Development and Evaluation of Sketch Recognition Techniques. .
[Conference]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Schmieder, P., Plimmer, B., & Blagojevic, R. (2009). Automatic evaluation of sketch recognizers. Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling 2009 - ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium Proceedings. (pp. 85 - 92).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, RV., Plimmer, BE., Grundy, JC., & Wang, Y. (2008). A Data Collection Tool for Sketched Diagrams. In C. Alvarado, & M. Cani (Eds.) Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling Eurographics Symposium Proceedings 2008. (pp. 73 - 80). Annecy, France: SBIM '08 Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Blagojevic, R., Plimmer, B., Grundy, J., & Wang, Y. (2008). Development of techniques for sketched diagram recognition. In Proceedings - 2008 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, VL/HCC 2008(pp. 258 - 259).
[Conference Abstract]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Plimmer, B., Crossan, A., Brewster, SA., & Blagojevic, R. (2008). Multimodal collaborative handwriting training for visually-impaired people. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. (pp. 393 - 402).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.
Patel, R., Plimmer, B., Grundy, J., & Ihaka, R. (2007). Ink features for diagram recognition. 4th Eurographics workshop on Sketch-based interfaces and modeling. (pp. 131 - 138).
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Blagojevic, R.

Teaching and Supervision

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Main Supervisor 1 0
Co-supervisor 1 1

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • Tavish Burnah - Doctor of Philosophy
    Monocular Tracking of Passive Stylus on Passive Surface

Co-supervisor of:

  • Negar Hashemi - Doctor of Philosophy
    Identifying and mitigating flaky tests in dynamically typed languages

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

Media and Links

Media

  • 21 Jun 2015 - Television
    New app helps parents get baby to sleep
    One news story on Nanny Bear - a smart baby monitor with an app to help track environmental factors in a baby's room.
  • 05 Nov 2014 - Newspaper
    Teaching computers to read doodles
    Story on Marsden funded project on sketch recognition