| Narrative, memory and practice: tensions and choices in the use of a digital artefact | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-9 | |
| Siân E. Lindley; Dave Randall; Wes Sharrock; Maxine Glancy; Nicola Smyth; Richard Harper | |||
| This paper reports on research into the use of SenseCam, a wearable
automatic camera. Household members were given multiple SenseCams to enable an
exploration of how the device would be used in the context of everyday life. We
argue that understanding the 'small stories' created by household members based
around SenseCam images requires us to pay attention to a complex amalgam of
issues. These pertain to narrative, memory and practice in and through both the
'sites of expression' of such work -- the topics that are selected for recall
-- and performativity -- the occasions upon which narratives are constructed
and the elaborations of identity that are entailed. Finally, we consider how
the varied uses of SenseCam that emerged have implications for technologies
relating to lifelogging and user-generated content. Keywords: SenseCam, automatic, camera, children, everyday, family, grandparents,
identity, lifelogging, mobile, mundane, passive, photography, storytelling,
user-generated content, wearable | |||
| Photo displays and intergenerational relationships in the family home | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 10-19 | |
| Abigail Durrant; Alex S. Taylor; David Frohlich; Abigail Sellen; David Uzzell | |||
| In this paper we describe a design-orientated field study in which we deploy
a novel digital display device to explore the potential integration of teenage
and family photo displays at home, as well as the value of situated photo
display technologies for intergenerational expression. This exploration is
deemed timely given the contemporary take-up of digital capture devices by
teenagers and the unprecedented volume of photographic content that teens
generate. Findings support integration and the display of photos on a
standalone device, as well as demonstrating the interventional efficacy of the
design as a resource for provoking reflection on the research subject. We also
draw upon the theoretical concept of Dialogism to understand how our design
mediates intergenerational relationships and interaction aesthetics relating to
the notion of 'constructive conflict'. Keywords: critical design, family photo displays, home life, interaction design,
participatory design, situated displays, teen photography | |||
| Design alter egos: constructing and employing fictional characters in collaborative design sessions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 20-28 | |
| George Triantafyllakos; George Palaigeorgiou; Ioannis A. Tsoukalas | |||
| The paper presents a novel approach to collaborative design of educational
software with students, one that asks the participants for the formation and
use of fictional characters -- design alter egos -- as a means towards
eliciting requirements and design ideas. In order to evaluate the suggested
approach, we conducted 12 collaborative design sessions with the participation
of 54 undergraduate university students (aged 19 to 24) for eliciting
requirements for the design of an ideal course website. The analysis of the
results showed that the design alter egos liberated the majority of the
students from the fear of straightforwardly exposing themselves, supported and
enhanced their introspection, stimulated their creativity and helped to
establish an informal and constructive atmosphere throughout the design
sessions. We suggest the use of design alter egos as an engaging and effective
supportive technique for co-designing educational software with students. Keywords: collaborative design sessions, design alter egos, fictional characters,
participatory design, scenarios, students | |||
| Exploring the link between player involvement and learning within digital games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 29-34 | |
| Ioanna Iacovides | |||
| Digital games are becoming increasingly popular with the latest generation
of consoles bringing games to an even wider audience [20]. Academic interest in
the educational potential of video games is also growing and seems to stem from
the fact that they are considered motivating [10; 13]. However, while there is
some research on what makes games engaging, there is a need to further our
understanding of the link between player involvement and learning, and to
develop methods to evaluate these aspects of the user experience. This paper
aims to report on a study that explored this relationship through a qualitative
case-study approach. The methods consisted of a combination of observed
game-play and a post-play cued interview in which a video recording of the
game-play was reviewed. The Digital Game Experience Model [1; 2] was then used
to analyse critical instances and themes within these episodes. Two examples
are presented to illustrate how the method was implemented. The findings
indicate a very close relationship between learning and involvement and suggest
that a certain amount of learning is required before deeper levels of
involvement can be experienced. However, further research is required in order
to see whether these findings can be generalised and to consider whether
different forms of interaction can be incorporated into this model of game
play. Keywords: digital games, engagement, informal learning, user experience evaluation | |||
| Putting the physical into the digital: issues in designing hybrid interactive surfaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 35-44 | |
| David Kirk; Abigail Sellen; Stuart Taylor; Nicolas Villar; Shahram Izadi | |||
| Hybrid surfaces are interactive systems combining techniques of
direct-manipulation multi-touch surface interaction with elements of tangible
user interfaces (TUIs). The design space for such complex hands-on computing
experiences is sufficiently broad that it can be difficult to decide when
interface elements should be given either a physical or digital instantiation,
and the extent to which different interface functions should be made to model
real-world interactions. In this paper we present two case studies of hybrid
surface systems we are developing and discuss how we have reasoned through
these kinds of design decisions. From this, we derive a set of observations
about properties of physical and digital elements, and offer them as a design
resource. Keywords: TUI, design, direct-touch, hybrid surfaces, tangibility | |||
| "A little silly and empty-headed": older adults' understandings of social networking sites | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 45-54 | |
| Vilma Lehtinen; Jaana Näsänen; Risto Sarvas | |||
| This study suggests reasons for the absence of a growing proportion of the
population, the so-called baby boomers, from the otherwise highly popular
social networking sites. We explore how people of this age group understand
social networking sites and how these understandings fit certain aspects of
their life. Designing social networking sites that match older adults' life
would increase their possibilities of coping with the changes related to their
age and of contributing to the information society. In a qualitative study
involving use of an existing social networking site, and group and personal
interviews, we found that understanding the internet as a dangerous place, and
social networking sites as places of socially unacceptable behavior, hinders
the use of these technologies. To include older adults, we propose arrangement
of social events for getting familiarized with these services and offering of
clear and simple privacy management on the sites. These actions have
implications for users of all ages. Keywords: aging society, older adults, social media, social networking sites | |||
| Low-fi skin vision: a case study in rapid prototyping a sensory substitution system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 55-64 | |
| Jon Bird; Paul Marshall; Yvonne Rogers | |||
| We describe the design process we have used to develop a minimal, twenty
vibration motor Tactile Vision Sensory Substitution (TVSS) system which enables
blind-folded subjects to successfully track and bat a rolling ball and thereby
experience 'skin vision'. We have employed a low-fi rapid prototyping approach
to build this system and argue that this methodology is particularly effective
for building embedded interactive systems. We support this argument in two
ways. First, by drawing on theoretical insights from robotics, a discipline
that also has to deal with the challenge of building complex embedded systems
that interact with their environments; second, by using the development of our
TVSS as a case study: describing the series of prototypes that led to our
successful design and highlighting what we learnt at each stage. Keywords: TVSS, embedded systems, low-fi rapid prototyping, tactile vision sensory
substitution | |||
| Sketching sketching: outlines of a collaborative design method | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 65-72 | |
| Brock Craft; Paul Cairns | |||
| In this paper, we describe three key areas in the literature where sketching
has been seen as being beneficial to designers. We applied this knowledge in
the user interface design of a visualization system, conducting a qualitative
study using sketching and design patterns. Our findings help to identify why
sketching was useful in this context and we relate these to the literature on
the efficacy of sketching in the design process. Keywords: collaborative design, sketching, visualization | |||
| From tele presence to human absence: the pragmatic construction of the human in communications systems research | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 73-82 | |
| R. Harper | |||
| This paper reflects on the views of the human that were oriented to in two
distinct research labs and which have been used to populate an inventive
landscape over the past twenty years. It suggests that there are commonalities
to the views in question, making them essentially the same. Both emphasise body
movement at the expense of expression and both, one could reasonably claim,
derive from a conceptual dualism as regards human nature associated with
Descartes and then adopted by the computer scientist, Alan Turing. The paper
will argue that, whatever conceptual dualists in philosophy or computer science
might want to claim or emphasise, the use of this view by the researchers in
question was not because it offered an adequate ontology but because it was a
pragmatically useful way of looking at the world that enabled and helped drive
inventiveness. The paper will report on how this was applied in the domain of
communication technologies, particularly telepresence type systems. It will
remark on the benefits and limitations of this view for the inventiveness in
question and how this view led to many technological innovations that have not
been widely adopted and to an indifference to innovation in textually mediated
communication, amongst other things. The paper will remark on the value this
view might have for future research. Keywords: communications systems, computer science, ethnography, instant messaging,
media spaces, metaphysics, model(s) of the user, philosophy, shared
whiteboards, sociology, telepresence | |||
| Directed manipulation with respect to focal rings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 83-92 | |
| Darren Edge; Xianghua Ding | |||
| In this paper we describe the notion of a focal ring interface: an interface
comprising a centrally-located graphical ring that provides a visual focus for
interaction with respect to itself and its associated representation (such as a
map, media collection, or information hierarchy). Our focal rings provide an
opportunity to assign independent effects to the two dimensions of a display
surface, creating implicit gestural modes (e.g. navigation versus scaling) that
can be dynamically switched between in the context of a single continuous
stroke. A focal ring can define the origin of a Polar or Cartesian frame of
reference, interpreting touch gestures directed either through and around, or
horizontal and vertical to itself. We illustrate the potential for such
directed manipulation with respect to focal rings through the design and
evaluation of ring-centric interfaces based on a variety of physical metaphors. Keywords: directed manipulation, focal rings, implicit gestural modes, touch
interaction | |||
| Evaluating haptics for information discovery while walking | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 93-102 | |
| Simon Robinson; Parisa Eslambolchilar; Matt Jones | |||
| In this article we describe and evaluate a novel, low interaction cost
approach to supporting the spontaneous discovery of geo-tagged information
while on the move. Our mobile haptic prototype helps users to explore their
environment by providing directional vibrotactile feedback based on the
presence of location data. We conducted a study to investigate whether users
can find these targets while walking, comparing their performance when using
only haptic feedback to that when using an equivalent visual system. The
results are encouraging, and here we present our findings, discussing their
significance and issues relevant to the design of future systems that combine
haptics with location awareness. Keywords: haptics, location-aware, mobile computing | |||
| Bringing tabletop technologies to kindergarten children | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 103-111 | |
| Javier Marco; Eva Cerezo; Sandra Baldassarri; Emanuela Mazzone; Janet C. Read | |||
| Taking computer technology away from the desktop and into a more physical,
manipulative space, is known that provide many benefits and is generally
considered to result in a system that is easier to learn and more natural to
use. This paper describes a design solution that allows kindergarten children
to take the benefits of the new pedagogical possibilities that tangible
interaction and tabletop technologies offer for manipulative learning. After
analysis of children's cognitive and psychomotor skills, we have designed and
tuned a prototype game that is suitable for children aged 3 to 4 years old. Our
prototype uniquely combines low cost tangible interaction and tabletop
technology with tutored learning. The design has been based on the observation
of children using the technology, letting them freely play with the application
during three play sessions. These observational sessions informed the design
decisions for the game whilst also confirming the children's enjoyment of the
prototype. Keywords: augmented reality, autonomous agents, children, game, input devices,
interaction design, learning, tabletop, tangible, user center design | |||
| Vibrotactile information for intuitive speed regulation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 112-119 | |
| Jani Lylykangas; Veikko Surakka; Jussi Rantala; Jukka Raisamo; Roope Raisamo; Esa Tuulari | |||
| The present aim was to investigate if controlled vibrotactile stimulation
can be used to inform users on how to regulate their behavior. 36 stimuli were
varied by frequency modulation (i.e., ascending, constant, and descending),
duration (i.e., 500, 1750, and 3000 ms), waveform (i.e., sine and sawtooth),
and body location (i.e., wrist and chest), and presented to 12 participants.
The participants were to evaluate without any training the meaning of each
presented stimuli using three response options: 'accelerate your speed', 'keep
your speed constant', and 'decelerate your speed'. Participants rated also how
emotionally pleasant and arousing the different stimulations were. The results
showed that the stimuli were predominantly perceived analogously with the
vibration frequency modulation. The best stimuli represented 'accelerate your
speed', 'keep your speed constant', and 'decelerate your speed' information in
accuracies of 88, 100, and 79%, respectively. Stimulations were experienced as
more pleasant in the wrist compared to the chest location. Both ascending and
descending stimulations were rated as more arousing than stimuli with constant
frequency. Our results suggest that tactile stimulation could be used in real
life mobile applications, for example, in sports to inform the users on how
they should regulate their performance. Keywords: non-visual interaction, speed regulation, tactile feedback, tactile icons | |||
| Dramaturgical capitalization of positive emotions: the answer for Facebook success? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 120-129 | |
| Corina Sas; Alan Dix; Jennefer Hart; Ronghui Su | |||
| Although user behavior in the popular Facebook social network site has been
intensely investigated since the site came live in 2004, we know little about
users' emotions and values weaved in the fabric of their interactions. We
report on a diary study for collecting daily accounts of users' most memorable
Facebook experiences. Outcomes emphasize the distinction between public and
private presentation together with user motivation for engaging in these roles.
Findings outline the role of impression management in the capitalization of
positive emotions: a process through which people derive associated benefits
from sharing them. Outcomes also suggest that at their heart, people's most
memorable experiences with Facebook are all about positive emotions, in
particular those concerned with connectedness and entertainment. Finally, we
discuss the implications of these findings for experience design and propose
design tactics and guidelines integrated into a framework for designing for
connectedness and entertainment. Keywords: Facebook social networking site, diary study, experience design, memorable
experiences, positive emotions, user experience | |||
| Using augmentations as bridges from concrete to abstract representations | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 130-139 | |
| Guillaume Zufferey; Patrick Jermann; Son Do-Lenh; Pierre Dillenbourg | |||
| We describe a pedagogical approach supporting the acquisition of abstraction
skills by apprentices in logistics. Apprentices start with a concrete
representation in the form of a small-scale model which aims at engaging them
in learning activities. Multiple External Representations are used to
progressively introduce more abstract representations displayed on paper-based
forms called TinkerSheets. We present the implementation of this approach on
the TinkerTable, a tabletop learning environment which is used in two
professional schools by four different teachers. We report observations of the
use of the environment at different stages of the curriculum with first- and
second-year apprentices. Keywords: multiple external representations, tangible user interfaces, vocational
training | |||
| Analogies in design decision-making | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 140-148 | |
| Stephen T. Hassard; Ann Blandford; Anna L. Cox | |||
| Design is becoming the decisive factor in whether a product is a commercial
success, like Windows XP, or a critical failure, like Microsoft Bob. To
leverage this factor we need to have a greater understanding of the cognitive
processes behind Interaction Design. While there are a wide array of
disciplines that fall under the umbrella of design, there are several cognitive
processes that are common to all strata of design. Decision Making has been
identified as an important factor in the design process but remains woefully
under-explored. This paper aims to understand Design Decision-making (DDM) in
the light of more recent developments in the wider decision-making field. Two
studies were conducted, consisting of an initial theoretical thematic analysis
to update the outdated models of design decision-making, and a follow-up
quantitative study to validate the findings of the first study. Results
indicate that while the current models of DDM do well to explain elements of
the decision-making process they do not account for such things as the
persistence of analogies across all stages of the decision-making process. Keywords: design decision making, interaction design, naturalistic decision making,
recognition-primed decision making | |||
| Paper-based concept map: the effects of tabletop on an expressive collaborative learning task | | BIBA | Full-Text | 149-158 | |
| Son Do-Lenh; Frédéric Kaplan; Pierre Dillenbourg | |||
| Augmented tabletops have recently attracted considerable attention in the
literature. However, little has been known about the effects that these
interfaces have on learning tasks. In this paper, we report on the results of
an empirical study that explores the usage of tabletop systems in an expressive
collaborative learning task. In particular, we focus on measuring the
difference in learning outcomes at individual and group levels between students
using two interfaces: traditional computer and augmented tabletop with tangible
input.
No significant effects of the interface on individual learning gain were found. However, groups using traditional computer learned significantly more from their partners than those using tabletop interface. Further analysis showed an interaction effect of the condition and the group heterogeneity on learning outcomes. We also present our qualitative findings in terms of how group interactions and strategy differ in the two conditions. | |||
| LEGO Mindstorms for informed metrics in virtual worlds | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 159-162 | |
| Michael Vallance; Stewart Martin; Charles Wiz; Paul van Schaik | |||
| Science education is the meaningful pursuit of comprehension, knowledge and
understanding of scientific concepts and processes. In Vygotskian,
social-constructivist learning, personal interpretation, decision making and
community cooperation fosters long-term understanding and transference of
learned concepts. In short, the construction of knowledge requires learners to
be actively involved in the process of learning. For effective science learning
an instructor's pedagogical approach must be anchored in meaningful contexts so
that students experience science. This research paper assesses and defines
effective measurements for evaluating strategies for communicating science
using LEGO robots and a Mindstorms™ RCX controller collaboratively
constructed and programmed by students using virtual technologies while
physically situated in different locations. Keywords: LEGO robots, communication, futures, metrics, virtual worlds | |||
| A vision-based system for display interaction | | BIBA | Full-Text | 163-168 | |
| Björn Stenger; Thomas Woodley; Tae-Kyun Kim; Roberto Cipolla | |||
| This paper presents a system for interaction with a display via hand pointing, where a single CCD camera on top of the screen is directed towards the viewers. An attention mechanism based on face and hand detection allows one user to take control of the interface. Face recognition is used for identification and customisation. The system allows the user to control the screen pointer by tracking their fist. On-screen items can be selected using one of four activation mechanisms. Current sample applications include browsing image and video collections as well as viewing a gallery of 3D objects. In experiments we demonstrate the performance of the vision components in challenging conditions. | |||
| Personality traits, usage patterns and information disclosure in online communities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 169-174 | |
| Johann Schrammel; Christina Köffel; Manfred Tscheligi | |||
| Online communities of different types have become an important part of the
daily internet life of many people within the last couple of years. Both
research and business have shown interest in studying the possibilities and
risks related to these relatively new phenomena. Frequently discussed aspects
that are tightly bound to online communities are their implications and effects
on privacy issues. Available literature has shown that users generally disclose
very much (private) information on such communities, and different factors
influencing this behaviour were identified and studied. However, the influence
and predictive power of personality traits on information disclosure in online
communities has not yet been the subject of analysis. In this paper we report
the results of an online survey investigating the relations between personality
traits (based on the Fife-Factor Model), usage patterns and information
disclosure of participants in different types of online communities. Keywords: Fife-Factor Model of personality, information disclosure, online
communities, privacy, social networking sites | |||
| Exploring the effects of experience on wiki anxiety and wiki usability: an online study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 175-183 | |
| Benjamin R. Cowan; Lorenzo Vigentini; Mervyn A. Jack | |||
| Information Technology is now pervasive in Higher Education institutions and
developments in IT are changing the technological landscape at Universities. A
recent phenomenon shaping such changes is the use of Web 2.0 tools in a
pedagogical context. These tools are often included into a University's IT mix
without full appreciation of the possible negative emotions student users may
have towards these tools. It is generally assumed that experience with the IT
system will be enough to reduce any anxious feelings which may manifest in
users about such systems. This study firstly aims to observe the relationship
that such emotion may have on usability evaluation of a wiki system. It also
aims to investigate the effect of experience on students' negative affective
reactions towards a wiki tool. Second year undergraduate psychology students
(N=92) who were using a wiki to collaborate on course projects completed
questionnaires measuring usability evaluation and anxiety towards the wiki both
2 weeks (Time 1) and 12 weeks (Time 2) into their usage of the system. The
research found that wiki anxiety was negatively correlated to participants'
usability evaluations of the wiki at both time 1 and time 2. Further experience
with the system had little effect on users' negative emotions towards the wiki.
Users also showed little change in their usability rating of the system with
more exposure to the wiki. However any change in wiki anxiety over the study
was negatively correlated with a change in usability evaluation. Possible
interpretations of the relationship between wiki anxiety, wiki usability and
possible effects of the type and quality of user experience on wiki anxiety are
discussed. Keywords: experience, usability, wiki, wiki anxiety | |||
| Task-specificity and resource allocation in information perception in three-dimensional space | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 184-187 | |
| Antje Lichtenstein | |||
| Modern technologies are more and more capable of presenting information in
three-dimensional space instead of being limited to a standard two-dimensional
desktop workstation. Thus, it becomes necessary to examine whether display
location does have an effect on human information perception and processing.
This paper presents two studies concerned with this subject. The first study
examined whether optimal display location depends on the task, which is being
executed. We found evidence for differences in tasks with different cognitive
engagement levels. The second study aimed at a) examining task characteristics
in more detail and b) answering the basic question whether it is generally
beneficial to present concurrent information in dual-task situations in two
instead of one perceptual depth plane in order to optimize resource
utilization. Results support the notion of a two-plane benefit. Keywords: 3D, augmented reality, dual-task, human visual perception, information
visualization, object detection, resource allocation, spatial cognition,
task-specificity, three-dimensional space | |||
| Controlling the usability evaluation process under varying defect visibility | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 188-197 | |
| Martin Schmettow | |||
| In cases where usability is a mission critical system quality it is becoming
essential to know whether an evaluation study has identified the majority of
existing defects. Previous work has shown that procedures for estimating the
progress of evaluation studies have to account for variation in defect
visibility; otherwise, harmful bias will happen. Here, a statistical model is
introduced for estimating the number of not-yet-identified defects in a study.
This approach also supports exact confidence intervals and can easily be
adapted to estimate the required number of sessions. The method is evaluated
and shown to, in most cases, provide accurate measures. A running example
illustrates how practitioners may track the progress of their studies and make
quantitatively informed decisions on when to finish. Keywords: count data models, maximum likelihood, process control, reliability,
usability business, usability evaluation | |||
| User requirements for a collective intelligence emergency response system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 198-203 | |
| Vita Lanfranchi; Neil Ireson | |||
| This document reports on the HCI experience gained in WeKnowIt, a European
project aiming to design, implement and deliver technologies and methodologies
enabling both Emergency Response organisation personnel and community citizens
to participate in the monitoring of an emergency incident. In order to better
capture the richness and complexity of the scenario, user studies were
conducted to elicit user requirements from both user groups to understand how
their requirements can be met by an application that combines organisational
and community intelligence. Keywords: collective intelligence, emergency response, user requirements | |||
| Card sorting activities with preschool children | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 204-213 | |
| Ana Vitoria Joly; Lyn Pemberton; Richard Griffiths | |||
| Preschoolers' categorization differs from adults'; therefore it is
beneficial to involve them in the design process to create appropriate
information architecture for this age group. In this paper, we describe three
card sorting activities conducted with a total of fifty six preschool children
in five nurseries. We conclude that a closed card sorting task can be combined
with a match-to-sample activity to offer insight into children's categorization
knowledge, contributing significantly to the design of technology for young
children. Keywords: card sorting, preschool children, user-centred design | |||
| Triggering trust: to what extent does the question influence the answer when evaluating the perceived importance of trust triggers? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 214-223 | |
| Jo Lumsden | |||
| Trust is a critical component of business to consumer (B2C) e-Commerce
success. In the absence of typical environmental cues that consumers use to
assess vendor trustworthiness in the offline retail context, online consumers
often rely on trust triggers embedded within e-Commerce websites to contribute
to the establishment of sufficient trust to make an online purchase. This paper
presents and discusses the results of a series of studies which took an initial
look at the extent to which the context or manner in which trust triggers are
evaluated may exert influence on the perceived importance attributed to
individual triggers. We hope that our investigations will help inform the
evaluation approaches adopted to assess consumer trust. Keywords: e-commerce, evaluation, trust, trust trigger | |||
| Children and 'smart' technologies: can children's experiences be interpreted and coded? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 224-231 | |
| Diana Yifan Xu; Janet C. Read; Gavin Sim; Barbara McManus; Pam Qualter | |||
| This paper has a focus on young children and their emerging new
technologies. It examines children's drawings as an evaluation tool for
capturing their experiences of different novel interfaces.
A recent evaluation study with children and two follow-up expert coding sessions were used to demonstrate how drawings could be used and coded and how the intercoder reliability could be improved. Usability and User Experience (UX) factors: Fun (F), Goal Fit (GF) and Tangible Magic (TM) were included in the coding scheme and they were the factors that have been looked at in the coding sessions. Our studies show the thoroughness and ease-of-use of the drawing method. The method was effective and reliable in conveying the user experience form the drawings. It also shows some of the limitation of the method: e.g. resource intensive and open to evaluator's interpretation. From the result of the study, a number of the drawings conveyed information pertaining to user experiences: F, GF and TM, and the method was particularly reliable at capturing fun. The result also led to the correlation found on the GF and TM. Keywords: TUI, children, drawing, evaluation, fun, tangible magic, tangible
technology, user experience | |||
| Evaluating musical software using conceptual metaphors | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 232-237 | |
| Katie Wilkie; Simon Holland; Paul Mulholland | |||
| An open challenge for interaction designers is to find ways of designing
software to enhance the ability of novices to perform tasks that normally
require specialized domain expertise. This challenge is particularly demanding
in areas such as music analysis, where complex, abstract, domain-specific
concepts and notations occur. One promising theoretical foundation for this
work involves the identification of conceptual metaphors and image schemas,
found by analyzing discourse. This kind of analysis has already been applied,
with some success, both to musical concepts and, separately, to user interface
design. The present work appears to be the first to combine these hitherto
distinct bodies of research, with the aim of devising a general method for
improving user interfaces for music. Some areas where this may require
extensions to existing method are noted.
This paper presents the results of an exploratory evaluation of Harmony Space, a tool for playing, analysing and learning about harmony. The evaluation uses conceptual metaphors and image schemas elicited from the dialogues of experienced musicians discussing the harmonic progressions in a piece of music. Examples of where the user interface supports the conceptual metaphors, and where support could be improved, are discussed. The potential use of audio output to support conceptual metaphors and image schemas is considered. Keywords: Harmony Space, conceptual metaphors, embodied cognition, image schemas,
tonal harmony, user interface design | |||
| See the apple of my eye: baby storytelling in social space | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 238-243 | |
| N. Jomhari; V. M. Gonzalez; S. H. Kurniawan | |||
| People use media-sharing web sites to document their lives and those of
their children for maintaining and strengthening social ties with people living
away. It is clear then that people can and like to create narratives as a form
of expression. This study presents an analysis of the characteristics and type
of baby stories written by young mothers. Nine mothers from Malaysia living in
the UK participated in the study. The participants used a variety of
media-sharing web sites to prepare and share the narratives. Most of them
(seven) used photo-sharing web sites (Fotopages or Flickr), two used text-based
blogs (Blogger). Two of them also uploaded videos of their babies in content
sharing sites (YouTube). Within the period of three months, we identified 166
stories created, with 94 percent of them focusing on their baby. The stories
present a number of topics such as skills demonstrations, outings, domestic
activities, and social events. Based on the analysis of the data and interviews
with participants, we found a significant positive correlation between the type
of story and the type of media used. The result also shows there was a
significant positive relationship between the type of story and the baby's age. Keywords: baby stories, computer-mediated communication (CMC), media-sharing, mothers,
narratives | |||
| Digital parenting: designing children's safety | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 244-251 | |
| Jennifer A. Rode | |||
| In this paper, I describe an ethnographic study of children and parents
looking at issues of domestic privacy and security. I will provide an overview
of parental rules and strategies for keeping children safe and briefly discuss
children's perspective on their online safety and how their parents shared the
domestic work and responsibility for protecting them. As part of the
discussion, I will present implications for design, and reflect on the
problematic state of ethics, privacy, ethics review boards when working with
children. Keywords: children, ethics, ethnography, home, privacy | |||
| Exploring blog spaces: a study of blog reading experiences using dynamic contextual displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 252-261 | |
| Sven Laqua; M. Angela Sasse | |||
| In this paper we report on an eye-tracking experiment conducted with 60
participants to gain an understanding of how people interact with blog
environments. We compared a standard blog interface with a novel contextual
blog interface, which dynamically adjusts its contextual navigation to a
selected article. We measured task performance and interaction behaviour for
explorative tasks and goal-oriented search tasks. We further collected
subjective feedback to evaluate user preferences. We found that participants
using the contextual blog interface completed search tasks 19% faster and made
80% fewer errors. Moreover, participants using the contextual blog interface
interacted more with the provided information during the exploration tasks. We
did not find significant differences in user preference overall between both
blog interfaces. However, a more detailed analysis of our results suggests
significant demographic differences for performance, behavioural and subjective
measures. Keywords: blogging, cognitive style, contextual user interfaces, contextualization,
eye tracking, focus + context interfaces | |||
| How do people find information on a familiar website? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 262-268 | |
| Roy A. Ruddle | |||
| Previous research has investigated how people either navigate the web as a
whole, or find information on websites of which they have little previous
knowledge. However, it is now common for people to make frequent use of one
site (e.g., their employer's intranet). This paper reports how participants
recalled and navigated a familiar website they had used for 8-20 months. Sketch
maps showed that participants' memory for the site's content and structure was
very limited in extent, but generally accurate. Navigation data showed that
participants had much more difficulty finding the region of the site that
contained a piece of information, than then finding the information itself.
These data highlight the need for directly accessed pages to be given greater
prominence in browser history mechanisms and designers to make information
regions memorable. Finally, two navigational path metrics (stratum and
percentage of revisit actions) that correlated with participants' performance
were identified. Keywords: familiarity, information space, navigation, sketch map, stratum, user study | |||
| Forecasting software visualizations: an explorative study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 269-277 | |
| Stavros Asimakopoulos; Robert Fildes; Alan Dix | |||
| A qualitative explorative evaluation considered the effects of six
visualization interfaces of sales forecasting systems on 60 university
students. The study builds on earlier research from the domain of business
forecasting in supply chain industries. The evaluation generates exemplar
interfaces derived from the theoretical framework and task analysis of
interviews with 20 expert users and designers of forecasting systems. The
implications for information visualization and interaction design are
discussed. Keywords: decision making process, explorative evaluation, knowledge visualization,
visual analytics | |||
| An evaluation of a meal planning system: ease of use and perceived usefulness | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 278-287 | |
| Johan Aberg | |||
| Unhealthy eating is an increasingly important problem in the western
society. Our approach to this problem is to provide a meal planning system
giving recommendations of suitable food recipes, taking important factors such
as nutrient content, cost, variation, etc into account. A user controls how the
system takes these factors into account through settings after which the system
creates an optimal meal plan. The user can then iteratively refine the settings
until a satisfactory meal plan is produced. The system is evaluated empirically
in terms of ease of use and perceived usefulness, factors crucial for eventual
user acceptance. The results are positive, and several interesting
possibilities for future system improvements are discussed. Keywords: ease of use, meal planning, perceived usefulness | |||
| Under my pillow: designing security for children's special things | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 288-292 | |
| Janet C. Read; Russell Beale | |||
| This paper describes a novel design activity that was used to gather
insights into security requirements for a mobile application for children. The
general aim of the study was to understand how to design for security in an
application for children rather than to specifically generate design solutions.
To gather this information, a novel design activity, referred to here as
Participatory Analogy, was devised. The study is described and design solutions
that emerged following analysis of the children's contributions are presented. Keywords: child computer interaction, children, personal data, privacy, security,
theory | |||
| Text input error categorisation: solving character level insertion ambiguities using Zero Time analysis | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 293-302 | |
| Akiyo Kano; Janet C. Read | |||
| A review of literature on text input error categorisation revealed the need
for a formal method to assist in solving ambiguities. This paper proposes a
method of solving one such set of ambiguities, those caused by insertion of an
extra letter. The method uses two rules: the Zero Time rule and Impossible
NT/CT-Mu rule to establish whether the extra letter was inserted with another
letter, or inserted individually. The method was applied to two large studies
conducted to gather typing errors from students and children. The results show
that the method is able to solve 100% of all insertion-only ambiguities and in
doing so it helps reduce ambiguities in 75-85% of the remaining ambiguities. Keywords: ambiguities, insertion, key log, solving ambiguities, timestamp, typing
errors | |||
| TüISt (transformable über interface for stardom) | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 303-308 | |
| Rui Pereira | |||
| This project is an emotionally driven interface taking on our inner desires
and fantasies of instantaneously becoming superstars (and momentarily living
under the skin of our idols) and on our instinctive imitation of the musical
performers gestures as expressions of sounds.
TüISt is a multi-instrument interface based on a single object with minimal gesture input surfaces and various modes of use through different positioning and orientation towards the user's body. Multi-track gesture recording and playback/looping features also enable for multi-arrangement and composition by allowing the user to record and interact with his own performances in time. The objective was to develop an intuitive and playful interface for novices, an interface capable of providing explorative interactions in an enjoyable experience inspired by our significant mimicking gestures of 'real' musicians and our private ambitions of creating music. Keywords: NIME, gesture, motor-mimesis, multi-track, one-man-band, toy, transformable | |||
| Interactive technology for enhancing distributed learning: a study on weblogs | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 309-312 | |
| Andreas Holzinger; Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust; Martin Ebner | |||
| In this study, it was investigated whether, and to what extent, Web 2.0
technologies, actually Weblogs, can be a suitable instrument for enhancing the
practice of distributed learning. In educational settings, which are based on
traditional lectures many students begin serious study shortly before the exam.
However, from previous empirical research, it is known that the practice of
distributed learning is much more conducive to retaining knowledge than that of
massed learning. A 2x2 factorial design (within -- repeated measures) with
pre-test and post-test in a real life setting was applied; the study lasted for
the whole summer term 2007. Participants were N=28 computer science
undergraduates of Graz University of Technology. We randomly assigned them to
two groups of equal size: The experimental group given the Weblog treatment are
referred to as Group W; whereas the control group with no access are referred
to as Group C. Students of group W were instructed to use the Weblog for
developing their paper and studying during the lecture and they were requested
not to reveal their group affiliation. The results showed that performance
scores of group W were significantly higher than that of group C. This
demonstrates that Weblogs can be an appropriate instrument to supplement a
classical lecture in order to enable deeper processing of information over a
longer period of time, consequently resulting in enhanced learning performance. Keywords: distributed learning, learning performance, massed learning, web 2.0,
weblogs | |||
| Wizard of Oz experiments for companions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 313-317 | |
| Jay Bradley; Oli Mival; David Benyon | |||
| Wizard of Oz experiments allow designers and developers to see the reactions
of people as they interact with to-be-developed technologies. At the Centre for
Interaction Design at Edinburgh Napier University we are developing a Wizard of
Oz system to inform and further the design and development of Companion based
technologies. Companions are intelligent, persistent, personalised, multimodal,
natural language interfaces to the Internet and resources such as photo or
music collections. They have the potential of turning our current human-machine
interactions into human-machine relationships. In particular, a Companion
prototype for reminiscing about a photo collection, called PhotoPal, is being
used in our experiments. Several Wizard of Oz experiments have been run to
assess people's reactions and thoughts about using a Companion interface. The
feedback from these experiments has informed both the design direction and
choice of development technologies going forward. The Wizard of Oz system has
also been put to use in a classroom of young pupils and to aid adults make more
productive use of the Internet for learning. Further experiments to investigate
the appropriateness of Companion dialogue are planned. Keywords: Wizard of Oz, companions, interaction design | |||
| A conversational model to display user activity | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 318-323 | |
| Tina Deiml-Seibt; Larissa Pschetz; Boris Müller | |||
| The creation of mechanisms to motivate user participation became a necessary
strategy for evolution and sustainability of many online systems. Nowadays,
most of these mechanisms are based on a form of displaying user activity, e.g.
through badges or ranking scores. In this paper we discuss the current use of
activity displays as incentives for user participation, and present IntroText,
an alternative conversational approach. Based on the metaphor of introducing
someone, IntroText sketches a behavioral portrait of users in an individual and
non-competitive way. We describe the implementation of this feature pointing
out to its potential to influence online behavior. Keywords: incentive, interface design, social software, tracking, user activity | |||
| User interfaces for robots swarm assistance in emergency settings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 324-328 | |
| Amir M. Naghsh; Chris R. Roast | |||
| In this paper, we describe the development processes adopted for effective
human centred design in the context of developing a human robot interface. The
human robot interactive setting represents a significant development challenge
on two counts: interaction is to be with a swarm of autonomous robots, and; the
robots are to assist the process of search and rescue as carried out by fire
fighters committed into the-field of incident.
The paper goes on to illustrate an approach to design evaluation motivated by user centred design objectives. The conclusion from studies illustrate that the complex nature of professional practice in the high risk settings has significant influences upon the fitness for purpose. Overall we are able to show that despite the complexity of effective user engagement in development we are able to apply user centred principles productively. Keywords: emergency services, human-robot interaction and swarm robotics | |||
| Evolving and augmenting worth mapping for family archives | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 329-338 | |
| Gilbert Cockton; Dave Kirk; Abigail Sellen; Richard Banks | |||
| We describe the process of developing worth maps from field research and
initial design sketches for a digital Family Archive, which resulted in a more
simple and flexible worth map format. Worth maps support designing as
connecting by forming explicit associations between designs and human values.
Two supporting worth-centred design resources were developed: one to organize
field materials (a worth board) and another to simplify worth map structure
(user experience frames). During this process, we identified and refined a
range of design elements and relevant human values for initial conceptual
exploration of an innovative table top computer application. We end with an
evaluation of the process and outcomes, complemented with insights from
subsequent applications of worth maps that support recommendations on worth
mapping practices. The resulting worth maps and associated resources were (and
still remain) valuable, but experiences during this and other uses indicate
that further improvements are needed. Keywords: designing as connecting, user experience frames, worth boards, worth maps,
worth sketches, worth-centred development | |||
| Initial explorations into the user experience of 3D file browsing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 339-344 | |
| Anamary Leal; Chadwick A. Wingrave; Joseph J., Jr. LaViola | |||
| We present an initial exploration into the usability of 3D file browsing. To
explore the 3D file browsing technique design space, we analyzed the existing
literature and developed three representative 3D file browsing techniques that
cover many of their characteristics. Block3D uses a priority weighting scheme
to elevate and display files in a grid-based structure. Cluster3D uses sets of
animated racks to display files. LTreeCube3D visualizes files and directories
using groups of semi-transparent cubes within a larger cube-like structure. We
conducted an experiment exploring the affect these 3D file browsing technique
have on users in a manual file searching task. Our evaluation is based on task
completion time and a post-questionnaire used to gather subjective feedback on
each technique in terms of user preference. The results indicate that users
completed the manual file search task significantly faster using Block3D than
both LTreeCube3D and Cluster3D. Although subjective ranking showed users
preferred the Block3D technique, user feedback also showed merits of the other
techniques. Keywords: 3D file browsing, desktop interfaces, user study | |||
| Hospital user research using new media arts | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 345-353 | |
| Cecily Morrison; Alan F. Blackwell | |||
| This paper presents a comparative analysis of group interaction around two
display types, shared and individual, using a 'new media' arts application as a
way to explore the physical technology setup for an intensive care unit in a
hospital. We propose this method for laboratory settings when the research
questions derive from socially complex environments, but real-world
interventions are not possible. While users solve an 'interaction problem' that
is posed through the 'new media' arts application for their own expressive
purposes, researchers can analyse and collate the results to understand the
solution space. We present a study with the bodyPaint application to address a
design issue that we discovered when assessing the merits of an electronic
patient record system. Keywords: intensive care, mobile devices, new media arts | |||
| The TicTag application: towards tag-based meta-search for browsing the web | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 354-361 | |
| Christina Papakonstantinou; Ioannis Panagiotou; Fons Verbeek | |||
| The Web has developed as an enormous information resource. Especially in the
last few years with the thriving of the so-called web2.0 services allowing
user-generated content easily to be entered in -- and shared by -- typical web
2.0 databases. Bookmarking systems enable users to label their resources with
tags, which in aggregation give rise to dynamic categorization schemes, i.e.
folksonomies. Web querying through folksonomies presents an interesting
potential in contrast to traditional search engines, such as the suggestion of
relevant topics that may refine or even define the original search term. Both
approaches are in wide use, each appreciated for their own qualities. However,
it is possible for the methods to be used complementary, making use of the
specific advantages of each of them. In this paper we specifically introduce
the notions of tags and folksonomies and we present a method of using these
notions in a tag based search technique. We discuss and elaborate results on
the basis of preliminary experiments with our tag-based search engine. Keywords: experimentation, folksonomies, keywords, tags, user interfaces, web search | |||
| Human centred university commercialisation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 362-369 | |
| Tom McEwan | |||
| Universities in the UK need to develop commercial revenue streams to fill
funding gaps, and also, to help justify continued public funding, to stimulate
innovation and enhance the economy. Information technology (IT) is the source
or catalyst for much innovation, historically this been based on much
university input. Human-centred design (HCD) approaches, based on research from
Human-Computer Interaction and related fields have been shown to be more
effective than technically-driven approaches to achieve sustainable innovation
based on IT.
However commercialisation requires IT academics to acquire new expertise in business innovation and while sources of this are undoubtedly market- and customer-focused, they tend not be human-centred. At the same time, individual academics may simply not engage with efforts to stimulate commercialisation as they see many personal risks they often feel unable to manage. If commercialisation is to take place, these human factors also need to be addressed. This paper reflects on successful experiences of applying HCD over ten years of collaboration with industry and considers how to extend these approaches into commercialisation (where, in many ways, universities will now compete with industry). Unexpectedly, a need emerges to clarify the definitions of terms such as innovation and research and development (R&D), in order to meet the varied expectations and requirements of policy makers, public funders and potential investors. Based on engagement over two years with around forty academics on a range of commercialisation ideas, a PACT analysis [1] illustrates the human factors involved in university commercialisation. Further studies are proposed. Keywords: HCD, PACT analysis, commercialisation, innovation | |||
| Intentional affect: an alternative notion of affective interaction with a machine | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 370-374 | |
| Shazia Afzal; Cecily Morrison; Peter Robinson | |||
| Affective Computing envisages truly effective human-machine interactions as
being affect-sensitive. The field is both motivated and influenced by an
understanding of emotion in an environment, that of person to person, that
differs from its eventual application, person to machine. Analysing data
obtained in a potential application environment -- computer-assisted learning
-- we highlight the limitations of such an understanding and propose an
alternative stance to affect, that of intentional affective interaction. Keywords: affective computing, computer-assisted learning, emotion recognition | |||
| Helping older people to manage their social activities at the retirement home | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 375-380 | |
| Benoît Otjacques; Marc Krier; Fernand Feltz; Dieter Ferring; Martine Hoffmann | |||
| This paper discusses the early results of the multidisciplinary project
TIVIPOL aiming to propose digital technologies to enhance the social life of
older people in a retirement home. A prototype combining a tactile color
screen, a RFID reader and a ticket printer is described. It allows the older
people to manage their participation to the social activities organized by the
home staff. A first evaluation has shown the usability as well as the good
acceptance of this system. Keywords: RFID, field study, older people, tactile | |||
| Virtual world users evaluated according to environment design, task based and affective attention measures | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 381-387 | |
| Breen Sweeney; Anne Adams | |||
| This paper presents research that engages with virtual worlds for education
users to understand design of these applications for their needs. An in-depth
multi-method investigation from 12 virtual worlds participants was undertaken
in three stages; initially a small scale within-subjects eye-tracking
comparison was made between the role playing game 'RuneScape' and the virtual
social world 'Second Life', secondly an in-depth evaluation of eye-tracking
data for Second Life tasks (i.e. avatar, object and world based) was conducted,
finally a qualitative evaluation of Second Life tutorials in comparative 3D
situations (i.e. environments that are; realistic to surreal, enclosed to open,
formal to informal) was conducted. Initial findings identified increased users
attention within comparable gaming and social world interactions. Further
analysis identified that 3D world focused interactions increased participants'
attention more than object and avatar tasks. Finally different 3D situation
designs altered levels of task engagement and distraction through perceptions
of comfort, fun and fear. Ultimately goal based and environment interaction
tasks can increase attention and potentially immersion. However, affective
perceptions of 3D situations can negatively impact on attention. An objective
discussion of the limitations and benefits of virtual world immersion for
student learning is presented. Keywords: MMORPG, MUVE, attention, gaming, immersion, social worlds | |||
| Armchair authentication | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 388-397 | |
| Karen Renaud; Joseph Maguire | |||
| Alphanumeric authentication, by means of a secret, is not only a powerful
mechanism, in theory, but prevails over all its competitors in practice.
However, it is clearly inadequate in a world where increasing numbers of
systems and services require people to authenticate in a shared space, while
being actively observed. This new reality places pressure on a password
mechanism never intended for use in such a context. Asterisks may obfuscate
alphanumeric characters on entry but popular systems, e.g. Apple iPhone and
Nintendo Wii, regularly require users to use an on-screen keyboard for
character input. This may not be a real concern within the context of secluded
space but inadvertly reveals a secret within shared space. Such a secret has an
economic cost in terms of replacement, recall and revenue, all of which affect
the financial return of the offending systems and services.
In this paper, we present and evaluate a graphical authentication mechanism, Tetrad, which appears to have the potential to address these specific concerns. Keywords: context, graphical authentication mechanism, secluded space, shared space | |||
| When 'one fits all' does not fit: study of visualization types for mobile help systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 398-404 | |
| Kathrin Jepsen; Gregor Glass; Roman Englert | |||
| An open question today is how the visualization of a mobile assistance
interface should look like, e.g. if it should disappear automatically after
some seconds or a user interaction is required. In this paper a survey is
conducted that has the goal to gather practice-oriented interaction design
guidelines to support design decisions of mobile help visualizations. The
survey is based on four different visualization strategies in order to find the
most appropriate. Five usage scenarios from the field of mobile messaging were
selected. The study shows the first time that users have a concept of
criticality for usage problems and that 'one fits all' solutions fail for
(huge) user groups. Keywords: assistance/help systems, help format, help systems, information
visualization, interface design, mobile device, online survey, user support | |||
| Visible imagination: projected play | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 405-409 | |
| David J. Chatting; Jon S. Sutton | |||
| This paper presents a system for the exploration of projected interfaces. We
describe our Visible Imagination (VI) platform combining a camera, projector
and torch (flashlight) allowing interaction with the torchlight and shape
capture. We describe six application sketches that demonstrate different
interaction styles using the platform, reflecting on their success and how they
may be applied to play. Keywords: children's toys, flashlights, play, projected interfaces, torches | |||
| An exploratory study of tag-based visual interfaces for searching folksonomies | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 410-417 | |
| Javier Diaz; Keyun Hu; Melanie Tory | |||
| Aesthetic features such as animation, 3D interaction, and visual metaphors
are becoming commonplace in multimedia search interfaces. However, it is
unclear which attributes are needed to encourage people to use these interfaces
on an ongoing basis. To design a visual interface that will elicit continual
use, we first need to establish a better understanding of users' goals and
strategies, in order to determine which features are critical to support those
tasks. This paper reports on an exploratory study of individuals engaging with
five different image and video search interfaces. Our study helped us to
understand users' experiences with a variety of features and design elements,
as well as categorize their common search tasks and strategies. We identified
four distinct types of search: Search Known Objects + Known Keywords, Search
Known Objects + Unknown Keywords, Search Unknown Objects + Known Keywords, and
Search Unknown Objects + Unknown Keywords. We also identified common strategies
used to accomplish each of these search types. Our findings suggest that search
interfaces should maximize screen space used for visual representations of the
media, provide on-demand access to titles, tags, and other metadata, and
provide contextual information about previously viewed items, current keywords,
and alternate keyword possibilities. Keywords: browse, explore, folksonomy, multimedia, search, tag, visual interface | |||
| What makes a good game?: using reviews to inform design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 418-422 | |
| Matthew Bond; Russell Beale | |||
| The characteristics that identify a good game are hard to define and
reproduce, as demonstrated by the catalogues of both successes and failures
from most games companies. We have started to address this by undertaking a
grounded theoretical analysis of reviews garnered from games, both good and
bad, to distil from these common features that characterize good and bad games.
We have identified that a good game is cohesive, varied, has good user
interaction and offers some form of social interaction. The most important
factor to avoid is a bad pricing. Successfully achieving some of these good
factors will also outweigh problems in other areas. Keywords: analysis, games, grounded theory | |||
| User research in a scientific software development project | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 423-429 | |
| David Sloan; Catriona Macaulay; Paula Forbes; Scott Loynton | |||
| The Usable Image project provides usability and user-centred design support
to a scientific software development project. OMERO is a complex software
application aimed at supporting the management, analysis and processing of
microscopy images and associated data. In order to gather a richer
understanding of the diversity and similarities of scientific practice and the
role technology plays in supporting the work of scientists using images and
image-related data, a range of user-research techniques have been applied,
including design ethnography and surveys. This work has provided insights that
have informed the development team, increasing knowledge and understanding of
what is a complex usage environment, and helping in the process of creating a
more usable and useful scientific tool.
This paper discusses the insights gained from the ethnographic work and from user surveys, in terms of attitudes to and usage patterns of technology amongst life science researchers, and considers the implications of these insights on the user-centred design and development of OMERO. Keywords: design ethnography, scientific software, usability, user-centred design | |||
| Measuring the influence of social abilities on acceptance of an interface robot and a screen agent by elderly users | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 430-439 | |
| Marcel Heerink; Ben Kröse; Bob Wielinga; Vanessa Evers | |||
| Personal robots and screen agents can be equipped with social abilities to
facilitate interaction. This paper describes our research on the influence of
these abilities on elderly user's acceptance of such a system. Experiments were
set up in eldercare institutions where a robotic and screen agent with
simulated conversational capabilities were used in a Wizard of Oz experiment.
Both agents were used with two conditions: a more socially communicative (the
agent made use of a larger set of social abilities in interaction) and a less
socially communicative interface. Results show that participants who were
confronted with the more socially communicative version of the robotic agent
felt more comfortable and were more expressive in communicating with it. This
suggests that the more socially communicative condition would be more likely to
be accepted as a conversational partner. This effect was less strong however,
with the screen agent, suggesting that embodiment plays a role in this.
Furthermore, results did show a correlation between social abilities as
perceived by participants and some aspects of technology acceptance for both
systems, but this did not relate to the more and less socially communicative
conditions. Evaluating the experiments and specifically the use of our
acceptance model we suggest that this particular context of robotic and screen
agents for elderly users requires the development of a more appropriate
acceptance model which not only features technology acceptance, but also
conversational acceptance. Keywords: geriatrics, robot acceptance, technology acceptance model, user interfaces | |||
| A gestural interaction design model for multi-touch displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 440-446 | |
| Songyang Lao; Xiangan Heng; Guohua Zhang; Yunxiang Ling; Peng Wang | |||
| Media platforms and devices that allow an input from a user's finger/hand
touch are becoming more ubiquitous, such as Microsoft Surface and DiamondTouch,
as well as numerous experimental systems in research labs. Currently the
definition of touch styles is application-specific and each device/application
has its own set of available touch types to be recognized as input. In this
paper we attempt a comprehensive understanding of all possible touch types for
touch-sensitive devices by constructing a design model for touch interaction
and clarifying their characteristics. The model is composed of three structural
levels (action level, motivation level and computing level) and the
relationships between them (mapping).
In action level, we construct a unified definition and description of all possible touch gestures, first by analyzing how a finger/hand touch on a surface can cause a particular event that can be recognized as a legitimate action, and then using this analysis we define all possible touch gestures, resulting in touch gesture taxonomy. In motivation level, we analyze and describe all the direct interactive motivation according to applications. Then we define the general principles for mapping between the action and motivation levels. In computing level, we realize the motivation and response to gestural inputs using computer languages. The model is then used to illustrate how it can be interpreted in the context of a photo management application based on DiamondTouch and iPod Touch. It allows to reuse touch types in different platforms and applications in a more systematic and generic manner than how touch has been designed so far. Keywords: PDA, gestural recognition, interaction model, mapping rules, tabletop, touch
interaction | |||
| Paper-based mixed reality sketch augmentation as a conceptual design support tool | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 447-452 | |
| G. J. D. dos Santos; E. M. A. G. van Dijk; D. M. Vyas | |||
| This undergraduate student paper explores usage of mixed reality techniques
as support tools for conceptual design. A proof-of-concept was developed to
illustrate this principle. Using this as an example, a small group of designers
was interviewed to determine their views on the use of this technology. These
interviews are the main contribution of this paper. Several interesting
applications were determined, suggesting possible usage in a wide range of
domains. Paper-based sketching, mixed reality and sketch augmentation
techniques complement each other, and the combination results in a highly
intuitive interface. Keywords: computer supported design, design tool, mixed reality, paper based
interface, sketch augmentation, sketch based design | |||
| Interacting with in-vehicle systems: understanding, measuring, and evaluating attention | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 453-462 | |
| Kenneth Majlund Bach; Mads Gregers Jæger; Mikael B. Skov; Nils Gram Thomassen | |||
| In-vehicle systems research is becoming a significant field as the market
for in-vehicle systems continue to grow. As a consequence, researchers are
increasingly concerned with opportunities and limitations of HCI in a moving
vehicle. Especially aspects of attention constitute a challenge for in-vehicle
systems development. This paper seeks to remedy this by defining and
exemplifying attention understandings. 100 papers were classified in a two-fold
perspective; under what settings are in-vehicle systems evaluated and how is
driver attention measured in regard to in-vehicle systems HCI. A breakdown of
the distribution of driving settings and measures is presented and the impact
of driver attention is discussed. The classification revealed that most of the
studies were conducted in driving simulators and real traffic driving, while
lateral and longitudinal control and eye behaviour were the most used measures. Keywords: IVS, attention, driving settings, driving simulator, in-vehicle systems,
literature classification, measures, test track | |||
| Runtime user interface design and adaptation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 463-470 | |
| David England; Martin Randles; A. Taleb-Bendiab | |||
| In this paper, a method of generating appropriate user interfaces at runtime
is investigated. It is proposed to use the established formalism of Situation
Calculus to describe and specify user interfaces. It is shown how specific
features of the formalism provide many desirable properties in the design and
specification of user interfaces that are adaptable to context and composed at
runtime. The formalism provides a provably correct deployment, whilst giving a
means of deliberation on the optimum configuration that is directly compiled
through a developed Neptune scripting language. The major features of the
formalism and programming language are described together with an illustration
of how this has been used in an implemented e-health case study for decision
support with partner institutions in breast cancer care. It is shown how
pluggable decision models may be introduced and system adaptation to clinician
context achieved, whilst system integrity is maintained. Keywords: runtime adaptation, situation calculus, user interface description | |||
| A grounded theory approach towards conceptualizing CIS for heterogeneous work communities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 471-479 | |
| Nallini Selvaraj; Bob Fields | |||
| The notion of Common Information Space (CIS) is an area that has been
gaining attention in the field of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
over the last few years. This paper discusses one aspect of the investigation
being undertaken to develop the conceptualization of CIS pertaining to
heterogeneous work communities. This is based on empirical study of
collaborative decision making involving different work communities in an
airport of the air traffic control setting. The theory development is founded
on the Grounded Theory approach. We present some of the findings of the ongoing
analysis. In particular we discuss how the Grounded Theory methodological
process has been adapted to this investigation by presenting illustrations of
emergent theory development at the theoretical coding phase of the process. Keywords: common information space, computer supported cooperative work, grounded
theory | |||
| Using technologies to support reminiscence | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 480-484 | |
| Dan Cosley; Kathy Akey; Brian Alson; Jonathan Baxter; Mark Broomfield; Soyoung Lee; Chethan Sarabu | |||
| This paper is about the evolution of a system prototype called Pensieve
whose goal is to support people's reminiscing practices. A number of
technologies exist to manage memory-related content; however, these
technologies tend to take a model of memory as information that leads to a
focus on capture and access. Pensieve is instead based on reusing memory-laden
content people already create in social media services. This idea is supported
by theories of autobiographical memory, insights from interviews with eight
subjects, and experiences with two prototypes deployed to ten users. These
interviews and experiences suggest that people value even simple tools that
support reminiscence, as well as providing both design goals and research
questions around the design of tools that support people in reminiscing. Keywords: memory, personalization, reminiscence, social media | |||
| DIY design process for interactive surfaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 485-493 | |
| Jennifer G. Sheridan; James Tompkin; Abel Maciel; George Roussos | |||
| This paper charts the design and build of two interactive tabletops that use
infrared (IR) illumination techniques. One table implements fiducial tracking,
whilst the other implements multi-touch tracking. Trade-offs in both designs
are discussed to highlight key considerations when building an interactive
table. Using three key dimensions from lessons learned, we conduct a
comparative analysis of both approaches. Finally, we propose a DIY Design
Process to assist designers in building their own interactive table. Keywords: TUIO, design, diffusion, fiducial, infrared, interactive surface,
multi-touch, tabletop | |||
| Modelling perception using image processing algorithms | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 494-503 | |
| Pradipta Biswas; Peter Robinson | |||
| User modeling is widely used in HCI but there are very few systematic HCI
modelling tools for people with disabilities. We are developing user models to
help with the design and evaluation of interfaces for people with a wide range
of abilities. We present a perception model that can work for some kinds of
visually-impaired users as well as for able-bodied people. The model takes a
list of mouse events, a sequence of bitmap images of an interface and locations
of different objects in the interface as input, and produces a sequence of
eye-movements as output. Our model can predict the visual search time for two
different visual search tasks with significant accuracy for both able-bodied
and visually-impaired people. Keywords: human computer interaction, image processing, perception model | |||
| Distal tactile feedback for text entry on tabletop computers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 504-511 | |
| Christopher McAdam; Stephen Brewster | |||
| In this paper we present an initial study into the feasibility of using a
mobile phone as a personal tactile display when interacting with a tabletop
computer. There has been an increase in recent years in large touchscreen
computers that use soft keyboards for text input. Text entry performance on
such keyboards can be poor due to the lack of tactile feedback from the keys.
Our approach is to use the vibration motor in a user's mobile phone to provide
personal haptic feedback for interactions with the touchscreen computer. We ran
an experiment to compare text entry on a touchscreen device with the tactile
feedback being presented at different distal locations on the body (locations
at which a user might keep a mobile device. The conditions were: no tactile
feedback, feedback directly on the device, feedback at the wrist, upper arm,
chest, belt and trouser pocket). The results showed that distal tactile
feedback significantly increased text entry rates when presented to the wrist
and upper arm. This was not at the expense of a reduction in text entry
accuracy. This shows that the concept of presenting tactile feedback on a
user's phone is an effective one and can improve interaction and text entry on
tabletop computers. Keywords: mobile phone, tabletop interaction, tactile feedback, text entry | |||
| The effect of aesthetics on web credibility | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 512-519 | |
| Farah Alsudani; Matthew Casey | |||
| Credibility influences a user's interest in a web site. Once users perceive
the credibility of a web site they will be more likely to use it. A combination
of factors affects such credibility -- such as the provider, content,
aesthetics, accessibility and solution of technical problems. The aesthetics of
a web site can affect a user's first impressions of credibility. Experiments
have shown that users can judge a web site's credibility in as little as 3.42
seconds merely on the basis of its aesthetic appeal. But what are the aesthetic
factors that influence immediate judgment on web credibility? A study was
conducted to ascertain these factors; first a framework of factors was
suggested to develop a method focusing on the users' actual perceptions in
judging credibility based on aesthetics. This was done with 30 subjects viewing
13 pairs of images of recruitment agency web sites. 'Unity' in design with its
elements of balance, harmony, contrast and dominance was found to be an
effective aesthetic factor resulting in immediate judgments on web credibility.
These factors were presented for beginner web designers in online tutorials.
This work is a result of MSc project. Keywords: Gestalt theory, aesthetics, credibility, unity | |||
| From the gaming experience to the wider user experience | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 520-523 | |
| Eduardo H. Calvillo Gámez; Paul Cairns; Anna L. Cox | |||
| In this paper we discuss the different elements of the gaming experience and
their relation to other concepts within HCI. The objective is to showcase how
the different elements that form the gaming experience can be used to
understand further issues regarding user experience. The objectives of games
are, after all, to provide players with a positive experience. Understanding
the elements that eventually lead players to have a positive experience should
provide feedback about the wider user experience concept. Although video-games
and non-game applications seem to be two different domains of study, in terms
of experience, they both aim to improve the individual's experience. Keywords: games, theory, user experience, video-games | |||