| Towards the Total Quality Interface -- Applying Taguchi TQM Techniques within the LUCID Method | | BIBAK | 3-17 | |
| Andy Smith; Lynne Dunckley | |||
| Juran defines quality as being 'fit for purpose or use'. It follows clearly
from this that an effective interface is an essential ingredient in a quality
software product. Whilst the discipline of Human Computer Interaction is
maturing quickly, there still remains only limited support for designing in
quality rather than evaluating it afterwards. In this paper the authors
present the results of a pilot study within the first stage in the development
of the LUCID (Logical User Centred Interface Design) method which attempts to
integrate a number of human factor tools within a quality framework.
Particularly they focus on the phases which adopt the Taguchi Method for
designing quality into products and processes. By adopting such techniques
within a practical example, the authors demonstrate how the use of a scientific
experimental design strategy, together with conventional statistical tools can
assist the selection of the optimum user interface. Keywords: Taguchi, User centred design, Interface design, Total quality management | |||
| Games as a Metaphor for Interactive Systems | | BIBAK | 19-33 | |
| Kostas Stathis; Marek Sergot | |||
| We present the use of games as a metaphor for constructing and organizing
interactive systems, with particular attention to the provision of
Knowledge-Based Front-Ends (KBFEs) to software packages. Interaction is viewed
as a rule governed activity which may usefully be regarded as a game. Given a
specification of the rules, implementation of an interactive system requires
construction of an umpire, a component that enforces compliance of the players
with the rules and thereby controls the interaction. Advice giving components
added to the system are analogous to games played in the presence of an advisor
who recommends moves to the participants. Complex interactive systems are
constructed as compound games built up from simpler sub-games; coordination of
moves chosen from the sub-games is then a key issue. We exemplify these points
by showing how the games metaphor is employed in the design of a complex
interactive system providing a KBFE to the statistical package GLIM. We also
sketch an alternative design in order to illustrate how the games metaphor can
impose discipline on the developers of a complex interactive system. Keywords: Games, Metaphors, Interactive systems, Knowledge-based front ends | |||
| Cultural Bases of Interface Acceptance: Foundation | | BIBAK | 35-47 | |
| Donald L. Day | |||
| This paper introduces an ongoing research project which seeks to contrast
the cultural expectations of ethnically diverse users with the styles of
interface implemented in globally marketed software packages. A modified
Technology Acceptance Model is applied, focusing upon culturally specific user
expectations and system design features. The paper includes discussion of two
supporting research streams, drawn from science and technology studies,
psychology, information studies, sociology, HCI and anthropology. It also
introduces methods being used to calibrate instruments, validate procedures and
identify variables for later direct observation of user behaviour. Keywords: Cognitive style, Appropriate technology, Knowledge representation,
Adaptation, Globalization, Technology transfer | |||
| A Unified Concept of Style and its Place in User Interface Design | | BIBAK | 49-62 | |
| Philip Gray; Stephen Draper | |||
| The term 'style' is used with great regularity in user interface design
literature, yet it appears to refer to widely disparate phenomena. We present
a notion of style which unifies these various uses. We then demonstrate how
the notion may form the basis of a representation of style that can provide
design assistance. Keywords: User interface styles, UIDEs, User interface design | |||
| Developing University Courses to Enable Students to Specify and Solve Human-Computer Interaction Design Problems | | BIBAK | 63-77 | |
| M. Andrew Life; John Long | |||
| Aspiring practitioners must be taught to specify and to solve discipline
problems. We begin by considering the gap between HCI research and system
development, but particularly as it relates to teaching. The gap manifests
itself through the dissatisfaction many system developers express with the
adequacy of HCI teaching. We next suggest that one reason for the gap lies in
the current tendency to teach HCI as a multidisciplinary applied science
subject. This tendency results in incomplete and incoherent coverage, not
well-suited to the needs of system development. We suggest that a top-down
approach to the subject and stronger design orientation should ameliorate some
of the weaknesses. We utilize a conception of HCI as a framework for
specifying more effective HCI courses. We report the development of a course
in the Human Factors of HCI which has exploited the conception, and we
informally evaluate the conception as a partial solution to current
inadequacies in HCI teaching. Keywords: Education, Design problems, Syllabi, HCI curricula | |||
| 3D or not 3D: Is it Nobler in the Mind? | | BIBAK | 79-94 | |
| Alistair Sutcliffe; Uma Patel | |||
| A design method for complex visual interfaces in information systems
applications is proposed and tested by developing prototype applications using
Text, 2D and 3D representations. The 3 prototypes are evaluated in empirical
studies to investigate performance differences and patterns of user-system
interaction. 3D designs and graphics show some performance advantages but
individual differences are important. Systematic design seems to improve the
effect of all representational modalities. Keywords: 3D visualization, Visual interfaces, Design guidelines, Usability | |||
| Can Design Choices for Language-Based Editors be Analysed with Keystroke-Level Models? | | BIBAK | 97-112 | |
| Mark A. Toleman; Jim Welsh | |||
| We have been concerned for some time with the lack of rigorous experimental
evaluation of design options chosen for tools used by software engineers. In a
series of studies using various evaluation techniques we built Keystroke-Level
Models (KLM) and conducted an empirical usability study of a design issue
(choice of editing paradigm for language-based editors) that has reached a
'subjective stalemate' in the research community. The KLM analysis enabled us
to predict usage differences and while this was useful we also noticed several
problems, in particular we were concerned about the estimated value and
placement of the memory operator. By utilizing the same tasks in the usability
study as in the KLM analysis, we were able to compare results from both
evaluations and effectively validate the overall KLM estimates and the specific
operator values involved. Keywords: Keystroke-level model, Model validation, Language-based editors | |||
| Deriving Information Requirement in the Design of a Mathematics Workstation for Visually Impaired Students | | BIBAK | 113-127 | |
| Carol Linehan; John McCarthy | |||
| Mathematics presents particular access problems for students who are
visually impaired. Although multi-media, computer technologies provide
opportunities for creative solutions, a lack of empirical analyses of people
who are visually impaired doing mathematics remains an obstacle for designers.
We demonstrate the use of task analysis, and particularly the 'Wizard of Oz'
technique, for eliciting user requirements in this context. The analysis
highlights requirements relevant to the units of information used, the
strategies employed for gaining and manipulating information, initiative in the
interaction, and memory constraints when doing mathematics. Keywords: Requirements analysis, System design, Wizard of Oz, Visual impairment,
Mathematics | |||
| Second-Language Help for Windows Applications | | BIBAK | 129-138 | |
| George R. S. Weir; Giorgos Lepouras; Ulysses Sakellaridis | |||
| This paper describes an approach to the second-language problem for
user-support in the context of existing MS-Windows applications. We outline a
methodology for deriving foci for support, and present guidelines for the
addition of second-language enhancements. Finally, we detail our procedure for
implementing such help facilities with examples of enhanced Chinese and Greek
second-language support. Keywords: User support, Help re-engineering, Second-language help | |||
| Eye-Based Control of Standard GUI Software | | BIBAK | 141-158 | |
| Howell Istance; Christian Spinner; Peter Alan Howarth | |||
| This paper discusses the design and initial evaluation of a visual on-screen
keyboard, operated by eye-gaze, intended for use by motor-impaired users. The
idea of an on-screen keyboard controlled by eye or by other modalities is not
new. However, the keyboard presented here is different in two important
respects. First, it enables interaction with unmodified standard Graphical
User Interface (GUI) software written for able-bodied users, and provides
eye-based control over menus, dialogue boxes, and scrollers; it is not solely
designed around the need to enter text. Second, the software architecture
enables the keyboard to respond to events generated in the windows environment
by the application it is controlling. This allows the keyboard to adapt
automatically to the application context by, for example, loading a specific
set of keys designed for use with particular menus whenever a menu is displayed
in the target application. Results of initial evaluation trials are presented
and the implications for improvements in design are discussed. Keywords: Eye-control, Visual keyboard, Physically-challenged, Disability, Handicapped | |||
| Non-Visual Interaction with GUI Objects | | BIBAK | 159-168 | |
| Leonard H. Poll; Berry H. Eggen | |||
| Current professional computers are most commonly equipped with Graphical
User Interfaces (GUIs) instead of text oriented user interfaces. Today, almost
every computer is equipped with a GUI. This poses great problems to blind
computer users who were at first given more job opportunities with the advent
of character based computers but are now threatened to lose their newly gained
employment.
Non-visual access to GUIs requires extraction of information from a GUI and presentation of this information to the blind user by means of a dedicated interaction device. Object oriented methods to extract the information from a GUI are described in (Mynatt & Edwards, 1992} and (Poll & Waterham, 1995). The non-visual GUI objects which have been extracted, can be presented by either tactile or auditory means. The latter option was chosen in our project because of the higher information transfer rate. In our setup the blind user can use an absolute mouse to scan a rectangular area, that is restricted by standing edges, for objects that are presented with help of speech and non-speech sounds. The combination of the absolute mouse, the restricted area within which the mouse can be positioned and the (non) speech sounds will be referred to as the SoundTablet from now on. In this paper a description is given of an experiment in which the feasibility of the SoundTablet is explored. The results show that the SoundTablet is suited for use in a non-visual GUI access system. The results indicate also that the addition of an auditory and/or tactile object localization aid is desirable. Keywords: Auditory interfaces, Non-visual interaction, GUIs, Visually impaired | |||
| Earcons as a Method of Providing Navigational Cues in a Menu Hierarchy | | BIBAK | 169-183 | |
| Stephen Brewster; Veli-Pekka Raty; Atte Kortekangas | |||
| We describe an experiment to discover if structured audio messages, earcons,
could provide navigational cues in a menu hierarchy. A hierarchy of 27 nodes
and four levels was created with sounds for each node. Participants had to
identify their location in the hierarchy by listening to an earcon. Results
showed that participants could identify their location with over 80% accuracy,
indicating that earcons are a powerful method of communicating hierarchy
information. Participants were also tested to see if they could identify where
previously unheard earcons would fit in the hierarchy. The results showed that
they could do this with over 90% accuracy. These results show that earcons are
a robust and extensible method of communicating hierarchy information in sound. Keywords: Earcons, Auditory interfaces, Non-speech audio, Navigation, Menus,
Phone-based interaction | |||
| Problems for User Involvement: A Human and Organizational Perspective | | BIBAK | 187-200 | |
| Carolyn Axtell; Chris Clegg; Patrick Waterson | |||
| This paper is concerned with problems that can impede the involvement of
users in the development process. Several problem areas are highlighted in a
case study of an in-house development project, which arise from the
organizational context, process of the method and its relationship with other
procedures. We discuss the impacts of these problems and the inter-connections
between them; the key underlying issues being a lack of integrated effort and
incomplete knowledge or experience of those involved. We end the paper by
suggesting possible ways forward involving work organized in an integrated
development cell, greater participation of all parties in the design of the
method, one overseeing manager, and a more thorough piloting and evaluation
phase. Keywords: User participation, System development, Organizational issues | |||
| Multidisciplinary Modelling for User-Centred System Design: An Air-Traffic Control Case Study | | BIBAK | 201-219 | |
| Simon Buckingham Shum; Ann Blandford; David Duke; Jason Good; Jon May; Fabio Paterno'; Richard Young | |||
| This paper reports work investigating how user and system modelling
techniques can be integrated to support the design of advanced interactive
systems, and how such modelling can be effectively communicated to design
practitioners in order to evaluate their potential. We describe a large scale
modelling exercise concerning a flight sequencing tool for air-traffic
controllers. We outline the kinds of system and user analysis possible with
the different modelling techniques, and the approach used to integrate and
communicate the modelling analyses to the system's designers. We then discuss
the value of these techniques against several key criteria. The designers
evaluated the modelling positively in many respects, including a commitment to
explore further how user modelling can be integrated with their formal methods.
We conclude that the scenario of HCI modellers working in collaboration with
designers is feasible, and has analytic power. Keywords: Multidisciplinary design, User modelling, Formal methods, Interaction
modelling, Air-traffic control | |||
| Costs and Benefits of User Involvement in Design: Practitioners' Views | | BIBAK | 221-240 | |
| Stephanie Wilson; Mathilde Bekker; Hilary Johnson; Peter Johnson | |||
| Many design approaches recommend some form of user involvement in the design
of interactive systems, although there has been little empirical research
directed towards assessing the benefits to be gained, and costs to be incurred,
from having users involved during the design process. Moreover, the work that
does exist has tended to take a narrow view, considering the gains and losses
primarily from an organizational perspective. This paper offers richer
definitions of the costs and benefits by which user involvement might be
assessed, emphasizing the contrasting views of different 'stakeholders' in the
design process. It presents and discusses two empirical studies conducted in
the light of these definitions to examine the costs and benefits of user
involvement as perceived by design practitioners. Keywords: User involvement, Cost-benefit analysis, User-centred design | |||
| What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Privacy in Collaborative Computing | | BIBAK | 241-261 | |
| Victoria Bellotti | |||
| Privacy is a popular subject in the CSCW literature but has largely been
addressed as an issue of security by systems designers. With the growth of
networked, multimedia CSCW systems comes an increasing need for better control
over how people gain access to one another and to potentially shareable
information. This paper poses some challenges for CSCW developers and provides
some examples of systems which are beginning to meet such challenges. Keywords: Privacy, Access control, Collaboration, Communication, Design | |||
| Behavioural Patterns of Collaborative Writing with Hypertext -- A State Transition Approach | | BIBAK | 265-279 | |
| Chaomei Chen | |||
| This study investigates behavioural patterns of collaborative writing with a
hypertext system by using a state-transition approach. State-transition models
are empirically developed for capturing the dynamic nature of collaborative
writing. Users were frequently engaged in tasks such as exploration,
organization, and editing, whereas the use of collaborative support functions
was transient in nature. The study shows that state-transition analysis is an
important approach to task analysis, requirements engineering, and
human-computer interaction studies. This study has produced some valuable
experiences and lessons for researchers and practitioners in collaborative
writing. Keywords: Collaborative writing, User models, Markov analysis, Task analysis,
Hypertext | |||
| Workspace Awareness in Real-Time Distributed Groupware: Framework, Widgets, and Evaluation | | BIBAK | 281-298 | |
| Carl Gutwin; Saul Greenberg; Mark Roseman | |||
| The rich person-to-person interaction afforded by shared physical
work-spaces allows people to maintain up-to-the minute knowledge about others'
interaction with the task environment. This knowledge is workspace awareness,
part of the glue that allows groups to collaborate effectively. In real-time
groupware systems that provide a shared virtual space for collaboration, the
possibilities for interaction are impoverished when compared with their
physical counterparts. In this paper, we present the concept of workspace
awareness as one key to supporting the richness evident in face-to-face
interaction. We construct a conceptual framework that describes the elements
and mechanisms of workspace awareness, and apply the framework to the design of
widgets that help people maintain awareness in real-time distributed groupware.
Our evaluation of these widgets has shown that several designs improve the
usability of groupware applications. Keywords: Workspace awareness, Real-time groupware, Shared workspaces, Widgets, CSCW | |||
| Using Distortion-Oriented Displays to Support Workspace Awareness | | BIBAK | 299-314 | |
| Saul Greenberg; Carl Gutwin; Andy Cockburn | |||
| Desktop conferencing systems are now moving away from strict view-sharing
and towards relaxed 'what you see is what I see' (relaxed-WYSIWIS) interfaces,
where distributed participants in a real time session can view different parts
of a shared visual workspace. As with strict view-sharing, people using
relaxed-WYSIWIS require a sense of workspace awareness -- the up-to-the-minute
knowledge about another person's interactions with the shared workspace. The
problem is deciding how to provide a user with an appropriate level of
awareness of what other participants are doing when they are working in
different areas of the workspace. In this paper, we propose
distortion-oriented displays as a novel way of providing this awareness. These
displays, which employ magnification lenses and fisheye view techniques, show
global context and local detail within a single window, providing both
peripheral and detailed awareness of other participants' actions. Three
prototypes are presented as examples of groupware distortion-oriented displays:
the fisheye text viewer, the offset lens, and the head-up lens. Keywords: Awareness, Magnifying lenses, Fisheye views, Distortion-oriented displays,
Desktop conferencing, Groupware | |||
| Working by Walking Around -- Requirements of Flexible Interaction Management in Video-Supported Collaborative Work | | BIBAK | 315-329 | |
| Steinar Kristoffersen; Tom Rodden | |||
| This paper considers the effects of video-based communication systems on
individual, local mobility in the everyday, practical 'space' of work. The
notion of video as a vehicle that transcends physical space in an unproblematic
fashion is carefully considered. Previous academic research has emphasized how
video can extend and enhance the working environment. We found, doing a
focused ethnography in the Customer Service Centre of a large high street bank,
that video, in a trade-off between 'real' and 'virtual' mobility, restricted
the use of personal, workaday, physical space. Issues thus raised for the
design of video-based communication systems are: physical mobility in workaday
space during interactive sessions; modal and temporal switching between and
within different media; articulating and supporting collaborative work with
private activities; and, accommodating alternating tasks. Keywords: Video, Communication, Multimedia, Space, Mobility, CSCW | |||
| Matching Media to Goals: An Approach Based on Expressiveness | | BIBAK | 333-347 | |
| David Williams; Iain Duncumb; James L. Alty | |||
| This paper addresses the problem of output media selection in the design of
human-computer interfaces. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect that
the chosen medium has on the nature and effectiveness of the interactions that
can take place. A novel approach is suggested in an attempt to gain an insight
into why particular media allow certain goals to be achieved more effectively.
This approach borrows ideas from linguistics and logic, and views media as
formal representational systems. Out of this approach is developed the notion
of expressiveness; the amount of abstraction a representation system affords a
referent domain. The approach suggests that it is the congruence between the
representation required by the goal and the expressiveness afforded by the
media that largely determines the effectiveness of the interface. To give an
example of this approach, three VCR user interfaces are discussed in terms of
expressiveness. Keywords: Multimedia, User-centred design, Expressiveness, Goal decomposition, VCR
programming | |||
| DAVID: A Multimedia Tool for Accident Investigation | | BIBAK | 349-368 | |
| Mauro Pedrali; Remi Bastide | |||
| Investigations on several real life accidents have revealed the increasing
causal role played by humans, and the importance of the context of human
actions. Accident analyses should therefore concentrate not only on system
failures but also on what we call human factors investigations. We propose an
approach based on a method for retrospective analysis of accidents. The aim is
the identification of erroneous actions and their related causes. A prototype
software-tool implementing the method is to be integrated with an existing
video editor and a database in a multimedia environment. Keywords: Accident investigation, Root cause analysis, Errors taxonomy, Video analysis | |||
| A Web StoryBase | | BIBAK | 369-382 | |
| Mary Beth Rosson; John M. Carroll; David Messner | |||
| We describe the Web StoryBase, a system using HTML forms technology to
collect and share stories and story annotations from users of the World Wide
Web. We analyse usage data collected over a period of 26 weeks, from the
perspective of how the system was advertised, contributed to, and browsed. We
also discuss several themes extracted from the reported Web experiences:
usability, learnability, diversity, communication, just-in-time information,
capture and fun. Keywords: Internet, Networks, World Wide Web, HTML forms, Stories, User experience | |||
| Session Length and Subjective Satisfaction in Information Kiosk Research | | BIBAK | 383-394 | |
| Jorma Sajaniemi; Ismo Tossavainen | |||
| Information kiosks introduce a possibility to test usability of computer
based services with a large number and a wide variety of users. In this paper,
we are interested in evaluating user's subjective satisfaction, hopefully using
automatic log analysis techniques. Based on usability data collected in an
information kiosk study conducted in a housing fair, we show that subjective
satisfaction cannot be predicted based on session lengths. However, subjective
satisfaction can be combined with session length to find user groups having
important qualitative differences that can be exploited in usability analysis. Keywords: Usability research, Usability analysis, Usability kiosk, Subjective
satisfaction, Methodology | |||