| Doctoral Consortium Faculty | | BIB | 215 | |
| Thomas R. G. Green; David Gilmore | |||
| Structuring Synchronous Multi-User Applications | | BIBA | 215 | |
| John Alfred, Jr. Boyd | |||
| Even though there are software systems that are highly interactive and that support multiple users, it seems that it could be much easier for groups of people to do collaborative work via computers. There is a shortage of effective multi-user applications and the problems of designing and building such applications are not well understood. With goals of providing a more general framework for such applications, and eventually of demonstrating that framework, my research is concerned with the structure of applications known as "synchronous groupware". These are characterized by a high degree of interaction among users. To expand the conceptual basis for synchronous groupware, I first identify structural characteristics of groupware applications. I refine the notion of constraints in a number of practical cases which are more easily implemented. Within this, I more clearly distinguish constraints and events, and provide more complete language support for their effective use. I also develop the notion of "floor control", or user-visible concurrency control, as the basis for coordinating user activity, and for providing appropriate feedback to users when such coordination is necessary. Finally, I suggest how the object-oriented programming paradigm might better support the development of synchronous groupware applications via specific programming concepts and language constructs. | |||
| Reasoning with External Representations: Supporting the Stages of Selection, Construction and Use | | BIBA | 215 | |
| Richard Cox | |||
| Several intelligent educational systems (IES's) have employed graphics or graphical interfaces. However only a few systems have been centrally concerned with graphics and reasoning. As far as I am aware, no system to date has attempted to offer learner support in the construction, selection and use of a range of graphical (and non-graphical) external representations (ER's) during reasoning. I argue that the stages of representation selection, construction and use are important for analytical problem solving. However, there is little evidence that these stages have been the primary focus of previous learning environments. I describe an environment (switchER) which can easily be used for solving analytical reasoning problems. I describe how switchER has been used to explore a number of hypotheses relating to: 1) the significance of representation selection, 2) the time course of problem solving, and 3) the effects of prior knowledge and problem characteristics. The results reported indicate both the importance of the issues and their implications for the design of intelligent support for switchER. The results are also used to inform the design of an intelligent environment that facilitates learning via ER switching. | |||
| The Engineering of Co-Operative Case Memory Systems | | BIBA | 215 | |
| Andrew Mark Dearden | |||
| The use of formal software engineering notations to describe properties of interactive systems has been advocated as a way of ensuring that usability concerns can be properly represented at all stages of the software engineering process. This thesis extends the use of formal techniques to the engineering of interfaces to one class of Knowledge Based Systems, namely, Co-operative Case Memory Systems (CCMS). We introduce a general analytic model of Case Memory Systems (CMS). This model supports the expression of some general properties which may affect usability. From this analytic model we derive a software engineering model expressed in the Z notation. By combining the software engineering model of a CMS with partial models of interface designs, we can reason about interaction properties of CCMSs. In particular we can consider the way in which a sequence of inputs to a CCMS leads to the identification of cases which are appropriate to the current problem and the support that particular CCMS designs can provide for particular reasoning strategies. | |||
| User Interface Management Systems | | BIBA | 216 | |
| Andrew Herbert | |||
| My Ph.D. research is centred on producing a user interface system that is easy to use for both end-users and application designers/programmers. This is pursued by shifting functionality that traditionally resides in applications over to Grue itself, and by encouraging individual applications, or "gadgets", to be small and purpose specific. By being small and specific, gadgets are likely to be useful in a range of more complex "application" gadgets built from the simpler ones. Such an approach is possible because documents (arbitrarily sized two-dimensional view planes, one per gadget) can be embedded inside other documents, allowing the workload to be seamlessly spread across a number of gadgets. Grue is based on a persistent prototype-instance object model which makes it easy for end-users to customise the environment, while enabling programmers to freely experiment without the overhead of modifying a formal class structure. Gadgets are inter-connected in a unique directed acyclic graph-based topology, and communicate by sending messages along the arcs of this graph using a relative-path message passing model. | |||
| Working Memory Failure in Human-Computer Interaction: Modeling and Testing Simultaneous Demands for Information Storage and Processing | | BIBA | 216 | |
| Brian R. Huguenard | |||
| Working memory (WM) limitations are recognized as a major bottleneck in human information processing. This dissertation investigates user-generated errors due to working memory failure in menu driven Phone-Based Interaction (PBI). A computational model of Phone-Based Interaction (PBI USER) was developed and used to generate predictions about the impact of three factors on WM failure: PBI features (i.e., menu structure), individual differences (i.e., WM capacity) and task characteristics (i.e., task format and number of tasks). The computational model is based on a recently-developed theory of capacity constraints in WM (M. A. Just & P. A. Carpenter, 1992, Psychological Review, 99, 122-149). This theory stipulates that the storage and the processing of information generate demands for WM resources. An experiment was conducted with human subjects to test the predictions of PBI USER, and the experimental results provide evidence that both storage and processing demands are important predictors of WM failure in PBI. Our results also indicate that, contrary to general guidelines, deep menu hierarchies (no more than three options per menu) do not reduce WM error rates in PBI. | |||
| Ecological Interface Design for Advanced Manufacturing Systems | | BIBA | 216 | |
| Anne-Marie Kinsley | |||
| Ecological interface design (EID), recently developed by Vicente and Rasmussen, is a theoretical framework for designing human-computer interfaces in complex, high-technology work domains. It aims to support all three levels of Rasmussen's skills/rules/knowledge taxonomy of behavior; to do so, the interface presents, in a form congruent to perception and action, relationships among system components at all levels of the Rasmussen abstraction hierarchy. This research applies EID to advanced manufacturing systems (AMS); its dual goals are to enlarge the theory and to improve interface design in the particular work domain. The 5 major research components include 1) eliciting the differences between AMS's and continuous processes and their implications for interface design, 2) performing an abstraction hierarchy analysis of a simple example AMS, 3) designing an ecological interface for the example system, 4) designing a conventional interface for the system, and 5) conducting an experimental study to compare the two, focusing on support for problem-solving. | |||
| The Process of a Meeting: Behaviors, Technologies and Their Effectiveness | | BIBA | 216 | |
| Robin Lampert | |||
| The quality of the results of meetings can be crucial to organizations. The main goals of this work are to understand, 1) which behaviors make meetings (un)productive, 2) some effects of technologies on those behaviors and 3) relevant dimensions of these processes and technologies for theory and system building. First, we need to know what kinds of things people do in meetings. My dissertation focuses on those behaviors that direct the meeting activities. To form a reliable coding scheme of the meeting managing behaviors (MMB) we performed statistical analyses of the way people clustered a large set of meeting episodes taken from videotapes of meetings of real groups (field and laboratory). Then, we coded MMB episodes (e.g., stopping digressions) in meetings with varied technologies and conditions. The next step uses the laboratory groups (where we have reliable measures of output quality) to discover which measures (frequency, duration, distribution of the MMB over time and people, available technologies) correlate with quality. Finally, I will examine the implications of these analyses for meeting process, technology support and theoretical implications including relevant dimensions to explore in future work. | |||
| PURSUIT: Programming in the User Interface | | BIBA | 217 | |
| Francesmary Modugno | |||
| My thesis explores the design of PURSUIT, a visual shell that enables users to access the functionality of Unix without learning concepts beyond those of the Macintosh. Many visual shells lack the power and functionality of Unix shells. For example, they do not allow users to pipe" the output of one command into another; they lack powerful utilities such as awk; and they are not programmable. Visual shells that do provide this power are difficult to use. This research focuses on developing a direct manipulation interface that overcomes these problems in a way that is consistent with the direct manipulation paradigm. To add power to the interface, the design introduces typed output, a mechanism that enable users to access the functionality of pipes and utilities by combining simple manipulation and text editing commands. The interface also contains a programming by demonstration system that represents the inferred program in a novel visual language. The language represents an operation implicitly by explicitly depicting the changes it causes in the state of data objects. PURSUIT enables users without programming skills to construct, view and edit abstract programs directly in the interface. | |||
| Software Architecture Models for Multimodal Interactive Systems | | BIBA | 217 | |
| Laurence Marie Nigay | |||
| My doctoral research focuses on software architecture models for interactive systems. I develop a hybrid model, PAC-Amodeus, which combines two approaches: the cooperative agent approach based on the PAC model and the linguistic view first introduced by the Seeheim model. PAC-Amodeus has been successfully applied to various projects. But the challenges associated with the exploitation of PAC-Amodeus urged me to develop a methodology. I defined a set of heuristic rules that helps defining the agents and their relationships. Theses rules gave rise to a software tool called PAC-Expert, an expert system. From the external specification of a system, PAC-Expert generates the software architecture. I then worked on the software architectural aspects of multimodal systems. I have identified specific requirements for multimodal systems and have organized these characteristics into a taxonomy dimension space. Within this classification space, synergistic systems, which are able to combine multiple modalities concurrently, provide the basis for a powerful style of interaction. The implementation of the two systems NoteBook and MATIS have shown that PAC-Amodeus is able to support the most salient properties of synergistic systems: concurrent processing at different levels of abstraction and fusion of data from different modalities. | |||
| Modelling and Analysis of Human Work Situations as a Basis for Design of Human-Computer Interfaces | | BIBA | 217 | |
| Else Nygren | |||
| Humans process information not only consciously, but also at a low cognitive level without any need for conscious attention. This has implications for task analysis and interface design. We have performed field-studies of reading behaviour in different work situations. A new method has been used which involves a kind of "field-experiment". The form of actual work documents have been manipulated in different ways, and the resulting impact on reading and interpretation have been studied. The results show that many reading tasks in typical work-situations can be described as composed of conscious reading and a number of small task components, called micro tasks, which are processed in parallel without any need for conscious attention. Since they are not processed consciously the reader is often not aware of them. When a work situation is computerized, the conditions for processing these micro-tasks may be radically changed. The processing may now need conscious capacity which is limited. This can explain and suggest solutions to e.g., orientation problems and problems of high cognitive overhead in human-computer interaction. | |||
| Supporting Knowledge-Base Evolution Using Multiple Degrees of Formality | | BIBA | 217-218 | |
| Frank M., III Shipman | |||
| A number of systems have been built which integrate the knowledge representations of hypermedia and knowledge-based systems. Experiences with such systems have shown users are willing to use the semi-formal mechanisms of such systems leaving much structure implicit rather than use the formal mechanisms provided. The problem remains that it is hard, 1) to encode knowledge in the formal languages required by knowledge-based systems and 2) to provide support with the semi-formal knowledge found in hypermedia systems. Incremental formalization allows users to enter information into the system in a informal or semi-formal representation and to have computer support for the formalization of this information. The Hyper-Object Substrate (HOS) allows for the incremental addition of formalism to any piece of information in the system. HOS actively supports incremental formalization with a set of tools which suggest new formalisations to be added to the information space. These suggestions are based on patterns in the informally and semi-formally represented information and the existing formalized knowledge in the information space. Experiences with HOS show that its flexibility for incrementally adding and formalizing information is useful for the rapid prototyping and modification of semi-formal information spaces. | |||
| User's Interaction in Multimedia Environments | | BIBA | 218 | |
| Kaisa Vaananen | |||
| Two main problem areas addressed in this work in the field of interaction with multimedia applications are 1) intuitive navigation through the information space by an end-user, and 2) the design and construction of multimedia environments by a multimedia author. This thesis examines the problems of these interaction and construction processes in detail. The main objective is to provide both end-users and authors with tools and user interfaces that allow optimal interaction processes for both creation and acquisition of multimedia information. The main solution is to offer intuitive interface metaphors to visualise the organisation of information and interaction possibilities in the multimedia environments. The design and implementation of a system that supports the model, ShareME -- Shared Multimedia Environments -- is presented. User testing on several multimedia environments built with the ShareME tool will be performed, and the results of the tests are analyzed to gain evidence about validity of the user interface metaphors in the interaction and authoring processes. | |||
| DataSheets: An Interactive Environment for Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) | | BIBA | 218 | |
| Nicholas P. Wilde | |||
| As a graduate student in HCI with a previous background in a physical science, my goals are simple to state: to create programming and problem-solving environments that allow scientists and other mathematically literate people to solve their problems, and to write their own programs, without having to spend a lot of time learning FORTRAN first. To that end, I am focusing on three different, but connected, areas: methods and methodology for creating easier to use programming environments; alternative computational paradigms that may be a better "fit" to certain types of problems; and better methods of displaying information and data on the screen for a scientist to view and manipulate. I am trying bring these three aims together in the effort to create an environment for exploratory data analysis (EDA), called DataSheets. This environment combines an alternative paradigm for computation (the spreadsheet-like forward constraint mechanism on an x-y grid of cells), with a rich set of interactive graphical primitives for the display of data sets. The programming aspects of the environment (the spreadsheet) and the graphical aspects are linked in a way that allows the user to build interactive data displays and work with them quickly and easily. | |||
| Development of a Cultural-Cognitive Approach for HCI and CSCW Using a Study of Collaborative Idea Sketching | | BIBA | 218 | |
| Charles Wood | |||
| The thesis develops and explores a "cultural-cognitive approach" (drawing on "distributed cognition" and Russian psychology) to understanding human activity which might inform system design. Rather than focussing primarily on the internal cognitive system (as cognitive psychology) or on the social organisation of activity (as ethnographic approaches) the approach characterises the "mediating representations" and artifacts (products of culture), involved in activity, but in cognitively and socially relevant ways. Internal cognition and social organisation can be remodelled within limits through training, but the system designer has most direct influence over artifacts. Individual cognition is mediated through artifacts, and by collaborators through artifacts, such that acting persons and their supporting artifacts together constitute a system with a radically different structure, character and functionality than the individual cognitive system. The approach is developed and explored in the domain of collaborative idea-sketching, using video-analysis, interviews and a questionnaire study. Green's cognitive dimensions framework provides the foundation for a cognitively relevant characterisation of idea sketches, which shows which properties of idea sketches are important functionally in the cognitive task of organising ideas. Analysis of videos of people engaged in idea sketching, using a multi-levelled transcription scheme to notate and explore drawing and gesturing activity, shows the role that the representations play in the "collaborative mediation" of interlocutors. It turns out that many properties which facilitate communication with another are the same as those which are necessary to communicate with oneself. | |||
| Reflective Practitioners: Magic to Methodology | | BIBA | 219 | |
| Cynthia Rainis; George Casaday; Rex Hartson | |||
| How do you think about design? What methods do you use to understand how
you or others design? How do you capture that individual and often intuitive
"magic" that skilled HCI designers seem to perform?
Although a number of data gathering techniques have been tried, the actual process of design remains poorly understood. The goals of this workshop are to discover and share methods and to develop a pooled list of techniques for systematically capturing and documenting HCI design practice and methodology. While the focus of this workshop will be on practice rather than theory, we hope participants will reflect the full range of people, both practitioners and researchers, who are trying to understand methods and practice in a systematic way. | |||
| Rethinking Theoretical Frameworks for Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | 219 | |
| Yvonne Rogers; Liam Bannon; Christian Heath | |||
| The major goals of this workshop are to provide a forum where HCI researchers can discuss current concerns over the state of (cognitive) theory, to examine more closely a number of alternative or extended frameworks that have been proposed, and to seek some consensus on the relative strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to particular problems. The recent "turn to the social" will come under scrutiny. Particular emphasis will be placed on work incorporating an analysis of the role of artifacts and other social factors in the accomplishment of work activities. | |||
| Multimodal and Multimedia Human-Computer Interfaces | | BIBA | 219 | |
| Klaus-Peter Faehnrich; Karl-Heinz Hanne; Gerard Ligozat | |||
| Multimodal interfaces are extending the scope of HCI into new domains
through advances such as notepad computers and virtual reality systems.
Multimedia and combined interfaces (e.g., gestural interaction systems) are
also beginning to attract users.
The primary goals of this workshop are to define the basic concepts of multimodal and multimedia (MM&MM) HCI, to establish a common framework for continued discussion, to explore existing technology and interaction techniques in order to identify promising directions for the next generation of MM&MM HCI, and to survey existing approaches from the perspectives of new technologies targeting innovative applications. | |||
| Human-Computer Interaction Advances Derived from Real-World Experiences | | BIBA | 219 | |
| Michael E. Atwood; Jean McKendree | |||
| HCI is an applied science in which advancement depends on the validation of theories and techniques in the solution of real-world problems. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum in which to share HCI advances derived from real-world settings and to discuss ways to make the transition from the laboratory to the real world more common and more timely. The focus will be not on the exchange of "war stories", but rather, on the description of HCI advances that can be shared with others and on the identification of major problems impeding their migration from laboratory to end-user. | |||
| Advances in Teaching the HCI Design Process | | BIBA | 220 | |
| Jenny Preece; Peter Gorny; Tom Hewett; Jean Gasen | |||
| Teaching real-world processes, such as computer system design, is made
particularly difficult by the young and rapidly evolving nature of the HCI
discipline. HCI educators must present design in as meaningful and coherent a
way as possible whilst at the same time acknowledging real-world practices.
In this workshop we will briefly review typical lifecycle oriented software design and then examine two approaches which provide ways of focusing on HCI design concerns. The first combines visualising the conceptual aspects of the design with rapid iterative testing whilst the second focuses on designing for socio-technical issues. We will discuss the advantages of each approach and consider how to teach them to students. The overall aim of this workshop is to advance and innovate teaching of HCI design. | |||
| Cost Effective Usability Engineering: Practical Strategies and Techniques | | BIBA | 220 | |
| Nigel Bevan; Anne Schur | |||
| The objectives of this workshop are to identify, from the best of current
practice, the strategies, techniques, and tools which can be most appropriately
applied in different design environments to ensure the usability of a product.
The results will be published in a book aimed at helping practitioners apply
usability engineering cost-effectively throughout the product lifecycle.
Some of the questions the workshop will address are: How should users be involved? Which tools or techniques should be selected? How can multiple techniques be combined in an integrated usable package for use throughout the product lifecycle? How should criteria and risks be assessed? How can cost-benefit judgements be made? | |||
| Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | 220 | |
| John Thomas; Kumiyo Nakakoji; Maddy Brouwer-Janse; Wendy Kellogg; Victor Kaptelinin | |||
| Continued progress in fielding truly usable systems will draw upon the ideas
of HCI experts across the world to build interfaces that are usable by people
of diverse cultural backgrounds.
The first cross-cultural workshop was held at CHI '92. In this workshop participants will build a conceptual map that lays out cultural differences in HCI. Additional goals are to provide a medium for individual collaborations to emerge and to make concrete suggestions for follow-on activities. Different cultures have different meeting protocols. The "process" as well as the "product" of the workshop will reflect these cultural differences. | |||
| Spatial Metaphors for User Interfaces | | BIBA | 220 | |
| Werner Kuhn; Andrew U. Frank | |||
| Modern user interfaces are increasingly dependent on the realisation of
abstract operations in spatial metaphors. Familiar metaphors such as desktops,
navigation, rooms, museums, or perspective walls demonstrate the crucial role
of "spatialisation" in HCI. Virtual reality promises user interfaces that rely
heavily on human abilities to perform complex motion and perception tasks. Our
understanding of the role which spatialisation plays in interaction is,
however, still quite limited.
This workshop will bring together researchers and designers interested in exploiting spatial metaphors for user interfaces. Participants will review the structure and role of spatial metaphors in human cognition, establish the properties of space and spatialisation in existing user interfaces, and identify approaches to exploiting spatialisation in user interface design. Applicants should have some familiarity with work on metaphor in HCI, in cognitive science, or in both areas. | |||
| Exploratory Sequential Data Analysis in Practice | | BIBA | 221 | |
| Penelope M. Sanderson; Carolanne Fisher | |||
| Exploratory sequential data analysis (ESDA) is a working term coined to
cover a loose set of research- and design-oriented data analysis activities
based on time-stamped recorded data. The activities include verbal protocol
analysis, conversation analysis, interaction analysis, behavioural
observational studies, statistical sequential data analysis, and some kinds of
cognitive task analysis.
This workshop will bring together HCI colleagues engaged in ESDA to investigate the varieties of practice that exist and to discuss the development of a principled approach to ESDA. We will explore the conceptual foundations of various techniques and clarify the advantages and disadvantages of each for different research questions and types of data. Through problem solving exercises (with real data) led by recognised authorities in the application of ESDA techniques to the HCI domain, participants will develop a more principled approach to empirical questions using ESDA. | |||
| Computer-Aided Adaptation of User Interfaces | | BIBA | 221 | |
| David Benyon; Thomas Kuhme; Uwe Malinowski; Piyawadee "Noi" Sukaviriya | |||
| The adaptation of human-computer interfaces to the needs of individual users
can improve user performance with interactive systems, but only if users can
understand and manage the adaptive behaviour. The goal of this workshop is to
explore possible dimensions of computer-aided interface adaptation.
Participants with experience or interest in adaptive systems will address; user involvement (e.g., How much user involvement is appropriate in the adaptation process? How much control over adaptation do users want? How much can they maintain before becoming confused?), understanding adaptive behaviour (e.g., How can the system provide insight into adaptation mechanisms? How can the system help users decide whether a system-proposed adaptation is appropriate for them?), and interfaces to adaptation (e.g., How can higher-level, task-oriented adaptations be supported? How much support can be given for the adaptation of complex interfaces?). | |||
| Working with Users Throughout the Product Lifecycle: Nomadic Practice in User Centred Design | | BIBA | 221 | |
| Michael J. Muller | |||
| This workshop proposes the concept of "nomadic practice in user centred
design" (Nomadic UCD). Nomadic UCD is a set of activities, approaches,
technologies, and theoretical perspectives that help practitioners to work with
users in the users' own work context. The goal is to analyse, design, develop,
test, and deliver products and services that fit into the user's world-view and
work-life.
Although a number of people are tacitly working in this area, we do so within an overall practice that may also include fixed-location laboratory methods, field methods that focus on the developers' world or on the computer artifact, and involvement of the user during the design phase rather than the full development lifecycle. This workshop will focus on the nomadic aspects of UCD practice throughout the product lifecycle. | |||
| Research Symposium Participants | | BIB | 222 | |
| Gary M. Olson | |||
| Getting Culturally Diverse Participants for User Interface Design Studies | | BIBA | 223 | |
| Jaclyn R. Schrier | |||
| While many HCI designers understand that users from other cultures may have different user interface requirements, few HCI designers have adequate travel funds for ensuring that a culturally diverse sample participates in user interface design activities. The INTERCHI community must find ways to involve participants representing the full cultural diversity of the prospective user population. The goal of this SIG is to start a dialogue where HCI designers can share their ideas and experiences about involving a culturally diverse sample in UI design studies. | |||
| Software User Interface Standards: Update for 1993 | | BIBA | 223 | |
| Patricia A. Billingsley | |||
| In this SIG, we will discuss the current state of UI standards development and examine the potential impact of this work on the CHI community. Representatives of several standards committees, including CEN TC122/WG5, ISO-IEC JTC1/SC18/WG9, ISO TC159/SC4/WG5, ANSI X3V1.9, HFES-HCI, and IEEE P1201.2, will present summaries of their work-in-progress. All INTERCHI attendees with an interest in standards are invited to participate in the discussion following the presentations. | |||
| The Garnet User Interface Development Environment | | BIBA | 223 | |
| Brad A. Myers | |||
| Garnet helps to implement highly-interactive, graphical, direct manipulation applications for X Windows in CommonLisp. The system is in the public domain, and there are over 40 projects involving over 100 people actively using Garnet today, including many in Europe. An Usenet newsgroup, comp.windows.garnet, allows discussion of Garnet issues. This meeting will allow developers, users and people interested in the Garnet technology to meet, exchange information, and discuss future directions. | |||
| Human Aspects of Software Quality Control | | BIBA | 223 | |
| P. Molzberger | |||
| Programmers program the way they think, feel and live. The degree of cooperation of team members is mirrored in the cooperation of their software components. Organisations in which people fight each other by holding back information will tend to design information systems that preserve the existing power structures. Classical methods of quality control -- by rules and tools -- merely shift the symptoms. Given that people always try to re-create their own structures in their software products, what can we do to provide better software quality? | |||
| Art Criticism: Picture Analysis of Screen Images | | BIBA | 223 | |
| Frederik Dehlholm | |||
| The formal method of picture analysis has proven useful in understanding what pictures communicate. Developed as a tool for art criticism, the method has recently been extended to deal with screen images. The method consists of three stages with a checklist of questions at each stage. A short presentation of the method and its application will be followed by a discussion on the method and its applicability, on how art criticism, CHI and graphic design work together in the making of screen images, and on how the formal analysis method might be incorporated in UIMS tools. | |||
| East-West Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | 223 | |
| Keith Instone; Blaine Price | |||
| This SIG will provide information about the EWHCI'93: The Third East-West International Conference on Human Computer Interaction, to be held in Moscow from 3-6 August 1993. Many aspects of research in the "East," particularly the influence of Russian Psychology on HCI research, are not well known in the "West." Last year's conference, for example, featured a special session on Activity Theory. The logistics team and attendees of the previous conferences will be on hand to answer questions for those interested in attending. | |||
| An Agenda for Ethnography | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Dianne Murray; Stella Harding | |||
| Ethnography is an approach and set of techniques for the descriptive study of socio-cultural interactions and relations in work contexts. Recently published research and a movement toward including sociologists in design teams has clarified the field's growing importance for the disciplines of HCI and CSCW. This SIG will allow experienced researchers in ethnography, interaction analysis and participant observation to meet for focused discussion. We hope to involve participants from the panel and workshop on ethnographic approaches and to incorporate experiences drawn from both events. | |||
| Human Factors Society, Computer Systems Technical Group (CSTG) Meeting | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Martha Crosby | |||
| The Human Factors Society, Computer Systems Technical Group (CSTG) is concerned with human aspects of (1) interactive computer systems, especially user interface design issues, (2) the data-processing environment, including personnel selection, training, and procedures, and (3) software development. Membership in the CSTG is open to all, regardless of affiliation with the Human Factors Society. | |||
| Cost Effective Usability Engineering | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Nigel Bevan; Anne Schur | |||
| This SIG will present to a wider audience of practitioners the issues raised and the conclusions reached at the earlier workshop on this subject. The SIG will provide an overview of the results of the workshop, followed by short talks on experience with specific tools. Substantial time will be allocated to discussion. The SIG will be attended by representatives from the workshop, and others interested in the development and use of tools for cost effective usability engineering. The SIG will be of particular interest to members of the Usability Professionals Association. | |||
| Paradigm for Programming Computers | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Mario Schnaffner | |||
| A paradigm for programming computers is described. This paradigm derives from conceptual structures, from formulations in the form of automata, and from the abstract functioning of the computer. The approach to be described constitutes a general paradigm for modeling activities that facilitates the automatic production of computer programs. A derived dialect for programming will be indicated and the results of its application reported. | |||
| Current Issues in Assessing and Improving Documentation Usability | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Stephanie Rosenbaum; Judith Ramey | |||
| This SIG provides a forum for discussing recent developments in the human factors of computer documentation. Topics will include addressing documentation usability early in the product design process; achieving consistent usability in multilingual versions; qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting usability data; roles and relationships among documentation specialists, user-interface designers, and software developers; and schedule and budget issues relating to documentation usability. | |||
| Technology Transfer Between Eastern and Western Countries | | BIBA | 224 | |
| Gunnar Johannsen | |||
| With the recent dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, new possibilities for technology transfer are arising worldwide. The problem, however, is hardly limited to Europe. The difficult challenge of technology transfer will be experienced worldwide, particularly between Eastern and Western countries, and the field of HCI will not be an exception. This SIG will focus on the technical, economic, social, and cultural issues of HCI technologies for different application fields as viewed from the diverse HCI cultures of Eastern and Western Europe, North and Latin America, and Asia. | |||
| Come, Human, Spin In My Web | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Beverly Reiser; Hans Reiser | |||
| Come, Human, Spin In My Web is an interactive installation using sound, video, and computer graphics. It is a metaphorical reality exploring choice-making based on slices of information. We explore how a new human interface can create a wholly new art form. No longer are you a passive receptacle. New technology makes it possible for art to be more like a dialog than an object to be viewed. This is not mere art that you have never before experienced; this is art that has never experienced you. | |||
| Ask How It Works | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Smadar Kedar; Lawrence Birnbaum; Catherine Baudin; Richard Osgood; Ray Bariess | |||
| Ask How It Works is an interactive manual for devices based on the idea that one of the most effective ways to learn how a device works is through a dialog with an expert. Ask How It Works is based on the Ask system methodology that organises video clips, text, graphics and other media in a hypermedia system, and provides expert answers to questions as well as a set of the most likely follow-up questions. As a result, the user experiences a coherent dialog with an expert, with a group of experts, or even with a group of experts that appear to disagree. | |||
| Brand X -- 3D Interaction | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Dan Venolia; Kirk Gould; Mike Kelley | |||
| Brand X is an interactive application where users can interact with 3D objects by simple, direct manipulation. The interface does not use explicit modes or commands. A 3D cursor, controlled by an augmented mouse allows direct manipulation of 3D objects. A paper describing this system will also be presented at the conference. | |||
| Half-QWERTY | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Edgar Matias; I. Scott MacKenzie; William Buxton | |||
| Half-QWERTY is a one-handed typing technique, designed to facilitate the transfer of two-handed typing skill to the one-handed condition. It uses a standard keyboard, or a special half-keyboard with full-size keys. A paper describing this system will also be presented at the conference. | |||
| The WALL | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Heather Greer; Zane Vella | |||
| The WALL will help build communication links between participants in an evolving interactive environment. As a 'Bridge Between Worlds' the WALL attempts to stimulate commentary and response from participants, and to create a digital forum for participants to interact with each other across boundaries of space and time. The WALL was made possible by the Four Oaks Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to advance international, cultural, and educational exchange. | |||
| SimCityNet | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Don Hopkins | |||
| SimCityNet is an animated interactive system simulation game, providing a set of rules and tools for planning and building a complex, dynamic simulated city. Several people on different workstations can participate in the same game, cooperating and coordinating their actions over the network. | |||
| Vinculum | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Tracy Miller | |||
| Vinculum is an interactive Macintosh-based installation in which the participant wanders through a series of rooms and decaying outdoor spaces until they wind up in the presence of three mysterious women. The women eventually lead the participant to a story gathering box where they can deposit a story or become a voyeur, peering into the dreams and memories of others. | |||
| Software Ergonomics Creeps Up to the Public | | BIBA | 225 | |
| Walter Stulzer; Helmut Kruegar; Robert Kruegel-Durband; Lukas Huggenberg | |||
| Software Ergonomics Creeps up to the Public is an information and vending system for casual use. To produce a usable and appealing system, basic HCI principles have to be implemented in an imaginative way. Graphic designers make a vital contribution to the project. | |||
| Designing Graphical Interfaces: What Every Software Developer Should Know | | BIBA | 226 | |
| Annette Wagner; Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will help the participant learn to build an
effective design team and develop successful direct manipulation graphical
interfaces in the real world. Along the way we will explode some common myths.
Participants will gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of graphical
interface design and how to apply those fundamentals.
Content: This tutorial will begin with a discussion of the principles of graphical interfaces and the underlying assumptions about human nature on which they depend. We'll then look at how to relate this higher-level thinking about principles and assumptions back to the real world. In the afternoon, we'll introduce techniques for building an effective design team. We'll then work through the design of one aspect of a software application to demonstrate how to make the best decision possible given the constraints of a commercial product. This tutorial will consist of interactive presentations interspersed with participative case studies and class exercises. | |||
| Interactive Multimedia Authoring Platforms | | BIBA | 226 | |
| A. Henry Grebe; Michael J. Burns; Scott D. Weiss | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will introduce practical techniques for integrating
multiple digital media elements in a single multimedia presentation.
Participants will learn about the fundamentals, tools, and methods of
multimedia content authoring on a variety of hardware and software platforms.
Content: This tutorial will provide an overview of multimedia authoring issues and describe common problems and useful techniques. Multimedia content development and software analysis techniques will be demonstrated on the Macintosh with the MacroMind Director authoring environment. Multimedia development issues for PCUs will be introduced using the Authorware Professional authoring tool. Finally, multimedia capabilities for the UNIX workstation environment will be addressed by an introduction to GainMomentum. GainMomentum is an object-based multimedia development and deployment system on Sun workstations, useful for building information systems of varying size and complexity across OSF/Motif, OPEN LOOK, and Microsoft Windows environments. | |||
| Enabling Technology for Users with Special Needs | | BIBA | 227 | |
| Alan Edwards; Alistair Edwards; Elizabeth Mynatt | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide an overview of current practice and
research in the field of human-computer interfaces for enabling technology.
Content: This tutorial will propose that the fields of human-computer interaction and assistive technology can learn from each other and work together to enable all users. We will review recent legislation in the United States requiring equal access to electronic equipment for all people. We will then examine six major forms of disability (mobility impairments, vision impairments, speech impairments, language impairments, hearing impairments, and learning impairments) and survey current technology and research data that can enable people with these disabilities. Finally, we will propose a set of design guidelines for building enabling technology and work together on a group design problem. | |||
| Computer Supported Meeting Environments | | BIBA | 227 | |
| Marilyn Mantei; Lisa Neal | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will help participants develop a general
understanding of existing research and development in computer supported
meeting environments (CSME). Participants will gain an understanding of the
differences between the various CSME's and be introduced to the software
technologies and physical architectures that support each environment.
Content: This tutorial will survey existing computer supported meeting environments, with an emphasis on the types of meetings each supports and their underlying communication and distributed systems architecture solutions. User interface design problems will be covered in-depth along with the psychological issues associated with building software for groups. The tutorial will present what is known about how groups interact, make decisions, brainstorm, perform work, cooperate, and negotiate while using a CSME. It will conclude with a discussion of the major hurdles in understanding how to design for groups and in building robust software systems. This tutorial will make extensive use of live and videotaped demonstrations of existing CSME software. | |||
| The GOMS Model Methodology for User Interface Design and Analysis | | BIBA | 228 | |
| David Kieras | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide a practical introduction to the GOMS
approach to user task modelling and user interface analysis.
Content: This tutorial will present the basic theoretical concepts behind the GOMS model and the NGOMSL notation. Participants will learn how estimates of task execution time, relative learning time, and transfer can be obtained from a GOMS model. The tutorial will present procedures and heuristics for performing the GOMS-based task analysis and constructing and using a GOMS model to make design decisions about user interface designs. Examples drawn from experience in applying GOMS analysis to actual systems will be provided. The tutorial will include a small analysis project conducted by the participants working in groups with the instructor. Participants will construct a GOMS model for a representative problem, work through the necessary design decisions, and discuss the results. | |||
| Contextual Design: Integrating Customer Data into the Design Process | | BIBA | 228 | |
| Karen Holtzblatt; Hugh Beyer | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will outline the use of Contextual Design within a
concurrent engineering process. Participants will learn the techniques of work
modelling and User Environment design, along with their derivation from
customer data and their use in driving the implementation. They will also
learn to record the design process so as to maintain a complete trace from
final design back to customer data.
Content: This tutorial will use both lecture and "hands-on" exercise components to present a practical introduction to the steps of the Contextual Design process. It will introduce work models, which represent key aspects of work across multiple customers; User Environment design, in which a user-interface-independent graphical language is used to represent the structure of the product as it supports the customer work; and the subsequent derivation of the user interface and internal implementation. | |||
| Introduction and Overview of Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBA | 229 | |
| Keith Butler; Robert J. K. Jacob; Bonnie E. John | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide a high-level introduction and overview
of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for newcomers to the field. In addition to
introducing basic concepts, the course will provide enough structure to help
the participant understand how advanced material in the INTERCHI '93 technical
programme fits into the overall field.
Content: This tutorial will include a brief history of the field of HCI, followed by a discussion of the matrix of sub-disciplines and their interrelationships and dependencies. Major topics will include interaction styles and techniques, the psychology of human-computer interaction, an introduction to human interface architecture, and development processes for human-computer interaction. Each topic will be presented from several perspectives, with examples drawn from advanced research, technology under development, and actual applications. Sources for additional information will be provided, along with excerpts from the INTERCHI '93 programme. Each section of the tutorial will be covered by a senior researcher or engineer whose accomplishments are widely recognised in their respective areas. | |||
| Managing the Design of the User Interface | | BIBA | 229 | |
| Deborah J. Mayhew | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will introduce a practical methodology for
achieving high-quality user interfaces in product development organisations.
Participants will learn to create organisational structures and processes that
foster effective interface design and to plan for and manage the application of
human factors techniques. They will learn to focus design efforts and
strengthen design decisions by gathering appropriate information prior to
design, defining and prioritising objective design goals and criteria, and
applying inexpensive evaluation techniques.
Content: This course is organised around the traditional product lifecycle. It presents an overview of human factors methods that can be applied at different points in the development process. Major topics include organisational and managerial strategies that support high quality user interface design, information gathering methods for preliminary design and specification, and methods and practical techniques for user interface design and evaluation. | |||
| Applying Visual Design: Trade Secrets for Elegant Interfaces | | BIBA | 230 | |
| Kevin Mullet; Darrell Sano | |||
| Objective: This tutorial is designed to increase the participant's awareness
of visual and aesthetic issues and provide practical techniques (not
guidelines) for achieving elegant user interfaces, information displays, and
data visualisations. The emphasis is on avoiding a number of mistakes seen
repeatedly in commercial products.
Content: This tutorial will focus on the core competencies or "tricks of the trade" that all visual designers internalise as part of their basic training. The tutorial is organised not along the traditional graphic design specialisations, such as typography or colour, but according to the design goals and familiar problems of real-world product development. Specific content areas will include elegance and simplicity; scale, contrast and proportion; organisation and visual structure; module and programme; image and representation; and style. The communication-oriented design aesthetic seen in graphic design, industrial design, and architecture can be applied very successfully to graphical user interfaces, data displays, and multimedia. Design rules provided will be illustrated with extensive visual examples drawn from the international design communities as well as from the HCI domain. | |||
| Using Metaphor Effectively in User Interface Design | | BIBA | 230 | |
| Adam Marx | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide participants with a clearer
understanding of the role of metaphor in user interface design and will
introduce techniques for creating and applying user interface metaphors with
maximum effectiveness. What exactly is metaphor, and why is it considered so
important in the design of effective user interfaces? This tutorial will
address these questions.
Content: This tutorial will begin with an overview of the nature of metaphor, from its humble beginnings as a literary device to its current status as a fundamental aspect of human intelligence. Next, we will look at how metaphor assists users in learning and operating a computer system and why it is such an important facet of user interface design. Finally, we will demonstrate techniques for selecting an appropriate metaphor within a given task domain, ensuring that the chosen metaphor is used as effectively as possible in the human-computer interface, and for determining when it is advantageous to violate our own interface metaphor. | |||
| User Interface Prototyping Paradigms in the 90's | | BIBA | 231 | |
| Daniel Rosenberg | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide an overview of rapid prototyping
techniques and their application to the design of GUI applications and
environments. Participants will learn to expand their role in the software
development process by using code generation and advanced development tools
that do not require traditional programming skills. Mastering this new class
of tools can free the HCI professional from relying on the goodwill of software
developers to faithfully implement their suggestions and recommendations on UI
design.
Content: This tutorial will include both lecture material and "live" demonstrations featuring the construction of fully executable interface prototypes. The focus will be on new, object-oriented technologies that can be used by non-programmers to generate finished user interface code. The tutorial will include a historical overview of user interface development tools and their relationship to various software development methodologies and usability testing paradigms, a summary of the advantages and disadvantage of various kinds of tools, and a discussion on managing the socio-political aspects of user interface design when showing prototypes to management and customers. | |||
| Information Visualisation with Interactive 3D Representations | | BIBA | 231 | |
| Irwin M. Jarrett; Steven Feiner; George Robertson | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide an overview of the current and future
capabilities and limitations of advanced multimedia interfaces for business
applications. Participants will learn to appreciate the emerging role of
advanced visualisation-based interfaces in the presentation of business
information, and will form a preliminary view of how this technology can be
applied in their current and future business environments.
Content: This tutorial will help participants understand the ways in which advanced visualisation techniques can be used to solve complex business data presentation problems. Interface techniques to be discussed include virtual worlds, parallel coordinate representations, interactive 3D graphics, interactive animation, multimedia presentations, and the financial graphic alphabet. | |||
| Icon Design | | BIBA | 232 | |
| Paulien Strijland | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will outline the motivation, development, and use
of icons in user interfaces. Participants will learn when icons can be used to
improve interaction with computer applications. They will explore methods for
developing icon concepts, learn to distinguish good icons from bad, and gain an
understanding of the trade-offs inherent in the development of an effective
design.
Content: This tutorial will address the full process of icon development, from concept generation to graphic design, standards, and usability testing. A series of exercises will allow participants to practice concept generation and receive feedback on their design efforts. The tutorial will begin with a general discussion of the principles of pictorial and verbal information, with an emphasis on their application to the human-computer interface. Case studies from the icon development for the Apple Macintosh System 7 will illustrate problems that typically arise during the interaction between graphic designers and developers. A brief update on the current status of an ISO standard for icons (currently under development) will also be presented, along with an overview of its implications for icon designers. Finally, the tutorial will present several methods for testing icons, and provide an overview of the icon solutions seen in different systems. | |||
| A Practical Approach to On-Line Help Systems | | BIBA | 232 | |
| Hans Botman; Michiel Ruzius | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will outline an approach for developing effective
on-line help facilities. Participants will learn to identify the options
required in the help system, to obtain the help information from relevant
sources, to determine the accessibility of the help system, and to refine the
language used so as to present the information in an unambiguous way.
Content: This tutorial will focus on the practical problems faced by development teams when designing and implementing on-line help systems. Rather than focusing on what the help system should not do, this tutorial will address what the help system should do, and on how to ensure that the user's needs are satisfied. The tutorial will be centred around content (What information should the help system contain?), procedure (How do users obtain this information?), interaction (How should the information be structured?), and presentation (How should the information be written and displayed?). An overview of widely held views on on-line help systems will be presented, along with background on existing systems (e.g., OS2, Macintosh), and a series of "hands-on" exercises allowing participants to explore the techniques described. | |||
| Product Usability Survival Techniques | | BIBA | 233 | |
| Jared M. Spool | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will describe practical techniques for delivering
more usable products. These techniques will be especially useful to developers
faced with small budgets (no money), tight schedules (no time) and
over-committed resources (no help).
Content: This tutorial will focus on several techniques for designing and developing usable products. Usability testing is one of the most important tools available to product developers. We will provide a "live" demonstration of this technique. Participants will learn to design and administer usability tests as we run usability tests with real subjects on a commercially available product. Participants will also learn how to involve users at all stages of product development, how to use low-fidelity prototyping to get quick results, and how to avoid opinion wars and other "project killers." The tutorial will also address the design of measurable usability requirements and the management of usability engineering throughout the development process. | |||
| User-Focused Engineering for Product Development | | BIBA | 233 | |
| Gene Lynch; Mark Stempski | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will review a user-focused engineering methodology
for product development. The key techniques of process mapping and directed
dialogue will be presented with examples, demonstrations, and "hands-on"
practice. These techniques are presented within a design methodology that will
allow participants to effectively select and apply appropriate techniques.
Content: This tutorial will present the phases, methods, and results of a user-focused engineering methodology for product development. Examples, role playing, and discussion will be used to supplement the lecture. The critical initial phase of gathering customer data will be illustrated, along with methods of competitive assessment, trade-off analysis, task analysis, alpha and beta testing, and product follow-up. The full spectrum of simulation levels will be discussed. The method of directed dialogue will be presented using step-by-step instructions and examples. Finally, all the methods will be placed in the framework of a comprehensive design methodology. | |||
| Film Craft in User Interface Design | | BIBA | 234 | |
| Emilie Young; Chuck Clanton | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will help participants apply knowledge from the
communication crafts of film and animation to user interface design. The
tutorial covers general principles but concentrates on the practical details of
the craft. Participants will learn to critically evaluate films and use that
skill to see user interfaces in a new light.
Content: This tutorial will introduce classic cinematic techniques that can be exploited in user interface design. With mere shadows seen through a narrow window, filmmakers engage us in a world of their own making without disturbing our awareness by its technical apparatus. They are masters at using pictures and sounds to communicate, entertain, evoke feelings, and manipulate our sense of space and time. Ninety years of filmmaking and animation have created a rich store of knowledge barely tapped by current human-computer interfaces. Multimedia on graphical workstations only whets our appetite for knowledge of a craft that has much to offer even character-based user interfaces. Specific techniques developed over the years will be illustrated by juxtaposing video clips from classic and contemporary films with clips from user interfaces. | |||
| Observation and Invention: The Use of Scenarios in Interaction Design | | BIBA | 234 | |
| Bill Verplank; Jane Fulton; Alison Black; Bill Moggridge | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will demonstrate the value of scenarios as a
creative tool that facilitates the leap from observation to invention.
Participants will gain experience in interpreting videos, writing scenarios,
and sketching users conceptual models and story-boards.
Content: This tutorial will include examples from the instructors' work, individual- and group-exercises, and discussions of theoretical and practical issues. Topics to be addressed include design-oriented observations and interviews focusing on expected patterns of use in real settings; recording observations with snapshots, video, and sketches; extracting key design ideas and metaphors; brainstorming to organise ideas; organising scenarios with composite characters which span the range of situations and design approaches; sketching scenario story-boards; and constructing a unified user's conceptual model and corresponding representations for manipulation of the user interface. | |||
| Participatory Design Through Games and Other Techniques | | BIBA | 235 | |
| Daniel M. Wildman; Ellen A. White; Michael J. Muller | |||
| Objective: This tutorial introduces several innovative participatory design
techniques for eliciting creative design solutions through group interaction.
These techniques draw upon attributes of games and theatrics to encourage and
focus group creativity, and are particularly applicable for design teams
composed of diverse product stakeholders, including users.
Content: This tutorial will provide a guided tour through current participatory design practice as a backdrop to the "games" approach. For each of the games and activities, we present a rationale and procedure, conduct a practice exercise, and discuss uses and variations. The techniques include: the C.A.R.D. game for understanding and critiquing existing systems; BUCKETS for data modelling; METAPHOR, a board game for task analysis and exploration of user interface metaphors; the ICON DESIGN game; PICTIVE, an "equal opportunity" design environment; and INTERFACE THEATRE to facilitate active stakeholder involvement in the review of designs. The exercises are tied together by a common design problem. | |||
| Interactive Learning Environments | | BIBA | 235 | |
| Elliot Soloway | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will help participants understand the alternative
computing technologies available for learning, teaching, and training. The
strengths and weaknesses, domain/task applicability, and classroom requirements
of each technology will be addressed.
Content: This tutorial will begin with an historical survey of the various teaching and training technologies. The architectures of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) systems, simulations, intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), microworlds, and interactive learning environments (ILE) will also be described. In addition, the types of learning outcomes that can be expected from the various technologies will be summarised. Particular emphasis will be placed on the impact on teaching and training of emerging computing infrastructures such as high-MIP/GIP computation and high-bandwidth networks. Case studies from real instructional systems will be used to illustrate the main points in the tutorial. | |||
| Design and Evaluation of Virtual Realities | | BIBA | 236 | |
| Edith Ackermann; Marc Davis; Kevin McGee | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide participants with an opportunity to
explore some of the qualities of virtual technologies and the kinds of
experiences they afford. The concept of virtual reality has been with us for a
long time. New technologies, however, are constantly opening up new modalities
of interaction. Through participatory exercises, participants will acquire a
set of leverage points for evaluating and designing with virtual technologies.
Content: This tutorial will review existing (and potential) virtual technologies. The tutorial will include a design session in which the potential uses of these technologies will be explored and elaborated. They will also participate in a design session featuring a set of collaborative exercises focusing on the construction of scenarios for extending and revising existing virtual technologies. The encounter with these technologies will build on the participant's own experiences of virtuality in everyday life. Participants will participate in evocative case examples, group design exercises, and lecture/discussions on virtual technologies. | |||
| Usability Evaluation and Inspection Methods | | BIBA | 236 | |
| Jakob Nielsen | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will outline the characteristics and cost-benefit
trade-offs of a wide range of usability evaluation and inspection methods to
help participants select appropriate methods for various stages of the
usability engineering lifecycle. Participants will be able to immediately
apply the heuristic evaluation method to find usability problems in their
current project.
Content: This tutorial will review a set of highly cost-effective methods for finding usability problems and improving usability that are collectively described as usability inspection. Methods to be covered in this tutorial include heuristic evaluation, feature inspection, consistency inspection, and pluralistic walkthroughs. Other topics include the relation to other inspection methods such as cognitive walkthroughs, the relation of inspection methods to usability testing, and the severity of usability problems. Cost-benefit characteristics of usability inspection methods will be addressed, along with the problem of positioning usability inspection and evaluation methods within the usability engineering lifecycle. | |||
| Cost-Benefit and Business Case Analysis of Usability Engineering | | BIBA | 237 | |
| Clare-Marie Karat | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will provide participants with an understanding of
usability engineering cost-benefit analysis and business case methodologies,
experience in computing these results and statistics, and an understanding of
how this data can be utilised.
Content: This tutorial will review the use of cost-benefit analysis to objectively quantify the financial costs involved in human factors work, as well as the tangible benefits derived from the usability activities. The tutorial will provide an overview of cost/benefit and business case methodologies, present case study data on different types of usability engineering projects and techniques, and provide experience in computing the costs and benefits of usability engineering through "hands-on" exercises. The case studies and examples will illustrate how this data can support project development business cases, contribute to decisions by human factors professionals regarding the selection and use of usability engineering technologies, facilitate human factors management decisions, and support business planning and marketing areas. | |||
| The Psychology of Software Development | | BIBA | 237 | |
| Bill Curtis | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will help participants develop a deeper
understanding of the psychological and organisational issues affecting software
development. Participants will learn why impressive claims for increased
developer productivity are seldom met and will as a result be better able to
analyse the potential impacts of new technology on the performance of software
engineers. They will develop new insights into the factors that drive the
software design process.
Content: This tutorial will describe the enormous individual differences in productivity among software engineers and their impact on real projects. The cognitive aspects of software design behaviour will be discussed, with an emphasis on the organisation of programming knowledge, the effects of different representational media, and the problem of measuring intellectual artifacts such as software. Management issues to be addressed include the motivational structure of software engineers and the optimum design of teams and organisations for software development. | |||
| Using Computers to Support Collaborative Learning | | BIBA | 238 | |
| Claire O'Malley; Timothy Koschmann | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will familiarise the broader HCI community with the
range and nature of applications of Computer Support for Collaborative Learning
(CSCL). Participants will gain an understanding of CSCL: the study of the use
of technology in supporting collaborative instruction and the design of
collaborative learning environments.
Content: This tutorial will provide an overview of CSCL. The tutorial will begin with a survey of the leading theories of collaboration in learning. We will then describe a set of CSCL projects that will serve as case-studies for discussion. These projects will be categorised according to the ways in which technology is applied. Four categories of use that will be considered are the distributed classroom, networking within and among classrooms, collaborative learning environments, and computer-augmented communication. Finally, we will summarise the results of past research in CSCL and look at some of the current research issues. | |||
| Integrative Multimedia Design | | BIBA | 238 | |
| Ben Davis; Linn Marks | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will introduce integrative multimedia design and
highlight its contrasts with approaches such as iterative design and concurrent
design. The tutorial will present a framework for facilitating integrative
design that focuses on the visual and structural aspects of media as they will
be seen, heard, or read by users in the context of the interface. Participants
will learn to use the framework to facilitate the practice of integrative
design in designing, prototyping, and developing end-user multimedia
applications.
Content: This tutorial will describe integrative multimedia design and its focus on designing the media and the interface to complement and enhance one another. Integrative Multimedia Design provides an alternative to current conceptions of design that are, in large part, artifacts of software design and development practice in non-multimedia contexts. | |||
| User Interface Tools | | BIBA | 239 | |
| Brad A. Myers; Dan R., Jr. Olsen; Jeffrey G. Bonar | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will introduce the basic concepts, principles, and
techniques of user interface tools. Participants will learn the strengths and
weaknesses of various approaches and be able to evaluate commercial and
research tools for appropriateness to their tasks.
Content: This tutorial will focus on tools. A user interface tool is any software that helps user interface designers or software developers design, implement, and test user interfaces and user interface software. The full spectrum of window managers, toolkits, interface builders, rapid prototyping tools, user interface management systems, and user interface development environments will be described. | |||
| Consequences of the European Health and Safety Directive | | BIBA | 239 | |
| Wolfgang Dzida; Marion Wiethoff; Albert G. Arnold | |||
| Objective: This tutorial has been prepared in response to a Council
Directive of the European Commission (90/270/EEC, 29 May 1990) requiring the
principles of software ergonomics to be applied in commercial product
development from 1993 onward. The tutorial will provide a strategic and
methodological overview of ergonomic quality assurance and conformance testing
for international standards.
Content: This tutorial will offer an interpretation of the strategic and methodological consequences of the Health and Safety Directive. Examples will be used to demonstrate how to elicit essential requirements, to determine verifiable criteria of usability, and to test products (prototypes) for compliance with standards. The specifics of software-ergonomic quality assurance and management will be interpreted with reference to well-known requirements for in-house software quality systems. Since the Directive also requires designers to evaluate attributes of the product (or the context of use) which may induce "mental stress," a strategy will be outlined on how to identify critical stress situations by means of objective and subjective measures. Participants will receive a booklet providing guidelines for compliance in software development organisations. | |||
| Designing with Graphical User Interface Standards | | BIBA | 240 | |
| Deborah J. Mayhew | |||
| Objective: This tutorial will address the design of high-quality user
interfaces based on currently available graphical user interface (GUI)
platforms, such as Microsoft Windows and IBM Common User Access (CUA).
Participants will learn to appreciate the role, scope, and value of GUI
standards, recognise the local design decisions that should be standardised
within the development organisation to ensure consistency and quality, and to
apply design principles drawn from human factors research to the design of
applications based on GUI standards.
Content: This tutorial will provide basic principles and guidelines for achieving consistency and quality in application user interfaces based on GUI standards. Major topics will include high level conceptual design and the use of metaphors, dialogue design, including direct manipulation, menus, and dialogue boxes, and organisation of functionality. Instruction on specific GUI standards themselves will not be provided and implementation issues will not be addressed. | |||
| CHI for Everyone | | BIBA | -- | |
| Alan F. Newell | |||
| CHI research and development often seems to be based on the assumption that the user is an intelligent, motivated, physically able twenty-five year old who is operating in an ideal environment. This lecture questions whether this is an accurate representation of the use of computers in real situations. It is suggested that we should extend our vision to include both extra-ordinary users, such as those with a physical, sensory, or mental disability (or even just natural aging) and extra-ordinary situations, such as excessive workload, high stress level, or environmental disturbance (e.g., smoke and noise). Parallels between ordinary and extraordinary situations will be drawn and the significant advantages of taking the broader view will be described. | |||
| The Multimedia Myth: Of Mice and Men | | BIBA | -- | |
| Michael M. Chanowski | |||
| In addition to being difficult to understand and use, many of today's dedicated applications neglect the capacity of the medium for artistry and inspiration. This talk will consider human-machine relations from a "lateral" perspective. Instead of teaching people to become more skilled computer users, with a deeper understanding of the architecture and idiosyncrasies of the machine, the lateral approach focuses on teaching computers to better address the characteristics of the user as a human being. A number of psychological factors affect the user's perception of the machine as friend or foe. This address will examine the consequences of human psychology for software and hardware design, along with the widely-acclaimed potential of multimedia for addressing the problems seen in current-generation systems. | |||
| The Evolving Consumer Market: We Have to Sell It! | | BIBA | -- | |
| Frank P. Carrubba | |||
| How are we to adapt the digital technologies available today to meet the evolving wants and needs of consumers in a rapidly changing world, in the emerging European market, and in the global village? What technologies are on the horizon that might interest tomorrow's consumers? These are major challenges confronting all consumer electronics manufacturers. This presentation will offer a personal perspective on these issues and the role of HCI research and development in answering these challenges. | |||
| Human-Computer Interaction and Music: Squaring the Circle? | | BIBA | -- | |
| James Alty | |||
| Better interface techniques have contributed significantly to the music creation process. No self-respecting composer can now function effectively without their favourite computer-based music editor, sequencer, and synthesiser. Graphical interfaces add a spatial dimension to the compositional process. The aural dimension offered by music has, however, been largely ignored in interface design. The human ear is capable of receiving and interpreting exceedingly complex musical sounds, but this capability has never really been exploited. Why is this, and how might we take advantage of this rich channel of communication? | |||
| From Manual Control to Information Management: HCI in the Cockpit | | BIBA | -- | |
| Jean-Claude Wanner | |||
| The new generation of "glass cockpit" aircraft cannot be practically flown when all computers fail; some are essential for safety. What, then, is the role of the crew? Who is the boss: the pilot or the computer? How should the interfaces between people and machines be designed to help the crew manage the flight safely? The study of recent incidents and accidents gives the aviation community both some answers to these two fundamental questions and rules to guide design. | |||