| Turning Away from Talking Heads: The Use of Video-as-Data in Neurosurgery | | BIBAK | PDF | 327-334 | |
| Bonnie A. Nardi; Heinrich Schwarz; Allan Kuchinsky; Robert Leichner; Steve Whittaker; Robert Sclabassi | |||
| Studies of video as a support for collaborative work have provided little
hard evidence of its utility for either task performance or fostering
telepresence, i.e. the conveyance of a face-to-face like social presence for
remotely located participants. To date, most research on the value of video
has concentrated on "talking heads" video in which the video images are of
remote participants conferring or performing some task together. In contrast
to talking heads video, we studied video-as-data in which video images of the
workspace and work objects are the focus of interest, and convey critical
information about the work. The use of video-as-data is intended to enhance
task performance, rather than to provide telepresence. We studied the use of
video during neurosurgery within the operating room and at remote locations
away from the operating room. The workspace shown in the video is the surgical
field (brain or spine) that the surgeon is operating on. We discuss our
findings on the use of live and recorded video, and suggest extensions to
video-as-data including its integration with computerized time-based
information sources to educate and co-ordinate complex actions among
distributed workgroups. Keywords: Multimedia, Video, Collaborative work, Task coordination, Computers and
medicine | |||
| One is Not Enough: Multiple Views in a Media Space | | BIBAK | PDF | 335-341 | |
| William Gaver; Abigail Sellen; Christian Heath; Paul Luff | |||
| Media spaces support collaboration, but the limited access they provide to
remote colleagues' activities can undermine their utility. To address this
limitation, we built an experimental system in which four switchable cameras
were deployed in each of two remote offices, and observed participants using
the system to collaborate on two tasks. The new views allowed increased access
to task-related artifacts; indeed, users preferred these views to more typical
"face-to-face" ones. However, problems of establishing a joint frame of
reference were exacerbated by the additional complexity, leading us to
speculate about more effective ways to expand access to remote sites. Keywords: CSCW, Social interaction, Media spaces, Video | |||
| How Fluent is Your Interface? Designing for International Users | | BIBAK | PDF | 342-347 | |
| Patricia Russo; Stephen Boor | |||
| To successfully build bridges between worlds, user interface designers must
increase their awareness of cross cultural differences, and make changes to the
traditional software development process. Creating fluent interfaces for
international markets goes beyond translating text and date, time, and number
formats. This paper presents and explains a cross-cultural checklist of issues
including text, local formats, images, symbols, colors, flow, and product
functionality. Suggestions for an effective international product development
cycle are provided. The suggested development cycle incorporates international
design feedback and usability testing before the initial product is released. Keywords: User interface design, Internationalization, Localization, Cross-cultural
differences | |||
| Representation in Virtual Space: Visual Convention in the Graphical User Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 348-354 | |
| Loretta Staples | |||
| The graphical user interface (GUI) typically provides a multi-windowed
environment within a flat workspace or "desktop." Simultaneously, however,
controls for executing commands within this interface are increasingly being
rendered three-dimensionally. This paper explores ways in which the space of
the GUI desktop might be literally and figuratively deepened through the
incorporation of visual devices that have emerged during the history of art --
specifically, perspective and light effects. By enriching the visual
vocabulary of the GUI, greater semantic complexity becomes sustainable. Keywords: User interfaces, Representation, Design, Three-dimensional graphics,
Methodology, Art, Art history | |||
| Principles, Techniques, and Ethics of Stage Magic and Their Potential Application to Human Interface Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 355-362 | |
| Bruce Tognazzini | |||
| Magicians have been designing and presenting illusions for 5000 years. They
have developed principles, techniques and ethical positions for their craft
that this paper argues are applicable to the design of human/computer
interfaces. The author presents a number of specific examples from magic and
discusses their counterparts in human interface design, in hopes that human
interface practitioners and researchers will, having recognized the
applicability of magic, go further on their own to explore its domain. Keywords: HCI design, Illusion, Design, Misdirection, Simulation, Dissimulation, Time,
Response time, Magic, Magician, Principle, Technique, Ethics, Anthropomorphism,
Characters, Theater | |||
| Perceptual vs. Hardware Performance in Advanced Acoustic Interface Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 363-366 | |
| Elizabeth M. Wenzel; William W. Gaver; Scott H. Foster; Haim Levkowitz; Roger Powell | |||
| This panel brings together experts in the field of non-speech auditory
displays with points of view ranging from long-term basic research in human
perception to the timely production of useable tools in commercial systems.
The panel will examine issues of perceptual validity and engineering
performance from several different perspectives representative of current work
in the field, and discuss how such issues can or should impact decisions made
during technology development. Panelists' perspectives include: levels of
analysis in designing and using auditory interfaces (Gaver), an example of what
can be learned about implementation requirements from low-level psychophysical
studies (Wenzel), designing integrated systems to encompass sonification in a
three-dimensional environment (Foster), issues in the study of information
transfer in representational acoustic signals (Levkowitz), and the design of a
generalized technology platform for acoustic signal presentation (Powell). Keywords: Acoustic displays, Multimedia, Auditory perception, User-interface design
issues, Human performance issues | |||
| Separations of Concerns in the Chiron-1 User Interface Development and Management System | | BIBAK | PDF | 367-374 | |
| Richard N. Taylor; Gregory F. Johnson | |||
| The development of user interfaces for large applications is subject to a
series of well-known problems including cost, maintainability, and sensitivity
to changes in the operating environment. The Chiron user interface development
system has been built to address these software engineering concerns. Chiron
introduces a series of layers that insulate components of an application from
other components that may experience change. To separate application code from
user interface code, user interface agents called artists are attached to
application abstract data types. Operations on abstract data types within the
application implicitly trigger user interface activities. Chiron also provides
insulation between the user interface layer and the underlying system, artist
code is written in terms of abstract depiction libraries that insulate the code
from the specifics of particular windowing systems and toolkits. Concurrency
is pervasive in the Chiron architecture. Inside an application there can be
multiple execution threads; there is no requirement for a user interface
listening/dispatching routine to have exclusive control. Multiple artists can
be attached to a single application abstract data type, providing alternative
forms of access by a single user or coordinated access and manipulation by
multiple users. Keywords: User interface management systems (UIMS), Modularization of UIMS,
Concurrency, Event-based integration, Artists, GUI construction, Design | |||
| A Second Generation User Interface Design Environment: The Model and the Runtime Architecture | | BIBAK | PDF | 375-382 | |
| Piyawadee "Noi" Sukaviriya; James D. Foley; Todd Griffith | |||
| Several obstacles exist in the user interface design process which distract
a developer from designing a good user interface. One of the problems is the
lack of an application model to keep the designer in perspective with the
application. The other problem is having to deal with massive user interface
programming to achieve a desired interface and to provide users with correct
help information on the interface. In this paper, we discuss an application
model which captures information about an application at a high level, and
maintains mappings from the application to specifications of a desired
interface. The application model is then used to control the dialogues at
runtime and can be used by a help component to automatically generate animated
and textual help. Specification changes in the application model will
automatically result in behavioral changes in the interface. Keywords: Application model, User interface model, User interface generation, User
interface design environment, Automatic help generation | |||
| Beyond Interface Builders: Model-Based Interface Tools | | BIBAK | PDF | 383-390 | |
| Pedro Szekely; Ping Luo; Robert Neches | |||
| Interface builders only support the construction of the menus and dialogue
boxes of an application. They do not support the construction of interfaces of
many application classes (visualization, simulation, command and control,
domain-specific editors) because of the dynamic and complex information that
these applications process. HUMANOID is a model-based interface design and
construction tool where interfaces are specified by building a declarative
description (model) of their presentation and behavior. HUMANOID's modeling
language provides simple abstraction, iteration and conditional constructs to
model the interface features of these application classes. HUMANOID provides
an easy-to-use designer's interface that lets designers build complex
interfaces without programming. Keywords: UIMS, Design process, Interface builders, Model-based interface tools | |||
| Tivoli: An Electronic Whiteboard for Informal Workgroup Meetings | | BIBA | PDF | 391-398 | |
| Elin Ronby Pedersen; Kim McCall; Thomas P. Moran; Frank G. Halasz | |||
| This paper describes Tivoli, an electronic whiteboard application designed to support informal workgroup meetings and targeted to run on the Xerox Liveboard, a large screen, pen-based interactive display. Tivoli strives to provide its users with the simplicity, facile use, and easily understood functionality of conventional whiteboards, while at the same time taking advantage of the computational power of the Liveboard to support and augment its users' informal meeting practices. The paper presents the motivations for the design of Tivoli and briefly describes the current version in operation. It then reflects on several issues encountered in designing Tivoli, including the need to reconsider the basic assumptions behind the standard desktop GUI, the use of strokes as the fundamental object in the system, the generalized wipe interface technique, and the use of meta-strokes as gestural commands. | |||
| The User-Centred Iterative Design of Collaborative Writing Software | | BIBAK | PDF | 399-405 | |
| Ronald M. Baecker; Dimitrios Nastos; Ilona R. Posner; Kelly L. Mawby | |||
| This paper presents the user-centred iterative design of software that
supports collaborative writing. The design grew out of a study of how people
write together that included a survey of writers and a laboratory study of
writing teams linked by a variety of communications media. The resulting
taxonomy of collaborative writing is summarized in the paper, followed by a
list of design requirements for collaborative writing software suggested by the
work. The paper describes two designs of the software. The first prototype
supports synchronous writing and editing from workstations linked over local
area and wide area networks. The second prototype also supports brainstorming,
outlining, and document review, as well as asynchronous work. Lessons learned
from the user testing and actual usage of the two systems are also presented. Keywords: Computer-supported cooperative work, Groupware, User-centred design,
Iterative design, Behavioural research, Collaborative writing, Writing
software, Synchronous and asynchronous writing | |||
| Take CoVer: Exploiting Version Support in Cooperative Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 406-413 | |
| Anja Haake; Jorg M. Haake | |||
| Current CSCW applications support one or more modes of cooperative work.
The selection of and transition between these modes is usually placed on the
users. At IPSI we built the SEPIA cooperative hypermedia authoring environment
supporting a whole range of situations arising during collaborative work and
the smooth transitions between them. While early use of the system shows the
benefits of supporting smooth transitions between different collaborative
modes, it also reveals some deficits regarding parallel work, management of
alternative documents, or reuse of document parts. We propose to integrate
version support to overcome these limitations. This leads to a versioned data
management and an extended user interface enabling concurrent users to select a
certain state of their work, to be aware of related changes, and to cooperate
with others either asynchronously or synchronously. Keywords: CSCW, Versioning, Cooperation modes, Alternative object states, Group
awareness, Hypertext | |||
| Comparative Design Review: An Exercise in Parallel Design | | BIBA | PDF | 414-417 | |
| Jakob Nielsen; Randy Kerr; Dan Rosenberg; Gitta Salomon; Heather Desurvire; Rolf Molich; Tom Stewart | |||
| Three user interface designers were asked to design interfaces for a given problem. These designs were made available to a group of usability specialists for heuristic evaluation. The reviewers will lead off the panel with specific questions to the designers regarding the usability aspects of their designs. The panel will feature a lively discussion of the designers' various approaches and solutions. | |||
| Generating User Interfaces from Data Models and Dialogue Net Specifications | | BIBAK | PDF | 418-423 | |
| Christian Janssen; Anette Weisbecker; Jurgen Ziegler | |||
| A method and a set of supporting tools have been developed for an improved
integration of user interface design with software engineering methods and
tools. Animated user interfaces for database-oriented applications are
generated from an extended data model and a new graphical technique for
specifying dialogues. Based on views defined for the data model, an expert
system uses explicit design rules derived from existing guidelines for
producing the static layout of the user interface. A petri net based technique
called dialogue nets is used for specifying the dynamic behaviour. Output is
generated for an existing user interface management system. The approach
supports rapid prototyping while using the advantages of standard software
engineering methods. Keywords: Automatic user interface design, Dialogue specification, Dialogue nets, User
interface management systems | |||
| Encapsulating Knowledge for Intelligent Automatic Interaction Objects Selection | | BIBAK | PDF | 424-429 | |
| Jean M. Vanderdonckt; Francois Bodart | |||
| TRIDENT is a set of interactive tools that automatically generates a user
interface for highly-interactive business-oriented applications. It includes
an intelligent interaction objects selection based on three differents
concepts. First, an object oriented typology classifies abstract interaction
objects to allow a presentation independent selection. Second, guidelines are
translated into automatic rules to select abstract interaction objects from
both an application data model and a dialog model. Third, these guidelines are
encapsulated in a decision tree technique to make the reasoning obvious to the
user. This approach guarantees a target environment independent user
interface. Once this specified, abstract interaction objects are mapped into
concrete interaction objects to produce the observable interface. Keywords: Automatic user interface generation, Decision tree, Intelligent user
interface, Interaction objects, Rule-based system | |||
| Providing High-Level Control and Expert Assistance in the User Interface Presentation Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 430-437 | |
| Won Chul Kim; James D. Foley | |||
| Current user interface builders provide only low-level assistance, because
they have knowledge of neither the application, nor the principles by which
interface elements are combined effectively. We have developed a framework
that unites the knowledge components essential for effective user interface
presentation design. The framework consists of an application model (both a
data model and a control model), a design process model that supports top-down
iterative development, and graphic design knowledge that is used both to place
dialog box elements such that their application dependent logical relationships
are visually reinforced and to control design symmetry and balance. To
demonstrate the framework's viability, we have constructed a tool based on
encapsulated design knowledge that establishes high-level style preferences and
provides expert assistance for the dialog box presentation design and menu
structuring. Keywords: Automatic layout, Knowledge-based tool, Ul design process | |||
| Orienteering in an Information Landscape: How Information Seekers Get from Here to There | | BIBAK | PDF | 438-445 | |
| Vicki L. O'Day; Robin Jeffries | |||
| We studied the uses of information search results by regular clients of
professional intermediaries. The clients in our study engaged in three
different types of searches: (1) monitoring a well-known topic or set of
variables over time, (2) following an information-gathering plan suggested by a
typical approach to the task at hand, and (3) exploring a topic in an
undirected fashion. In most cases, a single search evolved into a series of
interconnected searches, usually beginning with a high-level overview. We
identified a set of common triggers and stop conditions for further search
steps. We also observed a set of common operations that clients used to
analyze search results. In some settings, the number of search iterations was
reduced by restructuring the work done by intermediaries. We discuss the
implications of the interconnected search pattern, triggers and stop
conditions, common analysis techniques, and intermediary roles for the design
of information access systems. Keywords: Information search, Information use, Intermediaries, Collaborative work | |||
| Using Icons to Find Documents: Simplicity is Critical | | BIBAK | PDF | 446-453 | |
| Michael D. Byrne | |||
| A common task at almost any computer interface is that of searching for
documents, which GUIs typically represent with icons. Oddly, little research
has been done on the processes underlying icon search. This paper outlines the
factors involved in icon search and proposes a model of the process. An
experiment was conducted which suggests that the proposed model is sound, and
that the most important factor in searching for files is the type of icons
used. In general, simple icons (those discriminable based on a few features)
seem to help users, while complex icons are no better than simple rectangles. Keywords: Screen design, Icons, Empirical evaluation, Formal models of the user | |||
| Queries-R-Links: Graphical Markup for Text Navigation | | BIBAK | PDF | 454-460 | |
| Gene Golovchinsky; Mark Chignell | |||
| In this paper we introduce a style of interaction (interactive querying)
that combines features of hypertext with Boolean querying, using direct markup
of text to launch queries. We describe two experiments that compare the
relative ease of expressing Boolean queries as text versus a graphical
equivalent. The results of these experiments show that the expression of
queries in the graphical format is no more difficult than the textual
equivalent. We then describe the Queries-R-Links system that we have developed
at the University of Toronto. Queries-R-Links uses the graphical markup method
to launch Boolean queries interactively using direct markup of text. This work
represents significant progress towards information exploration systems that
combine the useful features of information retrieval querying and hypertext
browsing. Keywords: Querying, Text retrieval, Navigation, Hypertext, Pen-based interaction | |||
| The Applied Ergonomics Group at Philips | | BIBA | PDF | 461-462 | |
| Ian McClelland | |||
| The Applied Ergonomics (AE) group functions as a specialist support group within Corporate Design (CD). In January 1993 the AE group had 10 ergonomists, serving a staff of over 200 in CD. CD has responsibility for the industrial design of all Philips products. Philips has a diverse product portfolio covering consumer and professional applications, and operates in markets worldwide. Almost all the work of the AE group is for products using embedded software, some of which are called 'computers'. | |||
| Information Design Methods and the Applications of Virtual Worlds Technology at WORLDESIGN, Inc. | | BIBAK | PDF | 463-464 | |
| Robert Jacobson | |||
| Information design is a new professional practice that systematically
applies the lessons of human-computer interaction and human factors studies,
communication theory, and information science to the presentation of complex
data. WORLDESIGN, Inc., an information design studio, practices information
design with an emphasis on virtual worlds technology in the service of its
corporate, mostly industrial customers. Keywords: Information design, Virtual worlds technology, Information environments,
Industry, Applications, Collaborative design, Craft guilds | |||
| The Silicon Graphics Customer Research and Usability Group | | BIBA | PDF | 465-466 | |
| Mike Mohageg | |||
| Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Inc. is a leading supplier of visual
processing computer systems. Our goal is to pioneer true 3D computing, to
define new classes of visual computing, and to provide practical, beneficial,
and cost-effective solutions for a variety of industries.
The Customer Research and Usability Group provides usability consulting services to improve the competitive value and ease of use of products. We have been in existence since June of 1990. | |||
| Filtered Suggestions | | BIBA | PDF | 467 | |
| Joris Verrips | |||
| MTYP is a program that helps to select texts or macros with very few keystrokes using Filtered Selections. Each newly typed in letter filters suggestions that contain it with a priority for uppercase letters. | |||
| From Undo to Multi-User Applications -- The Demo | | BIBAK | PDF | 468-469 | |
| Michael Spenke | |||
| The object-oriented history mechanism of the GINA application framework and
its relevance for multi-user applications are demonstrated. The interaction
history of a document is represented as a tree of command objects. Synchronous
cooperation is supported by replicating the document state and exchanging
command objects. Asynchronous cooperation leads to different branches of the
history tree which can later be merged. Keywords: User interface management systems, CSCW, Command objects, Undo, Dialog
history | |||
| Common Elements in Today's Graphical User Interfaces: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | | BIBAK | PDF | 470-473 | |
| A. Brady Farrand; Marc Rochkind; Jean-Marie Chauvet; Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini; David C. Smith | |||
| This panel will identify some of the similarities amongst the different
familiar graphical user interfaces that make them seem so indistinguishable.
This panel will then identify some of the similarities that don't belong in any
modern user interface. Keywords: Graphical user interface design, Common GUI, Design esthetics | |||
| Human Performance Using Computer Input Devices in the Preferred and Non-Preferred Hands | | BIBAK | PDF | 474-481 | |
| Paul Kabbash; I. Scott MacKenzie; William Buxton | |||
| Subjects' performance was compared in pointing and dragging tasks using the
preferred and non-preferred hands. Tasks were tested using three different
input devices: a mouse, a trackball, and a tablet-with-stylus. The trackball
had the least degradation across hands in performing the tasks, however it
remained inferior to both the mouse and stylus. For small distances and small
targets, the preferred hand was superior. However, for larger targets and
larger distances, both hands performed about the same. The experiment shows
that the non-preferred hand is more than a poor approximation of the preferred
hand. The hands are complementary, each having its own strength and weakness.
One design implication is that the non-preferred hand is well suited for tasks
that do not require precise action, such as scrolling. Keywords: Hand comparisons, Computer input, Fitts' law | |||
| The Limits of Expert Performance Using Hierarchic Marking Menus | | BIBAK | PDF | 482-487 | |
| Gordon Kurtenbach; William Buxton | |||
| A marking menu allows a user to perform a menu selection by either
popping-up a radial (or pie) menu, or by making a straight mark in the
direction of the desired menu item without popping-up the menu. A hierarchic
marking menu uses hierarchic radial menus and "zig-zag" marks to select from
the hierarchy. This paper experimentally investigates the bounds on how many
items can be in each level, and how deep the hierarchy can be, before using a
marking to select an item becomes too slow or prone to errors. Keywords: Marking menus, Pie menus, Gestures, Pen based input, Accelerators, Input
devices | |||
| Lag as a Determinant of Human Performance in Interactive Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 488-493 | |
| I. Scott MacKenzie; Colin Ware | |||
| The sources of lag (the delay between input action and output response) and
its effects on human performance are discussed. We measured the effects in a
study of target acquisition using the classic Fitts' law paradigm with the
addition of four lag conditions. At the highest lag tested (225 ms), movement
times and error rates increased by 64% and 214% respectively, compared to the
zero lag condition. We propose a model according to which lag should have a
multiplicative effect on Fitts' index of difficulty. The model accounts for
94% of the variance and is better than alternative models which propose only an
additive effect for lag. The implications for the design of virtual reality
systems are discussed. Keywords: Human performance modeling, Lag, Feedback delay, Visual reality, Fitts' law,
Speed-accuracy tradeoff | |||
| Computer Image Retrieval by Features: Suspect Identification | | BIBAK | PDF | 494-499 | |
| Eric Lee; Thom Whalen | |||
| Correct suspect identification of known offenders by witnesses deteriorates
rapidly as more are examined in mugshot albums. Feature approaches, where
mugshots are displayed in order of similarity to witnesses' descriptions,
attempt to increase identification success by reducing this number. A
methodology is proposed for system design and evaluation based on experiments,
computer simulations, and four classes of system performance measures:
identification performance, retrieval rank, tolerance performance, and feature
quality. This was used to develop a system for 640 mugshots of known
offenders. In three empirical tests, over 90% of witness searches resulted in
suspects retrieved in the first eight mugshots. Keywords: Computer image retrieval, Information retrieval, Feature retrieval | |||
| Empirically-Based Re-Design of a Hypertext Encyclopedia | | BIBAK | PDF | 500-506 | |
| Keith Instone; Barbee Mynatt Teasley; Laura Marie Leventhal | |||
| This paper reports on the processes used and guidelines discovered in
re-designing the user interface of the hypertext encyclopedia, HyperHolmes.
The re-design was based on the outcomes of a previous experiment and was
evaluated experimentally. Results showed that the new system resulted in
superior performance and somewhat different styles of navigation compared to
the old system and to paper. The study provides empirical support for design
guidelines relating to tiled windows, navigation tools, graphics and
hierarchical navigation. Keywords: Hypertext, Design, Experiment, Empirical results, Usability, Navigation,
Electronic encyclopedia | |||
| Bridging the Paper and Electronic Worlds: The Paper User Interface | | BIBA | PDF | 507-512 | |
| Walter Johnson; Herbert Jellinek; Leigh, Jr. Klotz; Ramana Rao; Stuart Card | |||
| Since its invention millenia ago, paper has served as one of our primary communications media. Its inherent physical properties make it easy to use, transport, and store, and cheap to manufacture. Despite these advantages, paper remains a second class citizen in the electronic world. In this paper, we present a new technology for bridging the paper and the electronic worlds. In the new technology, the user interface moves beyond the workstation and onto paper itself. We describe paper user interface technology and its implementation in a particular system called XAX. | |||
| Integrated CSCW Tools within a Shared 3D Virtual Environment | | BIBAK | PDF | 513 | |
| Christer Carlsson; Lennart E. Fahlen | |||
| With the advance of computer graphics hardware and computer communication
technology it is now possible to build personal interactive 3D interfaces. Our
research goal is to use this technology to create CSCW environments.
There are several problems with existing CSCW applications and environments. We specifically address three intimately connected problem areas: * awareness (what are other users doing?) * focus (where is my attention directed?) * interaction metaphors (how do I do something?) Our approach is to let each user be represented by a 3D icon ("body icon" and graphically model the user's input devices in 3D space. Users navigate between applications in 3D space and can meet and collaborate in the environment. There is a direct correspondence between a user's body icon, input devices and the actions taken by the user. We claim that this gives users a more detailed and natural understanding of other users activities than in conventional CSCW systems. By using direct (real world) metaphors in the interaction with applications, it is our hope that the cognitive load on the users is reduced and the awareness and focus effects are increased. Keywords: CSCW, Virtual reality, Interactive 3D graphics, User interface | |||
| The Paper Model for Computer-Based Writing | | BIBA | PDF | 514 | |
| Ann Fatton; Staffan Romberger; Kerstin Severinson Eklundh | |||
| When writing or reading on paper, we usually have a robust perception of the
text as a spatial object with inherent structure. By a quick visual inspection
of a book in our hands, and by flipping the pages for a few seconds, we get a
preliminary feel for the size, structure and content of the text material. Not
only are we guided by those physical cues in the process of approaching a new
text, they also enable us to remember the text by its appearance and spatial
arrangement (see e.g. [2]).
In contrast, during on-screen writing and reading with a word processor, users often lack a global perspective of the text. In fact, the use of word processors has been shown to cause problems for writers in reading and evaluating long documents on the screen. The word processor is usually used on a small screen, showing only a very restricted part of the text at a time. Moreover, when the user makes revisions or shifts position in the text, the location of the text relative to the screen window varies. This contributes to writers lacking an adequate "sense of the text" when writing a long document [1]. | |||
| The Human Guidance of Automated Design | | BIBA | PDF | 515 | |
| Lynne Colgan; Robert Spence; Paul Rankin | |||
| This 5-minute video describes the potential of automated design ('optimisation') and identifies associated difficulties which can be overcome by an interface allowing the designer to guide the automated design process. Within the context of electronic circuit design the video then shows a system, called CoCo, for the Control and Observation of Circuit Optimisation. Illustrations focus on graphical interfaces used for (a) describing the circuit, (b) describing the required performance and (c) the human guidance of the automated design of that circuit. Jargon has been suppressed so that workers in related fields can see the implications of the idea. | |||
| Browsing Graphs Using a Fisheye View | | BIBA | PDF | 516 | |
| Marc H. Brown; James R. Meehan; Manojit Sarkar | |||
| The accompanying videotape demonstrates a system for viewing large graphs
[2]. It's one of many possible implementations of a general framework for
graphical fisheye views that we have developed.
The graph in the video represents direct routes between major cities in the United States. An obvious way to see more detail about an area is to zoom into the graph. However, as the user zooms into an area, less of the graph is visible so the global structure of the graph is lost. This becomes more acute as the user pans the zoomed image. An alternate way to browse the graph is to use the graphical fisheye view technique. In a fisheye view, the area of interest is shown with detail while the rest of the structure is shown with successively less detail [1]. | |||
| High Interaction Data Visualization Using Seesoft to Visualize Program Change History | | BIBAK | PDF | 517 | |
| Joseph L. Steffen; Stephen G. Eick | |||
| A problem in developing large software systems is understanding the source
code. This problem is difficult because of the volume of code. The listing
for a moderately sized system with 100,000 lines, printed 50 lines per page,
would run 2,000 pages. This video shows a new software tool, Seesoft, that
applies scientific visualization techniques to visualizing code. The
visualization approach is to represent files in a directory in columns and the
source code lines as rows of colored pixels. The indentation and length of
each row of pixels corresponds to the actual code. The color of each row of
pixels is determined by a statistic such as the age, programmer, or type of
line, that we obtain from the change management system. The visual impression
is that of a miniature picture of the source code with the indentation showing
the usual C controls structure and the color showing the spatial distribution
of the statistic. A user may adjust the display using direct manipulation
techniques to discover interesting patterns in the code. Software engineering
concepts such as complexity and bug fix on fix density can be visualized.
The main interest of this work to the human factors community is the use of graphical user interface for selecting and combining statistics from a database, the effective use of hundreds of colors to display a mass of data, and the reduction of the pint-and-click direct manipulation metaphor to just pointing, e.g. something of interest will occur where ever the mouse points to on the display. Keywords: Direct manipulation, Graphical user interface, Scientific visualization | |||
| Exploring Remote Images: A Telepathology Workstation | | BIBA | PDF | 518 | |
| Catherine Plaisant; David A. Carr; Hiroaki Hasegawa | |||
| Telemedicine is the practice of medicine over communication links. The physician being consulted and the patient are in two different locations. A first telepathology system has been developed by Corabi Telemetrics. It allows a pathologist to render a diagnosis by examining tissue samples or body fluids under a remotely located microscope. | |||
| QOC in Action: Using Design Rationale to Support Design | | BIBA | PDF | 519 | |
| Diane McKerlie; Allan MacLean | |||
| Design Rationale emphasises working with explicit representations not only of possible design solutions, but also of the reasons and processes behind them. Although the arguments for using Design Rationale are compelling, there is still very little experience of supplying the current approaches in practice. To explore its use in a practical setting we have been collaborating with the Open University using QOC (Questions, Options, Criteria) to design hypermedia interfaces for presenting course material (currently text books, course notes, and videos). This video illustrates some of the ways in which we have used QOC to support our activities. | |||
| Touch-Typing with a Stylus | | BIBA | PDF | 520 | |
| David Goldberg; Cate Richardson | |||
| Our approach to developing touch-typing for a stylus is based on introducing
a special alphabet of unistrokes. Like touch-typing for keyboards, unistrokes
have to be learned. Unistrokes have the following advantages over ordinary
printing:
* They are designed somewhat like error correcting codes. When written
sloppily, they can still be distinguished from one another. * Each unistroke is a single pen-down/pen-up motion hence the name unistroke. Not only does this mean that recognition cannot have segmentation errors (that is, errors in determining which sets of strokes belong to a single multi-stroke letter), but it means that letters can unambiguously be written one on top of another. Thus unistrokes can be entered in a small box just big enough to hold one letter. * The unistrokes associated with the most common letters ('e', 'a', 't', 'i', 'r') are all straight lines, and hence arc fast to write. The unistroke design is being evaluated by having users send several e-mail messages per day using a stylus front-end to the Unix mail program. Based on measurements from this program, it appears that unistrokes may be able to support an entry rate as high as 3.5 letters/sec (touch typing is typically 6-7 letters/sec). The video gives the motivation for unistrokes, briefly shows text entry using a conventional pen-based interface [1], discusses the unistroke alphabet and how it was designed to be easy to learn, and then shows a skilled writer using unistrokes. | |||
| ARGOS: A Display System for Augmenting Reality | | BIBAK | PDF | 521 | |
| David Drascic; Julius J. Grodski; Paul Milgram; Ken Ruffo; Peter Wong; Shumin Zhai | |||
| This video describes the development of the ARGOS (Augmented Reality through
Graphic Overlays on Stereovideo) system, as a tool for enhancing
human-telerobot interaction, and as a more general tool with applications in a
variety of areas, including image enhancement, simulation, sensor fusion, and
virtual reality. Keywords: Stereoscopic displays, 3-D, Virtual reality, Remote manipulation,
Teleoperation | |||
| Talking to Machines | | BIBAK | PDF | 522 | |
| Christopher K. Cowley; Dylan M. Jones | |||
| The film shows how dialogue design and error correction strategies, informed
by human factors research, can lead to the development of usable and profitable
systems. It starts with a simulation of a truly conversational machine to show
the level of performance necessary to compete with human recognition. Template
matching recognition is clearly explained so that viewers can see how most
devices actually work. The film then shows the Digital Equipment Corporation's
DECvoice in a number of voice input and output scenarios which highlight
typical design problems and solutions. It concludes with a set of guidelines
which will help designers make reasoned decisions about when and how to use
speech recognition and avoid the typical problems experienced by users. The
film ends with an example of a system which, having been designed with the
guidelines in mind, is usable, efficient, and practical within the constraints
of contemporary technology. Keywords: Speech, Recognition, Interfaces | |||
| The ALFRESCO Interactive System | | BIBAK | PDF | 523 | |
| Oliviero Stock | |||
| This work is aimed at building a dialogue system in which natural language
is the basic communication channel, but the computer is seen as an active agent
that allows a multimedia type interaction. In this way the means of
communication are amplified, with the possibility of referring to images and
other texts.
ALFRESCO is an interactive system for a user interested in frescoes. It runs on a SUN 4 connected to a videodisc unit and a touchscreen. The particular videodisc in use includes images about Fourteenth Century Italian frescoes and monuments. The system, beside understanding and using language, shows images and combines film sequences. Images are active in that the user may refer to items by combining pointing with the use of linguistic demonstratives; for example, the user can point to a detail of a fresco and say "can I see another painting representing this^ saint?" Also, the system's linguistic output includes buttons that allow the user to enter in an hypertextual modality. The dialog may cause zooming into details or changing the focus of attention into other frescoes. The overall aim is not only to provide information, but also to promote other masterpieces that may attract the user. Keywords: Natural language processing, Artificial intelligence, Multimediality | |||
| Hyperspeech | | BIBAK | PDF | 524 | |
| Barry Arons | |||
| Hyperspeech is a speech-only hypermedia application that explores issues of
speech user interfaces, navigation, and system architecture in a purely audio
environment without a visual display. The system uses speech recognition input
and synthetic speech feedback to aid in navigating through a database of
digitally recorded speech segments. Keywords: Speech user interfaces, Speech applications, Hypermedia, Speech as data,
Speech recognition, Speech synthesis, Conversational interfaces | |||
| IMPACT: Interactive Motion Picture Authoring System for Creative Talent | | BIBA | PDF | 525 | |
| Hirotada Ueda; Takafumi Miyatake; Satoshi Yoshizawa | |||
| We are developing a multimedia authoring system, called IMPACT [1]. It is not easy for non-professional users to get good quality motion pictures and to edit them, for instance, in order to create multimedia presentations that express their concepts. To make this kind of tasks feasible for everyone, image-recognition technology is applied. Visualization of the structure of motion pictures is also very important [2]. A couple of visualization technique are developed for time axis editing. | |||
| Microcosm: An Open Hypermedia System | | BIBA | PDF | 526 | |
| Hugh Davis; Wendy Hall; Adrian Pickering; Rob Wilkins | |||
| Microcosm is an open hypermedia system within which it is possible to make and follow links from one multimedia document to another. The open nature of the system gives rise to a number of difficult user interface issues which are demonstrated in the video. | |||
| Multimedia Documents as User Interfaces | | BIBA | PDF | 527-528 | |
| M. Cecelia Buchanan; Polle T. Zellweger; Ken Pier | |||
| Previous work has demonstrated the use of documents as user interfaces, in
which static document elements, such as words and pictures, become user
interface interaction elements, such as menus and buttons [Bier 90]. In this
videotape, we demonstrate our extension of this concept to dynamic multimedia
documents, allowing user interface designers to create multimedia documents and
to specify dynamic interaction elements within them.
This video was taped from the screen of a Sun Microsystems SPARCstation 2. The audio portions of the multimedia documents were recorded and played back using TiogaVoice and the Etherphone voice management system [Zellweger 88]. | |||
| Graphical Editing by Example | | BIBA | PDF | 529 | |
| David Kurlander | |||
| Graphical editing, like many applications facilitated by computers, often
involves repetitive tasks. To reduce repetition, programmers can write
procedures to automate these tasks, however most users do not know how to
program, and the repetitive tasks that they perform are frequently too
specialized for the application programmer to anticipate. End users would
benefit from the ability to customize and extend their applications for the
tasks they usually perform.
Programming by example systems and demonstrational interfaces aim to give end users this capability. Such systems are programmed simply by using the applications, rather than through an ancillary extension language. Innovative systems such as Pygmalion, Tinker, SmallStar, Peridot, Metamouse, and Eager have all explored ways of bringing more power to the non-programming end user [1]. The accompanying videotape demonstrates Chimera, a system built to explore new demonstrational techniques in the domains of graphical editing and interface building. | |||
| Guiding Automation with Pixels: A Technique for Programming in the User Interface | | BIBA | PDF | 530 | |
| Richard Potter | |||
| The video demonstrates how a user can program Triggers to automate the wrapping of a properly sized rounded rectangle around a preexisting text field in an unmodified copy of MacDraw II. MacDraw II conveniently places a gray bounding box around a selected field. Pixel pattern searches using pieces of this bounding box as the pattern give enough data access to determine the size and location of the text field. Triggers then simulates a series of keystrokes and mouse actions that create the rounded rectangle. Other examples from graphic and text domains are briefly shown. | |||
| Inferring Graphical Constraints with Rockit | | BIBA | PDF | 531 | |
| Solange Karsenty; Chris Weikart; James A. Landay | |||
| Graphical constraints define relations among graphical objects that must be
maintained by an underlying system. The automatic maintenance of these
relations has become important in increasing the functionality of graphical
editors and user interface builders. Yet this increase in functionality has
also brought the users of these tools the difficult task of specifying the
constraints -- generally by writing mathematical equations that define the
relations which must hold.
The purpose of Rockit [2] is to identify the possible graphical constraints between objects in a scene and allow the user to quickly and easily choose and apply the desired constraints. Rockit is embedded in a graphical editor that allows the creation of application objects by direct manipulation. The user creates graphical objects and applies constraints to them. Typical objects include diagrams, circuits, flowcharts, and also standard application widgets. The supported constraints include connectors, aligners, and spacers. In this videotape, we illustrate our system through the construction of a slider. | |||
| Tourmaline: Macrostyles by Example | | BIBAK | PDF | 532 | |
| Andrew J. Werth; Brad A. Myers | |||
| Tourmaline is a system that simplifies the formatting of complicated
headings and captions in a WYSIWYG word processor. The style systems of
typical commercial word processors, although very useful, are too limited when
a user needs to format items such as paper headings, which may contain many
different styles within a single heading. The style systems of some batch
oriented systems give the user more power by providing macro facilities to
automatically format text, but these systems are extremely difficult to learn
and use. Tourmaline uses demonstrational techniques [2] to combine the
ease-of-use of WYSIWYG with the power of batch oriented text formatters. The
system allows users to define macrostyles by example. A macrostyle is an
abstract representation of a text object that allows different parts of the
object to have completely different formatting attributes. Keywords: Text formatting, Demonstrational interfaces, Programming by example,
Inferences, Heuristics, Microstyles | |||
| The Active Badge System | | BIBA | PDF | 533-534 | |
| Andy Hopper; Andy Harter; Tom Blackie | |||
| The Active Badge is used to provide information about where people are [Want et al. 1992, Want and Hopper 1992. It is battery powered, transmits in the infra-red spectrum and is approximately 60x60x8 millimetres. The transmissions take place every 15 seconds and identify the badge. Receivers are linked by wire to a computer and are placed so as to define cells for the coverage required. Normally they correspond to spaces occupied by one or a number of people. The badge has a light-dependent resistor used to reduce power consumption by decreasing the frequency of transmissions when in the dark. This also means that the user can switch the badge off by placing it in a pocket or face down on the table. Not all badge transmissions are picked up by a receiver, but by using simple algorithms in the receiving software the system can be made sufficiently accurate to be very useful. As well as transmitting the Active Badge can receive which makes possible a more secure system by using a one-way authentication function. Two buttons, two visible LEDs and a tone generator are available for simple interactions. Reciprocity of use is ensured by making badge information available to all computer screens in the organisation. | |||
| IMAGINE: A Vision of Health Care in 1997 | | BIBA | PDF | 535 | |
| Steve Anderson; Shiz Kobara; Barry Mathis; Ev Shafrir | |||
| IMAGINE is a vision of health care in the year 1997 augmented by a variety
of integrated information technologies. The film is not a literal prediction,
but rather a projection of where current technologies are headed and what
changes they will produce in the fields of medical diagnosis, patient care and
hospital administration. Though produced at Hewlett-Packard, IMAGINE
represents the capabilities of many companies and is a demonstration of open
systems and their integration.
The film's three scenarios highlight a range of situations. All pose problems in patient treatment or cost control, and in each it is information, delivered when and where it's needed, that provides the solutions. All of the medical procedures, information presentations, and interaction techniques were reviewed by experts in the fields concerned. Cardiologists, neurologists, pathologists, nurses and administrators provided abundant critical review to ensure accuracy. While this process was time consuming for such a fast paced film, it was felt to be essential for acceptance by the medical community. | |||