| The Coming of Age of Software Design | | BIBA | PDF | 237 | |
| Mitchell Kapor | |||
| The recognition of software design as a profession is long overdue. For too
long the act of conceiving a new program, that is, seething its distinctive
behavior and appearance apart from the mechanism of its implementation, has
been unrecognized as a distinct professional activity of paramount importance.
Software design is in the early stages of coming into its own. It is not an area of research, nor is it a branch of science or a field of engineering. Rather, it is a design discipline within the domain of computing. This talk will make the case for these propositions through reflection on personal experience as well as the history of other design professions. | |||
| Constructing New Interface Frameworks | | BIBAK | PDF | 239-240 | |
| S. Joy Mountford | |||
| The design frameworks used successfully in the past by the interface
community are largely becoming outmoded. Given current trends toward more
personal, portable, media-based products the CHI community needs to revise
their design frameworks to help shape a new cycle of interaction design. This
talk will use media-based examples to show how the past has been influenced and
present some new interface frameworks to help guide future interface design
directions. Keywords: Design, Design methodology, Future interfaces; Design, Design methodology, Future interfaces | |||
| Keeping Viewers in the Picture: Real-World Usability Procedures in the Development of a Television Control Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 243-244 | |
| Alison Black; Oliver Bayley; Colin Burns; Ilkka Kuuluvainen; John Stoddard | |||
| This paper describes practical techniques used to ensure user oriented
design of a TV control interface. Key issues were the early involvement of
usability specialists, the use of different techniques throughout the design
process to ensure the whole project team had direct contact with users, and
ensuring usability principles were communicated effectively. The paper
emphasizes the importance of usability procedures in the design of consumer
products, and of taking usability 'out of the lab' to the environments in which
products will be used. Keywords: Consumer products, Television, Design methods, Usability, Observation,
Scenarios, User testing | |||
| A Comparison of Methods for Teaching Information Systems Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 245-246 | |
| Penny Collings; David Walker; Frank Hicks; Anne McMahon; Errol Martin | |||
| For some years now, we have been experimenting at the University of Canberra
with a range of different approaches to the teaching of information systems
design, and in particular the problem of providing a realistic context for the
development of user requirements. Three alternative strategies of teaching
information systems design, involving traditional written problem
specifications, staff role-playing users, and behavioural simulations in which
students play both user and IT professional roles are compared, and their areas
of applicability identified. Keywords: Design process, HCI education, Behavioural simulation, Role-playing | |||
| Graphical Interfaces for Young Children in a Software-Based Mathematics Curriculum | | BIBAK | PDF | 247-248 | |
| Joe Berkovitz | |||
| In designing a software-based elementary mathematics curriculum, we have
created a family of graphical interfaces for manipulating mathematical objects.
This case study describes part of our design, highlighting some issues of
interest to the HCI community. We designed a small but flexible set of general
interface mechanisms, adapting them to various instructional contexts. A
design goal was to meet the needs of both young and adult users without
reinventing familiar styles of interaction. User testing then helped us
identify a parsimonious set of adaptations needed for children. Among other
results this led to a significantly improved form of marquee selection. Keywords: User interfaces, Ergonomics, Interaction styles, Computer uses in education,
Children, Direct manipulation, Graphics editors, Marquee selection | |||
| ScienceWorks Modeler: Scaffolding the Doing of Science | | BIBAK | PDF | 249-250 | |
| Shari L. Jackson; Jiannchuan Tony Hu; Elliot Soloway | |||
| At the heart of a working science literacy is the ability to create models
that explain real-world phenomena. However, constructing, simulating,
verifying and validating models poses a serious challenge for students. Just
as professional computational scientists rely on technology in their model
creation activities, we are developing the ScienceWorks Modeler to provide
comparable technological support for students and teachers. With the Modeler,
students can easily construct dynamic, photo-realistic, visualizable models,
and compare predictions made by their computational models with actual data
collected in the field. Students build their models using an easy-to-use
object-oriented visual language -- not traditional programming. Keywords: Model, Simulation, Science, Visualization | |||
| Device Comparisons for Goal-Directed Drawing Tasks | | BIBAK | PDF | 251-252 | |
| Shawna Meyer; Oryx Cohen; Erik Nilsen | |||
| This study compares five input devices (mouse, mousepen, trackball, stylus,
and touchscreen) on a series of goal directed tasks using a drawing program.
Striking performance differences are found for the touchscreen when compared
with a previous study using a standard, isolated, laboratory task. The study
also looks at the impact of device to screen mapping (absolute vs. relative)
and device orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). Performance and preference
data point towards an advantage for horizontal relative input devices. Keywords: Input devices, Input tasks | |||
| Issues and Experience in Designing Two-Handed Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | 253-254 | |
| Stephane Chatty | |||
| Considering that direct manipulation interfaces using a pointing device
could be more efficient with the addition of a second pointing device, we are
designing and implementing two-handed interfaces for air traffic controllers.
This paper describes the interaction styles we imagined for such interfaces,
and some issues raised by their implementation. Keywords: Two-handed interaction, Interaction style, Multimodal interaction,
Air-traffic control | |||
| Passive Force Feedback for Velocity Control | | BIBAK | PDF | 255-256 | |
| Mark Paton; Colin Ware | |||
| This paper introduces the Bungee Bat as a 3D passive force feedback device
for velocity control for exploring 3D graphical environments. A qualitative
study was carried out to compare a freehand velocity control device with the
Bungee Bat for several navigation tasks in a graphical world consisting of a
digital terrain map. Keywords: Input device, Force feedback, Haptics, Human performance | |||
| Design of a Virtual Rigid Surface: Haptic/Audio Registration | | BIBAK | PDF | 257-258 | |
| Louis B. Rosenberg | |||
| Few design parameters have been developed for the display of virtual
percepts. This is particularly true for complex virtual constructs that
include haptic information displayed through a force reflecting interface.
This study looks at a fundamental virtual percept for haptic display, the
representation of a virtual rigid surface, and empirically derives a design
parameter for the registration of the haptic and audio perceptual content.
Results of subject testing have revealed that a delay as high as 100 ms can
exist between the presentation of haptic and audio sensations in display of a
virtual rigid surface before users notice any perceptual distortion. Keywords: Haptic display, Force reflection, Virtual reality, Design for perception,
Audio registration, Force reflecting joystick | |||
| Anthropomorphic Model for Hand Gesture Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 259-260 | |
| Annelies Braffort; Christophe Collet; Daniel Teil | |||
| This paper presents an anthropomorphic computer model of the human hand,
with the aim of improving the results of hand gesture recognition algorithms.
Cinematic knowledge allows us to filter the data provided by gesture
transducers and to reconstruct the hand, even when all the respective position
values of its different components are not known. Moreover, such a model
provides a representation of the hand which is independent of the transducers
used to capture gestures. Keywords: Gesture interface, Gesture production, Gesture recognition, Anthropomorphic
model, Filtering, Reconstruction | |||
| A System for Application-Independent Time-Critical Rendering | | BIBAK | PDF | 261-262 | |
| Rich Gossweiler; Randy Pausch | |||
| We are developing a rendering system which supports automatic,
application-independent time-critical rendering for 3D graphics. When the
scenes being generated overload the rendering engine, a rendering scheduler
employs perception-based techniques to reduce the scene complexity at run-time.
Perception-based degradation mechanisms are used because they are based on
characteristics of the human, not characteristics of the application. Since
the human is the one element guaranteed to exist across all interactive
applications, this rendering system is application-independent. Keywords: Virtual reality, Virtual environments, Time-critical rendering, Rendering
scheduler, Image degradation, Real-time, Application-independence, Interactive
graphics | |||
| User Interfaces for Hypermedia: How to Find Good Metaphors? | | BIBAK | PDF | 263-264 | |
| Kaisa Vaananen; Jens Schmidt | |||
| Users of hypermedia are known to suffer from confusion and loss of overview
when navigating within the hyperspace. This is especially serious problem in
public information systems where instant acceptance by non-computer-experts
must be ensured. Concrete real-world user interface metaphors can help solve
these problems by imposing familiar structures and interaction possibilities
and visualizing them to the user. This paper gives guidance to the hypermedia
user interface designer in the task of selecting an appropriate metaphor. Keywords: Hypermedia, User interface metaphors | |||
| A Geographically-Based Multimedia Approach to City Planning | | BIBAK | PDF | 265-266 | |
| Michael J. Shiffer | |||
| This paper explores an implementation of a multimedia information system to
aid geographically-oriented city planning situations. The implementation
provides a method of interacting with city planning analysis tools using direct
manipulation graphical interfaces. The technology combines maps, interactive
video, text, sound, and other forms of data with analytic tools and an
associative information structure using a city map as a central metaphor. This
allows immediate navigation amongst chunks of related information during city
planning meetings. The technology also makes it possible to link descriptive
images, such as digital video and sound, to information that would normally be
represented quantitatively. Keywords: Geographic, Direct manipulation, Noise, Multimedia, Maps, Implementation,
Group, Decision | |||
| Multimodal Interfaces: New Solutions to the Problem of Computer Accessibility for the Blind | | BIBAK | PDF | 267-268 | |
| Yacine Bellik; Dominique Burger | |||
| This paper examines how multimodal interfaces can improve the accessibility
of software application for blind users. The approach, which consists of
translating visual interaction forms through non visual modalities, can't be
successfully applied to graphical interfaces. Optimising interface for the
blind involves rethinking paradigms and building the application interface on
another base. Multimodal interfaces open new avenues for research and
development into this area. This paper discusses these promising perspectives
through a concrete example: a prototype multimodal text editor that has been
developed in a research project between INSERM and CNRS. Keywords: User interface, Multimodal interface, Non visual interface | |||
| Designing with Auditory Icons: How Well Do We Identify Auditory Cues? | | BIBAK | PDF | 269-270 | |
| Elizabeth D. Mynatt | |||
| Despite the increased use of auditory icons in computer interfaces, a
methodology for designing with auditory icons has not been demonstrated. This
methodology should be based on factors which commonly affect the usability of
auditory icons in computer interfaces. One step in this methodology is
determining how well people can identify auditory cues. In the first of a
series of experiments, subjects were asked to describe a collection of short
everyday sounds. The content and accuracy of their identifications offers
guidelines for the use of auditory cues. Keywords: Auditory interfaces, Auditory icons, Design methodology, Audio, User
interfaces | |||
| Communicating HCI Modelling to Practitioners | | BIBAK | Web Page | PDF | 271-272 | |
| Simon Buckingham Shum; Anker Helms Jorgensen; Annette Aboulafia; Nick Hammond | |||
| The human-computer interaction (HCI) community is generating a large number
of analytic, usability-oriented approaches such as cognitive models and
user-centred design representations. However, critical factors for their
eventual application are their intelligibility, utility and usability for
practitioners. In this paper, we present ongoing research into the transfer of
analytic HCI approaches to designers. We outline our research strategy, three
empirical studies, and some key results. We then highlight measures which
respond to designers' requirements by making modelling product and process
accessible to practitioners. Keywords: HCI modelling, HCI theory, Design practice | |||
| Using Electronic Group Decision-Making Technology for Usability Walkthroughs: An Initial Qualitative Cost/Benefit Analysis | | BIBAK | PDF | 273-274 | |
| Lauren Weisberg Zack | |||
| Today's business climate mandates that all application development methods
be cost-effective as well as user-centered. An alternative to costly,
traditional Usability laboratory testing is discussed. By employing advanced
technologies such as electronic group decision-making tools, development teams
may experience a reduction in cycle-time while retaining the ability to focus
on end-user performance and preference information in order to improve customer
satisfaction. Keywords: Usability, Cognitive walkthroughs, Electronic brainstorming, GUI, User
interface design team | |||
| Talking vs Taking: Speech Access to Remote Computers | | BIBAK | PDF | 275-276 | |
| Nicole Yankelovich | |||
| The telephone also has its share of problems. It seems everywhere we call
these days we are greeted by a voice asking us to press 1 for this, 2 for that,
and 3 for who knows what. Why are these systems so frustrating to use? Is it
their inflexibility? Perhaps it's because people expect to engage in a
conversation when they pick up the phone. Keywords: Speech user interface, Speech recognition, Electronic calendar, Natural
language processing | |||
| Storywriter: A Speech Oriented Editor | | BIBAK | PDF | 277-278 | |
| Catalina Danis; Liam Comerford; Eric Janke; Ken Davies; Jackie DeVries; Alex Bertrand | |||
| Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI), a disorder that curtails repetitive
movements such as typing and poses a potentially career-ending problem for
people who write for a living, motivated our development of the StoryWriter
editor. This editor accepts speech and keyboard input for text creation and
six types of input for application control functions (speech, keyboard, mouse,
foot pedal and two novel techniques, pointer touch and point and speak). The
variability of RSI symptomatology dictated that several input methods be
integrated seamlessly. The system can also be used efficiently by unimpaired
individuals. Keywords: Speech recognition, Editing, RSI, Dictation, Pointing | |||
| A Survey on User Expectations for Interface Builders | | BIBAK | PDF | 279-280 | |
| M. C. Desmarais; C. Hayne; S. Jagannath; R. Keller | |||
| This study provides many insights into the features that users look for in
interface building tools, as well as those that can hinder their use. The
results suggest that users are willing to pay a high price for a reliable tool
that will combine both fast prototyping and fully operational target interfaces
and at the same time provide high functionality. Yet users want a tool that is
easy to use and to learn. This is a great challenge for developers of
interface builders since there is currently a compromise to make between tools
that allow fast and easy prototyping, and toolkits which provide high
functionality and good execution speed. Keywords: GUI tools, Survey, Evaluation | |||
| Effects of Message Style on Users' Attributions toward Agents | | BIBAK | PDF | 281-282 | |
| Susan E. Brennan; Justina O. Ohaeri | |||
| We used a Wizard-of-Oz paradigm to study effects of message style on dialog
and on people's mental models of computer agents. People made airline
reservations using a simulated reservation agent from which they received one
of three message styles: Telegraphic, Fluent, or Anthropomorphic. The agent
accepted any kind of language or command input people typed. When people took
the initiative, they tended to model their inputs on the computer's messages.
They expended more effort in the Anthropomorphic than in the Fluent or
Telegraphic conditions. We found no evidence that natural language messages
led to higher expectations of intelligence than telegraphic messages. Keywords: Natural language interfaces, Error messages, Agents, Anthropomorphism,
Mental models | |||
| When Users Do and Don't Rely on Icon Shape | | BIBAK | PDF | 283-284 | |
| Jackie Moyes | |||
| It is expected that users learn to associate commands with an icon's shape,
and eventually learn to associate its position. The experiment reported
suggests that if the icon's shape is hard see as meaningful then subjects rely
on position rather than shape in order to identify the appropriate icon. The
experiment had four conditions, manipulating the abstractness of icon shape and
constancy of icon position. After a training period, conditions changed
without warning and the conclusions depend on whether or not performance was
disrupted by the change. The effects were large: ranging from zero to
four-fold worsening of performance. Keywords: Icon design, Position, Representation | |||
| Toward a Deeper Comparison of Methods: A Reaction to Nielsen & Phillips and New Data | | BIBAK | PDF | 285-286 | |
| Bonnie E. John | |||
| This paper critiques the design and interpretation of the Nielsen and
Phillips INTERCHI'93 study comparing three evaluation techniques. In addition,
this paper presents new data illustrating that it is as important to ask what
analysts do when using these techniques as it is to ask how well they predict
performance. Keywords: Heuristic evaluation, GOMS, KLM, User testing, Usability, Inspection
techniques | |||
| Electronic Proceedings (Eprocs) for IWANNT'93 | | BIBAK | PDF | COM | 287-288 | |
| Robert B. Allen | |||
| An electronic proceedings for the 1993 International Workshop on
Applications of Neural Networks to Telecommunications (IWANNT) was presented in
the SuperBook text browsing system. The proceedings were available on
workstations during the workshop and they are now available via the Internet.
In the one month following the workshop, 285 logins were recorded from 28
countries. Respondents to an email questionnaire were generally favorable with
87% stating they would like Eprocs to be available for future conferences. Keywords: Electronic proceedings, Information retrieval, Information systems,
Internet, Hypertext | |||
| Navigational View Builder: A Tool for Building Navigational Views of Information Spaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 289-290 | |
| Sougata Mukherjea; James D. Foley | |||
| Overview node and link diagrams are one of the best tools for context and
orientation in hypermedia systems. To be really effective these need to show
not only the node and link topology but more information about the underlying
information space. The Navigational View Builder allows the designer or the
user to control the dynamic binding between the visual properties of the
overview diagrams and the underlying information. Dynamic binding can also be
used for forming fish-eye views. Finally, by combining this method with
force-based graph-drawing algorithms, visual clusters of related nodes based on
various similarity metrics can be formed. Keywords: Hypermedia, Information visualization, Binding | |||
| Knurls: Effective 3D Intra-Molecular Manipulation with a 2D Device | | BIBAK | PDF | 291-292 | |
| Scott D. Kahn; Gary A. Chappell; Andrew Smellie; Michael Shantz; Steven Teig | |||
| A number of interaction models and techniques have been designed and
developed for using a 2D device to explore and/or deliver direct user
manipulation of 3D objects presented on a 2D display. While existing
approaches work well for rotating and translating self-contained objects, they
are not effective enough in supporting dynamic manipulation of intra-object
components, such as the atoms and bonds within a 3D molecule. Our explorations
of this domain have led to the design and development of manipulation "knurls,"
which are transient 3D interaction highlights/controls rendered directly on the
atoms/bonds of the molecule. In appearance rather like thumbwheels or dials,
knurls allow the user to center all of his focus on the object actually being
manipulated. Knurls very effectively support the use of 2D control devices for
direct 3D intra-molecular manipulations, such as atom translations, bond
rotations, and ring flexing. High quality 3D molecule displays give users the
'look' of familiar plastic models; knurls give them the 'feel' of plastic
models. The knurls manipulation concept is broader than our domain-specific
implementation, and could readily be extended to other domains such as
mechanical CAD or CAE. Keywords: Computer graphics, Methodology and techniques, Interaction techniques,
Software engineering, Tools and techniques, User interfaces, Models and
principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Input/output devices, Input
devices, Virtual controllers, I/O devices, Knurls, Mouse, Direct manipulation,
Three dimensional graphics, Molecular modeling | |||
| What You See Is What You Get -- But Do You Get What You See? | | BIBAK | PDF | 293-294 | |
| Hermina J. M. Tabachneck; Herbert A. Simon | |||
| Visualization can be very powerful. But can we over-visualize? This paper
describes three experiments that show that visualization without proper
grounding in the underlying knowledge base could be detrimental to
understanding. Although we concentrate on graphs, the conclusions should hold
for diagrams and icons as well. Visualization needs to be seen as but one
aspect of what is needed to understand a concept. The visual aspect of a
concept can be extremely helpful and enlightening -- but without thorough
connections to its non-visual aspects, such as verbally expressed causal
mechanisms, it can be but so many lines on paper. Keywords: Visualization, Multiple representations, Graphs, Diagrams, Empirical
studies, Cognitive models | |||
| Alice: A Rapid Prototyping System for Building Virtual Environments | | BIBAK | PDF | 295-296 | |
| Matthew Conway; Randy Pausch; Rich Gossweiler; Tommy Burnette | |||
| Alice is a rapid prototyping system used to create three dimensional
graphics simulations like those seen in virtual reality applications. Alice
uses an interpreted language called Python to implement the semantics of user
actions. This interactive development environment allows users to explore many
more design options than is possible in a compiled language environment. Keywords: Virtual reality, Rapid prototyping, Interpreted languages | |||
| Sage: Creating Reusable, Modularized Interactive Behaviors by Demonstration | | BIBAK | PDF | 297-298 | |
| Gurminder Singh; Zhao Cuie | |||
| Sage allows interactive behaviors (or command sequences) used in graphical
user interfaces to be stored as templates and reused. These behaviors are
specified by demonstration by using Sage's companion system called Druid. A
collection of related behaviors can be stored as a library and shared within
and across development teams to facilitate faster and bug-free interface
development. By providing libraries of interactive behaviors, Sage facilitates
the development of behaviorally consistent interfaces within and across
applications. Keywords: UIMSs, Programming by demonstration, Interactive behaviors, Behavior
inferencing, Visual programming | |||
| Acquisition of Display-Based Skill | | BIBAK | PDF | 299-300 | |
| Stephen J. Payne | |||
| Two experiments are reported that track the development of skill and the
nature of errors in a menu-traversal task. Three findings challenge models of
skill acquisition. First, there is a great deal of transfer from practised to
unpractised tasks, suggesting an important role for incidental acquisition of
declarative knowledge. Second, working memory load affects error rates and
acquisition of declarative knowledge but has no effect on the shape of learning
curves. Third, errors in skilled performance are more likely if identical
errors have already been made. Keywords: Cognitive skills, Menus, Exploratory learning | |||
| A Model-Based Analysis of Errors in Display-Based HCI | | BIBAK | PDF | 301-302 | |
| Muneo Kitajima; Peter G. Polson | |||
| This paper describes a model-based analysis of errors in expert use of
graphical user interfaces. Two mechanisms, speed-accuracy tradeoffs and
attention failures, were simulated by a model consisting of processes for
display elaboration, selection of objects to be operated on, and selection of a
next action. Both selection processes are performed in a context defined by
the elaboration process, simulated by a sampling mechanism which uses knowledge
in long-term memory for display comprehension. The model provides a well
motivated account of errors made by expert users. Finally, the use of the
model in interface evaluation is discussed. Keywords: Errors, Action cycle model, Graphical user interface, Display-based
human-computer interaction | |||
| DeskSlate: A Shared Workspace for Telephone Partners | | BIBAK | PDF | 303-304 | |
| Brid O'Conaill; Erik Geelhoed; Peter Toft | |||
| Research has shown that adding a shared workspace to an audio channel
benefits a complex text editing or a graphical task but not a simple summary
task. This laboratory based work did not test the additional benefit of having
a permanent record of activity (not normally provided by audio alone).
DeskSlate is a laboratory prototype which provides the ability to annotate
documents or use a shared whiteboard while maintaining voice contact over a
single telephone line. When we introduced the system into people's real work
environments, shared workspace plus audio provided benefit over a broader range
of tasks than was found in the laboratory experiments. Keywords: CSCW, Shared electronic workspace, Telephone, Field trials, Laboratory
experiments | |||
| Towards the Interactive Office | | BIBAK | PDF | 305-306 | |
| Steve Hodges; Gifford Louie | |||
| We describe a prototype system, the Interactive Office, which supports the
occupant's daily activities in an office. Discrete sensors embedded in an
office detect the occupant's movements whilst a number of actuators allow
computer control of the environment. Integrating inputs from many sensors
places the user in a context, which, combined with the actuators, can be used
to automate simple tasks. Using this system, an occupant need not change their
normal actions or directly interact with an interface. We describe the
underlying technology for this type of indirect interaction and illustrate the
potential of augmenting an office to support a user's daily tasks. Keywords: Context based interaction, Ubiquitous computing, Computer augmented
environments, Office automation | |||
| A Groupware Environment for Complete Meetings | | BIBAK | PDF | 307-308 | |
| Ted O'Grady; Saul Greenberg | |||
| Meetings have different phases: a pre-meeting setup phase, a during meeting
phase and a post-meeting teardown phase. Additionally, meetings are
individual, each requiring a different set of tools and applications. We are
developing a prototype groupware environment that addresses the different
phases of meetings as well as providing for customizable meetings. Keywords: Groupware, CSCW, Desktop conferencing | |||
| TeleCSILE: Facilitating Collaboration Between Teachers in Different Schools | | BIBAK | PDF | 309-310 | |
| Peter Rowley | |||
| CSILE is a Computer-Supported Intentional Learning Environment designed to
support a learning model in which students explicitly set group learning goals
and teachers focus on facilitating expert pursuit of those goals. We
constructed TeleCSILE to support reflective collaboration between teachers in
different schools via low-cost e-mail links, facilitating their elaboration of
a practical model for implementing this desired, but difficult to achieve,
shift in their classrooms. We report on the design considerations behind
TeleCSILE and conclude with a user interface case study that illustrates the
impact of translating a collaborative facility into a distributed context. Keywords: Computer conferencing, Group and organization interfaces,
Evaluation/methodology & organizational design, Computer uses in education,
Design (cognitively based design of educational software), Computer-supported
cooperative learning | |||
| Synthesis of Sign Language Gestures | | BIBAK | PDF | 311-312 | |
| Sylvie Gibet | |||
| Communication with the hearing-impaired can be improved by an interface that
is capable of translating natural language into animated sign-language. This
short-paper presents a model that simulates natural hand-arm movements. A
simple command, specified in terms of successive target end-points is
translated through the control model into a complete movement trajectory. The
main issues of this model are:
- the synthesized gestures are very natural,
- the command is very efficient since it straightforwardly translates sign
language specification into joint angles or positions. Keywords: Natural movement synthesis, Sign language communication, Gesture animation,
Computer animation | |||
| Gestural Human-Machine Interaction for People with Severe Speech and Motor Impairment Due to Cerebral Palsy | | BIBAK | PDF | 313-314 | |
| David M. Roy; Marilyn Panayi; Roman Erenshteyn; Richard Foulds; Robert Fawcus | |||
| The objective of the research is to develop a new method of human-machine
interaction that reflects and harnesses the abilities of people with severe
speech and motor impairment due to cerebral palsy (SSMICP). Human-human
interaction within the framework of drama and mime was used to elicit 120
gestures from twelve students with SSMICP. 27 dynamic arm gestures were
monitored using biomechanical and bioelectric sensors. Neural networks are
being used to analyze the data and to realize the gestural human-machine
interface. Preliminary results show that two visually similar gestures can be
differentiated by neural networks. Keywords: Gesture recognition, Disability, Cerebral palsy, Performance art,
Electromyogram, EMG, Artificial neural networks | |||
| Pad++: Advances in Multiscale Interfaces | | BIBAK | PDF | 315-316 | |
| Benjamin B. Bederson; Larry Stead; James D. Hollan | |||
| We have implemented an infinite resolution multimedia sketchpad as a base
for exploring a stream-of-consciousness model of computation where information
creating, sharing and retrieval becomes so intuitive that the interface becomes
invisible. Motivation to pursue this came from work on Pad [4], which can be
thought of as a kind of traditional sketchpad or windows environment in the
sense that it is a general-purpose substrate for visualizing two dimensional
graphics and text. But Pad also supports the radical notion of being infinite
in extent and resolution. Keywords: Interactive user interfaces, Multiscale interfaces, Multimedia authoring,
Information navigation, Hypertext, Information visualization | |||
| An Approach for Designing Virtual Environment Training Systems | | BIBAK | PDF | 317-318 | |
| Mark S. Schlager | |||
| We have developed a set of analytic tools to identify and develop virtual
environment (VE) simulation training applications. Task selection criteria
help identify tasks that might benefit from VE training; VE requirements
matrices are used to derive VE training system requirements; and
cost-effectiveness factors are used to judge the relative merits of VE and
other training delivery technologies. The tools have been applied successfully
in aircraft and space maintenance domains, and work is in progress to extend
them to nuclear power plant maintenance. Keywords: Virtual environment, Training simulation systems, Design requirements,
Cost-effectiveness | |||
| VR Management Tools: Beyond Spatial Presence | | BIBAK | PDF | 319-320 | |
| John A. Waterworth; Luis Serra | |||
| We have created three types of user-controlled management tool for use in
virtual reality environments: the 3DMenu, the M-Cube, and the SuperCube.
3DMenus are equivalent to the menu systems found in two dimensional interactive
environments, but have the necessary spatial presence for the immersive 3D
world of a VR application. M-Cubes are directly equivalent to 3DMenus but, by
using all six available surfaces to present selection alternatives, occupy
significantly less space. SuperCubes, in contrast to both these approaches,
reflect a move beyond spatial presence by the attachment of meaning to their
manipulation; the dimensions of space are also dimensions of information. Keywords: Virtual reality, VR, Interface management tools, 3D, Information
dimensionality, Menus | |||
| OPOSSUM: A Flexible Schema Visualization and Editing Tool | | BIBAK | PDF | 321-322 | |
| Eban M. Haber; Yannis E. Ioannidis; Miron Livny | |||
| In the spirit of interdependence of the different areas of CHI research, we
present a description of OPOSSUM, a visualization tool inspired by concepts
from heterogeneous databases. OPOSSUM is a tool for visualizing and editing
structured data; we use it to view and modify object-oriented database schemes.
OPOSSUM is based on a formalism that allows declarative descriptions of the
following: 1) a model describing the schema to be visualized, 2) a model
describing visualizations, and 3) a mapping between the two models. The formal
approach makes OPOSSUM very flexible, and promises solutions to several
problems of schema visualization. Keywords: Model-based interface tools, Metaphors, Database, Schema visualization | |||
| Analyzing Graphic and Textual Layouts with GOMS: Results of a Preliminary Analysis | | BIBAK | PDF | 323-324 | |
| Mei C. Chuah; Bonnie E. John; John Pane | |||
| We combined previous research on GOMS modeling with some simple assumptions
about visual search strategies to make zero-parameter predictions of the time
necessary to perform a task on four different graphic and textual displays. We
compared these predictions to empirical measures of performance time and
obtained an absolute average percent difference of 8%. These results indicate
that GOMS may be extended to be a useful tool for analyzing different layouts. Keywords: GOMS, Cognitive modeling, Graphic layout, Textual layout | |||
| Immersive Environments: A Physical Approach to the Computer Interface | | BIBAK | PDF | 325-326 | |
| Allison Druin; Ken Perlin | |||
| Every year we spend a greater proportion of our daily lives, at home, in
business, in education, and in entertainment, in front of a computer screen.
As networking becomes commonplace, this increasingly includes our activities
with other people. We want to aim at a richer interaction.
How can technology become a seamless extension of our real world physical surroundings? This is a focus of research at the NYU Media Research Laboratory. We are developing new approaches to large-scale physically immersive, multimedia environments. Recently we collaborated with film students and faculty from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts to create three room-sized computer-mediated immersive environments. This short paper will summarize our approach to interdisciplinary research in the context of developing new technologies for immersive environments. Keywords: Immersive environments, Physical multimedia, Interdisciplinary research | |||
| Current Issues in Assessing and Improving Documentation Usability | | BIBAK | PDF | 329 | |
| Stephanie Rosenbaum; Judith Ramey | |||
| User documentation, whether in print or "built-in" to the online user
interface, is now a vital element of successful computer products. Managers
and developers recognize that the common model of documentation as remediation
for deficient design must not persist, but they often don't know how to build
documentation usability into an ongoing product-development effort.
Therefore, this meeting is a forum on human factors in computer documentation. With the growth of online user support and the increasing integration of documentation with the user interface, this SIG provides CHI'94 attendees with a specific opportunity to discuss recent developments in documentation usability. Topics include: * Addressing documentation usability early in the product design process; * Qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting documentation usability data; * Roles and relationships among documentation specialists, user-interface designers, and software developers; * Schedule and budget issues relating to documentation usability. Keywords: Documentation, Documentation usability, Information development,
Documentation standards, Usability testing, Product development | |||
| Usability Lab Tools: One Year Later | | BIBAK | PDF | 330 | |
| Paul Weiler; Monty Hammontree | |||
| This Special Interest Group (SIG) is a follow-up to panels from last year's
CHI and the Usability Professionals Association conferences. The intent of the
SIG is to provide a forum for the exchange of new ideas and technologies in the
area of usability laboratory tools. Experts in the area will meet to discuss
and demonstrate recent developments in tools and talk about future plans.
Topics for discussion include, but are not limited to, event logging,
observation logging, video tape analysis, highlight tape production, remote
usability testing, and new technologies. Anyone involved or interested in
usability testing is invited to attend. Keywords: Usability, Tools, Data collection, Laboratory, Testing, Logging, Video,
Analysis | |||
| Ergonomic Standards for Software: Update for 1994 | | BIBAK | PDF | 331 | |
| Patricia A. Billingsley | |||
| As of January 1993, the member nations of the European Community have been
required to adopt minimum health and safety standards for office-based computer
systems, including the user interfaces to those systems. This European
initiative continues to drive the efforts of many standards committees, both in
the United States and abroad, as they attempt to develop reasonable and
meaningful ergonomic standards for software user interfaces.
In this SIG session, a panel of user interface standards experts will describe the latest developments in the national and international arenas, and discuss the impact of emerging ergonomic standards on members of the CHI community and software development in general. The panel will include representatives of the most active standards committees, including CEN TC122/WG5, ISO-IEC JTC1/SC18/WG9, ISO TC159/SC4/WG5, ANSI X3V1.9, HFES-HCI, and IEEE P1201.2. The final half-hour of the session will be set aside for an open discussion with the audience. Keywords: Software ergonomics, Software user interface standards, ISO, ANSI, IEEE | |||
| Educating the Next Generation of Information Systems Specialists: Report on a US National Science Foundation Task Force | | BIBAK | PDF | 332 | |
| Michael J. Muller; Anita LaSalle; Michael C. Mulder | |||
| We present results from a US National Science Foundation Task Force on
Information Engineering. The task force combined academic and industry views
on the expertise required to support team work for the design and development
of software systems. The information systems specialist who has been
"designed" by the task force would be a critical member of such teams. For
comment by CHI participants, we present a profile of the knowledge, skills and
expertise needed by the new specialist, and draft curricula to educate such
specialists. Keywords: Information engineering, Systems, Design, Curriculum, Education,
Development, Team | |||
| Issues in Human Factors Organization and Practices | | BIBAK | PDF | 333 | |
| Barry Beith; Thyra L. Rauch; Thomas D. Wilson | |||
| We invite human factors professionals (and anyone with a vested interest)
from development and testing organizations to come together discuss strategies,
tactics, and tools for achieving user-centered product development.
We expect participants to be willing to work together in an environment of openness about their working environment, specific problems that they need to solve, and the solutions they have achieved for past problems. Our goals include: * Identifying current difficulties in affecting the course of product development. * Outlining alternative solutions, along with the associated benefits, costs, difficulties in reaching these solutions, and potential new problems that may result. * Availability of resources. * Political solutions, strategies, and tactics. * Success stories, with analyses of what key changes made each solution work. Keywords: Human factors, Organization, Process | |||
| SIGCHI Vision: Linking Research and Practice | | BIBAK | PDF | 334 | |
| Vivienne Begg | |||
| This SIG is proposed as a result of the Vision process in which ACM SIGCHI
has been engaged. This process is designed to help the leadership of SIGCHI to
rethink our mission as an ACM SIG. In order to open the discussion to the
membership, an email discussion list, vision.chi, was opened up last year, and
this topic, "Linking Research and Practice" was one which emerged as being of
importance to the participants. This proposal consists of two parts, the
themes which emerged in discussion, and a structure for further discussion in
the context of CHI '94. The goal of the SIG is to get some answers to the
questions raised in the "Themes". Keywords: Research, Practice, Conference, Meeting, Publication, Membership, Quality | |||
| Visual Interaction Design Special Interest Area Annual Meeting | | BIBAK | PDF | 335 | |
| Loretta Staples; Andy Cargile | |||
| In the past, our attendees have included graphic and industrial design
professionals, educators, and students, as well as those interested in knowing
more about or lending support to the area of visual/product design. This
year's meeting will focus on the visual design community's presence within the
larger CHI organization, with an emphasis on developing an agenda of activities
for the coming year. Keywords: Design, Graphic design, Visual design, Interaction design, Product design,
Industrial design, Special interest group | |||
| Reflective Practitioners: Connecting Research and Practice | | BIBAK | PDF | 336 | |
| George Casaday; Cynthia Rainis; Dennis Wixon | |||
| Our purpose is to establish an ongoing community of practitioners who will
support each other in applying knowledge gained from research and practice in
HCI. Reflective practitioners value dialog with the research community, ideas
from published reports of successful practice, individual discussions with
other practitioners, and careful evaluation of the results of their own work.
They are interested in articulating design rationale as well as in producing
design results. They are interested in sharing the results of their practice
with others.
At this meeting, we plan to follow up on the IC'93 workshop, Reflective Practitioners, by welcoming a larger group of participants, identifying our common needs and problems, and developing ideas for an action plan for cooperation. The three main outcomes of this years meeting are to articulate a shared understanding of who we are, what we need, and how we can help each other; to create an e-mail distribution list that we can use to stay in communication between SIGCHI conferences; and to plan activities for the coming year, including organizing the SIG meeting at CHI'95. Keywords: HCI, Human computer interaction, Research, Practice | |||
| HCI Challenges in Government Contracting | | BIBAK | PDF | 337 | |
| Elizabeth Buie; Ira Winkler; Christopher Norloff; Michael Shafto; Nigel Bevan; Andrew Cohen; Bonnie Hawkins; Deborah Hix | |||
| Governments spend huge resources on custom computer systems, developed by
contractors to government specifications under government monitoring. HCI
development faces challenges from this environment's constraints and the HCI
community's virtual neglect. This SIG will identify common HCI challenges and
will explore ways of addressing them. An extended audience discussion will
follow brief statements by government clients, contractors, and consultants on
HCI issues in U.S. and European government contracts. The SIG will focus on
potential solutions to identified challenges. Keywords: Government, Military, Contracts, User interfaces, Systems development,
Interactive systems, Organizational impacts | |||
| International Usability Testing: How Can We Do It Early, Often, & Cost-Effectively | | BIBAK | PDF | 338 | |
| Marta A. Miller; Catherine O'Donnell | |||
| The problem (and focus of this SIG) is: How do you do usability testing,
especially using discount methods, when the usability staff is 3000+ miles from
the user population?
SIG participants will be called on to raise and define the issues. A sampling of issues might include: * Do you need usability staff in international locations to execute a successful usability test? Are there existing labs and universities that could be used? * Do language and cultural differences between staff and participants negate the outcome of usability tests? * Are foreign nationals good representatives of users in their home country? * How do we get backing from the business to conduct testing in international locations? * What ways exist to control costs? * What are the logistics involved in taking the staff and equipment to international locations? * Do testing techniques exist that collect good data without requiring travel (e.g., Video-conferencing)? Keywords: Evaluation, Usability, Internationalization, User testing | |||
| New Directions in HCI Education and Research | | BIBAK | PDF | 339 | |
| Gary W. Strong | |||
| A workshop entitled "New Directions in Human-Computer Interaction Education
and Research" was conducted during February 5th and 6th in Washington DC. It
was sponsored by the Interactive Systems Program and the Applications of
Advanced Technology Program of the National Science Foundation and by the
Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office of the Advanced Research
Projects Agency. The purpose was to identify a relationship between HCI
research and HCI education and to make recommendations on how to improve the
quality of HCI education. A draft of the report from this workshop on "New
Directions in HCI Education and Research" will be presented and opened to
discussion by interested parties. Keywords: HCI education, HCI research, Funding | |||
| The SIGCHI Identity Visioning Project | | BIBAK | PDF | 340 | |
| Michael E. Atwood | |||
| For the past few years, the SIGCHI Extended Executive Committee (EEC) has
engaged in a visioning exercise that considered what SIGCHI would become in the
near future. This activity identified areas that are important to address now.
Currently, these areas consider membership and the process of volunteering, the
links between research and practice, electronic publishing, and identity. In
this SIG, we focus on identity; other SIGs focus on the other areas.
During the next 18 months, the EEC will work on projects that will refine our identity as a society and strengthen the common bonds that led us to associate with SIGCHI. We will explore how the EEC and other SIGCHI members can work together to create new programs that are of benefit to the individuals involved, to our SIGCHI society, and to the HCI community at large. In this SIG, we will present plans for projects suggested by the EEC, solicit your comments on these projects, ask for your ideas for new projects, and invite your participation on these projects. Keywords: SIGCHI, EEC, Visioning, Identity | |||
| East-West Human Computer Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | 341 | |
| Eddy Boeve; Steven Pemberton | |||
| This SIG will provide information about EWHCI '94: the fourth East-West
International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, to be held in St.
Petersburg from 2-6 August 1994.
The Logistics Team and attendees of the previous conferences will be on hand to answer questions for those interested in attending. Keywords: Russia, Conference, HCI | |||
| Usability Professionals Association Meeting | | BIBAK | PDF | 342 | |
| Mary Beth Butler | |||
| The Usability Professionals Association (UPA) meets annually at CHI to
discuss issues of common concern to people involved with usability. The UPA's
emphasis is on practical ideas for implementing usability engineering and
testing programs.
All levels of usability professionals are invited to come share their experience, ask questions, and meet other people facing similar challenges. At this year's SIG, we'll be reviewing plans for the UPA annual summer conference; discuss activities to formalize the activities of the UPA, and review issues of common interest raised at CHI '94. Keywords: Usability, Usability testing, Usability labs | |||
| War Stories and Experience Designing with Contextual Techniques | | BIBAK | PDF | 343 | |
| Karen Holtzblatt | |||
| Field research and ethnographic techniques have increasingly been used to
drive product and system development in software development organizations.
This SIG gives practitioners and researchers the opportunity to discuss their
own experience using ethnographic techniques in the development process. The
session will also be of interest to those who wish to introduce such techniques
into their organization and to those who have had difficulty using them in the
past.
The discussion will start with practitioners from WordPerfect, Microsoft, and elsewhere presenting their experience. This will be followed by discussion of issues and possible solutions to problems raised by participants. We will talk about issues such as: different ways of defining a software development problem and how to define an appropriate data gathering technique for it; how people without special skill can successfully use these techniques; how to ensure the data is reflected in the final design; and how the process can fit to the time scale of a real development process. Keywords: Ethnography, Design, Usability | |||
| Electronic Resources in Human-Computer Interaction | | BIBAK | PDF | HTML | 344 | |
| Gary Perlman; John "Scooter" Morris; Jakob Nielsen; Brian Shackel | |||
| At CHI'91 there was a SIG meeting on Resources in HCI in which the HCI
Bibliography [Perl91] and the HILITES database [Shack92] were featured. Since
that time, the resources in HCI have expanded dramatically, almost all of which
are available online, many of which are available free of charge. The topics
of this SIG meeting are:
* identifying current resources in HCI;
* identifying as yet unknown resources;
* identifying useful resources to develop;
* soliciting input on acceptable formats and how resources should be made
accessible. Keywords: Information networks, Online information services, Electronic publishing,
Human-computer interaction, SIGCHI Vision | |||
| Issues in End User Software Internationalization | | BIBAK | PDF | 345 | |
| Tracy M. Jennings | |||
| There has been increasing discussion in the CHI community about
internationalizing end user software. One model suggests that feedback from
international users should be included before a product is released. One
source of feedback would be usability testing. The model also suggests that
text translations and date, time, and number format conversions may not be
sufficient to internationalize a product; other elements to be considered
include images, symbols, color, now and function [1]. The purpose of this
meeting is to discuss three issues related to this model.
One issue is whether this is a good model for internationalization. Are there other models? Are there different models for different products? We will also address the assumption of this model that early user feedback and increasing the number of interface components to be internationalized will increase user acceptance and add value to a product. Are there cases where this assumption does not apply? Finally, if we assume that early testing is important, what techniques and technologies are available and which are most cost effective? Some testing technologies include remote testing, video conferences, mobile labs, and using existing translation centers. I hope that through our discussion we can learn more about how international concerns impact our work. Keywords: Internationalization, Usability testing | |||
| SIGCHI Vision: Membership & Volunteers Action Proposal | | BIBA | PDF | 346 | |
| Stacey Ashlund; John Bennett | |||
| This report summarizes the possible actions under consideration by the
SIGCHI Extended Executive Committee with respect to membership and volunteers
as part of an ongoing visioning process. The purpose of this CHI'94 SIG is to
gather membership feedback on these actions.
The charter of the Membership & Volunteers program is as follows: * To contribute to the goals and objectives of SIGCHI members. * To recruit new members. * To ensure the volunteer process is mutually beneficial to the volunteers and SIGCHI. | |||
| Meeting Federal Accessibility/Disability Requirements in Interface Design | | BIBAK | PDF | 347 | |
| Gary W. Strong | |||
| IFIP Working Group 13.3, "Human Computer Interaction and People with
Disabilities" was formed in 1993 and announces itself with this SIG session
devoted to US regulations and interface design. The Americans with
Disabilities Act and recent Federal Acquisition Regulations have alerted
software developers to the need to accommodate people with disabilities in the
design of interfaces. Efforts that have been made will be discussed and
assistance will be provided to help those needing to make accommodations to get
started. Keywords: Accessibility, Disabilities, Americans with Disabilities Act, Federal
regulations, Social inclusion, Information highway | |||
| Tools for Working with Guidelines | | BIBAK | -- | |
| Iris Dilli; Peter Gorny; Harald Reiterer; Kaori Ueno; Jean Vanderdonckt | |||
| This SIG will focus on existing and planned tools for helping the designer
working with guidelines. Up to now, many discussions have been oriented to the
guideline contents and little has been paid to computer-aided activities
involving guidelines: learning, understanding, teaching, illustration,
documentation, standard compliance, usability assessment, guideline evaluation,
computer-aided generation of user-interface explicitly based on guidelines,
advice-giving systems, ... Some tools emerge today, but it is not clear enough
what type of tool they consist of, what kind of help they provide, for what
purpose they are made for. DIADES-II (I. Dilli), EXPOSE (P. Gorny), IDA (H.
Reiterer), GuideBook (K. Ueno), and SIERRA (J. Vanderdonckt) have been
presented to foster the discussion. This SIG will try to clarify the purposes
of such tools. It also will examine the gap existing between the demand and
the supply in the area of guideline tools, i.e. what the designer wants to have
and what facilities are provided by tools. Keywords: Computer-aided software engineering, Guidelines, Human factors, Hypermedia,
Usability engineering | |||