| Usability Engineering at a Discount | | BIBA | 394-401 | |
| Jakob Nielsen | |||
| The "discount usability engineering," method consists of scenarios, simplified thinking aloud, and heuristic evaluation and is intended to alleviate the current problem where usability work is seen as too expensive and difficult by many developers. | |||
| Fuzzy Data and Communication in Human-Computer Interaction: For Bad or For Good | | BIBA | 402-409 | |
| W. Karwowski; E. Kosiba; S. Benabdallah; G. Salvendy | |||
| This paper discusses the implications of natural fuzziness for the human-computer interaction (HCI) area, and examines the usefulness of fuzzy methodologies in the analysis and design of HCI. In particular, a generalization of the Goals-Operations-Methods-Selection Rules (GOMS) concept is outlined, and experimental verification of the Fuzzy GOMS model is provided. | |||
| How Do We Trust Machine Advice? | | BIBA | 410-419 | |
| F. Javier Lerch; Michael J. Prietula | |||
| A study was conducted to investigate the effects of source pedigree of problem solving advice on self-reported measures of agreement with the advice and confidence in the source of the advice. Each subject in the study received the same advice from a different attributed source (an expert system, a human expert and a human novice) for ten problem solving trials. For each trial, subjects were presented with a business problem, a possible solution (the advice), and instructions "to rate the extent to which they agreed with the advice". Confidence ratings in the source were obtained from the subjects four times throughout the trials. The results show subjects had the same level of confidence in the expert system as in the human novice, but higher confidence in the human expert. Surprisingly subjects agreed less with the human expert in the first problem, but this difference disappeared after the first trial. The results also indicate that there are differences on how confidence and agreement judgements are made when the advice is received either from an expert system or a human. | |||
| Computer Interface for Severe Language Disability | | BIBA | 420-427 | |
| C. Goodenough-Trepagnier | |||
| People with severe impairments in the ability to understand and produce
language as the result of stroke or traumatic brain injury have reached levels
of communicative function using a computer communication medium which surpass
their natural language processing capabilities.
The results obtained with severely aphasic chronic and acute patients indicate that profoundly language-impaired people can make use of computers, given appropriately designed user interfaces. Augmentative communication and therapeutic intervention studies in progress are briefly reviewed and new directions in the design of computer interfaces for this population are discussed. | |||
| EASE: A User Interface for the Elderly | | BIBA | 428-435 | |
| M. Christensen; S. Chaudhary; R. Gottshall; J. Hartman; D. Yatcilla | |||
| EASE is a user interface designed for use by older adults. Eldernet which uses EASE is an intelligent computer network communication and monitoring facility aimed at reducing the isolation of elderly participants. The system is multi-modal with voice and text messaging, mouse and keyboard input, synthesized voice and screen output. A strong television metaphor and context-sensitive on-line help are combined to make the system usable with almost no training. The help system also makes EASE cooperatively extensible. | |||
| Constraining Ambiguity in a Specification Entry System | | BIBA | 436-442 | |
| Cheryl Street; Walling Cyre | |||
| This paper describes heuristics for constraining noun-verb category-label ambiguity during the parsing process or in the intermediate step from parsing to semantics in a natural language processing system that will interpret VLSI computer hardware specifications. The specific types of noun-verb ambiguity that occur in the restricted set of English used in specifications are infinitive/noun ambiguity and past-participle/noun ambiguity. The heuristics for resolving this ambiguity include marking specific verbs as requiring a following infinitive phrase, word position in the sentence, nominal compound frequency, and case role restrictions on verbs. | |||
| Webs, Trees, and Stacks: How Hypermedia System Design Effect Hypermedia Content | | BIBA | 443-449 | |
| Paul Kahn | |||
| While a number of hypertext/hypermedia systems have appeared in the latter half of the 1980s, such as Guide, HyperCard, KMS, and Intermedia, there is still no general agreement on the fundamental design principles of a hypermedia system. All these systems share the ability to store a "link" between two nodes and allow a user to traverse that link. However, there are great variation among systems in important areas such as: document and linking model; the relationship between authoring and browsing; the relationship between a node, a document, and a viewing screen; and the visualization of links. Intermedia, the hypermedia system developed at Brown University's Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS), has been used to create materials for a variety of college-level courses in the sciences and humanities. An example is given of how the design of the Intermedia system has effected the way material is presented to the reader, and how the reader is encouraged to interact with and extend these materials. | |||
| Human-Computer Interface Technology in Engineering/Construction | | BIBA | 450-456 | |
| Christopher Tilley | |||
| Bechtel has successfully incorporated technologies which aid human-computer interaction into its business. This paper will discuss the use of technologies which support human-computer interaction, as applied in the engineering/construction industry and will provide insight as to how emerging interface technologies may be applied in the future. | |||
| Designing the Electronic Book: Human Psychology and Information Structures for Hypermedia | | BIBA | 457-464 | |
| Charles B. Kreitzberg | |||
| Electronic "hyperbooks" are a very different medium from conventional print and require a different relationship between the reader and the information presented. As a result, authors and designers must think differently about how best to organize and access knowledge presented electronically. Conventional models of human-computer interaction provide some guidance but there is not yet an adequate body of performance data to describe the optimal ways to organize and retrieve information in hyperbooks. However, cognitive psychology provides some models that suggest design solutions. This paper discusses one such solution in the context of three current projects: a large hypermedia encyclopedia, a mid-sized corporate procedure manual, and a small trade book. | |||
| Barriers to the Evolution to the Electronic Information Era | | BIBA | 465-472 | |
| Louis J. O'Korn | |||
| Over the past several decades, several authors have speculated on the future information use environment. There have been visions of a work environment in which the knowledge worker is supported by automated and integrated information technology to improve the worker's problem solving and thinking processes. This paper provides a brief historical review of some of these visions, characterizes a current view of the knowledge worker's environment, and identifies some barriers to the evolution to this vision. | |||
| A Method for Processing Subjective Issues of Users -- A User Model and Analogical Reasoning | | BIBA | 473-478 | |
| Morio Nagata; Tatsuya Imai | |||
| We propose a user model and an analogical reasoning method using this model for the individualized human interface. Our model called a TRC represents the hierarchical structure of the user's decision making process. We show a method for processing subjective tasks by using this model. In our method, a subjective problem is solved with modifying the user's TRC which have already been used in the analogous situation. The usefulness of our approach is demonstrated with the experimental system proposing appropriate goods for each person. | |||
| Preliminary Explorations in the Development and Use of a Human Performance Model for Controlling the Critical Operations of a Flexible Manufacturing System | | BIBA | 479-486 | |
| Nobuto Nakamura; Gavriel Salvendy | |||
| A human performance model is proposed for controlling an FMS in abnormal situations. The model is built by blackboard architecture which can communicate with various knowledge sources. The human performance model developed in this paper demonstrated in a pilot study superior performance using dispatching rules. | |||
| Multi-Dimensional Outlining | | BIBA | 487-493 | |
| K. Danielsen | |||
| Multi-dimensional Outlining is a new user-interface technique, which is very useful for structuring and browsing in large amounts of data. Multi-dimensional Outlining is a generalization of the ordinary outlining known from many word-processors. Multi-dimensional Outlining is based on a new and very special data structure called Multi-dimensional Trees. Both programmers and non-programmers like the Multi-dimensional Outlining idea very much and find it easy to use. This suggest that Multi-dimensional-Outlining is a very powerful technique, which can be very useful in databases, accounting programs, project management systems, hypertext systems and other applications which involve large amounts of data. | |||
| The Paper-Like Interface | | BIBA | 494-501 | |
| Catherine G. Wolf; James R. Rhyne; Hamed A. Ellozy | |||
| A group at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center has been exploring a Paper-Like Interface which couples the convenience of pen and paper with the power of a computer. This paper describes the paper-like interface and the demonstration applications we have built in order to investigate the benefits and liabilities of this interface style. The findings from formal and informal studies of the use of the prototype system are reported. | |||
| Natural Language in a Desktop Environment | | BIBA | 502-509 | |
| Marilyn A. Walker | |||
| Different modes of interaction are better suited for different tasks and both natural language and direct manipulation have strengths and weaknesses as interface technologies. Previous studies in the evaluation of interactive natural language interfaces have noted certain benefits of natural language access to information, but have neglected to describe the features of natural language that provides these benefits. We have identified a set of communicative features of natural language, such as quantification and discourse reference, that are difficult to support with direct manipulation. The analysis has implications for determining the tasks in a personal information environment that natural language is suited for. | |||
| The Perception and Tracking of State Changes in Complex Systems | | BIBA | 510-517 | |
| S. P. Davies; J. M. Findlay; A. J. Lambert | |||
| One of the major factors affecting the usability of complex systems is the ease with which users can keep track of changes of state or activity. This paper presents a task analysis and experimental evaluation of a model of the cognitive operations performed by users in order to facilitate the retrieval of information about system state from cues. These operations are based upon various forms of interrupt handling procedure. Such 'Cognitive Switches' can be classified according to the notional cognitive effort required to initiate them. Thus, the nature of the provision of state information may substantially increase the users cognitive load. Implications for the design of state change indicators are considered. | |||
| Definition and Validation of User Interfaces | | BIBA | 518-525 | |
| M. Schlumberger | |||
| Summary This paper indicates how we have defined and validated user interfaces in various applications developed by Cap Sesa Innovation. It then indicates experiences and lessons learned and what we feel the important aspects are. The main aspect focuses on modeling the interaction process. | |||
| Experimental Implementation Techniques for User Interface Adaptation | | BIBA | 526-532 | |
| T. T. Carey; A. H. Borr; C. H. Graham | |||
| We are currently studying two new techniques for implementation of user
interfaces. One experimental implementation provides UI designers with a
design toolkit using actors, allowing dynamic delegation of interface
behaviours. The actors are defined in a frame-based structure which permits a
flexible delegation scheme. We illustrate how this flexibility can be used to
potential advantage in adaptive interfaces.
The second technique, active data distribution, is being developed for use in a distributed processing environment. A typical target situation would have a personal workstation providing user interface facilities, for access to a data server through a network connection. When access to the data causes delays in interaction, the user interface can anticipate requests and pre-fetch data, using a task model to adapt its data distribution strategy. Our experiments, run using a computer conferencing system as the host application, demonstrate the improvements in response times possible with this technique, and also some of the limitations it imposes. | |||
| A User Interface Management System for Rapid Prototyping and Generation of Dialog Managers | | BIBA | 533-540 | |
| Johann Burgstaller; Joachim Grollmann; Franz Kapsner | |||
| From a layered model the principle "separation of dialog manager and application functionality" is deduced. The implementation of these two parts -- dialog manager and application functionality -- can be carried out in parallel by qualified specialists. A User Interface Design Toolkit (UIDT) is used for creating UI's. UI's are designed with the help of an interactive graphics editor. The output of the editor is a formal description of the UI. During rapid prototyping this formal description is interpreted to visualize the UI. For productive use, linkable UI code is generated from the formal description. The formal description is the basic internal representation of the UI, which is used not only by the interpreter respectively generator but by the other tools like evaluator or debugger too. | |||
| Rapid Prototyping Based on the Deferred Design Methodology for an Adaptive User Interface | | BIBA | 541-548 | |
| Peter E. Jones | |||
| Rapid prototyping of direct manipulation interfaces became part of the methodology for the design of adaptive interfaces that required the evaluation of alternative designs using the key concept of Deferred Design. The methodology that uses the concept of deferred design is described. The Rapid Prototyper provides an immediate capability of producing and then evaluating alternative interfaces resulting from the deferral. The use of direct manipulation within the Rapid Prototyper for laying out the functioning user interface both avoids the need for systems level expertise and the delays incurred with normal programming. | |||
| Rapid Prototyping for Design and Evaluation of Human-Machine Interfaces | | BIBA | 549-556 | |
| Annette Knauper | |||
| Rapid prototyping of the User-Machine Interface involves the simulation of potential user-interface designs for demonstrating and evaluating design concepts. This paper presents the rapid prototyping tool EMSIG (Design and Evaluation of Human-Machine Systems Interfaces with Interactive Graphics) that enables a developer to design an interface for a physical system, test the quality of the design and evaluate alternative designs. The advantages of using a rapid prototyping tool such as EMSIG are threefold: decreasing the time it takes to develop a product, increasing the accuracy of the testing and evaluation process, and most importantly, decreasing the overall cost of developing a well designed product. | |||
| A Proposal of Human Interface Architecture for Advanced Information Processing Systems | | BIBA | 557-564 | |
| Kazuhisa Watanabe; Isamu Yoroizawa; Makoto Kosugi | |||
| To further the research and development of advanced information processing
systems, the following topics were examined: the primary functions of a system,
how to divide it into functional modules, how to decide interfaces between
modules, and how to evaluate its functions and performance.
The Human Interface Architecture (HIA) was produced according to the human information processing mechanism using the knowledge gained of the above subjects. Systematic research on such advanced systems will be promoted by referring to the HIA. | |||
| Using Task Context to Support an Adaptable Interface | | BIBA | 565-573 | |
| Dirk E. Mahling; Lawrence S. Lefkowitz | |||
| A fundamental axiom of user-interface design states that the style in which information is presented and acquired from the user should be appropriate for the particular type of user, the type of information involved, and the context in which the information is being presented or acquired. To date, little progress has been made on understanding the effects of context on the selection and presentation of information. Because the content and appearance of information and queries presented to the user arise, in part, from the context of the task being performed, knowledge based tools make it possible to automatically adapt the interface. Thus, rather than viewing the user/domain interface as being specified a priori, the CRUISE interface controller uses task knowledge, dialog and context histories, and knowledge about information presentation, dialog navigation, user models and context interaction to dynamically configure interface functionality. | |||
| The Development of the UNIX-Based User Interface Generator | | BIBA | 574-581 | |
| Baogang Zhou | |||
| To aid the end-user to develop application quickly, the CasisUIMS has been
conceptualized and developed. This CasisUIMS contains two components: a window
management system which provides a basis visualization environment for this
system, and an UI Generator which consists of a set of tools that can help
end-user and UI designer to develop an application efficiently.
This paper describes the structure of dialogue scripts and the implementation of a dialogue interpreter (DI). It is estimated that, using the CasisUIMS, a system designer can greatly improve his dialogue design productivity, and an application can be generated quickly and easily. | |||
| The Relation of Psychological Theory to Human-Computer Interaction Standards | | BIBA | 582-588 | |
| J. Karat | |||
| With increasing presence of computers in society, there have been calls from a number of sources for standardization of human-computer interfaces. Such standardization could contribute to the quality of computer software if the standards helped produce systems which both matched the needs and capabilities of users, and enabled them to easily acquire knowledge needed to use the systems and transfer previously learned skills. One question that we can ask of the science base we are attempting to apply to HCI design is whether or not such standards might possibly be based on theory. While it is not possible to offer a theoretically based HCI standard at this time, theoretical research in cognitive psychology can offer some suggestions for developers of standards. | |||
| Guidelines for Dialogue Design | | BIBA | 589-596 | |
| James R. Williams | |||
| The work of Human Factors Society Human-Computer Interaction Committee towards developing guidelines and standards for the design of dialogues is described. It is argued that the committee's "conditional standards" approach is both workable and acceptable to designers. Examples of conditional standards are provided and the content of the two dialogue technique areas which have received the most work to date (menus and commands) is discussed. | |||
| High-Level User-Interface Objects | | BIBA | 597-604 | |
| I. D. Benest; D. Dukic | |||
| This paper argues that the current visual appearance and functionality of window managed mouse driven style interfaces, though capable of being useful in systems where the volume of information is small, are unable to provide a satisfactory interface to large information spaces and encourage chaotic and dis-integrated work environments. It identifies two high-level user-interface objects that appear to have wide applicability, and together they provide a new metaphor at a level above that of a window manager. This metaphor will remove the need for window managers to have their own user-interface (that often conflict with the interfaces to individual tools), and it will encourage the benign imposition of a managed work environment that not only removes the chaos but actively discourages the necessity for the user to fiddle with the environment. In this way, the user can concentrate on the tasks that have to be performed, and he will experience a high degree of integration at the user-interface. | |||
| USIT: A Toolkit for User Interface Toolkits | | BIBA | 605-612 | |
| Michael Herczeg | |||
| This paper describes the USIT user interface toolkit. USIT serves to create specialized user interface toolkits. It enables a user interface programmer to represent user and application dependent interaction methods as user interface building blocks. The basic methods to perform this are specification, specialization, and aggregation of user interface building blocks. A Large collection of predefined blocks is available to build standard user interfaces. With the aid of the USIT Metasystem, an already running user interface may be changed interactively without programming skills. | |||
| Designing Human Interfaces with HyperCard | | BIBA | 613-619 | |
| Ronald R. Mourant | |||
| HyperCard enables human interfaces to be constructed easily and rapidly. The interfaces are composed of variations of buttons and fields whose appearance may be enhanced with pictures and text. Each button and field may have a script (HyperTalk programming statements) associated with it. The script facility may be used to make advanced interfaces. Two such interfaces, a palette and a choice facility are illustrated. HyperCard falls short of being a UIMS in that its interface descriptions are difficult to separate from its application code. HyperCard could benefit from a grouping capability that would permit combinations of buttons, fields, pictures, and text to be handled as a single entity. | |||
| The Notebook: A New Model for the User Interface | | BIBA | 620-626 | |
| Christopher Fox; Vivian Gonzalez | |||
| The notebook model is a user interface model based on an analogy with a physical notebook. We introduce the notebook model, give an example to illustrate its use, discuss its advantages, and review our experience using it as the user interface model for applications in our organization. | |||
| User Interface in Marco Economic Analysis Software System | | BIBA | 627-634 | |
| Xia Shaowei; Hu Fangqi; Xie Hang | |||
| In this paper, a knowledge based macro-economic analysis system with a man-machine interface is introduced. Using a user-friendly interface, the system cooperated closely with decision-markers is suitable for the decision analysis. Two windows and menus management system are developed. The results of system analysis may be displayed intuitively. | |||
| Tools for Mapping User Interfaces | | BIBA | 635-642 | |
| Masanobu Ogata; Toru Aihara; Nobuko Kishi; Yeong-Chang Lien | |||
| The Intelligent Front End (IFE) is a collection of tools that was developed to give workstation-style interfaces to users who need to use both host and workstation applications. This article discusses the functions required for mapping user interface components on host terminals to new components available on workstations, and then describes how these functions are provided by the IFE. | |||
| A Systematic Approach to Human Computer Interaction Analysis | | BIBA | 643-650 | |
| Fang Sheng Liu | |||
| The paper regards man-machine system as a complex dynamic system consisting of two hierarchies, including sub-system structures. It puts up a systematic approach to human computer interaction analysis, that is, function-behavior-structure analysis method. The analysis is carried out at three different levels. But more emphases should be put on the behavior of man machine interaction. | |||
| Complementary Methods for the Iterative Design of Interactive Systems | | BIBA | 651-658 | |
| M. D. Harrison; C. R. Roast; P. C. Wright | |||
| The value of formal methods in the design of interactive systems is that (if they are understood) they can be effective in making design concepts precise, and making the specification of a system tractable. It then becomes possible to model key features of an interactive system. Once these features have been recognised, they may be used as an interpretive framework for empirical evaluation. This paper uses an example to illustrate the complementary relationship between analytical and empirical techniques in evaluating interactive systems. The example is a menu-based bibliographic database program (called REF). Parts of the system have been modelled, and mismatches between model and system have been used as a basis for formulating claims about the usability of the system. | |||
| Interactive Integrated Design -- Visualization of Form and Process | | BIBA | 659-666 | |
| John Williams; Alex Pentland; Jerome Connor | |||
| This paper discusses advances in computer tools for interactive integrated design, particularly in the area of novel design. The problem of how we represent and communicate design information, both between the human experts involved in design, and between the computer and the human, is examined. The case for using visual images as a medium for communicating design issues is presented and results of a prototype design system which generates not only the final design, but also captures the construction processes which must be followed, are shown in graphical plots and in the form of a video. | |||
| Empirically Determined Guidelines for Use of Human-Computer Interface Recording Techniques | | BIBA | 667-674 | |
| H. Rex Hartson; Deborah Hix; Susan Stoff | |||
| This paper reports on a study to explore the feasibility of creating state diagrams and supervised flow diagrams (SFDs) from human-computer dialogue scenarios. The goal was to facilitate a dialogue developer with this process and to produce a means by which developers can create consistent, correct diagrams. Diagrams produced by experimental subjects were analyzed for consistency and correctness, and a set of guidelines was empirically produced to clarify issues underlying the diagrammatic errors that were discovered. Then, use of these guidelines by subjects with previous experience in producing the diagrams was shown to result in more consistent and accurate diagrams. | |||
| The Recent Development of Inputting Systems for the Chinese Characters and its Psychological Foundation | | BIBA | 675-680 | |
| L. Xu; W. Li | |||
| Recent development of computer and information processing in China has come to the stage being able to handle Chinese character input and output. The main concern of this paper is the psychological foundation for the design of three inputting systems which are often stated as the typical types at present in China. They are: 1) Five-Stroke Structure; 2) Real-Time Speech Recognition System; 3) Chinese Character Hand-writing Plate. Psychological studies are discussed with references both to experimental reports and to theoretical results. | |||
| Knowledge Representation in Expert System Interfaces Based on Problem Characteristics | | BIBA | 683-690 | |
| David Gibson; Gavriel Salvendy | |||
| Based on the hypothesis that expert performance is derived from superior knowledge structures, the primary objective of this study was to identify the structural dimensions of human problem solving knowledge for various classes of problems and identify possible applications to the design of expert system interfaces. The conceptual framework is derived from Greeno's typology of problems, modeling the structure of human problem solving knowledge in a domain-independent manner in terms of representation employed. The structure of human problem solving knowledge, as specified in the conceptual framework, determines the nature of the knowledge representation presented in the interface. | |||
| Evaluation of Expert Systems and Decision Support Systems: An Organization Design Perspective | | BIBA | 691-698 | |
| F. Sainfort; J. Deichtmann; S. Potthoff | |||
| While the number of Expert System and Decision Support System applications is growing rapidly, current research on evaluating the ability of these systems in facilitating work tasks and/or decision making is fragmented and limited. We propose a conceptual framework that stems from an organizational design approach to provide a theoretical base that will support and unify current and future empirical efforts. With this framework, we position current research efforts and derive further implications and research avenues. | |||
| CHESS: The Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System | | BIBA | 699-705 | |
| D. H. Gustafson; K. Bosworth | |||
| CHESS is an integrated decision support system intended to provide multi-dimensional theory-based assistance to a variety of users. Its initial application is with people at high risk for serious consequences because of their lifestyles. But we believe it has important implications for a variety of audiences who are isolated from services for geographic, economic emotional or social reasons. Rural families, the elderly, as well as adolescents, HIV infected people, and others who otherwise may not seek help are provided a means to access services conveniently and without fear of ridicule. Employee assistance programs can offer consistent, high quality support throughout their organization. While the current focus of CHESS is on supporting end users (e.g. consumers of health care), discussions have suggested its potential for assisting providers of services to keep up-to-date on recent advances in the field, hold debates with colleagues at a distance, examine difficult decisions and plans they have for implementing Innovations, etc. Fundamental to success of CHESS is the quality of its user interface and the comprehensiveness of its vision of decision support. | |||
| Expert System for Diagnosing Malfunctions in Fluid Power Systems | | BIBA | 706-711 | |
| L. D. Gaultney; P. Tekola | |||
| This paper discusses the use of knowledge base system software to aid trouble-shooters in diagnosing hydraulic system failures in complex hydraulic machinery. The knowledge base is constructed to allow the user to input initial symptoms of the failed hydraulic machine. The most probable cause of failure is traced through the knowledge base, with the software requesting additional information related to the area of failure. Although the case study presented is for general hydraulic systems, results are applicable to any industry which uses complex hydraulic machinery. | |||
| A Knowledge-Based Approach to Phonetic Speech Recognition for the Speech Impaired | | BIBA | 712-719 | |
| D. M. Kaminski | |||
| The work here is part of a larger project to construct a computer-based feedback/ training system for the speech impaired requiring both speech recognition and speech production capabilities. The system will utilize a knowledge-based approach for recognition of phonemes (the basic speech sounds). The concern here is to explore a mechanism for constructing a knowledge-base of phoneme recognition rules which can be automatically individualized for each impaired speaker through an initial training session. A feature detection approach is used which builds upon a knowledge-base for a range of "normal" speakers (native-born, midwest American English speakers). | |||
| An Evaluation of User Interfaces for Interactive Knowledge Acquisition for Expert Scheduling Systems | | BIBA | 720-726 | |
| Yuehwern Yih; Arne Thesen | |||
| An empirical evaluation of two display modes for an interactive simulator of a material handling system is given. It is shown that the choice of display mode does not significantly affect user performance. | |||
| The Process of Knowledge Discovery in System Design | | BIBA | 727-734 | |
| Raymonde Guindon | |||
| The most expensive errors to correct in a software development project are those made during high-level design. This study investigates the cognitive processes during high-level system design using the verbal protocols of three professional designers working on a problem of realistic complexity. The high-level design process was observed, behaviorally, to be opportunistic where knowledge discovery plays a critical role. Examples of knowledge discovery are presented, and their genesis and impact on the design process are discussed. Implications for methods and computational environments to support software designers are outlined. | |||
| The VPA Method: A Method for Formal Verbal Protocol Analysis | | BIBA | 735-742 | |
| Yousuke Kinoe | |||
| It is urgently necessary to establish an effective methodology for studying
the usability of computer systems. Recently, verbal protocol analysis has been
adopted as a technique for studying user behavior in Human-Computer Interaction
(HCI). In this article, the "VPA Method" is proposed as a formal method for
verbal protocol analysis.
In this method, verbal protocol data are encoded by the "Segmentation & Tagging" procedure. The stability and explicability of the analysis procedure are emphasized. The VPA Method provides an analysis-supporting tool (VPA TOOL) in order to help analysts follow the standard procedure. | |||
| Using the Thinking-Aloud Method in System Development | | BIBA | 743-750 | |
| Anker Helms Jorgensen | |||
| This paper investigates the feasibility of the thinking aloud method in user interface design practice. The study is based on interviews with 12 system designers who had used the method for testing the usability of complete systems, prototypes, paper mock-ups, and documentation. They had little or no training in Human Factors or cognitive psychology. The results were generally positive. The method reveals a large number of errors; the usability of the system after modification is enhanced markedly; the resources required are modest; and the social relations between designers and users are enhanced. | |||
| Self-Adaptation Method in an Intelligent User Interface | | BIBA | 751-758 | |
| Rei Hamakawa; Youichi Miyashita | |||
| This paper describes the self-adaptive user interface based on the abstraction of operations and objects for extracting user knowledge from a dialogue between humans and computers. The authors have researched a self-adaptive user interface which is intended to realize a conceptual-level user-oriented interface for each user. To realize this interface, it is necessary to extract user knowledge. In particular, a method is proposed for generating abstractions of both dialogue sequences and objects appearing frequently in the dialogue. Using this method, it is possible to deal with these two kinds of abstractions in an integrated manner. Moreover, since this method is also domain independent, it is applicable to various fields. Finally, the method was implemented on a 3-dimensional CAD system, which has been then evaluated. | |||
| Operating Tasks on Microcomputers: From Analysis of User's Reasoning to Computer Design | | BIBA | 759-766 | |
| F. Jeffroy | |||
| This paper describes the process that, starting from observation of user's activity, leads to the elaboration of ergonomic input to design. The theoretical model used in order to analyse the user's reasoning during resolution of breakdowns is presented. Then, this intrinsic description of reasoning is connected to description of the users and work situation characteristics. From this, configurations of constraints that determine difficulties for the users are identified. To end the process, the paper indicates how design rules are derived from these configurations of constraints, and how these rules can be organised through the notion of "characteristic situation of use". | |||
| Planning Structures for an Intelligent Help System | | BIBA | 767-774 | |
| Amedeo Cesta; Giovanni Romano | |||
| A sophisticated help system is expected to aid the user in a direct and flexible way, taking into account the user's state of knowledge, his/her intentions and plans, and his/her communicative abilities. In this paper we describe the architecture of an help system based on planning, the knowledge structures used and the functionalities of the system. A particular attention is given to the structures used for representing knowledge about actions and plans. | |||
| Rule Identification in Knowledge Engineering: A Study of an Interactive Resource Allocation Task | | BIBA | 775-782 | |
| Ram R. Bishu; Raymond A. Carpenter; Michael W. Riley; David J. Cochran | |||
| Identification of rules has been recognized as an important human factors issue in knowledge engineering. The intent of this research was to determine if solution patterns could be identified in an interactive and decision making task and if a metric could be designed linking subjects to their respective solution patterns. Twenty subjects (10 experts and 10 novices) participated in an experiment involving an interactive resource scheduling task. Two levels of task complexity were used and the task involved navigating through a set of action alternatives, each of which was presented as a separate screen. A set of measures were used to measure the solution patterns. Results show a large range in the number of transitions among subjects and a variety of distributions of the transitions. Task level appears to have a dominant effect on the solution strategy. The merits of pattern score, as a metric for measuring solution patterns is discussed. | |||
| A Modeling Approach for Measuring Expert System Usability | | BIBA | 783-790 | |
| D. A. Mitta | |||
| Expert system usability is determined by both the correctness of system recommendations and the quality of the system's interface. In this paper, usability is represented as a function of both subjective and objective variables, where subjective variables indicate user perceptions with respect to the quality of user-system interaction, and objective variables measure human performance. State transitions are used to model user actions performed during consultation with the expert system. In addition to offering a systematic approach for recording user actions, the state transition model enables mathematical analysis of human-expert system interaction. Through analysis of the model, several objective usability measures are derived and incorporated into the usability function. | |||
| Towards Better Interaction with Expert Systems | | BIBA | 791-798 | |
| Jennifer Jerrams-Smith | |||
| Communication with current expert systems is rather primitive, and a
behavioural study was carried out to discover more about the interaction that
occurs between a questioner and an expert who is also a good communicator.
Analysis of the interactions indicated that several components were usually present. The paper discusses what these components are, and what strategies the expert uses in order to complete those components which are connected with modelling the individual user and the current problem situation. Implementation issues are also discussed, including different aspects of modelling and a possible algorithm for implementing advisory strategies. | |||
| A Theory-Based Methodology for Analyzing Domain Suitability for Expert Systems Technology Applications | | BIBA | 799-805 | |
| Jay A. Horn; Richard J. Koubek; Anthony J. Cacioppo | |||
| Recent expert systems successes have motivated an increasing trend to incorporate this technology in numerous, diverse fields. However, techniques to select the most suitable application domains and predict relative success have not kept pace with demand. This paper proposes a theory-driven approach to define the knowledge components of a candidate domain to determine the compatibility of the domain with the support capabilities offered by expert systems technology. | |||
| A Fuzzy Expert System | | BIBA | 806-813 | |
| Jie Ren; Thomas B. Sheridan | |||
| Fuzzy knowledge, that for which the terms of reference are not crisp (mutually exclusive) in their meanings, but whose meanings overlap one another, is seen to characterize human expertise and decision-making. A fuzzy expert system with operating software has been developed and demonstrated for capturing fuzzy knowledge by observing human decision responses to system states, and identifying that knowledge in terms of a fuzzy expert relation matrix (FERM). | |||
| Models of Memory: Implications for Knowledge Acquisition | | BIBA | 814-821 | |
| J. P. Foley; M. R. Lehto | |||
| Knowledge acquisition is universally acknowledged as a problem in the development of expert systems. Numerous techniques for knowledge acquisition have emerged, but unstructured interviews are still the most commonly applied technique. Insight into the application value of different knowledge acquisition tools is provided by models of human memory. These models suggest that unstructured interviews have an advantage over the more formal knowledge acquisition techniques because they increase the flexibility of access to the domain expert's knowledge and the amount of knowledge available to the knowledge engineer. | |||
| The PIMS Process Guide | | BIBA | 822-828 | |
| J. Hawgood; J.-O. Hove | |||
| This paper describes the approach to design for useability which has been taken in ESPRIT Project 814 PIMS (Project Integrated Management System). The objective of the project was to produce a prototype system to support the work of software development project managers and to help people to learn that job. The central feature of the system is the Process Guide, which advises the user about the standard approach to project management in his organization and prepares for his use the "working environments" which support routine project management tasks. | |||
| Automatic Generator for Enhanced Menu-Based Software -- Program-Specification-by-Examples -- | | BIBA | 829-836 | |
| Yukari Shirota; Tosiyasu L. Kunii | |||
| In this paper, we introduce a new type of user interface named Enhanced Menu-Based Software (EMBS) and also describe an automatic generator for software which works as a prototyping system for non-computer specialists. In general, as can be seen in spreadsheets, the invocation of actions cascades through cells. Thus, as a general model to represent the propagation of actions, we define the Action Propagation Graph (APG). The automatic EMBS generator translates the user-defined action statements into the internal syntactic structure, that is, APGs, and then, analyzes the APGs in order to produce efficient program code. | |||
| ACORD: Construction and Interrogation of Knowledge Bases Using Natural Language and Graphics | | BIBA | 837-844 | |
| A. Plainfosse; J. Lee | |||
| This paper provides a general description of the ACORD project. After a description of the different modules of the system and how they interact, we will focus on the graphic system and on an algorithm for generation within the UCG framework. | |||
| MEMOIRS: A Personal Multimedia Information System | | BIBA | 845-852 | |
| M. W. Lansdale; D. R. Young; C. A. Bass | |||
| This paper describes the background and development of a computerized
personal information and database system. MEMOIRS, that is intended to
investigate and exploit peoples' everyday memory in offices. The system is
based on-a hypertext-style database in which each information node has links to
a time-structured network (a "Timebase") and additional links to document
labels known as attributes. The user interface to the system is complex in
that it supports a wide range of strategies and methods for retrieval of
information. The paper considers the issues that this raises in the design of
the interface and the extent to which the system is able to support the users'
processes of recall and recognition in retrieval of information.
The rationale behind the system and the psychological theory behind it are discussed. The iterative development of various aspects of the interface are then considered, together with the problems encountered in designing a multimedia environment for MEMOIRS. | |||
| An Approach to General Intelligent Interface for HCI | | BIBA | 853-860 | |
| Xie Li; Du Xing; Sun Zhongxiu | |||
| This paper proposes a general intelligent interface for HCI called Structural Intelligent Interface (SII) which serves as the unique natural language interface for all applications. In it a structural approach and Intermediate Carrier Language have been introduced. Moreover, the implementation of an experimental SII called KZ2/TZJ is simply described in the paper. The experimental result indicates that SII is a good approach to general intelligent interface. | |||
| Prototyping Methods and Tools for the Human-Computer Interface Design of a Knowledge-Based System | | BIBA | 861-868 | |
| M. Langen; B. Thull; Th. Schecke; G. Rau; G. Kalff | |||
| The user interface design of complex systems requires prototyping methods to
meet the user's needs. In order to provide fast feedback from the user, the
system developer must be supported by suitable methods and tools.
An object-oriented toolbox of interaction objects and several assisting tools for color selection, icon design and speech recognition are introduced. The user interface design of a knowledge-based system in anesthesia is described as an example for the application of evolutionary prototyping. | |||
| Creating Advanced User Interfaces Using a Knowledge Based Approach | | BIBA | 869-876 | |
| K. Waldhor | |||
| BASAR is a blackboard based software architecture mainly developed for generating flexible and adaptable user interfaces. To achieve this goal the user interface is represented declaratively within a knowledge base and as a set of rules controlling the application of the knowledge in the knowledge base. The whole process of selecting the appropriate rules is governed by the dialogue manager. The application programmer uses very high level objects to define the user interface. This approach of separating the user interface knowledge from the application has been used in various expert systems and has proven to be very successful. | |||
| Supporting User Interface Management in Ada: An Object-Oriented Translator for Bridging User Interface Management Systems and Ada Application Software | | BIBA | 877-884 | |
| R. J. Ritchie; G. Balint; D. Hood; J. Coco; H. Stein; M. Kost | |||
| An architecture for a hybrid software development environment that binds user interface management systems (UIMS), object-oriented programming and Ada programming was designed. An object-oriented development environment, based on the Smalltalk language, permitted system programmers to design, test, and implement Smalltalk scripts. These scripts, during program execution, accessed an existing library of Ada routines. Two existing user interface development tools, LUIS and DataViews, were integrated into the Smallworld environment and a proof-of-concept prototype was implemented. | |||
| An Intelligent Medium for Rule Knowledge Base Development | | BIBA | 885-892 | |
| A. M. Florea; C. Ioneci | |||
| This paper presents an intelligent medium for knowledge bases construction and validation in XPS+. XPS+ is a rule-based expert system shell using the goal-oriented reasoning paradigm with certainty factors for diagnosis problem-solving. Our aim is to emphasize the human-engineering facilities of the environment: multilevel intelligent editor, tracing and explaining the reasoning process, visualizing the conceptual form of the knowledge base and the inference tree, versioning mechanisms. | |||