| To buy or not to buy: Influence of seller photos and reputation on buyer trust and purchase behavior | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-13 | |
| Gary Bente; Odile Baptist; Haug Leuschner | |||
| Reputation scores and seller photos are regarded as two types of signals
promoting trust in e-commerce. Little is known about their differential impact
when co-occurring in online transactions. Using a computer-mediated trust game,
the current study combined three photo conditions (trustworthy, untrustworthy
and no seller photo) with three reputation conditions (positive, negative and
no seller reputation) in a 3x3 within-subject design. Buyers' ratings of trust
and number of purchases served as dependent variables. Significant main effects
were found for reputation scores and photos on both dependent variables and
there was no interaction effect. Trustworthy photos and positive reputation
contributed towards buyers' trust and higher purchase rates. Surprisingly,
neither untrustworthy photos nor negative reputation performed worse than
missing information. On the contrary, completely missing information (no
reputation, no photo) led to distrust and differed significantly from
completely negative information (low reputation, untrustworthy photo), which
resulted in a neutral trust level. Overall, the data suggest that not only does
positive information increase trust, but mere uncertainty reduction regarding a
seller can also contribute towards trust in online transactions. Keywords: e-Commerce; Trust; Reputation; Seller photos; Self-disclosure; Uncertainty reduction; Trust game | |||
| Adaptive browsing: Sensitivity to time pressure and task difficulty | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 14-25 | |
| Susan C. Wilkinson; Will Reader; Stephen J. Payne | |||
| Two experiments explored how learners allocate limited time across a set of
relevant on-line texts, in order to determine the extent to which time
allocation is sensitive to local task demands. The first experiment supported
the idea that learners will spend more of their time reading easier texts when
reading time is more limited; the second experiment showed that readers shift
preference towards harder texts when their learning goals are more demanding.
These phenomena evince an impressive capability of readers. Further, the
experiments reveal that the most common method of time allocation is a version
of satisficing (Reader and Payne, 2007) in which preference for texts emerges
without any explicit comparison of the texts (the longest time spent reading
each text is on the first time that text is encountered). These experiments
therefore offer further empirical confirmation for a method of time allocation
that relies on monitoring on-line texts as they are read, and which is
sensitive to learning goals, available time and text difficulty. Keywords: Browsing; Information foraging; Satisficing; Sampling | |||
| How do usability professionals construe usability? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 26-42 | |
| Morten Hertzum; Torkil Clemmensen | |||
| Usability professionals have attained a specialist role in
systems-development projects. This study analyses usability professionals'
operational understanding of usability by eliciting the constructs they employ
in their thinking about system use. We approach usability broadly and without a
priori distinguishing it from user experience. On the basis of repertory-grid
interviews with 24 Chinese, Danish, and Indian usability professionals we find
that they make use of more utilitarian than experiential, i.e. user-experience
related, constructs. This indicates that goal-related performance is central to
their thinking about usability, whereas they have less elaborate sets of
experiential constructs. The usability professionals mostly construe usability
at an individual level, rather than at organizational and environmental levels.
The few exceptions include effectiveness constructs, which are evenly spread
across all three levels, and relational constructs, which are phrased in terms
of social context. Considerations about users' cognitive activities appear more
central to the usability professionals than conventional human-factors
knowledge about users' sensorial abilities. The usability professionals'
constructs, particularly their experiential constructs, go considerably beyond
ISO 9241 usability, indicating a discrepancy between this definition of
usability and the thinking of the professionals concerned with delivering
usability. Finally, usability is construed rather similarly across the three
nationalities of usability professionals. Keywords: Usability Professional; Usability; User experience; Quality in use; Repertory-grid interview; Personal construct | |||
| Workarounds in the use of IS in healthcare: A case study of an electronic medication administration system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 43-65 | |
| Zhenbin Yang; Boon-Yuen Ng; Atreyi Kankanhalli; James Wei Luen Yip | |||
| Healthcare information systems such as an Electronic Medication
Administration System (EMAS) have the potential to enhance productivity, lower
costs, and reduce medication errors. However, various issues have arisen from
the use of these systems. A key issue relates to workarounds as a result of a
misfit between the new information system (IS) implementation and existing work
processes. However, there is a lack of understanding and studies on healthcare
IS workarounds and their outcomes. This paper applies the theoretical
perspectives of accommodation to misfit and IS evolution to understand the
phenomenon through an in-depth case study of an EMAS implemented in a large
public hospital. Based on the findings, it develops a process framework to
explain how the benefits, issues, and workarounds inter-relate and determine
the impacts of the system. The findings have implications for research and
practice on workarounds in the use of healthcare IS. Keywords: Healthcare IS; Workarounds; Issues; Benefits; Augmenting; Fitting; Electronic Medication Administration | |||
| A review of locative media, mobile and embodied spatial interaction | | BIBK | Full-Text | 66-71 | |
| Mark Bilandzic; Marcus Foth | |||
Keywords: Urban informatics; Locative media; Mobile spatial interaction; Embodied interaction; Mobile web 2.0; Context; Awareness; Mobile interaction | |||
| Aesthetic images modulate emotional responses to reading news messages on a small screen: A psychophysiological investigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 72-87 | |
| Jari Kätsyri; Niklas Ravaja; Mikko Salminen | |||
| Abstract pictures, such as artistic drawings, may evoke subtle emotions in
their observers via aesthetic experiences. We examined among 44 participants
the emotional responses as measured by facial electromyography (EMG) to
aesthetic background images that varied on the emotional valence (unpleasant to
pleasant) and arousal (calming to exciting) dimensions and were presented both
separately and as background images for news messages. Effects of image arousal
on free recall of news messages were also examined. A priori pleasant compared
to unpleasant images were associated with higher orbicularis oculi EMG
responses, both when presented alone and when presented as news message
backgrounds. Analyses based on the participants' subjective pleasantness
ratings also showed greater corrugator supercilii EMG activity for unpleasant
compared to pleasant images. High-arousal as compared to low-arousal images
improved recall for the superimposed news messages. In contrast, recall was not
affected by a priori image valence or subjective pleasantness ratings. The
results demonstrate that abstract images can be used to evoke emotional
responses in the viewers that persist even when unrelated messages are
superimposed on them. Similarly, high-arousal images can be used to enhance
memory for superimposed textual messages. Keywords: Psychophysiology; Emotion; Media; Aesthetics; User interfaces | |||
| Spatial proximity is more than just a distance measure | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 88-106 | |
| Jane Brennan; Eric Martin | |||
| In order to design computer systems that are intuitive to use, the way
humans reason about their "real world' surroundings needs to be taken into
consideration. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) focus on spatial reasoning.
Over the last decades, many advances have been made in GIS interfaces and
functionality; however the concept of proximity or nearness, which is essential
in many forms of human reasoning, is still being addressed insufficiently.
This paper provides a thorough and comprehensive synthesis of the disparate literature that pertains to the subject of proximity. It offers insights into why existing methods for reasoning with proximity work, or do not work, and analyses their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the paper provides the derivation of new proximity measures, and their evaluation, backed by experiments and reflections. New measures are formally described in a unifying and compelling framework. This framework acknowledges that while distance is one factor that influences proximity perception, proximity is much more than just a distance measure. Keywords: Spatial cognition; Spatial proximity; Nearness; Knowledge representation; Spatial reasoning | |||
| A new look at software piracy: Soft lifting primes an inauthentic sense of self, prompting further unethical behavior | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 107-115 | |
| Wen-Bin Chiou; Peng-Hui Wan; Chin-Sheng Wan | |||
| Soft lifting refers to the process whereby a legally licensed software
program is installed or copied in violation of its licensing agreement.
Previous research on this pervasive kind of unethical computer use has mainly
focused on the determinants of this unethical act, which are rooted in
personal, economic, technological, cultural, socio-political, or legal domains.
However, little is known about the symbolic power that soft lifting has on the
sense of self. Based on recent advances in behavioral priming, we hypothesized
that soft lifting can influence the signals one sends to oneself; more
specifically, soft lifting may prime individuals to experience an inauthentic
sense of self, which, in turn, prompts further unethical behavior. In Study 1,
we showed that participants, primed with the memory of a recent soft lifting
experience, cheated more than participants recalling a recent experience of
purchasing authentic software or than control participants. Moreover, feelings
of inauthenticity mediated the priming effect of soft lifting on dishonest
behavior. In Study 2, participants primed with soft lifting showed a greater
willingness to purchase a wide range of counterfeit products over authentic
products. Besides those antecedents or correlates of soft lifting already
identified in the literature, educators should pay more attention to the
negative impact of soft lifting on the self-images of users, which may go
beyond computer-related behaviors. Priming may provide a new direction for HCI
researchers to examine the impact of computer-use-related factors on users'
perceptions, motivations, and behaviors. Keywords: Behavioral priming; Computer ethics; Counterfeit products; Soft lifting | |||
| Human-automated path planning optimization and decision support | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 116-128 | |
| M. L. Cummings; J. J. Marquez; N. Roy | |||
| Path planning is a problem encountered in multiple domains, including
unmanned vehicle control, air traffic control, and future exploration missions
to the Moon and Mars. Due to the voluminous and complex nature of the data,
path planning in such demanding environments requires the use of automated
planners. In order to better understand how to support human operators in the
task of path planning with computer aids, an experiment was conducted with a
prototype path planner under various conditions to assess the effect on
operator performance. Participants were asked to create and optimize paths
based on increasingly complex path cost functions, using different map
visualizations including a novel visualization based on a numerical potential
field algorithm. They also planned paths under degraded automation conditions.
Participants exhibited two types of analysis strategies, which were global path
regeneration and local sensitivity analysis. No main effect due to
visualization was detected, but results indicated that the type of optimizing
cost function affected performance, as measured by metabolic costs, sun
position, path distance, and task time. Unexpectedly, participants were able to
better optimize more complex cost functions as compared to a simple time-based
cost function. Keywords: Human -- automation interaction; Path planning; Decision support systems | |||
| Facets of simplicity for the smartphone interface: A structural model | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 129-142 | |
| Junho H. Choi; Hye-Jin Lee | |||
| Motivated by the need to develop an integrated measure of simplicity
perception for a smartphone user interface, our research incorporated visual
aesthetics, information design, and task complexity into an extended construct
of simplicity. Drawn from three distinct domains of human -- computer
interaction design and related areas, the new development of a simplicity
construct and measurement scales were then validated. The final measurement
model consisted of six components: reduction, organization, component
complexity, coordinative complexity, dynamic complexity, and visual aesthetics.
The following phase aimed at verifying the relationship between simplicity
perception of the interface and evaluations of user satisfaction. The
hypothesis was accepted that user satisfaction was positively affected by
simplicity perception and that the relationship between the two constructs was
very strong. The findings imply that a simplified interface design of the task
performance, information hierarchy, and visual display attributes contributes
to positive satisfaction evaluations when users interact with their smartphone
as they engage in communication, information search, and entertainment
activities. Keywords: Smartphone; Simplicity; Satisfaction; Visual aesthetics; Information design; Task complexity | |||
| Expertise-dependent visual attention strategies develop over time during debugging with multiple code representations | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 143-155 | |
| Roman Bednarik | |||
| In modern multi-representational environments, software developers need to
coordinate various information sources to effectively perform maintenance
tasks. Although visual attention is an important skill in software development,
our current understanding of the role of visual attention in the coordination
of representations during maintenance tasks is minimal. Therefore, we applied
eye-tracking to capture visual attention strategies and construct a detailed
account of visual attention during debugging. Two groups of programmers with
two distinct levels of experience debugged a program with the help of multiple
representations. The proportion of time spent looking at each representation,
the frequency of switching attention between visualrepresentations and the type
of switch were investigated during consecutive phases of debugging. We found
repetitive patterns in visual strategies that were associated with less
expertise and lower performance. Novice developers made use of both the code
and graphical representations while frequently switching between them. More
experienced participants expended more efforts integrating the available
information and primarily concentrated on systematically relating the code to
the output. Our results informed us about the differences in program debugging
strategies from a fine-grain, temporal perspective and have implications for
the design of future development environments. Keywords: Expertise in programming; Visual attention; Program debugging | |||
| Juggling on a high wire: Multitasking effects on performance | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 156-168 | |
| Rachel F. Adler; Raquel Benbunan-Fich | |||
| In this study, we develop a theoretical model that predicts an inverted-U
relationship between multitasking and performance. The model is tested with a
controlled experiment using a custom-developed application. Participants were
randomly assigned to either a control condition, where they had to perform
tasks in sequence, or an experimental condition, where they could
discretionarily switch tasks by clicking on tabs. Our results show an
inverted-U pattern for performance efficiency (productivity) and a decreasing
line for performance effectiveness (accuracy). The results of this study
indicate that the nature of the relation between multitasking and performance
depends upon the metric used. If performance is measured with productivity,
different multitasking levels are associated with an inverted-U curve where
medium multitaskers perform significantly better than both high and low
multitaskers. However, if performance is measured with accuracy of results, the
relation is a downward slopping line, in which increased levels of multitasking
lead to a significant loss in accuracy. Metaphorically speaking, juggling
multiple tasks is much more difficult while balancing on a high wire, where
performance mishaps can have serious consequences. Keywords: Memory for goals; Multitasking; Task switching; Performance | |||
| Computer mediated imaginative storytelling in children with autism | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 169-178 | |
| Gayle Dillon; Jean Underwood | |||
| The imaginative abilities of children on the autistic spectrum are
reportedly impaired compared to typically developing children. This study
explored computer mediated story construction in children with autism and
typically developing peers. The purpose was to explore expressive writing
ability, as a measure of imagination. Ten pairs of individually matched
children (one typically developing and one child on the autistic spectrum) aged
between seven and nine created reality and fantasy based stories using Bubble
Dialogue software. The study provided a brief starting point for the stories,
relying on the imaginative capabilities of the children to develop the stories
beyond the story opening. The study contributes to the literature as an
alternative to paper based studies of imagination given the known appeal of
technology to most children, particularly children on the autistic spectrum
(Gal et al., 2005). This study found that the children with autism were as able
as the typically developing children to engage with the task, although
qualitative differences in their responses were recorded. Keywords: Autism; Computer mediated storytelling; User experience | |||
| Tailored presentation of dynamic web content for audio browsers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 179-196 | |
| Andy Brown; Caroline Jay; Simon Harper | |||
| Understanding the content of a Web page and navigating within and between
pages are crucial tasks for any Web user. To those who are accessing pages
through non-visual means, such as screen readers, the challenges offered by
these tasks are not easily overcome, even when pages are unchanging documents.
The advent of 'Web 2.0' and Web applications, however, means that documents
often are not static, but update, either automatically or due to user
interaction. This development poses a difficult question for screen reader
designers: how should users be notified of page changes? In this article we
introduce rules for presenting such updates, derived from studies of how
sighted users interact with them. An implementation of the rules has been
evaluated, showing that users who were blind or visually impaired found updates
easier to deal with than the relatively quiet way in which current screen
readers often present them. Keywords: Web 2.0; AJAX; Visual disability; Eye-tracking | |||
| Combining ethnography and object-orientation for mobile interaction design: Contextual richness and abstract models | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 197-217 | |
| Jesper Kjeldskov; Jan Stage | |||
| There has been a lot of interest in ethnography within human -- computer
interaction over the last two decades, and its relevance within systems
development is today beyond question. However, one of the challenges reported
is that ethnography generates findings and knowledge with such contextual
richness that it can be hard to transfer into system design. In the light of
recent years' push for the use of ethnography within the area of mobile human
-- computer interaction, this challenge has resurfaced and is of renewed
importance to the research field. In this article we describe an
interdisciplinary combination of ethnography with a structured software
engineering method supporting the transition from collected data to design and
implementation. We explore this combination through two case studies of mobile
system development for supporting distributed work activities within industrial
process control. We show that when developing mobile systems ethnographic data
is a highly valuable source of input for developing object-oriented models by
providing contextual richness, and that in turn, objected-oriented analysis is
a highly valuable method for working with ethnographic field data in systems
development by supporting the creation of abstract models. Combining the two,
we have a method where ethnographic field studies inform core system design. Keywords: Mobile interaction design; Ethnography; Object-oriented analysis; System development; Mobile work; Distributed collaboration | |||
| Understanding performance in touch selections: Tap, drag and radial pointing drag with finger, stylus and mouse | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 218-233 | |
| A. Cockburn; D. Ahlström; C. Gutwin | |||
| Touch-based interaction with computing devices is becoming more and more
common. In order to design for this setting, it is critical to understand the
basic human factors of touch interactions such as tapping and dragging;
however, there is relatively little empirical research in this area,
particularly for touch-based dragging.
To provide foundational knowledge in this area, and to help designers understand the human factors of touch-based interactions, we conducted an experiment using three input devices (the finger, a stylus, and a mouse as a performance baseline) and three different pointing activities. The pointing activities were bidirectional tapping, one-dimensional dragging, and radial dragging (pointing to items arranged in a circle around the cursor). Tapping activities represent the elemental target selection method and are analysed as a performance baseline. Dragging is also a basic interaction method and understanding its performance is important for touch-based interfaces because it involves relatively high contact friction. Radial dragging is also important for touch-based systems as this technique is claimed to be well suited to direct input yet radial selections normally involve the relatively unstudied dragging action, and there have been few studies of the interaction mechanics of radial dragging. Performance models of tap, drag, and radial dragging are analysed. For tapping tasks, we confirm prior results showing finger pointing to be faster than the stylus/mouse but inaccurate, particularly with small targets. In dragging tasks, we also confirm that finger input is slower than the mouse and stylus, probably due to the relatively high surface friction. Dragging errors were low in all conditions. As expected, performance conformed to Fitts' Law. Our results for radial dragging are new, showing that errors, task time and movement distance are all linearly correlated with number of items available. We demonstrate that this performance is modelled by the Steering Law (where the tunnel width increases with movement distance) rather than Fitts' Law. Other radial dragging results showed that the stylus is fastest, followed by the mouse and finger, but that the stylus has the highest error rate of the three devices. Finger selections in the North-West direction were particularly slow and error prone, possibly due to a tendency for the finger to stick -- slip when dragging in that direction. Keywords: Touch interaction; Dragging; Radial menus | |||
| An electromyographic study of a laser pointer-style device vs. mouse and keyboard in an object arrangement task on a large screen | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 234-255 | |
| Luca Chittaro; Riccardo Sioni | |||
| A large body of HCI research focuses on devices and techniques to interact
with applications in more natural ways, such as gestures or direct pointing
with fingers or hands. In particular, recent years have seen a growing interest
in laser pointer-style (LPS) interaction, which allows users to point directly
at the screen from a distance through a device handled like a common laser
pointer. Several LPS techniques have been evaluated in the literature, usually
focusing on users' performance and subjective ratings, but not on the effects
of these techniques on the musculoskeletal system. One cannot rule out that
"natural' interaction techniques, although found attractive by users, require
movements that might increase likelihood of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
with respect to traditional keyboard and mouse. Our study investigates the
physiological effects of a LPS interaction technique (based on the Wii Remote)
compared to a mouse and keyboard setup, used in a sitting and a standing
posture. The task (object arrangement) is representative of user actions
repeatedly carried out with 3D applications. The obtained results show that the
LPS interaction caused more muscle exertion than mouse and keyboard. Posture
played also a significant role. The results highlight the importance of
extending current studies of novel interaction techniques with thorough
electromyographic (EMG) analyses. Keywords: Wii Remote; Laser pointer; Muscle activity; EMG; 3D environments; Large screen; Object arrangement; Ray casting | |||
| Auditory feedback in haptic collaborative interfaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 257-270 | |
| Ying Ying Huang; Jonas Moll; Eva-Lotta Sallnäs; Yngve Sundblad | |||
| The combined effect of haptic and auditory feedback in shared interfaces on
the cooperation between visually impaired and sighted persons is
under-investigated. A central challenge for cooperating group members lies in
obtaining a common understanding of the elements of the workspace and
maintaining awareness of the other members' actions, as well as one's own,
during the group work process. The aim of the experimental study presented here
was to investigate if adding audio cues in a haptic and visual interface makes
collaboration between a sighted and a blindfolded person more efficient.
Results showed that task performance was significantly faster in the audio,
haptic and visual feedback condition compared to the haptic and visual feedback
condition. One special focus was also to study how participants utilize the
auditory and haptic force feedback in order to obtain a common understanding of
the workspace and to maintain an awareness of the group members' actions.
Results from a qualitative analysis showed that the auditory and haptic
feedback was used in a number of important ways to support the group members'
action awareness and in the participants' grounding process. Keywords: Haptic; Force feedback; Virtual environments; Multimodal interface; Collaboration; Awareness; Common ground | |||
| Synthesizing mood-affected signed messages: Modifications to the parametric synthesis | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 271-286 | |
| Fernando López-Colino; José Colás | |||
| This paper describes the first approach in synthesizing mood-affected signed
contents. The research focuses on the modifications applied to a parametric
sign language synthesizer (based on phonetic descriptions of the signs). We
propose some modifications that will allow for the synthesis of different
perceived frames of mind within synthetic signed messages. Three of these
proposals focus on modifications to three different signs' phonologic
parameters (the hand shape, the movement and the non-hand parameter). The other
two proposals focus on the temporal aspect of the synthesis (sign speed and
transition duration) and the representation of muscular tension through inverse
kinematics procedures. These resulting variations have been evaluated by
Spanish deaf signers, who have concluded that our system can generate the same
signed message with three different frames of mind, which are correctly
identified by Spanish Sign Language signers. Keywords: Sign language synthesis; Frame of mind synthesis; Graphical interface; Deaf people | |||
| Design and comparative evaluation of Smoothed Pointing: A velocity-oriented remote pointing enhancement technique | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 287-300 | |
| L. Gallo; A. Minutolo | |||
| The increasing use of remote pointing devices in various application domains
is fostering the adoption of pointing enhancement techniques which are aimed at
counterbalancing the shortcomings of desk-free interaction. This paper
describes the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for ray pointing
facilitation, and presents a refinement of Smoothed Pointing, an
auto-calibrating velocity-oriented precision enhancing technique. Furthermore,
the paper discusses the results of a user study aimed at empirically
investigating how velocity-oriented approaches perform in target acquisition
and in trajectory-based interaction tasks, considering both laser-style and
image -- plane pointing modalities. The experiments, carried out in a low
precision scenario in which a Wiimote was used both as a wand and a tracking
system, show that Smoothed Pointing allows a significant decrease in the error
rate and achieves the highest values of throughput in trajectory-based tasks.
The results also indicate that the effectiveness of precision enhancing
techniques is significantly affected by the pointing modality and the type of
pointing task. Keywords: Ray pointing facilitation; Smoothed Pointing; Velocity-oriented approach; User study; Wiimote | |||
| A crowdsourcing method to develop virtual human conversational agents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 301-319 | |
| Brent Rossen; Benjamin Lok | |||
| Educators in medicine, psychology, and the military want to provide their
students with interpersonal skills practice. Virtual humans offer structured
learning of interview skills, can facilitate learning about unusual conditions,
and are always available. However, the creation of virtual humans with the
ability to understand and respond to natural language requires costly
engineering by conversation knowledge engineers (generally computer
scientists), and incurs logistical cost for acquiring domain knowledge from
domain experts (educators). We address these problems using a novel
crowdsourcing method entitled Human-centered Distributed Conversational
Modeling. This method facilitates collaborative development of virtual humans
by two groups of end-users: domain experts (educators) and domain novices
(students). We implemented this method in a web-based authoring tool called
Virtual People Factory. Using Virtual People Factory, medical and pharmacy
educators are now creating natural language virtual patient interactions on
their own. This article presents the theoretical background for Human-centered
Distributed Conversational Modeling, the implementation of the Virtual People
Factory authoring tool, and five case studies showing that Human-centered
Distributed Conversational Modeling has addressed the logistical cost for
acquiring knowledge. Keywords: Virtual humans; Agents and intelligent systems; Human-centered computing; Distributed knowledge acquisition; End-user programming | |||
| Evaluation methods and strategies for the interactive use of classifiers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 321-331 | |
| Silvia Acid; Luis M. de Campos; Moisés Fernández | |||
| We consider the scenario in which an automatic classifier (previously built)
is available. It is used to classify new instances but, in some cases, the
classifier may request the intervention of a human (the oracle), who gives it
the correct class. In this scenario, first it is necessary to study how the
performance of the system should be evaluated, as it cannot be based solely on
the predictive accuracy obtained by the classifier but it should also take into
account the cost of the human intervention; second, studying the concrete
circumstances under which the classifier decides to query the oracle is also
important. In this paper we study these two questions and include also an
experimental evaluation of the different proposed alternatives. Keywords: Interactivity; Classification; Uncertainty sampling; Evaluation models | |||
| Time use behavior in single and time-sharing tasks | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 332-345 | |
| Yan Luximon; Ravindra S. Goonetilleke | |||
| Human errors in aviation, process plants and other critical industries can
result in dire consequences and hence it is essential to understand the
operator behavior and task characteristics in order to improve task performance
and safety. The time available and how it is used by the operator are important
factors in multi-task situations. Polychrons are people, who favor doing
multiple tasks at the same time, while monochrons prefer doing tasks in series.
In this study, the strategy, performance and workload of monochrons and
polychrons were evaluated in a single and dual control tasks. The task
difficulty and multiple task priority were independent variables. Results
indicated that polychrons switched between two tasks more than monochrons and
achieved better performance when the tasks were equally important and
difficult. When the priority between the tasks was different, monochrons
changed their emphasis to the more important task even though polychrons did
not change their strategy as dramatically as the monochrons. In addition,
monochrons indicated significantly higher workload and difficulty than
polychrons. Results of this study can be important for the development of
training programs of personnel involved in time-critical operations. Keywords: Complex control; Hill-climbing; Monochron/polychron; Time use; Control strategy; Performance; Task characteristics | |||
| User disposition and extent of Web utilization: A trait hierarchy approach | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 346-363 | |
| Joshua M. Davis; Mun Y. Yi | |||
| As it evolves, the World Wide Web (the Web) increasingly reveals the
potential to enhance new aspects of our daily lives. While some take full
advantage of the Web's diverse and cutting edge offerings, others choose to
limit the extent of their utilization to a small subset of the Web's available
functions. Recognizing this variation, a growing body of research investigates
the drivers of usage behavior on the Web. Individual differences, namely broad
personality and IT-specific traits, are highlighted within this stream as
important predictors of Web use. Although substantial progress has been made,
an important issue still facing trait research in this area is the absence of a
theory-grounded basis for inter-relating broad personality and IT-specific
traits. As a result, the accumulation of extant trait research is characterized
by a disjointed assortment of trait constructs lacking clear theoretical
linkages with one another. Additionally, while numerous studies have
investigated isolated Web usage behaviors, an important outcome that remains
under-investigated is the extent of an individual's utilization of the Web
overall. Addressing these issues, the current study leverages the hierarchical
view of traits to develop a theory-grounded, integrative model of broad
personality and IT-specific traits. After developing the hierarchical model,
the integrated network of traits is positioned as a direct antecedent of Web
utilization and empirically tested via a two-stage field survey of 230 Web
users. The results corroborate most of the hypotheses, providing support for
the hierarchical view and extending the knowledge base on Web-user behavior.
Overall, this study unifies disjointed personality and IT-specific trait
constructs and offers theoretical guidance for future studies, introducing a
much-needed ground for cumulative tradition within this stream. Keywords: Trait hierarchy; Web utilization; IT-specific traits; Personality; Individual differences | |||
| When do online shoppers appreciate security enhancement efforts? Effects of financial risk and security level on evaluations of customer authentication | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 364-376 | |
| Jong-Eun Roselyn Lee; Shailendra Rao; Clifford Nass; Karin Forssell; Jae Min John | |||
| As the popularity of online shopping grows, concerns about identity theft
and fraud are increasing. While stronger customer authentication procedures may
provide greater protection and thus benefit customers and retailers, security
is often traded off against convenience. To provide insight into this
security-convenience trade-off in customer authentication, we experimentally
investigated how levels of authentication security and financial risk factors
affect perception and evaluation of authentication systems in two contexts:
security questions (Experiment 1) and card security codes (Experiment 2).
Experiment 1, which examined the effects of security level and product price as
a financial risk factor, showed that authentication procedures based on
higher-level security tended to be perceived as significantly less convenient
and more frustrating. Interestingly, participants rated the higher-level
security system (i.e., asking more demanding challenge questions) as less
convenient and more frustrating when the amount involved in the transactions
was higher. Experiment 2, which introduced consumer liability for fraudulent
activities as an additional financial risk factor, showed that participants
gave more positive ratings of the higher-level security system under full
liability than under zero liability. Taken together, the present research
suggests that patterns of security-convenience trade-offs reflecting consumers'
perception and appreciation of authentication technologies may vary depending
on the characteristics of financial risk factors involved in the transaction
process. Keywords: Online shopping; Electronic commerce; Online security; Authentication; Security -- convenience trade-off | |||
| Gaze tutor: A gaze-reactive intelligent tutoring system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 377-398 | |
| Sidney D'Mello; Andrew Olney; Claire Williams; Patrick Hays | |||
| We developed an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that aims to promote
engagement and learning by dynamically detecting and responding to students'
boredom and disengagement. The tutor uses a commercial eye tracker to monitor a
student's gaze patterns and identify when the student is bored, disengaged, or
is zoning out. The tutor then attempts to reengage the student with dialog
moves that direct the student to reorient his or her attentional patterns
towards the animated pedagogical agent embodying the tutor. We evaluated the
efficacy of the gaze-reactive tutor in promoting learning, motivation, and
engagement in a controlled experiment where 48 students were tutored on four
biology topics with both gaze-reactive and non-gaze-reactive (control
condition) versions of the tutor. The results indicated that: (a)
gaze-sensitive dialogs were successful in dynamically reorienting students'
attentional patterns to the important areas of the interface, (b)
gaze-reactivity was effective in promoting learning gains for questions that
required deep reasoning, (c) gaze-reactivity had minimal impact on students'
state motivation and on self-reported engagement, and (d) individual
differences in scholastic aptitude moderated the impact of gaze-reactivity on
overall learning gains. We discuss the implications of our findings,
limitations, future work, and consider the possibility of using gaze-reactive
ITSs in classrooms. Keywords: Affective computing; Affect-sensitive ITS; Boredom; Disengagement; Eye tracking; Gaze-sensitive dialogs; Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs); Zoning out | |||
| Visual momentum redux | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 399-414 | |
| Kevin B. Bennett; John M. Flach | |||
| Over 25 years ago Woods (1984) introduced the concept of visual momentum:
the extent to which an interface supports a practitioner in transitioning
between various information-seeking activities that are required for
understanding and exploring work domains. Increasing visual momentum requires
the consideration of a range of "cognitive couplings' that span all levels of
the interface: between multiple screens, within individual screens, and within
a display on a screen. Although the concept has been well received, we believe
that its potential to improve the quality of human computer interaction may be
under-appreciated. Our purpose in this review is to provide a better
understanding of visual momentum: to provide concrete and diverse examples of
its successful application, to review empirical findings, to refine and expand
the original design techniques that were proposed, and to integrate diverse
terms that appear across different research communities. Keywords: Visual momentum; Cognitive systems engineering; Long shot; Focus+context; Overview+detail; Fish eye views; Center surround; Landmarks; Ecological interface design | |||
| Rational security: Modelling everyday password use | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 415-431 | |
| Geoffrey B. Duggan; Hilary Johnson; Beate Grawemeyer | |||
| To inform the design of security policy, task models of password behaviour
were constructed for different user groups -- Computer Scientists,
Administrative Staff and Students. These models identified internal and
external constraints on user behaviour and the goals for password use within
each group. Data were drawn from interviews and diaries of password use.
Analyses indicated password security positively correlated with the sensitivity
of the task, differences in frequency of password use were related to password
security and patterns of password reuse were related to knowledge of security.
Modelling revealed Computer Scientists viewed information security as part of
their tasks and passwords provided a way of completing their work. By contrast,
Admin and Student groups viewed passwords as a cost incurred when accessing the
primary task. Differences between the models were related to differences in
password security and used to suggest six recommendations for security officers
to consider when setting password policy. Keywords: Password; Security; Task modelling; Rationality | |||
| An assessment of email and spontaneous dialog visualizations | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 432-449 | |
| Marcus A. Butavicius; Michael D. Lee; Brandon M. Pincombe; Louise G. Mullen; Daniel J. Navarro; Kathryn M. Parsons; Agata McCormac | |||
| Two experiments were conducted examining the effectiveness of visualizations
of unstructured texts. The first experiment presented transcriptions of
unrehearsed dialog and the second used emails. Both experiments showed an
advantage in overall performance for semantically structured two-dimensional
(2D) spatialized layouts, such as multidimensional scaling (MDS), over
structured and non-structured list displays. The second experiment also
demonstrated that this advantage is not simply due to the 2D nature of the
display, but the combination of 2D display and the semantic structure
underpinning it. Without this structure, performance fell to that of a Random
List of documents. The effect of document type in this study and in Butavicius
and Lee's (2007) study on visualizations of news articles may be partly
described by a change in bias on a speed-accuracy trade-off. At one extreme,
users were accurate but slow in answering questions based on the dialog texts
while, at the other extreme, users were fast but relatively inaccurate when
responding to queries about emails. Similarly, users could respond accurately
using the non-structured list interface; however, this was at the cost of very
long response times and was associated with a technique whereby participants
navigated by clicking on neighboring document representations. Implications of
these findings for real-world applications are discussed. Keywords: Data visualization; Multidimensional scaling; Isomap; Empirical evaluation; Human -- computer interaction; Email; Spontaneous dialog | |||
| Engineering trust alignment: Theory, method and experimentation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 450-473 | |
| Andrew Koster; Marco Schorlemmer; Jordi Sabater-Mir | |||
| In open multi-agent systems trust models are an important tool for agents to
achieve effective interactions. However, in these kinds of open systems, the
agents do not necessarily use the same, or even similar, trust models, leading
to semantic differences between trust evaluations in the different agents.
Hence, to successfully use communicated trust evaluations, the agents need to
align their trust models. We explicate that currently proposed solutions, such
as common ontologies or ontology alignment methods, lead to additional problems
and propose a novel approach. We show how the trust alignment can be formed by
considering the interactions that agents share and describe a mathematical
framework to formulate precisely how the interactions support trust evaluations
for both agents. We show how this framework can be used in the alignment
process and explain how an alignment should be learned. Finally, we demonstrate
this alignment process in practice, using a first-order regression algorithm,
to learn an alignment and test it in an example scenario. Keywords: Alignment; Channel theory; Regression; Trust | |||
| Exploring User Experience (UX) in virtual learning environments | | BIB | Full-Text | 475-477 | |
| Panagiotis Zaharias; Brad Mehlenbacher | |||
| Evaluating user experience of adaptive digital educational games with Activity Theory | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 478-497 | |
| Effie Lai-Chong Law; Xu Sun | |||
| Adaptive digital educational games (DEGs) providing players with relevant
interventions can enhance gameplay experience. This advance in game design,
however, renders the user experience (UX) evaluation of DEGs even more
challenging. To tackle this challenge, we developed a four-dimension evaluation
framework (i.e., gaming experience, learning experience, adaptivity, and
usability) and applied it to an empirical study with a DEG on teaching
geography. Mixed-method approaches were adopted to collect data with 16 boys
aged 10-11. Specifically, a so-called Dyadic User Experience Tests (DUxT) was
employed; participants were paired up to assume different roles during
gameplay. Learning efficacy was evaluated with a pre-post intervention
measurement using a domain-specific questionnaire. Learning experience, gaming
experiences and usability were evaluated with intensive in situ observations
and interviews guided by a multidimensional scheme; content analysis of these
transcribed audio data was supplemented by video analysis. Effectiveness of
adaptivity algorithms was planned to be evaluated with automatic logfiles,
which, unfortunately, could not be realised due to some technical problem.
Nonetheless, the user-based data could offer some insights into this issue.
Furthermore, we attempted to bridge the existing gap in UX research -- the lack
of theoretical frameworks in understanding user experience -- by adopting
Engeström's (1987) extended framework of Activity Theory (AT) that
provides contextual information essential for understanding contradictions and
breakdowns observed in the interactions between the game players. The dyadic
gameplay setting allows us to explore the issue of group UX. Implications for
further applications of the AT framework in the UX research, especially the
interplay between evaluation and redesign (i.e., downstream utility of UX
evaluation methods), are discussed. Keywords: User experience; Digital educational game; Adaptivity; Usability; Activity Theory; Contradictions; Breakdowns; Downstream utility | |||
| Perceived fit and satisfaction on web learning performance: IS continuance intention and task-technology fit perspectives | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 498-507 | |
| Wen-Shan Lin | |||
| Virtual learning system (VLS) is an information system that facilitates
e-learning have been widely implemented by higher education institutions to
support face-to-face teaching and self-managed learning in the virtual learning
and education environment (VLE). This is referred to a blended learning
instruction. By adopting the VLS, students are expected to enhance learning by
getting access to course-related information and having full opportunities to
interact with instructors and peers. However, there are mixed findings revealed
in the literature with respect to the learning outcomes in adopting VLS. In
this study, we argue that the link between the precedents of leading students
to continue to use VLSs and their impacts on learning effectiveness and
productivity are overlooked in the literature. This paper aims to tackle this
question by integrating information system (IS) continuance theory with
task-technology fit (TTF) to extend our understandings of the precedents of the
intention to continue VLS and their impacts on learning. By doing it, factors
of technology-acceptance-to-performance, based on TAM (technology acceptance
model) and TTF and post-technology-acceptance, based on expectation --
confirmation theory, models can be included to test in one study. The results
reveal that perceived fit and satisfaction are important precedents of the
intention to continue VLS and individual performance. Later, a discussion and
conclusions are provided. This study sheds light on learning system design as
assisted by IS in VLE and can serve as a basis for promoting VLS in assisting
learning. Keywords: Perceived fit; Satisfaction; Continuance intention; Virtual learning system (VLS); Virtual learning and education environment (VLE) | |||
| Investigating user experience in Second Life for collaborative learning | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 508-525 | |
| Alistair Sutcliffe; Amal Alrayes | |||
| Two studies on collaborative learning in Second Life are reported. The first
is an ecological study of Second Life used in an undergraduate class, by
observation, interviews, and limit surveys. Use of Second Life motivated
students with good user experience, although they viewed it as a games
technology. Second Life was used to prepare virtual meetings and presentations
but not for online discussion, with Blackboard and especially Facebook
providing collaborative support. In the second experimental study, the
effectiveness and user experience with Second Life and Blackboard were
compared, including a face-to-face control condition. There were no performance
differences overall, although face-to-face was quicker and was preferred by
users, followed by Blackboard and Second Life. Blackboard was perceived to be
more usable, whereas Second Life provided a better user experience. Worst
performance was indicated by dislike of avatar interaction in Second Life, and
poor user experience in Blackboard, whereas better performance was associated
with engagement with avatars, and better usability in Blackboard. The results
of both studies are reviewed using Salmon's model for online learning,
suggesting that Second Life helped motivation and socialisation stages,
although integration with other technologies is necessary for knowledge
construction. Preliminary guidelines are proposed for configuration and
management of Second Life in collaborative learning. The affordances for
collaboration in virtual worlds are discussed, with reflections on user
experience and functional support provided by Second Life, as an exemplar of a
virtual world for collaborative learning support. Keywords: Collaborative problem solving and learning; User experience; Affordances | |||
| Distinguishing first-line defaults and second-line conceptualization in reasoning about humans, robots, and computers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 527-534 | |
| Daniel T. Levin; Megan M. Saylor; Simon D. Lynn | |||
| In the previous research, we demonstrated that people distinguish between
human and nonhuman intelligence by assuming that humans are more likely to
engage in intentional goal-directed behaviors than computers or robots. In the
present study, we tested whether participants who respond relatively quickly
when making predictions about an entity are more or less likely to distinguish
between human and nonhuman agents on the dimension of intentionality.
Participants responded to a series of five scenarios in which they chose
between intentional and nonintentional actions for a human, a computer, and a
robot. Results indicated that participants who chose quickly were more likely
to distinguish human and nonhuman agents than participants who deliberated more
over their responses. We suggest that the short-response time participants were
employing a first-line default to distinguish between human intentionality and
more mechanical nonhuman behavior, and that the slower, more deliberative
participants engaged in deeper second-line reasoning that led them to change
their predictions for the behavior of a human agent. Keywords: Human-robot interaction; Theory of mind | |||
| A taxonomy of representation strategies in iconic communication | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 535-551 | |
| Carlos Nakamura; Qing Zeng-Treitler | |||
| Predicting whether the intended audience will be able to recognize the
meaning of an icon or pictograph is not an easy task. Many icon recognition
studies have been conducted in the past. However, their findings cannot be
generalized to other icons that were not included in the study, which, we
argue, is their main limitation. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive
taxonomy of icons that is intended to enable the generalization of the findings
of recognition studies. To accomplish this, we analyzed a sample of more than
eight hundred icons according to three axes: lexical category, semantic
category, and representation strategy. Three basic representation strategies
were identified: visual similarity; semantic association; and arbitrary
convention. These representation strategies are in agreement with the
strategies identified in previous taxonomies. However, a greater number of
subcategories of these strategies were identified. Our results also indicate
that the lexical and semantic attributes of a concept influence the choice of
representation strategy. Keywords: Icon; Pictograph; Pictogram; Iconic communication; Pictorial communication; Taxonomy | |||
| Detecting system failures from durations and binary cues | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 552-560 | |
| Nir Shahar; Joachim Meyer; Michael Hildebrandt; Vered Rafaely | |||
| Durations are often used to judge the status of an invisible process.
However, the apparent duration of an interval depends on the actual duration
and on other variables, such as the workload during the interval and the
person's expectations. An experiment dealt with the use of durations as an
information source on the state of an invisible process and the effects of
expectations and workload on decisions regarding the process. Eighty-nine
participants observed a computerized simulation of a process which could be
either intact or faulty, with intact processes ending on average sooner than
faulty ones, and they had to indicate whether or not the process is intact and
to estimate its duration. A binary cue with either intermediate or no validity
indicated whether the process was supposedly intact or not, generating
expectations about the duration of the process. Perceived durations and the
decisions about the intactness of a process depended on the actual process
duration, as well as on the expectations generated by the binary cue. In
addition, task workload affected time estimates, but it had no effect on
participants' tendency to adhere to cue recommendations or their ability to
distinguish between intact and faulty processes. Results show that users'
duration-based decisions about the status of a computerized process are
affected by internal and external cues. While users can use durations as an
information source, they should, whenever possible, be accompanied by
additional indicators, lowering the inherent uncertainty in the duration
estimation process. Keywords: Failure detection; Signal detection theory; Time estimation; Apparent duration; Categorization decisions; Decision making | |||
| The Immersive Virtual Environment of the digital fulldome: Considerations of relevant psychological processes | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 561-575 | |
| Simone Schnall; Craig Hedge; Ruth Weaver | |||
| One of the most recent additions to the range of Immersive Virtual
Environments has been the digital fulldome. However, not much empirical
research has been conducted to explore its potential and benefits over other
types of presentation formats. In this review we provide a framework within
which to examine the properties of fulldome environments and compare them to
those of other existing immersive digital environments. We review the
state-of-the-art of virtual reality technology, and then survey core areas of
psychology relevant to experiences in the fulldome, including visual
perception, attention, memory, social factors and individual differences.
Building on the existing research within these domains, we propose potential
directions for empirical investigation that highlight the great potential of
the fulldome in teaching, learning and research. Keywords: Digital fulldome; Immersive Virtual Environment; Virtual reality; Presence; Immersion; Psychology; Learning | |||
| Using auditory event-related EEG potentials to assess presence in virtual reality | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 577-587 | |
| Silvia Erika Kober; Christa Neuper | |||
| The feeling of presence in a virtual reality (VR) is a concept without a
standardized objective measurement. In the present study, we used event-related
brain potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) elicited by tones,
which are not related to VR, as an objective indicator for the presence
experience within a virtual environment. Forty participants navigated through a
virtual city and rated their sensation of being in the VR (experience of
presence), while hearing frequent standard tones and infrequent deviant tones,
which were irrelevant for the VR task. Different ERP components elicited by the
tones were compared between participants experiencing a high level of presence
and participants with a low feeling of presence in the virtual city. Early ERP
components, which are more linked to automatic stimulus processing, showed no
correlation with presence experience. In contrast, an increased presence
experience was associated with decreased late negative slow wave amplitudes,
which are associated with central stimulus processing and allocation of
attentional resources. This result supports the assumption that increased
presence is associated with a strong allocation of attentional resources to the
VR, which leads to a decrease of attentional resources available for processing
VR-irrelevant stimuli. Hence, ERP components elicited by the tones are reduced.
Particularly, frontal negative slow waves turned out to be accurate predictors
for presence experience. Summarizing, late ERPs elicited by VR-irrelevant tones
differ as a function of presence experience in VR and provide a valuable method
for measuring presence in VR. Keywords: Event-related potentials; Spatial presence; Measuring presence; Virtual reality; Attention allocation; VR-irrelevant stimuli | |||
| Realistic electronic books | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 588-610 | |
| Veronica Liesaputra; Ian H. Witten | |||
| We describe a software book model that emulates a range of properties
associated with physical books -- analog page turning, visual location cues,
bookmarks and annotations -- and, furthermore, incorporates many advantages of
digital environments -- hyperlinks, multimedia, full-text search, automatic
identification of synonyms, cross-referencing of key terms with an online
encyclopedia, and an automatically generated back-of-the-book index. Usability
studies were conducted to compare performance using these books for various
reading tasks with HTML, PDF and physical books. Participants completed the
tasks more efficiently with the new interface without any loss in accuracy;
they also preferred it. Keywords: Within-document navigation; Within-document search; Usability studies; Wikipedia; Electronic book | |||
| Cross-cultural assessment of automatically generated multimodal referring expressions in a virtual world | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 611-629 | |
| Ielka van der Sluis; Saturnino Luz; Werner Breitfuß; Mitsuru Ishizuka; Helmut Prendinger | |||
| This paper presents an assessment of automatically generated multimodal
referring expressions as produced by embodied conversational agents in a
virtual world. The algorithm used for this purpose employs general principles
of human motor control and cooperativity in dialogues that can be parameterised
so as to vary the precision of the pointing gestures and the amount of
linguistic information included in the referring expressions. The study
assessed how native speakers of English and Japanese perceived three different
algorithmic outputs for multimodal referring behaviour in terms of
understandability, human-likeness and a social practice (selling). Results show
that users generally prefer mobile agents that are economical in their
linguistic descriptions to stationary verbose agents. They also show the need
for further calibration of the algorithm to accommodate the differences between
the two groups. In addition to the detailed description of the set up and
results of the study, the paper discusses implications for the design and use
of agents, methodological issues that arose while conducting the cross-cultural
study and directions for future work. Keywords: Perception of multimodal referring expressions; Virtual worlds; Dialogue; Translation; Cross-cultural differences | |||
| A cognitive-experiential approach to modelling web navigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 630-651 | |
| Paul van Schaik; Jonathan Ling | |||
| Flow experience, the degree to which a person feels involved in a particular
activity, is an important influence on human -- computer interaction. Building
on Guo and Poole's (2009) model of flow experience in Web navigation, and van
Schaik and Ling's (in press) cognitive-experiential approach to modelling
interaction experience, this research demonstrates the crucial role of the
preconditions of flow experience in human -- computer interaction. In an
experiment, the preconditions of flow experience -- but not flow experience
proper -- mediated the effects of artefact complexity, task complexity and
intrinsic motivation (as a situation-specific trait) on both flow and task
outcome. However, preconditions did not predict overall artefact evaluation.
Within a staged model of flow experience, the broader implications of this work
for human -- computer interaction are explored. Keywords: User-experience; Model; Flow experience; Cognition; Partial least squares | |||
| Developing, evaluating and deploying multi-touch systems | | BIB | Full-Text | 653-656 | |
| Shamus P. Smith; Elizabeth Burd; Jochen Rick | |||
| Establishing a baseline for text entry for a multi-touch virtual keyboard | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 657-672 | |
| Paul D. Varcholik; Joseph J., Jr. LaViola; Charles E. Hughes | |||
| Multi-touch, which has been heralded as a revolution in human -- computer
interaction, provides features such as gestural interaction, tangible
interfaces, pen-based computing, and interface customization -- features
embraced by an increasingly tech-savvy public. However, multi-touch platforms
have not been adopted as "everyday' computer interaction devices that support
important text entry intensive applications such as word processing and
spreadsheets. In this paper, we present two studies that begin to explore user
performance and experience with entering text using a multi-touch input. The
first study establishes a benchmark for text entry performance on a multi-touch
platform across input modes that compare uppercase-only to mixed-case,
single-touch to multi-touch and copy to memorization tasks. The second study
includes mouse style interaction for formatting rich text to simulate a word
processing task using multi-touch input. As expected, our results show that
users do not perform as well in terms of text entry efficiency and speed using
a multi-touch interface as with a traditional keyboard. Not as expected was the
result that degradation in performance was significantly less for memorization
versus copy tasks, and consequently willingness to use multi-touch was
substantially higher (50% versus 26%) in the former case. Our results, which
include preferred input styles of participants, also provide a baseline for
further research to explore techniques for improving text entry performance on
multi-touch systems. Keywords: Multi-touch; Text entry; Speed; Accuracy; Text intensive applications | |||
| Design and evaluation of finger-count interaction: Combining multitouch gestures and menus | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 673-689 | |
| Gilles Bailly; Jörg Müller; Eric Lecolinet | |||
| Selecting commands on multi-touch displays is still a challenging problem.
While a number of gestural vocabularies have been proposed, these are generally
restricted to one or two fingers or can be difficult to learn. We introduce
Finger-Count gestures, a coherent set of multi-finger and two-handed gestures.
Finger-Count gestures are simple, robust, expressive and fast to perform. In
order to make these gestures self-revealing and easy to learn, we propose the
Finger-Count menu, a menu technique and teaching method for implicitly learning
Finger-Count gestures. We discuss the properties, advantages and limitations of
Finger-Count interaction from the gesture and menu technique perspectives as
well as its integration into three applications. We present alternative designs
to increase the number of commands and to enable multi-user scenarios.
Following a study which shows that Finger-Count is as easy to learn as radial
menus, we report the results of an evaluation investigating which gestures are
easier to learn and which finger chords people prefer. Finally, we present
Finger-Count for in-the-air gestures. Thereby, the same gesture set can be used
from a distance as well as when touching the surface. Keywords: Menu techniques; Multi-touch; Multi-finger interaction; Two-handed interaction | |||
| MultiPoint: Comparing laser and manual pointing as remote input in large display interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 690-702 | |
| Amartya Banerjee; Jesse Burstyn; Audrey Girouard; Roel Vertegaal | |||
| We present MultiPoint, a set of perspective-based remote pointing techniques
that allows users to perform bimanual and multi-finger remote manipulation of
graphical objects on large displays. We conducted two empirical studies that
compared remote pointing techniques performed using fingers and laser pointers,
in single and multi-finger pointing interactions. We explored three types of
manual selection gestures: squeeze, breach and trigger. The fastest and most
preferred technique was the trigger gesture in the single point experiment and
the unimanual breach gesture in the multi-finger pointing study. The laser
pointer obtained mixed results: it is fast, but inaccurate in single point, and
it obtained the lowest ranking and performance in the multipoint experiment.
Our results suggest MultiPoint interaction techniques are superior in
performance and accuracy to traditional laser pointers for interacting with
graphical objects on a large display from a distance. Keywords: Multi-touch; Remote interaction; Large display; Input device; Interaction technique | |||
| Scaling up multi-touch selection and querying: Interfaces and applications for combining mobile multi-touch input with large-scale visualization displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 703-713 | |
| Daniel F. Keefe; Ankit Gupta; Daniel Feldman; John V. Carlis; Susi Krehbiel Keefe; Timothy J. Griffin | |||
| We present a mobile multi-touch interface for selecting, querying, and
visually exploring data visualized on large, high-resolution displays. Although
emerging large (e.g., 10 m wide), high-resolution displays provide great
potential for visualizing dense, complex datasets, their utility is often
limited by a fundamental interaction problem -- the need to interact with data
from multiple positions around a large room. Our solution is a selection and
querying interface that combines a hand-held multi-touch device with 6
degree-of-freedom tracking in the physical space that surrounds the large
display. The interface leverages context from both the user's physical position
in the room and the current data being visualized in order to interpret
multi-touch gestures. It also utilizes progressive refinement, favoring several
quick approximate gestures as opposed to a single complex input in order to
most effectively map the small mobile multi-touch input space to the large
display wall. The approach is evaluated through two interdisciplinary
visualization applications: a multi-variate data visualization for social
scientists, and a visual database querying tool for biochemistry. The interface
was effective in both scenarios, leading to new domain-specific insights and
suggesting valuable guidance for future developers. Keywords: Multi-touch; Progressive refinement; 3D user interface; Mobile device; 3D tracking; Ray casting; Selection | |||
| Semiotic analysis of multi-touch interface design: The MuTable case study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 714-728 | |
| Jan Derboven; Dries De Roeck; Mathijs Verstraete | |||
| Although multi-touch applications and user interfaces have become
increasingly common in the last few years, there is no agreed-upon multi-touch
user interface language yet. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the
design of multi-touch user interfaces, this paper presents semiotic analysis of
multi-touch applications as an interesting approach to gain deeper
understanding of the way users use and understand multi-touch interfaces. In a
case study example, user tests of a multi-touch tabletop application platform
called MuTable are analysed with the Communicability Evaluation Method to
evaluate to what extent users understand the intended messages (e.g., cues
about interaction and functionality) the MuTable platform communicates. The
semiotic analysis of this case study shows that although multi-touch interfaces
can facilitate user exploration, the lack of well-known standards in
multi-touch interface design and in the use of gestures makes the user
interface difficult to use and interpret. This conclusion points to the
importance of the elusive balance between letting users explore multi-touch
systems on their own on one hand, and guiding users, explaining how to use and
interpret the user interface, on the other. Keywords: Multi-touch; Tabletops; User studies; Semiotics; Evaluation | |||
| Assessing the effectiveness of direct gesture interaction for a safety critical maritime application | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 729-745 | |
| Frøy Birte Bjørneseth; Mark D. Dunlop; Eva Hornecker | |||
| Multi-touch interaction, in particular multi-touch gesture interaction, is
widely believed to give a more natural interaction style. We investigated the
utility of multi-touch interaction in the safety critical domain of maritime
dynamic positioning (DP) vessels. We conducted initial paper prototyping with
domain experts to gain an insight into natural gestures; we then conducted
observational studies aboard a DP vessel during operational duties and two
rounds of formal evaluation of prototypes -- the second on a motion platform
ship simulator. Despite following a careful user-centred design process, the
final results show that traditional touch-screen button and menu interaction
was quicker and less erroneous than gestures. Furthermore, the moving
environment accentuated this difference and we observed initial use problems
and handedness asymmetries on some multi-touch gestures. On the positive side,
our results showed that users were able to suspend gestural interaction more
naturally, thus improving situational awareness. Keywords: Gestural interaction; Multi-touch interaction; User studies; Prototypes; Safety-critical situations | |||
| The design, development, and deployment of a tabletop interface for collaborative exploration of genomic data | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 746-764 | |
| O. Shaer; M. Strait; C. Valdes; H. Wang; T. Feng; M. Lintz; M. Ferreirae; C. Grote; K. Tempel; S. Liu | |||
| In this paper, we reflect on the design, development, and deployment of
G-nome Surfer; a multi-touch tabletop user interface for collaborative
exploration of genomic data. G-nome Surfer lowers the threshold for using
advanced bioinformatics tools, reduces the mental workload associated with
manipulating genomic information, and fosters effective collaboration. We
describe our two-year-long effort from design strategy to iterations of design,
development, and evaluation. This paper presents four main contributions: (1) a
set of design requirements for supporting collaborative exploration in
data-intensive domains, (2) the design, implementation, and validation of a
multi-touch tabletop interface for collaborative exploration, (3) a methodology
for evaluating the strengths and limitations of tabletop interaction for
collaborative exploration, and (4) empirical evidence for the feasibility and
value of integrating tabletop interaction in college-level education. Keywords: Tabletop interaction; Multi-touch interaction; Bioinformatics; Reality-based interaction; Genome browser; Collaborative learning | |||
| The conceptual framing, design and evaluation of device ecologies for collaborative activities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 765-779 | |
| Tim Coughlan; Trevor D. Collins; Anne Adams; Yvonne Rogers; Pablo A. Haya; Estefanía Martín | |||
| A variety of computing technologies, in addition to the personal computer,
are now commonly used in many settings. As networking infrastructures mature,
it is increasingly feasible and affordable to consider closer integration and
use of these heterogeneous devices in tandem. However, little is known about
how best to design or evaluate such 'device ecologies'; in particular, how best
to combine devices to achieve a desired type of collaborative user experience.
A central concern is how users switch their attention between devices, to
utilize the various elements to best effect. We describe here the development
of an ecology of devices for groups of students to use when engaged in
collaborative inquiry-learning activities. This included a multi-touch
tabletop, laptops, projections, video streams and telephone. In situ studies of
students and tutors using it in three different settings showed how individuals
and groups switched their foci between the multiple devices. We present our
findings, using a novel method for analysing users' transitions between foci,
identifying patterns and emergent characteristics. We then discuss the
importance of designing for transitions that enable groups to appropriately
utilise an ecology of devices, using the concepts of seams, bridges, niches and
focal character. Keywords: Collaboration; Device ecology; Foci of attention; Collaborative learning; Multi-touch; Tabletop; Seams | |||
| Towards perceptual fidelity: Slant perception in real and interactive virtual environments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 781-793 | |
| Nicholaos Mourkoussis; Fiona Rivera; Tom Troscianko; Rycharde Hawkes; Phil L. Watten; Katerina Mania | |||
| An innovative motoric measure of slant based on gait is proposed as the
angle between the foot and the walking surface during walking. This work
investigates whether the proposed action-based measure is affected by factors
such as material and inclination of the walking surface. Experimental studies
were conducted in a real environment set-up and in its virtual simulation
counterpart evaluating behavioural fidelity and user performance in
ecologically-valid simulations. In the real environment, the measure slightly
overestimated the inclined path whereas in the virtual environment it slightly
underestimated the inclined path. The results imply that the proposed slant
measure is modulated by motoric caution. Since the "reality' of the synthetic
environment was relatively high, performance results should have revealed the
same degree of caution as in the real world, however, that was not the case.
People become more cautious when the ground plane was steep, slippery, or
virtual. Keywords: Simulation engineering; Human factors; Perceptual computer graphics | |||
| The role of visual complexity and prototypicality regarding first impression of websites: Working towards understanding aesthetic judgments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 794-811 | |
| Alexandre N. Tuch; Eva E. Presslaber; Markus Stöcklin; Klaus Opwis; Javier A. Bargas-Avila | |||
| This paper experimentally investigates the role of visual complexity (VC)
and prototypicality (PT) as design factors of websites, shaping users' first
impressions by means of two studies. In the first study, 119 screenshots of
real websites varying in VC (low vs. medium vs. high) and PT (low vs. high)
were rated on perceived aesthetics. Screenshot presentation time was varied as
a between-subject factor (50 ms vs. 500 ms vs. 1000 ms). Results reveal that VC
and PT affect participants' aesthetics ratings within the first 50 ms of
exposure. In the second study presentation times were shortened to 17, 33 and
50 ms. Results suggest that VC and PT affect aesthetic perception even within
17 ms, though the effect of PT is less pronounced than the one of VC. With
increasing presentation time the effect of PT becomes as influential as the VC
effect. This supports the reasoning of the information-processing stage model
of aesthetic processing (Leder et al., 2004), where VC is processed at an
earlier stage than PT. Overall, websites with low VC and high PT were perceived
as highly appealing. Keywords: Web design; First impression; Visual complexity; Prototypicality; User experience; Website aesthetics | |||
| Unpacking the temporal advantage of distributing complex visual displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 812-827 | |
| Jooyoung Jang; Susan Bell Trickett; Christian D. Schunn; J. Gregory Trafton | |||
| Spatial arrangement of information can have large effects on problem
solving. Although such effects have been observed in various domains (e.g.,
instruction and interface designs), little is known about the cognitive
processing mechanisms underlying these effects, nor its applicability to
complex visual problem solving. In three experiments, we showed that the impact
of spatial arrangement of information on problem solving time can be
surprisingly large for complex real world tasks. It was also found that the
effect can be caused by large increases in slow, external information searches
(Experiment 1), that the spatial arrangement itself is the critical factor and
the effect is domain-general (Experiment 2a), and that the underlying mechanism
can involve micro-strategy selection for information encoding in a response to
differing information access cost (Experiment 2b). Overall, these studies show
a large slowdown effect (i.e., approximately 30%) that stacking information
produces over spatially distributed information, and multiple paths by which
this effect can be produced. Keywords: Information display; Information access cost; Cognitive load theory; Proximity compatibility theory | |||
| Virtual grasp release method and evaluation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 828-848 | |
| Mores Prachyabrued; Christoph W. Borst | |||
| We address a "sticking object' problem for the release of whole-hand virtual
grasps. The problem occurs when grasping techniques require fingers to be moved
outside an object's boundaries after a user's (real) fingers interpenetrate
virtual objects due to a lack of physical motion constraints. This may be
especially distracting for grasp techniques that introduce mismatches between
tracked and visual hand configurations to visually prevent interpenetration.
Our method includes heuristic analysis of finger motion and a transient
incremental motion metaphor to manage a virtual hand during grasp release. We
integrate the method into a spring model for whole-hand virtual grasping to
maintain the physically-based pickup and manipulation behavior of such models.
We show that the new spring model improves release speed and accuracy based on
pick-and-drop, targeted ball-drop, and cube-alignment experiments. In contrast
to a standard spring-based grasping method, measured release quality does not
depend notably on object size. Users subjectively prefer the new approach and
it can be tuned to avoid potential side effects such as increased drops or
visual distractions. We further investigated a convergence speed parameter to
find the subjectively good range and to better understand tradeoffs in
subjective artifacts on the continuum between pure incremental motion and
rubber-band-like convergence behavior. Keywords: Interaction techniques; Virtual reality; Virtual grasping; Grasp release | |||
| Reconstructing experiences with iScale | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 849-865 | |
| Evangelos Karapanos; Jean-Bernard Martens; Marc Hassenzahl | |||
| We present iScale, a survey tool for the retrospective elicitation of
longitudinal user experience data. iScale aims to minimize retrospection bias
and employs graphing to impose a process during the reconstruction of one's
experiences. Two versions, the constructive and the value-account iScale, were
motivated by two distinct theories on how people reconstruct emotional
experiences from memory. These two versions were tested in two separate
studies. Study 1 aimed at providing qualitative insight into the use of iScale
and compared its performance to that of free-hand graphing. Study 2 compared
the two versions of iScale to free recall, a control condition that does not
impose structure on the reconstruction process. Overall, iScale resulted in an
increase in the amount, the richness, and the test -- retest consistency of
recalled information as compared to free recall. These results provide support
for the viability of retrospective techniques as a cost-effective alternative
to longitudinal studies. Keywords: User experience evaluation; Retrospective elicitation; Longitudinal methods | |||
| A paradigm for handwriting-based intelligent tutors | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 866-887 | |
| Lisa Anthony; Jie Yang; Kenneth R. Koedinger | |||
| This paper presents the interaction design of, and demonstration of
technical feasibility for, intelligent tutoring systems that can accept
handwriting input from students. Handwriting and pen input offer several
affordances for students that traditional typing-based interactions do not. To
illustrate these affordances, we present evidence, from tutoring mathematics,
that the ability to enter problem solutions via pen input enables students to
record algebraic equations more quickly, more smoothly (fewer errors), and with
increased transfer to non-computer-based tasks. Furthermore our evidence shows
that students tend to like pen input for these types of problems more than
typing. However, a clear downside to introducing handwriting input into
intelligent tutors is that the recognition of such input is not reliable. In
our work, we have found that handwriting input is more likely to be useful and
reliable when context is considered, for example, the context of the problem
being solved. We present an intelligent tutoring system for algebra equation
solving via pen-based input that is able to use context to decrease recognition
errors by 18% and to reduce recognition error recovery interactions to occur on
one out of every four problems. We applied user-centered design principles to
reduce the negative impact of recognition errors in the following ways: (1)
though students handwrite their problem-solving process, they type their final
answer to reduce ambiguity for tutoring purposes, and (2) in the small number
of cases in which the system must involve the student in recognition error
recovery, the interaction focuses on identifying the student's problem-solving
error to keep the emphasis on tutoring. Many potential recognition errors can
thus be ignored and distracting interactions are avoided. This work can inform
the design of future systems for students using pen and sketch input for math
or other topics by motivating the use of context and pragmatics to decrease the
impact of recognition errors and put user focus on the task at hand. Keywords: Intelligent tutoring systems; Pen input; Handwriting recognition; Mathematics; Cognitive tutors; Interaction design; Human-computer interaction; Educational technology | |||
| Generating phenotypical erroneous human behavior to evaluate human -- automation interaction using model checking | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 888-906 | |
| Matthew L. Bolton; Ellen J. Bass; Radu I. Siminiceanu | |||
| Breakdowns in complex systems often occur as a result of system elements
interacting in unanticipated ways. In systems with human operators, human --
automation interaction associated with both normative and erroneous human
behavior can contribute to such failures. Model-driven design and analysis
techniques provide engineers with formal methods tools and techniques capable
of evaluating how human behavior can contribute to system failures. This paper
presents a novel method for automatically generating task analytic models
encompassing both normative and erroneous human behavior from normative task
models. The generated erroneous behavior is capable of replicating Hollnagel's
zero-order phenotypes of erroneous action for omissions, jumps, repetitions,
and intrusions. Multiple phenotypical acts can occur in sequence, thus allowing
for the generation of higher order phenotypes. The task behavior model pattern
capable of generating erroneous behavior can be integrated into a formal system
model so that system safety properties can be formally verified with a model
checker. This allows analysts to prove that a human -- automation interactive
system (as represented by the model) will or will not satisfy safety properties
with both normative and generated erroneous human behavior. We present
benchmarks related to the size of the statespace and verification time of
models to show how the erroneous human behavior generation process scales. We
demonstrate the method with a case study: the operation of a radiation therapy
machine. A potential problem resulting from a generated erroneous human action
is discovered. A design intervention is presented which prevents this problem
from occurring. We discuss how our method could be used to evaluate larger
applications and recommend future paths of development. Keywords: Human -- automation interaction; Model checking; Task analysis; Human error; Formal methods | |||
| Perceptions of web knowledge and usability: When sex and experience matter | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 907-919 | |
| Kelly L. Page; Matthew J. Robson; Mark D. Uncles | |||
| Web users are now a mixture of consumer and web designer. As such, the
context within which we are socialized about the web -- as both male and female
users -- moderates the relationship between what we think we know about it and
its usability to complete tasks. With online survey data from 2077 web users,
we empirically examine the relationship between user perceptions of web
knowledge (our confidence in what we think we know) and user beliefs about
usability of the web (how easy and useful we believe it to be). We include a
user's sex and their website design experience as important moderators on this
relationship. Results show a positive relationship between perceived web
knowledge and web usability, and under the context of website design
experience, more value is placed on the utility of the web, rather than on its
ease of use. This moderation effect is stronger for female than it is for male
web users. In summary, users with more confidence in their knowledge are more
oriented towards the utility of the web than how easy it is to harvest that
utility. Our work contributes to an understanding of the influence of the usage
context within which the knowledge and beliefs of male and female users are
socialized about web technology. Keywords: Perceived web knowledge; Perceived web usability; Usage context; Website design experience; Gender; Sex | |||
| Improving the controllability of tilt interaction for mobile map-based applications | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 920-935 | |
| Bradley Paul van Tonder; Janet Louise Wesson | |||
| This article proposes enhanced techniques for improving the controllability
of tilt interaction. Tilt interaction offers an intuitive, one-handed form of
interaction for mobile applications. Tilt interaction is particularly
well-suited to mobile map-based applications, where traditional mobile
interaction techniques suffer from several shortcomings. Current
implementations of tilt interaction, however, suffer from several shortcomings.
Existing zooming techniques used in conjunction with tilt interaction are often
difficult to control. Tilt-controlled panning can also be difficult to control
in a mobile context of use, where the user's walking motion affects the
accuracy of tilt interaction. The use of rate-controlled tilt interaction to
perform zooming is proposed. Two different approaches to sensitivity adaptation
are investigated, where the sensitivity of tilt-controlled panning is
automatically adjusted to compensate for the user's current context of use. A
usability study was conducted with thirty participants to evaluate the proposed
techniques. The results of the usability study showed that tilt zooming offered
better efficiency, user satisfaction and perceived workload than gesture
zooming. The use of a static dampening factor to compensate for walking motion
was found to provide actual and perceived controllability improvements. Keywords: Tilt interaction; Maps; Controllability; Adaptation | |||
| Audemes at work: Investigating features of non-speech sounds to maximize content recognition | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 936-966 | |
| Mexhid Ferati; Mark S. Pfaff; Steve Mannheimer; Davide Bolchini | |||
| To access interactive systems, blind users can leverage their auditory
senses by using non-speech sounds. The structure of existing non-speech sounds,
however, is geared toward conveying atomic operations at the user interface
(e.g., opening a file) rather than evoking broader, theme-based content typical
of educational material (e.g., an historical event). To address this problem,
we investigate audemes, a new category of non-speech sounds whose semiotic
structure and flexibility open new horizons for the aural interaction with
content-rich applications. Three experiments with blind participants examined
the attributes of an audeme that most facilitate the accurate recognition of
their meaning. A sequential concatenation of different sound types (music,
sound effect) yielded the highest meaning recognition, whereas an overlapping
arrangement of sounds of the same type (music, music) yielded the lowest
meaning recognition. We discuss seven guidelines to design well-formed audemes. Keywords: Audeme; Acoustic; Blind; Visually impaired; Non-speech sound; Recognition | |||
| Warn me now or inform me later: Drivers' acceptance of real-time and post-drive distraction mitigation systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 967-979 | |
| Shannon C. Roberts; Mahtab Ghazizadeh; John D. Lee | |||
| Vehicle crashes caused by driver distraction are of increasing concern. One
approach to reduce the number of these crashes mitigates distraction by giving
drivers feedback regarding their performance. For these mitigation systems to
be effective, drivers must trust and accept them. The objective of this study
was to evaluate real-time and post-drive mitigation systems designed to reduce
driver distraction. The real-time mitigation system used visual and auditory
warnings to alert the driver to distracting behavior. The post-drive mitigation
system coached drivers on their performance and encouraged social conformism by
comparing their performance to peers. A driving study with 36 participants
between the ages of 25 and 50 years old (M=34) was conducted using a
high-fidelity driving simulator. An extended Technology Acceptance Model
captured drivers' acceptance of mitigation systems using four constructs:
perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, unobtrusiveness, and behavioral
intention to use. Perceived ease of use was found to be the primary determinant
and perceived usefulness the secondary determinant of behavioral intention to
use, while the effect of unobtrusiveness on intention to use was fully mediated
by perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The real-time system was
more obtrusive and less easy to use than the post-drive system. Although this
study included a relatively narrow age range (25 to 50 years old), older
drivers found both systems more useful. These results suggest that informing
drivers with detailed information of their driving performance after driving is
more acceptable than warning drivers with auditory and visual alerts while
driving. Keywords: Driver distraction; Distraction mitigation; Feedback; Technology Acceptance Model | |||