| Socio-technical systems: From design methods to systems engineering | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 4-17 | |
| Gordon Baxter; Ian Sommerville | |||
| It is widely acknowledged that adopting a socio-technical approach to system
development leads to systems that are more acceptable to end users and deliver
better value to stakeholders. Despite this, such approaches are not widely
practised. We analyse the reasons for this, highlighting some of the problems
with the better known socio-technical design methods. Based on this analysis we
propose a new pragmatic framework for socio-technical systems engineering
(STSE) which builds on the (largely independent) research of groups
investigating work design, information systems, computer-supported cooperative
work, and cognitive systems engineering. STSE bridges the traditional gap
between organisational change and system development using two main types of
activity: sensitisation and awareness; and constructive engagement. From the
framework, we identify an initial set of interdisciplinary research problems
that address how to apply socio-technical approaches in a cost-effective way,
and how to facilitate the integration of STSE with existing systems and
software engineering approaches. Keywords: Socio-technical systems / Systems engineering / Software engineering | |||
| An integrated model of interaction experience for information retrieval in a Web-based encyclopaedia | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 18-32 | |
| Paul van Schaik; Jonathan Ling | |||
| An experiment, using two versions of a Web site varying in usability, tested
three models of user experience: an interaction experience model, a technology
acceptance model and an integrated experience-acceptance model. We found that
the perceptions of three product attributes (Pragmatic Quality, Hedonic
Quality-stimulation and Hedonic Quality-identification) and technology
acceptance variables (the beliefs of Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Enjoyment
and Perceived Usefulness, and Intention to Use) are separate underlying
psychological dimensions. A positive effect of usability on task performance,
interaction experience and acceptance was found. In the interaction experience
model, the evaluation of Goodness (overall interaction quality) was less stable
and influenced by both Pragmatic Quality and Hedonic Quality, but the
evaluation of Beauty was more stable and only influenced by Hedonic Quality. In
the technology acceptance model, Perceived Ease of Use was a determinant of
Perceived Enjoyment and Perceived Usefulness, and the latter two were
independent determinants of Intention to Use. In the integrated model,
perceptions of product attributes were independent determinants of beliefs, but
evaluations were not independent determinants of Intention to Use. Future
modelling work should address a range of interactive systems, information
architecture and individual differences. Keywords: User experience / Modelling / Web site / Usability / Technology acceptance | |||
| Enhancing online forms: Use format specifications for fields with format restrictions to help respondents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 33-39 | |
| Javier A. Bargas-Avila; Sébastien Orsini; Hannah Piosczyk; Dominic Urwyler; Klaus Opwis | |||
| Field format restrictions are often used in online forms to impose certain
formatting and content rules on users, such as minimum password length or date
entry format. In this study, the question whether and how format restrictions
for fields in online forms should be communicated to Internet users was
explored. In an online study with n=166 participants, four ways to communicate
format restrictions were investigated: (1) no visual format restriction, (2)
format examples, (3) format specifications, and (4) both format restrictions
(examples and specifications). Results show that providing details of any
format restriction to users in advance leads to significantly fewer errors and
trials. The most efficient way to communicate field format restrictions to
users is by stating the imposed rule (format specification). Providing an
additional example neither helps nor constrains users. Keywords: Online forms / Format restriction / Error prevention / Data entry
restriction / User feedback / Form validation | |||
| Towards the ubiquitous visualization: Adaptive user-interfaces based on the Semantic Web | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 40-56 | |
| Ramón Hervás; José Bravo | |||
| This manuscript presents an infrastructure that contributes to ubiquitous
information. Advances in Ambient Intelligence may help to provide us with the
right information at the right time, in an appropriate manner and through the
most suitable device for each situation. It is therefore crucial for such
devices to have contextual information; that is, to know the person or persons
in need of information, the environment, and the available devices and
services. All of this information, in appropriate models, can provide a
simplified view of the real world and let the system act more like a human and,
consequently, more intelligently. A suitable context model is not enough;
proactive user interface adaptation is necessary to offer personalized
information to the user. In this paper, we present mechanisms for the
management of contextual information, reasoning techniques and adaptable user
interfaces to support visualization services, providing functionality to make
decisions about what and how available information can be offered.
Additionally, we present the ViMos framework, an infrastructure to generate
context-powered information visualization services dynamically. Keywords: Ambient Intelligence / Information visualization / Information retrieval /
Context-awareness / Ontology / Intelligent user interfaces | |||
| Usability evaluation of voiceprint authentication in automated telephone banking: Sentences versus digits | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 57-69 | |
| Nancie Gunson; Diarmid Marshall; Fergus McInnes; Mervyn Jack | |||
| This paper describes an experiment to investigate the usability of
voiceprints for customer authentication in automated telephone banking. The
usability of voiceprint authentication using digits (random strings and
telephone numbers) and sentences (branded and unbranded) are compared in a
controlled experiment with 204 telephone banking customers. Results indicate
high levels of usability and customer acceptance for voiceprint authentication
in telephone banking. Customers find voiceprint authentication based on digits
more usable than that based on sentences, and a majority of participants would
prefer to use digits. Keywords: Voiceprint / Authentication / Verification / Usability / Biometrics /
Dialogue design | |||
| Development and application of a framework for comparing early design methods for young children | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 70-84 | |
| R. J. W. Sluis-Thiescheffer; M. M. Bekker; J. H. Eggen; A. P. O. S. Vermeeren; H. de Ridder | |||
| When designing with young children, designers usually select user centred
design methods based on the children's required level of engagement and the
inspiration expected to be created according to the designer. User centred
design methods should be selected for their suitability for children and for
the quality of the output of the design method. To understand the suitability
of design methods, a framework was developed to describe design methods in
terms of required design skills as identified by the Theory of Multiple
Intelligences. The proposed framework could provide the basis for a tool to
compare design methods and to generate hypotheses about what design method
would work optimally with children in a specific school grade. The initial
examination of the viability of the framework is a comparison of design methods
by the number of skills involved; earlier work showed that the involvement of
more skills (as with, e.g. low-fi prototyping) could result in more options for
a design problem than the involvement of fewer skills (as with e.g.
brainstorming). Options and Criteria were counted to understand the quality of
the method in terms of the amount of design-information. The results of the
current paper indicate that 8-to-10-year-old children generate significantly
more options in prototyping sessions than when they are involved in sessions
applying a Nominal Group Technique. The paper indicates that (a) with the
framework we can generate hypotheses to compare design methods with children
and (b) that the outcome of various design methods, which might lead to very
different representations, can be compared in terms of Options and Criteria.
Further usage of the framework is expected to result in empirical support for
selecting a design method to be applied with young children. Keywords: Design / Children / User centered design / Design space exploration /
Framework / Design skills | |||
| "Moving to the centre': A gaze-driven remote camera control for teleoperation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 85-95 | |
| Dingyun Zhu; Tom Gedeon; Ken Taylor | |||
| In general, conventional control interfaces such as joysticks, switches, and
wheels are predominantly used in teleoperation. However, operators normally
have to control multiple complex devices simultaneously. For example,
controlling a rock breaker and a remote camera at the same time in mining
teleoperation. This overloads the operator's control capability of using hands,
increases workload and reduces productivity.
We present a novel gaze-driven remote camera control with an implemented prototype, which follows a simple and natural design principle: "Whatever you look at on the screen, it moves to the centre!'. A user study of modeled hands-busy experiment has been conducted, comparing the performance of using gaze-driven control and traditional joystick control through both objective measures and subjective measures. The experimental results clearly show the gaze-driven control significantly outperformed the conventional joystick control. Keywords: Gaze tracking interfaces / Hands-busy situation / Teleoperation / Remote
camera control / Rock breaking / Usability evaluation | |||
| Surfing the web -- Recreation or resource? Exploring how young people in the UK use the Internet as an advice portal for problems with a legal dimension | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 96-104 | |
| Catrina Denvir; Nigel J. Balmer; Pascoe Pleasence | |||
| Internet use and access in the UK has increased rapidly in the last decade,
with the concept of 'information superhighway' recognised as an axiom of
Internet technology. Despite this, few studies have sought to investigate the
incidence of use of the Internet as an advice resource outside of the health
information arena. With an increasing impetus in the public sector towards the
provision of online delivery mechanisms for civic orientated activities,
including advice provision, it is timely to better understand the
appropriateness of online advice seeking. Focusing on young people aged between
18 and 24 years, we investigated how much the Internet was used to obtain
information about everyday problems with a legal dimension, who used it, how it
was used and how successful respondents were in searching for information
online. Data were extracted from a large-scale household survey of adults'
experience of problems with a legal dimension conducted across England and
Wales (10,512 adult respondents). Results revealed significant growth in the
use of the Internet to obtain information about such problems, rising from 4%
in 2001 to around 18% in 2008. The responses of the 18-24 year olds to the
survey illustrated that despite having comparatively high levels of Internet
access, this age group utilised it to a lesser degree than similarly
'connected' age cohorts, and were less successful when doing so. This study
highlights aspects of the second digital divide, going beyond access to explore
use and outcomes of use. Implications for the future of the Internet in
providing information and advice for young people, are discussed. Keywords: Internet / Advice / Information / Legal problems / Legal services / Young
people | |||
| Caring through technology: Using e-mail for Christian pastoral care | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 106-116 | |
| Mills Stella | |||
| Traditionally, Christian pastoral care has always been given face-to-face.
However, since the Internet made e-mail a common form of correspondence, people
have been e-mailing friends to discuss problems and other matters. More formal
pastoral care, involving a pastoral minister, has generally remained a
face-to-face occurrence. This article explores the possibility of e-mail being
used for Christian pastoral care and evaluates one such system being operated
in the United Kingdom. The results show that with an empathic and positive
response to the e-mails by the pastoral minister, e-mail pastoral care can
increase positive emotion, and hence well-being, in the person seeking care. In
addition, the religious aspect of Christian pastoral care seems to be important
in initialising the minister-person relationship. Keywords: E-mail therapy / Christian pastoral care / Empathy / Computer based content
analysis | |||
| Exploring the wiki user experience: The effects of training spaces on novice user usability and anxiety towards wiki editing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 117-128 | |
| Benjamin R. Cowan; Mervyn A. Jack | |||
| With the advent of Web 2.0, the number of IT systems used in university
courses is growing. Yet research consistently shows that a significant
proportion of students are anxious about computer use. The quality of first
experience with computers has been consistently mentioned as a significant
contributor to anxiety onset. However the effect of users' first experience on
system related anxiety has not to the authors' knowledge been researched using
controlled experiments. Indeed little experiment based research has been
conducted on the wiki user experience, specifically users' evaluations and
emotional reactions towards editing. This research uses usability engineering
principles to engineer four different wiki experiences for novice wiki users
and measures the effect each has on usability, anxiety during editing and on
anxiety about future wiki editing. Each experience varied in the type of
training spaces available before completing six live wiki editing tasks. We
found that anxiety experienced by users was not related to computer anxiety but
was wiki specific. Users in the in-built tutorial conditions also rated the
usability of the editing interface higher than users in the non-tutorial
conditions. The tutorial conditions also led to a significant reduction in wiki
anxiety during interaction but did not significantly affect future editing
anxiety. The findings suggest that the use of an in-built tutorial reduces
emotional and technological barriers to wiki editing and that controlled
experiments can help in discovering how aspects of the system experience can be
designed to affect usability and anxiety towards editing wikis. Keywords: Wiki / User experience / Anxiety / Usability engineering / Controlled
experiments | |||
| Efficient electronic navigation: A metaphorical question? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 129-136 | |
| Kine Dørum; Kate Garland | |||
| Differences in navigation performance have been found for variation in the
metaphor used to structure information layout within websites. Our study
extends this work by examining three metaphors to clarify further whether
differences can be attributed to the metaphor's structure being spatial (versus
non-spatial) or because it has greater familiarity. Participants were assigned
a website and completed a structurally identical navigation task based on a
specific metaphor description. Effects of metaphor were found for total task
time, disorientation, and a combined accuracy measure. The house metaphor
(spatial/familiar) produced significantly faster task times and more accurately
retained metal models than both the town (spatial/unfamiliar) and social
(non-spatial/unfamiliar) metaphors. Cognitive style, spatial ability and
confidence had mixed and limited influence on the findings. The results suggest
that navigation in website environments is facilitated more by the degree of
familiarly perceived in the structure of the metaphor, than the spatial or
non-spatial nature of the metaphor. This has major implications for the design
of hypertext material, especially where the ability to locate information and
recall it accurately is important rather than speed per se. Keywords: Navigation / Metaphors / Mental models | |||
| Automatic web accessibility metrics: Where we are and where we can go | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 137-155 | |
| Markel Vigo; Giorgio Brajnik | |||
| The fact that several web accessibility metrics exist may be evidence of a
lack of a comparison framework that highlights how well they work and for what
purposes they are appropriate. In this paper we aim at formulating such a
framework, demonstrating that it is feasible, and showing the findings we
obtained when we applied it to seven existing automatic accessibility metrics.
The framework encompasses validity, reliability, sensitivity, adequacy and
complexity of metrics in the context of four scenarios where the metrics can be
used. The experimental demonstration of the viability of the framework is based
on applying seven published metrics to more than 1500 web pages and then
operationalizing the notions of validity-as-conformance, adequacy and
complexity. Our findings lead us to conclude that the Web Accessibility
Quantitative Metric, Page Measure and Web Accessibility Barrier are the metrics
that achieve the highest levels of quality (out of the seven that we examined).
Finally, since we did not analyse reliability, sensitivity and validity-in-use,
this paper provides guidance to address them in what are new research avenues. Keywords: Web accessibility / Quality framework / Metrics / Automatic assessment /
Automatic accessibility evaluation | |||
| Visualizing references to off-screen content on mobile devices: A comparison of Arrows, Wedge, and Overview + Detail | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 156-166 | |
| Stefano Burigat; Luca Chittaro | |||
| When navigating large information spaces on mobile devices, the small size
of the display often causes relevant content to shift off-screen, greatly
increasing the difficulty of spatial tasks such as planning routes or finding
points of interest on a map. Two possible approaches to mitigate the problem
are Contextual Cues, i.e. visualizing abstract shapes in the border region of
the view area to function as visual references to off-screen objects of
interest, and Overview + Detail, i.e., simultaneously displaying a detail view
and a small-scale overview of the information space. In this paper, we compare
the effectiveness of two different Contextual Cues techniques, Wedge (Gustafson
et al., 2008) and Scaled Arrows (Burigat et al., 2006), and a classical
Overview + Detail visualization that highlights the location of objects of
interest in the overview. The study involved different spatial tasks and
investigated the scalability of the considered visualizations, testing them
with two different numbers of off-screen objects. Results were multifaceted.
With simple spatial tasks, no differences emerged among the visualizations.
With more complex spatial tasks, Wedge had advantages when the task required to
order off-screen objects with respect to their distance from the display
window, while Overview + Detail was the best solution when users needed to find
those off-screen objects that were closest to each other. Finally, we found
that even a small increase in the number of off-screen objects negatively
affected user performance in terms of accuracy, especially in the case of
Scaled Arrows, while it had a negligible effect in terms of task completion
times. Keywords: Visualization / Mobile devices / Contextual Cues / Peripheral awareness /
Off-screen objects / Overview + Detail | |||
| Measuring web usability using item response theory: Principles, features and opportunities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 167-175 | |
| Rafael Tezza; Antonio Cezar Bornia; Dalton Francisco de Andrade | |||
| Usability is considered a critical issue on the web that determines either
the success or the failure of a company. Thus, the evaluation of usability has
gained substantial attention. However, most current tools for usability
evaluation have some limitations, such as excessive generality and a lack of
reliability and validity. The present work proposes the construction of a tool
to measure usability in e-commerce websites using item response theory (IRT).
While usability issues have only been considered in theoretical or empirical
contexts, in this study, we discuss them from a mathematical point of view
using IRT. In particular, we develop a standardised scale to measure usability
in e-commerce websites. This study opens a new field of research in the
ergonomics of interfaces with respect to the development of scales using IRT. Keywords: Usability checklist / Item response theory / E-commerce | |||
| Selecting users for participation in IT projects: Trading a representative sample for advocates and champions? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 176-187 | |
| Rasmus Rasmussen; Anders S. Christensen; Tobias Fjeldsted; Morten Hertzum | |||
| The selection of users for participation in IT projects involves trade-offs
between multiple criteria, one of which is selecting a representative
cross-section of users. This criterion is basic because trading it for other
criteria means basing designs on information biased toward some user groups at
the expense of others. Based on interviews in development and customer
organizations we find that their criteria for user selection favor persons who
can contribute to the progress of the IT project over persons who are
representative of the full range of users. A highly valued contribution from
participating users is the ability to advocate a vision for the system and
champion its organizational implementation. A survey in one customer
organization shows that respondents' personal traits explain up to 31% of the
variation in their experience of aspects of the usability of a recently
introduced system. Thus, unless participating users are representative as to
these personal traits, IT projects may, inadvertently, bring about systems that
will fail to satisfy many users. Keywords: User selection / User representatives / User advocates / System champions /
User participation | |||
| The organization of interaction design pattern languages alongside the design process | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 189-201 | |
| Christian Hübscher; Stefan L. Pauwels; Sandra P. Roth; Javier A. Bargas-Avila; Klaus Opwis | |||
| This work explores the possibility of taking the structural characteristics
of approaches to interaction design as a basis for the organization of
interaction design patterns. The Universal Model of the User Interface (Baxley,
2003) is seen as well suited to this; however, in order to cover the full range
of interaction design patterns the model had to be extended slightly. Four
existing collections of interaction design patterns have been selected for an
analysis in which the patterns have been mapped onto the extended model. The
conclusion from this analysis is that the use of the model supports the process
of building a pattern language, because it is predictive and helps to complete
the language. If several pattern writers were to adopt the model, a new level
of synergy could be attained among these pattern efforts. A concluding vision
would be that patterns could be transferred freely between pattern collections
to make them as complete as possible. Keywords: Design patterns / Pattern languages / Interaction design | |||
| Activity recognition using eye-gaze movements and traditional interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 202-213 | |
| François Courtemanche; Esma Aïmeur; Aude Dufresne; Mehdi Najjar; Franck Mpondo | |||
| The need for intelligent HCI has been reinforced by the increasing numbers
of human-centered applications in our daily life. However, in order to respond
adequately, intelligent applications must first interpret users' actions.
Identifying the context in which users' interactions occur is an important step
toward automatic interpretation of behavior. In order to address a part of this
context-sensing problem, we propose a generic and application-independent
framework for activity recognition of users interacting with a computer
interface. Our approach uses Layered Hidden Markov Models (LHMM) and is based
on eye-gaze movements along with keyboard and mouse interactions. The main
contribution of the proposed framework is the ability to relate users'
interactions to a task model in variant applications and for different
monitoring purposes. Experimental results from two user studies show that our
activity recognition technique is able to achieve good predictive accuracy with
a relatively small amount of training data. Keywords: Activity recognition / Eye-tracking / Human-computer interactions / Layered
Hidden Markov Models | |||
| Maintaining and modifying pace through tactile and multimodal feedback | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 214-225 | |
| Huimin Qian; Ravi Kuber; Andrew Sears; Emma Murphy | |||
| Older adults are recommended to remain physically active to reduce the risk
of chronic diseases and to maintain psychological well-being. At the same time,
research also suggests that levels of fitness can be raised among this group.
This paper describes the development and evaluation of a mobile technology,
which enables older adults to monitor and modify their walking habits, with the
long-term aim of sustaining appropriate levels of physical activity. An
empirical study was conducted with twenty older adults to determine the
feasibility of the proposed solution, with results indicating that tactile
signals could be perceived while in motion and could support participants in
walking at a range of paces. However, the effects were difficult to discern due
to limitations of the hardware. In response, a novel low-cost prototype was
developed to amplify vibrations, and effectiveness of redundant auditory
information was investigated with the goal of enhancing the perception of the
cues. A second study was conducted to determine the impact of multimodal
feedback on walking behavior. Findings revealed that participants were able to
maintain a desired level of pace more consistently when redundant auditory
information was presented alongside the tactile feedback. When the visual
channel is not available, these results suggest that tactile cues presented via
a mobile device should be augmented with auditory feedback. Our research also
suggests that mobile devices could be made more effective for alternative
applications if they are designed to allow for stronger tactile feedback. Keywords: Tactile / Multimodal / Walking | |||
| Supporting business process experts in tailoring business processes | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 226-238 | |
| Christian Dörner; Fahri Yetim; Volkmar Pipek; Volker Wulf | |||
| Supporting end users to adapt business processes is rather uncommon in the
context of large Enterprise Resource Planning systems. We present our new
business process modeling environment, called SiSO, that enables business
process experts to model and adapt business processes. SiSO enhances the
descriptions of services that are provided by Service-Oriented Architectures.
These enhanced descriptions focus on organizational-specific information, which
makes it easier for business process experts to understand the capabilities of
services in their organizational context. The information includes descriptions
of services' functions, ratings, and keywords. SiSO's graphical user interface
employs the box-and-wire UI design technique to enable business process experts
to model business processes in the context of Enterprise Resource Planning
systems. SiSO was qualitatively evaluated with six employees of three different
companies and found useful in two application fields: (a) the visualization and
automation of business processes and (b) the creation of calculations using
data from different systems and sources. We think that enabling business
process experts to create individual business processes is an important
challenge for the design of future Enterprise Resource Planning systems. Keywords: End-user design environments / End-User Development / Empirical analysis /
Composition tools / Business process modeling / Enterprise Resource Planning | |||
| Interpretation of a cross-cultural usability evaluation: A case study based on a hypermedia system for rare species management in Namibia | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 239-246 | |
| Barbara Paterson; Heike Winschiers-Theophilus; Tim T. Dunne; Britta Schinzel; Les G. Underhill | |||
| We present the results of a usability evaluation of a locally developed
hypermedia information system aiming at conservation biologists and wildlife
managers in Namibia. Developer and end user come from different ethnic
backgrounds, as is common to software development in Namibia and many
developing countries. To overcome both the cultural and the authoritarian gap
between usability evaluator and user, the evaluation was held as a workshop
with usability evaluators who shared the target users' ethnic and social
backgrounds. Different data collection methods were used and results as well as
specific incidences recorded. Results suggest that it is difficult for Namibian
computer users to evaluate functionality independently from content. Users
displayed evidence of a passive search strategy and an expectation that
structure is provided rather than self generated. The comparison of data
collection methods suggests that questionnaires are inappropriate in Namibia
because they do not elicit a truthful response from participants who tend to
provide answers they think are "expected'. The paper concludes that usability
goals and methods have to be determined and defined within the target users'
cultural context. Keywords: Cross-cultural usability evaluation / International usability evaluation /
Dialogical usability methods / Usability methods / Participation | |||
| Automatic detection of accommodation steps as an indicator of knowledge maturing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 247-255 | |
| Johannes Moskaliuk; Andreas Rath; Didier Devaurs; Nicolas Weber; Stefanie Lindstaedt; Joachim Kimmerle; Ulrike Cress | |||
| Jointly working on shared digital artifacts -- such as wikis -- is a
well-tried method of developing knowledge collectively within a group or
organization. Our assumption is that such knowledge maturing is an
accommodation process that can be measured by taking the writing process itself
into account. This paper describes the development of a tool that detects
accommodation automatically with the help of machine learning algorithms. We
applied a software framework for task detection to the automatic identification
of accommodation processes within a wiki. To set up the learning algorithms and
test its performance, we conducted an empirical study, in which participants
had to contribute to a wiki and, at the same time, identify their own tasks.
Two domain experts evaluated the participants' micro-tasks with regard to
accommodation. We then applied an ontology-based task detection approach that
identified accommodation with a rate of 79.12%. The potential use of our tool
for measuring knowledge maturing online is discussed. Keywords: Co-evolution / Knowledge development / Knowledge maturing / Task detection /
Learning / Context-awareness | |||
| Using and managing multiple passwords: A week to a view | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 256-267 | |
| Beate Grawemeyer; Hilary Johnson | |||
| Security policies are required that protect information from unauthorised
access, and also respect challenges users face in creating, and particularly
managing, increasing numbers of passwords. This paper investigates real
password use in the context of daily life. It presents the results of an
empirical study where participants completed a password diary over 7 days,
followed by debrief interviews to gain further knowledge and understanding of
user behaviour. The results reported relate to how many passwords are in use,
the types of passwords participants created, the relationships between
different passwords and to sensitive services, how participants retrieved their
passwords and finally, the different strategies adopted by users in their
management of passwords. The paper concludes by providing a high level set of
password guidelines, along with suggestions for mechanisms to support creating,
encoding, retrieving and executing multiple passwords. Keywords: Password management / User authentication / Security | |||
| Evaluation of motion-based interaction for mobile devices: A case study on image browsing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 268-278 | |
| Sunghoon Yim; Sungkil Lee; Seungmoon Choi | |||
| This article evaluates the usability of motion sensing-based interaction on
a mobile platform using image browsing as a representative task. Three types of
interfaces, a physical button interface, a motion-sensing interface using a
high-precision commercial 3D motion tracker, and a motion-sensing interface
using an in-house low-cost 3D motion tracker, are compared in terms of task
performance and subjective preference. Participants were provided with
prolonged training over 20 days, in order to compensate for the participants'
unfamiliarity with the motion-sensing interfaces. Experimental results showed
that the participants' task performance and subjective preference for the two
motion-sensing interfaces were initially low, but they rapidly improved with
training and soon approached the level of the button interface. Furthermore, a
recall test, which was conducted 4 weeks later, demonstrated that the usability
gains were well retained in spite of the long time gap between uses. Overall,
these findings highlight the potential of motion-based interaction as an
intuitive interface for mobile devices. Keywords: Mobile device / Sensing-based interaction / Motion sensing / Image browsing | |||
| Identification of the design variables of eLearning tools | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 279-288 | |
| M. R. Martínez-Torres; S. L. Toral; F. Barrero | |||
| The widespread availability of digital learning resources in a variety of
media formats has promoted the proliferation of eLearning systems as an
integral part of teaching across all sectors of education. However, these
systems are rarely planned in advance taking into account its final usefulness.
At most, they are validated through learner experience using the final
implemented system. In this paper, a scientific technique called concept
mapping is proposed to identify the external variables that should be kept in
mind while designing an eLearning tool. As a result, improvements can be
programmed to increase its utility in the teaching activities prior to its use.
The method has been tested in the development of a eLearning system used for
advanced microprocessor teaching. Results are shown through two-dimensional
maps, in which variables can be seen as clusters or groups of ideas. These
variables can be used as a guide for developing an eLearning tool. The
reliability of the results is also analyzed to check the correct application of
the proposed technique. Keywords: eLearning / Concept mapping / Information and Communications Technologies
(ICT) / Cluster analysis / Multidimensional scaling | |||
| Cognitive Ergonomics for Situated Human-Automation Collaboration | | BIB | Full-Text | iii-iv | |
| Willem-Paul Brinkman; Mark A. Neerincx; Herre van Oostendorp | |||
| Hidden roles of the train driver: A challenge for metro automation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 289-298 | |
| Hannu Karvonen; Iina Aaltonen; Mikael Wahlström; Leena Salo; Paula Savioja; Leena Norros | |||
| In the year 2014, the Helsinki Metro is planned to be fully automated. This
automation means that the metro trains will be computer-driven and monitored
remotely from a stationary control room. To investigate the challenges related
to this scenario, we decided to study the ways in which the current train
drivers contribute to the metro system. We conducted three separate but
interrelated studies, which were based on the Core-Task Analysis method. Our
results suggest that there is much more to driving the metro train than meets
the eye. The drivers do not only operate the train on track and its doors at
stations, but they also contribute to a variety of other important, albeit more
hidden, functions in the metro system. For example, the drivers anticipate,
observe, interpret, and react to events in the surrounding environment.
Furthermore, they are a significant interaction link between different actors
of the metro system. Our conclusion is that if the identified critical roles of
the drivers are not accounted for, a migration to a fully automated metro
system can affect the quality of service and raise safety issues. In addition
to automated metros, the results of this research can be applicable to
automation implementations also in other domains. Keywords: Core-Task Analysis / Metro train driver work / Automated metro /
Human-centered automation / Complex systems / Safety | |||
| Evaluating the potential of new technological tools for safety critical work | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 299-307 | |
| Leena Norros; Marja Liinasuo; Rob Hutton | |||
| Defining user requirements of complex human-system interaction technologies
and testing the fulfilment of these requirements in the end-product are issues
of design practice that are currently not solved in an optimal way. In the
current paper several dilemmas of "task-artefact-cycle', "abstraction level of
requirements' and the "tendency for conservative decisions' in requirement
definition and testing are tackled. A new simulation method is proposed to
tackle these design dilemmas in a case study on emergency response (ER)
activity. Modelling and simulation are used as means to anticipate future
activity, and the concept of "zone of proximal development' serves to
illustrate the change in work demands of the ER activity. One of the key issues
in ER is to create a realistic and timely understanding of the situation and to
identify adequately the needs for action, the Common Operational Picture (COP).
In the project, prototypes of new technological tools were designed to
facilitate creation of an appropriate COP. First, normal emergency response
activity was modelled. Then, the modelled situation and corresponding activity
were enacted by competent actors as undisturbed as possible. Parallel to this,
a second activity took place. This involved two professional fire fighters
acting in the roles of incident commander and supporting officer. They observed
the actual demands of the situation and the activities of the first responder
actors. They also observed the available information provided by the new
technologies. In the present paper the focus is on the presentation of the
design and evaluation methodology. The demonstration of the methodology in a
complex design task indicates the feasibility of the approach. Keywords: Usage-centred design / Activity analysis / Simulation / Emergency response /
Common Operational Picture | |||
| Distributed collaborative situation-map making for disaster response | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 308-316 | |
| Lucy T. Gunawan; Hani Alers; Willem-Paul Brinkman; Mark A. Neerincx | |||
| A situation map that shows the overview of a disaster situation serves as a
valuable tool for disaster response teams. It helps them to orientate their
location and to make disaster response decisions. It is, however, a complicated
task to rapidly generate a complete and comprehensive situation map of a
disaster area, particularly due to the centralized organization of disaster
management and the limited emergency services. In this study, we propose to let
the affected population be utilized as an additional resource that can actively
help to make such a situation map.
The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of constructing a shared situation map using a collaborative distributed mechanism. By examining earlier research, a detailed list of potential problems is identified in the collaborative map-making process. These problems were then addressed in an experiment which evaluated a number of proposed solutions. The results showed that more collaboration channels led to a situation map of better quality, and that including confidence information for objects and events in the map helped the discussion process during the map-making. Keywords: Collaboration / Sensemaking / Situation mapping / Disaster response / Map
sharing / Situation awareness | |||
| Influences of haptic communication on a shared manual task | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 317-328 | |
| Amine Chellali; Cédric Dumas; Isabelle Milleville-Pennel | |||
| With the advent of new haptic feedback devices, researchers are giving
serious consideration to the incorporation of haptic communication in
collaborative virtual environments. For instance, haptic interactions based
tools can be used for medical and related education whereby students can train
in minimal invasive surgery using virtual reality before approaching human
subjects. To design virtual environments that support haptic communication, a
deeper understanding of humans' haptic interactions is required. In this paper,
human's haptic collaboration is investigated. A collaborative virtual
environment was designed to support performing a shared manual task. To
evaluate this system, 60 medical students participated to an experimental
study. Participants were asked to perform in dyads a needle insertion task
after a training period. Results show that compared to conventional training
methods, a visual-haptic training improves user's collaborative performance. In
addition, we found that haptic interaction influences the partners' verbal
communication when sharing haptic information. This indicates that the haptic
communication training changes the nature of the users' mental representations.
Finally, we found that haptic interactions increased the sense of copresence in
the virtual environment: haptic communication facilitates users' collaboration
in a shared manual task within a shared virtual environment. Design
implications for including haptic communication in virtual environments are
outlined. Keywords: Haptic communication / Common ground / Collaborative virtual environments /
User-centred design / HCI | |||
| The role of Game Discourse Analysis and curiosity in creating engaging and effective serious games by implementing a back story and foreshadowing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 329-336 | |
| Pieter Wouters; Herre van Oostendorp; Rudy Boonekamp; Erik van der Spek | |||
| A challenge for serious games designers is to integrate learning with
entertainment. For this purpose, the generation of curiosity using the
foreshadowing/back story technique is promising. To implement this technique we
propose the Game Discourse Analysis (GDA) which discerns between information
flow (i.e. the sequence of information elements in a chronological order) and
game discourse (i.e. the manipulation of the information flow to make the game
more engaging and effective). We elaborate on the GDA and describe how two of
the authors applied it in order to implement foreshadowing/back story in the
game ReMission. The GDA was found to have potential as a communication tool for
multidisciplinary design teams. Also, two problems were signaled: (1) creating
an information flow is laborious and designers may benefit from automating
parts of the GDA; (2) substantial deviations from the optimal information flow
by players' actions may interfere with the intention of the game discourse.
Additionally, in an experiment we tested the impact of this GDA supported
manipulation on engagement (curiosity) and learning. We found that the
GDA-supported foreshadowing/back story yielded more curiosity, but that it did
not yield learning. Keywords: Computer games / Game design / Discourse analysis / Engagement / Curiosity /
Entertainment | |||
| Designing and assessing everyday objects: Impact of externalisation tools and judges' backgrounds | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 337-345 | |
| Alicja Wojtczuk; Nathalie Bonnardel | |||
| Professional designers increasingly rely on IT-based systems in the course
of their work. It is therefore crucial to know how such systems, especially
computer-aided design (CAD) systems, influence both the design process and the
final design, compared with the use of manual design methods. The objective of
this paper is twofold: to address this issue and to suggest ways of improving
IT-based systems specifically developed to support designers' activities. In
the first phase of a two-phase study, we investigated how the use of different
tools can affect the design process. In the second phase, we conducted two
complementary analyses to determine how the use of different tools affects the
assessment of final designs, as well as the effect of the judges' backgrounds
on their assessments. We began by comparing the activities of two groups of
designers: one group working with a CAD system, the other carrying out manual
modelling. The results of this first phase revealed significant differences in
the designers' activities (changing the viewpoint, switching tools, correcting
errors) according to the design method they used. We then asked judges from
four different backgrounds (professional designers, design teachers, retailers
and users), to assess the final designs according to specific assessment
criteria (aesthetics, originality, functionality, marketability). The results
of this second phase revealed a significant preference for objects designed
with a CAD system. Furthermore, the judges attributed different levels of
importance to each of the assessment criteria, depending on their background.
This last result underscored differences in the mental models constructed by
different groups of audiences involved in product development and marketing. In
addition, it allowed us to identify their specific expectations about final
designs. Based on the results of our analyses, we suggest ways of improving
IT-based systems with a view to integrating design assessment more fully into
CAD environments. Keywords: Externalising tool / Computer-aided design / Manual modelling / Assessing
design / Judge's background / Critiquing systems | |||
| Task and user effects on reading patterns in information search | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 346-362 | |
| Michael J. Cole; Jacek Gwizdka; Chang Liu; Ralf Bierig; Nicholas J. Belkin; Xiangmin Zhang | |||
| We report on an investigation into people's behaviors on information search
tasks, specifically the relation between eye movement patterns and task
characteristics. We conducted two independent user studies (n=32 and n=40), one
with journalism tasks and the other with genomics tasks. The tasks were
constructed to represent information needs of these two different users groups
and to vary in several dimensions according to a task classification scheme.
For each participant we classified eye gaze data to construct models of their
reading patterns. The reading models were analyzed with respect to the effect
of task types and Web page types on reading eye movement patterns. We report on
relationships between tasks and individual reading behaviors at the task and
page level. Specifically we show that transitions between scanning and reading
behavior in eye movement patterns and the amount of text processed may be an
implicit indicator of the current task type facets. This may be useful in
building user and task models that can be useful in personalization of
information systems and so address design demands driven by increasingly
complex user actions with information systems. One of the contributions of this
research is a new methodology to model information search behavior and
investigate information acquisition and cognitive processing in interactive
information tasks. Keywords: Cognitive task / Interactive information retrieval / Information search /
User models / Eye movements / Reading models | |||
| Too good to be bad: Favorable product expectations boost subjective usability ratings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 363-371 | |
| Eeva Raita; Antti Oulasvirta | |||
| In an experiment conducted to study the effects of product expectations on
subjective usability ratings, participants (N=36) read a positive or a negative
product review for a novel mobile device before a usability test, while the
control group read nothing. In the test, half of the users performed easy
tasks, and the other half hard ones, with the device. A standard usability test
procedure was utilized in which objective task performance measurements as well
as subjective post-task and post-experiment usability questionnaires were
deployed. The study revealed a surprisingly strong effect of positive
expectations on subjective post-experiment ratings: the participants who had
read the positive review gave the device significantly better post-experiment
ratings than did the negative-prime and no-prime groups. This boosting effect
of the positive prime held even in the hard task condition where the users
failed in most of the tasks. This finding highlights the importance of
understanding: (1) what kinds of product expectations participants bring with
them to the test, (2) how well these expectations represent those of the
intended user population, and (3) how the test situation itself influences and
may bias these expectations. Keywords: Usability testing / Product expectations / Subjective usability ratings /
Usability evaluation | |||
| Affective responses to system messages in human-computer-interaction: Effects of modality and message type | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 372-383 | |
| Hans-Rüdiger Pfister; Sabine Wollstädter; Christian Peter | |||
| Affective responses of users to system messages in human-computer
interaction are a key to study user satisfaction. However, little is known
about the particular affective patterns elicited by various types of system
messages. In this experimental study we examined if and how different system
messages, presented in different modalities, influence users' affective
responses. Three types of messages, input requests, status notifications, and
error messages, were presented either as text or speech, and either alone or in
combination with icons or sounds, while users worked on several typical
computer tasks. Affective responses following system messages were assessed
employing a multi-modal approach, using subjective rating scales as well as
physiological measures. Results show that affective responses vary
systematically depending on the type of message, and that spoken messages
generally elicit more positive affect than written messages. Implications on
how to enhance user satisfaction by appropriate message design are discussed. Keywords: System messages / Affect / Physiological responses / Affective computing /
Usability / Interface design | |||
| IwC Special Issue "Feminism and HCI: New Perspectives' Special Issue Editors' Introduction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | iii-xi | |
| Shaowen Bardzell; Elizabeth F. Churchill | |||
| As a word and as a set of theories and practices, feminism is a poorly
understood concept. However, feminist perspectives have a lot in common with
user- and value-centered design processes such as those espoused within the
field of Human Computer Interaction. Examples include consideration of
alternative viewpoints, considerations of agency (who get to say/do what and
under what circumstances) and the development of reflective and reflexive
methods for understanding how, when, where and why people do what they do. In
the "Feminism and HCI: New Perspectives' special issue, we have invited
researchers and practitioners to reflect on the ways in which feminist
thinking, theory, and practice can and does have an impact on the field of
Human Computer Interaction. This introductory editorial offers more background
to our view that there is great value to understanding the actual and potential
impact of feminist thinking on HCI, followed by a précis of each paper.
We close with some observations regarding common themes, points of contention
and possibilities for future work. Keywords: Human computer interaction / HCI / Feminism / Feminist / Critical theory /
Technology | |||
| Making epistemological trouble: Third-paradigm HCI as successor science | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 385-392 | |
| Steve Harrison; Phoebe Sengers; Deborah Tatar | |||
| Epistemological issues have long been debated by feminist philosophers
aiming to answer the question, "what difference does it make to take gendered
points of view seriously in the construction of knowledge?' Coming out of this
history, a strand of work in feminist science studies has argued for the
necessity of "successor science:" new forms of science based in standpoint
epistemology, i.e. a recognition of the necessarily situated points of view of
scientific knowledge-makers. In this paper, we argue that such a successor
science has already come into being within the field of HCI, though it is
perhaps not recognized as such by its practitioners.
In particular, we identify a cluster of research we term the 'third paradigm.' This cluster of research cuts across HCI research areas as typically organized by topic area. Instead, this research shares an underlying epistemological orientation closely aligned with standpoint epistemology, focused around an acknowledgment of the social, cultural, and physical situatedness of both users and analysts. Feminist philosophers of science argue that a logical outcome of standpoint epistemology is the need for science to reflexively grapple with the limitations of its own ways of knowing; we conclude such an outcome may also be in store for the third paradigm. Keywords: Successor science / Situated knowledges / Critical technical practice /
Feminist philosophy of science / Standpoint epistemology / Third paradigm | |||
| A theoretical agenda for feminist HCI | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 393-400 | |
| A Rode Jennifer A. | |||
| HCI has a complex and often ambivalent attitude towards the issue of gender
and interactive systems. Here I discuss three dominant paradigms for treating
gender in HCI, and discuss their limitations. Next, I will present the
theoretical perspectives on gender which are on the fringes of HCI --
Technology as Masculine Culture, Gender Positionality, and Lived Body
Experience -- and discuss their possible contributions. I will show how this
supports a reassessment of the use of gender theory in technological settings
and its relevance for framing questions of gender in HCI. My goal in doing so
is to argue for the importance of a more direct treatment of gender in HCI and
move towards a feminist theory for HCI. Keywords: Gender / Critical theory / Ethnography / Anthropology / HCI | |||
| (Un)dressing the interface: Exposing the foundational HCI metaphor "computer is woman" | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 401-412 | |
| Sheryl Brahnam; Marianthe Karanikas; Margaret Weaver | |||
| Two fundamental (and oftentimes opposing) metaphors have directed much of
HCI design: HCI is communication and HCI is direct manipulation. Beneath these
HCI metaphors, however, is the unspoken metaphor of computer is woman. In this
paper we expose this foundational metaphor. We begin by identifying the origin
of computer is woman in the early history of computing. Drawing upon postmodern
feminist theory, we then explore how this metaphor has resulted in the
feminization of HCI is communication and second person interfaces. We show how
images of femininity proliferate, becoming the projected images of male
fantasies and ideals of womanhood. In becoming these idealized images, the
interface is revealed as man in female drag. Finally, not only do we undress
the interface to uncover how HCI is communication wraps the computer's
difference from human being within the more basic metaphor of computer is
woman, but we also disclose dangers that can arise when this metaphor goes
unacknowledged and unexamined. Keywords: TechnoFeminism / Feminization / Turing Test / HCI metaphors / Agent abuse /
Feminist HCI | |||
| Domestic violence and information communication technologies | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 413-421 | |
| Jill P. Dimond; Casey Fiesler; Amy S. Bruckman | |||
| Physical violence against women is pervasive through out the world and
domestic violence has been a longstanding issue in feminist activism and
research. Yet, these experiences are often not represented in technological
research or design. In the move to consider HCI at the margins, in this paper,
we ask: how have ICTs affected the experiences of domestic violence survivors?
We interviewed female survivors living in a domestic violence shelter about
their experiences with technology. Participants reported that they were
harassed with mobile phones, experienced additional harassment (but also
support) via social networking sites, and tried to resist using their knowledge
of security and privacy. Keywords: Feminist HCI / Privacy / Social computing / Mobile phones / Domestic
violence | |||
| Feminist HCI meets facebook: Performativity and social networking sites | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 422-429 | |
| A Van House Nancy A. | |||
| In this paper, I reflect on a specific product of interaction design, social
networking sites. The goals of this paper are twofold. One is to bring a
feminist reflexivity, to HCI, drawing on the work of Judith Butler and her
concepts of peformativity, citationality, and interpellation. Her approach is,
I argue, highly relevant to issues of identity and self-representation on
social networking sites; and to the co-constitution of the subject and
technology. A critical, feminist HCI must ask how social media and other HCI
institutions, practices, and discourses are part of the processes by which
sociotechnical configurations are constructed. My second goal is to examine the
implications of such an approach by applying it to social networking sites
(SNSs) drawing the empirical research literature on SNSs, to show how SNS
structures and policies help shape the subject and hide the contingency of
subject categories. Keywords: Critical HCI / Feminist HCI / Feminist theory / Facebook / Performance /
Social networking sites | |||
| HCI as heterodoxy: Technologies of identity and the queering of interaction with computers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 430-438 | |
| Light Ann | |||
| As digital technologies are woven more closely into identity formation,
society needs ways to keep tools flexible to many versions of self-presentation
and avoid perpetuating the political status quo through conservative and
apolitical designing. This paper explores one route, drawing on Queer Theory to
look at resistance to computer formalisation of identity through queering.
Several case studies explore how we might apply the oblique route to design of
a range of technologies that help users define themselves. In particular,
forgetting, obscuring, cheating and eluding are activities held up to counter
computer strengths and offer a more flexible vision of interaction design for
the future. Keywords: Identity / Queer theory / Interaction / Resistance / Social change /
Postmodern feminism | |||
| Playing stupid, caring for users, and putting on a good show: Feminist acts in usability study work | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 439-446 | |
| A Kotamraju Nalini P. | |||
| As a feminist HCI agenda develops, feminist analyses of behaviour must
venture beyond the dominant liberal feminist approach to include other feminist
approaches. Using the personal narrative or auto-ethnographic method, this
article explores the role of gender in usability work, a common research
practice in HCI. In this article, the author interprets three gendered
behaviours that occur in usability work -- playing stupid, caring for and about
users, and putting on a good show -- demonstrating that while these behaviours
appear anti-feminist in a liberal feminist framework, they appear feminist in
alternative feminist frameworks, such as relational/care-giving, sex-positive,
multicultural, post-colonial and Third Wave. The article demonstrates how a
feminist HCI agenda that embraces the multiplicity of feminisms necessarily
forces a re-examination of usability work's relationship to both feminism and
HCI research methods. Keywords: Usability / Design / HCI / Software engineering / Feminism / Gender | |||
| Feminism asks the "Who' questions in HCI | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 447-449 | |
| Muller Michael | |||
| In this brief personal essay, I describe some of the ways that feminism has
influenced my life as a researcher and practitioner in HCI and CSCW -- in the
creation of work to be read by others, in the critical reading of works that
were created by others, and in the planning and framing of practical work in
enterprise workplaces. I discuss three variations of "Who' questions that
feminism helps us to ask in HCI: The "who' of the identity of the user; the
"who' of the identity of organizational actors; and the "who' of the
practitioner or researcher. Keywords: Feminism / HCI / Participatory design / Organization / Epistemology /
Standpoint | |||
| Gender pluralism in problem-solving software | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 450-460 | |
| Margaret M. Burnett; Laura Beckwith; Susan Wiedenbeck; Scott D. Fleming; Jill Cao; Thomas H. Park; Valentina Grigoreanu; Kyle Rector | |||
| Although there has been significant research into gender regarding
educational and workplace practices, there has been little awareness of gender
differences as they pertain to software tools, such as spreadsheet
applications, that try to support end users in problem-solving tasks. Although
such software tools are intended to be gender agnostic, we believe that closer
examination of this premise is warranted. Therefore, in this paper, we report
an end-to-end investigation into gender differences with spreadsheet software.
Our results showed gender differences in feature usage, feature-related
confidence, and tinkering (playful exploration) with features. Then, drawing
implications from these results, we designed and implemented features for our
spreadsheet prototype that took the gender differences into account. The
results of an evaluation on this prototype showed improvements for both males
and females, and also decreased gender differences in some outcome measures,
such as confidence. These results are encouraging, but also open new questions
for investigation. We also discuss how our results compare to generalization
studies performed with a variety of other software platforms and populations. Keywords: Gender / Problem-solving software / Spreadsheet debugging | |||
| The dilemma of the hedonic -- Appreciated, but hard to justify | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 461-472 | |
| Sarah Diefenbach; Marc Hassenzahl | |||
| With the experiential turn in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), academics
and practitioners broaden their focus from mere task-fulfillment (i.e., the
pragmatic) to a holistic view, encompassing universal human needs such as
relatedness or popularity (i.e., the hedonic). Accordingly, many theoretical
models of User Experience (UX) acknowledge the hedonic as an important aspect
of a product's appeal. In choice situations, however, people (i.e., users,
consumers) overemphasize the pragmatic, but fail to acknowledge the hedonic.
The present research explores the reasons for this phenomenon. We suggest that
people attend to the justifiability of hedonic and pragmatic attributes rather
than to their impact on experience. In other words, they choose what is easy to
justify and not what they enjoy the most. Since providing justifications is
easier for pragmatic than hedonic attributes, people arrive at a primarily
pragmatic choice, even if they would feel better with the hedonic. We explored
this assumption, called the Hedonic Dilemma, in four empirical studies. Study 1
(N=118) revealed a positive correlation between the need for justification and
pragmatic choice. Study 2 (N=125) explored affective consequences and
justifications provided for hedonic and pragmatic choices. We further explored
two different ways to reduce the Hedonic Dilemma. Study 3 (N=178) enhanced the
justifiability of hedonic choice through product information which suggested
hedonic attributes as legitimate. In consequence, hedonic choice increased.
Study 4 (N=133) manipulated the need for justification through framing the
choice context. A significant positive effect of a "low need for justification'
frame on purchase rates occurred for a hedonic but not for a pragmatic product.
Our research has a number of implications, reaching from how to elicit
requirements to general strategic considerations when designing (for)
experiences. Keywords: User Experience / Hedonic / Pragmatic / Product choice / Justification | |||
| UX Curve: A method for evaluating long-term user experience | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 473-483 | |
| Sari Kujala; Virpi Roto; Kaisa Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila; Evangelos Karapanos; Arto Sinnelä | |||
| The goal of user experience design in industry is to improve customer
satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure
provided in the interaction with a product. So far, user experience studies
have mostly focused on short-term evaluations and consequently on aspects
relating to the initial adoption of new product designs. Nevertheless, the
relationship between the user and the product evolves over long periods of time
and the relevance of prolonged use for market success has been recently
highlighted. In this paper, we argue for the cost-effective elicitation of
longitudinal user experience data. We propose a method called the "UX Curve'
which aims at assisting users in retrospectively reporting how and why their
experience with a product has changed over time. The usefulness of the UX Curve
method was assessed in a qualitative study with 20 mobile phone users. In
particular, we investigated how users' specific memories of their experiences
with their mobile phones guide their behavior and their willingness to
recommend the product to others. The results suggest that the UX Curve method
enables users and researchers to determine the quality of long-term user
experience and the influences that improve user experience over time or cause
it to deteriorate. The method provided rich qualitative data and we found that
an improving trend of perceived attractiveness of mobile phones was related to
user satisfaction and willingness to recommend their phone to friends. This
highlights that sustaining perceived attractiveness can be a differentiating
factor in the user acceptance of personal interactive products such as mobile
phones. The study suggests that the proposed method can be used as a
straightforward tool for understanding the reasons why user experience improves
or worsens in long-term product use and how these reasons relate to customer
loyalty. Keywords: User experience evaluation / Long-term user experience / Mobile phone / User
satisfaction / Recommendation | |||
| DOGeye: Controlling your home with eye interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 484-498 | |
| Dario Bonino; Emiliano Castellina; Fulvio Corno; Luigi De Russis | |||
| Nowadays home automation, with its increased availability, reliability and
with its ever reducing costs is gaining momentum and is starting to become a
viable solution for enabling people with disabilities to autonomously interact
with their homes and to better communicate with other people. However,
especially for people with severe mobility impairments, there is still a lack
of tools and interfaces for effective control and interaction with home
automation systems, and general-purpose solutions are seldom applicable due to
the complexity, asynchronicity, time dependent behavior, and safety concerns
typical of the home environment. This paper focuses on user-environment
interfaces based on the eye tracking technology, which often is the only viable
interaction modality for users as such. We propose an eye-based interface
tackling the specific requirements of smart environments, already outlined in a
public Recommendation issued by the COGAIN European Network of Excellence. The
proposed interface has been implemented as a software prototype based on the
ETU universal driver, thus being potentially able to run on a variety of eye
trackers, and it is compatible with a wide set of smart home technologies,
handled by the Domotic OSGi Gateway. A first interface evaluation, with user
testing sessions, has been carried and results show that the interface is quite
effective and usable without discomfort by people with almost regular eye
movement control. Keywords: Human-home interaction / Smart homes / Domotics / Usability / User interface
/ User study | |||
| Where the attention is: Discovery learning in novel tangible environments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 499-512 | |
| Sara Price; Taciana Pontual Falcão | |||
| Engagement is a frequently reported measure in evaluation studies of
technology mediated learning environments. In the context of novel digital
technologies, where the 'novelty' factor is inherent in interaction with
emergent technologies, the concept of engagement is often reported at a general
level of description of fun and enjoyment. Although this importantly indicates
positive appraisal of the environment it does not provide any detail about how
the participants are 'engaged'. For example, what are they doing and thinking
about, where is their attention focused -- is it on a learning task, a
tangential entertaining activity or even the technology itself? This paper
offers a more detailed analysis of students' foci of interaction, to provide
insight into the different ways that children are both cognitively and
physically engaged during a discovery-based learning experience. Three key foci
of interaction within the learning space (learning concept, tangential
activity, technology) were derived from video data analysis. A coding scheme
for identifying these interaction foci was developed and applied to empirical
data with a tangible learning environment. In depth analysis showed close
relationships between the different foci of interaction and the learning
process: engaging with a tangential activity in a exploratory interaction
engendered cognitive engagement with domain related concepts; while engaging
with technology to understand the basics of the system's functioning could
facilitate higher levels of conceptual abstraction. This article highlights the
different interaction foci that students take in innovative,
technology-enhanced learning environments, and provides an analytical approach,
which informs and extends current evaluation approaches towards student
engagement in novel digital environments. Keywords: Interactive learning environments / Tangible technologies / Engagement /
Discovery learning / Interaction | |||
| Examining proactiveness and choice in a location-aware mobile museum guide | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 513-524 | |
| Joel Lanir; Tsvi Kuflik; Alan J. Wecker; Oliviero Stock; Massimo Zancanaro | |||
| Cultural heritage is an area that has recently drawn research attention,
especially for exploring ways to harness novel mobile technologies for
supporting visitors. The main benefit of these novel technologies is their
ability to provide personalized, context-aware information services to their
users. However, the use of context-awareness is connected to a fundamental
issue of proactiveness -- should the system keep the user in control all the
time and only respond to user requests, or should the system take initiative
and propose its services when needed? Proactiveness of mobile visitors' guides
brings with it a possibility for better service to the user at the cost of
taking control out of the user's hand. The amount of choice given to visitors
is another key issue. With the vast amount of information available for each
exhibit, adaptation of the amount of information by limiting the number of
content items, could be warranted to filter the information according to the
visitors needs. However, it is not clear how reducing choice in terms of the
number of content items that are presented to the visitor affects visitor
behavior and satisfaction. We examined these issues in a controlled user study
conducted with actual museum visitors; comparing usage, behavior patterns, and
attitudes of visitors using three versions of a location-aware mobile museum
guide. Keywords: Amount of information / Choice / Context-aware computing / Cultural heritage
/ Mobile guide / Proactiveness | |||
| Barriers common to mobile and disabled web users | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 525-542 | |
| Yeliz Yesilada; Giorgio Brajnik; Simon Harper | |||
| World Wide Web accessibility and best practice audits and evaluations are
becoming increasingly complicated, time consuming, and costly because of the
increasing number of conformance criteria which need to be tested. In the case
of web access by disabled users and mobile users, a number of commonalities
have been identified in usage, which have been termed situationally-induced
impairments; in effect the barriers experienced by mobile web users have been
likened to those of visually disabled and motor impaired users. In this case,
we became interested in understanding if it was possible to evaluate the
problems of mobile web users in terms of the aggregation of barriers-to-access
experienced by disabled users; and in this way attempt to reduce the need for
the evaluation of the additional conformance criteria associated with mobile
web best practice guidelines. We used the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method as
our analytical framework. Capable of being used to evaluate accessibility in
both the disabled and mobile contexts, the BW method would also enable testing
and aggregation of barriers across our target user groups.
We tested 61 barriers across four user groups each over four pages with 19 experts and 57 non-experts focusing on the validity and reliability of our results. We found that 58% of the barrier types that were correctly found were identified as common between mobile and disabled users. Further, if our aggregated barriers alone were used to test for mobile conformance only four barrier types would be missed. Our results also showed that mobile users and low vision users have the most common barrier types, while low vision and motor impaired users experiencing similar rates of severity in the barriers they experienced. We conclude that the aggregated evaluation results for blind, low vision and motor impaired users can be used to approximate the evaluation results for mobile web users. Keywords: Web accessibility evaluation / Mobile web evaluation / Barrier Walkthrough
aggregation | |||
| Everyday use of computer-mediated communication tools and its evolution over time: An ethnographical study with older people | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 543-554 | |
| Sergio Sayago; David Sloan; Josep Blat | |||
| Based on a 3-year ethnographical study, this paper discusses the prolonged
use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools by approximately 400 older
people in an adult education centre in Barcelona (Spain). Contrary to
oversimplified views of older people as ICT users, this paper shows that they
make a very rich use of CMC tools. Relevant elements of this use are their
permanent desire to feel and be included, social, independent and competent ICT
users. Despite the numerous interaction issues they face when using ICT, some
are constant across different tools. Difficulties due to cognition limit their
interactions more severely than those problems due to perceiving visual
information or using the mouse. By examining the longitudinal aspect of the
study, this paper addresses the evolution of technology use and whether the
interaction issues that most of the current older people exhibit will be
relevant when today's more ICT literate young adults grow older. Interaction
issues due to cognition are time-persistent, and independent of both experience
and practice with ICT. Difficulties reading from the screen or using input
devices are overcome with ICT experience. The strategies adopted by older
people for coping with all these interaction issues are always targeted at
feeling and being included, social, independent and competent ICT users. The
results deepen current understanding of tools use in connecting older people
with their social circles and the interaction issues most of them encounter
when using ICT. The results also suggest that cognitive-related problems will
be the most important ones in our work with the next generation of older
people. Keywords: Ethnography / Evolution / Computer-mediated communication / Technology use /
Interaction / Older people | |||
| 40 years of searching for the best computer system response time | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 555-564 | |
| Jim Dabrowski; Ethan V. Munson | |||
| For over 40 years, system response time has been a topic of interest and
controversy in computer science. Since the late 1960s, the field has seen
numerous studies conducted and articles written addressing the issue. Many
factors were measured in these studies including: users' accuracy and error
rates with different levels of system response time, user performance speed and
the efficiency of the commands used, how user interactions with the computer
changed as a result of changes in system response time, how their bodies
reacted physiologically to those same changes and even how happy, satisfied,
anxious or annoyed they were as system response times changed.
In this paper, we summarize the major issues in system response time research and look at what can be concluded from them. Generally, researchers have suggested specific response-time guidelines based on the complexity of the task or the type of interaction with the computer. We suggest that rather than system response time being task- or expectation-focused, instead interactions with a computer fall into two categories: control tasks and conversational tasks. For control tasks, immediate response times are necessary for optimal user performance whereas for conversational tasks, some delays may be necessary to maintain the optimal pacing of the on-going conversation. The location and duration of these delays will depend on both task complexity and user expectations. Future system response time research is needed to further quantify limits of delay detection, and the location and duration of inter-task delays to optimize user performance and satisfaction with computers. Keywords: Human computer interaction / System response time / Software response
latency | |||
| Identifying the effectiveness of using three different haptic devices for providing non-visual access to the web | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 565-581 | |
| Shaojian Zhu; Ravi Kuber; Matthew Tretter; M. Sile O'Modhrain | |||
| Haptic technologies are often used to improve access to the structural
content of graphical user interfaces, thereby augmenting the interaction
process for blind users. While haptic design guidelines offer valuable
assistance when developing non-visual interfaces, the recommendations presented
are often tailored to the feedback produced via one particular haptic
input/output device. A blind user is therefore restricted to interacting with a
device which may be unfamiliar to him/her, rather than selecting from the range
of commercially available products. This paper reviews devices available on the
first and second-hand markets, and describes an exploratory study undertaken
with 12 blindfolded sighted participants to determine the effectiveness of
three devices for non-visual web interaction. The force-feedback devices chosen
for the study, ranged in the number of translations and rotations that the user
was able to perform when interacting with them. Results have indicated that the
Novint Falcon could be used to target items faster in the first task presented,
compared with the other devices. However, participants agreed that the
force-feedback mouse was most comfortable to use when interacting with the
interface. Findings have highlighted the benefits which low cost haptic
input/output devices can offer to the non-visual browsing process, and any
changes which may need to be made to accommodate their deficiencies. The study
has also highlighted the need for web designers to integrate appropriate haptic
feedback on their web sites to cater for the strengths and weaknesses of
various devices, in order to provide universally accessible sites and online
applications. Keywords: Haptic / Multimodal / Input devices | |||
| On designing usable and secure recognition-based graphical authentication mechanisms | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 582-593 | |
| Martin Mihajlov; Borka Jerman-Blazic | |||
| In this article we present the development of a new, web-based, graphical
authentication mechanism called ImagePass. The authentication mechanism
introduces a novel feature based on one-time passwords that increases the
security of the system without compromising its usability. Regarding usability,
we explore the users' perception of recognition-based, graphical authentication
mechanisms in a web environment. Specifically, we investigate whether the
memorability of recognition-based authentication keys is influenced by image
content. We also examine how the frequency of use affects the usability of the
system and whether user training via mnemonic instructions improves the
graphical password recognition rate. The design and development process of the
proposed system began with a study that assessed how the users remember
abstract, face or single-object images, and showed that single-object images
have a higher memorability rate. We then proceeded with the design and
development of a recognition-based graphical authentication mechanism,
ImagePass, which uses single-objects as the image content and follows usable
security guidelines. To conclude the research, in a follow-up study we
evaluated the performance of 151 participants under different conditions. We
discovered that the frequency of use had a great impact on users' performance,
while the users' gender had a limited task-specific effect. In contrast, user
training through mnemonic instructions showed no differences in the users'
authentication metrics. However, a post-study, focus-group analysis revealed
that these instructions greatly influenced the users' perception for
memorability and the usability of the graphical authentication. In general, the
results of these studies suggest that single-object graphical authentication
can be a complementary replacement for traditional passwords, especially in
ubiquitous environments and mobile devices. Keywords: Graphical authentication / Graphical passwords / User evaluation / System
design | |||
| Experiences with professional theatre for awareness raising | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 594-603 | |
| Alan F. Newell; Margaret E. Morgan; Lorna Gibson; Paula Forbes | |||
| For universal design to be successful, it is essential to understand the
needs, wants and characteristics of all user groups, particularly those people
who find currently available information technology systems frightening,
confusing, and difficult to use. A wide range of standards and guidelines are
available, but these do not always have sufficient impact on the design
process. It is argued that, in order to design for such "digitally
disadvantaged' people, it is important that designers develop an empathy with
such groups.
The paper refers to previous published work and describes more recent examples of how HCI researchers worked with theatre professionals -- script writers, actors and directors -- to produce a range of dramatic performances, using both film and interactive live theatre. These techniques have been used to raise awareness amongst student and professional designers of the characteristics, needs and wants of digitally disadvantaged people, and to encourage designers to develop an empathy for them. Both questionnaire and anecdotal evidence have shown the power of professional theatre in facilitating the communication of these issues to designers, and suggests how these techniques can be utilized by others in the field. The work reported has been primarily concerned with digitally disadvantaged older users -- a group who, because of demographic trends are an increasingly important user group for Information and Computing Technology. It is suggested, however, that theatre can be a valuable tool for raising awareness of the challenges of other user groups, particularly those who are not experienced and confident users of Information Technology. Keywords: Theatre / Drama techniques / Requirements gathering / Awareness raising /
Older users / Disabled users | |||
| Interaction criticism: An introduction to the practice | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 604-621 | |
| Bardzell Jeffrey | |||
| Though interaction designers critique interfaces as a regular part of their
research and practice, the field of HCI lacks a proper discipline of
interaction criticism. By interaction criticism I mean rigorous interpretive
interrogations of the complex relationships between (a) the interface,
including its material and perceptual qualities as well as its broader
situatedness in visual languages and culture and (b) the user experience,
including the meanings, behaviors, perceptions, affects, insights, and social
sensibilities that arise in the context of interaction and its outcomes.
Interaction criticism is a knowledge practice that enables design practitioners
to engage with the aesthetics of interaction, helping practitioners cultivate
more sensitive and insightful critical reactions to designs and exemplars.
Benefits of such an engagement can include informing a particular design
process, critiquing and innovating on design processes and methods more
generally, developing original theory beneficial to interaction design, and
exposing more robustly the long-term and even unintended consequences of
designs. In this article I offer a synthesis of practices of criticism derived
from analytic philosophy of aesthetics and critical theory, including the
introduction of five core claims from this literature; I outline four
perspectives that constitute a big-picture view of interaction criticism; and I
offer a case study, demonstrating interaction criticism through each of these
four perspectives. Keywords: Aesthetics / Critical theory / HCI / Interaction criticism / Philosophy /
Design | |||