| Wireless Face Interface: Using voluntary gaze direction and facial muscle activations for human-computer interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-9 | |
| Outi Tuisku; Veikko Surakka; Toni Vanhala; Ville Rantanen; Jukka Lekkala | |||
| The present aim was to investigate the functionality of a new wireless
prototype called Face Interface. The prototype combines the use of voluntary
gaze direction and facial muscle activations, for pointing and selecting
objects on a computer screen, respectively. The subjective and objective
functionality of the prototype was evaluated with a series of pointing tasks
using either frowning (i.e., frowning technique) or raising the eyebrows (i.e.,
raising technique) as the selection technique. Pointing task times and
accuracies were measured using three target diameters (i.e., 25, 30, 40 mm),
seven pointing distances (i.e., 60, 120, 180, 240, 260, 450, and 520 mm), and
eight pointing angles (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°,
270°, and 315°). The results showed that the raising technique was
faster selection technique than the frowning technique for the objects that
were presented in the pointing distances from 60 mm to 260 mm. For those
pointing distances the overall pointing task times were 2.4 s for the frowning
technique, and 1.6 s for the raising technique. Fitts' law computations showed
that the correlations for the Fitts' law model were r = 0.77 for the frowning
technique and r = 0.51 for the raising technique. Further, the index of
performance (IP) value was 1.9 bits/s for the frowning technique and 5.4 bits/s
for raising the eyebrows technique. Based on the results, the prototype
functioned well and was adjustable so that two different facial activations can
be used in combination with gaze direction for pointing and selecting objects
on a computer screen. Keywords: Eye tracking; Facial muscle activations; Human-computer interaction; Fitts' law | |||
| An interactive 3D movement path manipulation method in an augmented reality environment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 10-24 | |
| Taejin Ha; Mark Billinghurst; Woontack Woo | |||
| In this paper, we evaluate a path editing method using a tangible user
interface to generate and manipulate the movement path of a 3D object in an
Augmented Reality (AR) scene. To generate the movement path, each translation
point of a real 3D manipulation prop is examined to determine which point
should be used as a control point for the path. Interpolation using splines is
then used to reconstruct the path with a smooth line. A dynamic score-based
selection method is also used to effectively select small and dense control
points of the path. In an experimental evaluation, our method took the same
time and generated a similar amount of errors as a more traditional approach,
however the number of control points needed was significantly reduced. For
control manipulation, the task completion time was quicker and there was less
hand movement needed. Our method can be applied to drawing or curve editing
methods in AR educational, gaming, and simulation applications. Keywords: Immersive augmented reality; Augmented reality authoring; Movement path editing; Tangible user interface; 3D object selection and manipulation | |||
| Understanding the most satisfying and unsatisfying user experiences: Emotions, psychological needs, and context | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 25-34 | |
| Timo Partala; Aleksi Kallinen | |||
| The aim of this research was to study the structure of the most satisfying
and unsatisfying user experiences in terms of experienced emotions,
psychological needs, and contextual factors. 45 university students wrote
descriptions of their most satisfying and unsatisfying recent user experiences
and analyzed those experiences using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule
(PANAS) method for experienced emotions, a questionnaire probing the salience
of 10 psychological needs, and a self-made set of rating scales for analyzing
context. The results suggested that it was possible to capture variations in
user experiences in terms of experienced emotions, fulfillment of psychological
needs, and context effectively by using psychometric rating scales. The results
for emotional experiences showed significant differences in 16 out of 20 PANAS
emotions between the most satisfying and unsatisfying experiences. The results
for psychological needs indicated that feelings of autonomy and competence
emerged as highly salient in the most satisfying experiences and missing in the
unsatisfying experiences. High self-esteem was also notably salient in the most
satisfying experiences. The qualitative results indicated that most of the
participants' free-form qualitative descriptions, especially for the most
unsatisfying user experiences, gave important information about the pragmatic
aspects of the interaction, but often omitted information about hedonic and
social aspects of user experience. Keywords: User experience; Emotion; Psychological need; Context | |||
| An experimental study of learner perceptions of the interactivity of web-based instruction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 35-48 | |
| Jui-ni Sun; Yu-chen Hsu | |||
| An effectively designed interaction mechanism creates a shortcut for
human-computer interaction. Most studies in this area have concluded that the
higher the level of interactivity, the better, especially regarding interactive
websites applied in the fields of business and education. Previous studies have
also suggested that designs with a higher level of interactivity result in
higher learner evaluations of websites. However, little research has examined
learner perceptions as they interact with web-based instruction (WBI) systems
in a situation with limited time. To assist learners in acquiring knowledge
quickly, the interactivity design must make the web learning environment easier
to use by reducing the complexity of the interface. The aim of the present
study is to explore learner perceptions of three WBI systems with different
interaction levels under time limitations. This study was therefore designed to
provide a new framework to design systems with different degrees of
interactivity, and to examine learners' perceptions of these interaction
elements. Three WBI systems were developed with different degrees of
interactivity from high to low, and a between-subject experiment was conducted
with 45 subjects. The results of the experiment indicate that a higher level of
interactivity does not necessarily guarantee a higher perception of
interactivity in a short-term learning situation. Therefore, the instructors
must pay attention to modifying or selecting appropriate interactive elements
that are more suitable for various learning stages. The findings provide
insights for designers to adopt different degrees of interactivity in their
designs that will best fulfill various learners' needs. Keywords: Interactivity levels; Web-based instruction; Interaction design; Learner perception | |||
| Querying event sequences by exact match or similarity search: Design and empirical evaluation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 55-68 | |
| Krist Wongsuphasawat; Catherine Plaisant; Meirav Taieb-Maimon; Ben Shneiderman | |||
| Specifying event sequence queries is challenging even for skilled computer
professionals familiar with SQL. Most graphical user interfaces for database
search use an exact match approach, which is often effective, but near misses
may also be of interest. We describe a new similarity search interface, in
which users specify a query by simply placing events on a blank timeline and
retrieve a similarity-ranked list of results. Behind this user interface is a
new similarity measure for event sequences which the users can customize by
four decision criteria, enabling them to adjust the impact of missing, extra,
or swapped events or the impact of time shifts. We describe a use case with
Electronic Health Records based on our ongoing collaboration with hospital
physicians. A controlled experiment with 18 participants compared exact match
and similarity search interfaces. We report on the advantages and disadvantages
of each interface and suggest a hybrid interface combining the best of both. Keywords: Temporal categorical data; Event sequence; Temporal query interface; Similarity search; Similarity measure; Similan | |||
| Using think-aloud and psychometrics to explore users' experience with a news Web site | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 69-77 | |
| Gabor Aranyi; Paul van Schaik; Philip Barker | |||
| The present study is part of a research programme that aims to develop and
test a psychological model of end-users' experience with news sites. An
exploratory study of interaction experience with a news Web site was conducted.
An online questionnaire was used to collect information on demographics,
Internet-use and news-site use behaviour of users of a particular news site,
and to recruit participants for a think-aloud study. The protocol analysis of
screen-capture and audio recordings of participants, who used a news site while
thinking aloud, yielded five categories of experience: impression, content,
layout, information architecture and diversion. These categories are regarded
as spontaneous, self-reported aspects of users' experience with a news site. A
set of interaction-experience questionnaires revealed significant differences
between regular users and non-users of a news site. Correlation and regression
analyses demonstrated support for Hassenzahl's model of interaction experience.
The study presents a first attempt to empirically investigate the aspects of
interaction experience in relation to online news sites. Keywords: Interaction experience; Online news; Think-aloud; Psychometrics | |||
| Interpretation and generation incremental management in natural interaction systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 78-90 | |
| David del Valle-Agudo; Javier Calle-Gómez; Dolores Cuadra-Fernández; Jessica Rivero-Espinosa | |||
| Human interaction develops as an exchange of contributions between
participants. The construction of a contribution is not an activity
unilaterally created by the participant who produces it, but rather it
constitutes a combined activity between the producer and the rest of the
participants who take part in the interaction, by means of simultaneous
feedback. This paper presents an incremental approach (without losing sight of
how turns are produced throughout time), in which the interpretation of
contributions is done as they take place, and the final generated contributions
are the result of constant rectifications, reformulations and cancellations of
the initially formulated contributions. The Continuity Manager and the
Processes Coordinator components are proposed. The integration of these
components in natural interaction systems allow for a joint approach to these
problems. Both have been implemented and evaluated in a real framework called
LaBDA-Interactor System which has been applied to the "dictation domain'. We
found that the degree of naturalness of this turn-taking approach is very close
to the human one and it significantly improves the interaction cycle. Keywords: Human computer interaction; Natural interaction; Presentation manager; Incremental interpretation; Incremental generation; Continuity management | |||
| Fast and independent access to map directions for people who are blind | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 91-106 | |
| Zheshen Wang; Nan Li; Baoxin Li | |||
| This article presents an automatic approach, complete with a prototype
system, to supporting fast and independent access to online maps for local
navigation by people with visual impairment. With user-inputted start and end
addresses from a keyboard, the approach first queries MapQuest
(www.mapquest.com) for obtaining the walking directions and the corresponding
map image. Then, it automatically converts the obtained information in a form
that can be reproduced immediately through a tactile printer, and subsequently
generates an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) file, which associates textual
descriptions of the directions with a recreated tactile map. The tactile hard
copy can be placed on a touchpad which is connected to a computer. With the
generated SVG file opened in the computer, a user can explore the tactile map
by hands, receiving instant audio feedback of the directions by pressing
certain regions with special tactile patterns. This approach supports instant
queries of walking directions without requiring tedious manual conversion by a
sighted professional. The audio-tactile patterns, the adaptive representation
scheme and the blind-friendly user interface are specifically designed for the
visually-impaired users. Results from experimental evaluation based on a group
of users with visual impairment suggest that the proposed approach is effective
for providing blind computer users with independent access to geographic
directions. Keywords: Tactile map; Accessibility; Multi-modal system; Visual impairment | |||
| User-friendly locations of error messages in web forms: Put them on the right side of the erroneous input field | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 107-118 | |
| Mirjam Seckler; Alexandre N. Tuch; Klaus Opwis; Javier A. Bargas-Avila | |||
| There are many ways of placing error messages in web forms. A study of web
conventions shows that the most common approach is to display error messages
embedded in the form at the top of the entire form. Six frequent locations
(right, left, above and below the erroneous input field, as well as on the top
and at the bottom of the form) were tested in an online study with n = 303
participants. Results of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction show that
the locations near the erroneous input field lead to a significantly better
performance than the error messages on the top and at the bottom of the form;
in addition error messages on the right side of the erroneous input field were
subjectively evaluated as the most satisfying and intuitive by participants.
The results indicate possible improvements for online shops, where error
messages are currently mostly placed on the top of the form. Keywords: Error message location; Online forms; Display errors; Form usability; Form validation; Interaction design | |||
| Acting by hand: Informing interaction design for the periphery of people's attention | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 119-130 | |
| Saskia Bakker; Elise van den Hoven; Berry Eggen | |||
| Interactions in and with the physical world have enabled us to perform
everyday activities in the periphery of our attention. Even though digital
technologies are becoming increasingly present in the everyday environment,
interaction with these technologies usually requires people's focused
attention. In the realm of the vision of calm technology, we think that
designing interactions with the digital world inspired by our peripheral
interaction with the physical world, will enable digital technologies to better
blend into our everyday lives. However, for such interaction design to be
effective, a detailed understanding of the everyday periphery is required. In
this paper, we therefore present a qualitative study on everyday activities
that may take place in the periphery of the attention. We provide a broad range
of examples of such everyday activities and cluster them to present the
conditions under which they may be performed peripherally. Furthermore, we
discuss how our findings may be relevant for the design of peripheral
interactions with digital technologies, and present two conceptual designs that
are based on our findings. Keywords: Interaction design; Periphery; Attention; User-centered design; Tangible interaction; Embodied interaction | |||
| Positive mood induction procedures for virtual environments designed for elderly people | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 131-138 | |
| R. M. Baños; E. Etchemendy; D. Castilla; A. García-Palacios; S. Quero; C. Botella | |||
| Positive emotions have a significant influence on mental and physical
health. Their role in the elderly's wellbeing has been established in numerous
studies. It is therefore worthwhile to explore ways in which elderly people can
increase the number of positive experiences in their daily lives. This paper
describes two Virtual Environments (VEs) that were used as mood induction
procedures (MIPs) for this population. In addition, the VEs' efficacy at
increasing joy and relaxation in elderly users is analyzed. The VEs contain
exercises for generating positive-autobiographic memories, mindfulness and slow
breathing rhythms. The total sample comprised 18 participants over 55 years old
who used the VEs on two occasions. Twelve of them used the joy environment,
while 16 used the relaxation environment. Moods before and after each session
were assessed using Visual Analogical Scales. After using both VEs, results
indicated significant increases in joy and relaxation and significant decreases
in sadness and anxiety. The participants also indicated low levels of
difficulty of use and high levels of satisfaction and sense of presence. Hence,
the VEs demonstrate their usefulness at promoting positive affects and
enhancing the wellbeing of elderly people. Keywords: Elderly people; Mood induction procedures; Virtual reality; Positive emotions; e-Health; ICTs | |||
| Gender affordances of conversational agents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 139-153 | |
| Sheryl Brahnam; Antonella De Angeli | |||
| Conversational agents are attributed human-like characteristics; in
particular, they are often assumed to have a gender. There is evidence that
gender sets up expectations that have an impact on user experiences with
agents. The objective of this paper is to explore gender affordances of
conversational agents. Our examination takes a holistic approach to the
analysis of the application of gender stereotypes to nine chatterbots: six
embodied (three male and three female), two disembodied (male and female), and
a robot embodiment. Building on social psychology research, we test the
persistence of gender stereotypes in the selection of conversation topics and
in the elicitation of disinhibition and verbal abuse. Our study is based on
quantitative textual analysis of interaction logs. A dictionary of English
sexual slang and derogatory terms was developed for this study. Results show
that gender stereotypes tend to affect interaction more at the relational
(style) level then at the referential (content) level of conversation. People
attribute negative stereotypes to female-presenting chatterbots more often than
they do to male-presenting chatterbots, and female-presenting chatterbots are
more often the objects of implicit and explicit sexual attention and swear
words. We conclude by calling for a more informed analysis of user interactions
that considers the full range of user interactions. Keywords: Sexuality and HCI; LIWC; Gender; Agent abuse; Embodied conversational agents; Sex stereotypes | |||
| A survey of methods for data fusion and system adaptation using autonomic nervous system responses in physiological computing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 154-172 | |
| Domen Novak; Matjaz Mihelj; Marko Munih | |||
| Physiological computing represents a mode of human -- computer interaction
where the computer monitors, analyzes and responds to the user's
psychophysiological activity in real-time. Within the field, autonomic nervous
system responses have been studied extensively since they can be measured
quickly and unobtrusively. However, despite a vast body of literature available
on the subject, there is still no universally accepted set of rules that would
translate physiological data to psychological states. This paper surveys the
work performed on data fusion and system adaptation using autonomic nervous
system responses in psychophysiology and physiological computing during the
last ten years. First, five prerequisites for data fusion are examined:
psychological model selection, training set preparation, feature extraction,
normalization and dimension reduction. Then, different methods for either
classification or estimation of psychological states from the extracted
features are presented and compared. Finally, implementations of system
adaptation are reviewed: changing the system that the user is interacting with
in response to cognitive or affective information inferred from autonomic
nervous system responses. The paper is aimed primarily at psychologists and
computer scientists who have already recorded autonomic nervous system
responses and now need to create algorithms to determine the subject's
psychological state. Keywords: Affective computing; Physiological computing; Psychophysiology; Data fusion; Autonomic nervous system | |||
| Reprint of a process model for developing usable cross-cultural websites | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 174-187 | |
| Andy Smith; Lynne Dunckley; Tim French; Shailey Minocha; Yu Chang | |||
| In this paper we present a process model for developing usable
cross-cultural websites. Compatible with ISO 13407, the process model documents
an abstraction of the design process focusing on cultural issues in
development. It provides a framework in which a variety of user-based and
expert-based techniques for analysis and design are placed within the
life-cycle of website development. In developing the model, we relate practical
approaches to design with theories and models of culture and discuss the
relevance of such theories to the practical design process. In particular we
focus on four key concerns: how an audit of local website attractors can inform
the design process; the concept of a cultural fingerprint to contrast websites
with the cultural needs of local users; the problems associated with user
evaluation; and cross-cultural team development. We then show their relation to
our process model. We conclude by summarising our contribution to date within
the field. Keywords: Cross-cultural usability; Websites; Globalisation; Cultural fingerprint; Attractors; User evaluation | |||
| Special issue: Presence and interaction | | BIB | Full-Text | 190-192 | |
| John Waterworth; Eva Lindh Waterworth; Fabrizia Mantovani; Giuseppe Riva | |||
| Presence and general principles of brain function | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 193-202 | |
| Daniel Sjölie | |||
| Recent developments in general theories of cognition and brain function make
it possible to consider the concept of presence from a new perspective, based
in general principles of brain function. The importance of interaction with
reality for the development and function of the brain and human cognition is
increasingly emphasized. The brain is explained as implementing a generative
model of the current environment. Whether this environment is real or virtual
does not matter. Mental simulations are created for whatever one interacts
with, when possible. This view provides a basis for relating human experiences
in virtual environments to several theories that explain cognition and brain
function on many levels, from ultimate evolutionary motivations to plausible
neural implementations. The purpose of this paper is not to provide yet another
definition of presence but to suggest explanations of phenomena commonly
related to presence, with a basis in general principles of brain function. Such
principles are employed to explain how, and why, interaction with our
environment, and internalization of objects and tools therein, play an
essential role in human cognition. This provides a rich basis for further
analysis of how central aspects of presence, such as breaks in presence or the
perceptual illusion of non-mediation, may work on a fundamental level. More
general descriptions of such phenomena have advantages such as being easier to
relate to new contexts and technologies, and opening up for additional
inspiration and confirmation from other disciplines such as cognitive
neuroscience. In addition to an account of general principles for brain
function and a discussion about the concept of presence in light of these, this
paper also relates this discussion to a number of previous accounts of
presence, and to practical implications and applications for interaction
design. Keywords: Presence; Brain function; Virtual reality; Cognitive neuroscience | |||
| From the body to the tools and back: A general framework for presence in mediated interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 203-210 | |
| Giuseppe Riva; Fabrizia Mantovani | |||
| Different neuropsychological studies clearly show that the perception of our
body and its surrounding space is not a given fact but it is influenced by the
outcome of our actions (both direct and mediated by the use of tools). In this
view, a possible starting point for a better understanding of Presence in
computer-mediated interactions is the study of mediated action and its effects
on our spatial experience.
Following a cognitive perspective, the presented framework describes Presence as an intuitive feeling which is the outcome of an experience-based metacognitive judgment that controls our action. This process monitors pre-reflexively our activity by using an embodied intuitive simulation of the intended action developed through practice (implicit learning). When actions are implemented using one or more tools, it is possible to distinguish between two different types of mediated action: first-order (I use the body to control a proximal artifact, e.g. a tennis player striking the ball with the racquet) or second-order (I use the body to control a proximal artifact that controls a different distal one, e.g. a cranemen using a lever to move a mechanical boom to lift materials). These two mediated actions, when produced intuitively, have different effects on our experience of body and space: a successfully learned first-order mediated action produces incorporation -- the proximal tool extends the peripersonal space of the subject -- while a successfully learned second-order mediated action produces also incarnation -- a second peripersonal space centered on the distal tool. Keywords: Spatial presence; Media presence; Tools; Intuition; Metacognition; Telepresence | |||
| Embodiment and telepresence: Toward a comprehensive theoretical framework | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 211-218 | |
| Antal Haans; Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn | |||
| What explains the experience of "being there' in a simulated or mediated
environment? In recent years, research has pointed to various technological and
psychological factors deemed important in eliciting this so-called experience
of telepresence, including interactivity, sensory-motor integration, media
transparency, and distal attribution. However, few theories exist that can
combine these findings in a coherent framework. In the present paper, we
formulate such a theoretical framework. We will argue that the experience of
telepresence is a consequence of the way in which we are embodied, and that it
extends naturally from the same ability that allows us to adjust to a slippery
surface, or to the weight of a hammer. The importance of embodiment in the
understanding of telepresence has been stated before, but these works have not
yet fully addressed what it means to be embodied. We argue that "having a human
body' means having a specific morphology, a body schema, and a body image.
Subsequently we describe how tools and technological artifacts may be
incorporated at each of these levels of embodiment, and the implications
thereof for the experience of telepresence. Keywords: Media technology; Presence; Embodiment; Body schema; Body image; Sensory-motor integration | |||
| Presence in blended spaces | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 219-226 | |
| David Benyon | |||
| Mixed reality technologies have been around for over 10 years but it is only
with the proliferation of smart phones and tablet (computers) that mixed and
augmented reality interaction is reaching the mass market. There are now enough
examples of mixed reality interactions that we can begin to abstract principles
of design and principles of user experience (UX) for these new spaces of
interaction. In this paper I develop the notion of mixed reality as a blended
space. Mixed reality is a blend of a physical space and a digital space. The
term 'blend' here is borrowed from blending theory which is a theory of
cognition that highlights the importance of cross domain mappings and
conceptual integration to our thought process that are grounded in
physically-based spatial schemas. The concept of a blended space is developed
by recognizing that physical space and digital space can both be described in
terms of the objects and agents who inhabit the space, the structure of the
objects' relationships (the topology of the space) and the changes that take
place in the space (the volatility, or dynamics of the space). The blended
space will be more effective if the physical and digital spaces have some
recognizable and understandable correspondences. The issue of presence in this
blended space is then discussed and it is suggested that traditional
definitions of presence are inadequate to describe the experiences that blended
spaces offer. Presence is considered as interaction between the self and the
content of the medium within which the self exists, and place is this medium.
Blended spaces mean that people have an extended presence; from their physical
location into digital worlds. Keywords: Presence; User experience; Interaction; Blending theory; Blended spaces | |||
| Manipulating subjective realism and its impact on presence: Preliminary results on feasibility and neuroanatomical correlates | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 227-236 | |
| Stéphane Bouchard; Stéphanie Dumoulin; Jeanne Talbot; André-Anne Ledoux; Jennifer Phillips; Johana Monthuy-Blanc; Geneviève Labonté-Chartrand; Geneviève Robillard; Matteo Cantamesse; Patrice Renaud | |||
| The feeling of presence has been shown to be an important concept in several
clinical applications of virtual reality. Among the factors influencing
presence, realism factors have been examined extensively from the angle of
objective realism. Objective realism has been manipulated by altering numerous
technological characteristics such as pictorial quality, texture and shading,
or by adding more sensory information (i.e., smell, touch). Much less studied
is the subjective (or perceived) realism, the focus of the two pilot studies
reported in this article. In Study 1, subjective realism was manipulated in
order to assess the impact on the feeling of presence. Method: Presence was
measured in 31 adults after two immersions in virtual reality. Participants
were immersed in a neutral/irrelevant virtual environment and subsequently
subjected to the experimental manipulation. Participants in the experimental
condition were falsely led to believe that they were immersed live in real time
in a "real' room with a "real' mouse in a cage. In the control condition,
participants believed they were immersed in a replica of the nearby room. All
participants were actually immersed in the exact same virtual environment.
Results: A manipulation check revealed that 80% of the participants believed in
the deception. A 2 Times by 2 Conditions repeated measure ANOVA revealed that
leading people to believe they were seeing a real environment digitized live in
virtual reality increased their feeling of presence compared to the control
condition. In Study 2, the same experimental design was used but with
simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to assess
brain areas potentially related to the feeling of presence. fMRI data from five
participants were subjected to a within subject fixed effect analysis to verify
differences between the experimental immersion (higher presence) and the
control immersion (lower presence). Results revealed a statistically
significant difference in left and right parahippocampus areas. Conclusion:
Results are discussed according to layers of presence and consciousness and the
meaning given to experiences occurring in virtual reality. Some suggestions are
formulated to target core presence and extended presence. Keywords: Feeling of presence; Virtual reality; Subjective realism; fMRI; Parahippocampus | |||
| Interacting with the Music Paint Machine: Relating the constructs of flow experience and presence | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 237-250 | |
| Luc Nijs; Pieter Coussement; Bart Moens; Denis Amelinck; Micheline Lesaffre; Marc Leman | |||
| In this paper we report on the results of an experiment on the experience of
flow and presence while engaging with an interactive music system, the Music
Paint Machine. This music system provides a game-like environment in which a
musician can create a digital painting by playing an acoustic musical
instrument, by moving the body in different directions, and by selecting
colours using a pressure mat. The experiment aimed at getting a better insight
into the possible relationship between flow experience and presence. Based on
the definition of flow as a combination of the highest level of presence
(presence-as-feeling) and a positive emotional state (Riva et al., 2004a), we
hypothesized that presence has a predictive value for flow. Sixty-five
musicians, both amateur and professional, participated in the experiment. Flow
experience was measured with the Flow State Scale (Jackson and Eklund, 2004).
Presence was measured with an in-house designed presence questionnaire. Results
showed a significantly strong correlation between flow and presence. Moreover,
the scores for presence significantly predicted the Flow State Scale, and
explained a significant proportion of variance in the Flow State Scale.
Furthermore, many significant associations were found between flow and presence
variables, among which the most significant were the strong correlation
(Spearman's rank) between the naturalness of using the system and the Flow
State Scale and between the feeling of non-mediation and the Flow State Scale. Keywords: Interactive music system; Flow experience; Presence; Embodied music cognition; Embodied interaction | |||
| The effects of egocentric and allocentric representations on presence and perceived realism: Tested in stereoscopic 3D games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 251-264 | |
| Sangwon Bae; Haein Lee; Hyejin Park; Hanju Cho; Joonah Park; Jinwoo Kim | |||
| Recently, stereoscopic 3D technologies have come to be used widely in
various applications including movies and computer games. Stereoscopic 3D is
defined as that which provides visual depth and details by exploiting the
stereoscopic vision of the eyes caused by binocular disparity. Prior studies
proposed important system features of stereoscopic 3D that may increase the
user's sense of presence. However, few studies, either theoretical or
empirical, have investigated how these perceived system features affect the
user's sense of presence. This study aims to construct a theoretical model that
explains the perceived effects of stereoscopic 3D features on sense of
presence, and to verify the validity of the model in the 3D computer game
domain. The study focuses on spatial representation and perceived realism as
important mediating factors between the perceived system features and sense of
presence. According to the Dual Mode Model (DMM), two types of spatial
representation are crucial for perceived realism and presence: egocentric
representation and allocentric representation. Egocentric representation
implies representing locations with respect to the particular perspective of
the perceiver, while allocentric representation locates reference points
outside of the perceiver, regardless of his or her position. Research questions
in this study are: How strongly do perceived expression and manipulation
features of stereoscopic 3D systems influence spatial representation? How does
spatial representation influence perceived realism and presence in a
stereoscopic 3D environment? In order to answer these research questions an
empirical study was conducted in a controlled lab environment. A total number
of 257 users participated in the study and collected data was analyzed by using
structural equation modeling with SmartPLS2.0. The findings are as follows:
First, both the perceived expression and manipulation features of the
stereoscopic 3D system influenced spatial representation, but the perceived
expression features had stronger effects than the perceived manipulation
features. Second, both egocentric and allocentric representation were found to
affect presence. In addition, egocentric representation was found to affect
sense of presence both directly and indirectly through perceived realism,
whereas allocentric representation contributed a sense of presence only
indirectly through perceived realism. This paper concludes by discussing the
study's limitations and implications. Keywords: Sense of presence; Perceived realism; Dual mode model; Egocentric representation; Allocentric representation; Perceived manipulation | |||
| May I experience more presence in doing the same thing in virtual reality than in reality? An answer from a simulated job interview | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 265-272 | |
| D. Villani; C. Repetto; P. Cipresso; G. Riva | |||
| Is it possible to experience more presence in doing the same thing in
virtual reality than in reality? According to the well known definition of
presence as "disappearance of mediation', the answer is no: technology is a
barrier, a mediating tool that can only reduce the level of presence
experienced in an interaction. However, the increasing diffusion of a
technology like augmented reality that adds a technological layer of
information to the real world suggests the opposite: the experience of "being
there' may be influenced by the ability of "making sense there'.
To explore this issue we used a sample of 20 university students to evaluate the level of presence experienced in two different settings: an immersive virtual reality job simulation and a real world simulation that was identical to its VR counterpart (same interviewer, same questions) but without technological mediation and without any social and cultural cues in the environment that may give a better meaning to both the task and its social context. Self-report data, and in particular the scores in the Spatial Presence and the Ecological Validity ITC-SOPI scales, suggest that experienced presence was higher during the virtual interview than in the real world simulation. This interpretation was confirmed by subjective (higher in VR) but not by objective (Skin Conductance) anxiety scores. These data suggest a vision of presence as a social construction, in which reality is co-constructed in the relationship between actors and their environments through the mediation of physical and cultural artifacts. Keywords: Presence; Virtual reality; Job interview; Anxiety state | |||
| Does locality make a difference? Assessing the effectiveness of location-aware narratives | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 273-279 | |
| Evangelos Karapanos; Mary Barreto; Valentina Nisi; Evangelos Niforatos | |||
| With the increasing sophistication of mobile computing, a growing interest
has been paid to locative media that aim at providing immersive experiences.
Location aware narratives are a particular kind of locative media that aim at
"telling stories that unfold in real space'. This paper presents a study that
aimed at assessing an underlying hypothesis of location-aware narratives: that
the coupling between the physical space and the narrative will result in
increased levels of immersion in the narrative. Forty-five individuals
experienced a location-aware video narrative in three locations: (a) the
original location that contains physical cues from the narrative world, (b) a
different location that yet portrays a similar atmosphere, and (c) a location
that contains neither physical cues nor a similar atmosphere. Significant
differences were found in users' experiences with the narrative in terms of
immersion in the story and mental imagery, but not with regard to feelings of
presence, emotional involvement or the memorability of story elements. We
reflect on these findings and the implications for the design of location-aware
narratives and highlight questions for further research. Keywords: Location-aware narratives; Locative media; Narrative transportation; Presence | |||
| Age differences in the perception of social presence in the use of 3D virtual world for social interaction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 280-291 | |
| Panote Siriaraya; Chee Siang Ang | |||
| 3D virtual worlds are becoming increasingly popular as tool for social
interaction, with the potential of augmenting the user's perception of physical
and social presence. Thus, this technology could be of great benefit to older
people, providing home-bound older users with access to social, educational and
recreational resources. However, so far there have been few studies looking
into how older people engage with virtual worlds, as most research in this area
focuses on younger users. In this study, an online experiment was conducted
with 30 older and 30 younger users to investigate age differences in the
perception of presence in the use of virtual worlds for social interaction.
Overall, we found that factors such as navigation and prior experience with
text messaging tools played a key role in older people's perception of
presence. Both physical and social presence was found to be linked to the
quality of social interaction for users of both age groups. In addition, older
people displayed proxemic behavior which was more similar to proxemic behavior
in the physical world when compared to younger users. Keywords: Virtual worlds; Presence; Older people; Social interaction; Proxemics | |||
| Video-mediated and co-present gameplay: Effects of mutual gaze on game experience, expressiveness and perceived social presence | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 292-305 | |
| Suleman Shahid; Emiel Krahmer; Marc Swerts | |||
| We study how pairs of children interact socially and express their emotions
while playing games in different communicative settings. In particular, we
study how such interactions can vary for environments that differ regarding the
level of mediation and the associated feelings of social presence. Overall, the
study compared three conditions (one face-to-face gameplay condition, and two
video-mediated gameplay conditions; one allowing for mutual gaze, the other
not) and focused on the social presence and non-verbal behavior of children in
three conditions. The results show that the presence of mutual eye-gaze
enriches the feelings of social presence, fun and game experience; conversely,
the absence of mutual eye-gaze dramatically effects the quality of interaction
in the video-mediated environment. The results of this study stress the
importance of mutual gaze, and we therefore argue that it should become an
integral component of future VMC systems, particularly in those designed for
playful settings and children. Keywords: Video-mediated communication; Mutual gaze; Social presence; Games; Fun; Children | |||
| Physiological compliance for social gaming analysis: Cooperative versus competitive play | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 306-316 | |
| Guillaume Chanel; J. Matias Kivikangas; Niklas Ravaja | |||
| We report the results of an empirical study demonstrating the value of using
physiological compliance as a measure of social presence during digital game
playing. The physiological activity (facial EMG, electrodermal activity,
cardiac activity and respiration) of 21 dyads were acquired synchronously while
they were playing a digital game either cooperatively or competitively and
either at home or in the laboratory. Physiological compliance was defined as
the correlation between the physiological signals of the dyad members. The
results of this study confirm that physiological compliance is higher in a
conflicting situation than when playing cooperatively. Importantly, the results
also demonstrate that physiological compliance is related to self-reported
social presence. This suggests that physiological compliance is not limited to
negative situations but rather increases due to rich interactions. Only minor
differences in physiological compliance were observed between home play and
laboratory play, suggesting the ecological validity of laboratory measures.
Finally, we propose that compliance measures can be considered as objective
indices of social presence in digital gaming. Keywords: Physiological compliance; Digital games; Social presence; Facial electromyography; Electrodermal activity; Cardiac activity | |||
| Subjective and behavioral presence measurement and interactivity in the collaborative augmented reality game TimeWarp | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 317-325 | |
| Astrid M. von der Pütten; Jennifer Klatt; Simon Ten Broeke; Roderick McCall; Nicole C. Krämer; Richard Wetzel; Lisa Blum; Leif Oppermann; Johannes Klatt | |||
| Presence is usually assessed via a variety of subjective and objective
measures. However, constraints often result in subjective measurements using
questionnaires as a key method of data collection. In this paper we present a
study of 44 participants of a collaborative augmented reality game known as
TimeWarp which used both subjective and objective behavioral measures. Behavior
as coded from video recordings of one scene of the game and self-reports about
feelings of presence were compared. Our findings indicate that pointing
behavior and verbal responses to the virtual content are correlated negatively
to sense of presence. We further investigated the influence of subjectively
perceived interactivity on perceived presence. We found that the interaction
possibilities perceived by the participants predicted their experience of
social presence with the virtual characters in the game. Furthermore, playing
together with another person did not result in decreased social presence of the
virtual characters. Implications for presence research are discussed. Keywords: Presence in games; Behavioral measures; Augmented reality; Collaborative games; Interactivity | |||
| The Digital Reading Desk: A lightweight approach to digital note-taking | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 327-338 | |
| Jennifer Pearson; George Buchanan; Harold Thimbleby; Matt Jones | |||
| Attentive reading is a complex and cognitively demanding task that uses
note-taking and annotation to support the reader's interpretation of the
document. When reading on paper, extensive use of highlighting and other
activities are conducted to support attentive reading, but this rich behaviour
is not used with digital documents. Many users therefore print digital
documents and then interact with them in physical form.
This paper presents the "Digital Reading Desk,' an enhanced digital reading environment that provides support for attentive reading, providing a large working space for notes that mimics the use of desk space in a conventional physical environment. The Reading Desk uses a single tool to support both annotation and bookmarking, simplifying both the user's learning of the system and their use of tools. Evaluation of the Reading Desk indicates preference for it, as well as considerable behavioural differences between our approach and traditional digital reading tools. Keywords: Annotation; Bookmarking; Documents; Notes; Direct manipulation | |||
| User interactions with an affective nutritional coach | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 339-350 | |
| Christopher Creed; Russell Beale | |||
| This paper investigates how users respond to emotional expressions displayed
by an embodied agent. In a between-subjects experiment (N = 50) an emotionally
expressive agent (simulating the role of a nutritional coach) was perceived as
significantly more likeable and caring than an unemotional version. Feedback
from participants also revealed detailed insights into their perceptions of the
agents and highlighted a strong preference for the emotionally expressive
version. Design implications for embodied agents are discussed and future
research areas identified. Keywords: Emotion; Affect; Behaviour change; Engagement; Avatar | |||
| The impact of paper prototyping on card sorting: A case study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 351-357 | |
| Karin Slegers; Verónica Donoso | |||
| Combining the techniques of paper prototyping and card sorting into a single
session has the benefits of helping users to understand a new technology on the
one hand, and of gaining insight into the users' mental models of that
technology on the other hand. However, acquainting users with a new technology
via a paper prototype might affect their mental models, as assessed with the
card sorting technique. The aim of this paper was to explore the possibility of
combining the two techniques in a single research session. Thirty-seven users
participated in a study concerning a payment system based on Near Field
Communication (NFC). Eight group sessions were organized, including both a
paper prototyping exercise and a card sorting exercise. The order of the
exercises was alternated. The findings of this case study seem to suggest that
the paper prototyping exercise resulted into deeper insights into the
participants' mental models resulting from the card sorting exercise. At the
same time, paper prototyping seemed to prevent participants to come up with new
names for their card sorting categories. Keywords: Card sorting; Methodology; Paper prototyping; Near Field Communication; User-centered design; User interfaces | |||
| Of organization, device and context: Interruptions from mobile communication in highly specialized care | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 358-373 | |
| Jeremiah Scholl; Kristina Groth | |||
| This paper presents an ethnographic study of mobile communication at a
surgical unit in Sweden involved with highly specialized care for the upper
abdomen. The primary focus of the study is interruptions related to usage of
mobile communication, with the goal of informing the design of systems that
better balance interruptions and availability. The department uses a patchwork
of hospital pagers, personal cell phones, and department provided cell phones.
Issues related to social factors at the department, technical features of
mobile communication devices, and specific contexts where interruptions were
identified to be a problem are presented. Some of the salient findings of the
study include a generally complex situation with respect to interruptions that
is impacted by technical, social and individual factors related to mobile
communication, challenges related to managing personal and private
communication on the same device, issues related to supporting distributed work
in highly specialized care and how this contributes to interruptions, and a
more in depth overview of specific contexts where interruptions are problematic
than previous studies. Some theoretical perspectives on these issues are
presented as well as implications for design. Keywords: Ethnography; Mobile communication; Health care; Interruptions; Pervasive computing; Context-aware computing | |||
| SymbolChat: A flexible picture-based communication platform for users with intellectual disabilities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 374-386 | |
| Tuuli Keskinen; Tomi Heimonen; Markku Turunen; Juha-Pekka Rajaniemi; Sami Kauppinen | |||
| Persons with intellectual disabilities benefit from participating in the
modern information society, especially the World Wide Web, social media and
Internet-mediated communication services. Although several computer-based
prototypes and commercial systems have been introduced for accessible in-person
communication, currently few applications and services exist to support
synchronous remote communication for this user group. We introduce SymbolChat,
a software platform that supports the creation of multimodal communication
applications utilizing picture-based instant messaging. End users and their
support personnel can customize the input and output features of the
application based on their individual needs and abilities. The interaction is
based on touchscreen input and speech output using speech synthesis technology.
The SymbolChat platform was developed together with the prospective end users
and practitioners in the field of special needs care.
We evaluated the prototype application in a field study with nine users with varying degrees of intellectual and other disabilities. The results clearly indicate that the participants were able to express themselves in spontaneous communication using a large-scale picture-based vocabulary (around 2000 symbols) even without prior training in the use of symbols. This finding was supported in the constructive feedback gathered from professionals working in the area. We also successfully applied methodology from other settings, such as child-computer interaction to evaluate interaction in this challenging context. Overall, the results show that social inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities can be improved with customizable communication tools. The implemented communication platform forms a solid basis for further improvements and new communication services. In addition, we found that users with motor impairments would greatly benefit from alternative input and output methods for symbol browsing and selection. Keywords: Picture-based communication; Instant messaging; Augmentative and alternative communication; User-centered design | |||
| Shared online spreadsheets and hidden profiles: Technological effects on dyad decision strategy | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 387-397 | |
| I. Fajardo; S. J. Payne | |||
| We report a study in which dyads use Instant Messaging to agree a preference
among a set of three apartments. The information given to participants is
partially overlapping, and contains a "hidden profile' (HP), such that a single
apartment emerges as the best according to an unweighted sum of feature values
only if dyad members pool information that is presented to only one of them.
When dyads were additionally provided with a shared online spreadsheet, their
decision strategy was more likely to be compensatory and relatively exhaustive,
even if the distribution of importance among the cues in which the apartments
vary meant that a "fast and frugal' heuristic such as take-the-best would be a
rational strategy. This study shows the potential of classic experimental
tasks, the HP task in particular, for understanding technological constraints
on group decision making and signals the importance of understanding
decision-making strategies, and the potential of fast and frugal heuristics,
for informing the design of decision support systems. Keywords: Group decision support system; Hidden profile task; Group decision strategy; Fast and frugal heuristic | |||
| Enhancing group awareness on the web: Prototype and experiments of sharing web page visitation information among teammates | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 398-408 | |
| Qing Wang; Ya Li; Gaoqiang Zheng; Huiyou Chang | |||
| Group awareness is critical to improving the collaboration efficiency of a
group, especially when teammates are geographically separated while working on
the web. Previous studies have focused mainly on enhancing the awareness of the
current working status of teammates, such as web pages being viewed, or other
web activities, and they seldom take into account past working/browsing
information, such as web pages visited or past web activities. However, the
awareness of this kind of historical information can be useful for group
collaboration. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to sharing web page
visitation information among teammates. We present the design and
implementation of our prototype, named Shared Browsing History. We then
describe two user studies in which three groups with eight participants each
used the prototype. The results of these studies show that our approach was
effective in enhancing participants' group awareness and improved group
collaborative efficiency in programming and software development tasks. Keywords: Group awareness; Group collaboration; Browsing history; Web page visitation; Information sharing | |||
| Counting clicks and beeps: Exploring numerosity based haptic and audio PIN entry | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 409-422 | |
| Andrea Bianchi; Ian Oakley; Dong Soo Kwon | |||
| Haptic and audio cues now appear commonly in computer interfaces, partially
due to inherent advantages such as their support for eyes-free interaction.
Their invisible, unobservable nature also makes them ideal candidates for
security interfaces in which users have to enter secret information such as
passwords. In particular, researchers have explored this idea through the
design of PIN entry authentication systems based on multi-modal combinations of
visual and non-visual content or on the recognition of small sets of unimodal
haptic or audio stimuli. This paper highlights the benefits and performance
limitations of these approaches and introduces an alternative based on unimodal
audio or haptic temporal numerosity -- the ability to accurately and rapidly
determine the number of cues presented in rapid temporal succession. In
essence, in a numerosity interface, rather than recognizing distinct cues,
users must count the number of times that a single cue occurs. In an iterative
process of design and evaluation, three prototypes implementing this concept
are presented and studies of their use reported. The results show the fastest
PIN entry times and lowest error rates to be 8 s and 2%, figures that improve
substantially on previous research. These results are attained while
maintaining low levels of workload and substantial resistance to observation
attack (as determined via camera attack security studies). In sum, this paper
argues that unimodal audio and haptic numerosity is a valuable and relatively
unexplored metaphor for non-visual input and demonstrates the validity of this
claim in the demanding task of unobservable authentication systems. Keywords: Human factors; Haptics and audio; Authentication; Mobile | |||
| A direct touch table-top display as a multi-user information kiosk: Comparing the usability of a single display groupware either by a single user or people cooperating as a group | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 423-437 | |
| Mehmet Ilker Berkman; Adem Karahoca | |||
| This study aimed to investigate the usability of a direct touch table-top
display (D3TD) application that was designed to be used as a multi-user
information kiosk (MUIK). We examined its use by either a single person or
multiple user groups to determine the effect of people cooperating as a group
on its usability. We compared both groups' user performance and usability
survey results. A one-way MANOVA of overall usability metrics emphasised a
significant difference between the groups. Given the significance of the
overall test, examining the univariate main effects revealed that the
difference between the groups arose in the earlier system use stages due to
differences in the success rate. There was no difference in the task completion
time between the groups. Participants in the multiple user group achieved a
higher task completion rate in the first phase and lower error rates in the
following steps. However, the usability survey results did not reveal a
significant difference between the groups. We observed that users working on
the same individual task tended to help each other when working in a multi-user
environment. These mutual aids occurred mostly in the earlier stages,
influencing the users' performance. The results show that a D3TD has a
potential to enhance usability in terms of effectiveness when deployed as a
MUIK. Keywords: Single display groupware (SDG); Direct touch table-top display (D3TD); Group interaction; Usability; Multi-user; Information kiosk | |||
| Rating reflection on experience: A case study of teachers' and tutors' reflection around images | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 439-449 | |
| Rowanne Fleck | |||
| Reflection on personal experience is described as a means to learn from
experience, enable self-development and improve professional practice amongst
other things. Recently there has been a move in HCI to explore new ways
technology may support us in doing this. However, within this community there
is little use made of existing literature to evaluate how well such tools
support this reflection. In this paper we present a case study of the
development of a 'levels of reflection' framework for the purposes of
evaluating a wearable digital camera (SenseCam) to support teachers' and
tutors' reflective practice. The framework enabled us to rate and compare
reflection achieved by participants in different situations, and to explore the
relationship between the ways images were used by participants and the level of
reflection this led to, with implications for designing future SenseCam use to
better support teachers' and tutors' reflection on experience. Beyond our
particular case study, we suggest that the framework and associated
methodological approach for rating reflection is of value to those within the
HCI community interested in designing for reflection on experience. Rating
reflection in this way can enable new tools or techniques for supporting
reflection to be explored over time, across similar situations or with
adaptations, and to build understandings of how reflection is being most
effectively supported -- ultimately inspiring the design of future technologies
by building up an understanding of the most effective ways of supporting
reflection on experience. Keywords: Rating framework; Reflection on experience; Reflective practice; Teacher training; SenseCam | |||
| Analytic review of usability evaluation in ISMAR | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 450-460 | |
| Zhen Bai; Alan F. Blackwell | |||
| There has been a rapid increase in research evaluating usability of
Augmented Reality (AR) systems in recent years. Although many different styles
of evaluation are used, there is no clear consensus on the most relevant
approaches. We report a review of papers published in International Symposium
of Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) proceedings in the past decade, building
on the previous work of Swan and Gabbard (2005). Firstly, we investigate the
evaluation goal, measurement and method of ISMAR papers according to their
usability research in four categories: performance, perception and cognition,
collaboration and User Experience (UX). Secondly, we consider the balance of
evaluation approaches with regard to empirical -- analytical, quantitative --
qualitative and participant demographics. Finally we identify potential
emphases for usability study of AR systems in the future. These analyses
provide a reference point for current evaluation techniques, trends and
challenges, which benefit researchers intending to design, conduct and
interpret usability evaluations for future AR systems. Keywords: Augmented Reality; Usability evaluation; User experience; Collaboration | |||
| Evaluation of the quality of collaboration between the client and the therapist in phobia treatments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 461-471 | |
| Maja Wrzesien; Jean-Marie Burkhardt; Cristina Botella; Mariano Alcañiz | |||
| A growing number of empirical studies evaluate the influence of Mental
Health (MH) technology on the clinical effectiveness, the therapeutic
relationship (i.e., therapeutic alliance), and usability issues. However, to
the authors' knowledge, no studies have yet been performed regarding the
influence of technology on the therapeutic process in terms of collaboration.
This study evaluates the quality of collaboration between the client and
therapist in Augmented Reality Exposure Therapy (ARET) context and the
traditional, In Vivo Exposure Therapy (IVET) context with the Therapeutic
Collaborative Scale (TCS). Twenty participants received an intensive session of
cognitive behavioral therapy in either a technology-mediated therapeutic
context or in a traditional therapeutic context. The results indicate that both
therapeutic conditions show high collaboration scores. However, the asymmetry
of roles between the therapist and the client under both conditions were
detected. Also, a greater level of distraction was observed for therapists in
ARET, which affected the quality of the therapists' involvement in the
therapeutic session. The implications of these results are discussed. Keywords: Mental Health technologies; Collaboration; Augmented Reality | |||
| Grading in interaction design education using design practitioners' conceptions of process quality | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 472-481 | |
| Mattias Arvola | |||
| The designed product is often assessed in interaction design education, but
there are also courses that focus on learning the design process. It is then
necessary to develop criteria for grading in such courses. To make a successful
transfer from theory to practice, students also need to learn the criteria
practitioners use, rather than the criteria that academically oriented teachers
use. To do this, one approach is to align criteria with the conceptions
practicing interaction designers have of process quality in design. Therefore,
the research questions for this study are what those conceptions are, and how
they can be utilized in grading criteria for interaction design projects in
education. Interviews were made with 10 interaction designers. The interviews
were qualitatively analyzed. The results demonstrate that practicing
interaction designers conceptualize the quality of the design process in three
ways: it is good if established methods are used and the design is managed
within resource constraints, and within organizational and technological
limitations, while also meeting stated objectives; it is even better if the
design has a thought-through rationale; and ideally, the design should also be
inspirational. These conceptions were transferred to points on a
criteria-referenced grading scale which was used to develop course specific
grading criteria. The criteria were evaluated in terms of comprehensibility and
reliability. The evaluation showed that most of the students who also attended
lectures understood the criteria. A high and significant covariation and a high
level of agreement between the two teachers who graded the projects were shown.
Further, the developed criteria should be generalizable to other
process-centered interaction design courses and to assessment in other design
disciplines. Keywords: Interaction design education; Human -- computer interaction education; Design education; Process quality in design; Assessment; Grading | |||
| Towards building intelligent speech interfaces through the use of more flexible, robust and natural dialogue management solutions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 482-498 | |
| Fernando Fernández-Martánez; J. Ferreiros; J. M. Lucas-Cuesta; J. M. Montero-Martánez; R. San-Segundo; R. Córdoba | |||
| In this paper a Bayesian Networks-based solution for dialogue modelling is
presented. This solution is combined with carefully designed contextual
information handling strategies. With the purpose of validating these
solutions, and introducing a spoken dialogue system for controlling a Hi-Fi
audio system as the selected prototype, a real-user evaluation has been
conducted. Two different versions of the prototype are compared. Each version
corresponds to a different implementation of the algorithm for the management
of the actuation order, the algorithm for deciding the proper order to carry
out the actions required by the user. The evaluation is carried out in terms of
a battery of both subjective and objective metrics collected from speakers
interacting with the Hi-Fi audio box through predefined scenarios. Defined
metrics have been specifically adapted to measure: first, the usefulness and
the actual relevance of the proposed solutions, and, secondly, their joint
performance through their intelligent combination mainly measured as the level
achieved with regard to the user satisfaction. A thorough and comprehensive
study of the main differences between both approaches is presented. Two-way
analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests are also included to measure the effects of
both: the system used and the type of scenario factors, simultaneously.
Finally, the effect of bringing this flexibility, robustness and naturalness
into our home dialogue system is also analyzed through the results obtained.
These results show that the intelligence of our speech interface has been well
perceived, highlighting its excellent ease of use and its good acceptance by
users, therefore validating the approached dialogue management solutions and
demonstrating that a more natural, flexible and robust dialogue is possible
thanks to them. Keywords: Spoken dialogue systems; Mixed initiative; Bayesian Networks; Contextual information; Usability; Electronic devices control | |||