tocauthor: Novick_D* : Human-Computer Interaction Bibliography Search

The UTEP AGENT System Demonstrations / Novick, David / Sepulveda, Iván Gris / Rivera, Diego A. / Camacho, Adriana / Rayon, Alex / Gutierrez, Mario Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Multimodal Interaction 2015-11-09 p.383-384

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Summary: This paper describes a system for embodied conversational agents (ECAs) developed at the University of Texas at El Paso by the Advanced aGent ENgagement Team (AGENT) and one of the applications -- Survival on Jungle Island -- built with this system. In the Jungle application, the ECA and a human interact with speech and gesture for approximately 40 -- 60 minutes in a game composed of 23 scenes (to maintain the demonstration feasible, participants will interact only with select scenes that showcase the capabilities of our system). Each scene comprises a collection of speech input, speech output, gesture input, gesture output, scenery, triggers, and decision points.

Animation Guidelines for Believable Embodied Conversational Agent Gestures Agents and Robots in Virtual Environments / Gris, Ivan / Rivera, Diego A. / Novick, David VAMR 2015: 7th International Conference on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality 2015-08-02 p.197-205

Keywords: Embodied conversational agents; Animation; Usability

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Summary: In animating embodied conversational agents (ECAs), run-time blending of animations can provide a large library of movements that increases the appearance of naturalness while decreasing the number of animations to be developed. This approach avoids the need to develop a costly full library of possible animations in advance of use. Our principal scientific contribution is the development of a model for gesture constraints that enables blended animations to represent naturalistic movement. Rather than creating over-detailed, fine-grained procedural animations or hundreds of motion-captured animation files, animators can include sets of their own animations for agents, blend them, and easily reuse animations, while constraining the ECA to use motions that would occur and transition naturally.

A Mark-Up Language and Interpreter for Interactive Scenes for Embodied Conversational Agents Agents and Robots in Virtual Environments / Novick, David / Gutierrez, Mario / Gris, Ivan / Rivera, Diego A. VAMR 2015: 7th International Conference on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality 2015-08-02 p.206-215

Keywords: Embodied conversational agents; Scene; Interpreter; Parser

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Summary: Our research seeks to provide embodied conversational agents (ECAs) with behaviors that enable them to build and maintain rapport with human users. To conduct this research, we need to build agents and systems that can maintain high levels of engagement with humans over multiple interaction sessions. These sessions can potentially extend to longer periods of time to examine long-term effects of the virtual agent's behaviors. Our current ECA interacts with humans in a game called "Survival on Jungle Island." Throughout this game, users interact with our agent across several scenes. Each scene is composed of a collection of speech input, speech output, gesture input, gesture output, scenery, triggers, and decision points. Our prior system was developed with procedural code, which did not lend itself to rapid extension to new game scenes. So to enable effective authoring of the scenes for the "Jungle" game, we adopted a declarative approach. We developed ECA middleware that parses, interprets, and executes XML files that define the scenes. This paper presents the XML coding scheme and its implementation and describes the functional back-end enabled by the scene scripts.

Building Rapport between Human and ECA: A Pilot Study Speech, Natural Language and Conversational Interfaces / Novick, David / Gris, Iván HCI International 2014: 16th International Conference on HCI, Part II: Advanced Interaction Modalities and Techniques 2014-06-22 v.2 p.472-480

Keywords: Embodied conversational agent; familiarity; rapport; paralinguistic; nonverbal communication

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Summary: This study is part of a longer-term project to provide embodied conversational agents (ECAs) with behaviors that enable them to build and maintain rapport with their human partners. We focus on paralinguistic behaviors, and especially nonverbal behaviors, and their role in communicating rapport. Using an ECA that guides its players through a speech-controlled game, we attempt to measure the familiarity built between humans and ECAs across several interactions based on paralinguistic behaviors. In particular, we studied the effect of differences in the amplitude of nonverbal behaviors by an ECA interacting with a human across two conversational sessions. Our results suggest that increasing amplitude of nonverbal paralinguistic behaviors may lead to an increased perception of physical connectedness between humans and ECAs.

Empirical Analysis of Playability vs. Usability in a Computer Game Games and Gamification / Novick, David / Vicario, Juan / Santaella, Baltazar / Gris, Iván DUXU 2014: Third International Conference on Design, User Experience, and Usability, Part II: User Experience Design for Diverse Interaction Platforms and Environments 2014-06-22 v.2 p.720-731

Keywords: Playability; usability; games; empirical analysis

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Summary: This paper reports our experience in applying an empirical user-experience testing method to improve a computer game. We sought to understand the differences in practice between usability and playability, and correspondingly to assess the usefulness of different approaches to taxonomies for playability. Our experience suggests that the evaluation technique for playability can be the same as for usability and that some existing taxonomies for playability do not provide effective support for translating experience of evaluation into heuristics for design. For formative evaluation, understanding episodes for playability depends on specific circumstances of each episode; taxonomies may be more useful for summative evaluation.

Grounding and Turn-Taking in Multimodal Multiparty Conversation Speech, Natural Language and Auditory Interfaces / Novick, David / Gris, Iván HCI International 2013: 15th International Conference on HCI, Part IV: Interaction Modalities and Techniques 2013-07-21 v.4 p.97-106

Keywords: Dialog; proxemics; gaze; turn-taking; multicultural; multiparty

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Summary: This study explores the empirical basis for multimodal conversation control acts. Applying conversation analysis as an exploratory approach, we attempt to illuminate the control functions of paralinguistic behaviors in managing multiparty conversation. We contrast our multiparty analysis with an earlier dyadic analysis and, to the extent permitted by our small samples of the corpus, contrast (a) conversations where the conversants did or did not have an artifact, and (b) conversations in English among Americans with conversations in Spanish among Mexicans. Our analysis suggests that speakers tend not to use gaze shifts to cue nodding for grounding and that the presence of an artifact reduced listeners' gaze at the speaker. These observations remained relatively consistent across the two languages.

Short-term methodology for long-term usability Design methodologies / Novick, David G. / Santaella, Baltazar / Cervantes, Aaron / Andrade, Carlos ACM 30th International Conference on Design of Communication 2012-10-03 p.205-212

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Summary: Approaches to understanding usability of computer interfaces over the long term typically rely on longitudinal studies, which are limited in scope to the period of the experiment. In this study, we explore whether a non-longitudinal, cross-sectional approach can reliably detect useful differences in usability between novices and experts. Our approach takes a "snapshot" of usability problems and behaviors across a heterogeneous sample of users, ranging from novice to expert. Our analysis suggests that a cross-sectional methodology can distinguish between less experienced and more experienced users with respect to the kinds of applications that cause frustration, frequency of use of help, and whether the problem was solved. Our analysis also suggests that the method is poor at distinguishing causes of frustration and the overall distribution of types of solutions tried. The data also suggest that three months of use of an application is the most useful point at which to distinguish less-experienced from more-experienced users.

The communicative functions of animation in user interfaces Accessibility, user interface and design of communication I / Novick, David / Rhodes, Joseph / Wert, Wervyn ACM 29th International Conference on Design of Communication 2011-10-03 p.1-8

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Summary: To develop a model that relates the purpose of the communication to the nature of the animation, we surveyed existing user interfaces that use animation, analyzed these uses with respect to type of animation and communicative function, and considered ambiguous or otherwise difficult cases. From this analysis, we constructed a matrix with appropriateness/inappropriateness values for all combinations of communicative functions and animation types covered by our survey. To illustrate how the model could be applied to graphical user interfaces and to assess the model's plausibility, we used the model to develop two versions of a user interface for an MP3 player.

Dialog Behaviors across Culture and Group Size Cultural and Emotional Aspects / Herrera, David / Novick, David G. / Jan, Dusan / Traum, David R. UAHCI 2011: 6th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, Part II: Users Diversity 2011-07-09 v.2 p.450-459

Keywords: Dialog; proxemics; gaze; turn-taking; multicultural; dyadic; multiparty

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Summary: This study analyzes joint interaction behaviors of two-person and four-person standing conversations from three different cultures, American, Arab, and Mexican. To determine whether people use joint interaction behaviors differently in multiparty versus dyadic conversation, and how differences in culture affect this relationship, we examine differences in proxemics, speaker and listener gaze behaviors, and overlap and pause at turn transitions. Our analysis suggests that proxemics, gaze, and mutual gaze to coordinate turns change with group size and with culture. However, these changes do not always agree with predictions from the research literature. These unanticipated outcomes demonstrate the importance of collecting and analyzing joint interaction behaviors.

The micro-structure of use of help Help systems / Novick, David G. / Andrade, Oscar D. / Bean, Nathaniel ACM 27th International Conference on Design of Communication 2009-09-05 p.97-104

Keywords: affordance, documentation, help systems

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Summary: To see whether, from the user's standpoint, muddling through with trial-and-error exploration of the interface actually works as well as consulting help, we analyzed video recordings of 14 subjects using Microsoft Publisher. We segmented their attempts at accomplishing four tasks into episodes, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes, using four problem-solving approaches: help, recall, and trial-and-error. The subjects' overall rates of success with trial-and-error were higher than with help. We present trends of use of the approaches across the four tasks, review the apparent causes of success and failure when using the approaches, and develop an affordance-knowledge model that helps to explain people's preference for muddling through over using help. We conclude by discussing the model's implications for developers of systems and writers of help.

The macro-structure of use of help User assistance & documentation / Andrade, Oscar D. / Bean, Nathaniel / Novick, David G. ACM 27th International Conference on Design of Communication 2009-09-05 p.143-150

Keywords: documentation, help systems, problem-solving

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Summary: Users of help systems often complain that they do not find them useful; while they still use help at least occasionally, they resort to other problem-solving strategies. In this paper, we analyze audiovisual recordings of people using a computer application, to identify (1) transition patterns among problem-solving approaches, and (2) the frequency of these transitions. Our analysis indicates that people switch frequently between consulting help and exploring the interface. Switching between problem-solving approaches appears to be an effective way of succeeding in tasks. Applications and their help systems can be better designed to support users who switch between help and non-help approaches to solving problems.

Help-based tutorials Documentation and design / Novick, David G. / Andrade, Oscar D. / Bean, Nathaniel / Elizalde, Edith ACM 26th International Conference on Design of Communication 2008-09-22 p.1-8

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Summary: The consensus of the documentation literature is that users rarely use help, usually preferring to muddle through. To increase use of help, tutorials for novice users could be changed from guided presentations toward using the system's actual help system. To determine whether this approach would increase users' use of help when they encountered problems with an application, we developed an alternative, help-based tutorial introduction to Microsoft Publisher. We compared the behaviors of users introduced to Publisher with the help-based tutorial with the behaviors of users who learned from a traditional tutorial. A balanced study of 22 novice users of Publisher suggests that using a help-based tutorial leads to significantly greater use of help systems when users encounter problems. However, the data also suggest that the increased use of help may not lead to more effective task performance.

Expressing help at appropriate levels Information design and learning / Andrade, Oscar D. / Novick, David G. ACM 26th International Conference on Design of Communication 2008-09-22 p.125-130

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Summary: Users of help systems often complain that the documentation is pitched at the wrong level, but the "right" level differs among users. Building on a prior definition of the space of possible expressions of documentation in terms of task, application, and user experience, we explore what it means to express help at different levels. We also survey other dimensions in which help contents may be organized to provide ease of access to the information people need when troubleshooting applications, and conclude by proposing an interface through which users could navigate dynamically, thus finding help expressed at their own "right" level.

Toward a more accurate view of when and how people seek help with computer applications Information design theory / Novick, David G. / Elizalde, Edith / Bean, Nathaniel ACM 25th International Conference on Design of Communication 2007-10-22 p.95-102

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Summary: Based on 40 interviews and 11 on-site workplace observations of people using computer applications at work, we confirm that use of printed and on-line help is very low and find that providing greater detail of categories solution methods can present a more realistic picture of users' behaviors. Observed study participants encountered a usability problem on average about once every 75 minutes and typically spent about a minute looking for a solution. Participants consumed much more time when they were unaware of a direct way of doing something and instead used less effective methods. Comparison of results from different data-collection methods suggests that interviews, and probably surveys, provide less reliable views of users' problem-solving behaviors than do participatory evaluation and direct observation.

Usability inspection methods after 15 years of research and practice Usability -- theory, methods, and experiences / Hollingsed, Tasha / Novick, David G. ACM 25th International Conference on Design of Communication 2007-10-22 p.249-255

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Summary: Usability inspection methods, such as heuristic evaluation, the cognitive walkthrough, formal usability inspections, and the pluralistic usability walkthrough, were introduced fifteen years ago. Since then, these methods, analyses of their comparative effectiveness, and their use have evolved in different ways. In this paper, we track the fortunes of the methods and analyses, looking at which led to use and to further research, and which led to relative methodological dead ends. Heuristic evaluation and the cognitive walkthrough appear to be the most actively used and researched techniques. The pluralistic walkthrough remains a recognized technique, although not the subject of significant further study. Formal usability inspections appear to have been incorporated into other techniques or largely abandoned in practice. We conclude with lessons for practitioners and suggestions for future research.

Why don't people read the manual? Documentation analysis / Novick, David G. / Ward, Karen ACM 24th International Conference on Design of Communication 2006-10-18 p.11-18

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Summary: Few users of computer applications seek help from the documentation. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of why this is so and examines how, in real work, users solve their usability problems. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 subjects representing a varied cross-section of users, we find that users do avoid using both paper and online help systems. Few users have paper manuals for the most heavily used applications, but none complained about their lack. Online help is more likely to be consulted than paper manuals, but users are equally likely to report that they solve their problem by asking a colleague or experimenting on their own. Users cite difficulties in navigating the help systems, particularly difficulties in finding useful search terms, and disappointment in the level of explanation found.

What users say they want in documentation Documentation usability / Novick, David G. / Ward, Karen ACM 24th International Conference on Design of Communication 2006-10-18 p.84-91

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Summary: While earlier work provided a partial view of users' preferences about manuals, for most users in most work contexts the important question remains open: What do users want in documentation? This paper presents the results of a study in which a diverse cross-section of 25 users was interviewed in depth about their needs and preferences with respect to software help systems, whether printed or on-line, that they use at work. The study's participants indicated that they preferred documentation, whether online or printed, that is easy to navigate, provides explanations at an appropriate level of technical detail, enables finding as well as solving problems through examples and scenarios, and is complete and correct. These preferences give rise to difficult issues, including a possibly inherent tension between coverage and precision, and variation among users with respect to desired level of technical complexity of explanation.

Research issues in the design of communication Panel session / Stamey, John / Novick, David / Spinuzz, Clay / Mehlenbacher, Brad ACM 24th International Conference on Design of Communication 2006-10-18 p.129-130

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Co-generation of text and graphics Graphical and visual information I / Novick, David G. / Lowe, Brian ACM 23rd International Conference on Computer Documentation 2005-09-21 p.6-11

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Summary: To reduce potential discrepancies between textual and graphical content in documentation, it is possible to produce both text and graphics from a single common source. One approach to co-generation of text and graphics uses a single logical specification; a second approach starts with CAD-based representation and produces a corresponding textual account. This paper explores these two different approaches, reports the results of using prototypes embodying the approaches to represent simple figures, and discusses issues that were identified through use of the prototypes. While it appears feasible to co-generate text and graphics automatically, the process raises deep issues of design of communications, including the intent of the producer of the documentation.

Usability over time Usability / Mendoza, Valerie / Novick, David G. ACM 23rd International Conference on Computer Documentation 2005-09-21 p.151-158

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Summary: Testing of usability could perhaps be more accurately described as testing of learnability. We know more about the problems of novice users than we know of the problems of experienced users. To understand how these problems differ, and to understand how usability problems change as users change from novice to experienced, we conducted a longitudinal study of usability among middle-school teachers creating Web sites. The study looked at the use both the use of documentation and the underlying software, tracking the causes and extent of user frustration over eight weeks. We validated a categorization scheme for frustration episodes. We found that over the eight weeks the level of frustration dropped, the distribution of causes of frustration changed, and the users' responses to frustration episodes changed. These results suggest that the sorts of errors that are most prominently featured in conventional usability testing are likely of little consequence over longer periods of time.

Assessing effectiveness of personality style in documentation Lessons learned / Sayles, Kenneth / Novick, David G. ACM 22nd International Conference on Computer Documentation 2004-10-10 p.75-82

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Summary: This paper extends previous work by other researchers that indicated that users of computers preferred a computer with a personality that was similar to theirs. We conducted a similar experiment, but looking beyond preference to see if the personality of documentation would make a difference in the user's performance. Our data suggest did not indicate that personality match affects performance; and if such a relationship exists it is likely to be weak. We discuss the related research, describe our methodology, present our results, and describe their implications and limitations.

Post-training support for learning technology Lessons learned / Snoddy, Sam, Jr. / Novick, David G. ACM 22nd International Conference on Computer Documentation 2004-10-10 p.90-96

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Summary: To examine the effects of post-training support, we studied the introduction of new gradebook software in a public high school. The school's 108 faculty members received training on the software, and approximately half of the faculty received post-training support for eight weeks. The study measured the faculty's current computer usage, usage of earlier versions of the software, and their perceived skill levels in using the software. The data suggest that the faculty members who received post-training support maintained and raised their skill levels, while unsupported faculty had their skill levels decline.

An interaction initiative model for documentation Formal methods / Novick, David G. / Ward, Karen ACM 21st International Conference on Computer Documentation 2003-10-12 p.80-85

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Summary: In this paper we propose a model of creation and use of documentation based on the concept of mixed-initiative interaction. In our model, successful single-initiative interaction is characterized by grounding of contributions, and successful mixed-initiative interaction is characterized by both grounding and agreement. Just as in spoken conversation, achievement of actual agreement depends on the intentions of both parties; agreement is achieved when the reader follows the documentation's instructions. In fact, readers are not obligated to-and often do not-act according to the author's intentions. By making these dynamics explicit, the model can aid authors in developing effective documentation. The paper describes the model and its antecedents, explains the application of the model to documentation, discusses implications such as effects of printed versus electronic forms of documentation, and outlines future work that includes empirical testing of the model.

Hands-free documentation Accessibility / Ward, Karen / Novick, David G. ACM 21st International Conference on Computer Documentation 2003-10-12 p.147-154

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Summary: In this paper, we introduce an analysis of the requirements and design choices for hands-free documentation. Hands-busy tasks such as cooking or car repair may require substantial interruption of the task: moving the pan off the burner and wiping hands, or crawling out from underneath the car. We review the need for hands-free documentation and explore the role of task in the use of documentation. Our central analysis examines the roles and characteristics of input and output modalities of hands-free documentation. In particular, we review the use of speech as an input modality, and then visual means and speech as possible output modalities. Finally, we discuss the implications of our analysis for the design of hands-free documentation and suggest future work. The design implications include issues of navigating through the documentation, determining the user's task and task-step, establishing mutual understanding of the state of the task, and determining when to start conveying information to the user.

Extending direct manipulation in a text editor / Novick, David / Romero, Francisco / Saenz, Edgar Rene / Sandoval, Armando ACM 20th International Conference on Computer Documentation 2002-10-20 p.127-132

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Summary: This paper describes the implementation of a prototype text editor that incorporates conversation-like features through the direct-manipulation modality. In this way, traditional direct-manipulation interaction techniques such as direct reference via pointing can be extended to include techniques more commonly associated with human conversation, such as negotiation of reference. The paper illustrates the use of the prototype with an extended example, and discusses research issues raised by the implementation.