Ecological IVIS design : using EID to develop a novel in-vehicle information system

New in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) are emerging which purport to encourage more environment friendly or ‘green’ driving. Meanwhile, wider concerns about road safety and in-car distractions remain. The ‘Foot-LITE’ project is an effort to balance these issues, aimed at achieving safer and greener driving through real-time driving information, presented via an in-vehicle interface which facilitates the desired behaviours while avoiding negative consequences. One way of achieving this is to use ecological interface design (EID) techniques. This article presents part of the formative human-centred design process for developing the in-car display through a series of rapid prototyping studies comparing EID against conventional interface design principles. We focus primarily on the visual display, although some development of an ecological auditory display is also presented. The results of feedback from potential users as well as subject matter experts are discussed with respect to implications for future interface design in this field

An evaluation of earcons for use in auditory human-computer interfaces

An evaluation of earcons was carried out to seee whether they are an effective means of communicating information in sound. An initial experiment showed that earcons were better than unstructured bursts of sound and that musical timbres were more effective than simple tones. A second experiment was then carried out which improved upon some of the weaknesses shown up in Experiment 1 to give a significant improvement in recognition. From the results of these experiments some guidelines were drawn up for use in the creation of earcons. Earcons have been shown to be an effective method for communicating information in a human-computer interface

Audio-visual Rhetoric: Visualizing the Pattern Language of Film

Audio-visual Rhetoric is a knowledge domain for designers in theory and practice that is valid for all communicative actions through media that aim for persuasion. Within this domain, we introduce a framework for media analysis. We developed an Audio-Visual Pattern (AVP) language for film that is visualized within a notation system. This system shows auditory and visual parameters in order to reveal film’s rhetorical structure. We discuss related theories from pattern language and rhetoric and apply the AVP method to analyze 10 commercials. Keywords: Pattern Language, Film Analysis, Rhetoric, Emotion, Persuasion, Design Research</p

A Content-Analysis Approach for Exploring Usability Problems in a Collaborative Virtual Environment

As Virtual Reality (VR) products are becoming more widely available in the consumer market, improving the usability of these devices and environments is crucial. In this paper, we are going to introduce a framework for the usability evaluation of collaborative 3D virtual environments based on a large-scale usability study of a mixedmodality collaborative VR system. We first review previous literature about important usability issues related to collaborative 3D virtual environments, supplemented with our research in which we conducted 122 interviews after participants solved a collaborative virtual reality task. Then, building on the literature review and our results, we extend previous usability frameworks. We identified twelve different usability problems, and based on the causes of the problems, we grouped them into three main categories: VR environment-, device interaction-, and task-specific problems. The framework can be used to guide the usability evaluation of collaborative VR environments

Using a multimodal immersive environment to investigate perceptions in augmented virtual reality systems

The Collaborative-Research Augmented Immersive Virtual Environment Laboratory at Rensselaer is a state-of-the-art space that offers users the capabilities of multimodality and immersion. Realistic and abstract sets of data can be explored in a variety of ways, even in large group settings. This paper discusses the motivations of the immersive experience and the advantages over smaller scale and single-modality expressions of data. One experiment focuss on the influence of immersion on perceptions of architectural renderings. Its findings suggest disparities between participants’ judgment when viewing either two-dimensional printouts or the immersive CRAIVE-Lab screen. The advantages of multimodality are discussed in an experiment concerning abstract data exploration. Various auditory cues for aiding in visual data extraction were tested for their affects on participants’ speed and accuracy of information extraction. Finally, artificially generated auralizations are paired with recreations of realistic spaces to analyze the influences of immersive visuals on the perceptions of sound fields. One utilized method for creating these sound fields is a geometric ray-tracing model, which calculates the auditory streams of each individual loudspeaker in the lab to create a cohesive sound field representation of the visual space

An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design

3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article