Can Adaptive Interfaces Improve the Usability of Mobile Applications?

Abstract. Mobile applications are becoming increasingly widespread and complex. Many of these applications suffer from usability issues, including information overload, screen clutter, lack of task support and limited interaction me chanisms. Adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) have been proposed to address some of these usability issues. The aim of this paper is to investigate how AUIs can improve the usability of mobile applications. This paper discusses several simple types of adaptation that have been shown to yield significant usability benefits for mobile applications. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how an AUI can be incorporated into different types of mobile applications. This paper also discusses the lessons learned from these case studies and presents some implications for designing adaptive systems in the future

Interaction Paradigms for Brain-Body Interfaces for Computer Users with Brain Injuries

In comparison to all types of injury, those to the brain are among the most likely to result in death or permanent disability. Some of these brain-injured people cannot communicate, recreate, or control their environment due to severe motor impairment. This group of individuals with severe head injury have received limited help from assistive technology. Brain-Computer Interfaces have opened up a spectrum of assistive technologies, which are particularly appropriate for people with traumatic brain injury, especially those who suffer from “locked-in” syndrome. The research challenge here is to develop novel interaction paradigms that suit brain-injured individuals, who could then use it for everyday communications. The developed interaction paradigms should require minimum training, reconfigurable and minimum effort to use. This thesis reports on the development of novel interaction paradigms for Brain-Body Interfaces to help brain-injured people to communicate better, recreate and control their environment using computers despite the severity of their brain injury. The investigation was carried out in three phases. Phase one was an exploratory study where a first novel interaction paradigm was developed and evaluated with able-bodied and disabled participants. Results obtained were fed into the next phase of the investigation. Phase two was carried out with able participants who acted as development group for the second novel interaction paradigm. This second novel interaction paradigm was evaluated with non-verbal participants with severe brain injury in phase three. An iterative design research methodology was chosen to develop the interaction paradigms. A non-invasive assistive technology device named Cyberlink™ was chosen as the Brain-Body Interface. This research improved previous work in this area by developing new interaction paradigms of personalised tiling and discrete acceleration in Brain- Body Interfaces. The research hypothesis of this study ‘that the performance of the Brain-Body Interface can be improved by the use of novel interaction paradigms’ was successfully demonstrated

Usability of 2D palmtop interaction device in Immersive Virtual Environments

Immersive Virtual Environments offer several new and exciting methods of interacting with computer systems. Virtual Reality systems provide users with a wealth of sensory information that can help us understand difficult visualization problems. The wealth of information and the variety of interaction tasks requires careful design of user interaction methods. At present, interaction in Immersive Environments is often performed through functionally overloaded input devices or through custom 2D and 3D simulated interfaces. The simulated interfaces might include virtual windowing systems, simulated information displays or visual menus. In many cases the custom virtual interfaces are placed between the user and the virtual environment data, occluding the user\u27s view of the virtual world. The placement of projection surfaces around the user in Immersive Projection Technology systems allows the integration of real world interaction devices. One device we want to use in an IPT system is a palmtop computer. Palmtop computers can facilitate interactions with large amounts of data, alphanumeric information, or abstract operations that do not map well to current VR interaction methods. This research effort discusses the potential uses of a palmtop interaction system to reduce function overload and present familiar 2D and 3D interfaces to the user. This thesis overviews the design and usability testing of a palmtop interaction system for projection based VR systems. The discussion will include an overview of our software system; the Java based Interface to the Virtual Environment (JAIVE). The thesis highlights the system\u27s usability design considerations, which include, consistent operation, task organization, and customizability. The thesis also addresses the use of Java[Superscript Tm] technology to ensure cross platform appearance and operation, to accommodate the development and integration of new interaction types, and to provide compatibility with new palmtop computing devices. We also identify potential applications of the interaction device and identify future directions for the project including spatial awareness and adaptive user interface techniques

Möglichkeiten und Grenzen maschineller Indexierung in der Sacherschließung : Strategien für das Bibliothekssystem der Freien Universität Berlin

Automatische Indexierung wird zunehmend als sinnvolle Möglichkeit erkannt, Daten für Informationsretrievalsysteme zu erzeugen und somit die Auffindbarkeit von Dokumenten zu erhöhen. Die dafür geeigneten Methoden sind seit geraumer Zeit bekannt und umfassen statistische bzw. computerlinguistische Sprachanalysetechniken, die im Gegensatz zur gebräuchlichen Freitextinvertierung entscheidende Vor-teile hinsichtlich des Retrievals bieten. So bilden erst die Wortformenreduzierung und die semantische Zerlegung sowie die Gewichtung der ermittelten Indexterme die Grundlagen für die gezielte sachliche Suche im Online-Katalog. Entsprechende Verfahren, die sich für Bibliotheken eignen, stehen seit Mitte der neunziger Jahre auch für den praktischen Einsatz bereit und werden – nicht zuletzt aufgrund steigender Akzeptanz – ständig weiterentwickelt. Dabei geht es nicht nur um die Steigerung der allgemeinen Leistungsfähigkeit von maschinellen Indexierungssystemen, sondern auch um ihre Fähigkeit, die im Bibliothekswesen verfügbare, sehr heterogene Datengrundlage optimal zu nutzen. Wichtige Kriterien sind zudem eine vertretbare Fehlerquote, die Integrierbarkeit in die Geschäftsgänge und die Darstellbarkeit der anfallenden Datenmengen in entsprechenden Datenrepräsentationsmodellen. Im Fokus der Untersuchung stehen die allgemeine Betrachtung der Vor- und Nach-teile der beiden gängigen Indexierungssysteme MILOS und intelligentCAPTURE sowie die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihres Einsatzes im Bibliothekssystem der Freien Universität Berlin

Interfaces cérebro-computador no desenho de páginas web

Ao longo de várias gerações, o Homem sonhou com a capacidade de comunicar e, eventualmente, controlar as máquinas que o rodeiam através do pensamento. Até há algumas décadas, esse fascínio não passava de um impulso virtual, apenas ao alcance de cirurgias complexas e perigosas ao cérebro, onde são implantados eléctrodos que medem a corrente elétrica. Contudo, o desenvolvimento tecnológico permitiu a evolução de dispositivos, não-invasivos, portáteis e recarregáveis, que registam a atividade cerebral, recorrendo a eléctrodos aplicados no couro cabeludo, e que, a partir de algoritmos computacionais, possibilitam a comunicação entre o cérebro e um computador. Atualmente, estão já comercialmente disponíveis alguns dispositivos que permitem o desenvolvimento de interfaces baseados no paradigma cérebro-computador e que, fundamentalmente, abrem portas à investigação e desenvolvimento de novas técnicas e abordagens de interação. Este tipo de equipamentos registam as correntes elétricas do cérebro e viabilizam a associação de padrões mentais a um conjunto de comandos predeterminadosnum computador. Assim, objetivo desta Dissertação é desenvolver um espaço concetual de design que contemple interfaces cérebro-computador no desenho de páginas web. Para isso, será realizada uma revisão dos princiais autores, conceitos e projetos relacionados com o paradigma de interação cérebro-computador, bem como o contexto desta na complexa área da HCI, envonvendo outras tipologias de interfaces e Web Design. Até ao desenvolvimento de experiências e provas de conceito de aplicações que culminarão com o contacto e contributo de utilizadores para o espaço concetual de design proposto