The Design and evaluation of the specification framework for user interface design

This thesis presentsthe design and evaluation of an interface specification meta-language(ISML) that has been developed to explicitly support metaphor abstractions in a model-based, user interface design framework. The application of metaphor to user interface design is widely accepted within the HCI community, yet despite this, there exists relatively little formal support for user interface design practitioners. With the increasing range and power of user interface technologies made widely available comes the opportunity for the designof sophisticated, new forms of interactive environments. The inter-disciplinary nature of HCI offers many approaches to user interface design that include views on tasks, presentationand dialogue architectures and various domain models. Notations and tools that support these views vary equally, ranging from craft-based approachesthrough to computational or tool- based support and formal methods. Work in these areas depicts gradual cohesion of a number of these design views, but do not currently explicitly specify the application of metaphorical concepts in graphical user interface design. Towards addressing this omission, ISML was developed based on (and extending) some existing model- based user interface design concepts. Abstractions of metaphor and other interface design views are captured in the ISML framework using the extensible mark-up language(XML). A six-month case study, developing the `Urban Shout Cast' application is used to evaluate ISML. Two groups of four software engineers developed a networked, multi-user, virtual radio-broadcasting environment. A qualitative analysis examines both how each group developed metaphor designs within the ISML framework and also their perceptions of its utility and practicality. Subsequent analysis on the specification data from both groups reveals aspects of the project's design that ISML captured and those that were missed. Finally, the extent to which ISML can currently abstract the metaphors used in the case study is assessed through the development of a unified `meta-object' model. The results of the case study show that ISML is capable of expressing many of the features of each group's metaphor design, as well as highlighting important design considerations during development. Furthermore, it has been shown, in principle, how an underlying metaphor abstraction can be mapped to two different implementations. Evaluation of the case study also includes important design lessons: ISML metaphor models can be both very large and difficult to separate from other design views, some of which are either weakly expressed or unsupported. This suggests that the appropriate mappings between design abstractions cannot always be easily anticipated, and that understanding the use of model-based specifications in user interface design projects remains a challenge to the HCI community

Metodologi Umum Penyelidikan Reka Bentuk Bertokok Penilaian Dalaman dan Luaran: Kajian Kes Sistem Pendaftaran Siswa Indonesia

This study is motivated by the fact that the software application and content industry advancement in Indonesia especially in the educational domain is rather limited. This has resulted in the deployment of low quality Information System (IS) for education management due to a poorly adopted system development approach. The statement is supported by many references including an example of a student registration IS (i.e. e-PSB) which did not focus on user evaluation; therefore has recorded many errors plus failed to provide a quality service; and was found to not practice a proper system development life cycle. Moreover, literature reviews indicate that studies on the evaluation of IS have yet to determine the correlation between user satisfaction, perception and service quality factors. In regard to the above, the aim of this study is to propose a IS development approach model that pivots on user satisfaction, perception and service quality as the internal and external evaluation factors. In accomplishing the aim, three objectives are formulated; (1) develop a student registration IS prototype as a case study in Indonesia, (2) implement the internal and external evaluation of the prototype in a real setting, and (3) identify influential relationship between the user satisfaction, perception and service quality factors. Quantitative and design research are the two main approaches followed through in this study. There are mainly three phases, (1) planning and analysis, (2) model and artefact development, and (3) implementation, data collection and evaluation. Data are collected using internal and external evaluation instruments. The internal evaluation is based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction (QUIS). The external is rooted on the Service Quality (SERVQUAL). Altogether 471 respondents participated where 462 are from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, lndonesia and 9 are experts. T-test, ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis are utilized to prove 11 hypotheses. The internal evaluation factors are divided into perceived usefulness (PK), perceived ease-of-use (PKG) and user interface satisfaction (KAP). Whereas, the external factors are divided into quality service (KS), overall perception of quality service (PKS), and overall satisfaction of quality service (KKS). The hypotheses testing show that (i) PKG and PK are significantly correlated, (ii) PK and KAP are significantly correlated, (iii) PKG and KAP are significantly correlated, (iv) PK and PKG together influence KAP significantly, (v) KS influences PKS significantly, (vi) PKS and KKS are significantly correlated, (vii) KS influences KKS significantly, (viii) KS and PKS together influence KKS significantly, and (ix) KAP influences KKS significantly. The proposed IS development approach model, which can be utilized by fellow developers and researchers to develop an IS that focuses on the internal and external evaluation factors, is the main contribution of this study. Furthermore, the prototype, that is named as PSB Terpadu and the identified relationships between the internal and external factors contribute to the software application industry, specifically in Indonesia

PSAP: Improving Accuracy of Students' Final Grade Prediction using ID3 and C4.5

This study was aimed to increase the performance of the Predicting Student Academic Performance (PSAP) system, and the outcome is to develop a web application that can be used to analyze student performance during present semester. Development of the web-based application was based on the evolutionary prototyping model. The study also analyses the accuracy of the classifier that is constructed for the prediction features in the web application. Qualitative approaches by user evaluation questionnaire were used for this study. A number of few personnel expert users which are lecturers from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris were chosen as respondents. Each respondent is instructed to answer a total of 27 questions regarding respondent’s background and web application design. The accuracy of the classifier for the prediction features is tested by using the confusion matrix by using the test set of 24 rows. The findings showed the views of respondents on the aspects of interface design, functionality, navigation, and reliability of the web-based application that is developed. The result also showed that accuracy for the classifier constructed by using ID3 classification model (C4.5) is 79.18% and the highest compared to Naïve Bayes and Generalized Linear classification model

Usability Evaluation in Virtual Environments: Classification and Comparison of Methods

Virtual environments (VEs) are a relatively new type of human-computer interface in which users perceive and act in a three-dimensional world. The designers of such systems cannot rely solely on design guidelines for traditional two-dimensional interfaces, so usability evaluation is crucial for VEs. We present an overview of VE usability evaluation. First, we discuss some of the issues that differentiate VE usability evaluation from evaluation of traditional user interfaces such as GUIs. We also present a review of VE evaluation methods currently in use, and discuss a simple classification space for VE usability evaluation methods. This classification space provides a structured means for comparing evaluation methods according to three key characteristics: involvement of representative users, context of evaluation, and types of results produced. To illustrate these concepts, we compare two existing evaluation approaches: testbed evaluation [Bowman, Johnson, & Hodges, 1999], and sequential evaluation [Gabbard, Hix, & Swan, 1999]. We conclude by presenting novel ways to effectively link these two approaches to VE usability evaluation

The usability of open source software: analysis and prospects

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Critical Success Factors for Positive User Experience in Hotel Websites: Applying Herzberg's Two Factor Theory for User Experience Modeling

This research presents the development of a critical success factor matrix for increasing positive user experience of hotel websites based upon user ratings. Firstly, a number of critical success factors for web usability have been identified through the initial literature review. Secondly, hotel websites were surveyed in terms of critical success factors identified through the literature review. Thirdly, Herzberg's motivation theory has been applied to the user rating and the critical success factors were categorized into two areas. Finally, the critical success factor matrix has been developed using the two main sets of data.Comment: Journal articl

Evaluating the implicit feedback models for adaptive video retrieval

Interactive video retrieval systems are becoming popular. On the one hand, these systems try to reduce the effect of the semantic gap, an issue currently being addressed by the multimedia retrieval community. On the other hand, such systems enhance the quality of information seeking for the user by supporting query formulation and reformulation. Interactive systems are very popular in the textual retrieval domain. However, they are relatively unexplored in the case of multimedia retrieval. The main problem in the development of interactive retrieval systems is the evaluation cost.The traditional evaluation methodology, as used in the information retrieval domain, is not applicable. An alternative is to use a user-centred evaluation methodology. However, such schemes are expensive in terms of effort, cost and are not scalable. This problem gets exacerbated by the use of implicit indicators, which are useful and increasingly used in predicting user intentions. In this paper, we explore the effectiveness of a number of interfaces and feedback mechanisms and compare their relative performance using a simulated evaluation methodology. The results show the relatively better performance of a search interface with the combination of explicit and implicit features