Pinch Keyboard: Natural Text Input for Immersive Virtual Environments

Text entry may be needed for system control tasks in immersive virtual environments, but no efficient and usable techniques exist. We present the pinch keyboard interaction technique, which simulates a standard QWERTY keyboard using Pinch Gloves™ and 6 DOF trackers. The system includes visual and auditory feedback and a simple method of calibration

Route learning and shortcut performance in adults with intellectual disability: a study with virtual environments

The ability to learn routes though a virtual environment (VE) and to make a novel shortcut between two locations was assessed in 18 adults with intellectual disability and 18 adults without intellectual disability matched on chronological age. Participants explored two routes (A ⇔ B and A ⇔ C) until they reached a learning criterion. Then, they were placed at B and were asked to find the shortest way to C (B ⇔ C, five trials). Participants in both groups could learn the routes, but most of the participants with intellectual disability could not find the shortest route between B and C. However, the results also revealed important individual differences within the intellectual disability group, with some participants exhibiting more efficient wayfinding behaviour than others. Individuals with intellectual disability may differ in the kind of spatial knowledge they extract from the environment and/or in the strategy they use to learn routes

TEXT EDITING AND BEYOND: A STUDY IN LOGIC MODELING

This paper presents a logic modeling exercise in which we develop test and implement a logic model for a test editor and use it to test existing test editing software. We begin by presenting a first order Horn logic axiomatization of a text editor by providing domain equations for the primitive operations insert, delete and character retrieval. We show that this logic model captures the essential aspects of the text editing task and how more complex features are built using these primitives. We discuss possible implementations and conclude that any operational semantics - the set of algorithms that perform the task - must be strongly related to the logic model we present. In other words, each operational semantics constitutes a model of the logic theory Next, we illustrate the usefulness of the model by implementing a basic text editing system and testing the correctness of an existing text editor. We conclude by describing how we are integrating these modeling techniques into a larger and more complex knowledge-based system.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

DESIGNING CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF DIALOGS: A CASE FOR DIALOG CHARTS

The conceptual design of user interfaces focuses on the specification of the structure of the dialog, independent of any particular implementation approach. While there is common agreement with respect to the importance of this activity, adequate methods and tools to support it are generally unavailable. The Dialog Charts (DCs) presented in this paper address this problem -- they support the conceptual design of dialog control structures. The DCs combine visual modeling (i.e., diagraming) with widely accepted design principles and an explicit model of dialog structures. As no clear evaluation criteria exist in this evolving area of dialog design, the preliminary assessment of the DCs takes the form of contrasting them with representative alternative design tools based on Augmented Transition Networks or Backus-Naur Form grammars. The DCs overcome some of the problems that seem to limit the usefulness of comparable approaches. An empirical investigation of the usable power of the DCs is currently underway at New York University, and a summary of this research activity concludes the paper.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

The Relationships of Word Processing in Academic Work and Student Achievement Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress

This study is a secondary analysis of the 2011 NAEP writing test investigating the relationships between word processing in academic work and achievement test scores. Using data and methods to overcome several of the limitations found in research surrounding instructional technology, the statistical analyses constructed a table of z- scores and p-values that describe the relationship between both general use and specific uses of word processors and the total score on the NAEP writing assessment. Heuristic analysis of this table finds that there is a persistent and positive relationship between the use of word processors and writing achievement score. Specifically, the use of the backspace key, using word processors to make changes to a paper, using word processors to complete writing started by hand, and using the thesaurus function included in word processors are strongly related to achievement score. Further, the interactions of composition, editing, and revision are more complex that previously thought and may be growing as students comfortable with a new generation of technology continue to break the paradigm of the writing process. Finally, this study explores a new relationship between small edits and measuring the quality of writing by suggesting that word processors make the purpose of edits more important that simply the size of the edit

Visual repairables: analysing the work of repair in human-computer interaction

This article reports some (video-recorded) instances of 'visual culture' in action, namely the use of a new software tool designed for the visualization of scenes from Shakespeare's Macbeth in a classroom context. By considering whether or how far conversation analysis (CA) can be extended from natural conversation to cases of collaborative work in front of a computer, the article addresses the methodological question of how to study instances of visual communication. We take as an exemplar the phenomenon of remedial action and discuss how Schegloff, Jefferson and Sacks's (1977) canonical study of repair in ordinary conversation can be used to highlight aspects of 'visual repair' (the identification and remedying of items on the screen). Our attempts to apply the original CA model of repair of ordinary conversation highlight the differences of this setting, which constitutes an example of collaborative work. © 2009 SAGE Publications

Prior Knowledge Norms for Naming Country Outlines:An Open Stimulus Set

Paired-associate stimuli are an important tool in learning and memory research. In cognitive psychology, many studies use materials of which the learners are expected to have little to no prior knowledge. Despite their theoretical usefulness, conclusions from these studies are difficult to generalize to real-world learning contexts, where learners can be expected to have varying degrees of prior knowledge. Here, we present an ecologically valid stimulus set with 112 country outline-name pairs, and report response times and prior knowledge for these items in 285 largely Western European participants. Prior knowledge per item ranged from very high (94.4%) to zero (0.3%), thereby allowing researchers to select materials of which participants can be expected to have any given amount of prior knowledge. As such, this database provides a useful tool for research on real-world learning. The database can be accessed at: https://osf.io/q25rd/

Learnability makes things click : a grounded theory approach to the software product evaluation

The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to investigate the phenomenon of learnability more deeply in order to better understand the learnability process. Grounded theory was used to determine the ground concepts based on fifteen users’ (N=15) actions (N=1836) in the WebCT Campus Edition’s virtual environment. Based on this study, the phenomenon of learnability and the learnability process is understood in greater detail and defined from the human centric of view, where the human being is the key actor. This doctoral dissertation answers the following research problem: 1. How learnable is the WebCT Campus Edition’s virtual environment? 2. How can the phenomenon of learnability be defined in a new way? The WebCT Campus Edition virtual environment’s learnability was measured with performance time and directions of action. In addition, the traditional learnability metrics of performance time and direction of users’ actions was used to verify the theoretical model of learnability and its nonlinearity. The result of this study showed that the variety of the WebCT Campus Edition’s learnability was higher between the individual users than it was between the different tasks. Therefore, the variety of task difficulty, i.e. the complexity or easiness of the different part of the user interface, have less influence on learnability in the WebCT Campus Edition than do the individual users’characteristics. Thus, the research results confirm the results found in earlier studies, where two important issues for usability evaluation and therefore evaluation on learnability, are the tasks and users individual characteristics. The theoretical model of learnability with following phases of information search, data collection, knowledge management, knowledge form, knowledge build and the result of action were determined from data. The theoretical model of learnability and its main patterns of a) data collection-information search, b)knowledge build-knowledge form and c) information searchknowledge management proves that learnability is a non-linear process. Therefore, the phenomenon of learnability cannot purely be defined by the separate properties of learnability, i.e. the properties of a user interface and a progressively enhanced linear process illustrated with learning curves. The theoretical model of learnability is one of the rare models of learnability that is based on empirical data. The use of grounded theory methodology means that the phenomenon of learnability is studied through tacit knowledge, i.e. through users’ real actions and though explicit knowledge, the users cognitive processes during interaction i.e. the phenomenon of learnability is approached from the holistic point of view, where the phenomenon of learnability is seen as one holistic process. Thus triangulation, where the phenomenon is interpreted through several split case studies are therefore unnecessary in this research setting. In conclusion, too many studies are still conducted in a laboratory situation using traditional methodological paradigms. More learnability studies with new methodological approaches in the natural environments are needed were the human, learning and non-linear process of learnability are in focus. It is important to understand more deeply the process of learnability and investigate more in greater detail the key elements that enhance learnability and on the other hand, cause learnability problems for users. Finally, based on the theoretical models of learnability, we can develop tools for the commercial user interface world in order to measure and test the learnability process more precisely and better understand how skills are actually learnt and how “to click” learnability