Methodological development

Book description: Human-Computer Interaction draws on the fields of computer science, psychology, cognitive science, and organisational and social sciences in order to understand how people use and experience interactive technology. Until now, researchers have been forced to return to the individual subjects to learn about research methods and how to adapt them to the particular challenges of HCI. This is the first book to provide a single resource through which a range of commonly used research methods in HCI are introduced. Chapters are authored by internationally leading HCI researchers who use examples from their own work to illustrate how the methods apply in an HCI context. Each chapter also contains key references to help researchers find out more about each method as it has been used in HCI. Topics covered include experimental design, use of eyetracking, qualitative research methods, cognitive modelling, how to develop new methodologies and writing up your research

The role of boundary objects in the co-evolution of design and use: the KMP project experimentation

Nowadays, it is widely recognized that an ICT tool cannot be built without knowing who will use it and what they will do with. In this perspective, Human-Computer Interaction community (Carroll, 1990; Jarke, Tung Bui and Carroll, 1998; Young and Barnard, 1987; Young and al., 1989) developed a scenario-based approach contrasting with the traditional information system design. The scenario describes an existing or envisioned system from the perspective of one or more users and includes a narration of their goals, plans and reactions (Rosson and Carroll, 2002). As a result, design is founded on the use of scenarios as a central representation for the analysis and design of use. The scenario-based design appears to be a first step in the integration of users in the design of ICT tool. However, we would like to underline in this paper a more active role of users in the design process. According to Orlikowski (2000) while a technology can be seen to have been constructed with particular materials and inscribed with developers' assumptions and knowledge about the world at a point in time, it is only when this technology is used in recurrent social practices that it can be said to structure user's action. The use of technology in recurrent social practices must be considered because how technological properties will for the moment be used or appropriate is not inherent or predetermined. Finally, this approach leads us to dissociate the designers' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the design project is the result of the co-evolution and the convergence of both worlds: on the one hand, the world of design and a first integration of users by scenarios; on the other hand, the world of users where innovation is the art of interesting an increasing number of allies who will make the world of design stronger and stronger. The objective of this paper is to understand the mechanisms of interaction between the world of design and that of users i.e. between loops of co-design and loops of uses. Indeed, according to Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988) we adopt a whirlwind model of innovation. In this perspective, “innovation continuously transforms itself according to the trials to which it is submitted i.e. of the “interessements” tried out » (Akrich and al., 2002: 7). We will demonstrate that the key success of an innovation depends on the co-evolution and convergence of design and use around boundary objects developed during this process (see Figure 1). More specifically, we will show the role of boundary objects on the integration and on the involvement of users in the design process. In order to do so, we carried out an empirical research – the Knowledge Management Platform project - located in the scientific park of Sophia Antipolis (Alpes-Maritimes, France), focusing on the Telecom Valley® (TV) association which gathers the main actors of the Sophia Antipolis Telecom cluster. Indeed, the KMP project aims to build a semantic web service of competencies in order to enhance exchange and combination dynamics of knowledge within the Telecom cluster thanks to an interactive mapping of competencies. This paper will comprise three parts: Based on the researches of Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988), Hatchuel and Mollet (1986), Orlikowski (2000), Romme and Endenburg (2006) we will identify and analyse in a first part the process of design. The combination of these approaches leads us to distinguish the design' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the success of an innovation may be explained by the co-evolution and the convergence of these two worlds. In this process, we suggest that boundary objects play a key role in the convergence of these two worlds. We will present in a second part the empirical study of the KMP project within the TV network. The KMP project involved researchers from socio-economic sciences (GREDEG Laboratory, UNSA-CNRS, Rodige and Latapses teams), cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence (INRIA, Acacia team), telecommunications (GET) and users (TV) for a total force of 187 men per month for a two-year period (2003-2005). At this present time this project is being set up in a pre-industrialization phase, supported by TV and the PACA region. Here, we will analyse the specific process of design experimented by KMP. Finally, the third part discusses the role of boundary objects in the KMP experimentation. In this part, we will show the evolution of boundary objects during the loops of design. More specifically, the focus will be on the emergence of compromises between designers and users, their materialisation in boundary objects and finally their evolution during the design' process.boundary objects, IS development, actor network theory

Evaluating system utility and conceptual fit using CASSM

There is a wealth of user-centred evaluation methods (UEMs) to support the analyst in assessing interactive systems. Many of these support detailed aspects of use – for example: Is the feedback helpful? Are labels appropriate? Is the task structure optimal? Few UEMs encourage the analyst to step back and consider how well a system supports users’ conceptual understandings and system utility. In this paper, we present CASSM, a method which focuses on the quality of ‘fit’ between users and an interactive system. We describe the methodology of conducting a CASSM analysis and illustrate the approach with three contrasting worked examples (a robotic arm, a digital library system and a drawing tool) that demonstrate different depths of analysis. We show how CASSM can help identify re-design possibilities to improve system utility. CASSM complements established evaluation methods by focusing on conceptual structures rather than procedures. Prototype tool support for completing a CASSM analysis is provided by Cassata, an open source development

Uma abordagem formal à engenharia da usabilidade

A qualidade dos sistemas interactivos pode ser medida em termos da sua usabilidade. Abordagens empíricas à avaliação procuram avaliar os sistemas sob condições reais de utilização mas, tipicamente, são dispendiosos. Abordagens analíticas à análise de modelos tem sido propostas como um meio de raciocinar sobre questões de usabilidade desde as fases iniciais do desenvolvimento. Estas abordagens socorrem-se de modelos para focarem a análise em aspectos específicos da usabilidade. Neste contexto, a utilização de notações e ferramentas (matematicamente) formais tem sido proposta. Este artigo apresenta uma abordagem integrada à verificação de sistemas interactivos. A análise tanto pode ser realizada apenas tendo em conta o comportamento do artefacto, como permite a integração de um modelo de tarefas por forma a restringir o comportamento do artefacto a um subconjunto adequado de todos os seus possíveis comportamentos.The quality of an interactive system can be measured in terms of its usability. Empirical approaches to usability evaluation attempt to assess the system under real usage conditions. This type of approach can be very expensive. Analytical approaches have been proposed as a means of reasoning about usability issues from early in development. These approaches use models to focus the analysis in specific usuability issues. In this context, the aplication of (mathematically) formal notations and tools has been proposed.This paper presents a formal approach to the analysis of interactive systems. The analysis can be carried out taking into account all possible behaviours of the device, or it can be guided by the tasks the device is supposed to support

Scoping analytical usability evaluation methods: A case study

Analytical usability evaluation methods (UEMs) can complement empirical evaluation of systems: for example, they can often be used earlier in design and can provide accounts of why users might experience difficulties, as well as what those difficulties are. However, their properties and value are only partially understood. One way to improve our understanding is by detailed comparisons using a single interface or system as a target for evaluation, but we need to look deeper than simple problem counts: we need to consider what kinds of accounts each UEM offers, and why. Here, we report on a detailed comparison of eight analytical UEMs. These eight methods were applied to it robotic arm interface, and the findings were systematically compared against video data of the arm ill use. The usability issues that were identified could be grouped into five categories: system design, user misconceptions, conceptual fit between user and system, physical issues, and contextual ones. Other possible categories such as User experience did not emerge in this particular study. With the exception of Heuristic Evaluation, which supported a range of insights, each analytical method was found to focus attention on just one or two categories of issues. Two of the three "home-grown" methods (Evaluating Multimodal Usability and Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits) were found to occupy particular niches in the space, whereas the third (Programmable User Modeling) did not. This approach has identified commonalities and contrasts between methods and provided accounts of why a particular method yielded the insights it did. Rather than considering measures such as problem count or thoroughness, this approach has yielded insights into the scope of each method

Conceptual misfits in email-based current awareness interaction

Purpose - This research aims to identify some requirements for supporting user interactions with electronic current-awareness alert systems based on data from a professional work environment. Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative data was gathered using contextual inquiry observations with twenty-one workers at the London office of an international law firm. The analysis uses CASSM (‘Concept-based Analysis of Surface and Structural Misfits’), a usability evaluation method structured around identifying mismatches, or ‘misfits’, between user-concepts and concepts represented within a system. Findings - Participants were frequently overwhelmed by email alerts, and a key requirement is to support efficient interaction. Several misfits which act as barriers to efficient reviewing and follow-on activities are demonstrated. These relate to a lack of representation of key user-concepts at the interface and/or within the system, including alert items and their properties, source documents, ‘back-story’, primary sources, content categorisations and user collections. Research limitations/implications - Given these misfits we derive a set of requirements to improve the efficiency with which users can achieve key outcomes with current-awareness information as these occur within a professional work environment. Originality/value - The findings will be of interest to current-awareness providers. The approach is relevant to information interaction researchers interested in deriving design requirements from naturalistic studie

User Interface Design With Matrix Algebra •

It is usually very hard, both for designers and users, to reason reliably about user interfaces. This article shows that 'push button' and 'point and click' user interfaces are algebraic structures. Users effectively do algebra when they interact, and therefore we can be precise about some important design issues and issues of usability. Matrix algebra, in particular, is useful for explicit calculation and for proof of various user interface properties. With matrix algebra, we are able to undertake with ease unusally thorough reviews of real user interfaces: this article examines a mobile phone, a handheld calculator and a digital multimeter as case studies, and draws general conclusions about the approach and its relevance to design

HCI models, theories, and frameworks: Toward a multidisciplinary science

Motivation The movement of body and limbs is inescapable in human-computer interaction (HCI). Whether browsing the web or intensively entering and editing text in a document, our arms, wrists, and fingers are at work on the keyboard, mouse, and desktop. Our head, neck, and eyes move about attending to feedback marking our progress. This chapter is motivated by the need to match the movement limits, capabilities, and potential of humans with input devices and interaction techniques on computing systems. Our focus is on models of human movement relevant to human-computer interaction. Some of the models discussed emerged from basic research in experimental psychology, whereas others emerged from, and were motivated by, the specific need in HCI to model the interaction between users and physical devices, such as mice and keyboards. As much as we focus on specific models of human movement and user interaction with devices, this chapter is also about models in general. We will say a lot about the nature of models, what they are, and why they are important tools for the research and development of humancomputer interfaces. Overview: Models and Modeling By its very nature, a model is a simplification of reality. However a model is useful only if it helps in designing, evaluating, or otherwise providing a basis for understanding the behaviour of a complex artifact such as a computer system. It is convenient to think of models as lying in a continuum, with analogy and metaphor at one end and mathematical equations at the other. Most models lie somewhere in-between. Toward the metaphoric end are descriptive models; toward the mathematical end are predictive models. These two categories are our particular focus in this chapter, and we shall visit a few examples of each. Two models will be presented in detail and in case studies: Fitts' model of the information processing capability of the human motor system and Guiard's model of bimanual control. Fitts' model is a mathematical expression emerging from the rigors of probability theory. It is a predictive model at the mathematical end of the continuum, to be sure, yet when applied as a model of human movement it has characteristics of a metaphor. Guiard's model emerged from a detailed analysis of how human's use their hands in everyday tasks, such as writing, drawing, playing a sport, or manipulating objects. It is a descriptive model, lacking in mathematical rigor but rich in expressive power