"Spindex" (speech index) enhances menu navigation user experience of touch screen devices in various input gestures: tapping, wheeling, and flicking

In a large number of electronic devices, users interact with the system by navigating through various menus. Auditory menus can complement or even replace visual menus, so research on auditory menus has recently increased with mobile devices as well as desktop computers. Despite the potential importance of auditory displays on touch screen devices, little research has been attempted to enhance the effectiveness of auditory menus for those devices. In the present study, I investigated how advanced auditory cues enhance auditory menu navigation on a touch screen smartphone, especially for new input gestures such as tapping, wheeling, and flicking methods for navigating a one-dimensional menu. Moreover, I examined if advanced auditory cues improve user experience, not only for visuals-off situations, but also for visuals-on contexts. To this end, I used a novel auditory menu enhancement called a "spindex" (i.e., speech index), in which brief audio cues inform the users of where they are in a long menu. In this study, each item in a menu was preceded by a sound based on the item's initial letter. One hundred and twenty two undergraduates navigated through an alphabetized list of 150 song titles. The study was a split-plot design with manipulated auditory cue type (text-to-speech (TTS) alone vs. TTS plus spindex), visual mode (on vs. off), and input gesture style (tapping, wheeling, and flicking). Target search time and subjective workload for the TTS + spindex were lower than those of the TTS alone in all input gesture types regardless of visual type. Also, on subjective ratings scales, participants rated the TTS + spindex condition higher than the plain TTS on being 'effective' and 'functionally helpful'. The interaction between input methods and output modes (i.e., auditory cue types) and its effects on navigation behaviors was also analyzed based on the two-stage navigation strategy model used in auditory menus. Results were discussed in analogy with visual search theory and in terms of practical applications of spindex cues.M.S.Committee Chair: Bruce N. Walker; Committee Member: Frank Durso; Committee Member: Gregory M. Cors

Designing multimodal interaction for the visually impaired

Although multimodal computer input is believed to have advantages over unimodal input, little has been done to understand how to design a multimodal input mechanism to facilitate visually impaired users\u27 information access. This research investigates sighted and visually impaired users\u27 multimodal interaction choices when given an interaction grammar that supports speech and touch input modalities. It investigates whether task type, working memory load, or prevalence of errors in a given modality impact a user\u27s choice. Theories in human memory and attention are used to explain the users\u27 speech and touch input coordination. Among the abundant findings from this research, the following are the most important in guiding system design: (1) Multimodal input is likely to be used when it is available. (2) Users select input modalities based on the type of task undertaken. Users prefer touch input for navigation operations, but speech input for non-navigation operations. (3) When errors occur, users prefer to stay in the failing modality, instead of switching to another modality for error correction. (4) Despite the common multimodal usage patterns, there is still a high degree of individual differences in modality choices. Additional findings include: (I) Modality switching becomes more prevalent when lower working memory and attentional resources are required for the performance of other concurrent tasks. (2) Higher error rates increases modality switching but only under duress. (3) Training order affects modality usage. Teaching a modality first versus second increases the use of this modality in users\u27 task performance. In addition to discovering multimodal interaction patterns above, this research contributes to the field of human computer interaction design by: (1) presenting a design of an eyes-free multimodal information browser, (2) presenting a Wizard of Oz method for working with visually impaired users in order to observe their multimodal interaction. The overall contribution of this work is that of one of the early investigations into how speech and touch might be combined into a non-visual multimodal system that can effectively be used for eyes-free tasks

TechNews digests: Jan - Mar 2010

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Examination of the Usability of the IPAD Among Older Adult Consumers

Background and Purpose In the current technological-era there is assumption of universal Internet access of citizens in North America. Many senior citizens have the desire to access the Internet, however have limited experience-using computers. There currently exists multiple options in addition to personal computers to access the Internet such as tablet computers, however there has been limited research performed on the use of these technologies by senior citizens. Methodology and Methods This paper describes the experiences and insight of five novice senior iPad owners as well as a detailed task and activity analysis of these seniors utilizing the device. Through focus group based discussion in combination with the use of a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) and an activity analysis (AA) and post-interviews this paper describes the experiences and insight of five novice senior iPad owners as well an evaluation of the usability of the iPad amongst these users. Findings and Conclusion Overall, participant’s experiences on the iPad were very positive and the iPad displayed a high usability. Participants used the device with a high-degree of efficiency and rated the device as being highly intuitive. The main sources of difficulty resulted from a read-tap asymmetry, ambiguous touchable areas within some applications and ambiguous icon depiction. Similar to the findings of prior literature studying the iPads usability with younger populations, this research found that the iPad was used highly effectively with an older population and the difficulties that this older population experienced were nearly identical to those experienced by younger populations in other research. These findings in combination with the positive and non-intimidating perception the iPad received from the participants, suggests that the iPad may be an effective and highly useful option for Internet access amongst seniors

Redefining editorial experience: user experience & user interface design in digital publications

The publishing industry is facing a transition era, where the development of new digital technologies has led people to adopt new reading habits, where every day is less common to receive content in a piece of printed paper, and more and more common to do it through a screen. Digital publications have been present for a while, facing constant changes, so this theoretical-practical research aims to explore their transition, what they have done, and what are they doing to respond to their readers’ needs. Emphasized in digital magazines, the objective is to understand them from its roots, analyzing concepts related to editorial design and through theory and the work of designers who redefined the concept of publications on the screens. This theoretical part is complemented with the study of two areas of design that are related to the development of digital products: user experience and user interface. The two case studies presented, Wired and The New Yorker magazines explore what magazines that have lead the market in terms of innovation and design have done in recent years and how are they facing today’s challenges. In addition, in this critical analysis exploration, topics such as their online strategy, design of their apps, and their activity in social networks are explored. The practical project developed, seeks to apply the concepts explored in the theoretical part of the research, in order to respond to the needs of a cultural magazine of Mexico, La Tempestad. Through a survey, the reading habits of the target audience are analyzed to understand what readers are looking for and create a solution that is appropriate for them. A graphic proposal of a digital magazine in the form of an application is presented, with interactions, design, and navigational tools the app seeks to create a unique experience with their readers

Human-Computer Interaction

In this book the reader will find a collection of 31 papers presenting different facets of Human Computer Interaction, the result of research projects and experiments as well as new approaches to design user interfaces. The book is organized according to the following main topics in a sequential order: new interaction paradigms, multimodality, usability studies on several interaction mechanisms, human factors, universal design and development methodologies and tools

(M)ad to see me?: Intelligent Advertisement Placement: Balancing User Annoyance and Advertising Effectiveness

Advertising is an unavoidable albeit a frustrating part of mobile interactions. Due to limited form factor, mobile advertisements often resort to intrusive strategies where they temporarily block the user's view in an attempt to increase effectiveness and force the user's attention. While such strategies contribute to advertising awareness and effectiveness, they do so at the cost of degrading the user's overall experience and can lead to frustration and annoyance. In this paper, we contribute by developing Perceptive Ads as an intelligent advertisement placement strategy that minimizes disruptions caused by ads while preserving their effectiveness. Our work is the first to simultaneously consider the needs of users, app developers, and advertisers. Ensuring the needs of all stakeholders are taken into account is essential for the adoption of advertising strategies as users (and indirectly developers) would reject strategies that are disruptive but effective, while advertisers would reject strategies that are non-disruptive but inefficient. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique through a user study with N = 16 participants and two representative examples of mobile apps that commonly integrate advertisements (a game and a news app). Results from the study demonstrate that our approach can improve perception towards advertisements by 43.75% without affecting application interactivity while at the same time increasing advertisement effectiveness by 37.5% compared to a state-of-the-art baseline.Peer reviewe