Designing Attention-Centric Notification Systems: Five HCI Challenges

Through an examination of the emerging domain of cognitive systems, with a focus on attention-centric cognitive systems used for notification, this document explores the human-computer interaction challenges that must be addressed for successful interface design. This document asserts that with compatible tools and methods, user notification requirements and interface usability can be abstracted, expressed, and compared with critical parameter ratings; that is, even novice designers can assess attention cost factors to determine target parameter levels for new system development. With a general understanding of the user tasks supported by the notification system, a designer can access the repository of design knowledge for appropriate information and interaction design techniques (e.g., use of color, audio features, animation, screen size, transition of states, etc), which have analytically and empirically derived ratings. Furthermore, usability evaluation methods, provided to designers as part of the integrated system, are adaptable to specific combinations of targeted parameter levels. User testing results can be conveniently added back into the design knowledge repository and compared to target parameter levels to determine design success and build reusable HCI knowledge. This approach is discussed in greater detail as we describe five HCI challenges relating to cognitive system development: (1) convenient access to basic research and guidelines, (2) requirements engineering methods for notification interfaces, (3) better and more usable predictive modeling for pre-attentive and dual-task interfaces, (4) standard empirical evaluation procedures for notification systems, and (5) conceptual frameworks for organizing reusable design and software components. This document also describes our initial work toward building infrastructure to overcome these five challenges, focused on notification system development. We described LINK-UP, a design environment grounded on years of theory and method development within HCI, providing a mechanism to integrate interdisciplinary expertise from the cognitive systems research community. Claims allow convenient access to basic research and guidelines, while modules parallel a lifecycle development iteration and provide a process for requirements engineering guided by this basic research. The activities carried out through LINK-UP provide access to and interaction with reusable design components organized based on our framework. We think that this approach may provide the scientific basis necessary for exciting interdisciplinary advancement through many fields of design, with notification systems serving as an initial model. A version of this document will appear as chapter 3 in the book Cognitive Systems: Human Cognitive Models in Systems Design edited by Chris Forsythe, Michael Bernard, and Timothy Goldsmith resulting from a workshop led by the editors in summer 2003. The authors are grateful for the input of the workshop organizers and conference attendees in the preparation of this document

Claims Reuse for Notification Systems Design: LINK-UP Vision and IRC Equations

Extending previous work on the concept of claims reuse, an approach for cataloging and reusing design knowledge in human-computer interaction, we introduce a vision for a system, LINK-UP. The system is intended to parallel a usability engineering process that involves claims analysis. While we initially target notification system design support, we believe that the general method is extensible to other design concerns. A key aspect of the LINK-UP system is its iterative assessment of critical parameters---essential target values that describe anticipated user goals. In notification systems design, three critical parameters are interruption, reaction, and comprehension, referred to as IRC. While the parameter values represent abstract concepts, a pivotal challenge in the development of LINK-UP is determining methods for consistent and accurate parameter specification. To this end, we introduce equations for calculating user's model IRC parameters, either from analytical or empirical data. Presented here are details of variable justification and equation behavior. Future work will assess consistency and accuracy of artifact classifications using the equations

Persistent virtual identity in community networks: Impact to social capital value chains

Community networks are digital infrastructures designed to strengthen bonds and build social capital between members of a community, facilitating accomplishment of goals. As we consider how community network implementations can be improved, we recognize the potential that social translucence and activity notification introduces to other forms of CSCW. We investigate how the underlying notion of persistent virtual identity---established at logon---impacts user perception of community networks and their social capital production process. To approach this question, we introduce a design model that reconciles various computer-mediated communication research contributions with support for typical community network scenarios of use. Using this model, we perform an inspection on existing community network implementations. Based on the insight gained through this analysis, we introduce a generic prototype that allows survey of user reaction to community network design elements under differing conditions of persistent virtual identity implementation and usage motivation---the results frame a value-chain understanding of conceptual tradeoffs

Entangled Design Knowledge: Relationships as an Approach to Claims Reuse

As a discipline, human-computer interaction produces creative and innovative designs that could provide a reusable collection of design knowledge on which future efforts could build. It is unfortunate that so much of this knowledge is not fully reused by designers today. To encourage the use of previously identified HCI knowledge, we propose a model of reuse building on Carroll?s notion of claims, design knowledge components that capture the positive and negative psychological effects of design features. We address four challenges associated with reuse in a library of claims, adopted from software engineering?a discipline in which the notion of reuse has been prevalent for quite some time. Building on Krueger?s definition of reuse and his conceptualization of four key aspects?abstraction, selection, specification, and integration?we propose a reuse approach based on incorporating these four aspects into the design process. To abstract, select, specify and integrate claims, we identify claim relationships, descriptions of connections between claims. We portray how claim relationships can be used to aid in identifying claim types, searching for claims, creating new claims, and aggregating claims. By integrating relationships into a claims library, we demonstrate how they can be applied to assist claims reuse and present studies related to each application of the relationships

Spiraling Toward Usability: An Integrated Design Environment and Management System

Decades of innovation in designing usable (and unusable) interfaces have resulted in a plethora of guidelines, usability engineering methods, and other design tools. However, novice developers often have difficulty selecting and utilizing theory-based design tools in a coherent design process. This work introduces an integrated design environment and knowledge management system, LINK-UP. The central design record (CDR) module, provides tools to enable a guided, coherent development process. The CDR aims to prevent breakdowns occurring between design and evaluation phases both within the development team and during design knowledge reuse processes. We report on results from three case studies illustrating novice designers use of LINK-UP. A design knowledge IDE incorporating a CDR can help novice developers craft interfaces in a methodical fashion, while applying, verifying, and producing reusable design knowledge. Although LINK-UP supports a specific design domain, our IDE approach can transfer to other domains

Unpacking Critical Parameters for Interface Design: Evaluating Notification Systems with the IRC Framework

We elaborate a proposal for capturing, extending, and reusing design knowledge gleaned through usability testing. The proposal is specifically targeted to address interface design for notification systems, but its themes can be generalized to any constrained and well-defined genre of interactive system design. We reiterate arguments for and against using critical parameters to characterize user goals and usability artifacts. Responding to residual arguments, we suggest that clear advantages for research cohesion, design knowledge reuse, and HCI education are possible if several challenges are overcome. As a first step, we recommend a slight variation to the concept of a critical parameter, which would allow both abstract and concrete knowledge representation. With this concept, we demonstrate a feasible approach by introducing equations that elaborate and allow evolution of notification system critical parameters, which is made operational with a variety of usability evaluation instruments. A case study illustrates how one general instrument allowed system designs to be meaningfully compared and resulted in valuable inferences for interface reengineering. Broad implications and conclusions about this approach will be of interest to others concerned with using critical parameters in interface design, development of notification systems interfaces, or approaches to design rationale and knowledge reuse