The ABCD of usability testing

We introduce a methodology for tracking and auditing feedback, errors and suggestions for software packages. This short paper describes how we innovate on the evaluation mechanism, introducing an (Antecedent, Barrier, Consequence and Development) ABCD form, embedded within an eParticipation platform to enable end users to easily report on any usability issues. This methodology will be utilised to improve the STEP cloud eParticipation platform (part of the current STEP Horizon2020 project http://step4youth.eu. The platform is currently being piloted in real life contexts, with the participation of public authorities that are integrating the eParticipation platform into their regular decision-making practices. The project is involving young people, through engagement and motivation strategies and giving them a voice in Environmental decision making at the local level. The pilot evaluation aims to demonstrate how open engagement needs to be embedded within public sector processes and the usability methodology reported here will help to identify the key barriers for wide scale deployment of the platform

The Effects of Visual Information on Users' Mental Models: An Evaluation of Pathfinder Analysis as a Measure of Icon Usability

Research has shown that individuals' knowledge structures change as a result of learning and experience. This article investigates the possibility that the content of graphical user interfaces can play a role in determining the nature of the knowledge structures users develop. Users employed either concrete, abstract, or arbitrary icon sets in a computer-based problem-solving task. The effects of these icons were assessed using standard measures of performance. On the basis of the assumption that users' mental models should be better if appropriate icons were presented on the interface, Pathfinder analysis was used to elicit users' knowledge structures as they gained experience with the interface. The efficacy of this measure was then compared with performance measures. Our findings show that users' knowledge structures do depend on the nature of the graphical information presented at the interface but do not rely as much on the use of the visual metaphor as previously thought. Although most measures were sensitive to initial differences between icon sets, only some measures were sensitive to the long-term differences that remained after users had gained experience with the icon set. The implications of these findings for interface design are discussed

Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

The Effects of Visual Information on Users' Mental Models: An Evaluation of Pathfinder Analysis as a Measure of Icon Usability

Research has shown that individuals' knowledge structures change as a result of learning and experience. This article investigates the possibility that the content of graphical user interfaces can play a role in determining the nature of the knowledge structures users develop. Users employed either concrete, abstract, or arbitrary icon sets in a computer-based problem-solving task. The effects of these icons were assessed using standard measures of performance. On the basis of the assumption that users' mental models should be better if appropriate icons were presented on the interface, Pathfinder analysis was used to elicit users' knowledge structures as they gained experience with the interface. The efficacy of this measure was then compared with performance measures. Our findings show that users' knowledge structures do depend on the nature of the graphical information presented at the interface but do not rely as much on the use of the visual metaphor as previously thought. Although most measures were sensitive to initial differences between icon sets, only some measures were sensitive to the long-term differences that remained after users had gained experience with the icon set. The implications of these findings for interface design are discussed

Nonlinear Network Dynamics on Earthquake Fault Systems

Earthquake faults occur in networks that have dynamical modes not displayed by single isolated faults. Using simulations of the network of strike-slip faults in southern California, we find that the physics depends critically on both the interactions among the faults, which are determined by the geometry of the fault network, as well as on the stress dissipation properties of the nonlinear frictional physics, similar to the dynamics of integrate-and-fire neural networks.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

The Values of Tangible User Interfaces: How to discover, assess and evaluate them?

Since the introduction of Tangible User Interfaces, in the beginning of the 90s, a generation grew up interacting with computers. At the same time the context of computing changed dramatically: from a device used almost exclusively by specialists, it evolved to a general device that plays a dominant role in our societies. But where does this leave TUI? In many respects, the idea of tangibility plays a marginal role in Human Computer Interaction. It makes sense to re-evaluate the intrinsic values of TUI design. This paper proposes to research the appropriate metrics to do so