08292 Abstracts Collection -- The Study of Visual Aesthetics in Human-Computer Interaction

From 13.07. to 16.07.2008, the Dagstuhl Seminar 08292 ``The Study of Visual Aesthetics in Human-Computer Interaction\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Interpreting human and avatar facial expressions

Abstract. This paper investigates the impact of contradictory emotional content on people's ability to identify the emotion expressed on avatar faces as compared to human faces. Participants saw emotional faces (human or avatar) coupled with emotional texts. The face and text could either display the same or different emotions. Participants were asked to identify the emotion on the face and in the text. While they correctly identified the emotion on human faces more often than on avatar faces, this difference was mostly due to the neutral avatar face. People were no better at identifying a facial expression when emotional information coming from two sources was the same than when it was different, regardless of whether the facial expression was displayed on a human face or on an avatar face. Finally, people were more sensitive to context when trying to identify the emotion in the accompanying text

Online health communities

Abstract Online health communities provide a means for patients and their families to learn about an illness, seek and offer support, and connect with others in similar circumstances. They are supported by a variety of technologies (e.g., email lists, forums, chat rooms) and are hosted by patients, advocacy groups, medical organizations, and corporations. They raise difficult design challenges because of the wide variability of members' medical expertise, the severity of problems due to misinformation, and the need for emotional support. The importance of on-line health communities is evidenced by their popularity, as well as the significant impact they have on the lives of their members. This Special Interest Group (SIG) will explore current trends in online health communities, as well as discuss the socio-technical design challenges and opportunities that they afford

Early traces of usability as a science and as a profession

Shackel’s paper [Shackel, B., 1991. Usability – context, framework, definition, design and evaluation. In: Shcakel, B., Richardson, S. (Eds.), Human Factors for Informatics Usability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK] is reviewed in an attempt to assess his contribution to the development of usability as a science and as a profession. Usability related research is first situated in the period around 1990. The contributions to usability as a science then are addressed via Professor Shackel’s definition and evaluation of usability. Finally, his contribution toward usability as a profession is acknowledged via his view of usability in the light of wider business goals

Introducing HCI into an organization: making a convincing case for usability

The influence of a usability team in a particular organization and its products depends partly on the organizational structure and culture and partly on the skill set in the usability team itself. Once management decides to embrace usability, the integration of a usability team should therefore be considered very carefully in light of the existing organizational structure and culture [1,5] without, of course, neglecting consideration of the skills required to ensure the long-term benefits of usability to the organization’s products

Notions of thoroughness, efficiency, and validity: are they valid in HCI practice?

In this paper I argue that while the notions of thoroughness, efficiency, and validity of problems identified in usability tests are mandatory for researchers seeking to establish the effectiveness of a given testing procedure, especially the notions of thoroughness and efficiency are irrelevant in HCI practice. In research devoted to validating a given test methodology, it is imperative that all usability problems be identified in the product or application used as a test bed. In HCI practice, however, the objective is to identify as many usability problems as possible with limited resources and within a limited time frame, to define and implement solutions to these early in the development process. It is impossible to know whether all usability problems have been identified in a particular test or type of evaluation unless testing is repeated until it reaches an asymptote, a point at which no new problems emerge in a test. Asymptotic testing is not, and should not be, done in practice; it is as unfeasible as it is irrelevant in a work context. In the absence of a complete usability problem set, the notions of thoroughness and efficiency are meaningless and also impossible to calculate. While validity can be assessed for individual problems in practical usability tests, it cannot yield information about the effectiveness of the testing method per se because the problem set is unlikely to be complete. An example is provided to support my argument. Relevance to industry: The point of a usability test is to identify as many usability problems as possible, with limited resources. The resulting problems hopefully include the most severe ones, but not the entire problem set. While HCI practitioners should know about thoroughness, efficiency, and validity of the test methods they elect to employ, they should not attempt to assess these from their test findings. Neither thoroughness nor efficiency can be determined from an incomplete problem set, and the notion of validity is tied to the severity of individual usability problems, not to the testing method as such

Challenges to assessing usability in the wild: a case study

This article describes one part of a human factors study conducted over 3 months in a petro-chemical manufacturing plant in Australia. The project had two purposes, namely, to identify issues to be included in a training course for plant operators and to identify low-level usability-related software issues that might be rectifiable prior to system implementation. After interviewing 28 operators and eight managers, the operators were observed on the job while interacting with the old system. Finally, the 3-part usability assessment comprising 2 expert inspections and a user-based quasi-walkthrough was conducted. As the study took place shortly before a new, off-the-shelf automated manufacturing system was implemented, it was not possible to test an interactive version, relying instead exclusively on static screens. This made it impossible to provide user performance data, which could have helped to convince management of the seriousness of certain problems. One of these proved so severe that an engineer had to be present 24/7 in the control room for 6 months following system cutover because the operators were unable to achieve the required product quality. Based on the data, suggestions are made for expanding the usability construct to include assessment of perceived technology usefulness and to refine the concept of attitude in mandatory settings

Adventurers versus nit-pickers on affective computing

In reviewing the three articles presented by the MIT group on some aspects of affective computing I voice some of my concerns with the view that we can and should design computers to respond to our changing moods and whims, and my strong skepticism towards claims that such responsiveness should make us happier human beings in the long run. I first explain and justify my position, then briefly address the notion of affect, and finally, present some thoughts on trust

From the ashes of disaster into a human factors boom: the legacy of large databases

The project started as an ergonomic review of customer service operators' jobs in the Australian national telecommunications carrier. The computer system had been purchased without adequately understanding of local techology - and user requirements. Consequently, system adaptations were ongoing for several years from before cutover commenced and well into the development of the fourth generation of the GUI front end. The user interface evaluation identified serious usability problems with screen design, system workflow, and navigation, which severely compromised operators' performance. However, despite these findings and alarming symptoms of stress-related problems among operators, management refused to take ownership of the problems until we presented these in terms of losses to the organization based on simple conversion of data into dollars. The effect of these figures allowed the Human Factors (HF) Team to devise and roll out a comprehensive HF program in which Human Factors activities were integrated into all systems development procedures

Aesthetics, visual appeal, usability and user satisfaction: what do the user's eyes tell the user's brain?

The impact of colour on the first impression of a website is discussed in the light of several rather puzzling experimental findings, which suggest that background colour and colour combinations might influence users? subsequent opinion of, and satisfaction with, a site. Theories of, and approaches to, studying aesthetics and emotion are outlined briefly. It is concluded that, although the criteria by which people judge visual appeal, user satisfaction and trustworthiness are still unclear, perceived usability appears to be related to the detection of stumbling blocks that hinder smooth interaction with a web site and probably to the orderliness of screens. User satisfaction is a complex construct that incorporates several measurable concepts and is the culmination of the interactive user experience. Experimental results suggest that people may be more satisfied with a beautiful product that performs sub-optimally than with a more usable but less appealing product. A glance into the future importance of the topics discussed is offered