Audio editing environments, geared towards touch screens and mobile computing form factors, are prevalent, predominant and continue to gain in popularity. However, touch-based gestures on mobile devices are typically singlehanded tasks and limited to 2D interaction space, which is less intuitive and efficient for music manipulation. Also, with the constraint of limited screen assets, a user has to frequently switch between different audio sample contexts while editing. We present PaperMusic, a novel audio manipulation interface, for enabling simple and intuitive audio manipulation for novice musicians. PaperMusic uses multiple flexible displays, 3D tracking system, bend sensors, and a set of tangible audio interaction techniques, which take advantage of Organic User Interface and bimanual interactions, to enable users to tangibly and collaboratively create and edit audio. PaperMusic draws from both the traditional music editing environment and novel audio interfaces. During making our first prototype, we consider the following design goals: (1) Low learning Curve; (2) Consistent Metaphor; (3) Lightweight & portability; (4) Spatial awareness; (5) Multimodal with richer forms of tactile and visual feedback; (6) Bimanual tasking and multi- display interaction; (7) Collaborative music editing. Based on this, we have designed and explored five interaction techniques: (1) Layering; (2) Collocation; (3) Pointing; (4) 3D spatial awareness; (5) Bending & discrete touching. We performed a qualitative user experiment to obtain feedback from participants who were amateur musicians. Our user study indicates that, compared with traditional music editing software, our tangible prototype had a lower mental demand and facilitates bimanual asymmetric tasks. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2014-04-25 17:17:15.747

We present an interactive graphical user interface for textile displays. While electronic displays are emerging in a variety of domains their interfaces have not kept pace with their use. Our work has resulted in an intuitive interface on cloth, a common surface present in numerous user settings, including a wide variety of medical settings. In addition to using cloth as a display mechanism, our interface allows interaction with the interface, by direct manipulation of the cloth. Interaction gestures flow from the cloth metaphor, and include natural actions such as pinching and stretching the cloth surface, as well as more traditional interactions such as touch. We discuss the design and development process behind creating our prototype interface, and treat in significant detail the development of our gestured interactions. We go on to describe applications for our system, which include applications for every-day users, as well as expert users in the medical domain. Finally we include user feedback on our interface, and with this feedback we discuss our conclusions and examine areas for future work. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2009-05-28 13:45:12.459

In the face of a wide range of attacks, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and other Internet security tools represent potentially valuable safeguards to identify and combat the problems facing online systems. However, despite the fact that a variety of commercial and open source solutions are available across a range of operating systems and network platforms, it is notable that the deployment of IDS is often markedly less than other well-known network security countermeasures and other tools may often be used in an ineffective manner. This thesis considers the challenges that users may face while using IDS, by conducting a web-based questionnaire to assess these challenges. The challenges that are used in the questionnaire were gathered from the well-established literature. The participants responses varies between being with or against selecting them as challenges but all the listed challenges approved that they are consider problems in the IDS field. The aim of the research is to propose a novel set of Human Computer Interaction-Security (HCI-S) usability criteria based on the findings of the web-based questionnaire. Moreover, these criteria were inspired from previous literature in the field of HCI. The novelty of the criteria is that they focus on the security aspects. The new criteria were promising when they were applied to Norton 360, a well known Internet security suite. Testing the alerts issued by security software was the initial step before testing other security software. Hence, a set of security software were selected and some alerts were triggered as a result of performing a penetration test conducted within a test-bed environment using the network scanner Nmap. The findings reveal that four of the HCI-S usability criteria were not fully addressed by all of these security software. Another aim of this thesis is to consider the development of a prototype to address the HCI-S usability criteria that seem to be overlooked in the existing security solutions. The thesis conducts a practical user trial and the findings are promising and attempt to find a proper solution to solve this problem. For instance, to take advantage of previous security decisions, it would be desirable for a system to consider the user‟s previous decisions on similar alerts, and modify alerts accordingly to account for the user‟s previous behaviour. Moreover, in order to give users a level of flexibility, it is important to enable them to make informed decisions, and to be able to recover from them if needed. It is important to address the proposed criteria that enable users to confirm / recover the impact of their decision, maintain an awareness of system status all the time, and to offer responses that match users‟ expectations. The outcome of the current study is a set of a proposed 16 HCI-S usability criteria that can be used to design and to assess security alerts issued by any Internet security suite. These criteria are not equally important and they vary between high, medium and low.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate interactive multimedia design: from the analysis of problems with multimedia systems to the subsequent derivation of design features and their assessment. It concentrates on the application of interactive multimedia from a user-centred perspective to rational, choice-based decision making in electronic-shopping, and specifically as a solution to the difficulty consumers have in judging product quality. The popularity and widespread use of interactive technologies, especially the Internet, the complexities of multimedia design, and the importance of electronic-shopping make the need for this investigation timely. The research approach consisted of the following: the derivation of design features through analysis of designs, interviews with designers and review of relevant literature; application of design features through an understanding of problems with electronic-shopping and development of a prototype shopping environment; and assessment of the features through empirical work. The thesis produces three key findings. First, a set of six design features to support multimedia design: naturalness/realness, media allocation and combination, redundancy, significant contribution of the media, exploration, and quality of information representation. Second, a better understanding of multimedia design decision-making. And third, the application of interactive multimedia product experience to improve online consumer behaviour. The research makes contributions to the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Electronic Commerce, and offers practical recommendations to designers of interactive multimedia, especially when part of their design problem involves support for users’ interactions with representations of choice alternatives.

In this thesis we report on remote interaction techniques for horizontal and vertical large displays. For vertical large displays, we present MultiPoint, a set of perspective-based remote pointing techniques that allows users to perform bimanual and multi-finger remote manipulation of graphical objects on large displays. We conducted two empirical studies that compared remote pointing techniques performed using fingers and laser pointers, in single and multi-finger pointing interactions. The MultiPoint techniques were found suitable for interacting with vertical large displays. We explore techniques that are well suited for exclusively single-point use cases as well as for multipoint scenarios. With Pointable, we also explored perspective-based pointing with in-air gestures, but in a tabletop scenario. We conducted 3 experiments; the first showed that pointing at a distance using Pointable has a Fitts’ law throughput comparable to that of a mouse. In the second experiment, we found that Pointable had the same performance as multi-touch input in a resize, rotate and drag task. In a third study, we observed that when given the choice, over 75% of participants preferred to use Pointable over multi-touch for target manipulation. In general, Pointable allowed users to manipulate out-of-reach targets, without loss of performance, while minimizing the need to lean, stand up, or involve collocated collaborators. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-06-08 11:59:53.418

Advances in display technology are increasing screen size and reducing their costs. Large, wall sized screens can be found in malls, public squares and office buildings displaying photos, videos, advertising, news and announcements. The audience of large displays in public, urban environments can be constantly changing and in this thesis we investigate applying automated layout algorithms to large displays to adapt layouts to changing audiences. Abstract We review current automated layouts, discuss new challenges when applying automated layouts to large screens and present our design space for automated layouts. We investigate the human factors (such as attention, vision, and perception) and the system factors (such as display space and input devices) involved in automated layout for large displays. Abstract This thesis presents the Viewer Aware Layout (VAL) system. VAL is a system that automates the layout of images on a large display and is designed to allow many users to collectively view images. VAL, and features of VAL, are tested for engagement and it is found that there is a significant increase in agreement by users with statements describing an engaging experience when VAL is applied to an image layout. This thesis concludes with a summary of the research contributions and proposes future areas of work.

This dissertation documents a journey into the design of Ummeli with a community of semi-­‐literate job seekers in Khayelitsha, Cape Town whose primary access to the internet was through their mobile phones. Working closely with this community over many months, we developed Ummeli, a suite of tools that allow the user to build their CVs; browse and apply for employment and training opportunities; recommend and post jobs; get employment tips and connect to other job seekers. To design Ummeli, Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) was embraced, not as a methodology, but as a research approach, a foundation from which to incorporate participatory approaches to designing Information communication technologies for development (ICT4D). User Centered Design (UCD) was incorporated as a design approach. Ummeli was built by a combination of insights drawn from a lived-­‐in experience, and employing UCD informed methods of participatory design (PD). Here we employed Human Access Point (HAP) a form of PD that allows for a member of the community to be a proxy for the design process. Learn to Earn, an NGO based in Khayelitsha became the HAP, and took the critical role in that they, highlighted, translated, evaluated and represented what was most crucial for the community; their input allowed Ummeli to match the community’s need. In the process, we came across concepts such as Umqweno, which represents yearnings and desires, replacing our own perception systems requirements. Siyazenzela, representing a communal participatory approach to doing life; and Ubuntu, which captures the spirit behind Africa’s communal identity, which were all adopted into the original EAR framework. In this document we set out to demonstrate what it means to be a “reflective practitioner” as we adopted appropriated and reconfigured aspects of participatory UCD methods to fit culturally relevant contexts. The process allowed for constant reflections leading to “aha” moments. In the end, we had created Ummeli, with over 80,000 users, and developed Mediated Design, a culturally indoctrinated xii participatory approach to designing interactive system with and for semi-­‐literate people.

This work explores the utilization of scenarios in an iterative usability engineering process for the development of a next-generation multilocus sequence typing (MLST) tool. The following three research question were investigated during the usability process: (1) what are the differences in the elicited requirements as scenarios move further from extant work practices, (2) what are the differences in the elicited requirements between structured and free-form scenario groups, and (3) are participant-developed scenarios from the scenario-based interviews effective for use as tasks in formative usability evaluation. Scenario-based interviews were conducted to collect relevant work-practice information and domain knowledge from two user classes. Requirements distilled from the scenarios and complementary interview questions informed the design of multiple iterations of the tool. A formative usability evaluation was conducted on the second iteration of the tool with the same participants. Resulting requirements from the scenario-based interviews suggest that proposing scenarios beyond current work practices overwhelmed and confused participants, and therefore worked against requirements generation. Conversely, a less structured scenario-based interview scheme yielded a greater quantity of requirements, and specifically produced more creative requirements. Participant-developed scenarios from the scenario-based interviews were ultimately useful as benchmark tasks in the formative usability evaluation because they were intricate enough to afford meaningful interaction with the interface, while still being completable by both user classes. This research helps to provide a greater understanding of the utilization of novel scenario styles and methodologies, thereby providing support for the continued investigation into scenario use for a variety of applications. / Master of Science

For decades, the application of technology to percussion curricula has been substantially hindered by the limitations of conventional input devices. With the need for specialized percussion instruction at an all-time high, investigation of this domain can open the doors to an entirely new educational approach for percussion. This research frames the foundation of an embodied approach to percussion instruction manifested in a system called Percussive. Through the use of body-scale interactions, percussion students can connect with pedagogical tools at the most fundamental level−leveraging muscle memory, kinesthetics, and embodiment to present engaging and dynamic instructional sessions. The major contribution of this work is the exploration of how a system which uses motion-sensing to replicate the experiential qualities of drumming can be applied to existing pedagogues. Techniques for building a system which recognizes drumming input are discussed, as well as the system's application to a successful contemporary instructional model. In addition to the specific results that are presented, it is felt that the collective wisdom provided by the discussion of the methodology throughout this thesis provides valuable insight for others in the same area of research. / Master of Science

<p>Oblast istraživanja ove disertacije obuhvata interakciju čoveka i računara.<br />Kreirani su: model korisničkog interfejsa, sa smernicama za kvalitetniju<br />realizaciju obrazovnih softvera namenjenih najmlađim korisnicima, model<br />obrazovnog softvera na zakonima FITSA, kurikulum nastavnog predmeta<br />Interakcija čoveka i računara. Očekivano pobolj&scaron;anje obrazovnih efekata<br />nastave prikazano je kroz vrednovanje rezultata istraživanja ostvarenih<br />testiranjem preciznosti prilikom re&scaron;avanja testova znanja kod onih testova koji<br />se prilagođavaju performansama korisnika.</p> / <p>The research area of this thesis includes the interaction of man and<br />computer. Model of the user interface, with guidelines for better<br />implementation of educational software for the youngest users, a model of<br />educational software to the laws Fits, curriculum teaching subject interaction<br />of man and computer were created. Expected improvement of the educational<br />effects of teaching is shown through the evaluation of results achieved when<br />testing the accuracy of solving tests in those tests that adapt to user<br />performance.</p>