In the past decade and more than any time before, new technologies have been broadly applied in various fields of interaction between human and machine. Despite many functionality studies, yet, how such technologies should be evaluated within the context of human computer interaction research remains unclear. This research aims at proposing a mechanism to evaluate/predict the design of user interfaces with their interacting components. At the first level of analysis, an original concept extracts the usability results of components, such as effectiveness, efficiency, adjusted satisfaction, and overall acceptability, for comparison in the fields of interest. At the second level of analysis, another original concept defines new metrics based on the level of complexity in interactions between input modality and feedback of performing a task, in the field of classical solid mechanics. Having these results, a set of hypotheses is provided to test if some common satisfaction criteria can be predicted from their correlations with the components of performance, complexity, and overall acceptability. In the context of this research, three multimodal applications are implemented and experimentally tested to study the quality of interactions through the proposed hypotheses: a) full-body gestures vs. mouse/keyboard, in a Box game; b) arm/hand gestures vs. three-dimensional haptic controller, in a Slingshot game; and c) hand/finger gestures vs. mouse/keyboard, in a Race game. Their graphical user interfaces are designed to cover some extents of static/dynamic gestures, pulse/continuous touch-based controls, and discrete/analog tasks measured. They are quantified based on a new definition termed index of complexity which represents a concept of effort in the domain of locomotion interaction. Single/compound devices are also defined and studied to evaluate the effect of user’s attention in multi-tasking interactions. The proposed method of investigation for usability is meant to assist human-computer interface developers to reach a proper overall acceptability, performance, and effort-based analyses prior to their final user interface design.

Ma thèse s'inscrit dans le domaine de l'ingénierie de l'interaction homme-machine. Elle traite de la conception d'interfaces hommes machine (IHM). La créativité n'y est souvent considérée que de manière marginale. Pourtant l'effervescence technologique et la diversité résultante des contextes d'usage appellent à de plus en plus de créativité. Ma thèse soutient le principe que l'innovation passe par l'application de processus créatifs. Dès lors, le défi est de savoir explorer largement et efficacement l'espace de conception dès les phases amont du processus. Il convient donc d'intégrer et d'enseigner la créativité dans les processus de conception d'IHM, en particulier pour les concepteurs débutants.Ce positionnement sur le sujet provient d'une double approche : d'une part théorique, avec un état de l'art explorant les dimensions de la créativité et les outils informatiques de support à la créativité ; d'autre part empirique, avec quatre mises en pratique de la créativité dans des domaines de conception différents comme l'architecture, la conception de produit et la conception de systèmes interactifs. Je construis ma contribution sur les principes suivants : (1) la créativité n'est pas réservée à une élite, mais peut être travaillée et renforcée par des outils informatiques ; (2) ces outils doivent soutenir la motivation, la recherche d'inspiration, l'exploration en largeur, et les connaissances relatives au domaine et aux processus de conception. Selon une démarche réflexive, j'applique ces mêmes principes dans ma thèse. Je propose une exploration en largeur du support à la créativité via cinq contributions logicielles complémentaires : Maestro et Bank pour la capitalisation des connaissances ; WebGallery, BrianStorming et Magellan pour l'inspiration et l'exploration de l'espace de conception. Plus précisément, Maestro traite de la capitalisation des processus de conception tandis que BANK assure la structuration et la capitalisation des connaissances en IHM via un graphe de modèles. WebGallery est une galerie de sites web pour inspirer les concepteurs : je conduis une expérimentation sur la perception humaine du style d'un site web. BrianStorming est un assistant au brainstorming : il fournit des suggestions pendant une séance de brainstorming électronique. Magellan est un environnement interactif à base d'algorithmes génétiques qui génèrent et transforment automatiquement des IHM pour un problème de conception donné. Par ce positionnement et ces contributions logicielles, l'ordinateur change de statut : de simple outil, il devient un concepteur assistant, partenaire du processus de créativité. / My PhD thesis contributes to the engineering of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). It deals with the design of User Interfaces (UI). I claim that creative processes should be better considered, and supported by tools especially for novice designers. The challenge is to speed up the exploration of the design space at the early stages of the process. This claim is grounded in both a theoretical state of the art in creativity and creativity support tools, and in practice of the topic with four hands-on experiences of creativity in different areas of design such as architecture, product design and UI design. I build my contribution on the following principles: (1) creativity is not reserved for the elite, but can be tailored and fostered by software tools; (2) the tools must leverage motivation, inspiration, wide exploration, and knowledge in UI and design processes. Through a reflective process, I apply these principles to my thesis. I explore a wide range of creativity support tools through five complementary software contributions: Maestro and Bank for supporting knowledge capitalization; WebGallery, BrianStorming and Magellan for fostering inspiration and exploration of the design space. Maestro addresses the capitalization of design processes whilst BANK gathers knowledge in HCI as a graph of models. WebGallery is a gallery of websites to inspire designers: I report an experiment on human perception of websites styles. BrianStorming is a brainstorming assistant: it provides suggestions in a electronic brainstorming session. Magellan is an interactive environment based on genetic algorithms that automatically generate and transform UIs for a given design problem. This changes the role of the computer: from a simple tool, it becomes a designer's partner in the creative process.

The aim of this thesis project is to create a user interface for a web based film production project management portal. This implies creating a site map and a functionality specification based on the needs of the people working in the film production industry. The project was made on account of The Chimney Pot, a post production company in Stockholm. For the scope of this project, the research was concentrated on the part of film production that concerns The Chimney Pot, i.e. the procedures that take place after a film has been recorded. The research also focused on people working in the area of Stockholm, even if their clients and customers in other areas of Sweden and abroad were indirectly included in order for the project portal to be a usable tool in projects where these people are involved. Before any visible results can be seen in a web production project, a range of preparation steps needs to be taken. Planning is essential if the final product shall work properly. Extensive research has to be done into the industry. In order to make the product usable, the intended users, their requirements, work procedures and environment need to be examined. Only when there are substantial results and enough knowledge about the industry, the actual implementation can start. The first step is to make a functionality specification, next a site map should be produced and the technical architecture should be specified. These are the areas that are covered in this project, but there are also recommendations about how the further development should be made. Important aspects in the next phase are to create a budget, to put together a development team and to create a graphic user interface. In the whole process the issues of usability need to be considered, i.e. efficiency, flexibility, learnability and satisfaction. The key requirements for the project portal turned out to be speed and effectiveness. The user interface was designed to be intuitive and to be shallow, which means that the user should be able to perform any task with the least amount of mouse clicks possible. Another intention with the produced user interface is for it to be clearly divided into the four main areas that could be extracted from the user requirements. They are planning, project details, communication and file sharing. Directly after logging on to the project portal, the user should get an overview of all these areas. Other important considerations were security, version control and seamlessness. These issues demand a thorough planning of the technical architecture and this thesis provides some useful tips for the further development of the technical specification.

Abstract Application composition refers to the creation of applications by using Web Services and resources such as mobile devices, displays, and various augmented everyday objects as building blocks. This approach is especially useful for ubiquitous applications which focus on supporting users' needs and everyday activities. This thesis proposes to compose these applications by choosing the appropriate set of resources and services and their configuration as dictated by the users themselves, together with their needs and other contexts. This thesis studies automated and interactive application composition. The first approach enables the system to act upon users' needs and intentions, while the second enables users themselves to specify their needs and achieve their goals. The research was carried out by designing, implementing and evaluating eight prototypes for automated and interactive application composition. The evaluation methods used included performance analysis and user experiments. The main results include (1) the design and implementation of automated composition mechanisms which rely on evolutionary computing and genetic algorithms, (2) a detailed performance analysis of these mechanisms using synthesized datasets and in a real networking environment; (3) the design and implementation of interactive application composition prototypes which rely on graphical and physical (i.e. touch-based) user interfaces for mobile devices and utilize various contexts; (4) an evaluation of these prototypes in a series of user experiments. The evaluation studied the following issues: users' attitudes towards an automated composition system which makes decisions on their behalf; users' attitudes towards a context-aware composition interface; and the issue of balancing user control and system autonomy. / Tiivistelmä Sovellusten kokoamisella tarkoitetaan sovellusten luomista käyttäen rakennuselementteinä Web Services -ohjelmistojärjestelmää, sekä muita resursseja, kuten mobiililaitteita, näyttölaitteita ja monenlaisia lisävarusteltuja tavanomaisia esineitä. Tämä menetelmä on erityisen käyttökelpoinen sellaisten jokapaikan tietoteknisten sovellusten luomisessa, joiden tarkoitus on tukea käyttäjän tarpeita ja päivittäisiä toimia. Tutkimuksessa esitetään, että tällaisia sovelluksia voidaan koota valitsemalla sopivia palvelu- ja resurssipaketin sekä niiden konfiguraation käyttäjien vaatimusten mukaan, ottaen huomioon heidän tarpeensa sekä muut kontekstit. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan automatisoitua ja vuorovaikutteista sovellusten kokoamista. Automatisointi mahdollistaa sen, että järjestelmä toimii käyttäjän tarpeiden ja päämäärien mukaisesti, kun taas vuorovaikutteisuuden ansiosta käyttäjä voi määritellä tarpeensa ja pääsee näin haluamaansa lopputulokseen. Tutkimus toteutettiin suunnittelemalla, toteuttamalla ja arvioimalla kahdeksan automatisoidun ja vuorovaikutteisen sovelluksen kokoonpanon prototyyppiä. Arviointimetodeina käytettiin suorituskykyanalyysiä ja käyttäjäkokeita. Tutkimuksen tärkeimpiä tuloksia ovat (1) evoluutiolaskentaan ja geneettisiin algoritmeihin perustuvien automatisoitujen kokoamismekanismien suunnittelu ja toteutus; (2) näiden mekanismien yksityiskohtainen suorituskykyanalyysi syntetisoitujen tietoaineistojen ja todellisten verkkoympäristöjen avulla; (3) graafisille ja fyysisille (l. kosketus) mobiililaitteiden käyttöliittymille perustuvien ja monenlaisia konteksteja hyödyntävien vuorovaikutteisten kokoamissovellusten prototyyppien suunnittelu ja toteutus; (4) prototyyppien arviointi erilaisin käyttäjäkokein. Arvioinnissa tutkittiin käyttäjien asenteita käyttäjän puolesta päätöksiä tekevää automatisoitua kokoamisjärjestelmää kohtaan, käyttäjien asenteita kontekstitietoista kokoamiskäyttöliittymää kohtaan, sekä käyttäjälle jäävän kontrollin ja järjestelmän autonomian välistä tasapainoa.

This study suggests that it is possible to classify websites as either extrovert or introvert and logical or emotional in style, impact and appearance. Both the extraversion/ introversion and logical/emotional dichotomies are major descriptors in the character typology devised by C.G. Jung and extended by others. Apart from the dichotomies mentioned above, Jung’s typology also makes use of various emotional characteristics of human beings as descriptors of temperament or character. The study suggests that it is useful to identify websites in terms of the descriptors that Jung and others propose, and that different websites will display various “temperamental” differences that are as important for website design as is a clear understanding of the temperaments of its target users. By taking account of the most common temperamental differences in websites, it should be possible to maximise the efficiency and appearance of different kinds of websites such as those created for government agencies, banks, online shopping, social networking and search engines. / Dissertation (MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

No description available.

Chatbots are the new kind of technique for organizations to implement in their operations. Although chatbots have been around for a while they have spiked in the last few years. With this new technique also comes new ways for users to interact and communicate with the organizations. The traditional usability tests do not fully cover the chatbots characteristics and new methods must be created. This paper will create an evaluation model based on chatbots and theories about usability testing and apply the evaluating method to three commercial chatbots and their interaction with a user. The result shows that the evaluation model in some ways was successful and fulfilled its purpose while further research and development is necessary for the model to perform as desired.

Usability guidelines for user interface (UI) design formulated by Nielsen and other authorities were used to redesign the web interface for a web based distance education course. The website's original UI, as judged by a group of web design professionals, violated standard guidelines for usability, readability, learnability, consistency, efficiency of use and flexibility. The original and redesigned UIs were tested using thinking aloud testing, a user satisfaction survey, and usability inspection. The results of user testing and heuristic evaluation suggest that the use of these guidelines in website redesign had a positive impact on user performance. A more conclusive result would have required a larger sample size and a redesigned testing protocol that varied the order in which participants worked with the old and redesigned interfaces.

Due to a current lack of principle-driven multimodal user interface design guidelines, designers may encounter difficulties when choosing the most appropriate display modality for given users or specific tasks (e.g., verbal versus spatial tasks). The development of multimodal display guidelines from both a user and task domain perspective is thus critical to the achievement of successful human-system interaction. Specifically, there is a need to determine how to design task information presentation (e.g., via which modalities) to capitalize on an individual operator's information processing capabilities and the inherent efficiencies associated with redundant sensory information, thereby alleviating information overload. The present effort addresses this issue by proposing a theoretical framework (Architecture for Multi-Modal Optimization, AMMO) from which multimodal display design guidelines and adaptive automation strategies may be derived. The foundation of the proposed framework is based on extending, at a functional working memory (WM) level, existing information processing theories and models with the latest findings in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and other allied sciences. The utility of AMMO lies in its ability to provide designers with strategies for directing system design, as well as dynamic adaptation strategies (i.e., multimodal mitigation strategies) in support of real-time operations. In an effort to validate specific components of AMMO, a subset of AMMO-derived multimodal design guidelines was evaluated with a simulated weapons control system multitasking environment. The results of this study demonstrated significant performance improvements in user response time and accuracy when multimodal display cues were used (i.e., auditory and tactile, individually and in combination) to augment the visual display of information, thereby distributing human information processing resources across multiple sensory and WM resources. These results provide initial empirical support for validation of the overall AMMO model and a sub-set of the principle-driven multimodal design guidelines derived from it. The empirically-validated multimodal design guidelines may be applicable to a wide range of information-intensive computer-based multitasking environments.

No description available.