Designing consumer interfaces for experiential tasks: an empirical investigation

In the early adoption phase of business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce, the tasks that proved most conducive to online consumer interaction typically were goal-directed, being clear in sequence and structure. A key challenge in ecommerce is the ability to design interfaces that support experiential tasks in addition to goal-directed tasks. Most of the ecommerce research on interface design, however, has focused on goal-directed tasks and has not addressed experiential tasks. Based on the literature from interface metaphors and mental models, this paper explores the use of tangible attributes derived from the physical business domain as a technique for designing an interface that effectively supports experiential tasks. A laboratory experiment was designed and conducted to test the impact of two types of interfaces and business domain familiarity when completing an experiential task. Because consumers need to retain and recall information to evaluate products/services or to make brand associations, retention/recall of information was measured on both the day of the treatment and after a 2-day lag. Results revealed that the interface based upon the business domain metaphor stimulated higher levels of retention and recall of information and thus provided the desired support for experiential tasks. Further, users with weaker domain familiarity showed the greatest improvement in retention and recall, particularly after a 2-day lag, when using the interface with the business domain metaphor design.     

Designing interfaces for programmers

Describes tools, techniques and concepts to optimize user interfaces. Increasingly, individual tools are being replaced by programming environments, which increase productivity and usability by tight integration with and knowledge of the user's working context. An integrated environment provides several benefits, such as preventing users from making mistakes that cause rework. Recently, as integrated environments have demonstrated higher levels of usability and the ability to enhance productivity, experienced developers have overcome their resistance to them     

Designing interfaces for the organization

Multiuser systems force interface designers to consider a web of interacting users. Our challenge is to design interfaces that help users understand not only how the application program works, but also how work within the organization itself is done. Future organizational applications thus demand that interface design goes well beyond graphical representations and interactive dialogues. We must design interfaces that make relevant organizational resources comprehensible and accessible to users     

Designing smarter touch-based interfaces for educational contexts

In next-generation classrooms and educational environments, interactive technologies such as surface computing, natural gesture interfaces, and mobile devices will enable new means of motivating and engaging students in active learning. Our foundational studies provide a corpus of over 10,000 touch interactions and nearly 7,000 gestures collected from nearly 70 adults and children aged 7 years and above, which can help us understand the characteristics of children’s interactions in these modalities and how they differ from adults. Based on these data, we identify key design and implementation challenges of supporting children’s touch and gesture interactions, and we suggest ways to address them. For example, we find children have more trouble successfully acquiring onscreen targets and having their gestures recognized than do adults, especially the youngest age group (7–10 years old). The contributions of this work provide a foundation that will enable touch-based interactive educational apps that increase student success.     

Designing website attributes to induce experiential encounters

Can websites be designed to be both utilitarian and hedonic? This article approaches this question by identifying Web attributes, their direct impacts on experiential flow, and their direct and indirect impacts on the utilitarian and hedonic aspects of Web performance. The results presented here support the proposal that, as an information-laden medium, a successful website must be able to use its attributes to satisfy both the information and entertainment needs of users.     

Designing maintainable, reusable interfaces

A conceptual framework, the Interaction Management Network (IMN), that captures the essential structure of any interface from task-oriented specification to object-oriented implementation is presented. IMN is essentially a task-oriented specification scheme based on a semantic network. For each element, as well as for the complete network, there is a direct representation suitable for object-oriented implementation. By capturing task relationships in the interface specification and explicitly representing constraints, designers can create interfaces that meet the often elusive user requirements. The application of IMN to creating an interface system for laying out floors is described     

Designing user interfaces for applications based on the hint architecture

As part of the ESPRIT Projects HINT, a method for designing user interfaces, tailored for applications based on the HINT architecture, has been developed. The method consists of a set of steps, each with well defined objectives and results, and associated guidelines.     

Designing for augmented attention: Towards a framework for attentive user interfaces

Attentive user interfaces are user interfaces that aim to support the user’s attentional capacities. By sensing the users’ attention for objects and people in their everyday environment, and by treating user attention as a limited resource, these interfaces avoid today’s ubiquitous patterns of interruption. Focusing upon attention as a central interaction channel allows development of more sociable methods of communication and repair with ubiquitous devices. Our methods are analogous to human turn taking in group communication. Turn taking improves the user’s ability to conduct foreground processing of conversations. Attentive user interfaces bridge the gap between the foreground and periphery of user activity in a similar fashion, allowing users to move smoothly in between.We present a framework for augmenting user attention through attentive user interfaces. We propose five key properties of attentive systems: (i) to sense attention; (ii) to reason about attention; (iii) to regulate interactions; (iv) to communicate attention and (v) to augment attention.     

Designing presence for real locomotion in immersive virtual environments: an affordance-based experiential approach

This paper describes a framework for designing systems for real locomotion in virtual environments (VEs) in order to achieve an intense sense of presence. The main outcome of the present research is a list of design features that the virtual reality technology should have in order to achieve such a goal. To identify these features, an approach based on the combination of two design strategies was followed. The first was based on the theory of affordances and was utilized to design a generic VE in which the affordances of the corresponding real environment could be evoked. The second was the experiential design applied to VEs and was utilized to create an experience of locomotion corresponding to that achievable in a real environment. These design strategies were chosen because of their potential to enhance the sense of presence. The proposed list of features can be utilized as an instrument that allows VE designers to evaluate the maturity of their systems and to pinpoint directions for future developments. A survey analysis was performed using the proposed framework, which involved three case studies to determine how many features of the proposed framework were present and their status. The result of such analysis represented a measure of the completeness of the systems design, of the affordances provided to the user, and a prediction of the sense of presence.     

Designing effective human-automation-plant interfaces: a control-theoretic perspective

In this article, we propose the application of a control-theoretic framework to human-automation interaction. The framework consists of a set of conceptual distinctions that should be respected in automation research and design. We demonstrate how existing automation interface designs in some nuclear plants fail to recognize these distinctions. We further show the value of the approach by applying it to modes of automation. The design guidelines that have been proposed in the automation literature are evaluated from the perspective of the framework. This comparison shows that the framework reveals insights that are frequently overlooked in this literature. A new set of design guidelines is introduced that builds upon the contributions of previous research and draws complementary insights from the control-theoretic framework. The result is a coherent and systematic approach to the design of human-automation-plant interfaces that will yield more concrete design criteria and a broader set of design tools. Applications of this research include improving the effectiveness of human-automation interaction design and the relevance of human-automation interaction research.     

Augmented reality-based training system for hand rehabilitation

This study designs a training system for hand rehabilitation on the basis of augmented reality technology, which enables patients to simultaneously interact with real and virtual environments. The system framework is introduced, and four rehabilitation programs, namely, trajectory training, shelf training, batting training, and spile training, are presented. As a requirement of hand rehabilitation training, a color marker that is suitable for hand rehabilitation training is adopted. Following the Hamming coding principle, this marker is designed as a 7?×?7 square that is filled up by four designated colors with a binary bit of “0” or “1”. The check code in each row of the color marker is applied to restore the occluded binary bits, solve the occlusion issue of color markers, and complete the tracking registration of the color markers. The effectiveness of the developed system is evaluated via a usability study and questionnaires. The evaluation provides positive results. Therefore, the developed system has potential as an effective rehabilitation system for upper limb impairment.     

Designing for flexible interaction between humans and automation: delegation interfaces for supervisory control

OBJECTIVE: To develop a method enabling human-like, flexible supervisory control via delegation to automation. BACKGROUND: Real-time supervisory relationships with automation are rarely as flexible as human task delegation to other humans. Flexibility in human-adaptable automation can provide important benefits, including improved situation awareness, more accurate automation usage, more balanced mental workload, increased user acceptance, and improved overall performance. METHOD: We review problems with static and adaptive (as opposed to "adaptable") automation; contrast these approaches with human-human task delegation, which can mitigate many of the problems; and revise the concept of a "level of automation" as a pattern of task-based roles and authorizations. We argue that delegation requires a shared hierarchical task model between supervisor and subordinates, used to delegate tasks at various levels, and offer instruction on performing them. A prototype implementation called Playbook is described. RESULTS: On the basis of these analyses, we propose methods for supporting human-machine delegation interactions that parallel human-human delegation in important respects. We develop an architecture for machine-based delegation systems based on the metaphor of a sports team's "playbook." Finally, we describe a prototype implementation of this architecture, with an accompanying user interface and usage scenario, for mission planning for uninhabited air vehicles. CONCLUSION: Delegation offers a viable method for flexible, multilevel human-automation interaction to enhance system performance while maintaining user workload at a manageable level. APPLICATION: Most applications of adaptive automation (aviation, air traffic control, robotics, process control, etc.) are potential avenues for the adaptable, delegation approach we advocate. We present an extended example for uninhabited air vehicle mission planning.     

Augmented reality-based border management

Virtual Reality - A proficient border management has typically been tied to its capability to support information structuring and to make exchanges from the distributed sources. The lack of a...     

Designing user interfaces for problem solving,with application to hypertext and creative writing

Interactive computer systems can support their users in problem solving, both in Performing their work tasks and in using the systems themselves. Not only is direct support for heuristics beneficial, but to do so modifies the form of computer support provided. This Paper defines and explores the use of problem solving heuristics in user interface design.A demonstration hypertext system, Hyperwriter, was developed as the outcome of considering general problem solving heuristics as goals of interactive systems design. Whereas hypertext joins and relates ideas, Hyperwriter additionally, and as a direct outcome of the design approach, has ways of separating, ordering and polishing ideas. As an application for creative writing, Hypertext supports effective thinking over a period of time. (This paper was drafted, organised and re-organised using the system itself.) Some issues arising in implementing Hyperwriter are also discussed.     

Augmented reality-based remote coaching for fast-paced physical task

Virtual Reality - One popular application of augmented reality (AR) is the real-time guidance and training in which the AR user receives useful information by a remote expert. For relatively...     

An augmented reality-based multimedia environment for experimental education

Over the last few years, there has been a growing interest in augmented reality (AR) technology for education. However, current AR education applications are often used as a new type of knowledge display platform, and they cannot fully participate in educational activities to improve educational results. To enable AR technology to participate in educational activities more effectively, according to learning-by-doing theory, we explore the form of a future experimental course and propose a new AR-based multimedia environment for experimental education. The framework of the multimedia environment consists of three components: the AR experiment authoring tool, the AR experiment application, and the management application. In this AR-based multimedia environment, teachers can independently create AR experiments using the what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editing method. Students can manipulate the AR-based experimental object to complete the experiment in class. Moreover, teachers can observe students’ experimental behaviour, obtain evaluations in real time, and even guide students remotely. We also present an application case of a chemistry experiment and obtain results of the usability test, demonstrating improvements in AR technology participation in educational activities.

     

An augmented reality-based authoring tool for E-learning applications

In recent years, augmented reality technologies have been a subject of great interest among the scientific community. However, most studies have focused on hardware and software development without particular emphasis on the authoring phase. As a consequence, the authoring process of augmented reality applications is accomplished today through hard-coding of a specific application. This approach, however, requires operators. In the education applications, the hard-coding methods tend to be retained, despite remarkable technological developments in the industrial area. Textbooks are mainly used in educational systems and many educators are very passive about applying new materials. In this paper, we present an immersive authoring tool for education using augmented reality, where applications authorized by our tool interact with the user in order to increase the learner’s interest and reflect various desires of dynamic environment. Our authoring tool consists of a composing tool that can be used to create educational contents, a viewer that plays the content, and an engine to power the tool and viewer.     

Augmented reality-based design customization of footwear for children

This paper presents a systematic framework for design customization of footwear for children and identifies three modules related to shoe styling: shoe surface, shoe bottom, and accessory. A new module, shoe cloth, is created to allow a quick change of shoe appearance. Consumers can specify various design attributes in each module, including color, texture, embroidery, and shape. A prototype design system is implemented using augmented reality and sensing technologies based on the framework. This system consists of novel functions that support customization, design evaluation, and pattern development. The user can virtually put a customized shoe model on his/her foot in a video stream. The proposed framework not only facilitates evaluating products that are highly interactive with users, but also helps engage them in the design process. This work realizes the concept of human-centric design for mass customization.     

A virtual reality-based system for hand function analysis

The goal of this study was to demonstrate the usability and usefulness of virtual reality technology in assessing hand functions. Ten healthy, non-disabled right-handed adult volunteers were recruited. Each volunteer used a dataglove to insert three-dimensional virtual representations of a cylinder and a prism into the target holes. To verify the reliability of the tests, each subject was retested twice. The performance testing assessed the visual-motor coordination a person needs to achieve a task accurately and within a set time. For each trial, the root mean square (RMS) value of the hand movement trajectory was projected onto the X, Y, and Z axes. This projection enabled us to measure the extent of the genuine, summative displacement of the manipulating hand. The reproducibility of the virtual reality assessment was analyzed using the intraclass correlation (ICC) approach. The total ICC values of 10 subjects demonstrated a high task completion time and RMS on the X and Z axes for the transferring of the prism. However, the values were low for the transferring of the cylinder. Because the individual coefficients of variations (CVs) varied widely in the moving of both the cylinder and the prism, the total (CVs) showed a high reading for the task completion time. Although rehabilitation clinics routinely carry out peg-moving exercises for disabled patients, our model provides a valuable quantitative real time and off-line measure of whole hand functions.