Formal reasoning about dialogue properties with automatic support

One of the advantages of using formal methods in the design of human–computer interfaces is the possibility to reason about user interface properties. Model checking techniques provide a useful support to this end. This paper discusses the possibilities of verifying the properties of user interfaces and related problems, such as when the dialogue specification has an infinite number of states. We provide an example of a set of general user interfaces properties, and we show how these properties can be tailored for specific cases and thus be used as a framework to evaluate the design of the interactive application considered.     

Citywide: Supporting Interactive Digital Experiences Across Physical Space

The Citywide project is exploring ways in which technology can provide people with rich and engaging digital experiences as they move through physical space, including historical experiences, performances and games. This paper describes some initial results and experiences with this project based upon two prototype demonstrators. In the first, we describe an application in which a search party explores an archaeological site, uncovering enacted scenes within the virtual world that are of a historical relevance to their particular physical location. In the second, we describe a museum experience where participants explore an outdoors location, hunting for buried virtual artifacts that they then bring back to a museum for a more detailed study. Our demonstrators employ a varied set of devices, including mobile wireless interfaces for locating hotspots of virtual activity when outdoors, to give different experiences of the virtual world depending upon location, task, available equipment and accuracy of tracking. We conclude by discussing some of the potential advantages of using an underlying shared virtual world to support interactive experiences across extended physical settings.     

A visual analytics framework for spatio-temporal analysis and modelling

To support analysis and modelling of large amounts of spatio-temporal data having the form of spatially referenced time series (TS) of numeric values, we combine interactive visual techniques with computational methods from machine learning and statistics. Clustering methods and interactive techniques are used to group TS by similarity. Statistical methods for TS modelling are then applied to representative TS derived from the groups of similar TS. The framework includes interactive visual interfaces to a library of modelling methods supporting the selection of a suitable method, adjustment of model parameters, and evaluation of the models obtained. The models can be externally stored, communicated, and used for prediction and in further computational analyses. From the visual analytics perspective, the framework suggests a way to externalize spatio-temporal patterns emerging in the mind of the analyst as a result of interactive visual analysis: the patterns are represented in the form of computer-processable and reusable models. From the statistical analysis perspective, the framework demonstrates how TS analysis and modelling can be supported by interactive visual interfaces, particularly, in a case of numerous TS that are hard to analyse individually. From the application perspective, the framework suggests a way to analyse large numbers of spatial TS with the use of well-established statistical methods for TS analysis.     

Sisl: Several Interfaces, Single Logic

Modern interactive services such as information and e-commerce services are becoming increasingly more flexible in the types of user interfaces they support. These interfaces incorporate automatic speech recognition and natural language understanding and include graphical user interfaces on the desktop and web-based interfaces using applets and HTML forms. To what extent can the user interface software be decoupled from the service logic software (the code that defines the essential function of a service)? Decoupling of user interface from service logic directly impacts the flexibility of services, or how easy they are to modify and extend. To explore these issues, we have developed Sisl, an architecture and domain-specific language for designing and implementing interactive services with multiple user interfaces. A key principle underlying Sisl is that all user interfaces to a service share the same service logic. Sisl provides a clean separation between the service logic and the software for a variety of interfaces, including Java applets, HTML pages, speech-based natural language dialogue, and telephone-based voice access. Sisl uses an event-based model of services that allows service providers to support interchangeable user interfaces (or add new ones) to a single consistent source of service logic and data. As part of a collaboration between research and development, Sisl is being used to prototype a new generation of call processing services for a Lucent Technologies switching product.     

Machine learning: A tool to support usability?

One problem facing designers of interactive systems is catering to the wide range of users who will use a particular application. Understanding the user is critical to designing a usable interface. There are a number of ways of addressing this problem, including improved design methodologies using ''intuitive'' interface styles, adaptive interfaces, and better training and user support materials. In this article, we argue that each of these solutions involves pattern recognition in one form or another and that machine learning can therefore aid designers of interactive systems in these areas. We report on experiments that demonstrate the potential of machine learning to user modeling that has application to two of these areas in particular: adaptive systems and design methodologies.     

Teaching Robots Style: Designing and Evaluating Style-by-Demonstration for Interactive Robotic Locomotion

In this article we present a multipart formal design and evaluation of the style-by-demonstration (SBD) approach to creating interactive robot behaviors: enabling people to design the style of interactive robot behaviors by providing an exemplar. We first introduce our Puppet Master SBD algorithm that enables the creation of interactive robot behaviors with a focus on style: Users provide an example demonstration of human–robot interaction and Puppet Master uses this to generate real-time interactive robot output that matches the demonstrated style. We further designed and implemented original interfaces for demonstrating interactive robot style and for interacting with the resulting robot behaviors. Following, we detail a set of studies we performed to appraise users' reactions to and acceptance of the SBD interaction design approach, the effectiveness of the underlying Puppet Master algorithm, and the usability of the demonstration interfaces. Fundamentally, this article investigates the broad questions of how people respond to SBD interaction, how they engage SBD interfaces, how SBD can be practically realized, and how the SBD approach to social human–robot interaction can be employed in future interaction design.     

Interactive Theorem Proving: An Empirical Study of User Activity

In this paper the interaction between users and the interactive theorem prover HOL is investigated from a human–computer interaction perspective. First, we outline three possible views of interaction, and give a brief survey of some current interfaces and how they may be described in terms of these views. Second, we describe and present the results of an empirical study of intermediate and expert HOL users. The results are analysed for evidence in support of the proposed view of proof activity in HOL. We believe that this approach provides a principled basis for the assessment and design of interfaces to theorem provers.     

On the interaction between plan recognition and intelligent interfaces

Plan recognition is an active research area in automatic reasoning, as well as a promising approach to engineering interfaces that can exploit models of user's plans and goals. Much research in the field has focused on the development of plan recognition algorithms to support particular user/system interactions, such as found in naturally occurring dialogues. However, two questions have typically remained unexamined: 1) exactly what kind of interface tasks can knowledge of a user's plans be used to support across communication modalities, and 2) how can such tasks in turn constrain development of plan recognition algorithms? In this paper we present a concrete exploration of these issues. In particular, we provide an assessment of plan recognition, with respect to the use of plan recognition in enhancing user interfaces. We clarify how use of a user model containing plans makes interfaces more intelligent and interactive (by providing an intelligent assistant that supports such tasks as advice generation, task completion, context-sensitive responses, error detection and recovery). We then show how interface tasks in turn provide constraints that must be satisfied in order for any plan recognizer to construct and represent a plan in ways that efficiently support these tasks. Finally, we survey how interfaces are fundamentally limited by current plan recognition approaches, and use these limitations to identify and motivate current research. Our research is developed in the context of CHECS, a plan-based design interface.     

A Context-Aware Infrastructure for Supporting Applications with Pen-Based Interaction

Pen-based user interfaces which leverage the affordances of the pen provide users with more flexibility and natural interaction.However,it is difficult to construct usable pen-based user interfaces because of the lack of support for their development.Toolkit-level support has been exploited to solve this problem,but this approach makes it hard to gain platform independence,easy maintenance and easy extension.In this paper a context-aware infrastructure is created,called WEAVER,to provide pen interaction services for both novel pen-based applcations and legacy GUI-based applications.WEAVER aims to support the pen as another standard interactive device along with the keyboard and mouse and present a high-level access interface to pen input.It emplolys application context to tailor its sevice to different applications.By modeling the application context and egistering the relevant action adapters,WEAVER can offer servicxes,such as gesture recognition,continuous handwriting and other fundamental ink manipulations,to appropriate applications.One of the distinct features of WEAVER is that off-the-shelf GUI-based software packages can be easily enhanced with pen interaction without modifying the existing code.In this paper,the architecture and components of WEAVER are described.In addition ,examples and feedbacks of its use are presented.     

From user interface design to the support of intelligent and adaptive interfaces: an overhaul of user interface software infrastracture

Research on adaptive interfaces in the past has lacked support from user interface tools which allow interfaces to be easily created and modified. Also, current user interface tools provide no support for user models which can collect task-oriented information about users. Developing an adaptive interface requires a user model and an adaptation strategy. It also, however, requires a user interface which can be adapted. The latter task is often time-consuming, especially in relation to more sophisticated user interfaces.

The paper presents a user interface design environment, UIDE, which has a different software infrastracture. Designers use high-level specifications to create a model of an application and links from the application to various interface components. The model is the heart of all the design and run-time support in UIDE, including automatic dialog sequencing and help generation. UIDE provides automatic support for collecting task-oriented information about users, by the use of its high-level specifications in its application model as a basic construct for a user model. Some examples of adaptive interfaces and adaptive help are presented that use the information that is collectable in UIDE.     

TADEUS: seamless development of task-based and user-orientedinterfaces

Task-based and user-oriented user interfaces utilize knowledge about user tasks and user characteristics to the utmost extent. They support users throughout their work flows, and must be constructed by a development process that avoids loss of application context and involves user feedback, from requirements specification to code generation. The concepts behind the task analysis/design/end users systems (TADEUS) approach to enable seamless task-based development are a semantically rich representation scheme, a model-driven development procedure, a diagrammatic notation and unifying specification scheme. Thus, interactive applications can be developed seamlessly. Specifications comprise problem domain knowledge, work processes, user roles and personal profiles, as well as interaction modalities (required for task accomplishment). For user-interface prototyping the TADEUS environment contains a model interpreter that executes structure and behavior specifications. This way, early feedback on task-based portals can be provided by users. In this paper we detail the latest developments in the TADEUS project when implementing a work-process based usability life cycle. We review the underlying methodology and the features of the TADEUS environment, in order to demonstrate the benefits for developers and users resulting of smooth transition support for and between the different stages of development     

Composing user interfaces with InterViews

The authors describe a user interface toolkit, InterViews, that offers a rich set of composition mechanisms and a variety of predefined objects, allowing easy implementation of complex user interfaces. InterViews supports composition of three object categories, each implemented as a hierarchy of object classes derived from a common base class. The categories are interactive objects, structured graphics objects, and structured text objects. The authors present several simple applications and show how InterViews objects can implement their interfaces. They illustrate the benefits of separating interactive behavior and abstract data in several different contexts. They discuss InterViews support for end-user customization as well as the status of the current implementation     

Reconciling usability and interactive system architecture using patterns

Traditional interactive system architectures such as MVC [Goldberg, A., 1984. Smaltalk-80: The Interactive Programming Environment, Addison-Wesley Publ.] and PAC [Coutaz, J., 1987. PAC, an implementation model for dialog design. In: Interact’87, Sttutgart, September 1987, pp. 431-436; Coutaz, J., 1990. Architecture models for interactive software: faillures and trends. In: Cockton, G. (Ed.), Engineering for Human-Computer Interaction, Elsevier Science Publ., pp. 137-153.] decompose the system into subsystems that are relatively independent, thereby allowing the design work to be partitioned between the user interfaces and underlying functionalities. Such architectures extend the independence assumption to usability, approaching the design of the user interface as a subsystem that can designed and tested independently from the underlying functionality. This Cartesian dichotomy can be fallacious, as functionalities buried in the application’s logic can sometimes affect the usability of the system. Our investigations model the relationships between internal software attributes and externally visible usability factors. We propose a pattern-based approach for dealing with these relationships. We conclude by discussing how these patterns can lead to a methodological framework for improving interactive system architectures, and how these patterns can support the integration of usability in the software design process.     

Transportation ontology definition and application for the content personalization of user interfaces

Ontologies have been largely exploited in many domains and studies. In this paper, we present a new application of a domain ontology for generating personalized user interfaces for transportation interactive systems. The concepts, relationships and axioms of transportation ontology are exploited during the semi-automatic generation of personalized user interfaces. Personalization deals with the capacity of adaptation of a user interface, reflecting what is known about the user and the domain application. It can be performed on the interface container presentation (e.g., layout, colors, sizes) and in the content provided in their input/output (e.g., data, information, document). In this paper, the transportation ontology is used to provide the content personalization. This paper presents the ontology and how it is used for the personalization of user interfaces for developing transportation interactive systems by model-driven engineering.     

Implementation of a human-friendly systems methodology for intelligent control system modelling and simulation

We have been developing an interactive computer software for the systematic support to modeling and simulation of intelligent control systems, based on a human-friendy systems methodology. The support system has a universal application in data analysis, system structuring, statistical and fuzzy modeling, and simulation, with the aid of human-computer interfaces to acquire knowledge or judgment of the domain experts. This paper presents our soft systems methodology and its implementation into the computer to develop intelligent process control systems. New technical proposals include a modeling method of fuzzy implication inference models and a design method of model predictive controllers.     

A problem of ranking interval objects in a multicriteria analysis of complex systems

Three models of ranking interval-defined objects based on pairwise relations of domination with respect to probability, mathematical expectation, and utility are considered. It is assumed that the likelihood of the location of the true values of these objects within intervals given for them can be described by triangular probability density functions with generally biased centers of distribution. The models proposed are designed for application in automated decision support systems in an interactive mode.     

Adaptive personalized interfaces—A question of viability

It is widely accepted that interfaces between computers and users should differ to accommodate individual, or group, needs. One method of 'personalizing' an interface is to have the system form a limited model of the user and employ it to fashion the dialogue to his needs. Unfortunately, little is known about the effect of adaptation on the man-machine interface. Although obvious advantages accrue from 'personalized' interfaces, there are also obvious disadvantages to presenting users with a changing, adapting and perhaps apparently inconsistent interface. The goal of this work is to determine the viability of an adaptive interface through a human-factor pilot study of a simple, specially designed, interactive computer system. The system uses menu-driven selection to retrieve entries from a large ordered telephone directory. This simple task has several advantages: it is a realistic application area for interactive computers; plausible adaptive modelling methods exist and have been studied theoretically; and previous work has determined the best way to display the menus to users. The results of this empirical study support the use of adaptive user modelling. In the (admittedly highly constrained) example system, a computer interface can indeed adapt successfully to every user. Although it does not necessarily generalize to other user interfaces, the result supplies evidence to refute published objections to adaptive user modelling in general.     

Dynamic Channel Screening in the Higher Order π-Calculus

Recently programming languages have been designed to support mobile code, i.e. higher-order code that is transferred from a remote location or domain and executed within the local environment. This may expose the internal interfaces and objects within a location to attacks by mobile code. In this work, we propose an extension of notations based on the Higher-Order π-calculus with primitive operators, called screening operators, whose role is to protect internal interfaces by dynamically restricting the visibility of channels. The usefulness of these operators is illustrated by applications involving resource access control. We show how restrictions on resource access control can be enforced dynamically in terms of screening operators, and contrast it with an alternative approach in which restrictions on the behaviour of processes are based on the notion of process type [17] and intended to be checked statically.