Building a BRIDGE between children and users: a socio-cultural approach to child–computer interaction

The field of child–computer interaction has received growing attention as a result of the penetration of IT into children’s everyday lives. Consequently, the involvement of children in the design of children’s technology has been widely discussed. So far, literature on children’s involvement in design has mainly treated design with children as a distinct design discipline regarding children as “cognitive incomplete” in comparison with adult users. With a point of departure in the framework of socio-cultural activity theory, this paper provides a new perspective on design with children, based on understanding children as participants in meaningful communities of practices. Thus, we argue that children could and should be involved in design on the same terms as adult users; children are treated as experts in their everyday lives and we cannot design future IT for children without involving these experts. The paper introduces the BRIDGE method including a palette of design techniques as a practice-based method for designing with children based on this perspective.     

Self-determined nudging: a system concept for human–machine interaction

Humans sometimes struggle when making decisions, because what they want to do in a specific moment can differ from what they feel they should do in general. This phenomenon can also be found in situations of human–machine interaction. In order to support humans in making decisions about their behavior, a new form of support is proposed, which is especially suitable for human–machine interaction: self-determined decision-making with nudging methods (or shortly: self-determined nudging). In this concept, firstly the aspirations of the human are assessed and then supporting mechanisms are offered to guide humans towards their self-set goals. With this procedure, machines can for example support humans in driving safely or economically, help them refraining from scheduling other appointments in their gym-timeslots or push them towards going to bed on time. While originally nudging is based on libertarian paternalism, the concept of self-determined nudging enables the person to decide which goals to get nudged towards. By different examples, it is shown that nudging ideas are already present in numerous technical applications. Then, it is demonstrated how the aspect of self-determination can enrich these approaches. Moreover, already existing as well as potential new implementations of self-determined nudging in the automotive domain are described. As an outlook, the set-up of a study on automated driving is presented.

     

The design of hand gestures for human–computer interaction: Lessons from sign language interpreters

The design and selection of 3D modeled hand gestures for human–computer interaction should follow principles of natural language combined with the need to optimize gesture contrast and recognition. The selection should also consider the discomfort and fatigue associated with distinct hand postures and motions, especially for common commands. Sign language interpreters have extensive and unique experience forming hand gestures and many suffer from hand pain while gesturing. Professional sign language interpreters (N=24) rated discomfort for hand gestures associated with 47 characters and words and 33 hand postures. Clear associations of discomfort with hand postures were identified. In a nominal logistic regression model, high discomfort was associated with gestures requiring a flexed wrist, discordant adjacent fingers, or extended fingers. These and other findings should be considered in the design of hand gestures to optimize the relationship between human cognitive and physical processes and computer gesture recognition systems for human–computer input.     

A mobile pet wearable computer and mixed reality system for human–poultry interaction through the internet

Poultry are one of the most badly treated animals in the modern world. It has been shown that they have high levels of both cognition and feelings and as a result there has been a recent trend of promoting poultry welfare. There is also a tradition of keeping poultry as pets in some parts of the world. However, in modern cities and societies, it is often difficult to maintain contact with pets, particularly for office workers. We propose and describe a novel cybernetics system to use mobile and Internet technology to improve human–pet interaction. It can also be used for people who are allergic to touching animals and thus cannot stroke them directly. This interaction encompasses both visualization and tactile sensation of real objects.     

Formally verifying human–automation interaction as part of a system model: limitations and tradeoffs

Both the human factors engineering (HFE) and formal methods communities are concerned with improving the design of safety-critical systems. This work discusses a modeling effort that leveraged methods from both fields to perform formal verification of human–automation interaction with a programmable device. This effort utilizes a system architecture composed of independent models of the human mission, human task behavior, human-device interface, device automation, and operational environment. The goals of this architecture were to allow HFE practitioners to perform formal verifications of realistic systems that depend on human–automation interaction in a reasonable amount of time using representative models, intuitive modeling constructs, and decoupled models of system components that could be easily changed to support multiple analyses. This framework was instantiated using a patient controlled analgesia pump in a two phased process where models in each phase were verified using a common set of specifications. The first phase focused on the mission, human-device interface, and device automation; and included a simple, unconstrained human task behavior model. The second phase replaced the unconstrained task model with one representing normative pump programming behavior. Because models produced in the first phase were too large for the model checker to verify, a number of model revisions were undertaken that affected the goals of the effort. While the use of human task behavior models in the second phase helped mitigate model complexity, verification time increased. Additional modeling tools and technological developments are necessary for model checking to become a more usable technique for HFE.     

Manipulation of mental models of anatomy in interventional radiology and its consequences for design of human–computer interaction

Interventional radiology procedures require extensive cognitive processing from the physician. A set of these cognitive functions are aimed to be replaced by technology in order to reduce the cognitive load. However, limited knowledge is available regarding mental processes in interventional radiology. This research focuses on identifying mental model–related processes, in particular during percutaneous procedures, useful to improve image guidance during interventions. Ethnographic studies and a prototype-based study were conducted in order to perform a task analysis and to identify working strategies and cognitive processes. Data were compared to theories from visual imagery. The results indicate a high level of complexity of mental model construction and manipulation, in particular when mentally comparing mental model knowledge with radiology images on screen (e.g., to steer a needle correctly). Regarding current interface support, most difficult is the interpretation and selection of oblique views. New interface principles are needed to bring cognitive demands within reasonable human range, and also accompanying cognitive work strategies should be developed.     

Public websites and human–computer interaction: an empirical study of measurement of website quality and user satisfaction

The focus of this paper is to investigate measurement of website quality and user satisfaction. More specifically, the paper reports on a study investigating whether users of high-quality public websites are more satisfied than those of low-quality websites. Adopting a human–computer interaction perspective, we have gathered data from the 2009 public website awards in Scandinavia. Our analysis of Norwegian and Danish websites reveals that the use of quality criteria is highly technical compared to the traditional usability testing focus on efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction of the actual system use by representatives. A Pearson correlation analysis of user evaluation from 296 websites that participated in the Danish web award Bedst på Nettet (‘Top of the Web’) showed no significant positive correlation between website quality and user satisfaction. We put forward recommendations for further investigation: (1) inclusion of real users (citizens and businesses) in real-use setting in the evaluation process could help move forward the understanding of the relationship between website quality and end-user satisfaction; (2) the lack of correlation between website quality and user satisfaction could be a point of departure for critical discussions of future implementation of public information and services and (3) additional and in-depth research of the measurement of website quality in the public sector, user expectations and the impacts of website quality improvements on user satisfaction.     

Examining the effects of field dependence–independence on learners' problem-solving performance and interaction with a computer modeling tool: Implications for the design of joint cognitive systems

An investigation was carried out to examine the effects of cognitive style on learners' performance and interaction during complex problem solving with a computer modeling tool. One hundred and nineteen undergraduates volunteered to participate in the study. Participants were first administered a test, and based on their test scores they were classified into three groups, namely field-dependent, field-mixed, and field-independent learners. Participants then received the same set of integrated-format materials and were asked to use a computer modeling tool to solve a complex problem about immigration policy. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed with field type as the independent variable, and cognitive load, problem-solving performance, and learner interaction with the computer tool as the dependent variables. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in terms of the amount of cognitive load reported. However, there was a significant difference in terms of learner problem-solving performance. Specifically, field-independent learners outperformed field-dependent learners, and field-mixed learners outperformed field-dependent learners. The results also indicated significant differences in computer interaction between field-independent and field-dependent learners, and between field-mixed and field-dependent learners. The qualitative findings of the study showed that students who interacted poorly with the software were unsure about how to systematically use the affordances of the computer tool to solve the problem, did not have a goal-directed plan or strategy in mind about how to investigate the issue at hand, and had difficulty with testing the immigration policies by appropriately controlling variables in order to collect data to inform decision making. Implications are discussed in terms of designing computer systems that scaffold learners' complex problem solving by considering the cognitive demands of the task.     

A different way of seeing: Albert Borgmann’s philosophy of technology and human–computer interaction

Traditional human–computer interaction (HCI) allowed researchers and practitioners to share and rely on the ‘five E’s’ of usability, the principle that interactive systems should be designed to be effective, efficient, engaging, error tolerant, and easy to learn. A recent trend in HCI, however, is that academic researchers as well as practitioners are becoming increasingly interested in user experiences, i.e., understanding and designing for relationships between users and artifacts that are for instance affective, engaging, fun, playable, sociable, creative, involving, meaningful, exciting, ambiguous, and curious. In this paper, it is argued that built into this shift in perspective there is a concurrent shift in accountability that is drawing attention to a number of ethical, moral, social, cultural, and political issues that have been traditionally de-emphasized in a field of research guided by usability concerns. Not surprisingly, this shift in accountability has also received scarce attention in HCI. To be able to find any answers to the question of what makes a good user experience, the field of HCI needs to develop a philosophy of technology. One building block for such a philosophy of technology in HCI is presented. Albert Borgmann argues that we need to be cautious and rethink the relationship as well as the often-assumed correspondence between what we consider useful and what we think of as good in technology. This junction—that some technologies may be both useful and good, while some technologies that are useful for some purposes might also be harmful, less good, in a broader context—is at the heart of Borgmann’s understanding of technology. Borgmann’s notion of the device paradigm is a valuable contribution to HCI as it points out that we are increasingly experiencing the world with, through, and by information technologies and that most of these technologies tend to be designed to provide commodities that effortlessly grant our wishes without demanding anything in return, such as patience, skills, or effort. This paper argues that Borgmann’s work is relevant and makes a valuable contribution to HCI in at least two ways: first, as a different way of seeing that raises important social, cultural, ethical, and moral issues from which contemporary HCI cannot escape; and second, as providing guidance as to how specific values might be incorporated into the design of interactive systems that foster engagement with reality.     

The human–computer interaction handbook: fundamentals,evolving technologies and emerging applications (3rd ed)

The objective of the study was to measure maximal and subjectively graded sub-maximal efforts in a pinch grip, power grip, and stoop life activity, subsequently to study the relationship of these efforts across activities and time, and furthermore to determine the reliability of effort perception of activities in different grades of operation. Ten normal male university students with mean age of 22.2 years, mean height of 175.3 cm, and mean weight of 71.4 kg volunteered for the study. All subjects were required to exert their maximal efforts, 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20% (of the maximal) effort in pinching, gripping and stoop lifting for three trials in a random order on four different days. The subjects were tested at the same time of the day on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday of one week, and Friday of the next week. While the activity and perception had significant main effects (p < 0.001) the trial was significant only for average strength (p < 0.04). There was a significant two-way interaction between activity and perception; all other interactions were not significant. There was a systematic bias in perception at all graded contractions except at 40% level of effort. The perceived 60% and 80% of maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) were lower and 20% was higher than their respective objective values based on MVC (p <0.01). At 40% effort there was no statistical difference between perceived and objective strength effort in all three activities. The reliability of perception was similar for precision, power, or gross activity.     

Optimal design methods for a digital human–computer interface based on human reliability in a nuclear power plant part 1: Optimization method for monitoring unit layout

This is the first in a series of papers describing the optimal design method for a digital human-computer interface of a nuclear power plant (NPP) from three different points based on human reliability. The purpose of this series is to propose different optimization methods from varying perspectives to decrease human factor events that arise from the defects of a human–computer interface. The present paper mainly discusses the optimization method for the layout of monitoring units.The layout of relative positions among different functional blocks in a digital human–computer interface influences the time required to search information. The risk of an event increases with increases in the time required to search for information because of the limited time available during a nuclear emergency. To avoid the risk of such an event, the authors propose an optimization method for the layout of monitoring units based on human reliability for a digital human–computer interface of a NPP. In the optimal design process, the authors propose a linear reversal genetic hybridization method that uses the Bayesian method as an adaptive function and takes human reliability as the optimized criterion. To quantitatively obtain the probability of human reliability, the authors use dynamic simulative functions including time and human factors. Finally, an experiment is conducted. The results indicate that the linear reversal genetic hybridization method has good stability and sensitivity and that the proposed optimization method has good accuracy and convergence.     

Automated construction for human–robot interaction in wooden buildings: Integrated robotic construction and digital design of iSMART wooden arches

Robotic construction is a powerful means of addressing labor shortages, low productivity, and low sustainability in the construction industry. Even though construction robots have attracted attention in research and practice, in a market condition where the technology and industry scale of the construction industry is yet unable to meet the scale of full automation, human–robot interaction (HRI) is a more adaptable working model. It is crucial to change the level of automation to the level of cooperation. This paper proposes an HRI construction method that aims to provide a new idea for existing robotic construction research, which combines the advantages of manual construction and automated robotic construction. This construction method allows an inexperienced layman to quickly complete the construction of complex timber structures with the assistance of a robot. Furthermore, this automated construction method's advantages, limitations, and potential pitfalls and the environmental, economic, and social sustainability aspects of design, production, and construction are also considered, providing a technical reference for the sustainable development of China's construction industry.     

Full-body collision detection and reaction with omnidirectional mobile platforms: a step towards safe human–robot interaction

In this paper, we develop estimation and control methods for quickly reacting to collisions between omnidirectional mobile platforms and their environment. To enable the full-body detection of external forces, we use torque sensors located in the robot’s drivetrain. Using model based techniques we estimate, with good precision, the location, direction, and magnitude of collision forces, and we develop an admittance controller that achieves a low effective mass in reaction to them. For experimental testing, we use a facility containing a calibrated collision dummy and our holonomic mobile platform. We subsequently explore collisions with the dummy colliding against a stationary base and the base colliding against a stationary dummy. Overall, we accomplish fast reaction times and a reduction of impact forces. A proof of concept experiment presents various parts of the mobile platform, including the wheels, colliding safely with humans.     

Acceptable muscle load on the neck and shoulder regions assessed in relation to the incidence of musculoskeletal sick leave: Implications for human‐computer interaction

A threshold level for acceptable load on the musculoskeletal system of the neck and shoulder regions was explored by studying comparable groups of female workers with different development of musculoskeletal sick leave in these areas. The load on the neck and shoulder was assessed by recording electromyography (EMG) from m. trapezius (descending part). The quantitative analysis of the trapezius load was carried out by calculating the number and total duration of periods below 5% MVC (Maximum Voluntary Contraction), 8% MVC, and 10% MVC. To relate acceptable musculoskeletal load to health criteria such as acceptable limits for development of musculoskeletal illness in a group of workers, the incidence of musculoskeletal illness for the comparable groups was also compared with a control group of female workers without a continuous work load. Two groups of workers had a development of musculoskeletal sick leave, which was approximately the same as the incidence of such illness for the control group. The trapezius load for these groups was below 5% MVC for about 40% of the working time. By comparing the groups of workers with different development of musculoskeletal sick leave, the trapezius load differed only for load levels below 5% MVC; increasing duration of load levels below 5% MVC was associated with lower incidence of musculoskeletal sick‐leave. The results indicated that trapezius load below 5% MVC was important to reduce the incidence of load‐related musculoskeletal illness.     

A Bernoulli–Gaussian mixture model of donation likelihood and monetary value: An application to alumni segmentation in a university setting

Advances in computational power and enterprise technology, e.g., Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and data warehouses, allow many businesses to collect a wealth of information on large numbers of consumers. This includes information on past purchasing behavior, demographic characteristics, as well as how consumers interact with the organization, e.g., in events, on the web. The ability to mine such data sets is crucial to an organization’s ability to deliver better customer service, as well as manage its resource allocation decisions. To this end, we formulate a Bernoulli–Gaussian mixture model that jointly describes the likelihood and monetary value of repeat transactions. In addition to presenting the model, we derive an instance of the Expectation–Maximization Algorithm to estimate the associated parameters, and to segment the consumer population.