Cross-cultural interface design strategy

This paper addresses the emerging need for an integration of the cultural and social factors of metaphors into interface design, by creating cultural models within the context of indigenous users. Current theoretical and empirical work is reviewed that uses existing cultural models. Finally, an investigative strategic model is proposed for research in this field that incorporates all the important components of cultural contexts of metaphors in interface design.

Visual search for grouped versus ungrouped icons in a computer interface

The paradigm of visual search was used to investigate how participants looked for a target file among distracter files in an icon-based computer interface. The purpose of these experiments was to study the effect of icons and spatial grouping on scanning speed. Does spatial grouping of identical icons increase the scanning speed? Do icons themselves speed up the search for a target file when compared with a condition in which the files are indicated with mere textual labels? Our results showed that both the presence of icons and their grouping had a significant positive effect on the scanning speed. Potential applications of this research include the design of graphics-based interfaces, such as the effective arrangement of icons in an interface.     

Effects of the aesthetic design of icons on app downloads: evidence from an android market

With the rapid development of the mobile app market, understanding the determinants of mobile app success has become vital to researchers and mobile app developers. Extant research on mobile applications primarily focused on the numerical and textual attributes of apps. Minimal attention has been provided to how the visual attributes of apps affect the download behavior of users. Among the features of app “appearance”, this study focuses on the effects of app icon on demand. With aesthetic product and interface design theories, we analyze icons from three aspects, namely, color, complexity, and symmetry, through image processing. Using a dataset collected from one of the largest Chinese Android websites, we find that icon appearance influences the download behavior of users. Particularly, apps with icons featuring higher colorfulness, proper complexity, and slight asymmetry lead to more downloads. These findings can help developers design their apps.     

A heuristic checklist for an accessible smartphone interface design

Smartphone technology has evolved into a multi-functional device with advanced capabilities, but this mobile technology remains inaccessible to many individuals with visual impairments or upper extremity disabilities. This paper provides a heuristic checklist for accessible smartphone interface design, developed through reviewing existing design standards and guidelines and validating these guidelines with user involvement. Specifically, a set of preliminary user requirements (59 items) was extracted from existing standards, guidelines, and user requirements regarding mobile handheld device accessibility. Subsequently, the requirement set was filtered using a participatory method and then integrated to create an operational version of design guidelines. These guidelines were then used in a heuristic evaluation and usability testing on high-fidelity prototypes produced by a commercial manufacturer. A heuristic checklist for designing accessible smartphones was formed, which may also be applicable to other touchscreen handheld devices (e.g., printer screen) in terms of accessibility features. The initial set of 59 user requirements was re-organized into 44 statements in six general categories: mechanical controls, display, speech and general operation controls, audio feedback controls, touch-operated controls, and others. Using results from both qualitative and quantitative methods provides support, though with some limitations, for this accessibility checklist. This checklist is intended as a practical design support tool for use in early design phases of handheld products. A number of challenges and limitations are discussed as well.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

Iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for interactive TV menu

This paper shows an iterative process of design and evaluation of icons for future interactive TV services. In doing the RNRT (French National Network of Research in Telecommunications) iTV project, we tried to generate icons easy to identify, associate and memorise for 32 categories and services of our iTV system.

Through an iterative process, the Multiple Index Approach was applied until an acceptable icon set was achieved. In addition to existing evaluation criteria such as the intuitiveness, associativeness, preference and suitability with subjective certainty of users, we emphasised the importance of the learnability measured by recall tests.

As a conclusion, we propose a methodology of icon design and evaluation for information appliances that integrate unfamiliar features with common users.     

DIM: A network compatible intermediate interface standard

The salient features of DIM, the standard interface used by the MININET instrumentation network, are described. In its most basic form this interface supports all the normal interactions between a computer and a peripheral or another computer, either directly or via a transparent communication link or network. It consists of 16 parallel bidirectional data lines, a data class flag to distinguish between end-user data and interface control information, and two pairs of handshake lines to control transfers in either direction. The basic interface may be extended with up to six address lines and separate parity lines for address and data. The computer-peripheral convention defines the initialization, flow control and exception procedures and assigns the format of the control class transfers to allow the design of peripheral-independent computer interfaces.     

面向工业人机界面的信息安全策略设计及实现

针对工业人机界面资源有限、实时性要求高等特点,分别从入侵过滤、入侵检测、入侵处理3个部分设计了工业人机界面的信息安全策略.其中入侵过滤采用“白名单”机制,入侵检测采用基于模型的异常检测机制,模型包括任务模型、CPU利用率模型以及网络流量模型.该策略在基于LPC3250-Linux的嵌入式平台上进行了实现和相关实验,实验结果表明,该策略能有效地检测出测试数据集中的入侵行为并保持较低误报率,同时满足系统实时性要求.     

Corporate identity for iconic interface design: The graphic design perspective

Because computer graphics displays are using more non-alphanumeric symbolism to facilitate human-computer communication, graphic design, a discipline concerned with systematic information-oriented communication, is important in the design of the “corporate identity” of the human-computer interface. Principles of applied visual semiotics can be used to critique and create these dialogues. Case studies of the Star, Lisa and Metaform office automation systems are analyzed.     

Interacting with VDL-based structured icons on crisis map for emergency coordination: Interactive design and experimental demonstration

Accurate and timely information sharing among multiple participants is one of the crucial factors for collaboration in crisis management. The icon-based map was frequently applied as an effective means for crisis interaction and collaboration. However, former studies only regarded the icons as supplementary visualization components during the whole crisis collaboration process. In this paper, the concept of a structured-icon-relied interactive method was proposed to directly integrate all kinds of crisis and coordination information through icons on the crisis map. Moreover, structured icons are supposed to explicitly show the correlation among crisis information and to improve the interactive experience of information search. The effectiveness of this interactive method was verified by a controlled experiment with three sub-tasks for simulated crisis rescue. The results of the experiment showed that the design of the crisis map based on structured icons had a positive impact on collaborative decision-making and crisis interaction. The dynamic characteristics of the structured icon could represent the temporal and spatial attributes of crisis information and enhance users’ crisis coordination ability. The study aims to enrich the theory of crisis information visualization and interaction based on structured iconic representation. In practice, this research could optimize the design of a crisis collaboration system based on the icon as well as the interaction between people, crisis information, and collaborative system, which in turn provides accurate and timely rescue decisions.     

Recurrent neuro-controller design for an inverted pendulum using evolution strategy

Using block-pulse functions, a new method of identifying a single-input single-output dynamic system is presented. The input-output record is expressed in a block-pulse series which transforms the differential equation of the dynamic system into a computationally convenient algebraic form. Compared with the Walsh function approach, the proposed method is simpler to compute, is more suitable for computer programming and provides the same accuracy.     

AthenaTV: an authoring tool of educational applications for TV using android-based interface design patterns

Education has become a key component of any society since it is the means by which humanity functions and governs itself. It allows individuals to appropriately integrate into a given community. For this reason, new ways of interaction between students and educational contents are emerging in order to improve the quality of education. In this context, devices such as computers, smartphones, or electronic tablets represent new ways of accessing educational resources which do not limit students to their usage merely inside the classroom since these devices are available anywhere. Nowadays, television has become one of these technological tools able to support the teaching–learning process through documentary films or movies, among others. However, two main issues appear. First, some of these educational contents are not those needed by a professor since information is restricted, and second, the development of TV-based applications requires an integrative approach involving the support of several specialists in education who provide the guidelines needed to build high-quality contents, as well as application designers and developers who are able to deliver the educational applications demanded by students. This work presents a system called AthenaTV to generate android-based educational applications for TV. AthenaTV takes into account the 10-foot design scheme used by Google to develop interfaces based on interface design patterns established in Google TV, and it is based on the android development guidelines and HTML5 standard.     

Coherence- and correspondence-driven work domains: implications for systems design

A distinction is made between coherence- and correspondence-driven work domains. This novel domain taxonomy is used to argue that the widely accepted goal of making the interface representation compatible with the user's mental model is not always appropriate. For correspondence-driven domains, it is more meaningful to constrain design from the side of the work domain rather than from that of the user. The implications of the coherence/correspondence distinction for the modelling of work domains, for interface design in computer supported co-operative work, and for the development of a multidimensional taxonomy of work domains are also briefly pointed out. The discussion suggests that the correspondence/coherence taxonomy provides a powerful conceptual tool for addressing fundamental issues in human-computer interaction.     

User interface design for older adults

The percentage of older adults is expected to increase to unprecedented levels within the next decade. Little attention has been devoted to understanding, organizing, and accommodating the needs of older adults with respect to interaction with computers. Indeed, most usability studies have focused on the needs of younger adults, to the neglect of the elderly. As computerized products increasingly appeal to broader audiences, the needs of older adults will become a concern for designers. This review focuses on the organization and presentation of characteristics of older adult learners, along with recommendations based on those characteristics, with the hope that their accessibility will enhance designer intuition and provide suitable information to guide user testing.     

River: an intermediate language for stream processing

This paper presents both a calculus for stream processing, named Brooklet, and its realization as an intermediate language, named River. Because River is based on Brooklet, it has a formal semantics that enables reasoning about the correctness of source translations and optimizations. River builds on Brooklet by addressing the real‐world details that the calculus elides. We evaluated our system by implementing front‐ends for three streaming languages, and three important optimizations, and a back‐end for the System S distributed streaming runtime. Overall, we significantly lower the barrier to entry for new stream‐processing languages and thus grow the ecosystem of this crucial style of programming. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

可拓策略生成系统的构件化设计与实现

将可拓学的基本理论和可拓工程的方法运用到防治空气污染的策略生成当中,并通过计算机实现了关于地区性二氧化硫浓度矛盾问题的可拓策略生成系统.系统利用面向构件的开发技术,通过Java EE 5架构,把JSP、Servlet、EJB等技术相结合,大大增加了系统的可重用性和可维护性.     

Self-describing animated icons for human-computer interaction: a research note

Animated icons may offer substantial advantage over static icons for human-computer communication. Nonetheless, problems and challenges remain. For example, the constant motion of animated icons can be distracting or tedious for users. Another challenge relates to the ease of learning and use of iconic interfaces in general: how can icons provide more helpful information to users regarding their intended use? In this research note, we describe animated icons we have implemented which attempt to address these issues.     

Learning and retention of associations between auditory icons and denotative referents: implications for the design of auditory warnings

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the way in which the type and preexisting strength of association between an auditory icon and a warning event affects the ease with which the icon/event pairing can be learned and retained. BACKGROUND: To be effective, an auditory warning must be audible, identifiable, interpretable, and heeded. Warnings consisting of familiar environmental sounds, or auditory icons, have potential to facilitate identification and interpretation. The ease with which pairings between auditory icons and warning events can be learned and retained is likely to depend on the type and strength of the preexisting icon/event association. METHOD: Sixty-three participants each learned eight auditory-icon/denotative-referent pairings and attempted to recall them 4 weeks later. Three icon/denotative-referent association types (direct, related, and unrelated) were employed. Participants rated the strength of the association for each pairing on a 7-point scale. RESULTS: The number of errors made while learning pairings was greater for unrelated than for either related or direct associations, whereas the number of errors made while attempting to recall pairings 4 weeks later was greater for unrelated than for related associations and for related than for direct associations. Irrespective of association type, both learning and retention performance remained at very high levels, provided the strength of the association was rated greater than 5. CONCLUSION: This suggests that strong preexisting associations are used to facilitate learning and retention of icon/denotative-referent pairings. APPLICATION: The practical implication of this study is that auditory icons having either direct or strong, indirect associations with warning events should be preferred.