Design patterns for user interface for mobile applications

The topic of this paper is a collection of user interface (UI) design patterns for mobile applications. In the paper we present the structure of the patterns collection – the patterns are suggested solutions to problems that are grouped into a set of problem areas that are further grouped into three main problem areas – a structure which is valuable both as an index to identifying patterns to use, and it gives a fairly comprehensive overview of issues when designing user interfaces for mobile applications. To show the breadth of the patterns collection we present six individual problems with connected design patterns in some detail – each coming from different problem areas. They represent important and relevant problems, and are on different levels of abstraction, thus showing how patterns may be used to present problems and solutions on different levels of detail. To show the relevance and usefulness of the patterns collection for usability professionals with a mixed background, we present some relevant findings from a validation of the patterns collection. In addition to verifying the relevance and usefulness of the patterns collection, it also shows both expected and surprising correlations between background and perceived relevance and usefulness. One important finding from the validation is an indication that the patterns collection is best suited for experienced UI developers wanting to start developing mobile UIs. Using a patterns collection for documenting design knowledge and experience has been a mixed experience, so we discuss pros and cons of this. Finally, we present related work and future research.     

Eventor: an authoring system for interactive multimedia applications

Programming, testing, and maintaining interactive multimedia applications (IMAs) are still difficult and expensive, while substantial progress has been made to reduce the burden on authors. As IMAs get larger and more complex the difficulties will increase. To overcome the complexity of such IMAs, we argue that authoring systems should provide such facilities as (1) a traditional and intuitivedivide-and-conquer paradigm for solving large and complex problems in various fields, (2)formal specification of the behaviors of IMAs for checking the syntactic correctness of visual expressions or semantic anomalies, and (3)automatic aids like validation of temporal constraints and verification of visual expressions. In this paper, we investigate the properties of IMAs for recognizing the inherent interactivity and concurrency. We propose a specification method based on Milner'sCalculus of Communicating Systems (CCS), which is a well-known formal mechanism for specifying the concurrency in various distributed applications. We also design and implement an authoring system calledEventor (Event Editor), which is based on CCS and composed of three tools: a Temporal Synchronizer, a Spatial Synchronizer, and a User Interaction Builder. They focus on describing the temporal and spatial synchronizations and user interactions while they rely on existing tools in Intel's Digital Video Interactive (DVI) for supporting other functionalities. By editing a simple computer aided instruction (CAI) application, we illustrate that our specification mechanism is well-suited for handling the interactivity of multimedia applications, and Eventor is a simple, efficient, and powerful enough tool to handle practical applications. Especially the incremental refinement and the formal specification based on the CCS allow Eventor to be extended with formal verifications to cope with large and complex applications.     

The foundations of a theory-aware authoring tool for CSCL design

One of the most useful ways to enhance collaboration is to create scenarios where learners are able to interact more effectively. Nevertheless, the design of pedagogically sound and well-thought-out collaborative learning scenarios is a complex issue. This is due to the context of group learning where the synergy among learners’ interactions affects learning processes and, hence, the learning outcome. Although many advances have been made to support the designing of collaborative learning scenarios through technology, a more systematic approach is lacking. With the limitations of the current designing methods and tools, it is difficult to develop intelligent authoring systems that can guide users in order to produce more effective collaboration. One of the main difficulties with creating a more consistent (computer-understandable) approach to designing collaboration is the necessity of proposing better ways to formalize the group learning processes. In this paper, we present an innovative approach that uses ontologies and concepts from learning theories to create a framework that represents collaborative learning and its processes. Ontologies provide the necessary formalization to represent collaboration, while learning theories provide the concepts to justify and support the development of effective learning scenarios. Such an approach contributes to establish the foundations for the development of the next generation of intelligent authoring systems referred to as theory-aware systems. To verify the viability and usefulness of our proposed ontological framework in the context of systematic design, the development and use of an intelligent authoring tool for CSCL design is presented. This system is able to reason on ontologies to give suggestions that help users to create theory-compliant collaborative learning scenarios. We carried out several experiments with teachers in a geometry drawing course and the results indicate that the system helps teachers to create and interchange their scenarios more easily and facilitates the selection of important pedagogical strategies that influence positively the designing and effectiveness of group activities.     

Implementing a user interface management system for existing applications using an object-oriented database tool

Numerous engineering application systems have been developed over the past twenty years, and many of these applications will continue to be used for many years to come. Examples of such applications include CAD Systems, finite-element analysis packages and inspection systems. Because many of these applications were developed before graphical workstations became available, they often have simple command-line user interfaces. Thus, there is a need for a graphical user interface management system (UIMS) that can be used to build point-and-click style interfaces for these existing engineering applications. In this paper we describe such a UIMS, and discuss its implementation using an object-oriented database tool. This UIMS allows users to create and modify user interfaces by editing graphical representations of the interfaces, thus eliminating the need to write code to build or modify an interface. The UIMS is implemented using an object-oriented database tool to take advantage of the data manipulation and storage management capabilities it provides. This approach reduces both the quantity and complexity of the code needed to implement the UIMS. It also allowed the UIMS to be implemented in a minimal amount of time.     

LCDs for TV applications

Abstract— Super IPS (S‐IPS) technology has intrinsic advantages in several aspects required for TV applications. Particularly, the wide‐viewing‐angle property and fast gray‐to‐gray response time of S‐IPS LCDs are both necessary requirements for family and individual use for LCD TVs. Given these benefits and other advantages S‐IPS provides, LG.Philips LCD has developed high‐performance S‐IPS LCDs for TV, which have now become competitive with plasma‐display panels (PDPs), in addition to other modes of LCD TVs as well as CRTs. This article will discuss why S‐IPS technology is the leading choice for LCD‐TV applications.     

Overcoming the pitfalls of ontology authoring: Strategies and implications for tool design

The process of authoring ontologies appears to be fragmented across several tools and workarounds, and there exists no well accepted framework for common authoring tasks such as exploring ontologies, comparing versions, debugging, and testing. This lack of an adequate and seamless tool chain potentially hinders the broad uptake of ontologies, especially OWL, as a knowledge representation formalism. We start to address this situation by presenting insights from an interview-based study with 15 ontology experts. We uncover the tensions that may emerge between ontology authors including antagonistic ontology building styles (definition-driven vs. manually crafted hierarchies). We identify the problems reported by the ontology authors and the strategies they employ to solve them. These data are mapped to a set of key design recommendations, which should inform and guide future efforts for improving ontology authoring tool support, thus opening up ontology authoring to a new generation of users. We discuss future research avenues in light of these results.     

Investigating the added value of interactivity and serious gaming for educational TV

TV is a medium with high penetration rates and has been suited to deliver informal education in several aspects since years. Thus, interactive TV may play a significant role in the current Life-Long Learning challenges, provided that meaningful applications are implemented. In this research work, we have explored the added value of interactivity in digital TV, with a particular focus on Serious Games (SGs), given their growing relevance in technology-enhanced learning. We have followed an evolutionary rather than revolutionary approach, in particular given the still traditional use of TV by a large audience. The approach preserves a media-driven strategy and the role of the author/director in proposing contents (storytelling), as in the TV tradition. We argue that interactive SGs may help the viewer to better contextualize/understand the video stream and go more in depth about the touched items at the end of the stream. This also enables new iTV applications, in particular to support weaker users (i.e. users that could not view the video without a help). This paper presents the results from user tests based on an interactive enhancement of a clip from the Disney’s Snow White movie, that challenged the authors in addressing a dynamic, high-value document. Qualitative and quantitative results show the potential of the system for informal education. The tests also stress the importance of good solutions (e.g., development languages, display modalities, metaphors) for synchronizing video and overlaid interactive elements. To the best of our knowledge, this research work is the first one discussing user test results about the usefulness of a class of iTV SG applications that can be instantiated serially in several different contexts.     

Framework and authoring tool for an extension of the UIML language

This paper presents a framework for the design of User Interfaces (UIs). By applying model transformations, the framework allows different UIs to be generated for different computing platforms. The tool presented in this work helps designers to build an abstract user interface which is later transformed into a concrete user interface by means of transformation techniques based on graph grammars. These techniques can be used to generate implementation code for several UI platforms including desktop applications, dynamic websites and mobile applications. The generated user interfaces are integrated with a multi-tier application by referencing external services and communicating with the application core over Web Service protocols. Our tool also allows the concrete interfaces to be enhanced before generating the final UI. The approach uses an adaptation of UIML (User Interface Markup Language). The adaptation focuses on defining a data model and a services model, and it also introduces a navigation model that allows data communication from one UI to another. The obtained UIs together with Web Services can conform complete applications instead of just being prototypes.     

Putting AI in entertainment: an AI authoring tool for simulation and games

We have been working on techniques to write better AI behavior for simulations and games. We are focusing on a visual authoring tool that provides a way to quickly synthesize complex behavior, and are building a corresponding AI engine to run with a simulation or game. For game development uses, we see our tool as making the AI understandable to game designers and end users, as well as improving developers' productivity. This work will also be useful for simulation developers and subsequently for analysts, operators, and instructors. We explain some of our tool's features and how the AI engine processes the resulting content.     

Mind the gap: Impact on learnability of user interface design of authoring tools for teachers

Few teachers include information and communication technology in the classroom, despite their potential for increasing attention and motivation for students. Educational authoring tools are intended to turn teachers into designers and deliverers of technology-enhanced educational content, and increasing the adoption of these tools is a key element for speeding up this transformation. This paper emphasizes the importance of learnability for preventing rejection or abandonment by of such an authoring tool, and how acceptance is deeply affected by the interaction paradigm and the creation metaphor used in the tool. We present an analysis comparing two design paradigms: the widespread menu-based and choice-guided interaction paradigm versus a consistent metaphor with direct manipulation. The latter was implemented in DEDOS-Editor, a novel authoring tool that allows the creation of diverse educational activities that can be performed on different devices, such as PCs, digital blackboards, tablets, and multitouch surfaces. An experimental study shows the tremendous impact that interface choices have on the tool's learning curve. The results provide the first mapping of the choice of a direct-manipulation interface and its effect on the learning curve's entry point, as well as a consistent interaction metaphor with smoother and fast-growing learning curves. This allows users to complete more tasks and gain more knowledge through experience, in contrast to menu-based interfaces. The initial use of the tool is thus made easier for users with no experience or information about the tool, and the advantages of experience and expertize in facing new challenges are facilitating. This work also highlights the appropriateness of learning curves as a tool for measuring learnability.     

XAnimate: an educational tool for robot graphical simulation

XAnimate has been developed at The Ohio State University to provide portable graphical simulation capabilities at no cost. XAnimate's graphical user interface, C library of functions, and a set of predefined objects enable users to easily display animated wireframe images or solid color objects for robotics systems of any topological structure. The use of X Windows and C allows the package to be ported to almost any Unix system     

Web逆向工程中交互设计模式的抽取方法改进

为了提高Web交互设计模式抽取的准确性,增加现有方法对中文站点的分析能力,提出了一种基于HTML词法分析的改进方法.利用设计的HTML词法分析器将Web页面表示成语法树,抽取Web交互设计模式的特征,并对特征的词条内容进行语义扩展,细化了特征抽取的粒度.实验结果表明,改进的方法在召回率和准确率等方面明显优于现有的方法,并在中文站点交互模式抽取方面取得了很好的效果.     

The semantic pathfinder: using an authoring metaphor for generic multimedia indexing

This paper presents the semantic pathfinder architecture for generic indexing of multimedia archives. The semantic pathfinder extracts semantic concepts from video by exploring different paths through three consecutive analysis steps, which we derive from the observation that produced video is the result of an authoring-driven process. We exploit this authoring metaphor for machine-driven understanding. The pathfinder starts with the content analysis step. In this analysis step, we follow a data-driven approach of indexing semantics. The style analysis step is the second analysis step. Here, we tackle the indexing problem by viewing a video from the perspective of production. Finally, in the context analysis step, we view semantics in context. The virtue of the semantic pathfinder is its ability to learn the best path of analysis steps on a per-concept basis. To show the generality of this novel indexing approach, we develop detectors for a lexicon of 32 concepts and we evaluate the semantic pathfinder against the 2004 NIST TRECVID video retrieval benchmark, using a news archive of 64 hours. Top ranking performance in the semantic concept detection task indicates the merit of the semantic pathfinder for generic indexing of multimedia archives.     

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.     

Personalised e-learning through an educational virtual reality game using Web services

This paper describes how a personalised educational game architecture has been used in conjunction with Web services to provide remote access to the system. The educational game is a virtual reality adventure game that performs affective user modelling by measuring emotional characteristics of users. Virtual reality (VR) games are so popular among children and adolescents that can be used for the purposes of educational software to render it more attractive and motivating. The benefits of such an application can be maximised if it is available over the Web. Software applications that operate over the Web are targeted to a wide range of users. Hence they need a high degree of adaptivity and dynamic individualisation to each user that interacts with the application. This should include the students’ emotional state that affects their learning. However, the environment of a Web-based VR-game that performs user modelling is so demanding that the technology of Web services is necessary for its effective operation and interoperability. Moreover, reusability may be achieved for the user modelling component.

ECHO: A speech recognition package for the design of robust interactive speech-based applications

This paper describes speech recognition software called ECHO (Environnement de Communication Homme-Ordinateur) which is devoted to the design of usable interactive speech-based applications. Usability refers to the stability of the Speech Recognition system performance under ordinary usage conditions (i.e., different acoustic environments) rather than high performance in a limited set of well-known conditions. In order to reach this objective, the system must be able to anticipate any change in the environment and adapt itself to the different usage conditions. One solution for this problem has been achieved by connecting some specialized modules of speech signal pre-processing and post-processing to the automatic speech recognition engine. These different modules interact as a mirror with the speech engine in order to force it to adapt its runtime parameters, thus improving its performance and its robustness.     

Tracing the evolution of HCI patterns as an interaction design tool

Design patterns have been introduced as a medium to capture and disseminate the best design knowledge and practices. In the field of human–computer interaction, practitioners and researchers have explored different avenues to use patterns and pattern languages as design tools. This paper surveys these avenues—from individual pattern use for solving a specific design problem, to pattern-oriented design, which guides designers in building a conceptual design by leveraging relationships between patterns. One of our underlying goals is to investigate how patterns can be used, not only to foster the reuse of proven and valid design solutions, but also as a central artefact in the process of deriving a design from user experiences and requirements. We will present our investigations on pattern-based design, and discuss how user experiences can be incorporated in the pattern selection process through the use of user variables, pattern attributes and associated relationships.     

A method and tool for the design of educational multimedia material

Abstract This paper deals with the problem of the specification of the pedagogic design of interactive multimedia and specific telematics applications developed for use in education. A method to specify the design and a supporting tool (SHOC-TOOL) are described. The idea is that the use of such a method and tool can make the development process more efficient and can lead to a more professional approach to the pedagogic design of educational software in general. Resulting design specifications can be assessed for completeness, allow for comparisons among designs and are relatively easy to read for others than the designer himself. The method and the tool both stimulate the re-use of existing design and code segments. SHOC-TOOL is described along with several examples from real practice. The paper concludes with a discussion of the experience of its introduction and use.