The experience of enchantment in human–computer interaction

Improving user experience is becoming something of a rallying call in human–computer interaction but experience is not a unitary thing. There are varieties of experiences, good and bad, and we need to characterise these varieties if we are to improve user experience. In this paper we argue that enchantment is a useful concept to facilitate closer relationships between people and technology. But enchantment is a complex concept in need of some clarification. So we explore how enchantment has been used in the discussions of technology and examine experiences of film and cell phones to see how enchantment with technology is possible. Based on these cases, we identify the sensibilities that help designers design for enchantment, including the specific sensuousness of a thing, senses of play, paradox and openness, and the potential for transformation. We use these to analyse digital jewellery in order to suggest how it can be made more enchanting. We conclude by relating enchantment to varieties of experience.An earlier version of this paper was presented at Chi’2004 Fringe.     

A human–computer interaction approach for healthcare

Universal Access in the Information Society -     

Eye-blink detection system for human–computer interaction

A vision-based human--computer interface is presented in the paper. The interface detects voluntary eye-blinks and interprets them as control commands. The employed image processing methods include Haar-like features for automatic face detection, and template matching based eye tracking and eye-blink detection. Interface performance was tested by 49 users (of which 12 were with physical disabilities). Test results indicate interface usefulness in offering an alternative mean of communication with computers. The users entered English and Polish text (with average time of less than 12s per character) and were able to browse the Internet. The interface is based on a notebook equipped with a typical web camera and requires no extra light sources. The interface application is available on-line as open-source software.     

Four different perspectives on human–computer interaction

This paper will stress the value of a multi-perspective view on the use of computers. It will argue that the ability to apply more than one perspective is valuable to designers of computer applications, to researchers dealing with human-computer interactions, as well as to users of a particular computer application. As a means for that the paper will present the systems perspective, the dialogue partner perspective, the tool perspective, and the media perspective. All four perspectives will primarily be characterized in relation to human-computer interaction, and the characterizations will be based on a common set of concepts presented in the beginning of the paper. The last section of the paper will, with the help of a few examples, illustrate the value of applying multiple perspectives.     

Concept-based evidential reasoning for multimodal fusion in human–computer interaction

Considerable research has been done on using information from multiple modalities, like hands, facial gestures or speech, for better interaction between humans and computers, and many promising human–computer interfaces (HCI) have been developed in recent years. However, most of the current HCI systems have a few drawbacks: firstly, they are highly dependent on the performance of individual sensors. S econdly, the information fusion process from these sensors tends to ignore the semantic nature of the modalities, which may reinforce or clarify each other over time. Finally, they are not robust enough at representing the imprecise nature of human gestures, since individual gestures are highly ambiguous in themselves. In this paper, we propose an approach for the semantic fusion of different input modalities, based on transferable belief models. We show that this approach allows for a better representation of the ambiguity involved in recognizing gestures. Ambiguity is resolved by combining the beliefs of the individual sensors on the input information, to form new extended concepts, based on a pre-defined domain specific knowledge base, represented by conceptual graphs. We apply this technique to a multimodal system consisting of a hand gesture recognition sensor and a brain computing interface. It is shown that the technique can successfully combine individual gestures obtained from the two sensors, to form meaningful concepts and resolve ambiguity. The advantage of this approach is that it is robust even if one of the sensors is inefficient or has no input. Another important feature is its scalability, wherein more input modalities, like speech or facial gestures, can be easily integrated into the system at minimal cost, to form a comprehensive HCI interface.     

Using critical path analysis to model multimodal human–computer interaction

In this paper, the concept of multimodal human-computer interaction is explored. It is proposed that multimodality can be defined from human or technology perspectives, which place emphasis on different attributes of the system. Furthermore, in this paper it is argued that the most effective definition of multimodality concentrates on task and goal dependencies. Not only does this permit consideration over and above the technology/human distinction, but also allows consideration of multiple tasks. In order to explore this notion, critical path analysis is used to develop models of multimodal systems. The model describes multimodal HCI, and allows consideration of the effects of modality dependency. The models allow prediction of transaction time under various conditions. Predictions arising from these models are shown to be good fits with data obtained from user trials. Thus, it is proposed that one can develop and evaluate preliminary versions of multimodal systems prior to prototype development.     

Community computing as human ‐ computer interaction

There is too little engagement between community computing and human - computer interaction. In the future there should be more. Better integrating community computing and human - computer interaction can help to make HCI richer and more comprehensive, conceptually and methodologically. It can help HCI to have more of an impact on society and on everyday collective life. Six examples are briefly discussed.     

Integrating cognitive load theory and concepts of human–computer interaction

With the continually increasing complexity of e-learning environments, there is a need for integrating concepts of cognitive load theory (CLT) with concepts of human–computer interaction (HCI). Basic concepts of both fields were reviewed and contrasted. A literature review was conducted within the literature database “The Guide to Computing Literature,” searching for “cognitive load theory” and “Sweller.” Sixty-five publications contained “cognitive load” in their titles or abstracts. Each publication was checked to see whether it contained the concepts of intrinsic, extraneous, or germane cognitive load. The review showed that CLT concepts have been adopted in HCI. However, the concept of germane cognitive load has attracted less attention up to the present time. Two conceptual models are proposed. The first model divides extraneous cognitive load into load induced by the instructional design and load caused by software usage. The model clarifies the focus of traditional usability principles and of existing instructional design principles derived from CLT. The second model fits CLT concepts into the basic components of user-centered design. The concept of germane cognitive load illustrates that an increase of cognitive load can be desirable when designing e-learning environments. Areas for future interdisciplinary research are sketched.     

Human–computer interaction in evolutionary visual software analytics

Software evolution is made up of changes carried out during software maintenance. Such accumulation of changes produces substantial modifications in software projects and therefore vast amounts of relevant facts that are useful for the understanding and comprehension of the software project for making additional changes. In this scenario, evolutionary visual software analytics is aimed to support software maintenance, with the active participation of users, through the understanding and comprehension of software evolution by means of visual analytics and human computer interaction. It is a complex process that takes into account the mining of evolutionary data, the subsequent analysis of the mining process results for producing evolution facts, the use of visualizations supported by interaction techniques and the active participation of users. Hence, this paper explains the evolutionary visual software analytics process, describes a framework proposal and validates such proposal through the definition and implementation of an architecture.     

A personal perspective on photowork: implicit human–computer interaction for photo collection management

In the age of digital photography, the amount of photos we have in our personal collections has increased substantially along with the effort needed to manage these new, larger collections. This issue has already been addressed in various ways: from organization by meta-data analysis to image recognition and social network analysis. We introduce a new, more personal perspective on photowork that aims at understanding the user and his/her subjective relationship to the photos. It does so by means of implicit human–computer interaction, that is, by observing the user’s interaction with the photos. In order to study this interaction, we designed an experiment to see how people behave when manipulating photos on a tablet and how this implicitly conveyed information can be used to aid photo collection management.     

Interactive design of intelligent machine vision based on human–computer interaction mode

The intelligent machine vision technology based on man-machine interaction mode has the advantages of weak intrusion, low adhesion and no device binding. With the development and progress of science and technology, the intelligent machine vision technology has become one of the most important directions in the field of human–computer interaction. Compared with the traditional interactive mode, the intelligent machine vision interaction technology is quite convenient, and the existence of these problems can also influence the vision of the intelligent machine to a certain extent. And the wide application of the sense interaction. At present, the operation precision is the main basis of the machine vision interaction design. Therefore, this paper studies the precision of the visual interaction of the intelligent machine. In this paper, three point-to-click experiments will be carried out on the basis of the Fitts' Law. The accuracy of the machine vision algorithm is experimentally studied from the operating direction, the mapping scale equation and the machine vision algorithm, and a reasonable suggestion is made for the intelligent machine vision interactive design of the human interaction mode.     

Social effects of the speed of hummed sounds on human–computer interaction

Our research focuses on the nature of voice interaction and activation of psychological tendencies in humans by the power of prosody sounds. This study examines whether people's impressions and behaviours are affected by variations in the speed of hummed sounds. The sounds consist of just prosodic components similar to continuous humming on the open vowel /a/ or /o/ without any language information. In interaction between individuals as well as among animals, temporal structures including voice speed or duration contribute rhythmic interaction and are closely connected to the participants’ dynamics of mental or emotional states. We think that this phenomenon can be applied to human–computer interaction, even through the variation in temporal structures of hummed sounds used to reduce the influence of content or meaning in language. Our interactive system mimics the prosodic features of the human voice by using humming-only sounds under three different voice speed conditions: (a) faster, (b) normal, and (c) slower than the original speaker. We examine whether the variation in the sound's speed gives rise to both psychological and behavioural influences in the relationship between the computer and the subject through interaction. Subjects tend to prefer a computer with a normal or faster speaking rate to that with a slower rate on both usefulness and familiarity. Moreover, the speech rate of the subjects changed inversely to the variation in a computer's hummed sounds. This study demonstrates the importance of temporal structure and emphasizes the need for an investigation of the fundamentals at work in interaction.     

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.     

Getting closer: tailored human–computer speech dialog

This paper presents an advanced call center, which adapts presentation and interaction strategy to properties of the caller such as age, gender, and emotional state. User studies on interactive voice response (IVR) systems have shown that these properties can be used effectively to “tailor” services to users or user groups who do not maintain personal preferences, e.g., because they do not use the service on a regular basis. The adopted approach to achieve individualization of services, without being able to personalize them, is based on the analysis of a caller’s voice. This paper shows how this approach benefits service providers by being able to target entertainment and recommendation options. It also shows how this analysis at the same time benefits the customer, as it can increase accessibility of IVR systems to user segments which have particular expectations or which do not cope well with a “one size fits all” system. The paper summarizes the authors’ current work on component technologies, such as emotion detection, age and gender recognition on telephony speech, and presents results of usability and acceptability tests as well as an architecture to integrate these technologies in future multi-modal contact centers. It is envisioned that these will eventually serve customers with an avatar representation of an agent and tailored interaction strategies, matching powerful output capabilities with advanced analysis of the user’s input.

Don’t do this – Pitfalls in using anti-patterns in teaching human–computer interaction principles

This paper explores the use of design patterns and anti-patterns in teaching human–computer interaction principles. Patterns are increasingly popular and are seen as an efficient knowledge transfer mechanism in many fields, including software development in the field of software engineering, and more recently in the field of human–computer interaction. In software engineering a concerted effort is also being made to identify and document anti-patterns for recording the experiences of expert software developers to caution novices against potential bad practices. It is, however, essential that we ensure compatibility with the learner’s internal knowledge representation and acquisition processes, whether we are attempting to convey the knowledge in the form of a pattern or an anti-pattern. Since teaching with anti-patterns implies using negation, the primary aim of the research reported in this paper is to explore the efficacy of negative, rather than positive, teaching mechanisms. Evidence from theories of mental modelling and knowledge acquisition that highlight significant dangers in the use of anti-patterns to teach novices human–computer interaction principles is presented and supported with empirical findings. We started off by investigating the use of patterns (positive) in teaching, and then carried out experiments to test the use of anti-patterns (negative) in teaching HCI principles. This paper, whilst reporting mainly on our findings with respect to HCI design anti-patterns, will also identify some problems with the structure and use of patterns and anti-patterns in pedagogy.