Scenarios and the HCI-SE design problem

Diaper's critical review of Carrol's book ‘Making Use’ raises a number of interesting issues about how to set about the design of interactive systems. In particular Diaper poses an issue that has long dogged the area of Human–Computer Interaction and Software Engineering (HCI-SE), namely how to deal with the formality required by the SE side and the sensitivity to context required by the HCI side. In this paper, we report on the experience of using scenario-based design and reflect on the effectiveness of the approach. This work fits into a broader context concerned with understanding exactly what the HCI-SE design problem is and now it might be best conceptualised.     

Hidden Markov model for human to computer interaction: a study on human hand gesture recognition

Human hand recognition plays an important role in a wide range of applications ranging from sign language translators, gesture recognition, augmented reality, surveillance and medical image processing to various Human Computer Interaction (HCI) domains. Human hand is a complex articulated object consisting of many connected parts and joints. Therefore, for applications that involve HCI one can find many challenges to establish a system with high detection and recognition accuracy for hand posture and/or gesture. Hand posture is defined as a static hand configuration without any movement involved. Meanwhile, hand gesture is a sequence of hand postures connected by continuous motions. During the past decades, many approaches have been presented for hand posture and/or gesture recognition. In this paper, we provide a survey on approaches which are based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM) for hand posture and gesture recognition for HCI applications.     

Exploring the use of design pattern maps for aligning new technical support to new clinical team meeting routines

We propose the collaborative activity of mapping design patterns against stakeholder values as a viable method for grounding conceptual design of information and communication technology (ICT) services for heterogeneous sets of stakeholders. Preliminary experiences from designing a case book service for video-mediated gastro-medical team meetings are presented. A diverse set of stakeholders and the challenge to apply novel technologies in a demanding environment have placed more responsibility on the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) team to conceptualise new work practices and their expected effects than what traditional participatory design projects typically entail. By combining the methodologies of genre analysis and pattern languages, design pattern maps have been used to conceptualise solutions that span both work and interface aspects of the solution and that match declared values of the stakeholders concerned. A series of mapping sessions with different stakeholders helped the inter-disciplinary project team to better define, what stakeholder values called for what new work patterns and what kind of supporting interaction design patterns these new work patterns in turn called for.     

User analysis in HCI — the historical lessons from individual differences research

User analysis is a crucial aspect of user-centered systems design, yet Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) has yet to formulate reliable and valid characterizations of users beyond gross distinctions based on task and experience. Individual differences research from mainstream psychology has identified a stable set of characteristics that would appear to offer potential application in the HCI arena. Furthermore, in its evolution over the last 100 years, research on individual differences has faced many of the problems of theoretical status and applicability that are common to HCI. In the present paper, the relationship between work in cognitive and differential psychology and current analyses of users in HCI is examined. It is concluded that HCI could gain significant predictive power if individual differences research was related to the analysis of users in contemporary systems design.     

Activity Recognition in Smart Homes

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In recent years, activity recognition in smart homes is an active research area. It is an important problem of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and has many...     

基于普通红外摄像机的手势识别

手势识别技术作为最有前景的一种自然人机交互模式已经成功应用于一些领域。可靠的手势识别技术多依赖特定的硬件实现,而这种自然交互模式的普及需要自然环境下基于普通摄像机的通用手势识别技术。研究了在普通摄像机下对各种复杂背景、不同光照条件的静态手势的分割和识别技术。首先采用一种邻域变换算法,克服不同光照强度对分割的影响,然后提出一种求最小平均Hausdorff距离区域的算法,克服不同手势形状、方向、尺度等对分割的干扰。手势分割实验结果证明提出的算法可以在各种复杂背景及不同光照条件下分割出手势区域,正确率达到99.8%。最后改进了序贯最小优化算法训练二叉树结构的支持向量机多分类器,对实验采集的各种自然条件下九类手势图像的平均识别率超过80%,证明了算法用作普通摄像机下通用人机交互模式的可行性。     

Image Categorization using Color Blobs in a Mobile Environment

This paper generalizes the basic idea of blobs in preattentive perception using color information. This is usedas the base of a basic classification of low resolution pictures taken with mobile phones. This classification, theblob‐like representation of the image and other information in user's context, such as GPS information, can beused in the presented framework as the basis of a new graphical interface for HCI (Human Computer Interaction).Similar systems whether they work with global properties of the image, which leads to inaccurate results, or withcomplex segmentation process that fails to capture expected objects in the scene. Most of those systems do notpay attention on other information involved in the creation of the image, such as time or location. We describe asystem which uses geographical information associated with a picture in a mobile phone terminal, and with a fastsegmentation based on color categorization.     

Building it better: Applying human–computer interaction and persuasive system design principles to a monetary limit tool improves responsible gambling

In two studies, we aimed to improve the responsible gambling (RG) utility of monetary limit tools for non-disordered Electronic Gambling Machine (EGM) players – the target population for such prevention-oriented RG tools. To this end, based on feedback from focus groups with non-disordered EGM players, we created a new monetary limit tool that incorporated EGM players’ desired functionality coupled with design fundamentals of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Persuasive Systems Design (PSD; Study 1). We then tested the newly created HCI and PSD inspired tool and compared its RG utility (limit adherence) against a standard monetary limit tool (Study 2). Non-disordered EGM players were randomly assigned to experience the HCI and PSD inspired or the standard monetary tool prior to gambling in a virtual realty casino. As predicted, participants adhered to their pre-set monetary limits more (92%), when exposed to the HCI and PSD inspired pop-up tool than the standard monetary limit tool (62.2%). Improving RG tools through the use of HCI and PSD principles is discussed.     

Collectivistic health promotion tools: Accounting for the relationship between culture,food and nutrition

Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers are increasingly examining how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can help people eat more healthfully. However, within HCI, there has been little examination of the way that cultural values influence how people think about food and wellness, and how sociocultural context supports or impedes attempts to eat healthfully. Our work focuses on the diet-related health challenges of African Americans within low-income neighborhoods. This population disproportionately experiences diet-related disease, and as such, researchers have consistently advocated research that examines the way in which food practices are culturally situated.Through formative focus groups with 46 participants we identified several design implications for tools that promote healthy eating while accounting for collectivism, a cultural value often ascribed to the African American population. Based on our design implications we developed, deployed and evaluated two systems that supported the sharing of community-held knowledge about making healthy eating decisions. In our discussion, we present implications for the design of collectivistic systems that address food practices. We conclude with recommendations for HCI research that investigates the relationship between culture and food more broadly.     

基于 Agent的语音交互界面模型与应用

Agent为解决人机交互界面的智能性提供一条新途径;语音技术为人机真正对话提供可行的技术手段。本文用Agent这一抽象概念指导人机语音交互智能用户界面的研究,提出一种基于Agent的语音交互界面理想模型。该模型包括语音识别/合成引擎、学习部件、知识库、执行部件,文章试图探讨支持语音交互功能的知识库描述、定义与学习。基于该模型的“语音秘书系统”成功地实现了说话者独立的语音交互,系统的可靠运行说明该模型是有效的、合理的。     

Playing stupid, caring for users, and putting on a good show: Feminist acts in usability study work

As a feminist HCI agenda develops, feminist analyses of behaviour must venture beyond the dominant liberal feminist approach to include other feminist approaches. Using the personal narrative or auto-ethnographic method, this article explores the role of gender in usability work, a common research practice in HCI. In this article, the author interprets three gendered behaviours that occur in usability work - playing stupid, caring for and about users, and putting on a good show - demonstrating that while these behaviours appear anti-feminist in a liberal feminist framework, they appear feminist in alternative feminist frameworks, such as relational/care-giving, sex-positive, multicultural, post-colonial and Third Wave. The article demonstrates how a feminist HCI agenda that embraces the multiplicity of feminisms necessarily forces a re-examination of usability work’s relationship to both feminism and HCI research methods.     

A Heuristic Evaluation for Deaf Web User Experience (HE4DWUX)

Websites that are usable and accessible can have a positive impact on the overall user experience. Usability Inspection Methods (UIMs) can be applied to evaluate and measure the usability. The current research in the fields of Web Accessibility and Human –Computer Interaction (HCI) is in need of additional UIMs that can be applied to also measure the accessibility, in addition to the usability alone. In this article, a novel UIM in the form of a heuristic evaluation is presented. The heuristic evaluation aims to support HCI experts and Web developers in designing and evaluating websites that provide positive user experiences to users who are deaf. This article discusses the development of the Heuristic Evaluation for Deaf Web User Experience (HE4DWUX). Following an iteration cycle, version 2 of the HE4DWUX is presented in Appendix A. An existing three-phase process to develop heuristics for specific application domains was applied to construct the HE4DWUX. The outcome of this research is 12 heuristics, with each containing its own set of checklist items to operationalize its applicability in measuring the Web user experience for users who are deaf. The heuristics and their checklist items can identify important aspects of design that will impact the Web user experience for this particular user group.     

Socially dependable design: The challenge of ageing populations for HCI

This paper considers the needs of an ageing population and the implications for Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research. The discussion is structured around findings from interviews with medical and care professionals and older people. Various technologies are being successfully used to monitor for falls and other emergencies, and also to assess and manage risk. The design of this technology is currently driven by a medical model of client needs and takes little account of the social context of the home. The design challenges for HCI are to make this technology attractive, provide privacy, allow informed choice and reduce rather than increase the isolation currently felt by many older people. It is argued that the ageing population presents a fundamental challenge to HCI in the need for socially dependable systems. Socially dependable systems take account of social context, the need for sociability and are accessible to all who need them.     

面向老年人的智能家居多模态交互系统研究

提出了应用于智能家居老年人帮助的新型多模态人机交互模式。构建了基于avatar的智能家居人机交互原型系统,集成了语音处理和视线追踪功能,实现了视觉和听觉双通道交互;同时采用基于规则的任务推理方法感知用户任务信息。测试结果表明,该交互模式提高了老年人的交互体验。     

Video diary as a means for data gathering with children – Encountering identities in the making

This paper examines video diaries gathered from 10–11-year-old pupils with the aim of inquiring children׳s technology use in their everyday life. A discourse lens is utilized to provide novel insights into the nature and use of videos and diaries in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research and design. The paper shows how the children, given the same assignment, produced their video diaries from a range of different positions such as ‘a diarist’, ‘a news anchor’ and ‘a stage performer’, and through a variety of widely known genres such as ‘an intimate, confessional diary entry’, ‘a news broadcast’, and ‘a homework assignment’. The children also smoothly moved between the positions and genres sometimes changing them several times even during one video clip. Our findings bear implications on two types of HCI research: firstly, studies using diaries for research and design purposes and, secondly, studies interested in videos produced by the research subjects. The paper emphasizes videos and diaries as a multifaceted resource not only revealing facts from the producers׳ lives but also playful experimenting with different positions and genres highlighting constant identity exploration and construction going on during the creation of the data. During the data analysis it is useful to consider within what kind of positionings and genres the pieces of data or ‘facts’ have been created as these genres and positions always frame and limit what is said and how. The paper also suggests that researchers could try to guide the research subjects to adopt certain positions and to rely on certain genres in producing their diaries or video clips to obtain better-focused data for particular research or design purposes. On the other hand, challenges involved with this kind of an attempt are also highlighted.     

A method for assessing the usability of graphical,direct‐manipulation style interfaces

A model‐based method for assessing the usability of graphical, direct‐manipulation style interfaces was developed. The method involves collecting and integrating verbal protocol data, history logs, and videotapes of the system display. Then, an analyst familiar with the task, the data, and Norman's (1986) user activity model reviews the data and makes determinations on what they mean in terms of the model. An encoding scheme is next applied to the integrated data, to structure the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) process at a detailed interaction level. The structured data now support the application of quantitative methods and the identification of meaningful patterns and frequencies that highlight potential usability problems or instances of indirectness. Error encodings reflect user‐system interface difficulties not only in the execution stage but also in the psychological stages. The method was used to evaluate the usability of a military airspace scheduling system; the types of usability problems identified and the advantages of the method are discussed.     

Towards user centred design (UCD) in architecture based on immersive virtual environments

This paper describes a generic concept of how to combine the experience of user centred design (UCD) in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) with the traditional approach of participatory design (PD) in an architectural design process. Even if some basic requirements of this generic method are not available yet, this paper will also describe an approach, which enables planners even now to involve end users by using virtual environments (VE) as immersive and spatial prototype. It will be described and illustrated by the way of example using the building project Centre of Virtual Engineering of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO) in Stuttgart. It demonstrates that the transfer of the UCD approach to architectural planning combined with the provision of an adequate prototype can make a significant contribution towards an increase in quality and performance in building and construction projects.     

开放系统用户接口技术参考模型及标准轮廓

提出一个开放系统用户接口技术参考模型,给出了用户接口服务的标准体系及标准轮廓描述,定义了格式指南的层次,为实现具有一致风格,统一外观的用户接口设计提供一个通用框架。     

(Un)dressing the interface: Exposing the foundational HCI metaphor “computer is woman”

Two fundamental (and oftentimes opposing) metaphors have directed much of HCI design: HCI is communication and HCI is direct manipulation. Beneath these HCI metaphors, however, is the unspoken metaphor of computer is woman. In this paper we expose this foundational metaphor. We begin by identifying the origin of computer is woman in the early history of computing. Drawing upon postmodern feminist theory, we then explore how this metaphor has resulted in the feminization of HCI is communication and second person interfaces. We show how images of femininity proliferate, becoming the projected images of male fantasies and ideals of womanhood. In becoming these idealized images, the interface is revealed as man in female drag. Finally, not only do we undress the interface to uncover how HCI is communication wraps the computer’s difference from human being within the more basic metaphor of computer is woman, but we also disclose dangers that can arise when this metaphor goes unacknowledged and unexamined.     

A novel approach to improve the planning of adaptive and interactive sessions for the treatment of Major Depression

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is a research field which aims to improve the relationship between users and interactive computer systems. A main objective of this research area is to make the user experience more pleasant and efficient, minimizing the barrier between the users׳ cognition of what they want to accomplish and the computer׳s understanding of the user׳s tasks, by means of user-friendly, useful and usable designs. A bad HCI design is one of the main reasons behind user rejection of computer-based applications, which in turn produces loss of productivity and economy in industrial environments.In the eHealth domain, user rejection of computer-based systems is a major barrier to exploiting the maximum benefit from those applications developed to support the treatment of diseases, and in the worst cases a poor design in these systems may cause deterioration in the clinical condition of the patient. Thus, a high level of personalisation of the system according to users׳ needs is extremely important, making it easy to use and contributing to the system׳s efficacy, which in turn facilitates the empowerment of the target users. Ideally, the content offered through the interactive sessions in these applications should be continuously assessed and adapted to the changing condition of the patient. A good HCI design and development can improve the acceptance of these applications and contribute to promoting better adherence levels to the treatment, preventing the patient from further relapses.In this work, we present a mechanism to provide personalised and adaptive daily interactive sessions focused on the treatment of patients with Major Depression. These sessions are able to automatically adapt the content and length of the sessions to obtain personalised and varied sessions in order to encourage the continuous and long-term use of the system. The tailored adaptation of session content is supported by decision-making processes based on: (i) clinical requirements; (ii) the patient’s historical data; and (iii) current responses from the patient. We have evaluated our system through two different methodologies: the first one performing a set of simulations producing different sessions from changing input conditions, in order to assess different levels of adaptability and variability of the session content offered by the system. The second evaluation process involved a set of patients who used the system for 14–28 days and answered a questionnaire to provide feedback about the perceived level of adaptability and variability produced by the system. The obtained results in both evaluations indicated good levels of adaptability and variability in the content of the sessions according to the input conditions.