ORCHID Research in Computer Human Interaction Design ORCHID Research Group Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Understanding

ORCHID Research GroupDepartment of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ORCHIDResearch in Computer Human Interaction Design

Understanding Research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Brian P. BaileyDepartment of Computer Science

University of Illinois – Urbana


Common Misconceptions

• “HCI doesn’t develop software systems”

• “HCI builds interfaces, but that’s easy!”

• “HCI just collects usability data”


Messages

• HCI works with real users throughout the research process– distinguishes HCI from other areas in CS– will emphasize outcomes of working with users in projects

• HCI builds interactive software systems– developing an effective interface is intellectually challenging and

requires a large programming effort– the UI accounts for about 50-75% of all software created today– why HCI fits within CS

• HCI conducts many different forms of evaluations– contextual inquiries, usability studies, comparative evaluations,

controlled experiments, and more

• HCI seeks to develop systems that increase productivity, amplify creativity, enhance communication, and increase quality of life– interfaces for collaborative workspaces, systems that manage attention,

and tools for multimedia design and storytelling


You Should Care Because:

• Adopting user-centered methods will increase your success– talk with users, identify real problems– prototype interfaces with users– evaluate with users

• You are being challenged to better serve society (e.g., in health care, education, design, security applications)– more application-oriented and user-focused– requires understanding of HCI

• The methods can be learned in many ways– student groups (ACM, HFES, 591), IS projects, and courses


Research Process in HCI

• Identify a real problem or need and quantify it– Contextual inquiries, surveys, interviews, observation

• Develop a user-centered system to address it– Apply related theories and models from social,

behavioral, cognitive sciences to guide design– A means to an end and not the end itself

• Evaluate how well system addressed problem– Impact on productivity, creativity, or communication– Drives creativity and discovery

• Disseminate results, lessons, and software


HCI Brings People, Information, and Technology Together

Technology

People Social, Behavioral, Cognitive Sciences

Library and Information Science

Engineering and computer science

Human Factors

Information

HCI


What I Enjoy about HCI Research

• Learning from and about others

• Developing purposeful systems

• Intellectual diversity

• Improving people’s interaction with tech.

• Seeing people use our systems, but…– Evaluations pose many challenges, e.g., hypotheses,

experimental design, tasks, recruitment, setup and instrumentation, analysis, interpretation, reporting

– Can be frustrating, but drives discovery


HCI Education

• In our department– User interface design (498 - Bailey)– Scenario Based Design (598 - Twidale)– Social Computing (598 - Karahalios)– HCI Reading Seminar (591 - Bailey)

• At UIUC– Lots of complementary courses in LIS and

Department of Psychology


HCI Research

• Interfaces for collaborative workspaces

• Managing human attention

• Tools for interactive design


UIs for Collaborative Workspaces

• Information brought into collaborations is digital– Smaller, private systems

brought by users– Larger, public systems

fixed in the workspace

• Advances in OS research enable screens to form a single virtual system

• Need effective interfaces for relocating applications and input among them


ARIS

• Uses an iconic representation

• Folds walls down

• Shows location and orientation of user

• Highlights salient physical features

• Communicates through visual cues

[Graphics Interface ’04]


Video of ARIS

• Independent systems

• Notice feedbackof interaction


Implementation and Impact

• About 5K LOC in C# on .Net– executes on a laptop or PDA– Integrates code from multiple sources

• Enable richer collaboration among users of these workspaces


How Users Were Involved

• Low-fidelity prototyping– Three iterations, about 4 users per iteration– Led to significant design improvements

• Comparison of ARIS to text-based and virtual path interfaces– 16 users performed tasks with all interfaces– Led to a better understanding of tradeoffs


HCI Research



• Tools for interactive design


Interruption Overload

• User tasks being interrupted more often– Applications becoming more proactive– Alerts, reminders, feedback from automation, etc.– Desktop, control rooms, in-vehicle displays

• Disrupts performance, error rate, and affective state [Interact ’01, SIGCHI ’04, UIST ’04]– Cause loss of life in safety critical systems– Cause users to shut off applications in others– Increases with mental workload of primary task


An Attention Manager

• Reasons about when to interrupt users– Observe tasks that a user performs– Measure user’s mental workload during those tasks

• Uses historical observations to identify opportune moments for delivering information– Use forecasting to identify most opportune moment,

when value maximally outweighs cost in a given time

• Develop cost of interruption based on workload


Understand How Mental Workload Changes During Task Execution

• Posited that workload decreases at subtask boundaries in task execution

• But, … interactive tasks are hierarchical, creating multiple levels of boundaries

Level 1

Level 2

Revise

Cmt 1 Cmt 2

edit reviewreview edit


Pupil Size to Measure Workload

• Reliable indicator of workload, but requires controlled illumination– Increase in pupil size indicates increase in workload

• Pupillary response correlates well with workload induced by interactive tasks [SIGCHI ’04]

• Could use saccades, blink rate, heart rate variability, EEG measures, and more– Multiple measures approach probably best


Map Task


GOMS Analysis

Model predicted about 98% ofuser task sequences


Analysis Video

• Align pupil size and task through video


Understanding the Graph

• X-axis:– Subtasks of

the model

• Y-axis:– Average PCPS

of each subtask– Increasing

values show more workload


Results

• Rapid onset

• Rise and fall during task

• Rapid descent


Boundaries

• Larger decreasesat higher level boundaries


Boundaries

• Larger decreasesat higher level boundaries

• Smaller decreasesat lower level


Findings

• Higher boundaries better for interruption– But not always!

• Couple measure of workload to model


Impact

• Show how to map workload to a computational index of opportunity

• Further show that pupil size is a reliable measure of mental workload

• Methods will enable UI designers to use workload to evaluate user interfaces

• Enable users to be more productive, commit fewer errors, make better decisions, and experience less frustration



• Experimental Study (12 users)– Use of empirical data led to a more insightful

index (20 bins)– minimum number of bins that is still sensitive

to changes at the boundaries


HCI Research



• Tools for Interactive Design


Computer Tools Ineffective in the Early Stages of the Design Process

• Require too much investment too early

• Force the use of a small workspace

• Poor social and physical affordances

• Eschew the use of computer tools or use them but at a high cost

• Hurts creativity and leads to less effective design solutions


DEMAIS – Support Informal Representations

• Interactive sketching

• Storyboard, voice script, and multi-view editors

• Sketching language– Connect objects– Change operators– Chose operators by

inspecting applications

• Run the sketched design– Explore and communicate

ideas through experience[MMM ’01, ACM MM ’98, ’01ACM SIGCHI ’03]


Affords creative design of interaction

DEMAIS - Demo

• Interactively explore and learn about Lewis and Clark’s interactions with native tribes

• Adapted from a designer’s sketch in an evaluation

- PBS.org



• Motivate the need for a better design tool– 25 designers shared design information– Led to documentation of multimedia design

process, provided real life stories• Compare DEMAIS to other tools

– 6 designers used multiple tools for design– Led to better understanding of strengths and

weakness of different features of DEMAIS– Led to better understanding of tradeoffs


Develop Larger Electronic Workspace

• Tether graphics tablet to a large display– sketch details in context

– instantaneously switch between focus + context

• Control system with ND input device (“puck”)

[Graphics Interface ‘04]


Video of Saffron

• Pan and zoom focus view using ND hand

• Sketch details in context of design

• Two-handed interaction


Collaborative Design Space

• Use a high-resolution large screen– 18’ wide x 8’ high

• Multiple focus screens to support collaboration



• Improve interaction design of Saffron– 14 users gave feedback on different

configurations of the system– Led to an interaction design that was not

previously thought about


Integrate Use of Physical Tools

• Connect use of physical tools to our sketching tool

– Select a clean sheet of paper, a new storyboard is created in the tool

– Manipulate artifacts to demonstrate a behavior, a behavioral stroke is created

• The interface consists of– A digitizing pad to capture ink strokes– An over-the-desk vision system to identify

physical artifacts– Projected display for feedback

• Retain affordances of physical tools longer without losing benefits of a sketching tool



• Motivate need for physical interface– 12 designers shared reasons about what

paper is used for and why it is used– Provides evidence to support a tangible

interface over computer-based interface


Impact

• Inspire easier-to-use authoring tools that use sketching as the programming language

• Show how use of small and large screens can form a workspace more effective than its parts

• Show how computational tools can better support – even amplify creativity in design

• Enable higher-quality interactive systems to be developed in less time


Conclusion

• Research in human-computer interaction:– Works with users throughout the research process– Develops interactive software systems– Involves much more than usability studies

• Working with users will improve your projects– We have worked with over 100 users in our research– Talk, prototype, evaluate with real users

• Become more involved in HCI– Speak to me about project opportunities– Consider student groups, IS projects, or courses


Acknowledgments


Questions

• For more information, please see

http://hci.cs.uiuc.edu

Documents

ORCHID Research in Computer Human Interaction Design ORCHID Research Group Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Understanding