User/System Interface Meeting 5 September 24, 2019

Deep Breath

Addressing Confusions Models, theories, frameworks of HCI : See summary at end of Meeting 4 slides More discussion this evening and in subsequent weeks Research project ideas Consider systems that frustrate you Scan the topics in one or more of the most recent conference proceedings Focus on small everyday systems: maybe those from the Internet of Things (IoT), maybe laptop and tablet apps that should be the same but aren’t, maybe tasks that take many actions and probably shouldn’t Research project logistics Waiting for clarification about Cayuse Use team members to help, post questions and doubts on piazza.com

Phrase Exercise Only 4 from the grammar had no meaning to anyone drag and drag move and drag drag twice move twice Conversely, you (as experts) agreed Tap is described by one phrase commonly chosen from the grammar Double tap is described by 8 phrases from the grammar Press and hold is described by 5 phrases from the grammar Press and drag is described by 1 phrase from the grammar

Phrase Exercise (2) The two-finger interactions: The only phrase that most everyone attached to an action, and that action was Pull together/Pull apart, was double press Conclusion: Describing actions in common terms is difficulty and should proceed from the interface view to the user view, rather than the other direction.

Research Project Short presentation One spokesperson At most five minutes long Research area, hypotheses, variables, initial experimental design Questions and comments from the audience Designed to help the teams improve their project plan

Research Teams Aspen: Jessica, Josh C Bailey: Anusha, Harsha, Jos, Taylor Conifer: Chaitanya, Josh B, Moulika Durango: Greeshma, Mounika, Vamsi Estes Park: Bhavan, Jarred, Sheshank Fairplay: Kowmundi, Nitin, Usha

Research Project Issues Add to bibliography – goal is at least 15 references Design experiment Create experimental tools Draft consent form using template from Office of Research Protections Complete IRB application on Cayuse by October 3 Are access issues resolved? Start writing Introduction and Background sections Note: Progress Report 1 due 10/22

Summary of Some Ideas User goals Mental models GUEPs Cognitive dimensions

User Goals Based on last week’s discussion and other sources, here’s a list of user goals (from the user’s viewpoint) Users want systems that: Are powerful, meaning fast and efficient Have proper functionality Minimize the possibility for (tragic) errors Allow easy recovery from misdirected actions Are easily learned and easily relearned

User Goals (2) Fit a cognitive model based on past experience Are easy to maintain, including setup Are flexible Stimulate creative problem solving Are personally satisfying

GUEPs and CDs GUEPs (Generative User Engineering Principles) CDs (Cognitive Dimensions)

Understanding Cognitive Dimensions What are they? Meaning from name Meaning from examples Meaning from their definitions Some are negative in that interfaces should not exhibit the property How can they be applied? To notation in an interface (text, icons) To representations of the interface components (widgets) To understanding of functionality

Relating GUEPs and CDs Match the 14 cognitive dimensions to the 9 GUEPs, looking for overlapping and orthogonal ideas. Summarize the results by creating a 14 by 9 array whose cell entries describe the relationship between the ith CD and the jth GUEP

Mental Models Viewed as theories: Constructed by humans Based on their world experience Derived from language, perception, or imagination What humans believe to be true about particular domains, devices, or systems

Mental Models (2) Viewed as problem spaces Mental structures (ideas, concepts, virtual worlds) Contain possible states Searchable, so that users can plan their behaviors (paths from one state to the next, converging on a solution)

A Lengthy Example: An MP Music players (MP) at the ready (iPod, Zune, app on a smart phone, …) What is your mental model of an MP? What do you believe to be true about an MP? How would you describe the problem space associated with an MP?

MP(2) What tasks do you want to accomplish with an MP? Described in high level terms For example, from a completely different context I want fresh tomatoes from my garden on my salad.

MP(3) What operators are available? Physical keys or widgets Virtual widgets on the interface What actions are required to interact with these widgets?

MP(4) What notation do we use for widget interaction? Do we need to expand the keystroke notations of Card & Moran K, H, P, M, Do we use Raskin & Beck expanded to include swipe? Or more?

MP(5) Preparing for task analysis Tasks vs. goals Hierarchical task analysis vs. GOMS ConcurTaskTrees http://hiis.isti.cnr.it/lab/research/CTTE/home From the Human Interfaces in Information Systems laboratory Example

ConcurTaskTrees Task Types Type Action Example User No system interaction Read a message Abstraction Complex User session Application No user interaction Perform a database query Interaction User and system together Click a button

ConcurTaskTrees Operators Unary Operators Icon Description Syntax * Iterative T1 * [ ] Optional [ T1 ] ⃖⃗ Connection T1 Temporal Operators Icon Description Syntax [ ] Choice T1 [ ] T2 |=| Order Independency T1 |=| T2 ||| Concurrent T1 ||| T2 |[ ]| Concurrent with information exchange T1 |[ ]| [> Disabling T1 [> T2 |> Suspend/Resume T1 |> T2 >> Enabling T1 >> T2 [ ]>> Enabling with information exchange T1 [ ]>>T2

Synthesizing Edge and Blackwell Referring to your concept map: What is its top-level concept? What is its structure? What is its shape?

Leave Behind Concept map of the Edge and Blackwell paper

For Next Time Next Time is Tuesday, October 8 For Tuesday, October 1, meet as research teams for an intensive writing session. One person writes; one dictates and checks; one works in parallel exploring the literature Or for an intensive programming session in which you develop your experimental materials. Also, catch up on your reading, including Shneiderman, et al, Chapter 5.