540-310 Human Factors in Information Seeking and Use Wooseob Jeong

Notice Corrections in Syllabus See the class web site. Review of Jeong & Gluck (2003) is due on February 25th. (PDF file is at the class web site.) In-class presentation It’s good to try identifying your usability test item early. (“measurable”)

Distributed Cognition

Three Mile Island Accident The main control console signals overwhelmed human operators. 18 of 22 problems identified were human factors problems

A place for everything, and everything in its place

A Technological Breakthrough

Other Technology Needed! Copy Machine – coping tools Standardized Paper Size Is it solved really? Post-It Notes

Organization of Things

Organization of Knowledge Hardware Store Hierarchical and organized by function Coupled by expertise Dictionary/Encyclopedia Alphabetical – problems? Advantage of digital format Organization of Web? Similar to Library Catalog? Search engines

Menu Selection (1) Use task semantics to organize menus Prefer broad-shallow to narrow-deep Show position by graphics, numbers, or titles Use items as titles for sub trees Group items meaningfully Sequence items meaningfully Use brief items, begin with the keyword

Menu Selection (2) Use consistent grammar, layout, terminology Allow type ahead, jump ahead, or other short cuts Enable jumps to previous and main menu Consider online help; novel selection mechanisms; and optimal response time, display rate, screen size

Form Filling Design (1) Meaningful title Comprehensible instructions Logical grouping and sequencing of fields Visually appealing layout of the form Familiar field labels Consistent terminology and abbreviation Visible space and boundaries for data-entry fields

Form Filling Design (2) Error prevention where possible Error messages for unacceptable values Marking of optional fields Explanatory messages for fields Completion signal to support user control

Dialog Box (1) Internal layout Meaningful title, consistent style top-left to bottom-right sequencing Clustering and emphasis Consistent layouts (margins, grid, …) Standard buttons (OK, Cancel, …) Error prevention by direct manipulation

Dialog Box (2) External relationship Smooth appearance and disappearance Distinguishable but small boundary Size small enough to reduce overlap problems Display close to appropriate items No overlap of required items Easy to make disappear Clear how to complete/cancel

Error-message (1) Product Be as specific and precise as possible Be constructive: indicate what the user needs to do. Use a positive tone: avoid condemnation Choose user-centered phrasing. Consider multiple levels of messages. Maintain consistent grammatical form, terminology, and abbreviations. Maintain consistent visual format and placement.

Error-message (2) Process Establish a message quality-control group. Include messages in the design phase. Place all messages in a file. Review messages during development. Design the product to eliminate the need for most messages. Carry out acceptance tests. Collect frequency data for each message. Review and revise messages over time.

Non-anthropomorphic Guidelines Avoid presenting computers as people. Choose appropriate humans for introductions or guides. Use caution in designing computer-generated human faces or cartoon characters. Use cartoon characters in games or children’s software, but usually not elsewhere. Design comprehensible, predictable, and controllable interfaces. Provide user-centered overviews for orientation and closure. Do not use “I” when the computer responds to human actions. Use “you” to guide users, or just state facts.

Using Colors (1) Use color conservatively: limit the number and amount of colors. Recognize the power of color to speed or slow tasks. Ensure that color coding should supports the task. Make color coding appear with minimal user effort. Keep color coding under user control.

Using Colors (2) Design for monochrome first. Use color to help in formatting. Be consistent in color coding. Be alert to common expectations about color codes. Use color changes to indicate status changes. Use color in graphic displays for greater information density.

Benefits of using color Various colors are soothing or striking to the eye. Color can improve an uninteresting display. Color facilities subtle discriminations in complex displays. A color code can emphasize the logical organization of information. Certain colors can draw attention to warnings. Color coding can evoke more emotional reactions of joy, excitement, fear, or anger.

Dangers of using color Color pairings may cause problems. Color fidelity may degrade on other hardware. (Example) Printing or conversion to other media may be a problem.

User Manual Guidelines (1) Product (1) Let user’s tasks guide organization (outside-in). Let user’s learning process shape sequencing. Present task concepts before interface objects and actions. Keep writing style clean and simple. Show numerous examples

User Manual Guidelines (2) Product (2) Offer meaningful and complete sample sessions. Draw transition or menu-tree diagrams. Try advance organizers and summaries. Provide table of contents, index, and glossary. Include list of error messages. Give credits to all project participants.

User Manual Guidelines (3) Process Seek professional writers and copy writers. Prepare user manuals early (before implementation). Review drafts thoroughly. Field test early editions. Provide a feedback mechanism for readers. Revise to reflect changes regularly.

The Human-Centered View (1) People Machine Creative Dumb Compliant Rigid Attentive to change Insensitive to change Resourceful Unimaginative

The Human-Centered View (2) People Machine Decisions are flexible because they are based upon qualitative as well as quantitative assessment, modified by the special circumstances and context. Decisions are consistent because they are based upon quantitative evaluation of numerically specified, context-free variable.

The Machine-Centered View People Machine Vague Precise Disorganized Orderly Distractible Undistractible Emotional unemotional Illogical Logical

The Language of Logic Question The current stamp vending machine! I have two coins that total 30 cents. One of them is not a 5-cent piece. What are they? The current stamp vending machine! Computer Science vs. Information Science (Studies, whatever!)

Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) Same Time Different Times Same Place Face to face (classrooms, meeting rooms) Asynchronous interaction (project scheduling, coordination tools) Different Places Synchronous distributed (shared editors, video windows, instant messaging, chat) Asynchronous distributed (email, listservs, conferences)

Multimedia Search http://www.sois.uwm.edu/Jeong/540310/multimediaIR.htm Image Retrieval Keyword searching Search by Image Sound Retrieval Music Retrieval Movie Retrieval?

Visualization of Information (1)

Visualization of Information (2)

Visualization of Information (3) 3Ds and Colors Sonification/Audification ICAD – International Community for Auditory Display Hapticization/Haptification Gaming Industry Jeong’s research

Assistive Computing Section 508 ACM Computers & the Physically Handicapped Conferences Proceedings Research papers presented in ACM conferences (full text - PDF) Windows Accessibility Option Screen Magnifier Braille Generator Speech Generator Sign Language Generator Head Movement Input  http://www.sois.uwm.edu/jeong/540310/assistive.htm