Supporting rapid design and evaluation of pervasive application: challenges and solutions Lei Tang 1,2, Zhiwen Yu 1, Xingshe Zhou 1, Hanbo Wang 1, Christian Becker 2 1.School of Computer, Northwestern Polytechnical University 2. University of Mannheim Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 2011

Outline Introduction Designing Challenges User-centered prototyping technique Rapid prototyping toolkits Open issues Conclusions

Introduction

"value for end-users" "core technical workability" Build a Good Application (1/3)

Good Application Design Evaluate Building a Good Application (2/3)

Evaluate Build Prototype DEMO Building a Good Application (3/3)

It is very difficult to predict how users will react when designing a service. Problem High cost in a design process

Problem Rapid Prototype Tools It is very difficult to predict how users will react when designing a service. High cost in a design process

Rapid Prototype Tools Activity Designer Topiary Visual RDK Other Tools Which one?

Classifying design challenges Overview of prototyping techniques Presenting several open issues Contribution: Survey Tools

Designing Challenges

User and task analysis in uneven environment Tracking user intent for implicit interaction Long-term, in situ design evaluations

User and task analysis in uneven environment Uncertainty in user analysis Mixed task analysis Simple Complex Past Now Future

Tracking user intent for implicit interaction Help user Hinder user Implicit interaction How to track user intent?

Long-term, in situ design evaluations Laboratory experiments Real-world experiments How to find the appropriate way for the evaluation?

User-centered prototyping technique

Design cycle with prototypes Prototyping techniques

Design cycle with prototypes

User-centered prototyping technique Design cycle with prototypes Prototyping techniques

Design cycle with prototypes Construct prototypes rapidly Remove inessential elements Construct prototypes for a particular purpose

Design cycle with prototypes Construct prototypes rapidly – Find out design issues – Rapid, incremental, reversible – Identify particular purposes and prioritize features Remove inessential elements Construct prototypes for a particular purpose

Design cycle with prototypes Construct prototypes rapidly Remove inessential elements – Avoid unnecessary design – Evaluate in early design stage – Remove unnecessary features Construct prototypes for a particular purpose

Design cycle with prototypes Construct prototypes rapidly Remove inessential elements Construct prototypes for a particular purpose – capture the user’s intent from the interaction experience (when, where, how) – test the design for usability

Design cycle with prototypes Construct prototypes rapidly Remove inessential elements Construct prototypes for a particular purpose – capture the user’s intent from the interaction experience (when, where, how) – test the design for usability

User-centered prototyping technique Design cycle with prototypes Prototyping techniques

Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping – Create “mockups” of UIs – Testing/evaluating usability and idea rapidly Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping – Simulate system response in real time, and observes user actions – Challenge : build two interfaces (user and wizard) Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping – Designers experience prototype themselves – Diary studies for designers Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping – Sequence of screens, and show feedback effects – Disadvantage: hard to evaluate user’s reactions. Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping – A Tool for drawing real, working interface by dragging widget on a window Functional component prototyping

Prototyping techniques Paper prototyping Wizard of Oz prototyping Experience prototyping Storyboard prototyping Form builder prototyping Functional component prototyping – Basic elements from a broad range of research – Provide simple API for prototyping applications

Rapid prototyping toolkits

Design-focused toolkits Evaluation-focused toolkits Summary

Rapid prototyping toolkits Design-focused toolkits Evaluation-focused toolkits Summary

Design-focused toolkits Prediction-based user analysis Cyber-physical task analysis Representation of user intent Description of application semantics

Design-focused toolkits Prediction-based user analysis – Predict users’ performance by task records Cyber-physical task analysis Representation of user intent Description of application semantics

Design-focused toolkits Prediction-based user analysis Cyber-physical task analysis – Main task -> subtasks – Subtasks analysis Representation of user intent Description of application semantics

Design-focused toolkits Prediction-based user analysis Cyber-physical task analysis Representation of user intent – Event, condition, action – User preferences Description of application semantics

Design-focused toolkits Prediction-based user analysis Cyber-physical task analysis Representation of user intent Description of application semantics – Demonstration with state graph – Demonstration with storyboard – Visual programming

Rapid prototyping toolkits Design-focused toolkits Evaluation-focused toolkits – Testing in simulation environment – In situ evaluation – Woz Summary

Rapid prototyping toolkits Design-focused toolkits Evaluation-focused toolkits Summary

The context-aware application can be simulated – Device, behavior, long-term user activities – Location context => map based interface Based on current infrastructure – CAMP is built on top of the INCA Infrastructure – Visual-RDK is built on an context server – CRN Toolbox is built on KNN classifier algorithm

Summary One Prototype Tool => Solve different needs – Understanding user experience – Groping for better design – Simulate complex sensor input User-friendly interface for designing and testing – Mouse-driven, drag-and-drop interaction

Open issues

Simulating pervasive environment Description of context-awareness Demonstrating application semantics Robust debugging environment Logging test data Integrating the design process Field deployment Evaluation criteria

Conclusion

Survey and analysis Designing and evaluating pervasive applications Prototyping toolkits Open issues Environment definition and simulation Future work Demo, debug, and evaluation