1. User/System Interface
Meeting 5
September 24, 2019

2. Deep Breath

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Summary of Some Ideas User goals Mental models GUEPs
Cognitive dimensions

10. 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

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

17. 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?

18. 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.

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

20. 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?

21. MP(5) Preparing for task analysis Tasks vs. goals
Hierarchical task analysis vs. GOMS
ConcurTaskTrees
From the Human Interfaces in Information Systems laboratory
Example

22. 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

23. 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

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

25. Leave Behind
Concept map of the Edge and Blackwell paper

26. 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.