1. 540-310 Human Factors in Information Seeking and Use
Wooseob Jeong

2. 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”)

3. Distributed Cognition

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

5. A place for everything, and everything in its place

6. A Technological Breakthrough

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

8. Organization of Things

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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.

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

27. 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.

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

29. 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!)

30. 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 ( , listservs, conferences)

31. Multimedia Search
Image Retrieval
Keyword searching
Search by Image
Sound Retrieval
Music Retrieval
Movie Retrieval?

32. Visualization of Information (1)

33. Visualization of Information (2)

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

35. 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