Abigail Sellen

Design for privacy in ubiquitous computing environments

Current developments in information technology are leading to increasing capture and storage of information about people and their activities. This raises serious issues about the preservation of privacy. In this paper we examine why these issues are particularly important in the introduction of ubiquitous computing technology into the working environment. Certain problems with privacy are closely related to the ways in which the technology attenuates natural mechanisms of feedback and control over information released. We describe a framework for design for privacy in ubiquitous computing environments and conclude with an example of its application.

A comparison of reading paper and on-line documents

We report on a laboratory study that compares reading from paper to reading on-line. Critical differences have to do with the major advantages paper offers in supporting annotation while reading, quick navigation, and flexibility of spatial layout. These, in turn, allow readers to deepen their understanding of the text, extract a sense of its structure, create a plan for writing, cross-refer to other documents, and interleave reading and writing. We discuss the design implications of these findings for the development of better reading technologies.

New technology and human error

This book is about the nature of human error and the implications for design of modern industrial installations. It is the first book discussing the topic from the point of view of cognitive psychology, social psychology and safety engineering. Advanced students, researchers and professional psychologists in industrial psychology/human factors and engineers or systems designers concerned with man-machine systems will find this book essential reading.

A comparison of input devices in element pointing and dragging tasks

An experiment is described comparing three devices (a mouse, a trackball, and a stylus with tablet) in the performance of pointing and dragging tasks. During pointing, movement times were shorter and error rates were lower than during dragging. It is shown that Fitts’ law can model both tasks, and that within devices the index of performance is higher when pointing than when dragging. Device differences also appeared. The stylus displayed a higher rate of information pmeessing than the mouse during pointing but not during dragging. The trackball ranked third for both tasks,

Beyond total capture: a constructive critique of lifelogging

Rather than try to capture everything, system design should focus on the psychological basis of human memory.

The ubiquitous camera: an in-depth study of camera phone use

Little in-depth data exists regarding what users actually do with their camera phones. Our goal was thus to understand how people use camera phone images for social and personal purposes and affective and functional purposes. We had two main objectives. The first was to explore the range and diversity of use to help broaden our outlook on current and future camera phone use. The second was to elucidate the characteristics and context of use for different activities to learn how we might better support such activities.

Two-handed input in a compound task

Four techniques for performing a compound drawing/color selection task were studied: a unimanual technique, a bimanual technique where different hands controlled independent subtasks, and two other bimanual techniques in which the action of the right hand depended on that of the left hand. We call this latter class of two-handed technique “asymmetric dependent,” and predict that because tasks of this sort most closely conform to bimanual tasks in the everyday world, they would give rise to the best performance. Results showed that one of the asymmetric bimauual techniques, called the Toolglass technique, did indeed give rise to the best overall performance. Reasons for the superiority of this technique are discussed in terms of their implications for design. These are contrasted with other kinds of two-handed techniques, and it is shown how, if designed inappropriately, two hands can be worse than one.

Speech patterns in video-mediated conversations

This paper reports on the first of a series of analyses aimed at comparing same room and video-mediated conversations for multiparty meetings. This study compared patterns of spontaneous speech for same room versus two video-mediated conversations. One video system used a single camera, monitor and speaker, and a picture-in-a-picture device to display multiple people on one screen. The other system used multiple cameras, monitors, and speakers in order to support directional gaze cues and selective listening. Differences were found between same room and video-mediated conversations in terms of floor control and amount of simultaneous speech. While no differences were found between the video systems in terms of objective speech measures, other important differences are suggested and discussed.

A diary study of work-related reading: design implications for digital reading devices

In this paper we describe a diary study of how people read in the course of their daily working lives. Fifteen people from a wide variety of professions were asked to log their daily document activity for a period of 5 consecutive working days. Using structured interviews, we analysed their reading activities in detail. We examine the range of reading activities that our subjects carried out, and then present findings relating to both common characteristics and variation across the sample. From these findings, we discuss some implications for the design of digital readiig devices.

Reflecting human values in the digital age

HCI experts must broaden the fields scope and adopt new methods to be useful in 21st-century sociotechnical environments.