David R. Millen

User evaluation: Synthetic talking faces for interactive services

Computer simulation of human faces has been an active research area for a long time. However, it is less clear what the applications of facial animation (FA) will be. We have undertaken experiments on 190 subjects in order to explore the benefits of FA. Part of the experiment was aimed at exploring the objective benefits, i.e., to see if FA can help users to perform certain tasks better. The other part of the experiment was aimed at subjective benefits. At the same time comparison of different FA techniques was undertaken. We present the experiment design and the results. The results show that FA aids users in understanding spoken text in noisy conditions; that it can effectively make waiting times more acceptable to the user; and that it makes services more attractive to the users, particularly when they compare directly the same service with or without the FA.

Information sharing in an online community of journalists

Informal groups of professional workers are forming online communities to create and share information with each other. This paper offers an analysis of an online community of news reporters. Through participant observation in the group electronic discussion, and analysis of archival copies of the group conversation, the authors explore the ways in which this group requests and offers assistance to each other. The types of information created are examined and the temporal characteristics of the group are explored. The analysis revealed a vibrant online community of professionals who use the online communication medium to compliment professional face to face meetings and other forms of communication such as newsletters and journals.

Replying to email with structured responses

Structured response objects include buttons, menus and formatted fields that an email sender can insert in a message to elicit predetermined responses from recipients. Two studies explored the usefulness of structured response objects in meeting the needs of everyday email. In Study 1, subjective content classifications suggested that more than half of typical email messages are requests or answers to requests. Further, a significant proportion of requests and answers could be expressed as structured response objects, the most common one being the choice of a single item from a predetermined list. Study 2 experimentally determined social factors that affect preference for structured responses compared with free form text. It found an overall preference for replying with structured responses compared with text. But, in accordance with social richness theories, this preference was reduced for ambiguous messages and for those of a personal nature. Together, these results suggest that structured response objects can be a useful tool to increase the convenience and efficiency of electronic messaging.

Remote usability evaluation: user participation in the design of a Web-based email service

A case study is presented in which remote usability evaluation methods were used in the development of a new Internet service. The new service provided access to email using a standard web browser. User session logs, which included keystroke level event records, were examined for approximately 600 of the service trial users. This allowed temporal and activity analysis of user behavior, as well as the detection of general session usage patterns. In addition to keystroke level data, feedback about the service was collected using a public discussion forum. The user feedback messages were coded and analyzed to confirm important service benefits, and to identify and understand potential service enhancements. The trial feedback, taken collectively, suggests important attributes that both prevent and invite user adoption of a new email client application.

PhoneMan: the benefits of personal call histories

In the PhoneMan research project we are exploring IP-based telephony control, new telephony interfaces, and non-traditional ways of merging telephony, messaging and alerting. The PhoneMan application allows complete control and monitoring of an ISDN desktop phone from a local PC and remotely from the web. Current features include enhanced screen pops, which can be configured to query local or remote directories, including corporate directories and public white page services, and email call notification, which allows remote call alerting, call logging and active management of personal call histories. User reactions to the initial release of this application, based on in-person interviews and a web-based survey, reveal the novel use of email call logs as active call reminders and email messages as phone event triggers.

Subjective evaluation of animated talking faces

Computer simulation of human faces has been an active research area for a long time, resulting in a multitude of facial models and several animation systems. Current interest for this technology is clearly shown by its inclusion in the MPEG-4 standard. However, it is less clear what the actual applications of facial animation (FA) will be. We have therefore undertaken experiments on 190 subjects in order to explore the benefits of FA. Part of the experiment was aimed at exploring the objective benefits, i.e., to see if FA can help users to perform certain tasks more accurately or efficiently. The other part of the experiment was aimed at more subjective benefits, like raising the level of appeal to the user, gaining more users interest, filling in the waiting times for server access so the users do not get bored. We present the experiment design and the results, The results show that FA aids users in understanding spoken numbers in noisy conditions (error rates drop from 16% to 8%); that it can make waiting times more acceptable to the user; and that it makes services more attractive to the users.

Improving individual and organizational performance through communities of practice[23] (abstract only)

Organizations have been increasingly providing communities of workers with resources, time, physical space and collaborative technologies to enhance the exchange and flow of knowledge and information. In this paper the results of a multi-organizational survey of four work-based communities is presented. These results offer insights into the resource usage, time use for various work activities, and reported individual, community and organizational benefits. A descriptive model is developed and discussed to show the relationships between community participation, time use, and individual and organizational outcomes.