Elizabeth Furtado

Personalized Digital Television

This chapter presents the recommendation techniques applied in Personal Program Guide (PPG). This is a system generating personalized Electronic Program Guides for Digital TV. The PPGmanages a user model that stores the estimates of the individual user’s preferences for TV program categories. This model results from the integration of di¡erent preference acquisitionmodules that handle explicit user preferences, stereotypical information about TV viewers, and information about the user’s viewing behavior. The observation of the individual viewing behavior is particularly easy because the PPG runs on the set-top box and is deeply integrated with the TV playing and the video recording services o¡ered by that type of device.

A co-evolutionary interaction design of digital TV applications based on verbal decision analysis of user experiences

Since mobile TV represents a new paradigm for interaction design, many different candidate solutions of interaction can be possible. Following this concept, a study was accomplished with the objective of finding a better interaction solution for an application of mobile digital TV. Three executable prototypes of an application of mobile TV were built. A multicriteria model of verbal decision analysis was applied to those three alternatives by aiming at investigating the favourite characteristics of each prototype based on users experience and their intentions of use. This model resulted in a method that supports designers in the qualitative analysis of alternatives and collaborative conception of the best solution of interaction to innovative products.

KnowiXML: a knowledge-based system generating multiple abstract user interfaces in USIXML

This research presents a multidisciplinary approach aimed at generating multiple Abstract User Interfaces (AUIs), which are adaptable for different kinds of users, performing different tasks, using specific devices in various physical environments. The UI generation framework, called IKnowU, is based on a unified process for interactive system design, which integrates Software Engineering (SE), and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) best practices. This framework is supported by KnowiXML, a Knowledge-Based System (KBS) that facilitates the application of models and the allocation of appropriate visual elements during the generation of AUIs. These AUIs are generated by using problem solving methods studied in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Design knowledge encoded in KnowiXML uniformly manipulates models and UI specifications through the use of an User Interface Description Language (UIDL).

Analysis of the Interaction Design for Mobile TV Applications Based on Multicriteria

Since mobile TV represents a new paradigm for interaction design, many different candidate solutions of interaction can be possible. There is not yet any work that explores how to consider the users’ experience with technology to analyze the best solution(s) to the interaction design of a mobile TV application. This report brings an experience about what criteria addressing users’ experience influence designers to make a decision. A qualitative analysis was performed for different solutions and was based on a multicriteria approach. These criteria were classified in accordance with users’ preferences and their intentions of use, which were obtained from a ranking modeled with the ZAPROS III multicriteria method. Results revealed great influence of the users’ familiarity with applications in the ease of navigation.

Applying a multi-criteria approach for the selection of usability patterns in the development of DTV applications

In this paper we describe a multi-criteria approach in which the execution of its steps integrated to a Software Development Process (SDP) allow the generation of the User Interface (UI) Definition Plan, which is an artifact used for UI design of software. This approach applies techniques from Operational Research (OR), and from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), considering diverse criteria (functional and non functional requirements) that have an impact on the interaction design and using usability patterns, respectively. In this text, its main goal was to identify the order of attractiveness of a list of usability patterns for a certain interactive task of Digital TV (DTV) applications, thus allowing the selection of the most appropriate pattern in this new communication resource.

From usability tasks to usable user interfaces

In this paper we describe how the identification of usability tasks in the task model as an early consideration of usability in the process can directly influence the design of usable User Interfaces (UI). We intend to make system analysts and UI designers work and communicate better by sharing artifacts, thus providing a process that aims at the integration of professionals working with a productive process in order to develop UIs with usability.

Do users write about the system in use?: an investigation from messages in natural language on Twitter

Social Network Sites have grown considerably in recent years. Studies have revealed that users write in Social Systems about services, opinions or facts concerning personal life. However, no studies have been found regarding the following question: Do users write about the system in use? How? Is it valid to evaluate the users experience in Social Network Sites through their written texts? A methodology to search for postings of users on Twitter was used, composed of filters which combine patterns which may be related to the use of the system. The results have shown evidence that some messages posted in these types of systems are about the system in use. As a contribution, we presented some characteristics of the messages of the users of social networking sites in order to facilitate the understanding of its usage experience.

A conceptual framework for the design and evaluation of affective usability in educational geosimulation systems

In this article we propose a conceptual framework for associating the concepts of usability, computer education and affective quality. We analyze the interaction student-teacher under the light of learning strategies used in educational geosimulators for defining the main emotional constructs that are involved in this process. We elaborate this initial analysis by identifying which interactive objects should be associated with the identified emotional constructs. We associate these objects with an architecture that defines the basics components of an educational geosimulation system as well as the learning strategies used in this context. We illustrate the utility of the framework with an evaluation of an education geosimulator for police training as well as an evaluation of the students satisfaction during the interaction in different scenarios.

How Do Users Express Their Emotions Regarding the Social System in Use? A Classification of Their Postings by Using the Emotional Analysis of Norman

Social Networking Sites SNS allow users to post messages aboutany event which has occurred with them, including the system itself. In this study, we conducted two experiments with postings of users on SNS in order to investigate i how users express their emotions regarding the use of the system, and ii how to assess the user experience by using their postings during the system interaction. The results showed some characteristics of postings related to the use which may be useful for UX evaluation in SNS.

Towards for Analyzing Alternatives of Interaction Design Based on Verbal Decision Analysis of User Experience

In domains (as digital TV, smart home, and tangible interfaces) that represent a new paradigm of interactivity, the decision of the most appropriate interaction design solution is a challenge. HCI researchers have promoted in their works the validation of design alternative solutions with users before producing the final solution. User experience with technology is a subject that has also gained ground in these works in order to analyze the appropriate solution(s). Following this concept, a study was accomplished under the objective of finding a better interaction solution for an application of mobile TV. Three executable applications of mobile TV prototypes were built. A Verbal Decision Analysis model was applied on the investigations for the favorite characteristics in each prototype based on the userâ??s experience and their intentions of use. This model led a performance of a qualitative analysis which objectified the design of a new prototype.