Faisal Taher

Exploring the facebook experience: a new approach to usability

The focus of this paper is to explore social networking sites such as Facebook in order to understand their recent success and popularity. Recent developments within Web 2.0 have provided users with more freedom to create their own unique user experiences. The conflict between traditional usability methods and user experiences are addressed through carrying out a Heuristic Evaluation to assess how well Facebook complies with usability guidelines and by conducting a user study to unveil unique user experiences. The findings of this study calls for a more holistic method of evaluation that redefines usability to encompass the user experience in line with future technology.

Exploring Interactions with Physically Dynamic Bar Charts

Visualizations such as bar charts help users reason about data, but are mostly screen-based, rarely physical, and almost never physical and dynamic. This paper investigates the role of physically dynamic bar charts and evaluates new interactions for exploring and working with datasets rendered in dynamic physical form. To facilitate our exploration we constructed a 10x10 interactive bar chart and designed interactions that supported fundamental visualisation tasks, specifically; annotation, filtering, organization, and navigation. The interactions were evaluated in a user study with 17 participants. Our findings identify the preferred methods of working with the data for each task i.e. directly tapping rows to hide bars, highlight the strengths and limitations of working with physical data, and discuss the challenges of integrating the proposed interactions together into a larger data exploration system. In general, physical interactions were intuitive, informative, and enjoyable, paving the way for new explorations in physical data visualizations.

Exploring user preferences for indoor navigation support through a combination of mobile and fixed displays

In this paper we explore, through a formative study, user preferences for indoor navigation support using a combination of mobile and fixed displays along with a range of navigation content such as digital 2D maps, 3D route visualizations (presented as continuous media from a first person perspective) and graphical directional arrows. It is well-established that visitors within complex building architectures (e.g. hospitals) often face challenges in finding their way and are limited to using traditional static signage or asking others for directions. Recent developments in mobile and pervasive technology however, are enabling a range of possibilities and augmenting the way in which users receive digital navigation support. Here, we discuss a formative study involving 16 participants using the prototype Hermes2 Navigation System in order to inform the development of a useful and usable interactive indoor navigation system.

Formative studies for dynamic wayfinding support with in-building situated displays and mobile devices

There is a significant disparity between wayfinding support services available in outdoor and in-building locations. Services such as Google Maps and in-car GPS allow users to examine unknown outdoor locations in advance as well as receive guidance en-route. In contrast, there is relatively little digital technology to support users in complex building architectures, e.g. institution buildings where users are generally limited to using traditional signage or asking for directions at the reception. However, recent advances in pervasive digital display technology are enabling a new range of possibilities and are making this topic increasingly subject to study. In this paper, we describe five formative studies involving 39 participants using situated digital displays, a Person Locator Kiosk, and personal mobile devices. We report our findings by gaining insights and feedback from users in order to develop wayfinding assistance for visitors in an in-building environment.

An Empirical Characterization of Touch-Gesture Input-Force on Mobile Devices

Designers of force-sensitive user interfaces lack a ground-truth characterization of input force while performing common touch gestures (zooming, panning, tapping, and rotating). This paper provides such a characterization firstly by deriving baseline force profiles in a tightly-controlled user study; then by examining how these profiles vary in different conditions such as form factor (mobile phone and tablet), interaction position (walking and sitting) and urgency (timed tasks and untimed tasks). We conducted two user studies with 14 and 24 participants respectively and report: (1) force profile graphs that depict the force variations of common touch gestures, (2) the effect of the different conditions on force exerted and gesture completion time, (3) the most common forces that users apply, and the time taken to complete the gestures. This characterization is intended to aid the design of interactive devices that integrate force-input with common touch gestures in different conditions.

A Characterization of Actuation Techniques for Generating Movement in Shape-Changing Interfaces

ABSTRACT This article characterizes actuation techniques for generating movement in shape-changing displays with physically reconfigurable geometry. To date, few works in human–computer interaction literature provide detailed and reflective descriptions of the implementation techniques used in shape-changing displays. This hinders the rapid development of novel interactions as researchers must initially spend time understanding technologies before prototyping new interactions and applications. To bridge this knowledge gap, the authors propose a taxonomy that classifies actuator characteristics and simplifies the process for designers to select appropriate technologies that match their requirements for developing shape displays. They scope the investigation to linear actuators that are used in grid configurations. The taxonomy is validated by (a) examining current implementation techniques of motorized, pneumatic, hydraulic, magnetic, and shape-memory actuators in the literature, (b) constructing prototypes to address limited technical details and explore actuator capabilities in depth, (c) describing a use-case scenario through a case study that details the construction of a 10 × 10 actuator shape-display, and (d) a set of guidelines to aid researchers in selecting actuation techniques for shape-changing applications. The significance of their taxonomy is twofold. First, the authors provide an original contribution that enables HCI researchers to appropriately select actuation techniques and build shape-changing applications. This is situated amongst other past works that have investigated broader application scenarios such as a shape-changing vocabulary, a framework for shape transformations, material properties, and technical characteristics of various actuators. Second, they carry out in-depth investigations to validate their taxonomy and expand the knowledge of vertical actuation in shape-changing applications to enable rapid development.

The Design, Deployment and Evaluation of Situated Display-Based Systems to Support Coordination and Community

In recent years, there has been much interest in the potential for situated displays to support sense of community. In this chapter, we describe our experiences of two significant situated display-based deployments which explore some of the issues that arise when such systems are used on a day to day basis. The first deployment described is that of the Hermes system which has been deployed and evaluated in both a University department and a domestic home setting. The second deployment is the Wray photo display which has been deployed in two locations in a rural village located in the north of England. Both deployments made strong use of user-centered design and have benefitted from longitudinal evaluation in order to provide key insights into issues of adoption and appropriation.

Exploring Personal Mobile Phones and Digital Display Systems to Support Indoor Navigation by Formative Study Methods

A significant difference exists between wayfinding support services available in outdoor and indoor locations. Users in outdoor locations can access services like Google Maps via a mobile phone and in-car GPS, which allows them to examine unknown locations before arrival as well as receive assistance en-route. In contrast, there is relatively little digital wayfinding support for users in indoor locations, where users are limited to using in-building signage or asking for directions. However, advances in pervasive digital technology allow new possibilities and make this topic increasingly subject to research study. This paper describes three separate formative studies involving 24 participants using personal mobile phones, a situated display deployment and a Person Locator Kiosk. The authors present their findings by gaining feedback and insights from users to develop useful and usable wayfinding support for visitors in an in-building environment.