Gisela Susanne Bahr

Secure, usable biometric authentication systems

Biometrics are physiological features that allow individuals to be identified. Popular biometrics include fingerprints, faces, and irises. A common use of biometric systems is to authenticate users desiring access to a system or resource. Universal Access can be promoted with biometrics. Biometrics provide a secure way to access information technology, although the use of biometrics presents challenges and opportunities unique to other authentication methods (such as passwords and tokens). Biometric systems are also vulnerable to poor usability. Such systems must be engineered with wide user accessibility and acceptability in mind, but also need to provide robust security. This paper considers the application of biometrics in Universal Access systems with regards to usability and security.

Choice-Based Authentication: A Usable-Security Approach

Authentication is an important security component of almost any software application. It serves as the application’s security front door by controlling access with the goal of protecting the confidentiality and integrity of the system. However, with the large variety of software applications that an end user interacts with daily, authentication is becoming a usability issue that has the potential to weaken a system’s overall security. The increasing complexity of dealing with a variety of authentication mechanisms often causes end users to develop negative security behaviours, such as writing down passwords. Moreover, some of the currently available authentication mechanisms, such as alphanumeric passwords, raise universal access issues due to both the issue of remembering a complex sequence of characters and the difficulty some individuals may have in entering that exact sequence on a keyboard or mobile device. This article proposes an authentication approach that seeks to address these usability, universal access, and security issues.

Editorial: Journal of Interaction Science

Dear Readers, Welcome to the Journal of Interaction Science (JoIS)! It’s taken us a little over 2 years from the idea to the launch and you can imagine there are lots of stories and anecdotes to fill many pages. However, being a responsible editor in chief, I’ll spare you the reminiscences. At the same time, (you have guessed my agenda) I hope that a brief editorial has a better chance of being read. Why did we start this journal? The Journal of Interaction Science is a necessity that grew out of frustration. If you walk into a room with some of the many experimental, cognitive psychologists at a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) conference, you can hear them complaining passionately. In fact, they untiringly bemoan their observation that research on HCI lacks methodological rigor. “These studies could advance our knowledge of human cognition and of the unquestionable impact of technology on cognition and behavior, if only, if only, they were done right!” This point of view seems disconcertingly arrogant. However, it is the nature of radical positions to energize new ways of thinking and change. This is what gave JoIS its impetus. Dr. Ray Adams, then professor at Middlesex University, London, developed the JoIS idea. I am like Ray, a cognitive, experimental psychologist, who similar to our colleagues likes to complain now and then but inevitably stops and works to solve the problem. Therefore, I helped Ray during the process but it is to Ray’s credit that Springer decided to take on our radical and new Journal. Their help has been invaluable in getting JoIS launched: I must thank two people especially: the incredibly resourceful Rachel Roberts and the utterly amazing Bev Ford! What makes JoIS radical and new? Our world is replete with interactive devices. It is evident that humans are prolific and always ready to invent, build and buy the next break-through, interactive device. At the point that I am writing this editorial, over 10 million preorders for the Galaxy S4 smart phone (complete

Design Engineering and Human Computer Interaction: Function Oriented Problem Solving in CAD Applications

CAD Software such as CREO and SolidWorks are used to develop mechanical parts and assemblies and do not explicitly support the function of the feature, component, part or assembly. Therefore, the reasoning of why and how a design is developed has not been incorporated into current CAD systems. At the same time, CAD systems support sophisticated functions such automated routing, modelling and simulation of dynamic and geometric properties and design solutions tracking. In this paper we investigate (a) to what degree CAD tools have advanced beyond drafting tools to include cognitive supports that facilitate problem solving and (b) which possibilities exist to enhance CAD with cognitive tools that with focus on the intersection between cognitive psychology, interaction design and design engineering remain unexplored.

The big data between your ears: Human inspired heuristics for forgetting in databases

Inspired by explanations of human forgetting, the primary research question that motivates this research is whether databases can be manipulated to resemble human long term memory in performance. We hypothesize that selective degradation of a database using different heuristics proposed as explanations of human forgetting, produce different recall results. Furthermore, we explore how these results resemble human performance by mapping performance to five memory phenomena that typify human forgetting. For this research we implemented the artificial long term memory of a fictitious character, Mr. Alfred Polly, using the Ardemia modelling architecture, which is built on a relational database management system. The experimental investigation of three versions of Mr. Pollys selectively degraded artificial memory revealed that forgetting heuristics produce query results that resemble human forgetting. The implication of this study is that big data algorithms inspired by “human forgetting inspired heuristics” can be a tool for shrinking and managing large data using attributes or metadata.

Cognitive Tools for Design Engineers: A Framework for the Development of Intelligent CAD Systems

Abstract Great design engineers are highly creative and unorthodox individuals who invent novel solutions that satisfy a set of constraints that are often ill-defined and customer driven. Designers use many tools to develop their designs, such as computer aided design (CAD) systems, that do not support the cognition that drives the design process. This paper develops the cognitive psychological background, a state of the practice based rationale for CAD enhancement and the research framework for cognitive CAD tools that support the design engineer during the creative problem solving process through reasoning and meaningful design alternatives. The research framework presented here was initially created for the development of cognitive tools for mechanical design but is transferable to other design disciplines. At the core of the research plan are the development and implementation of an artificial memory that is interpreted with real-time data analyses supported by machine learning, and made accessible to the design engineer through interaction design for intelligent CAD (iCAD).

Musically inspired computer interfaces: reaction time and memory enhancements in visuo-spatial timelines (ViST) for graphic user interfaces

A principal component of simulation-based training is the collaboration of distributed instructor teams. The cognitive workload of instructors during complex scenarios rapidly increases to levels that result in impaired performance. Empirical research on the investigation of cognitive performance and optimization for timeline GUI supported Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is limited. As part of the research and development of a specialized Graphic User Interface (GUI) for aviation instructors, we evaluated the differences between multi-timeline displays in a traditional, alphanumeric format and an alternative, visuo-spatial format. The current study investigated user cognitive efficiency (i.e., reactions times, memory performance) when interacting with traditional alphanumeric Timelines (AnT) and Visuo-Spatial Timelines (ViST). Stimuli complexity was controlled for density and set size. MANOVAs and ANOVAs revealed significant differences in favor of ViST conditions. For ViST users average reaction times decreased by 43.34% and 51.33% (3.78 s; 2.31 s) for last event and simultaneous events detection, respectively, and, cued recall performance increased on average by 22.5%. Inspired by musical notation, the alternative timeline design of ViST was designed to support human processing characteristics. Our findings indicate that individual users demonstrate enhanced performance compared to traditional, vertically oriented timelines. The findings presented have supported the Graphic Embedded Timeline (G.E.T.) Tools, a GUI module in use by the U.S. military. The ViST performance enhancements provoke the reevaluation of GUIs designed with list formats, such as drop-down menus, and emphasize research and design of visuo-spatial formats.

A participatory evaluation method of graphic user interface storyboards: FAST AIDE (function annotated storyboards targeting applicability, importance, design, elaborations)

The FAST AIDE (Function Annotated Storyboards Targeting Applicability, Importance, Design, Elaborations) method was developed to capture qualitative and quantitative feedback from highly specialized, expert end-users during the storyboarding stage of new software applications. Unlike traditional approaches, FAST AIDE does not rely on the generation of walkthrough scripts or scenarios, but is focused on software features and functionalities. Our rationale is based on the cognitive concept of spreading activation. Spreading activation is hypothesized to occur within knowledge structures similar to organized networks of words or concepts (i.e., nodes). FAST AIDE taps into experiential background of specialized users by utilizing feature dimensions and functionality characteristics to trigger relevant memory. In addition to presenting an approach to knowledge solicitation, FAST AIDE employs a combination data collection questionnaire tool in order to facilitate data evaluation. The paper provides a background and a guide to the implementation of the FAST AIDE method.

Simplifying Accessibility Without Data Loss: An Exploratory Study on Object Preserving Keyframe Culling

Our approach to multimedia big data is based on data reduction and processing techniques for the extraction of the most relevant information in form of instances of five different object classes selected from the TRECVid Evaluation campaign on a shot-level basis on 4 h of video footage from the BBC EastEnders series. In order to reduce the amount of data to be processed, we apply an adaptive extraction scheme that varies in the number of representative keyframes. Still, many duplicates of the scenery can be found. Within a cascaded exploratory study of four tasks, we show the opportunity to reduce the representative data, i.e. the number of extracted keyframes, by up to 84 % while maintaining more than 82 % of the appearing instances of object classes.

Design Engineering for Universal Access: Software and Cognitive Challenges in Computer Based Problem-Solving

Computer-supported problem solving has become ubiquitous in work and home environments. Within an educational context, specifically design engineering, this paper investigates a framework that integrates two aspects of these interactions that influence the outcome of computer based problem solving: software and mind-set involved in the interaction. The review indicates a number of research opportunities for interaction science to enhance problems-solving and is focused primarily on software tools and solutions that enhance cognitive performance for specialized user populations.