Hugo J. Strubbe

Interfaces for consumer products: “how to camouflage the computer?”

INTRODUCTION User interfaces for consumer products are notoriously bad. The increase of computing power in consumer products, from personal computers and diaries, televisions, video and audio products to kitchen machines provides increasingly more functionality that is theoretically available but not practically accessible to users. Most HCI research is devoted to applications for which the computing systems are clearly present and usable to the trained. In contrast, the users of consumer electronics products do not expect to need computer skills to interact with their TV sets or car stereo’s. In consumer products, the computing systems are embedded and hidden from the users by the user interface. Their user interfaces have at least a dual function: platform for the quality of the human-computer interaction and carrier of the system’s attractiveness and purchasing appeal.

UI for a videoconference camera

We present the human factors of a (boardroom or home) group videoconference in which a camera is operated via a remote control. We describe a system that automates this camera operation, the rules it uses, and its effect on the quality of a conference as observed at informal user tests.