Ilkka Salminen

An Empirical and Theoretical Evaluation of BinScroll: A Rapid Selection Technique for Alphanumeric Lists

Abstract: Searching for an item in an ordered list is a frequently reoccurring task while using computers. The search can be carried out in several ways. In this paper, we present a new, efficient technique to find an alphanumeric item in a sorted list. This technique, called BinScroll, is based on the well-known binary search algorithm. BinScroll can be used with a minimum of four buttons, making it ideal for keyboardless mobile use. It can also be implemented with a minimum of one line of text, making it suitable for devices with limited screen space or text-only displays. Our evaluation showed that after 15 minutes of training, a novel user is able to locate any item from a list of 10,000 movie names in 14 seconds on average, and an expert user with a few hours of learning can find any item in about seven seconds. This makes it one of the most efficient selection techniques when long lists are concerned.

A system for evaluating augmented reality user interfaces in wearable computers

Usability tests with wearable computers are difficult to conduct due to the nature of wearable computers. Wearable computers are intended for personal use and the test supervisor does not know exactly what the test subject is currently seeing in augmented reality through the head-worn display of the wearable computer. Due to this personal nature, the concepts of traditional usability testing need some rethinking. This paper presents a combination of techniques that connects the computers of the test subject and the supervisor. Both of the computers share the same view of augmented reality and the supervisor knows exactly what the user is doing and what state the computer is in. All actions and sensor data are also recorded for later analysis. Complete usability tests have been made with this system and the system fulfilled its goals.

Context management for end user development of context-aware applications

Mobile device context-aware features should be closely coupled to the end user demands. This is achieved by enabling end user development of context-aware applications. A context framework and a tool are presented for facilitating easy customization of context-aware features into existing mobile terminal applications. A blackboard-based context framework for mobile devices is extended with a component for handling user-defined context-action rules, and a component for activating application actions. Example cases of context-aware features customized with the implemented framework and the tool are presented, with discussion of the potential scope of end user development in mobile devices.

Meta-searches in peer-to-peer networks

We propose a method for carrying out enhanced collaborative searches, called meta-searches, in peer-to-peer networks. In addition to performing regular searches, our method supports searches based on other network users’ previous searches on the same or similar topic. In essence, when a user performs a search, s/he will receive not only the usual result set, but also information on other users’ previous results, as well as relevancy information (such as how many times a resource that appeared in the result set was successfully downloaded). The core components of meta-search are query relevancy calculation, query matching algorithms, and relevancy file format. In this paper we discuss the underlying concepts and principles, and describe the component design in detail. Meta-search provides a way of benefiting from other users’ successful searches without any additional effort, thus potentially improving the efficiency and experience of a search.