Jan Bobeth

Evaluating performance and acceptance of older adults using freehand gestures for TV menu control

In this paper, we explore alternative TV menu control methods, focusing specifically on older users. We investigated performance and acceptance of freehand gestures by implementing several techniques and conducting a user study with 24 older adults. We expected that older adults would like gesture techniques as they are generally fun to use and easy to conduct. As a possible alternative to physical remote control, gesture techniques may also introduce some physical activity for older adults (positive health effects). In the user study, we compared four different kinds of freehand gesture interaction to control a corresponding TV menu, investigating specifically on abilities of older adults. Each of the interaction types was analyzed regarding task completion time, error rate, usability and acceptance. Results showed that directly transferring tracked hand movements to control a cursor on a TV achieved the best performance and was preferred by the users. In general, the participating older adults showed a very positive attitude towards gesture-based interactions.

Tablet, gestures, remote control?: influence of age on performance and user experience with iTV applications

Due to recent development of TVs in the direction of highly interactive multimedia platforms, interactive TV (iTV) applications gain popularity. In terms of control possibilities a variety of input modalities have become available, though effects on performance and user experience of different age groups when controlling different iTV applications remain unclear. We present an empirical investigation comparing three input modalities (tablet, freehand gestures, remote) for controlling two iTV applications (Photo Browser, Nutrition Tracker) used by older and younger adults. Results show that all three independent variables had significant influence on performance, while we did not find influence of age or application on user experience. Overall tablet input based on a mirrored TV screen showed the best performance and was preferred by both age groups. Older adults were overall slower and showed a particularly large performance gap with the remote in comparison to younger adults.

User-Centered Design between Cultures: Designing for and with Immigrants

Immigrants represent a substantial part of European society. After emigration, they can suffer from fundamental changes in their socio-economic environment. Therefore, supportive ICT services (e.g. for language learning or job search) have high potential to ease inclusion, especially for newly arrived immigrants with low education. Within an international research project we involve Turkish and Arabic immigrants in a user-centered design (UCD) process with the goal to develop supportive ICT services for smartphones. In this paper, we present our methodological experiences and discuss benefits and drawbacks of methods. Based thereupon, we formulate concrete implications for successful UCD with immigrants, e.g. collaborating with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or benefiting from reflections of long term-immigrants.

User interfaces for older adults

Needs and wishes regarding the interaction with ICT solutions change over time and vary between older adults. They depend on the users physical and mental capabilities and preferences. Thus the user interface, which is considered critical to the success or failure of an ICT product or service, should be adaptable. AALuis provides an open middleware layer to guarantee accessible and usable user interfaces for Ambient Assisted Living services. The general idea is to foster a detachment of the user interface from the service and its functionality, respectively. Furthermore an input fusion and output fission regarding I/O modalities based on the users preferences is striven for. At the heart of AALuis lays a dynamically adapted, personalized interaction between an older adult and the service, with various I/O devices. The first results of the project look promising to achieve flexibility in the creation and usage of interfaces. The chosen approach allows further developments expanding the functionalities and improving the generated user interfaces.

Advances in MASELTOV Serious Games in a Mobile Ecology of Services for Social Inclusion and Empowerment of Recent Immigrants

Immigration imposes a range of challenges with the risk of social exclusion. As part of a comprehensive suite of services for immigrants, the MASELTOV game seeks to provide both practical tools and innovative learning services via mobile devices, providing a readily usable resource for recent immigrants. We introduce advanced results, such as the game-based learning aspect in the frame of recommender services, and present the rationale behind its interaction design. Benefits and implications of mobile platforms and emergent data capture techniques for game-based learning are discussed, as are methods for putting engaging gameplay at the forefront of the experience whilst relying on rich data capture and analysis to provide effective learning solutions.

Towards an ambient assisted living user interaction taxonomy

Extensive research in the field of ambient assisted living (AAL) provides profound knowledge about the design of AAL systems. However, more generic design characteristics for user interaction have not been formalized for this domain yet. Thus, we propose to develop a domain specific taxonomy for the design of user interaction in AAL systems. We adopted a systematic taxonomy development approach that combines an empirical and a pseudo-conceptual strategy. Six co-researchers from different disciplines conduct the iterative research process. Next to AAL systems existing taxonomies in the field of human-computer interaction are analyzed following the Delphi method. In this paper we present our research process and preliminary results from the first iteration. The final taxonomy allows classification and should support the analysis of user interaction utilized in AAL systems. Furthermore, it can deal as a practical design guideline.

Talking Faces in Lab and Field Trials

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Ambient Assisted Living technology to support older adults. Research and industry are working jointly on reliable and suitable solutions to help older adults to remain healthy and safe while living independently. Appropriate interaction methods play an important role for the acceptance of such supporting systems. Today, solutions mainly rely on common and well-evaluated interaction techniques such as TV remotes or touch screens to enhance the usability. Projects presented in this work are based on the same interaction techniques, but additionally enrich the interaction experience with a real-time, empathic virtual assistance avatar. In this paper, we present evaluation settings and user involvement results acquired from three different Ambient Assisted Living projects focusing on avatar-based user interaction. Our results show that avatar-based interaction in the Ambient Assisted Living context is very well applicable, especially when combined with speech recognition.

Attention in mobile interactions: gaze recovery for large scale studies

Understanding human attention in mobile interaction is a relevant part of human computer interaction, indica-ting focus of task, emotion and communication. Lack of large scale studies enabling statistically significant re-sults is due to high costs of manual penetration in eye tracking analysis. With high quality wearable cameras for eye-tracking and Google glasses, video analysis for visual attention analysis will become ubiquitous for automated large scale annotation. We describe for the first time precise gaze estimation on mobile displays and surrounding, its performance and without markers. We demonstrate accurate POR (point of regard) re-covery on the mobile device and enable heat mapping of visual tasks. In a benchmark test we achieve a mean accuracy in the POR localization on the display by 1.5 mm, and the method is very robust to illumination changes. We conclude from these results that this sys-tem may open new avenues in eye tracking research for behavior analysis in mobile applications.

Towards successful self-management and empowerment for COPD patients

People suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) have to deal with the disease throughout their lifetime and there is no getting around without a successful self-management process. However, a poor adherence to COPD treatment is common in COPD patients and responsible for increased hospitalizations, mortality, reduced quality of life and loss of productivity. This paper envisions a novel, technology assisted solution and describes the steps needed to cover the full process of self-management. Thereby, it highlights general requirements of a technology assisted self-management device for chronic diseases and depicts a solution especially for people living with COPD.

From Bottom-up Insights to Feature Ideas: A Case Study into the Office Environments of Older Knowledge Workers

Given recent demographic changes, adapting the office environments of older knowledge workers to their needs has become increasingly important in supporting an extension of working life. In this paper, we present a case study research of older knowledge workers in Romania, with the goal of gaining bottom-up insights that support the ideation, design, and development of features for a smart work environment. Utilizing a multi-method approach, we combine (1) contextual interviews and observations, (2) an analysis of needs and frictions for deriving insights, (3) an ideation workshop for eliciting potential features, (4) an online survey among experts for evaluating the final feature ideas, and (5) early stage prototyping of selected feature ideas. Following this comprehensive yet efficient approach, we were able to gain a rich understanding of the work realities and contexts of older knowledge workers and to transform that understanding into a concrete set of prioritized feature ideas.