Katsuhiko Ogawa

VoiceBlog: Universally Designed Voice Browser

We developed VoiceBlog, a voice browser based on the concept of universal design. It has a cascading user interface, has a hierarchic structure, and can well parse strictly structured Web content such as blogs. We investigated whether VoiceBlog could function as a voice browser by observing blind users of VoiceBlog and then interviewing them. After using VoiceBlog for a while, most users felt that VoiceBlog made it much easier to read and understand Web content than common voice browsers. The cascading user interface is seen as one of the best methods for aural presentation. However, some users complained about the synthesized voice and key-mapping, mainly because these differed from the voice browsers voice and key-mappings the users were familiar with. We also compared the operation logs of sighted and blind users and found that there were some differences in their demands. The results suggest that it is difficult to make one mechanism that suits both sighted and blind users. A universally designed voice browser should prepare different kinds of mechanisms (modes) and switch between them according to the users.

Factors affecting user reassurance when handling information in a public work environment

This article describes a basic study on design guidelines for a public work environment where personal information might be handled. In this study, we conducted a user survey to extract factors that affect reassurance and performed an experiment to evaluate the effect of partition size on reassurance. First, from the user survey, we extracted personal-information and work-environment factors that affect reassurance in a public work environment. Next, we examined the effect of partition size (height and depth) on reassurance and found that “the ability of someone viewing my monitor from a neighboring seat” is a factor affecting reassurance and that “the ability of seeing the figure (feel the presence) of a neighbor” does not affect reassurance. In short, partition height has the role of blocking information (on the monitor) from a neighbor, and provided that partition height satisfies a certain value (keeping the monitor out of a neighbors view), partition depth will also make a significant difference in reassurance. The role of partition depth, moreover, is not so much to block information but rather to block off the users space.

Usability Analysis of Design Guideline Database in Human-Computer Interface Design

Human-computer interface design guidelines are useful for developing well designed interfaces but the designer must be able to access the guideline appropriate to the application. Research is conducted to understand how designers access design guideline databases and then methods are tested to improve the usability of the databases. A design guideline database of approximately 300 guidelines is developed using a hypermedia approach. The system employs a book metaphor interface to characters and graphics in a Japanese environment. The subjects of the usability analysis are software designers who did not have any background in human factors. They were provided with the representation of a bad interface design on a piece of paper, and were instructed to improve the design through the use of the guideline database. Two common strategies were identified by observing the designers actions: a hypothesis strategy and a checklist strategy. These strategies were analyzed using the quantities and quality of improvements recommended. The optimum database usage checks interface violations by employing the browsing function of the database; sometimes key word searches are used.

Method of ecological interface design applied to interactive diagnosis support system

Abstract This paper proposes a procedure for designing ecological interfaces suitable for interactive diagnosis support systems based on the perspectives of work analysis and interface design proposed by Rasmussen [1, 2]. Several of the perspectives proposed by Rasmussen are chosen and concrete transformation paths are created for them. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is confirmed by designing and testing a support system for interactive diagnosis.

Instant topic extraction from a text-based communication channel for seeing the world

This article proposes three topic extraction methods for a text-based communication channel of a message stream in bulletin board or chat services. A message is input into the channel, and these methods instantly select active and curious topics from the channel by using noun phrases, topic pressure at the latest message in the channel, topic unexpectedness, and partial matching. This serves as a module of a system that enables a user to follow unfolding world developments. An evaluative comparison of the performance of our methods and a conventional method using four data sets from two standpoints was performed. This is the first step in testing the performance of our methods.

Introduction: Toward Universal ICT Media Design: HCI Research at NTT Cyber Solutions Laboratories

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A Comparison of Internet Connection Troubleshooting Strategies by Experts and Novices

This paper compares the strategies used by experts and novices in troubleshooting complex systems. As an example, we consider the case of establishing an Internet connection. The complexity of modern systems, such as the Internet, makes troubleshooting a very difficult task. Because many users experiencing trouble turn to the call-center, traffic loads are always heavy. This loads cost the company dearly to maintain adequate user support quality. We need to incorporate effective approaches to tackling the problems into self-service systems. Moreover, such knowledge is useful for FAQ design and creating response methods for call-center agents that can well support the troubleshooting process. Both are expected to greatly reduce call-center loads. To elucidate effective troubleshooting techniques, we compare the troubleshooting strategies of novices to those of experts. As a result, we showed that given an initial goal constraint, the experts try to eliminate modules unambiguously and so find the fault while novices remain stuck with their first guess.

Interaction in context - context in interaction

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the combination of knowledge-based support coupled with a high bandwidth on the interface as solutions to operator problems. A variant of the Crossmans water bath experiment is used (also used heavily in process control) and a set of different media interfaces have been developed for the experiment by combining sound, speech, graphics, animation, color, text, and still video. Subjects carry out a large number of trials to achieve steady state conditions in the bath. In some conditions warnings were given (either audio or visually). It is concluded that the use of Multimedia interfaces, in specific situations, did improve performance, learning, or satisfaction, or sometimes all three aspects. However, the difficulty of the task, the knowledge of the operator, the sophistication of the surrounding software, and whether the experiments are laboratory-based or in a real plant, are all relevant issues and affect the interpretation of the results.