M. Hitz

An evaluation of sticky and force enhanced targets in multi target situations

In this paper we explore the usage of force fields in order to facilitate the computer user during pointing tasks. The first study shows that pointing time can be reduced by enhancing a pointing target with an invisible force field that warps the screen cursor toward the target center. The application of force fields is further supported in that we show how performance of force enhanced pointing can be predicted by using Fitts law and a force adjusted index of difficulty. In the second study, the force field technique is compared with the sticky target technique [20] in two realistic pointing situations which involve several closely placed targets. The results show that the force fields improve pointing performance and that the sticky target technique does not.

Persuasive recommendation: serial position effects in knowledge-based recommender systems

Recommender technologies are crucial for the effective support of customers in online sales situations. The state-of-the-art research in recommender systems is not aware of existing theories in the areas of cognitive and decision psychology and thus lacks of deeper understanding of online buying situations. In this paper we present results from user studies related to serial position effects in human memory in the context of knowledge-based recommender applications. We discuss serial position effects on the recall of product descriptions as well as on the probability of product selection. Serial position effects such as primacy and recency are major building blocks of persuasive, next generation knowledge-based recommender systems.

Human Factors in Computing and Informatics

The use of words and particularly the verbs in Human-Human Interaction reveals significant aspects of both human’s social and mental state. This work presents a novel methodology towards the emotional assessment of verbs by users. Essentially we would like to study whether the emotions that user experience are comparable with the corresponding results obtained through a mixture of natural language and statistical classifiers in SentiWordNet. Following the paper and pencil guidelines of the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) we have developed a web-based unsupervised version of the Self Assessment Manikin (SAM) test, designed for the emotional assessment of verbs in English and Greek language. Thirty five men and seventeen women participated in an internet survey version of the experiment. In the first part of the process, the participants had to assess their induced emotional state while reading a verb (totally 75 Greek verbs), on 5-point scales of “Pleasure”, “Arousal” and “Dominance”. The results comprise coherence and consistency. As a rule, all verbs obtained low to mid range scores on Arousal and Dominance axis and only on the Pleasure dimension scores are close to the edge.

A Framework for Visual Information Retrieval

In this paper a visual information retrieval project (VizIR) is presented. The goal of the project is the implementation of an open Content-based Visual Retrieval (CBVR) prototype as basis for further research on the major problems of CBVR. The motivation behind VizIR is: an open platform would make research (especially for smaller institutions) easier and more efficient. The intention of this paper is to let interested researchers know about VizIRs existence and design as well as to invite them to take part in the design and implementation process of this open project. The authors describe the goals of the VizIR project, the intended design of the framework and major implementation issues. The latter includes a sketch on the advantages and drawbacks of the existing cross-platform media processing frameworks: Java Media Framework, OpenML and Microsofts DirectX (DirectShow).

Analyzing the HCI design pattern variety

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design patterns are an often used tool for developing user interfaces. They render the communication among stakeholders more efficient and allow for a faster design of user interfaces. However, today there exists a vast amount of patterns written by many different authors, published on Web repositories, in scientific papers, and books. This causes the form or structure of the patterns to vary according to the authors preferences. This paper presents the results of a survey that analyses the structure and relationships of HCI design patterns from 21 different design pattern resources.

Natural Interaction Techniques for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System

This article provides an overview of existing interaction techniques for controlling unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems. This work focuses on user interfaces with nontraditional input modalities, such as gestures, speech, and gaze direction. Although the authors analyze interaction with UAV systems, most of the findings can be applied to human-robot interaction in general. The authors report on interaction techniques employed to control single as well as multiple UAV systems, define intuitiveness of input vocabularies in the considered context, and introduce a new classification scheme based on the mental models underlying the interaction vocabulary. This article is part of a special issue on drones.

Reducing the entry threshold of AAL systems: preliminary results from casa vecchia

Ambient assisted living holds promising solutions to tackle the problems of an overaging society by providing various smart home as well as computing and internet technologies that support independent living of elderly people. However, the acceptance of these technologies by the group of elderly constitutes a crucial precondition for the success of AAL. The paper presents early results from the project Casa Vecchia which explores the feasibility of AAL within a longitudinal field study with 20 participating households. Thereby observed barriers hindering the acceptance of technologies applied in the project are discussed as well as possible solutions to reduce the entry threshold to assistive technology.

Are human-computer interaction design patterns really used?

This paper describes the outcoming of an online survey which focuses on the usage of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design patterns. The results should clarify if HCI patterns are currently used in academic and especially in industrial environments. Furthermore, we want to investigate the shortcomings of the design pattern concept from the users point of view. The results are incorporated in the design of an formalized HCI design pattern structure.

Bringing formalism and unification to human-computer interaction design patterns

In this paper we describe a concept to formalize and unify Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design patterns which is currently in a work-in-progress status. The framework, called XPLML (eXtended Pattern Language Markup Language), which we want to provide to the HCI community, should help pattern authors, pattern users and software engineers in their daily work with HCI design patterns. XPLML fills the gap between the prose form of HCI patterns and software applications. The framework provides formal specifications of the content elements, the relationships and user interface (UI) primitives of HCI patterns, where UI primitives are the smallest (atomic) parts of the solution part of an HCI pattern.

Disseminating Ambient Assisted Living in Rural Areas

The smart home, ambient intelligence and ambient assisted living have been intensively researched for decades. Although rural areas are an important potential market, because they represent about 80% of the territory of the EU countries and around 125 million inhabitants, there is currently a lack of applicable AAL solutions. This paper discusses the theoretical foundations of AAL in rural areas. This discussion is underlined by the achievements of the empirical field study, Casa Vecchia, which has been carried out over a four-year period in a rural area in Austria. The major goal of Casa Vecchia was to evaluate the feasibility of a specific form of AAL for rural areas: bringing AAL technology to the homes of the elderly, rather than moving seniors to special-equipped care facilities. The Casa Vecchia project thoroughly investigated the possibilities, challenges and drawbacks of AAL related to this specific approach. The findings are promising and somewhat surprising and indicate that further technical, interactional and socio-psychological research is required to make AAL in rural areas reasonable in the future.