Marita Franzke

Dual device user interface design: PDAs and interactive television

Computing environments which involve many interacting devices are a challenge for system and user interface designers. A prototype of a multiple-device application consisting of a personal digital assistant (PDA) that operates in conjunction with interactive television (ITV) was developed from user requirements for a real estate information service. The application is used both as a stand-alone service and in conjunction with a television. Users interact exclusively with the PDA. The television responds to PDA output and is used for the presentation of visual images and videos. In this paper the application is described and user interface design issues that arise in the context of multiple device systems are discussed.

Applying cognitive walkthroughs to more complex user interfaces: experiences, issues, and recommendations

The Cognitive Walkthrough methodology was developed in an effort to bring cognitive theory closer to practice; to enhance the design and evaluation of use interfaces in industrial settings. For the first time, small teams of professional developers have used this method to critique three complex software systems. In this paper we report evidence about how the methodology worked for these evaluations. We focus on five core issues: (1) task selection, coverage, and evaluation, (2) the process of doing a Cognitive Walkthrough, (3) requisite knowlege for the evaluators, (4) group walkthroughs, and (5) the interpretation of results. Our findings show that many variables can affect the success of the technique; we believe that if the Cognitive Walkthrough is ultimately to be successful in industrial settings, the method must be refined and augmented in a variety of ways.

SUMMARY STREET ® : COMPUTER SUPPORT FOR COMPREHENSION AND WRITING*

Having students express their understanding of difficult, new material in their own words is an effective method to deepen their comprehension and learning. Summary Street® is a computer tutor that offers a supportive context for students to practice this activity by means of summary writing, guiding them through successive cycles of revising with feedback on the content of their writing. Automatic evaluation of the content of student summaries is enabled by Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). This article describes an experimental study of the comprehension and writing tutor, in which 8th-grade students practiced summary writing over a 4-week period, either with or without the guidance of the tutor. Students using Summary Street® scored significantly higher on an independent comprehension test than the control group for test items that tapped gist level comprehension. Their summaries were also judged to be significantly superior in blind scoring on several measures of writing quality. Students of low-to-moderate achievement levels benefitted most from the tool.

Turning research into practice: characteristics of display-based interaction

This research investigates how several characteristics of display-based systems support or hinder the exploration and retention of the functions needed to perform tasks in a new application. In particular it is shown how the combination of the type of interface action, the number of interaction objects presented on the screen, and the quality of the label associated with these objects interact in supporting discovery and retention of the functionality embedded in those systems. An

Natural Training Wheels: Learning and Transfer Between Two Versions of a Computer Application

Users of personal computers must deal with frequent major upgrades of software packages. Major upgrades typically provide increased functionality without changing the conceptual framework of the program, but they may force the user to learn how to use new menus, dialog boxes, and other controls. We suggest that early versions of a program provide a natural training wheels environment, in which novice users can learn a programs basic operation while avoiding potential confusion caused by advanced features. Experiments with two versions of a graphing program confirm this hypothesis, with some restrictions.

Should we or shouldn't we use spoken commands in voice interfaces?

INTRODUCTION Letting users speak commands to the systems they are interacting with has been tried in various domains. Examples include a range of computer applications, as well as more narrowly defined domains such as aircraft systems. Using speech to control computers has never caught on in a big way, however, and in aircraft it has been limited to a few special applications. Why? Isn’t it appealing to be able to simply say “justify” when doing word processing (instead of having to give that command through pressing a command key or making a selection from a menu)? Doesn’t it make a lot of sense to let a pilot concentrate her/his attention on the main job of flying instead of fumbling for the radio and manually setting it to the new frequency?