Minna Karukka

The standard of user-centered design and the standard definition of usability: analyzing ISO 13407 against ISO 9241-11

ISO 9241-11 and ISO 13407 are two important standards related to usability: the former one provides the definition of usability and the latter one guidance for designing usability. We carried out an interpretative analysis of ISO 13407 from the viewpoint of the standard definition of usability from ISO 9241-11. The results show that ISO 13407 provides only partly guidance for designing usability as presumed by the definition. Guidance for describing users and environments are provided but very limited guidance is provided for the descriptions of user goals and usability measures, and generally for the process of producing the various outcomes.

Evaluating depth illusion as method of adding emphasis in autostereoscopic mobile displays

In this paper we evaluate the possibilities of autostereo-scopic three-dimensional displays in aiding the user in a selection task on a mobile touch-screen user interface. We describe a user study which measures the effectiveness of realistic depth illusion as an emphasizing method in a conventional mobile user interface concept. In our experiment, 35 people completed simple thumbnail visual search tasks, where horizontal disparity, color shading, and their combination were used as the emphasizing method. The results indicate that using disparity alone as a visual indicator does not provide enough support in find-and-select tasks to improve the user performance or perceived comfort with the task. However, when combined with other visual cues, disparity can significantly improve performance and satisfaction.

Mobile video editor: design and evaluation

Mobile phones have evolved from voice-centric communication devices to powerful personal multimedia devices. Among other multimedia features, they enable the users to capture video clips with built-in digital cameras. However, due to the continuous nature of video, it is often difficult to capture a video clip exactly as intended - in many cases the possibility to edit the clip after capture would be useful. We describe the design of a video editor application for mobile devices. We present the main user goals for video editing in the mobile context based on a Contextual Inquiry study and an application design that supports these goals. We demonstrate that video editing on mobile devices is feasible and report a usability evaluation with encouraging results.

Social music services in teenage life: a case study

The landscape for discovering and sharing music is changing due to the rise of social media and mobile devices with increasing amount of features. This paper looks at the omnipresence of music and the social perspective of online music services among the youth, and describes a survey-based case study of 44 Finnish. The findings reveal that social media facilitates important aspects that engage the users, such as recommendations, large selections, and free content, but also that traditional media, e.g. FM radio has still a strong role in the omnipresence use of music.

Exploring Non-verbal Communication of Presence between Young Children and Their Parents through the Embodied Teddy Bear

Young children are emotionally dependant on their parents. Sometimes they have to be apart from each other, for example, when a parent is travelling. Current communication technologies are not optimal for supporting the feeling of presence. Our goal was to explore the design space for remote communication between young children (4-6 years) and their parents. More specifically, we aimed at gaining user feedback to a variety of non-verbal interaction modalities using augmented everyday objects. We developed the Teddy Bear concept and created an embodied mock-up that enables remote hugging based on vibration, presence indication, and communication of gestures. We conducted a user study with eight children and their parents. Our qualitative findings show that both children and parents appreciated Teddy Bear for its non-verbal communication features, but that some aspects were not easily understood, such as gestures for strong emotions. Based on our findings, we propose design implications for mediated presence between young children and their parents.

Empirical observations on video editing in the mobile context

Todays mobile devices enable the users to capture video clips with integrated digital cameras. However, capturing a video clip exactly as intended is often challenging -- in many cases, the possibility to edit the clip after capture would be useful. Earlier we have presented the Mobile Video Editor, an application that allows the users to edit video clips instantly after capture on their mobile devices. In this paper, we describe a field trial that we arranged to further evaluate the Mobile Video Editor concept and to better understand the usage patterns of video editing in the mobile context. The results indicate that especially the teenagers and younger adults found the capability to edit captured video clips a beneficial feature in mobile devices. In addition to being a practical tool to prepare the videos for sharing with others, the Mobile Video Editor was used as a form of entertainment.

Personal chart: health data logging made easy with a mobile device

Many devices are still unconnected. We apply mobile imaging to log measurements from personal health devices. Such devices sometimes offer wired and wireless links, but they suffer from many problems (setup, breaking connections, non-mobility). We propose to use instead ubiquitous mobile phone cameras to capture the measurements and store them for further viewing and follow-up. In this paper we discuss the principle, the prototype, the user study and initial conclusions of this approach.