Patricia Böhm

Smart sol: bringing user experience to facility management: designing the user interaction of a solar control unit

While a lot of attention is paid to the design of consumer electronics like mobile phones, various other domains have been neglected so far when it comes to user experience. In this paper a user-centered design approach for designing the user interface of a controller for solar thermal plants and heat exchanger stations - called smart sol - is described. The design process is characterized by the cooperation of user experience designers on the one hand and engineers and programmers on the other hand.

Customized Usability Engineering for a Solar Control Unit: Adapting Traditional Methods to Domain and Project Constraints

This paper describes the adaption and customization of usability engineering methods for the interface design of a solar control unit. The design of a nontraditional interface, constrained access to representative users and a lack of common interface standards were domain-related issues to overcome. Due to limited resources, a Guerilla HCI approach was established. Traditional low-cost methods like prototyping and simplified usability testing were applied and adapted to fit in the domain-specific context. Good feedback indicates suitability of modified discount methods in the new domain.

Efficiency and User Experience of Gaze Interaction in an Automotive Environment

Over the last years the number and quality of information and entertainment systems in automobiles has been rising constantly. This presents the challenge to provide safe and user-friendly interaction techniques, the implementation of which can lead to a higher level of efficiency, safety and user experience. One novel and promising approach is to use the drivers gaze as input for interaction with infotainment systems. We implemented a virtual car interior model to test the efficiency and user experience of gaze interaction with automotive infotainment systems. In a user study with 20 participants we compared a gaze-based interaction style to a haptic interaction technique. The usability of both techniques turned out to be very similar, while the user experience and the efficiency varied in parts. We used an eye-tracking device to investigate gaze behavior, but due to some technical problems with the device our quantitative findings are not as reliable and robust as we would have hoped for and have to be interpreted with care. Our qualitative data indicated a preference for gaze interaction.

Identification of Age-Specific Usability Problems of Smartwatches.

Since new technology is, in principle, accessible to users of all ages, it needs to be suitable for all generations. The purpose of this study is to identify usability issues of smartwatches and contrast the problems and issues that elderly encountered to those experienced by a younger age group. In total 16 test subjects, eight of each age group (under-30s and over-60s), were observed quantitatively and qualitatively while performing basic tasks on a common smartwatch. The results indicate that the voice command evoked issues for all ages, whereas the older participants were facing more difficulties concerning the menu structure, the user interface and performing gestures on the touchscreen. While the task completion rate did not significantly differ between the age groups and the ease of use was mostly perceived equally, the elderly needed significantly more time and more personal assistance to perform the tasks. Understanding the likely age-specific differences in smartwatch interaction points to a need for further support for the elderly.

Investigating the Effect of Different Autonomy Levels on User Acceptance and User Experience in Self-driving Cars with a VR Driving Simulator

The possible transition to fully autonomous cars represents a paradigm shift, which is likely to have a profound impact on driving experience and automobile technology acceptance. Using an online questionnaire, Rodel et al. [7] have found that measures for User Acceptance (UA) and User Experience (UX) decline with increasing autonomy level. In this study, we investigate the differences in UA and UX for vehicles with different levels of automation in a more immersive context. We used a simple driving simulator setup in a virtual reality environment (using an Oculus Rift headset). We designed three tasks which each represented a different level of automation and asked participants (N = 17) to fill out the Car Technology Acceptance Model (CTAM) questionnaire after using each autonomy level. The immersion of the simulator setup was assessed with a standardized questionnaire. In contrast to Rodel et al. [7] results do not show a general decline in UA and UX with increasing autonomy, but suggest that Performance Expectancy, Perceived Safety and Social Influence are significantly higher for the fully automated condition than for no automation. The scores for immersion ranging about the average of benchmark evaluations indicate that the users felt quite immersed, but that there is still room for improving the VR setup.

Comparing Heuristic Walkthrough andUser Studies in Evaluating Digital Appliances

In this paper we present an empirical study comparing user studies and expert evaluations based on a specific set of heuristics for evaluating information appliances with a heuristic walkthrough. The study looks at an e-book reader as well as a digital music player. In the user study, question-answer protocols are used as means of intervention during the experiments. To gain insight into performance of the evaluation methods the identified problem sets were analyzed. Results for the thoroughness, validity and effectiveness are presented and compared with prior studies.

Sind "richtige" Tasten besser? Vergleich Touch- bzw. Tasten-basierter Texteingabe auf dem Smartphone.

Im Vergleich zu physischen Tastaturen mangelt es den virtuellen Tastaturen an haptischem Feedback und der Möglichkeit, die Tasten auch „blind“ zu bedienen. Diese Studie vergleicht die Eingabegeschwindigkeit, Fehlerrate und wahrgenommene Usability von Touchund Tasten-QWERTZ-Tastatur für die Texteingabe am Smartphone. Als Evaluationsgegenstände dienen die Smartphones BlackBerry Z10 und BlackBerry Q5. In einer Nutzerstudie mit 30 Probanden werden fünf vorgegebene Phrasen eingetippt und Tippgeschwindigkeit sowie Fehlerrate mithilfe einer App geloggt, sowie der System Usability Scale (SUS) erhoben. Sowohl bei der Eingabegeschwindigkeit, als auch der Usability kann ein signifikanter Unterschied zugunsten des Touch-Gerätes festgestellt werden. Bei der Fehlerrate unterscheiden sich beide Eingabesysteme nicht.