Seunghyun Tina Lee

SketchTop: design collaboration on a multi-touch tabletop

Computer mediated group collaboration, particularly in the design and engineering disciplines, is in need of better applications that suit the needs of effective exchange of information. Multi-touch surfaces offer the capabilities to augment and better enable face-to-face interaction with digital content and applications. This paper presents the design, development and testing of SketchTop, a multi-touch sketching application for collocated design collaboration.

EZ ballot with multimodal inputs and outputs

Current accessible voting machines require many voters with visual, cognitive and dexterity limitations to vote with assistance, if they can vote at all. To address accessibility problems, we developed the EZ Ballot. The linear layout of the EZ ballot structure fundamentally re-conceptualizes ballot design to provide the same simple and intuitive voting experience for all voters, regardless of ability or input/output (I/O) device used. Further, multimodal I/O interfaces were seamlessly integrated with the ballot structure to provide flexibility in accommodating voters with different abilities.

Universal Design Ballot Interfaces on Voting Performance and Satisfaction of Voters with and without Vision Loss

Voting is a glocalized event across countries, states and municipalities in which individuals of all abilities want to participate. To enable people with disabilities to participate accessible voting is typically implemented by adding assistive technologies to electronic voting machines to accommodate people with disabilities. To overcome the complexities and inequities in this practice, two interfaces, EZ Ballot, which uses a linear yes/no input system for all selections, and QUICK Ballot, which provides random access voting through direct selection, were designed to provide one system for all voters. This paper reports efficacy testing of both interfaces. The study demonstrated that voters with a range of visual abilities were able to use both ballots independently. While non-sighted voters made fewer errors on the linear ballot (EZ Ballot), partially-sighted and sighted voters completed the random access ballot (QUICK Ballot) in less time. In addition, a higher percentage of non-sighted participants preferred the linear ballot, and a higher percentage of sighted participants preferred the random ballot.

Designing together while apart: The role of computer-mediated communication and collaborative virtual environments on design collaboration

This paper presents an empirical study of two student pairs collaborating on two small products design session in both face-to-face and distributed settings while using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies and a Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE). To gain insight about the way designers communicate and collaborate, the observation focused on how much time the students worked together and individually in the design process. The study shows that teams worked together more in the distributed setting than in the face-to-face setting. In the post-test questionnaires, participants reported that they found the distributed setting a more engaging environment to work with teammates. Findings of the study suggest plausible design criteria for a communication system for distributed collaboration that supports interaction and sharing design information.

The Bridge Connecting Theory to Practice - A Case Study of Universal Design Process

In a typical design process, the decision making process by which desirable and predictive outcomes are achieved is clearly defined by problem definition, goals and objectives setting, design criteria development, design solution generation and evaluation of the solutions. In contrast, the current literature on Universal Design typically jumps from Universal Design as an ideal and set of principles to Universal Design as an artifact. Without interpreting Universal Design principles into specific design criteria, it is not possible to understand design intent, reliably evaluate design outcomes, replicate design processes or outcomes, or generalize findings to other products and environments. In this paper, an universal design process has been proposed and illustrated in a case study of a universally designed voting system in which Universal Design has been applied throughout the design process in a consistent and explicit way to produce a desirable Universal Design outcome.

Development of a More Universal Voting Interface

Voting systems must be usable by all eligible voters regardless of their skills, abilities, and experiences. However, current voting systems do not provide accessibility to all voters, including those with physical and cognitive limitations. To make voting easier for people with and without disabilities, we developed a universal voting interface that integrates a simplified and flexible ballot design that includes multimodal I/O interfaces. The formative usability study results demonstrate people with various types of disabilities could perform the voting tasks on EZ Ballot using their preferred input. In order to refine the EZ Ballot interface, the study found the specific issues on design such as instruction, selection of candidates, confusion about going back, incorrect gestural interaction, and write-in interface.

Gesture interface magnifiers for low-vision users

This study compared different types of magnification and navigation methods on low-vision handheld magnifiers to determine the feasibility of a touch screen gesture interface. The results show that despite the fact that participants had no experience using gestures for magnification or navigation, participants were more satisfied with them. Gestures were faster and more preferred than the indirect input methods for pushing a button or rotating a knob, which had previously been familiar to participants from other electronic device interfaces. The study suggests that the use of gestures may afford an alternative and more natural magnification and navigation method for a new user-centric low vision magnifier.

Development of Universal Design Mobile Interface Guidelines (UDMIG) for Aging Population

The number of older adults using technology is steadily increasing. However, this group of users has faced a variety of user interface (UI) usability issues due to various and multiple age-related limitations they have. Four different strategies designed to solve the usability issues older adults have while interacting with user interfaces were analyzed. When placed in a context of mobile interfaces for older adults, Universal Design (UD), Design for Aging, Universal Usability (UU), and Guidelines for handheld mobile device interface design were not found sufficiently complete and inclusive to meet the usability needs of older adults. There is a need to address these usability needs and reconcile inconsistencies between the four strategies. The purpose of this research study was to develop a robust, integrative set of design guidelines based on the four design strategies to ensure usability of mobile devices by older adults. An example of the application of the guidelines to the mobile interface is presented in the paper.

Universal Design (UD) Guidelines for Interactive Mobile Voting Interfaces for Older Adults

Current mobile interfaces have numerous usability problems, especially when used by older adults, population of users diverse in ranges and combinations of dis(abilities). However, user interfaces need to be usable by all users, including older adults and disabled people. Universal design (UD), Design for Aging (DfA), and Universal Usability (UU) consider designing systems and interfaces usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible. Set of more inclusive UD guidelines emerged from this integration of the three approaches with mobile design guidelines in order to address usability of user interfaces by diverse population of older adults. An example of an application of the inclusive UD guidelines was universally designed interactive voting interface, EZ Ballot, designed to improve usability of voting systems for older adults. This paper presents the results of the usability testing of the voting system with young and older adults, and reports equal usability of the ballot for both age groups.

Designing ballot interfaces for voters with vision disabilities

Current accessible audio voting requires additional button controls to select candidates and scroll through the ballot, which result in significantly longer completion time for casting a ballot compared to sighted voters. Instead of adding accessibility to the finished product, this study has designed two ballot interfaces using a universal design approach. In this paper, I present the design of a ballot interface using universal design approach, formative user study, refined ballot features, and on-going future work.