Tuuli Keskinen

Defining user experience goals to guide the design of industrial systems

The key prerequisite for experience-driven design is to define what experience to design for. User experience (UX) goals concretise the intended experience. Based on our own case studies from industrial environments and a literature study, we propose five different approaches to acquiring insight and inspiration for UX goal setting: Brand, Theory, Empathy, Technology, and Vision. Each approach brings in a different viewpoint, thus supporting the multidisciplinary character of UX. The Brand approach ensures that the UX goals are in line with the companys brand promise. The Theory approach utilises the available scientific knowledge of human behaviour. The Empathy approach focuses on knowing the actual users and stepping into their shoes. The Technology approach considers the new technologies that are being introduced and their positive or negative influence on UX. Finally, the Vision approach focuses on renewal, introducing new kinds of UXs. In the design of industrial systems, several stakeholders are involved and they should share common design goals. Using the different UX goal-setting approaches together brings in the viewpoints of different stakeholders, thus committing them to UX goal setting and emphasising UX as a strategic design decision.

SymbolChat: A flexible picture-based communication platform for users with intellectual disabilities

Persons with intellectual disabilities benefit from participating in the modern information society, especially the World Wide Web, social media and Internet-mediated communication services. Although several computer-based prototypes and commercial systems have been introduced for accessible in-person communication, currently few applications and services exist to support synchronous remote communication for this user group. We introduce SymbolChat, a software platform that supports the creation of multimodal communication applications utilizing picture-based instant messaging. End users and their support personnel can customize the input and output features of the application based on their individual needs and abilities. The interaction is based on touchscreen input and speech output using speech synthesis technology. The SymbolChat platform was developed together with the prospective end users and practitioners in the field of special needs care. We evaluated the prototype application in a field study with nine users with varying degrees of intellectual and other disabilities. The results clearly indicate that the participants were able to express themselves in spontaneous communication using a large-scale picture-based vocabulary (around 2000 symbols) even without prior training in the use of symbols. This finding was supported in the constructive feedback gathered from professionals working in the area. We also successfully applied methodology from other settings, such as child-computer interaction to evaluate interaction in this challenging context. Overall, the results show that social inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities can be improved with customizable communication tools. The implemented communication platform forms a solid basis for further improvements and new communication services. In addition, we found that users with motor impairments would greatly benefit from alternative input and output methods for symbol browsing and selection.

Berlin Kompass: Multimodal Gameful Empowerment for Foreign Language Learning

This article presents an innovative, gameful, multimodal, and authentic learning environment for training of oral communication in a foreign language—a virtual adventure called Berlin Kompass. After a brief presentation of the pedagogical and technological backgrounds, the system is described. Central results of a series of pilots in autumn 2013 with around 100 upper secondary pupils are described and further steps are discussed. The results are highly promising, and the concept was highly appreciated by the pupils regardless of some technical problems that the prototype had during the pilots. The researcher observations and the questionnaire results show that the concept manages to create a new motivating collaborative learning context with clear added value compared with equal tasks realized in a typical classroom approach.

Evaluating landmark attraction model in collaborative wayfinding in virtual learning environments

In Virtual Learning Environments efficient navigation is a major issue, especially when it is used as a component in the learning process. This paper addresses the challenges in creating meaningful navigation routes from language learning perspective. The work is grounded on findings from a specific case on German language learning, wherein two remotely located users communicated in a wayfinding guidance scenario. The users navigated through 360-degree virtual panoramic images using body gestures and could receive communication help via spoken hints by pointing at objects in the scenery. An important design consideration is how to choose these objects, as they have both navigational importance and pedagogical significance in terms of learning the desired language. Wayfinding interactions from 21 participants were compared to the values provided by a landmark attraction model applied on the landmarks along the routes. The results show that there was a clear connection between prominence of landmarks and time spent on each panorama. This indicates that together with pedagogical planning, the model can aid in selecting the interactive content for language learning applications in virtual environments.

Designing Gesture-Based Control for Factory Automation

We report the development and evaluation of a gesture-based interaction prototype for controlling the loading station of a factory automation system. In this context, gesture-based interaction has the potential to free users from the tedious physical controls but it must also account for safety considerations and users’ perceptions. We evaluated the gesture interaction concept in the field to understand its applicability to industrial settings. Our findings suggest that gesture-based interaction is an emotional, physically charged experience that has the potential to enhance the work process. Participants’ feedback also highlighted challenges related to the reliability of gesture recognition technology in the workplace, the perceived professionalism of gesture-based interaction, and the role of physical feedback in promoting feeling of control. Our results inform the development of gesture-based interaction for similar contexts.

Creating Immersive Audio and Lighting Based Physical Exercise Games for Schoolchildren

We have created story-based exercise games utilizing light and sound to encourage children to participate in physical exercise in schools. Our reasonably priced technological setup provides practical and expressive means for creating immersive and rich experiences to support physical exercise education in schools. Studies conducted in schools showed that the story and drama elements draw children into the world of the exercise game. Moreover, children who do not like traditional games and exercises engaged in these activities. Our experiences also suggest that childrens imagination plays a great role in the design and engagement into exercise games, which makes co-creation with children a viable and exciting approach to creating new games.

It's Natural to Grab and Pull: Retrieving Content from Large Displays Using Mid-Air Gestures

Mid-air gestures have been largely overlooked for transferring content between large displays and personal mobile devices. To fully utilize the ubiquitous nature of mid-air gestures for this purpose, the authors developed SimSense, a smart space system that automatically pairs users with their mobile devices based on location data. Users can then interact with a gesture-controlled large display and move content onto their handheld devices. In a user study, the authors investigated two mid-air gestures for content transfer: grab-and-pull and grab-and-drop. Their results show that mid-air gestures are well suited for content-retrieval scenarios and offer an impressive user experience; grab-and-pull is the preferred for scenarios when content is transferred to the user, whereas grab-and-drop is presumably ideal when the recipient is another person or a device; and distinct gestures can be successfully combined with common point-and-dwell mechanics prominent in many gesture-controlled applications.

Collaborative navigation in virtual worlds: how gender and game experience influence user behavior

There exists a large base of evidence for gender differences in human navigation. However, there is not much research on gender differences in collaborative aspects of navigation, including the interaction of individuals during collaborative wayfinding tasks in virtual environments. In light of this, we present a study of a collaborative virtual environment, Berlin Kompass. The goal of this study was to find out the main differences between genders in collaborative wayfinding. The application was evaluated in the context of foreign language learning in schools with over 200 students, where the users navigated through cityscapes while interacting verbally with each other. We collected and analyzed interaction logs, questionnaire data and audio and video recordings to gain insights into gender-related differences in wayfinding in virtual worlds. Our findings suggest that several differences that are evident in single user systems are not present when the collaborative aspect is added. Male users were more immersed during the task than females. One of the explaining factors for this might be video game experience. Genders also communicated differently -- males spoke in longer utterances whereas females had more, shorter utterances. Males referred more to relative directions and dynamic landmarks such as cars and pedestrians while navigating. Males with more video game experience also provided more positive subjective user experience feedback on the application.

Schoolchildren’s user experiences on a physical exercise game utilizing lighting and audio

Abstract Motivated by the troubling news on decreased exercise amount and increased obesity among children and adolescents, we investigated the possibilities of interactive lighting technology in encouraging children to participate in physical exercise in schools. We have created a story-driven physical exercise game based on light and sound utilizing a reasonably priced technological setup. The game has been evaluated with several groups of schoolchildren during physical education classes. The results show that a physical exercise game enhanced with lighting and audio keeps schoolchildren motivated both mentally and physically even after several playtimes. In subjective evaluations, participants still found the story of the game interesting after three playtimes, and were eager to exercise this way again.

'AIE-studio' - a pragmatist aesthetic approach for procedural sound design

This paper introduces the AIE-Studio (Audio Interfaces for Exploration), a modular dataflow patching library implemented with Pure Data. The AIE-Studio introduces new tools for procedural sound design through generative sonic and musical structures. Particular focus is on aesthetic experience. The designed modules allow versatile dataflow mapping through matrix routing system while also enabling the sound designer to influence generative processes of music creation. In particular, The AIE-Studio was used to create generative sonic and musical material in an embodied game-like application. In this paper we present key questions driving the research, theoretical background, research approach and the main development activities.