HCI Approaches Research Articles

A Turn to Assets in Community-Based Computing Research: Tradeoffs, Deficits, and Neoliberalism in Technological Development

CSCW and HCI scholars are increasingly adopting asset-based approaches to community-based social computing research. Emerging from asset-based community development (ABCD), an approach to community and economic development research and practice that emerged in the 1990s, advocates for asset-based approaches argue that a "needs-based approach" to development is overly focused on community deficits, and in doing so portrays communities in a largely negative light. Using ABCD methods, social computing scholars work to aid communities in identifying, classifying, and deploying their unrealized assets through sociotechnical systems. But researchers deploying asset-based approaches in CSCW and HCI more broadly have yet to grapple with the origins of ABCD in neoliberal economic shifts of the 1980s and 1990s that perpetuated distrust in the state and sought to transfer development power to private, local actors. Drawing on a case study of controversy around the construction of a cell tower in a very remote and rural community in the Midwestern United States to examine the inherent tradoffs present in asset- and deficit-based research.

Design and integration challenge of effective HCI-prototypes for Traditional Funding Platforms

Charity organizations struggle to attract donors due to poor UI and varying donor perspectives, resulting in them investing resources in marketing rather than addressing people's needs. Existing funding platforms lack HCI-based solutions, making it difficult for donors to effectively interact with recipient organizations. This donor-recipient relationship is crucial in modern times with advanced technology, but donors often face obstacles while donating or lack options based on demographics, audience insight. The research proposes a new prototype model, called charity360 onwards, that enhances the UI/UX and HCI approach for all existing charity platforms. The model is scalable and applicable to various funding platforms, and visualizes the donor-recipient relationship effectively. The charity360 model utilizes demographic data to establish a trust-based relationship between donors and recipients. Its unique synaptic mapping feature allows for global recipients, giving donors unprecedented control over their charitable contributions. The model includes audience and demographic insights that have not been previously available, providing an easier donation process for both tech-savvy and non-tech-savvy donors. The charity360 model has the potential to amplify donation processes in any society and strengthen integrated welfare efforts among global organizations, making it a valuable addition to the field of charity.

Introduction to this special issue: guiding the conversation: new theory and design perspectives for conversational user interfaces

ABSTRACT The increased popularity of CUIs has motivated HCI work around specific approaches to research, design, and implementation, while also reflecting on these topics. However, current research is highly fragmented and lacks critical mass around topics such as theory, methods and design. Building this critical mass is a fundamentally multidisciplinary endeavour. CUIs involve language based interaction, either through speech or text, with another agent(s) or device(s). This type of interaction not only needs to engage with traditional HCI approaches, but also to embrace methods from communicative and social sciences. This is crucial for making progress towards human-centred conversational interfaces. Along with the recent ACM SIGCHI Conversational User Interfaces conference (ACM CUI), this special issue showcases research to further solidify the foundations of the field in these areas. Below we outline some key challenges faced by the field, describe the papers in this special issue, and then outline areas for future research.

CARING FOR OUR PEOPLE: INDIGENOUS RESPONSES TO COVID-19 ERA INFORMATIC COLONIALISM

Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses, activist work and HCI approaches, these papers show how organizations formed partnerships to curate information resources, and deploy community Wi-Fi and Internet infrastructure across southwest US Indigenous communities during the most challenging months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. For Native Americans this means ideating while navigating colonial inequality. Through an investigation of sociotechnical interdependencies across a broadband network cooperative, tribes, and university labs, an HCI team reflects on how relational stability sustains fragile Internet ecologies stretched to capacity by the needs of users deeply affected by COVID-19 in New Mexico and Arizona. Through an autoethnography of community-centered digital solutions for Navajo Nation, a member of the Nation considers how the role of K’é informs a system of infrastructural care in a nation struggling with high rates of infection and systemic lack of adequate infrastructure. Through an advocacy-oriented analysis of social media content, a Diné and Lakota social media scholar discerns the relationship between community enforcement of social distancing, the loss of interpersonal interaction, mutual aid, and the impact of public health memes for the Navajo Nation. Through radical librarianship practices, a Tohono O’odham librarian and artist counteracts the values of ‘information neutrality’ shaping whiteness-centering American librarianship by generating a community-curated solution to actionable information about COVID-19 for Indigenous communities. This panel models decolonial liberation rooted in responsiveness across mediated layers of Indigenous belonging. The authors express Indigenous interpretations of collective autonomy vis-a-vis strategic Internet assemblages, and particularly, how an Indigenous ethics of care intersects with the dream of an Internet for social good.

Creation of CFG Based Natural Language Framework for Explication of Syntax Errors in First Programming Language Featuring Novices

The intention of this research is to investigate effectiveness and impact of NLF for error messages on the performance, motivation, cognitive load of novices in FPL like C. This study analyzed the effectiveness of enhanced error messages in natural language on debugging .it is used as a teaching tool in introductory programming language. This research focus on use of natural language framework to illustrate errors, suggest proper solution thus ensures that usability of error messages effectively to facilitate debugging. This paper reports that self-directed static error resolution and illustration using natural language, enhanced understanding of static errors and decreased debugging time. CFG based NLF ensemble natural language description underpinning HCI approach in IDE for resolution of errors. We inferred that novices using NLF performed better in programming with good understanding of static error handling, error resolution ,NLF has valuable impression on novice learning outcomes The results of study indicate error messages in natural language augmented static error debugging time which has considerable impact on performance, motivation, cognitive load of novices.

Theoretical perspectives of the HCD integration in software development process

HCD is an approach that covers all of the human aspects including aesthetic and ergonomics, which will provide a better approach in strengthening the HCI approaches to strengthen the software development process. Lack of guidelines to guide the software practitioners to adopt the HCD in software development process become the main concern in this study. Among the problems that faced by the organizations that have adopted HCD, including problem of managing the resources such as human, financial and infrastructure. Therefore, this study used a theoretical lens to get a better understanding of HCD integration form management perspective, namely operational, tactical (management) and strategy perspective in software development process. Furthermore, the HCDP model is employed in this study because it covers the HCD activities from the project planning stage to the implementation stage of the software development process and it emphasizes on the larger scope of human factors and require broader skills in software development process. As a result, a conceptual model of HCD integration has been developed which emphasizes on the importance of managing the resources and long term strategic planning for the organization. This is due to long term strategic planning and managing organization resources appropriately will contribute to the success of the organization which will increase organizational performance.

Enhancing Patient Motivation through Intelligibility in Cardiac Tele-rehabilitation

Abstract Physical exercise training and medication compliance are primary components of cardiac rehabilitation. When rehabilitating independently at home, patients often fail to comply with their prescribed medication and find it challenging to interpret exercise targets or be aware of the expected efforts. Our work aims to assist cardiac patients in understanding their condition better, promoting medication adherence and motivating them to achieve their exercise targets in a tele-rehabilitation setting. We introduce a patient-centric intelligible visualization approach to present prescribed medication and exercise targets to patients. We assessed efficacy of intelligible visualizations on patients’ comprehension in two lab studies. We evaluated the impact on patient motivation and health outcomes in field studies. Patients were able to adhere to medication prescriptions, manage their physical exercises, monitor their progress and gained better self-awareness on how they achieved their rehabilitation targets. Patients confirmed that the intelligible visualizations motivated them to achieve their targets better. We observed an improvement in overall physical activity levels and health outcomes of patients. Research Highlights Presents challenges currently faced in cardiac tele-rehabilitation. Demonstrates how intelligibility was applied to two core aspects of cardiac rehabilitation- promoting medication adherence and physical exercise training. Lab., field and clinical studies to demonstrate efficacy of intelligible visualization, impact on patient motivation and resultant health outcomes. Reflection on how similar HCI approaches could be leveraged for technology-supported management of critical health conditions such as cardiac diseases.

Control Theoretic Models of Pointing

This article presents an empirical comparison of four models from manual control theory on their ability to model targeting behaviour by human users using a mouse: McRuer’s Crossover, Costello’s Surge, second-order lag (2OL), and the Bang-bang model. Such dynamic models are generative, estimating not only movement time, but also pointer position, velocity, and acceleration on a moment-to-moment basis. We describe an experimental framework for acquiring pointing actions and automatically fitting the parameters of mathematical models to the empirical data. We present the use of time-series, phase space, and Hooke plot visualisations of the experimental data, to gain insight into human pointing dynamics. We find that the identified control models can generate a range of dynamic behaviours that captures aspects of human pointing behaviour to varying degrees. Conditions with a low index of difficulty (ID) showed poorer fit because their unconstrained nature leads naturally to more behavioural variability. We report on characteristics of human surge behaviour (the initial, ballistic sub-movement) in pointing, as well as differences in a number of controller performance measures, including overshoot, settling time, peak time, and rise time . We describe trade-offs among the models. We conclude that control theory offers a promising complement to Fitts’ law based approaches in HCI, with models providing representations and predictions of human pointing dynamics, which can improve our understanding of pointing and inform design.

A fresh recipe for designers: HCI approach to explore the nexus between design techniques and formal methods in software development

Emerging companies involved in design and implementation of innovative products demand multidisciplinary teams to be competitive in the market. This need mainly exposes designers to extend their knowledge not only in User Interface elements of the design process but also in software methodologies to cover the lack of resources and expertise in start-ups. It raises the question of how designers can line up HCI techniques with best practices in software development while preserving usability and easy-to-use principles. To explore this gap, this paper proposes an approach which combines existing technology and methods by studying the nexus between HCI prototyping and software engineering. The approach is applied into a case study in the design of a virtual shop harmonizing the use of storyboards and the spiral. A comprehensive analysis is performed by using a Technology acceptance model (TAM) regarding with two variables: usability and easy-to-use. The present finding underlines the positive integration of HCI techniques and formal methods without compromising user satisfaction with a potential benefit for small companies in a formation stage.

Child-centered game development (CCGD): developing games with children at school

Children represent an increasingly relevant target group of the game industry. Nevertheless, they are rarely involved in development processes. This article introduces child-centered game development (CCGD) approaches for the game design within the context of the school. Therefore, suitable HCI approaches from user-centered and participatory design as well as educational principles and approaches were used as a foundation. The CCGD approaches illustrate how to guide the involvement and participation of children aged 10---14 years in school classes within the development process of games. Approaches for the analysis, conceptualization, and design phases were developed and applied.

Designing and Evaluating Usable Technology in Industrial Research: Three Case Studies

This book is about HCI research in an industrial research setting. It is based on the experiences of two researchers at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. Over the last two decades, Drs. John and Clare-Marie Karat have conducted HCI research to create innovative usable technology for users across a variety of domains. We begin the book by introducing the reader to the context of industrial research as well as a set of common themes or guidelines to consider in conducting HCI research in practice. Then case study examples of HCI approaches to the design and evaluation of usable solutions for people are presented and discussed in three domain areas:

Dynamic 2D-barcodes for multi-device Web session migration including mobile phones

This article introduces a novel Web architecture that supports session migration in multi-device Web applications, particularly the case when a user starts a Web session on a computer and wishes to continue on a mobile phone. The proposed solution for transferring the needed session identifiers across devices is to dynamically generate pictures of 2D-barcodes containing a Web address and a session ID in an encoded form. 2D-barcodes are a cheap, fast and robust approach to the problem. They are widely known and used in Japan, and are spreading in other countries. Variations on the topic are covered in the article, including a possible migration from a mobile device to a computer (opposite direction), and between two or more mobile phones (possibly back and forth). The results show that this HCI approach is inexpensive, efficient, and works with most camera-phones on the market; the author does see any other mature technique with such assets.

Applying simulation experience design methods to creating serious game-based adaptive training systems

The purpose of the present paper is to briefly introduce adaptive training systems, and describe the Simulation Experience Design Method. Adaptive training systems are serious games whose goal it is to engender communication opportunities for players to learn about their strengths and weaknesses, receive real-time in-game performance feedback, and share diverse solutions and strategies during, between, and after game play in order to update, or adapt, player understanding. The Simulation Experience Design Method extends HCI approaches to create engaging multiplayer learning experiences by focusing on how dynamic game content, roles, scenarios, and assessment feedback contribute to emergent culture. Preliminary evaluations of an earlier instantiation of serious game-based adaptive training systems employing this design method have been positive. The contribution of the present paper lies in describing how designers create rich systems of experiences for serious games and adaptive training systems by employing HCI principles and the Simulation Experience Design Method.

Semiotic engineering: bringing designers and users together at interaction time

Semiotic engineering is a semiotic theory of human–computer interaction, where interactive computer systems are viewed as one-shot messages sent from designers to users. Through the system's interface, in many direct and indirect ways, designers are telling the users how they can, should, or must interact with the system in order to achieve a particular range of goals anticipated at design time. Designers are thus active interlocutors at human–computer interaction time. Their interactive discourse is delivered implicitly and/or explicitly by the system, which constitutes the designer's deputy. The importance of bringing designers and users together at interaction time springs from the intellectual nature of software artifacts. They are the result of human reasoning, choice and decision, rather than the direct effect of universal or natural laws. An adequate understanding of interactive artifacts depends on apprehending and comprehending the human intellect in action. Hence, in addition to producing interactive artifacts, designers must also introduce them appropriately, as is the case of other intellectual products. In this paper, we show how semiotic engineering can provide substantial theoretic support for viewing and exploring design possibilities brought about by this shift in perspective. We also discuss ontological and epistemological aspects of the theory, and conclude that it can bridge some of the gaps between other fragmented HCI theories and approaches.

Meaning, the central issue in cross-cultural HCI design

In this paper, we focus on the design of systems intended to be shared by culturally heterogeneous users (e.g., users of Computer-Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW) and Internet applications). We discuss the limitations of current approaches to designing interfaces for culturally diverse users — such as internationalisation and localisation — before describing a study conducted to elicit and understand culturally determined usability problems, in which a World-Wide Web (WWW) system was evaluated. It is concluded that culturally determined usability problems converge in the understanding of representations the meanings of which are rooted in culturally specific contexts. We explain why existing approaches are inadequate for dealing with this issue. In conclusion, we outline an HCI approach, called Meaning in Mediated Action (MMA), designed to tackle this problem.

Becoming social: Expanding scenario-based approaches in HCI

Abstract Scenarios of use support the integration of cognitive and organizational approaches to human-computer interaction HCI by providing a rich representation of activity from which cognitive and organizational perspectives can be developed. In this paper, a 'cognitive' approach to scenario-based analysis and design-one focused on causal relationships implicit in episodes of individual problem-solving and learning-is extended by emphasizing an organizational work view of social causes and effects.