Interface Design Decisions Research Articles

From Spectatorship to “Survivorship” in Five Critical Propositions

Often theorized through the negative framework of addiction or passivity, binge-watching has been transformed into a civic duty and a mode of survival during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring this recent plot-twist in bingeing scholarship, this article proposes five new ways to study the most dominant spectatorial mode under corona-capitalism. These propositions include studying how the pandemic turned bingeing into an antidote to “languishing,” a feeling of sadness and exhortation that, if unrecognized, might lead to depression; exploring co-watching apps in order to move away from the cliché of bingeing as an individual activity; unpacking the importance of narrative causality during the pandemic’s prolonged structure and temporal limbo; paying close attention to interface design decisions, such as the addition of a “playback speed” feature to Netflix in August 2020; and, finally, demonstrating how binge-watching trains viewers to ignore their basic biological needs while turning them into unpaid laborers.

Considerations of Interface Efficiency in Scaling up Telehealthcare Systems

One of the most important promises of telehealthcare is that of increasing care provider productivity in managing patients, which is essential for dealing with the changing demographics. Amongst other factors, this is currently put to the test by several European projects trialling large scale implementations of telehealthcare systems. Any minor interface problem which affects productivity at small scale may prevent a care provider from managing more patients at large scale. This makes interface efficiency, a component of its usability, an essential criterion to consider in the evaluation of telehealthcare. This paper describes a post-deployment usability evaluation study of a telehealthcare system conducted in Lothian, Scotland, the findings of which revealed important efficiency issues. Using these findings, and experience from two older studies, it concludes on interface design decisions which could be taken to avoid efficiency issues for telehealthcare solutions.

User-interface design for the Ripoll Monastery exhibition at the National Art Museum of Catalonia

Computer graphics and virtual reality technologies provide powerful tools for visualizing, documenting and disseminating cultural heritage. Virtual inspection tools have been used proficiently to show cultural artifacts either through the web or in museum exhibits. The usability of the user interface has been recognized to play a crucial role in overcoming the typical fearful attitude of the cultural heritage community towards 3D graphics. In this paper we discuss the design of the user interface for the virtual inspection of the impressive entrance of the Ripoll Monastery in Spain. The system was exhibited in the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) and it is now part of the Romanesque exhibition at the MAPFRE foundation. The MNAC is the third most visited art museum in Spain, and features the world's largest collection on Romanesque Art. We analyze the requirements from museum curators and discuss the main interface design decisions. The user interface combines (a) focus-plus-context visualization, with focus (detail view) and context (overview) being shown at separate displays, (b) touch-based camera control techniques, and (c) continuous feedback about the exact location of the detail area within the entrance. The interface allows users to aim the camera at any point of the entrance with centimeter accuracy using a single tap. We provide the results of a user study comparing our user interface with alternative approaches. We also discuss the benefits the exhibition had to the cultural heritage community.

Designing an Interface for a Digital Movie Browsing System in the Film Studies Domain

This article explains our work in designing an interface for a digital movie browsing system in the specific application context of film studies. The development of MOVIEBROWSER2 follows some general design guidelines based on an earlier user study with film studies students at Dublin City University. These design guidelines have been used as an input to the MOVIEBROWSER2 system design. The rationale for the interface design decisions has been elaborated. An experiment has been carried out among film studies student, together with a one-semester trial deployment. The results show positive feedback and a better performance in the students’ essay outcome with higher perceived satisfaction levels

Effects of Attentional Demand on Input Device Use in Younger and Older Adults

We investigated how different categories of input devices, direct and indirect, affected performance under different attentional conditions. We also examined the moderating effects of age on input device usability. Previous studies have found differences in performance between the two types of devices as well as interactive effects of age (e.g., Charness, 2001). Previously, researchers have suggested that attention is a key moderating variable predicting performance with an input device; however, no age-related studies have systematically manipulated attention when examining input devices. In the current study, younger and older adults used an input device, direct (touchscreen) or indirect (rotary encoder), to perform tasks under various attention allocation conditions. The tasks were comprised of on-screen controls which were then analyzed by the type of input device used. Age and attention allocation together were needed to predict usability of an input device. We discuss how these data can be used when making input and interface design decisions across user groups of different ages.

How universal is good design for older users?

This paper attempts to illustrate the way in which multiple considerations influence interface design decisions when designing for older users. The arguments are supported by examination of issues that arose during the design of a successful email system for older users. The point is also made that while the interface design decisions made in the example do assist older users, they limit the power of an application to serve younger, more able and more demanding users. The argument is made that while it is possible to increase accessibility, the most obvious ways of doing this limit the universality of the resulting application.

Para-Social Presence and Communication Capabilities of a Web Site: A Theoretical Perspective

The goal of this paper is to describe the theoretical underpinnings of the construct Para-social Presence and to develop an instrument to measure this construct. Para-social presence refers to the extent to which a medium facilitates a sense of understanding, connection, involvement and interaction among participating social entities. We make a case for treating a web site as a valid social actor and argue that the relationship between a web site and her visitors should be characterized in much the same way one would characterize an inter-personal relationship. We also argue that a web site could possess different levels of para-social presence depending on how it is configured and used. We then develop a research framework that illustrates the impact of new technologies (such as personalization systems) and associated web interface design decisions on perceived communication characteristics of a web site, para-social presence, and subsequent user evaluations of the web site.

"WWW.MDTF.ORG": a World Wide Web forum for developing open-architecture, freely distributed, digital teaching file software by participant consensus.

To foster a community supported evaluation processes for open-source digital teaching file (DTF) development and maintenance. The mechanisms used to support this process will include standard web browsers, web servers, forum software, and custom additions to the forum software to potentially enable a mediated voting protocol. The web server will also serve as a focal point for beta and release software distribution, which is the desired end-goal of this process. We foresee that www.mdtf.org will provide for widespread distribution of open source DTF software that will include function and interface design decisions from community participation on the website forums.

Bluetooth-a new low-power radio interface providing short-range connectivity

In the past decades, progress in microelectronics and VLSI technology has fostered the widespread use of computing and communication applications in portable electronic devices. In this paper, we review the Bluetooth technology, a new universal radio interface enabling electronic devices to connect and communicate wirelessly via short-range connections. Motivations for the air interface design and radio requirement decisions are discussed. Frequency hopping, interference resistance, and the concepts of ad hoc connectivity and scatternets are explained in detail. Furthermore, Bluetooth characteristics enabling low-cost single-chip implementations and supporting low power consumption are discussed.

Documenting the design of safety-critical, user interfaces

A number of techniques have been developed to map out the ‘design space’ of interactive systems. For instance, design rationale notations represent the various options that must be considered during interface development. Such notations offer important benefits. For instance, they can be shown to regulatory authorities to demonstrate that sufficient attention has been paid to particular design issues. Unfortunately, these notations are semi-formal. This leads to a number of weaknesses. They cannot be used to determine whether criteria and options have been used consistently during the development of an interactive system. Nor do they provide any procedures to determine whether interface design decisions have indeed been guided by a rationale. These are important limitations when regulatory authorities, such as the UK Health and Safety Executive, expect designers to demonstrate the consistency and coherence of their decisions. This paper addresses these problems and shows how decision theory can be employed to support design rationale during the development of human-computer interfaces for safety-critical systems.

Report of the working group on interface design decisions and representation

This is a report of working group discussion held during the "Taking Design Seriously" workshop at CHI'90 in Settle. The group participants were George Casaday, Tom Dayton, Deborah Hix, John Karat, John McGrew, and Antonio Siochi.

On criteria for module interfaces

While the benefits of modular software development are widely acknowledged, there is little agreement as to what constitutes a good module interface. Computational complexity techniques allow evaluation of algorithm time and space costs but offer no guidance in the design of the interface to an implementation. Yet, interface design decisions often have a critical effect on the development and maintenance costs of large software systems. Criteria that have led to simple, elegant interfaces are presented in detail. These criteria have been developed and refined through repeated practical application. The use of the criteria is illustrated with concrete examples.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>