User Background Research Articles

A Bayesian model for disclosure control in statistical databases

The paper proposes a novel approach for on-line max and min query auditing, in which a Bayesian network addresses disclosures based on probabilistic inferences that can be drawn from released data. In the literature, on-line max and min auditing has been addressed with some restrictive assumptions, primarily that sensitive values must be all distinct and the sensitive field has a uniform distribution. We remove these limitations and propose a model able to: provide a graphical representation of user knowledge; deal with the implicit delivery of information that derives from denying the answer to a query; and capture user background knowledge. Finally, we discuss the results of experiments aimed at assessing the scalability of the approach, in terms of response time and size of the conditional probability table, and the usefulness of the auditor system, in terms of probability to deny.

Information needs and information-seeking behavior in developing countries: A review of the research

This article reviews research that has been done on the information needs and information-seeking behavior of indigenous people in developing countries. The paper focuses on two types of user groups: urban dwellers and rural dwellers. By comparing their information-seeking behavior, conclusions about human information behavior in the developing world, as well as key factors that play a role in their information needs and behavior, are drawn. Findings reveal that, while a weak economy has a profound effect on the availability and accessibility of resources, the information and communication divide is not defined as much by the economic status of a geographic location as it is by an individual user's educational background.

Information needs and information-seeking behavior in developing countries: A review of the research

This article reviews research that has been done on the information needs and information-seeking behavior of indigenous people in developing countries. The paper focuses on two types of user groups: urban dwellers and rural dwellers. By comparing their information-seeking behavior, conclusions about human information behavior in the developing world, as well as key factors that play a role in their information needs and behavior, are drawn. Findings reveal that, while a weak economy has a profound effect on the availability and accessibility of resources, the information and communication divide is not defined as much by the economic status of a geographic location as it is by an individual user's educational background.

An epistemic dynamic model for tagging systems

In recent literature, several models were proposed for reproducing and understanding the tagging behavior of users. They all assume that the tagging behavior is influenced by the previous tag assignments of other users. But they are only partially successful in reproducing characteristic properties found in tag streams. We argue that this inadequacy of existing models results from their inability to include user's background knowledge into their model of tagging behavior. This paper presents a generative tagging model that integrates both components, the background knowledge and the influence of previous tag assignments. Our model successfully reproduces characteristic properties of tag streams. It even explains effects of the user interface on the tag stream.

Towards a theory of user judgment of aesthetics and user interface quality

The article introduces a framework for users' design quality judgments based on Adaptive Decision Making theory. The framework describes judgment on quality attributes (usability, content/functionality, aesthetics, customisation and engagement) with dependencies on decision making arising from the user's background, task and context. The framework is tested and refined by three experimental studies. The first two assessed judgment of quality attributes of websites with similar content but radically different designs for aesthetics and engagement. Halo effects were demonstrated whereby attribution of good quality on one attribute positively influenced judgment on another, even in the face of objective evidence to the contrary (e.g., usability errors). Users' judgment was also shown to be susceptible to framing effects of the task and their background. These appear to change the importance order of the quality attributes; hence, quality assessment of a design appears to be very context dependent. The third study assessed the influence of customisation by experiments on mobile services applications, and demonstrated that evaluation of customisation depends on the users' needs and motivation. The results are discussed in the context of the literature on aesthetic judgment, user experience and trade-offs between usability and hedonic/ludic design qualities.

Cultural Factors in Digital Cartographic Design: Implications for Communication to Diverse Users

Cartography as a discipline benefits from a careful consideration of the users and the use of map products. Whether a map is used to communicate information, to assist in problem solving, or to analyze complex information, appreciation of the user's experience, knowledge, and background is vital for effective design. Since the turn of the millennium, this has become more important as users of maps (particularly digital maps) have changed dramatically: the Internet has diversified and globalized the users of geo-information, GIS has made map creation rapid and ubiquitous, and popular applications such as Google Earth are encouraging users to look at their world with a profound—but perhaps limited—spatial perspective. To what extent should map (and map interface) designers be concerned about cultural differences in this dynamic user population? In this paper, I review research relevant to this question, including that which has recently emerged in human–computer interaction, and provide evidence that cartographic design that breaks some conventions and guidelines may be required to respond appropriately to this diversification of map users and map uses.

GammaKnife surgery: Safety and the identity of users

In this study we investigated safety-related usability issues of an advanced medical technology, a radiosurgery system. We were interested in which criteria are important for users when a system's usability and safety is to be improved. The data collection was based on interviews and observations at three different sites where the Leksell GammaKnife is used. The analysis was qualitative. The main finding was that the user's identity or professional background has a significant impact both on how he or she views his or her role in the clinical setting, and on how he or she defines what improvements are necessary and general safety issues. In fact, the opinion even of users experienced in safety-related problems was highly influenced by how they related to the technology and its development. None of the users actually considered Leksell GammaKnife as lacking in safety, instead, their assessment was directed towards potential future system improvements. Our findings suggest that the importance of user identity or professional background cannot be neglected during the development of advanced technology. They also suggest that the user feedback should always be related to user background and identity in order to understand how important different issues are for particular users.

Communication support system adapted to a user's background knowledge and the topic context

AbstractThis paper proposes a technique for interpolating the information in a real‐time conversation via computer between a speaker and listener to compensate for differences in the knowledge presumed for the conversation and introduces Telme, a communications support system that uses this technique. The basic premises are that the system infers the context of the current topic based on the terms used by the speaker and infers the listener's degree of knowledge from the listener's questions and a history of operations such as operations for saving certain data. It then supplements the text information of the words dictated by the speaker with information that the listener should require based on those inferences and displays it on the screen. The degree of knowledge is inferred based on the user's conceptual space, which was generated by using multiple conceptual spaces that were created based on the views and opinions of specialists in various fields. The user's conceptual space, which consists of a set of key words having interrelationships, is adapted to the user by functions for inferring those relationships and the user's degree of knowledge through the user's interactions with the computer. This paper proposes a technique, explains basic mechanisms, and reports on and examines application examples and evaluation experiments. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 34(7): 87–98, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.10115

Evaluating Comprehension-Based User Models: Predicting Individual User Planning and Action

Described is a program of research that uses rigorous methods to evaluate models of user cognition and action based on the construction-integration architecture of comprehension (Doane and Sohn, 2000; Kintsch, 1988; 1998). The models interrelate user environmental information, background knowledge, and current goals, and then spread activation throughout the interrelated information to simulate UNIX user command productions, aviation pilot eye fixations and control movements during flight, and army personnel intelligence planning. Models of individuals in the complex interactive environments are tested for descriptive as well as predictive validity. Comparisons of model and human empirical data have resulted in a high degree of agreement, validating the ability of the comprehension-based architecture to support models that can predict user performance. Evaluation methods are detailed and the importance of evaluative rigor is discussed.

A User-Dependent Definition of the Information in Images and Its Use in Information Retrieval

Operational image databases are subsystems of systems which contain images, structured data, structured data completions, and algorithms, all relating to a particular real-world domain. Traditional notions of image similarity therefore need to be extended to handle retrieval of mixed datatypes. In this paper, we use the structured datatypes to describe a user's interests and background knowledge and then to ascribe a value to that user of the information in the system. The difference between the information values in two states of a system leads naturally to a user-dependent definition of the (dis) similarity between the states. These definitions restrict respectively to definitions of the value of information in an image, and of the (dis)similarity between two images. We show how this notion of similarity provides an integrated way of dealing with image and nonimage data, generalizing conventional classes of feature-based similarity measures and allowing for missing data. Because the measure depends on the data models and data in the structured part of the database as well as on image characteristics, the similarity between two images may change when nonimage data in the system are updated or extended. We illustrate using an example from a business domain.

CAN MACHINE LEARNING SOLVE MY PROBLEM?

An important issue to consider when applying machine learning to real world problems is the selection of an appropriate learning tool from the large set of available techniques. Building on our experience with the Machine Learning Toolbox, we propose a set of taxonomies that allow a domain expert, with little or no knowledge of machine learning, to choose a suitable tool for his particular application. Unlike previous classifications of learning systems, which were based on technical characteristics of these systems, ours relies on features of the applications that can be solved, such as the user's goal, available data and background knowledge, and interaction between the system and its user.

Automating the generation of coordinated multimedia explanations

An explanation system developed to overcome the disadvantages of conventional authoring in multimedia applications is presented. This experimental test bed for the automated generation of multimedia explanations is called COMET (coordinated multimedia explanation testbed), and has as its goal the coordinated, interactive generation of explanations that combine text and three-dimensional graphics, all of which is generated on the fly. In response to a user request for an explanation, COMET dynamically determines the explanation's content using constraints based on the type of request, the information available in a set of underlying knowledge bases, and information about the user's background and goals. Having determined what to say, COMET also determines how to express it at the time of generation. A brief overview of COMET's domain and architecture is followed by a description of the specific ways in which COMET can coordinate its text and graphics. The current status and limitations of COMET are discussed. >

Graphical Knowledge-Based Structure Editors

We discuss our experience with an interface that gives users the ability to directly represent and manipulate goals at several levels of detail. The interface is built into Bridge, a tutorial environment for novice programmers [Bonar88]. The name comes from our intended "bridge" between novice and expert conceptions of programming. In order to understand student designs and partial programs, Bridge provides languages that allow a student to talk about his or her high-level designs and partial work. We call the vocabulary of these languages plans. Plans are bundles of knowledge about the standard subtasks in a domain, designed and organized based on a typical user's point of view.Many intelligent interfaces monitor low-level user actions, attempting to infer higher level plans. These inferences are typically implemented with partial matching schemes, based on a plan catalog (see, for example, [Johnson86]). The inferences allow the system to complete user actions, correct errors, or provide tutorial assistance. This approach to inference of user intentions is quite difficult. We propose a different approach, designed to more effectively and accurately capture user intentions.Our approach gives users a very high-level plan language. By "high-level" we mean a language that is informal, vague, contains much implicit information, and is designed to represent goals of interest to a particular class of users. In particular,the plan language makes assumptions about the user's background knowledge and overall intentions. This is consistent with our interest in providing interfaces to professionals and domain experts who have no programming experience. We focus on users who are experts in a particular task domain and are using a computer to extend or augment that expertise. Our system must take such a user's specification and derive an implementation using the primitives provided by a standard computer system. In the rest of the article we begin by developing a framework for approaching intelligent interfaces. In particular, we discuss the dilemma of a very high-level programming language intended for use by experts who are not programmers.

An Automated Procedure for Intelligent Mechanism Selection and Dimensional Synthesis

This paper describes the fundamentals for the development of the intelligent selection system for the mechanism configuration and the development of an automated dimensional synthesis procedure. The selection system is a rule-based system. Using an interactive dialogue with a designer; the system converges to an appropriate mechanism configuration satisfying a prescribed synthesis requirements including type of synthesis problems, number of precision positions, and number of independent inputs. The user has an option to inquire the selection system to give reasons for the mechanism configuration selection. The automated synthesis procedure uses the data supplied by the selection system to generate the design equations. A powerful numerical algorithm solves the design equations giving all possible solutions without the need of supplying initial guesses. The complete system provides a valuable tool that performs a comprehensive design procedure with minimal user interaction and background knowledge in mechanism design.

The Effect of Problem Complexity, Computer Power, and Feedback Aids on the Accuracy and Completness of Computer Programs

An essential step in the development of a computer program is the specification of the solution logic to be implemented by the program. The importance of accurate problem solution specification is further stressed by researchers in programming language and artificial intelligence who suggest that in a relatively short time computer programs will be synthesized automatically and that the job of the user will be only to specify the problem solution. The research reported in this paper involved an investigation of the ability of computer users to specify problem solutions in the form of example solutions. This ability was evaluated as a function of the user's background and experience, the complexity of the available processor (i.e., degree of generalization of the inputs), and the available feedback aids. Further, the ability of experienced programmers to implement the problem solution in FORTRAN IV logic code was investigated. The research reported here is part of study in multi-level communications, both abstract and concrete (i.e., general statements and examples), that may provide a method for effective two-way communication between users and computers. Two participant groups (programmers and bookkeepers/accountants) working with three levels of problem complexity and three levels of processor complexity were used. The experimental task employed in this study required specification of a logic for solution of a Navy task force problem. This task involved choosing ships from a ship list which identified the ship type, the transiting time (the time required for the ship to get from its present position to the desired site), and stationing time (the number of days the ship can remain on station with available provisions). In addition to this specification of ship combinations, the participants had to specify by the example solution the range of transiting and stationing times required. It was found that both programmers' and bookkeepers/accountants' scores decreased with increasing levels of problem and processor complexity, but the scores for the bookkeepers/accountants were significantly less than those of the programmers. In a regression analysis it was found that the degree of computer generalization of the user input (processor complexity) explained more variance than did problem complexity. Further for those experiment conditions where little computer generalization of user input was provided, performance was significantly lower than for other experiment conditions. This result suggests that computer generalization of user inputs is an important factor to accurate specification of problem solutions. Finally, the results show that participant strategy in generating solutions was the most significant factor affecting performance. The strategy measures, which indicated the degree of systematization of the participants, explained 58 percent of the score variance.

Effects of Processor/Problem Complexity on Specification of Problem Solutions for Computer Programs

The ability of computer users to specify problem solutions by means of example solutions was investigated as a function of the user's background and experience, and various levels of processor and problem complexity. Two participant groups (programmers and bookkeepers/accountants) working with three levels of problem complexity and processor complexity were used. The experiment task required specification of a ship selection logic for a Navy Task Force. The results showed that specification of problem solutions by example solutions led to a low rate of errors of commission. Further, the rate of errors of omission was significantly affected by the degree of generalization of the example inputs by the automatic processor. The results also suggested that the combinatorial strategy used in developing the example solutions may be a significant factor in the generation of accurate problem solution specifications.

A scale for the measurement of attitudes toward drugs.

Recent studies of drug use and abuse have substantiated the need for construction of instruments that are specific to the drug problem itself. The- rapidly increasing incidence of addiction has necessitated treatment of drug abusers before a background of data on the etiology and dimensions of the problem has had time to accumulate. Certainly, the part that societal attitudes toward the drug user plays, both in determining public policies and in retarding understanding, has been overlooked to a great extent. Because the addict cannot be viewed apart from the context in which he is seen and treated, community attitudes must be considered.There have been several questionnaires, such as those by Greenwald and Luetgert (1971), Linn (1971), and Lombardi et al. (1968), primarily designed to collect descriptive data about the drug user. These questionnaires usually yield information about the user's background and history of drug taking. Few scales have focused specifically on attitudes toward drug use. Lorenz (...

A simple user-oriented compiler source language for programming automatic test equipment

For the nonprogrammer, difficulty in using a language increases rapidly with the number of nonproblem-oriented conventions. A simple language, even if inelegant, which considers the user's background as part of the problem may be more effective than a source language containing subtle and more powerful capabilities. The language described in this paper is used to write computer programs which test electronic equipment. Because this testing process contains few complex ideas, there is little need for the elegance and redundancy of a highly syntax-oriented language. A simple and direct language will suffice for the problem. The eventual users of this language are military depot personnel who cannot be expected to have computer programming skill or significant programming training. For this nonprogramming-oriented user, it was essential to create a language using familiar engineering statements; programming-oriented conventions would have unnecessarily complicated his task.