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Content preparation is essential for web design [25]. The objective of this paper is to establish a theoretical foundation for the development of methods to evaluate the effectiveness of content preparation in information technology operations. Past studies identify information as the dominant concern of users, and delivery mechanism as a secondary concern [20]. The best presentation of the wrong information results in a design with major usability problems and does not aid the user in accomplishing his task. This paper shifts the focus of existing usability evaluation methods. It attempts to fill the void in usability literaoture by addressing the information aspect of usability evaluation. Combining the strengths of content preparation and usability evaluation yields major implications for a broad range of IT uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a community such as conferences, numerous service providers and service users exist, and people interact using contexts. With the improvements in context-awareness computing and mobile computing technologies, human-computer interactions for exchanging contexts started increasing. In this paper, we introduce some interaction techniques such as tag interaction and service discovery interaction using a mobile device to provide an efficient user interface to exchange contexts in a conference room. We identified typical situations in which these interactions can be used in a paper, poster session, and for providing individual information among the attendees. We analyzed the two interaction techniques to be suitable to improve the interactions for exchanging contexts in a conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Multimedia Modeling Language (MML) is a platform-independent modeling language for model-driven development of interactive multimedia applications. Using models provides several advantages like well-structured applications and better coordination of the different developer groups involved in the development process. However, the creative tasks - like graphical design of the user interface and the design of media objects - are better supported by traditional informal methods and tools. In particular multimedia authoring tools such as Adobe Flash are well established for multimedia application development. In this paper we show how MML and authoring tools can be integrated by the example of Flash. Therefore we transform the MML models into code skeletons which can be directly loaded into the Flash authoring tool to perform the creative design tasks and finalize the application. In that way, the strengths of models and authoring tools are combined. The paper shows the required level of abstraction for the models, introduces a metamodel and a suitable code structure for the Flash platform, and finally presents the transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of interface design is to enable communication between people and the technical product such as a cellular phone, computer, or PDA. To use the product successfully, the interface design should be easy to use. The objective of this paper is to create a practical and user-friendly interface design for a wireless device to control home appliances. In order to control home appliances with a cellular phone, the author suggests a natural (intuitive) interface design that is friendly and attractive to users, based on their experience, and effectively uses graphic elements such as layout, icon, color, and text. As part of this natural (intuitive) interface design, the author suggests using a wheel key to control a cursor system for navigating a cellular phone screen. A usability test was conducted to determine problems people have while using the prototype. The results of the usability test indicated that the user interface was successful, and participants were satisfied with the prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze and discuss human performance model for PBUI (Push-Based User Interface) in this paper. PBUI is a user interface method in which a user performs a desired task by selecting a target object that usually represents the task itself. The candidate objects are sequentially and automatically presented to the user by the system. When a target object is presented, user selects the target object by a simple action such as just pushing a button. In this paper, we propose human performance model of PBUI and discuss the characteristics of PBUI. We also evaluate performance of PBUI by comparing with GUI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early evaluation of interactive systems is currently the subject of numerous researches. Some of them aim at explicitly coupling design and evaluation by various software mechanisms. We describe in this paper two approaches of early evaluation exploiting new technologies and paradigms. The first approach is based on aspect oriented programming; the second one proposes an explicit coupling between agent-oriented architecture and evaluation agents. These two approaches are globally compared in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s User-Centered Design (UCD) has been becoming popular in the ICT industry. It helps seek usable designs through a set of workflows, evaluation methods, and design approaches, which construct a comprehensive UCD framework. Along with its extensive utilizations, its pitfalls are also exposed in cost-benefit, robustness, and optimization respects. However, applying the Taguchi Method can remedy these pitfalls to gain robust optimal designs. This approach is feasible but less emphasized in the Human-Computer Interaction field. From a theoretical perspective, this paper depicts a practical approach to enhance UCD framework by adopting the Taguchi philosophy. Based on the analysis of the UCD framework and the Taguchi Method, it discusses key adaptation points for the Taguchi philosophy adoption in the UCD framework. As a result, the Taguchi-Compliant User-Centered Design (TC-UCD) framework is proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a tool that supports a scenario based expert evaluation method called DEPTH (usability evaluation method based on DEsign PaTterns & Heuristics criteria). DEPTH is a method for performing scenario-based heuristic usability evaluation of e-systems. DEPTH focuses on the functionality of e-systems and emphasizes on usability characteristics within their context. This can be done not only by examining not only the availability of a functionality within an e-system but also the usability performance of the supported functionality according to a specific context of use. The main underlying ideas of DEPTH are: i) to minimize the preparatory phase of a usability evaluation process and ii) to assist a novice usability expert (one who is not necessarily familiar with the genre of the e-system). Thus, we (re)use expert's knowledge captured in design patterns and structured as design pattern languages for the various genres of e-systems. This paper briefly describes the DEPTH method and presents the way a specially designed tool supports it along with the findings from an evaluation study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the findings of an evaluation of an adaptive multimodal application for reading of rich digital talking books. Results are in accordance with previous studies, indicating no user perceived difference between applications with and without adaptivity. The NASA Task Load Index was also used and showed that users of the adaptive application reported less workload. Results also include a comparison between tasks executed with electronic support and tasks executed with print support, and also what specific features in the interface benefited the most from the use of visual and audio modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two case studies of prototype evaluation as a tool for user needs elicitation for emerging technologies. In the first user evaluation, a high-fidelity virtual reality prototype is used. In the second one, a low-fidelity mixed reality prototype is used. Our results show that prototypes may be a powerful a tool for eliciting user-needs, but their potentiality depends on their fidelity. In our studies, users elicit more needs when working with the high-fidelity prototypes. Furthermore, the information collected in this case is richer and more useful for design. We discuss these results as well as some factors that could help stakeholders elicit a greater number of needs for emerging technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The narration board is a powerful design tool to help translate user observation studies into a storytelling format. It helps to communicate design values and ideas among the design team via visualising user scenarios in its proper context during the early design stages. This paper aims to discuss the narration board as a design tool to help the design team conceptualise and visualise user scenarios interacting with future design concepts within its context of use. Second part of the paper discusses how narration boards assist in generating ideations and visualising final design concepts by interface designers. Twenty (20) design projects (N=20) were examined to study and quantify two important factors, i.e. the components of the narration board in relation with the attributes of the final design concepts. A non-parametric correlation test was used to study the correlation coefficient between scores of the two factors. The results show that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between components of the narration board and attributes of the final design concept. Those with higher scores of components in narration board tend to produce better final design concepts, and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a simple framework for implementing SBD. This framework consists of four elements: a basic story structure, an innovation acceleration field, a tool for expressing idea/describing scenario, and an activity theory-based tension detector/idea stimulator, and a process based on the Chinese traditional literature four-stage creation process. A case study is presented at the end of the paper to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development and piloting of a user-centered design method which enables participants to actively engage in a creative process to produce intuitive representations and inspire early design concepts for innovative mobile and ubiquitous applications. The research has been produced as part of the EC funded project PASION, aiming to enhance mediated communication in games and collaborative environments through the introduction of socio-emotional information cues, represented in meaningful yet abstract enough ways to accommodate variable thresholds of privacy. We describe our design research methodology, which combines analytical approaches, aiming to uncover participant's needs, desires and perceptions with creative, generative methods, with which participants inform and inspire the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing for Chinese industries and the new China market has became a ‘hot‘ issue within the global and Chinese industrial design society. The characteristics of low labor costs and hard-working Chinese have had an effect on the rapid economic development within the region as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to analyze state of the art industrial development within Taiwan and Mainland China, and to evaluate the critical problems of industrial design development in both regions. Additionally to discover how Taiwan Chinese digital technology industries confront this situation with user-oriented design (UOD). This paper synthesizes six approaches to carry out an innovative product development framework of new product development procedures, with user oriented scenario predictions and experience innovation approach. These approaches not only generate original design data from a user's point of view, but furthermore make it much easier to get consensus from product development teams and really create innovative designs through interdisciplinary collaboration to create innovative cultural enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the time period between September 2005 and September 2006 where HCI research experiments were deployed in a post-hurricane Katrina disaster area. This area stretched from the cities of Waveland and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (the epicenter of hurricane Katrina) to shelters in Baton Rouge and Houston, Texas. The HCI experiments were constructed in order to understand immediate disaster aftermath issues of a population in context of activities, information and organizational needs. The use of a Participatory Design (PD) methodology, Ethnographic techniques, and design Probes were refined over the course of the longitudinal study. Field notes were created in an iterative process with individual participants over a course of time due to the impact of shock and cognitive issues early on. These field notes then influenced a set of personas that were iterated and used as a vehicle to gather and validate field research findings and people's needs within the disaster framework. The main goal of this paper is not to propose informational, organizational or technology solutions to the complex problems inherent in a disaster cycle, but to illustrate both the failure and success of using HCI methods in a post disaster situation. Therefore, a disaster cycle is outlined and described in this paper. Insights and thoughts regarding the Rescue and Recovery phases are described and notes where HCI as a practice may influence or contribute to these areas within the disaster cycle are outlined. The last part of the paper illustrates the first HCI experiment in the field and some of the iterations and findings from this practice. This first research study was undertaken at a grassroots level, yet this does not mean valuable information could not be gathered in further studies of governmental, NGOs, or businesses participating in planning, preparing or rescue and recovery efforts during a disaster. In fact, the opportunity to combine grassroots and governmental HCI research could offer immense benefits. However, as a grassroots initiative it is a level of inquiry without the constraints of political hierarchy. Given this, this paper focuses less on how HCI can be used in a more typical framework where a sponsor, such as a client and HCI worker are collaborating in HCI "workplace" research, and more on developing tools and methods within communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of Web design problems continue to arise, such as: (1) decoupling the various aspects of Web applications (for example, business logic, the user interface, navigation and information architecture; and (2) isolating platform specifics from the concerns common to all Web applications. In the context of a proposal for a model-driven architecture for Web applications, this paper identifies an extensive list of models aimed at providing a pool of proven solutions to these problems. The models span several levels of abstraction such as business, task, dialog, presentation and layout models. The proposed architecture will show how several individual models can be combined at different levels of abstraction into heterogeneous structures, which can be used as building blocks in the development of Web applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As users become more and more demanding about the software environments they use, they need environments offering them the possibility to integrate new tools in response to their emerging needs. However, most high-level component composition solutions remain out of reach for users. Thanks to an innovative approach that tends to provide more understandable components, we propose in this paper a new mechanism in order to assist high-level component composition. This approach proposes to realize this composition through tasks models assembling. The assistance we propose is based on an adaptation of tree algebra operators and is able to automatically merge tasks trees in order to assist high-level component integration in a more global environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores and discusses the application of pattern decomposition and interaction design approach in pattern layout design. First we introduce a Pattern Decomposition Representation Model (PDM). In this model, the reusable parts of a pattern are extracted as pattern primitives. At the meantime, a module separated from pattern primitives is defined by the abstract structure of the pattern. Next, the interaction design approach based on the design context and the knowledge-based promotion is proposed and the implementation is presented at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an integration of task modeling and object-orien ted analysis approaches. We argue that task-based approaches are more appropriate to analyze existing working situations and to elicit user needs. In subsequent stages like design and implementation, an object-oriented approach is warranted since most of the developer's skills, tech niques, and tools are better matched to object-oriented representations. We show that such amal ga ma tion, when supported by syste ma tic trans for mation from a goal- and action-oriented perspective to "thinking in objects", can have several advan tages for both approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

User Interface (UI) systems are increasingly complex and nowadays assist critical activities. The development of UIs needs empowered validation methodologies in order to ensure the correctness of the developed UI-based applications. This paper investigates the applicability of reverse engineering and formal approaches to the validation of UIs correctness. The approach is the following. An user interface's abstract model is derived starting from its Java/Swing source code. This formal execution model is then used to prove that the developed interactive system is in accordance with usability requirements expressed in CTT tasks models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology (ICT) acceptance and use is a prolific research stream in the information systems (IS) field. One major theoretical influence is the Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior (TRA/TPB). While the research stream achieved high consensus and validation in IS, the interest in attitude, an important concept in TRA/TPB, has gone through ups and downs over the past decades due to the lack of predictability of attitude for behavioral intention. In this paper, we clarify both conceptual and operational confusions by providing clear definitions of two different types of attitudes and detailing their relationships to each other and to behavioral intention. Empirical data confirms that attitude toward behaviors is a better prediction of intention than attitude toward objects (ICT); attitude toward objects has positive influence on attitude toward behaviors. Attitudes toward a previous version of the software and its use have significant impacts on the current attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive Load, as an indicator of pressure on working memory during task performing, attracts more and more research interests in recent years. By correctly measuring cognitive load levels, the system can adjust task procedure to maintain the cognitive load in an acceptable range; therefore, the subject can execute tasks more accurately and efficiently. Among many different cognitive load measuring approaches, speech-based measurement is effective due to its non-intrusive nature and possibility of online measurement. Most existing research on speech-based cognitive load measurement is based on manually extracted features, which prevent practical use. In this paper, some potential speech features, such as rate of pauses and rate of pitch peaks are investigated and proved to be effective. All feature extraction is based on automatic algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes two generic counseling approaches, valuable in the field of User Centred Design. The paper differentiates the areas of User Experience from User Centered Design as a holistic approach. The conclusions drawn will suggest which type of consultancy approach to best use for which type of service. With this, the authors especially address external usability consultants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has identified many different concepts and factors, e.g. immersiveness, presence, performance, interaction, and defined a large number of guidelines that contribute to developing advanced virtual environments (VEs). By reviewing research on differences between individual work and group work, and how it is influenced by these factors, this paper aims to improve understanding of networked collaboration. Allowing creativity is considered to promote higher quality of work in general. The paper examines the impact of creativity on work in VEs, with focus on understanding the relationship between presence and creativity in collaborative virtual environments (CVEs). It is found that important prerequisites for successful outcomes are balance between presence and copresence and providing enough time and space for individual contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes tips for designing Web pages appropriate for the elderly. The characteristics of mobile phone Web pages and the effects of aging are elucidated. The elderly had difficulty in reading texts, finding the focus, operating pages and input, and understanding the contents in some cases. Tips for designing Web pages that are appropriate for the elderly are proposed based on our observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes an approach to comparative usability evaluation that incorporates important relevant criteria identified in previous work. It applies the proposed approach to a case study of a comparative evaluation of an academic website employing four widely-used usability evaluation methods (UEMs): heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs, think-aloud protocol and co-discovery learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large numbers of user interface guidelines and patterns have developed by different researchers. These patterns and guidelines are, however, either too generic or too specific to use. In addition, a multitude of guides cause problems to find and use them effectively. Because of these problems, using different guides are not enough useful e.g. for software designers. This paper describes experiences and findings of a case study project. As a result of an iterative development process, the tailored user interface guideline is presented. Other result was that the guideline was well received by the software designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a method that detects inconsistencies between user interaction logs of a task and desired sequences for the task based on mouse click coordinate logs. The proposed method models two successive clicks as a vector and thus a sequence of operation in a user/desired log as a sequence of vectors. A vector is from the ith clicked point to the (i+1)th clicked point in the screen. To detect inconsistencies in user interactions and desired sequences, each vector from user logs is compared with each vector from desired logs. As cues of usability problems, the method detects two types of inconsistencies: unnecessary/missed operations. We have developed a computer tool for logging and analyzing user interactions and desired sequences by the proposed method. The tool is applied to experimental usability evaluation of ten business/public organization websites. Effectiveness of the method is evaluated based on the application result. The proposed method contributes to find 61% of the usability problems found by a manual method in much smaller amount of time: the number of clicks analyzed by an evaluator with the proposed method is only 1/5-1/10 of that with the manual method. This result indicates the proposed method is efficient in finding problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to describe a case of washing machine panel design. In this case card sorting and cluster analysis were applied to get target users' mental models of the information architectures about the washing machine panels, the differences among information architectures of existing panels were also quantitatively evaluated. Besides, the differences between users' mental models and existing washing machines regarding the information architectures were identified. The methodology and results in this paper contribute to the design of washing machine panels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we have examined the effects of scenarios from a participatory design and cross-cultural perspective. The Scenario Exchange Project was an international workshop using scenarios. The participants were university students from Japan and Taiwan. The impetus behind this project was the practical demand for designers to correctly understand different cultures and design products and services. We confirmed that scenarios are effective techniques for bolstering participatory design. Furthermore, we have recognized that we must create new methods for describing the lifestyle and cultural background of personas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an Activity Theoretical analysis and design model for Web-based experimentation, which is one of the online activities that plays a key role in the development and deployment of flexible learning paradigm. Such learning context is very complex as it requires both synchronous and asynchronous solutions to support differenttypes of interaction, which can take place not only among users but also between the user and the provided experimentation environment, and also between different software components that constitute the environment. The proposed analysis and design model help clarify many concepts needed for the analysis of a Web-based experimentation environment. It also represents an interpretation of Activity Theory in the context of Web-based experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dundee University's School of Computing is researching technology for older users, whose difficulty with technology often exclude them from its benefits. This paper discusses the problems raised in consulting potential users who feel they do not understand technology and are anxious about using it. How should the technologists and designers get over to this clientele the somewhat abstract concepts of ‘what might be developed‘ and how it might affect the users‘ quality of life? How could they keep the focus of discussion while giving the older people the confidence to be truthful? Experiments made with video and live theatre in consulting with older users, requirements gathering and evaluation of designs are described. This paper addresses: the process of scientific data being transformed into appropriate and useful ‘stories‘ to the satisfaction both of writer and researchers: the role of actors and facilitator: the impact on the ‘extreme users‘ in the audience: and the data thus gained by the researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes the design principles considering the balance of ‘simplicity‘ and ‘helpfulness‘ based on cognitive aging. Due to the increase of the aging population, various equipments are required to better assist the elderly users. ATMs (Automatic Teller Machine) have always been considered to be equipment that is difficult for the elderly users. Then this paper discusses a new ATM interface design considering the principles. The effectiveness of the new design was examined by comparing it with a conventional ATM. The usability test results favored the new ATM design, and it is consequently accepted by many elderly users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reach a product's business objectives, the requirements of all relevant stakeholders have to be analyzed and considered in the product definition. This paper focuses on the processes applied to analyze and consider the needs and expectations of two of these stakeholder groups, namely the customers and the users of a product. The processes to produce customer centered product definitions and user centered product definitions are compared, rendering visual opportunities to increase their efficiency and effectiveness by means of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One goal of design rationale systems is to support designers by providing a means to record and communicate the argumentation and reasoning behind the design process. However, there are several inherent limitations to developing systems that effectively capture and utilize design rationale. The dynamic and contextual nature of design and our inability to exhaustively analyze all possible design issues results in cognitive, capture, retrieval, and usage limitations. In addition, there are the organizational limitations that ensue when systems are deployed. In this paper we analyze the essential problems that prevent the successful development and use of design rationale systems. We argue that useful and effective design rationale systems cannot be built unless we carefully redefine the goal of design rationale systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce a monitoring system to support the user executing tasks in an ambient intelligence environment. In contrast with traditional environments, the goal of the user can not always be defined beforehand, but is determined while the user interacts with the environment. The monitor observes the user's activities and learns to correlate a set of user actions with a goal. The system maps activities to a task model and reuses these models to take appropriate actions in later similar user actions that are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, mobile activities such as m-commerce, m-learning, etc, are being increasingly adopted by people. Information availability will be a key feature in future applications. Public spaces, as shops, libraries, museums, etc do not have enough information available to visitors, mainly due to physical space constraints. In this context, PDAs provide a balance between physical dimensions and processing power capable of supporting Augmented and Immersive Reality (A&IR) features. However, they have several limitations (i.e., space screen). As a result of two usability evaluations of a PDA application currently running at the MCA (The Cutlery Museum of Albacete, Spain) some improvements were found. To reuse these solutions, this paper presents a collection of HCI design patterns for PDAs that run this kind of Space Structured Applications (SSA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a task model for the usability monitoring environment called ErgoMonitor. ErgoMonitor realize an usability evaluation in websites through selective collection and analyses of the data from log files referring to the real interactions that are established between final users and an web interface. Nevertheless, the ErgoMonitor depends on the users expected behaviors previous identification and this activity is conducted by a specialist in usability that must observe the website characteristics or be assisted by traditional usability evaluation previous diagnosis to define which tasks (behaviors) should be inserted in the evaluation script. In this way, we developed a mechanism to register the expected users behaviors conceiving the Monitoring Tasks and Behaviors Model. This mechanism enabled the ErgoMonitor to realize web sites usability evaluations based on their log files. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a wide variety of interaction devices, modalities has to be supported by user interface developers, model-based user interface development gets increasing attention. Especially if context- and user-awareness comes into play, handcrafting a user interface is rendered almost impossible. In model-based user interface development, usually several models are applied to describe different aspects of the user interface or to provide a varying level of detail. The relations between the models representing those levels of abstractions are established through transformations, a concept which is also applied in software engineering with the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). In this paper we will review several transformation systems and discuss their applicability for model-based user interface development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HCI pattern languages represent an important software engineering concept and offer proven design and architectural solutions to developers of interactive systems and user interface designers. However, due to their poor organizational structures the effective usage of many existing pattern languages is not clear and easy enough to let developers quickly find appropriate patterns for solving their current design problems. In order to raise pattern language usability, there is a need for a sound definition of the hierarchical structure of pattern languages and a rule based workflow for constructing future pattern languages. The structural approach presented in this paper will provide the designer with a technique to ensure the development of efficient and usable pattern languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task modelling has proven useful as a basis for user interfaces (IU) design. Although different models have been pushed ConcurTaskTrees (CTT) notation has become without any doubt the most extended notation for task model specification. However, this notation suffers from a lack of modularity, making the creation and modification of real-world applications a cumbersome process. In this paper a notation that takes inspiration from CTT is described that allows for the specification of the tasks the user is supposed to perform through the user interface and the dialog between the user and the user interface in an intuitive manner. Furthermore, the notation makes use of an abstract operation set to help in the automatic or semi-automatic generation of a user interface that conforms with the specified model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing adoption of the latest Web development patterns such as AJAX is helping to enhance the user experience on the Web. Moreover, there is now API-based support from various vendors that allow seamless fusion of disparate data sources into a single application. However, the barrier for Web designers to integrate such features into their Web applications remains high. This hampers a wider proliferation of such novel Web applications. In this paper, we conduct an experiment to see whether visual programming is appropriate for allowing Web designers integrate the aforementioned features. For the experiment, we have developed a prototype, tentatively named WIPER that allows Web designers to incorporate pre-built JavaScript components into live Web pages using drag-and-drop. We combined rapid revision with usability testing to iteratively advance our prototype. Working with users, we have learned that with some targeted refinements, visual programming paradigm can be very effective in achieving our goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design patterns serve the documentation and sharing of proven solutions for recurring design problems. Additionally, patterns can provide guidance on design alternatives. In this paper we present a pattern-based framework to support the designer in the exploration and evaluation of design alternatives and their tradeoffs. Based upon the systematic identification of recurring design problems and solution alternatives and their tradeoffs the framework consists of a generic hierarchy of design problems and solution alternatives as well as of two generic interaction design pattern templates. The presented framework can be used to specify design problems and existing solutions for a specific platform or application domain as well as to think about design alternatives and to develop new solutions. In addition, it can be used to structure interaction design pattern collections. The approach is illustrated by a case for interactive television applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orchestra is a new formalism on which we are working in the field of cooperative systems design. In CoCSys methodology for Cooperative Capillary Systems design, we transform partial scenarios describing particular cooperative situations in a more comprehensive Cooperative Behaviour Model (CBM). In this paper, we describe our contribution to the need for a graphical formalism which would be able to express in a natural way, understandable by different actors (users, designers, developers,...) different cooperation situations in an ambient intelligence environment (mobile, context-aware, proactive and ubiquitous). ORCHESTRA is complementary to CTT and UML Use cases, and its objective is to express clearly cooperation situations (explaining easily synchronous or asynchronous cooperation activities) and the role (active or passive) played instantaneously by each actor. We take into account main concepts of ‘cooperative world‘ which are Actors, Roles, Groups, Tasks, Processes, Artefacts (Tools and Objects) and Contexts (Platforms, Situations and Users). With Orchestra formalism we try to express by a sort of music staff individual and collective behaviours. In this way we can model either individual works or organized collective activities. We present this formalism, its metamodel and associated patterns expressing typical configurations of cooperation facilitating their reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper points out the complementarity of HCI and cognitive science in studying agents' interactions with their environments. Embodied interaction is related to embodied and distributed cognition. A theoretical framework based on the distinction "potentiality/actuality" is outlined as an approach to the concept of "reality" in HCI and research on presence and copresence. Within this framework presence and copresence are specified in connection with an agent's potentiality to act upon its environment, i.e. to actively explore and manipulate its environment. Methodological problems concerning theoretical and empirical research on interaction are sketched. To explore new methodological ideas New Media Art is used as a test-bed and an ongoing exploratory experiment on communicating "emotions" through robots is briefly reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usability evaluation can be accomplished in different ways, depending on individual information interests and specific constraints. In some cases the test user and the usability evaluator are located at different places, for instance in mobile environments or in the case of Internet websites, where the user can't be observed as in a laboratory situation. The usage of multi-modal interfaces introduces some additional constraints. To overcome the problems, techniques of remote usability testing are applied. The data recorded during the test is structured und afterwards analyzed. A user centric approach structures the data based on tasks that are intended by the user. A task model describes the tasks composed of subtasks and temporal relationships between them. This paper introduces and evaluates two tools, AWUSA and ReModEl, which use task modeling for remote usability evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avatars in shared virtual environments are usually described as representations of the users, but they can be much more than just an arbitrary icon ‘standing for‘ (re-presenting) somebody who is absent. In multi-user virtual reality avatars can be experienced by the users as presences or presentations of persons, as well as can be seen as re-presentations; and it is by this property that they allow for co-presence experience. This paper outlines a theory about the relation between persons and their avatars by focusing on both the experience of transmission (as opposed to simulation) and the experience of méthexis or participation (as opposed to representation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the development of the technical methodology for remote recording to maximize environmental validity for a project on how novices develop familiarity with desktop videoconferencing (DVC). It is also a discussion of how the technical setup, as well as the resulting data, was useful for finding usability issues for the company that provided the DVC software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an empirical study on some aspects of user-centered design of products for the global market. In the context of the case study "navigation system" Chinese and German users were each confronted with an experimental prototype being structured either according to German users' mental models of a navigation system or to Chinese users' mental models. Performance in operating the systems and perceived system attractiveness were measured. Results suggest that the Chinese user group's performance and the German user group's perceived attractiveness of the navigation system was negatively affected if the system was based on the other group's mental model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a preliminary user taxonomy that describes differences among users when interacting with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems. A qualitative study based on expert-ratings was conducted to get a prioritized list of person variables influencing the interaction behavior. Based on this list, eight preliminary user types with different attitudes towards ICT-systems were identified and described. This taxonomy will be tested and validated by empirical investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]