Paper Reading #24 - The Why UI: Using Goal Networks to Improve User Interfaces

Comments:


Reference:
The Why UI: Using Goal Networks to Improve User Interfaces
Dustin A. Smith, Henry Lieberman
IUI '10

Summary:
This paper examines a new method of modeling user goals through voice commands.  The method the authors describe processes a natural language plan corpus, constructed by many people.  Goals can be inferred by a system or explicitly stated by a user.  However, each goal can have a multitude of sub-goals, and it is useful to predict specifically what the user is interested in.  As it is, people usually fall short in stating explicit goals. 

The authors downloaded a corpus from 43things.com which contains a multitude of goal statements ("buy a house," "travel to New York," etc.)  These goal statements did not have explicit relations, so the authors attempted to infer relations by matching the context of plan statements with goal statements.  After correcting spelling mistakes and in general tidying up the text, they built a directed weighted goal graph.  They found that while most of the goals in the corpus were unique, there were a few that were far more prevelant than others.  They then transfer the results to a mobile app which can help the user achieve those goals.  For example, a user wanting to buy a house would have a map come up suggesting subgoals, such as locations and details for realtors in the area.

Discussion:
This is another interesting example of how technology may be used to assist us in everyday life.  This application doesn't do anything that people with the time and motivation couldn't figure out by themselves, but it certainly makes the potentially desired information easier to access.  I can especially see it being useful for someone trying something for the first time.  It will be interesting to see where this technology will go from here.

Book Reading #51 - Living With Complexity

Reference:
Living With Complexity
Donald A. Norman
2011 The MIT Press

Summary:
Ch. 1 - Complexity is all around us, though much of it is of our own design.  Many of us have our own organized chaos, where something incomprehensible to another person makes perfect sense to us.  However, sometimes in products unnecessary complexity is used that makes a device or feature difficult to use.  At other times, complexity is used for aesthetic reasons.  Intreestingly, we are much more at home with complex things that we grow up with (swimming, reading, learning an instrument) than we are with taking an hour or two to learn a new technology.

Ch. 2 - Conceptual models are one method to hide the underlying complexity of a system.  In a computer file system, for example, what we thing of as files and folders are simply blocks of data scattered across the storage space.  Sometimes, we use conceptual models that simplify a complex system while still getting the main interactions across.  There are some tools that are simple in design, but incredibly complex in their application and usage.  While the design of things can be simple or complex, sometimes the simple thing is confusing (an array of unlabeled light switches) while a complex thing is easilly unserstood (a crowded marketplace).

Discussion:
Ch. 1 - It is interesting how we will defend complexity that we know for all of our lives.  While I know that the digital clock face is more efficient overall, I still prefer the analog method and always wear a watch.  I am often shocked when I run into peers that don't know how to read the analog face, but from a usability standpoint it makes sense.

Ch. 2 - The computer file system is a good analogy to use here.  We have a fairly simple conceptual model that it works like a physical file cabinet, yet the underlying system is so complex and confusing that it makes your head spin.  Still, everyone is able to use it because it is presented in a way we can understand.

Why We Make Mistakes - Full Blog

Book Reading #50 - Why We Make Mistakes

Paper Reading #23 - Automatic Generation of Research Trails in Web History

Comments:

Reference:

Automatic Generation of Research Trails in Web History

Elin Pedersen, Karl Gyllstrom, Shengyin Gu, Peter Jin Hong

IUI '10

Summary:

After conducting an ethnographic study, the authors of this paper determined that while people are using the internet to conduct extensive research, they are not following traditional scolarly and investigative methods.  The research conducted usually falls into one of the following categories: personal consumption, fragmented process, topic sliding, or premature structure.  The authors believe that tools designed to track research sessions and provide context to the researcher upon subsequent research would be beneficial.  Research trails may be used to do just that by grouping events that the user perceives belong in the same category and listing them as temporally ordered lists of segments.

Research trails helps the researcher by showing them where they are in the current activity.  This will help answer possible questions like "what did I leave unfinished?" and "where did I leave of last time I worked on this?"  It also extracts activity-based and semantic information from user activity.  Enough ambiguity is allowed to allow users to switch between topics based on timely affinity.  Events are temporally grouped into specific periods of activity called segments.  A segment is bounded when more than five minutes pass between two consecutive events.  Each event is provided with a topic vector, a list of its coverage of automatically determined set of topics.  These vectors allow for semantic analysis of the events.  In their preliminary assessment, the authors found that their segment definition naturally captured the concept of a work session.  They also found that segments typically were related and coherent locally, though there were occasionally both unrelated segments in trails and related segments excluded from trails.  In the future, they plan to capture a richer set of activity data, such as user activity on a visited page.

Discussion: This concept certainly seems like it would be a boon to researchers.  Aside from tracking the sites visited while doing research, it provides context and relations between the visited resources.  The automated aspect is somewhat of a double-edged sword, for while it makes things easier for the researcher overall, in doing so it removes the responsibilities of the researcher to keep track of their work and increases their overall expectations that everything should be done for them by default.  Still, this seems like a valuable tool that I wouldn't mind using myself.

Book Reading #49 - Why We Make Mistakes

Reference:
Why We Make Mistakes
Joeseph T. Hallinan
Broadway Books 2009

Summary:
Ch. 10 - People have a tendency to think that they are above average.  We overestimate our skills and how much we would use a product.  Busnisses understand this, and use it to prey on unwitting people.  An exception to this rule is present in the least confident, who seem to have a nearly perfect grasp on their abilities.  It is possible, however, to become more realistic in our assessments when we have strong, instant feedback.

Ch. 11 - We often tend to make a snap decision when faced with a challenge instead of reflecting on it. 

Discussion:
Ch. 10 -

Ch. 11 -

Book Reading #48 - Media Equation

References:
Machines and Mindlessness: Social Response to Computers
Clifford Nass, Youngme Moon
Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 56, No. 1, 2000, pp. 81-103

Computers are Social Actors
Clifford Nass, Jonathan Steuer, Ellen R. Tauber
CHI '94

Can Computer Personalities be Human Personalities?
Clifford Nass, Youngme Moon, BJ Fogg, Byron Reeves, Chris Dryer
CHI '95

Summary:
Machines and Mindlessness:

Computers are Social Actors:

Can Computer Personalities be Human Personalities:

Discussion:
Machines and Mindlessness:

Computers are Social Actors:

Can Computer Personalities be Human Personalities:

Paper Readgin #22 - Vocabulary Navigation Made Easier

Comments:

Reference:
Vocabulary Navigation Made Easier
Sonya Nikolova, Xiaojuan Ma, Marilyn Tremaine, Perry Cook
IUI '10

Summary:
There are many reasons to search for words in an electronic dictionary, but it is not always easy to find the word that you're looking for.  This is especially true for people with aphasia, a cognitive disorder that results in afflicted persons being able to remember the correct words to express their thoughts.  The visual vocabulary for aphasia (or ViVA) attempts to improve word finding by using word associasion measures, human judgements of evocation, vocabulary usage statistics, and a large-scale lexical database.  It works through associations of words.  For example, if someone needed to find the word milk, they would choose the kitchen category, then go through fridge, dairy, and finally arrive at milk.

In testing ViVA against a typical LG vocabulary, where there are no associations between words, the authors found that ViVA performed significantly better in the total number of click needed to select the correct word.  They also found that when participants did not know the association of a certain word, they were albe to find it through looking for other words in a similar category (i.e. using tea as a way to find milk).  However, the authors note that as their test subjects were fluent in English, they must rate this preliminary evaluation as inconclusive.

Discussion:
This has a real potential to be an excellent tool to assisting individuals with weak skills in any given language.  I typically use a dictionary when I want to double check the spelling of a word, but in the case of a foreign language where there is no readily available english-to-foreign resource this system would be able to bridge the gap nicely.  That doesn't make this a perfect system, however.  From what I understand, this provides little to no grammar context, nor does it teach pronunciation.  Still, in this case the good outweighs the bad.

Paper Reading #21 - Supporting Exploratory Information Seeking by Epistemology-based Social Search

Comments:
Comment 1
Comment 2

Reference:
Supporting Exploratory Information Seeking by Epistemology-based Social Search
Yuqing Mao, Haifeng Shen, Chengzheng Sun
IUI '10

Summary:
Search engines are currently limited by the use of improper keywords and evaluating the relevance of results.  The authors of this paper have designed a prototype system, Baijia, that uses an epistemology-based social search on top of current exploratory information seeking (EIS). 

In an EIS process, a user inputs a set of queries.  To form an epistemology of an EIS process, an epistemology of each query term is taken and the common results are returned.  When a query is entered, the epistemology is automaticly added to the system.  The user can then add selected pages to  the epistemology, where other users can rank and comment on the page.  As more users contribute to an epistemology, it becomes more likely that new searchers will be able to reuse it.  In their preliminary studies, the authors found that Baijia invariably outperformed the AOL search engine.

Discussion:
This is certainly an interesting modification of search engines.  As the rankings of results are dynamic, it is much more likely that you will get the most pertinant/up to date information.  I can see some possible problems however, particularly in relation to controversial topics.  It seems like users would be able to bury a relevant result that they disagreed with, reducing the likelihood that it would come up for users who would find the page informative.  Still, Baijia seems like a great upgrade over current search engines.

Book Reading #47 - Why We Make Mistakes

Reference:
Why We Make Mistakes
Joseph T. Hallinan
Broadway Books 2009

Summary:
Ch. 8 - People have a tendency to unconsiously make things tidy.  This leads to inaccurate maps, misjudged distances and abridged stories.  The personality of a person will often determine what gets changed and, more importantly, alter the way they remember an event.

Ch. 9 - Men and women behave differently when it comes to risk.  In general, men are more likely go engage in risky behavior than women, with all the consequences and benefits associated. Additionally, men tend to be overconfident and women underconfident in their abilities. 

Discussion:
Ch. 8 - Well, there's a price to be paid for everything.  If you remember every detail or a location, you're going to have to sift through boatloads of data to determine what is important or not.  If you try to retell an event exactly as it happened, then you will likely be a poor storyteller (unless the event was riveting).

Ch. 9 - An interesting chapter that highlights some of the differences in the way that men and women think.  While I believe that the two sexes are equal in terms of ability, as a general rule they will approach a situation in different ways and react accordngly.

Things That Make Us Smart - Full Blog

Book Reading #46 - Why We Make Mistakes

Reference:
Why We Make Mistakes
Joseph T. Hallinan
2009 Broadway Books

Summary:
Ch. 6 - One of the reasons that we make mistakes is that we are in the wrong frame of mind.  Subtle environmental details can affect our decision making, such as french music leading to an uptick in french wine sales.  Even changing the way something is said can dtermine our opinion. 

Ch. 7 - As we gain more experience in life, we notice patterns and no longer pay attention to every detail of a situation.  While this enables us to do things quicker and more efficiently, it comes at the cost of accuracy.  In addition, when we gain information in any given environment, we are much less likely to recall that information in another environment.

Discussion:
Ch. 6 - Interesting chapter.  It is clear that the person who first frames an an issue has the upper hand, as others will have to respond to that standard.  I'll have to keep a more wary eye out in the future.

Ch. 7 - Mostly common knowledge, but not any less important for being so.  I've experienced frustration a number of times when searching for a quote or passage in a book, yet finding that I had misread a word or misinterpreted the passage.  Such mistakes can be costly when made in the wrong situation.

Book Reading #45 - Things That Make Us Smart

Reference:Things That Make Us Smart
Donald A. Norman
1993 Basic Books

Summary:
Ch. 3 - The unaided mind is a limited tool, but through the use of effective tools we are able to better represent things and ideas.  Even the use of simple artifacts can lead to a much greater comprehension of a subject.  A representational system has two parts to it. The represented world is that which is to be represented, while the representing world is a set of symbols that each represent something.  Cognitive artifacts are powerful tools, but the best representation of the information depends on the task being performed.

Ch. 4 - Depending on how a task is represented, we often see tasks that are functionally identical as completely different.  As this is the case, it is best to use appropriate representations for a task.  If a graphical representation is used, it needs to convey an accurate description of the data.  In the end, those who benefit from a technology should be the ones who use that technology to do work.  Otherwise, the technology will likely fail.


Discussion:
Ch. 3 - I found this chaper interesting because I've never really thought about it in depth before.  Many people say that one of the things they enjoy about books is that they are able to envision the characters and locations in whatever way they wish, but there is no denying that having a visual representation (via film or images) provides a much stronger impression.  In using artifacts as tools I know that when grappling with a complex problem, it helps if I have an environment to manipulate.

Ch. 4 - The representation of tasks can be very helpful or detremental to someone.  This reminded me of a scene from the movie "Stand and Deliver," where a student is struggling with a problem and the teacher demonstrates just how easy it is to solve. 

Paper Reading #20 - A Multimodal Labeling Interface for Wearable Computing

Comments:
//comment 1
//comment 2

Reference:
A Multimodal Labeling Interface for Wearable Computing
Shanqing Li, Yunde Jia
IUI '10

Summary:
With the advent of wearable computing, there are new possibilities and obstacles to consider.  Among these obstacles is the ability to adapt to new environments without using a keyboard and mouse for interaction with the wearable device.  This paper seeks to use visual and audio modalities as a substitute for mouse and keyboard interaction.

The system utilizes the following componants: a head mounted display, a Bluetooth microphone, a stereo camera, a wearable computer, and a virtual touchpad.  A user uses the virtual touchpad to trace an object, which creates a model (much like a cardboard cutout).  The model is created when the user encircles an object, using the same motions they would on a chalkboard.  A speech recognition system with a 98% recognition rate is used to label the new model.

In evaluating this system, the researchers found that the mean error in tracking the movements was .046m, with a standard error or .043m.  In addition, they found that their system proved to be much faster than using a keyboard and mouse, with their system performing even better as larger objects were labeled.

Discussion:
There are interesting possibilities with this system.  Although it is currently a rather bulky and unwieldly package, in time it can be used in a variety of ways.  In the paper, they had images of labeled landmarks.  The physical text on the landmarks was in a foreign language, but the labels were in english.  While especially invaluable for tourists, this could be utilized to track out of the way places in a crowded city.  In addition, people could use it to make virutal breadcrumbs to find their way back after visiting an unfamiliar area.  I look forward to the possibilities that this technology will offer.

Ethnography Results - Week 8

Me Gusta

Well, there isn't too much that's new to report this week.  I do, however, have some observations regarding the use and evolution of internet memes.  In what is likely the most meme filled section of reddit, /r/fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu (or f7u12 for short), people create and post rage comics, where they describe or vent their emotions in relation to everyday events, unusual experiences, or hypothetical situations.  These comics are made up of a number of rage faces, a specific set of images meant to convey emotions or ideas.  Every so often, people will post comics that criticize how certain rage faces are not being used in the original context anymore.  Take, for example, the 'me gusta' face.  This face is currently used to express enjoyment in any number of activities.  A post to f7u12, however, lamented this new use, as it was originally meant to express enjoyment in normally disgusting activities.  These purists do seem in the minority, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Final Project Proposal

Adam Friedli, Patrick Frith, Aaron Kirkes

After discussing the final project as a group, we have decided to tackle our ideas for Project 2.  While Project 3 might be an interesting idea as well, making the TA Assistant application seems far more plausible.  We also started to really enjoy the ideas we were coming up with Project 2.  Seeing as none of us really have experience with this kind of application design or the devices involved, we might have to be modest in what we can expect to accomplish.  This is not to say we won’t try to include all the features we want.  But, we will most likely break down the design and prioritize the requirements.  This way we can always have some sort of working product at any given time.  Going about it this way will also help if we simply can’t find the time to implement everything we want.  Our goal will be to complete as much as possible, but at the same time we plan to make a realistic goal for ourselves and then go from there.  We look forward to discussing the plans together for this final project and striving to accomplish as much as we can.

Paper Reading #19 - A $3 Gesture Recognizer

Comments:
Comment 1
Comment 2

Reference:
A $3 Gesture Recognizer - Simple Gesture Recognition for Devices Equipped with 3D Acceleration Sensors
Sven Kratz, Michael Rohs
IUI '10

Summary:
This paper examines a simple, easy to implement 3D gesture recognition algorithm that can be incorporated into any device with 3D acceleration sensors.  It requires no library support or extra hardware, and it is intended to be a tool for user interface prototyping.  The algorithm continuously samples changes in acceleration and performs a summation of the data.  This data is then compared to a table of training gestures previously recorded by the user.  A heuristic is applied to find the highest scoring candidate in the table, and the closest match is selected.  Based on initial testing, the $3 Gesture Recognizer has an average success rate of around 80%, while individual users scored anywhere between 58% and 98% correct gestures recognized.


Discussion:
While this algorithm would perform poorly in a commercial product, for prototyping and testing uses it seems ideal.  It can be used to examine the limitations of any given 3D motion enabled hardware,  test a proof of concept, or simply explore what gestures work better than others before committing to an elaborate, expensive control scheme.  It may be quick, dirty, and not 100% accurate, but it gets the job done for the task it was created for.

Book Reading #44 - Why We Make Mistakes

Reference:
Why We Make Mistakes
Joseph T. Hallinan
2009 Broadway Books

Summary:
Ch. 4 - People will usually see things in a way that paint them in a more positive light.  They quickly forget what happened in past events and form an altered perception of the facts that either enhance or improve how the behaved in a situation.  We can quickly recognize when other people are being influenced by an outsize source, but are painfully blind when it happens to us. 

Ch. 5 - Our brains are terrible at multi-tasking.  They are able to switch from one task to another rapidly, but it often takes a significant amount of time to focus on the new activity.  This is not a huge problem in offices or homes, but it can be disastrous when driving or piloting a vehicle. 
Discussion:
Ch. 4 - In some ways, this chapter reminds me of the "lost in the mall" experiment.  Our memories, while decent, are very prone to morph in ways we are unable to detect.  It would be interesting to be able to film yourself all day (in such a way that you forget it's happening) and be able to review the events later.  How accurately would the memories match the footage?

Ch. 5 - Yet another thing that we don't realize how much can affect us.   How often do you sit down to do one task only to realize an hour or two later that you haven't even started?  Fortunately, safety technology is improving to a point where it can protect us from our own foolishness when it comes to multi-tasking while driving (based on a recently issued report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that states the number of traffic fatalities has falled to its lowest level in sixty years.).

Book Reading #43 - Things That Make Us Smart

Reference:
Things That Make Us Smart
Donald A. Norman
1993 Basic Books

Summary:
Ch. 1 - The human brain is capable of many things, but in the end it is limited.  Fortunately, people have the ability to create new technologies that make us smarter and more able to accomplish greater things.  Unfortunately, each new technology has unforseen effects on society, not always for the better.  As it stands, peple are expected to conform and adapt to each new technology.  Norman argues that it should be the technology that conforms to human nature.

Ch. 2 - Experiencial cognition occurs when environmental data leads to reactive actions.  This is expert behavior done without conscious thought.  Reflective cognition occurs when data is stored, compared, and analyzed to form new ideas and plans.  Tools meant to aid these types of cognition ideally follow certain guidelines.  Experiential tools should not require reflective analysis, and reflective tools should have as much information visible to the user as possible.  To support these cognitions, there are three types of learning.  Accretion is the accumulation of facts, tuning is the phase between behaving as a novice and behaving as an expert, and restructuring is forming the correct conceptual structure.
Discussion:
Ch. 1 - Norman has some good points, but there were times that I felt like I was reading another of design books.  Technologies should be more accessible to the layman, but oftentimes products have only a limited number of ways that they can be presented, and they are not always intuitive.

Ch. 2 - While I felt this chapter got a bit wordy, it was worth it for the payoff at the end.  I would love to see learning become a more engrossing, captivating activity, but I don't know how it could be implemented.  How does one make a triple integral entertaining?  How do you make the history of the Arthur administration mesmerizing?  How do you make sure that people know the right things are the right time?  I don't have an answer at this moment, but it is something to ponder.

Coming of Age in Samoa - Full Blog

Reference:
Coming of Age in Samoa
Margaret Mead
1928 Harper Perennial

Summary:
In the late 1920s, Margaret Mead wanted to study how societies affect individuals.  She was unable to determine a way to study Western society in a controlled environment, so she decided to examine Samoa, a place where Western influence had little root.  She found that children in Samoa are typically left to their own devices, with the older children looking out for the younger ones.  An individual gains more power as they age, though they must conform to family and traditional obligations.  As they age, the children participate in their specific age groups, splintering off into subgroups.

There are different expectations for boys and girls in Samoa.  The boys are organized into a working group where they learn both how to accomplish the hardest work in the villiage and the rituals and customs they must know as adults.  Girls typically are expected to do chores and learn how to accomplish things around the house.  Regardless of gender, Samoan children must learn how to dance.  They learn dancing early in life, and this is one of the few times where they can express their individuality.

Samoans respect the privacy of their peers, and won't pry if someones attitude suddenly changes.  If an individual becomes excessively extreme in their emotions, however,  they will be outside the social norm.  Indeed, Samoan society has little tolerance for drawn out conflict or social deviancy.  Their delinquents are combative, dishonest, or violent.  As the children enter their adulthood, they must conform to the expectations of their village if they are to function properly within it.  There are situations when someone moves to a different village, and they often have difficulty fully adjusting to their new settings.

Discussion:
I'm a history buff, so I enjoyed learning some of the historical aspects of Samoan society.  I found the differences between Western and Samoan societies interesting, and I noted the similarities and parallels between Samoan society and other various cultures. Perhaps the most striking detail was that the homogeneous Samoan society led to little to no tolerance for non-conformity.  This is hugely different from Western society, where we have access to knowledge and ideas from around the world.  It was valuable learning the techniques and methods that Mead used to conduct her ethnography, and I certainly will be able to apply the gleaned knowledge to future projects.  

Emotional Design - Full Blog

Reference:
Emotional DesignDonald A. Norman
2004 Basic Books
Summary:
Recent studies have shown that if two functionally identical items are compared that the one perceived as more aesthetically appealing is thought of as being easier to use than its rival.  Researchers have concluded that this occurs because when we are exposed to pleasing stimuli, our thinking patterns become more creative and enable us to see more solutions to a problem.  Conversely, when we are exposed to negative stimuli, our thinking becomes more focused and can cause us to miss obvious solutions.   It turns out that emotions play a role in how we receive a device.  An elegant instrument can make us completely forget any frustrating experiences we've had with similar tools in the past.  In addition, poorly made trinkets of little monetary value can elicit fond memories of a vacation.  We will often forego an easy fix or solution to a problem just so we can experience the satisfaction of doing a job ourselves.  When designing a product, we must be sure that the design appeals to three seperate levels: visceral, behavioral, and reflective.  Visceral design appeals to a user's senses, behavioral focuses on usability, and reflective endeavors to convey its meaning to the user.

Discussion:
It was odd to read Don Norman praising aesthetic designs after reading two books (since I'm in capstone) where he routinely mocks things that are built to look pretty.  I suppose that there is a distinction where a device can look good as long as it doesn't sacrifice any functionality.   Still, it could be that he's changed his philosophy since his previous works.  I also found the effects that nostalgia has to be quite fascinating.  I've been in more that one situation where I've been lost in a wave of fond memories about someting or another when I'm suddenly jerked back to reality and remembered all the frustration involved.  It is certainly important to appeal to all three levels of design, and ideally the product will ultimately be as intuitive and easy to use as a LEGO brick or a strip of velcro.