Designing Attention-Centric

1

• Designing Attention-Centric
• Notification Systems

Five HCI Challenges
Scott McCrickard Center for Human-Computer
Interaction Department of Computer
Science Virginia Tech mccricks_at_cs.vt.edu
http//www.cs.vt.edu/mccricks
2
overview

• Technological realities of multiple, ubiquitous
  information delivery streams for user
  notification often beg improved interface
  usability and human-computer interaction.
• Many new HCI approaches hint at promising
  notification solutions, but the HCI field faces
  five important challenges that can be assisted by
  applied research from the cognitive systems
  community

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overview

• convenient access to basic research and
  guidelines
• requirements engineering methods for notification
  interfaces
• better and more usable predictive modeling for
  preattentive and dual-task interfaces
• standard empirical evaluation procedures for
  notification system interfaces
• conceptual frameworks for organizing reusable
  design and software components

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3
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5
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agenda
background
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts
challenges
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification
future work
system development
claims reuse in design
method creation
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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• Small, corner of the desktop or peripheral
  utilities ? notification systems
• System goal awareness of information throughout
  the day, rather than concentrated task-related
  usage
• Typical information of interest
• News, sports, stocks, weather
• Email other messaging
• Groupwork coordination
• System monitors/alerts

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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• Usage characteristics
• System is monitored while a primary task is
  continued (document editing, web browsing)
• Preserving primary task performance
• Avoiding unwanted distraction and frustration
• Secondary information content may cause users to
  switch primary tasks or perform tasks
  differently, access additional details, etc
• Facilitating rapid and appropriate reaction
• Distinguishing importance of information
• Users may want to recall information later,
  relate patterns or trends, or use for planning
• Supporting information visualization and
  comprehension
• Design implications?

challenges
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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• Primary task degradation?
• Awareness gains?
• Response selection?

vs.
But how to generalize knowledge?
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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• A possible solution
• Three abstract user goals involving human
  information processing for notification systems
• Interruption (I) redirection of attentional
  focus
• Reaction (R) instantaneous stimulus response
• Comprehension (C) long term memory interaction
• User goals may necessitate specific levels of
  each critical parameter (high low?)
• Interface information design options can
  facilitate certain parameter ranges best

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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts
Interruption
high
low
high
Comprehension
Reaction
high
10
background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts
Interruption
high
low
high
Users Goal
Comprehension
Reaction
high
Low interruption comprehension, High reaction
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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts
Interruption
high
low
high
Users Goal
Comprehension
Reaction
Ticker
high
In-place animation
generalized empirical study results
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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• Interface development usability engineering
  of
• In-vehicle information systems (IVIS)
• Secondary information display
• Interaction for selection and manipulation
• Systems supporting activity awareness of
  group project collaboration efforts
• Large screen status displays in classrooms
• Other real world interfaces ubiquitous
  computing solutions
• Balancing multi-task user goals with aesthetics

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background
challenges
future work
early design efforts
the IRC
info design studies
current efforts

• Designing notification system interfaces
  continues to present difficult, multidisciplinary
  challenges
• Our HCI development efforts can benefit from work
  in five areas
• 1- Guideline access
• 2- Requirements engineering
• 3- Predictive modeling
• 4- Usability evaluation methods
• 5- Classification methods for reusable components

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background
challenges
future work
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification

• Experiment psychology human factors research
  produces lots of great attention management basic
  research, BUT--
• How where can interfaces developers of
  notification systems access digestible
  summaries?
• How are applicable information design guidelines
  theories delivered to the practicing
  development community?
• What are known effects of exemplar systems?

challenge
The HCI development community must have
convenient access to basic research and
guidelines for attention-centric notification
design.
and how can this be improved?
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background
challenges
future work
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification

• Usability engineers often lead software
  development efforts, assessing and documenting
  user requirements, BUT, for notification systems
  design
• Is this activity well guided by cognitive
  psychology expertise?
• If needs analysis processes were better informed,
  wouldnt later designs be better and cheaper?

challenge
Processes and frameworks should be available for
requirements engineering and development of
interaction specifications for software engineers.
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background
challenges
future work
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification

• Current cognitive modeling systems hold great
  promise for improved usability engineering
  effort, BUT--
• When will usability modeling systems be available
  for usability engineers to train with and use in
  practice!
• When will modeling systems provide insight for
  dual-task situations?
• What can the HCI research customers do to help?

challenge
Better and more usable predictive modeling for
preattentive and dual-task interfaces is needed.
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background
challenges
future work
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification

• Lab-based interface usability evaluation methods
  for notification systems are often custom
  approaches that may not target essential
  questions and limit generalizability
• Can standard experimental platforms and methods
  be adapted for interface evaluation?
• How should existing usability evaluation methods,
  such as cognitive walkthroughs and heuristics, be
  adapted for dual-task systems?

challenge
Usability engineers need assistance in developing
standard empirical evaluation procedures for
notification system interfaces.
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background
challenges
future work
guideline access
requirements engineering
predictive modeling
usability evaluation
component classification
challenge
Conceptual frameworks must be crafted to assist
in organizing reusable design and software
componentsa necessity for design efficiency and
long-term progress.

• Designers want to be able to reuse design
  knowledge and components, BUT -- how can the
  effects on users be described without standard
  notations?
• What are meaningful categories of dual-task
  design knowledge?we proposed three parameters
• How can design effects on users be objectively
  expressed?

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background
challenges
future work
system development
claims reuse in design
method creation

• Claims are concise expressions of the effects of
  a designed artifact on a user
• Expresses pros cons (Sutcliffe Carroll,
  1999)
• Relates to a usage scenario
• Ongoing research
• Can claims be a solution for design knowledge
  reuse?
• How should claims for notification systems be
  indexed, accessed, and used?

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background
challenges
future work
system development
claims reuse in design
method creation

• The IRC framework provides a possible basis for
• A requirements engineering process
• Referral of usability evaluation tools/techniques
• Classification of design claims
• Ongoing research
• Validation automating procedures
• Grounding methods in theory

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background
challenges
future work
system development
claims reuse in design
method creation

• Development efforts continue
• In-vehicle information systems
• Group work support
• Ubiquitous real world interface systems
• Special interest in broader efforts
  multi-disciplinary collaborations that create or
  exercise frameworks, systems, and models that
  respond to these challenges

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• Designing Attention-Centric
• Notification Systems

Five HCI Challenges
Scott McCrickard Center for Human-Computer
Interaction Department of Computer
Science Virginia Tech mccricks_at_cs.vt.edu
http//www.cs.vt.edu/mccricks