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Interaction design
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| SVG-based Knowledge Visualization (for Digital Pen Interaction) 2012, graduate student, Miloš Kaláb |  |
| Interaction study: Haptic Mobile Interfaces, 2008, graduate student (Dipl., HBK Saar): Mikhail Blinov |  |
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Graph-Based Visualization of RDF Soccer
Data and Interaction Possibilities on a Handheld, 2007, graduate student (Msc., University Koblenz-Landau): Philipp Heim |
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Usability
Guidelines for Use
Case Applications serves
as
an introduction to the
general topic of usability, i.e., how user-friendly and
efficient a
THESEUS
prototype is. In these guidelines, we emphasize the
importance of
usability
testing, particularly during the development of a given
THESEUS
prototype. We
discuss the many advantages of testing prototypes and
products in terms
of
costs, product quality, and customer satisfaction.
Usability testing
can
improve development productivity through more efficient
design and
fewer code
revisions. It can help to eliminate over-design by
emphasizing the
functionality required to meet the needs of real users.
Design problems
can be
detected earlier in the development process, saving both
time and
money. In
these Guidelines
we provide
a brief overview of testing options, ranging
from a cognitive walkthrough to interviews to eye
tracking. Different
techniques are used at different stages of a product’s
development. There are
many techniques that can be applied to ensure the
usability of
prototypes,
which no single technique alone can ensure, however.
Usability is a
process
with iterative steps, meaning the cycle is repeated but
in a cumulative
fashion, similar to software development.
In order to test, a prototype must be available and we devote some time in the Guidelines to an overview of different tools and ways of building the necessary prototypes. We also describe some options such as paper prototyping, prototypes from Visio, PowerPoint, HTML, Flash and others, and working prototypes (Java, C++, etc.) before addressing the issue of the actual tests as such. Before any testing is conducted, the purpose of the test should be clarified. This will have considerable impact on the kind of testing to be done. A test plan should also be written before the start of the test and consider several different aspects including, for instance, the duration of the test, where it will take place, or who the experimenter will be. A pilot test is also recommended to avoid misunderstandings and other problems during the actual test. In this context, the Guidelines also discuss other important aspects such as the budget, room set-up, time, and limitations of the experimenter and test subjects themselves.  To
provide
an overview of some of the projects THESEUS is concerned
with in the
context of
usability, we supply explicit recommendations that
result in proposed
scenarios
for use cases in the Guidelines.
The
THESEUS program consists of six use
cases: ALEXANDRIA, CONTENTUS, MEDICO, ORDO, PROCESSUS,
and TEXO. In
order to
come up with the different testing scenarios, each of
which has
specific design
and testing recommendations, we first extracted some
substantial
information
from the different use cases in different user settings:
we discerned
between
those who will use the system, where they will use the
system, and what
they
will do with the system. After considering the results,
we determined
that the
THESEUS program works with seven different scenarios. We
provide a
decision
tree that leads to specific recommendations for
designing and testing
with
prototypes for each of the different scenarios and user
settings.
General
recommendations concerning various input methods, the
design, and the
testing
itself have also been included in the Guidelines.
Following
that, we
emphasize what we find important for the design and
testing of each of
the
seven testing scenarios. We address, for instance, the
appropriate
input method
(keyboard, mouse, speech, etc.), according to the type
of test subject
(e.g.,
administrator or mobile user), or also which prototype
could be used
for the
usability test. The Guidelines
close
with an extensive list of
recommended further information sources. |
| According
to
the Usability
Guidelines, we implemented an abstract container
concept called Semantic Interface Elements (SIEs) for the representation and activation of multimedia elements visible on the touchscreen. More information about the design and implementation of this combined mobile and touchscreen-based multimodal Web 3.0 interface can be found in Sonntag, Deru and Bergweiler (2009) or visit Comet. |
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  |
Multimodal
Design
for mobile business applications: A multimodal dialogue system
allows a
business expert to intuitively search and browse for services in
a
real-world production pipeline. We implemented a distributed client-server dialogue application for natural language speech input and speech output generation (Porta, Sonntag and Neßelrath, 2009). |
