Linden J. Ball
Has also published under the name of:
"Linden Ball"
About the author:
No description available of Linden J. Ball...
Publications by Linden J. Ball (bibliography)
» 2007 «
Eger, Nicola, Ball, Linden J., Stevens, Robert and Dodd, Jon (2007): Cueing Retrospective Verbal Reports in Usability Testing Through Eye-Movement Replay. In: Proceedings of the HCI07 Conference on People and Computers XXI 2007. p. 13. Available online
“An experimental validation is presented of a novel method for usability testing that entails the playback of dynamic eyetracking data to cue the elicitation of retrospective verbal reports. Participants in our study produced: (1) think-aloud reports during an online search task, and (2) retrospective reports during another online search task, with reports being cued by the playback of either the screen capture of events or the participant's own eye-movements. Task-completion times and response rates were recorded for all reporting methods. Fewer participants completed the search task whilst thinking aloud, indicating the reactivity of this technique. Verbal transcripts were coded for instances of usability problems. The eye-cued method identified more usability problems than the think-aloud or screen-cued methods. A significant interaction between search engine type and retrospective cue type suggests that the value of the eye-cue method for eliciting usability problems may be greatest with more complex search environments. Our results demonstrate that when cued appropriately, retrospective reports may be less reactive and more informative than other verbalisation techniques.”
Copyrights may apply
Ormerod, Tom, Ball, Linden J., Dix, Alan J. and Sas, Corina (2007): HCI and Creative Problem-Solving at Lancaster. In: Proceedings of the HCI07 Conference on People and Computers XXI 2007. p. 48. Available online
“The Creative Problem-Solving Research Group (CPSRG) at Lancaster University is a collaboration between psychologists and computer scientists conducting research into creativity, problem-solving and design at the interface between humans and computer systems. Our aim is to develop theoretical understandings and practical interventions that address how creative individuals and groups manage conflicting demands of novelty and divergent thinking versus constraint, domain relevance and minimization of task load. Current projects include creative design in virtual and ubiquitous environments, developing methodologies for inspirational design, and impacts of expert reasoning on creative problem-solving.”
Copyrights may apply
Kortuem, Gerd, Alford, David, Ball, Linden J., Busby, Jerry S., Davies, Nigel, Efstratiou, Christos, Finney, Joe, White, Marian Iszatt and Kinder, Katharina (2007): Sensor Networks or Smart Artifacts? An Exploration of Organizational Issues of an Industrial Health and Safety Monitoring System. In: Krumm, John, Abowd, Gregory D., Seneviratne, Aruna and Strang, Thomas (eds.) UbiComp 2007 Ubiquitous Computing - 9th International Conference September 16-19, 2007, Innsbruck, Austria. pp. 465-482. Available online
» 2002 «
Tseng, Winger, Scrivener, Stephen A. R. and Ball, Linden J. (2002): The impact of functional knowledge on sketching. In: Proceedings of the 2002 Conference on Creativity and Cognition 2002. pp. 57-64. Available online
“Previous research investigating sketching processes during object visualisation and design has indicated that drawing occurs in a primarily part-by-part manner, whereby the component structures of objects appear to dominate the organisation of ongoing activity. Some non-part-by-part sketching does arise, however, and appears to be closely linked with those parts of objects that possess multiple functionality. The present experiment aimed to provide further evidence to support the influence of functional knowledge on sketching. Overall, the results indicate that functional understanding is an important element of visual reasoning and sketch production in design-related tasks. We propose that functional knowledge serves simultaneously to promote certain aspects of representational accuracy (e.g., in terms of functional properties of parts) whilst, paradoxically, engendering other aspects of representational inaccuracy (e.g., in terms of the precise geometric structure of parts).”
Copyrights may apply
» 2000 «
Ball, Linden J. and Ormerod, Thomas C. (2000): Putting Ethnography to Work: The Case for a Cognitive Ethnography of Design. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53 (1) pp. 147-168
“The methods of ethnography and cognitive psychology are frequently set in opposition to each other. Whilst such a view may be appropriate in defining pure, or prototypical, classes of each activity, the value and necessity of such a distinction is broken down when researchers are goal-directed to study complex work domains in order to foster technological change. In this paper, we outline a rapprochement of these methods, which we term cognitive ethnography. The value of qualifying ethnography in this way is to emphasize systematically the differences between ethnography as a radial category and the kinds of legitimate method used to study work practices which are often referred to as ethnographic, but which in practice differ in important ways from prototypical ethnographic studies. Features of cognitive ethnography such as observational specificity, verifiability and purposivenes challenge many of the tenets of a pure ethnographic method, yet they are essential for studies that are undertaken to inform technological change. We illustrate our arguments with reference to a project to develop a tool for supporting design re-use in innovative design environments.”
Copyrights may apply
» 1996 «
Ormerod, Thomas C. and Ball, Linden J. (1996): An Empirical Evaluation of TEd, A Techniques Editor for Prolog Programming. In: Gray, Wayne D., Boehm-Davis, Deborah A. and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Sixth Workshop January 5-7, 1996, 1996, Alexandria, Virginia. pp. 147-162.
» 1995 «
Ball, Linden J. and Ormerod, Thomas C. (1995): Structured and Opportunistic Processing in Design: A Critical Discussion. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 43 (1) pp. 131-151
“We present a critical discussion of research into the nature of design expertise, in particular evaluating claims that opportunism is a major influence on the behaviour of expert designers. We argue that the notion of opportunism has been under-constrained, and as a consequence the existence of opportunism in expert design has been exaggerated. Much of what has been described as opportunistic design behaviour appears to reflect a mix of breadth-first and depth-first modes of solution development. Whilst acknowledging that opportunities can arise in the design process (e.g. serendipitous solution discovery), such events might equally confirm structured behaviour as cause unstructured behaviour. We argue that the default mode for truly expert designers is typically a top-down and breadth-first approach, since longer-term considerations of cost-effectiveness are more important for expert designers than short-term considerations of cognitive cost. However, there are situations (e.g. when faced with a highly unfamiliar design task) where it is cost-effective for experts to pursue a depth-first mode of solution development. The implications of our analysis for the development of methods and tools to support the design process are also discussed.”
Copyrights may apply
» 1993 «
Ormerod, Thomas C. and Ball, Linden J. (1993): Does Programming Knowledge or Design Strategy Determine Shifts of Focus in Prolog Programming?. In: Cook, Curtis, Scholtz, Jean and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Fifth Workshop December 3-15, 1993, 1993, Palo Alto, California. pp. 162-186.
“In this paper we examine the nature of expertise in program writing, in particular the factors which underlie the order in which code is generated by Prolog programmers. Verbal and keystroke recordings were taken from five expert subjects coding solutions to a problem requiring a recursive list-processing solution. A quantitative analysis of transcripts revealed a wide variation between subjects in the presence of non-linearities in code generation, with one subject demonstrating almost perfect linear development of code whilst others showed varying degrees of non-linearity. On the other hand, there was little evidence of deviation from a structured approach to code development even by experts producing code in a non-linear fashion. Qualitative analysis of verbal protocols revealed two key factors which determined the sequence of code generation: these were 1) switches between different views of the programming problem during solution development; and 2) the operation of problem scheduling strategies which created agenda for tackling coding sub-problems We discuss our findings in terms of current theories of programming expertise, and propose that the notion of programming 'plans' is neither necessary nor sufficient to account for the shifts of focus in the coding of our expert subjects. Plans may be a component of programming expertise, but they cannot alone account for the different coding orders observed in the construction of similar programs. Instead, we argue that a theory of programming expertise must account for the role of design strategies such as structured problem decomposition and problem scheduling that are employed by experts in developing code.”
Copyrights may apply
SHOW THIS LIST ON YOUR HOMEPAGE
What do YOU think?
Give us your opinion! Do you have any comments/additions
that you would like other visitors to see?
You say:
Mar 21st, 2010
Changes to this page (author)
22 Feb 2010: Enabled abstracts to be shown on Linden J. Ball's author page.30 May 2009: Author was edited 12 May 2008: Author was edited
12 May 2008: Author was edited
25 Jul 2007: Author was added to the bibliography
28 Apr 2003: Added the author to the bibliography
