Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference


 
Time and place:
Boston, Massachusetts
April 24-28, 1994
Editors:
Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S.
Series:
This is a preferred venue for people like Ravin Balakrishnan, Brad A. Myers, Hiroshi Ishii, James A. Landay, and Shumin Zhai. Part of the ACM SIGCHI CHI - Human Factors in Computing Systems conference series.
Conf. description:
The annual CHI conference is the leading international forum for the exchange of ideas and information about human-computer interaction (HCI).
Next conference:
is coming up
Apr10
10 Apr 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Publisher:
EDIT

References from this conference (1994)

The following articles are from "Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference":

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Articles

p. 10-15

Ballay, Joseph M. (1994): Designing Workscape: An Interdisciplinary Experience. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 10-15. Available online

Workscape is a clean-slate design for an office document management product. It was developed through a unique collaboration among the staffs of Digital and MAYA. From earliest concepts to current refinements and productization, Workscape has benefited from interdisciplinary design methods involving specialists from the fields of human factors, computer science, and visual design. Extensive use of mockups, in a variety of media, proved particularly effective in bridging differences of terminology and methodology between these three disciplines.

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p. 16-22

Lemaire, Benoit and Moore, Johanna D. (1994): An Improved Interface for Tutorial Dialogues: Browsing a Visual Dialogue History. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 16-22. Available online

When participating in tutorial dialogues, human tutors freely refer to their own previous explanations. Explanation is an inherently incremental and interactive process. New information must be highlighted and related to what has already been presented. If user interfaces are to reap the benefits of natural language interaction, they must be endowed with the properties that make human natural language interaction so effective. This paper describes the design of a user interface that enables both the system and the user to refer to the past dialogue. The work is based on the notion that the dialogue history is a source of knowledge that can be manipulated like any other. In particular, we describe an interface that allows students to visualize the dialogue history on the screen, highlight its relevant parts and query and manipulate the dialogue history. We expect that these facilities will increase the effectiveness of the student learning of the tasks.

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p. 218-224

Olsen Jr, Dan R. and Holladay, Walter (1994): Automatic Generation of Interactively Consistent Search Dialogs. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 218-224. Available online

The problem of creating search dialogs which are consistent with normal user interface dialogs is posed. The ART user interface tool kit is presented. The features of top-down filtering of interactive events and the modeling of interactor semantics as editing variables are discussed. Two special interactor filters are described which when wrapped around an editing dialog will transform that dialog into one which edits search patterns for the same class of objects.

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p. 225-231

Moriyon, Roberto, Szekely, Pedro and Neches, Robert (1994): Automatic Generation of Help from Interface Design Models. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 225-231. Available online

Model-based interface design can save substantial effort in building help systems for interactive applications by generating help automatically from the model used to implement the interface, and by providing a framework for developers to easily refine the automatically-generated help texts. This paper describes a system that generates hypertext-based help about data presented in application displays, commands to manipulate data, and interaction techniques to invoke commands. The refinement component provides several levels of customization, including programming-by-example techniques to let developers edit directly help windows that the system produces, and the possibility to refine help generation rules.

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p. 23-29

Goldstein, Jade and Roth, Steven F. (1994): Using Aggregation and Dynamic Queries for Exploring Large Data Sets. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 23-29. Available online

When working with large data sets, users perform three primary types of activities: data manipulation, data analysis, and data visualization. The data manipulation process involves the selection and transformation of data prior to viewing. This paper addresses user goals for this process and the interactive interface mechanisms that support them. We consider three classes of data manipulation goals: controlling the scope (selecting the desired portion of the data), selecting the focus of attention (concentrating on the attributes of data that are relevant to current analysis), and choosing the level of detail (creating and decomposing aggregates of data). We use this classification to evaluate the functionality of existing data exploration interface techniques. Based on these results, we have expanded an interface mechanism called the Aggregate Manipulator (AM) and combined it with Dynamic Query (DQ) to provide complete coverage of the data manipulation goals. We use real estate sales data to demonstrate how the AM and DQ synergistically function in our interface.

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p. 232-237

Byrne, Michael D., Wood, Scott D., Sukaviriya, Piyawadee, Foley, James D. and Kieras, David E. (1994): Automating Interface Evaluation. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 232-237. Available online

One method for user interface analysis that has proven successful is formal analysis, such as GOMS-based analysis. Such methods are often criticized for being difficult to learn, or at the very least an additional burden for the system designer. However, if the process of constructing and using formal models could be automated as part of the interface design environment, such models could be of even greater value. This paper describes an early version of such a system, called USAGE (the UIDE System for semi-Automated GOMS Evaluation). Given the application model necessary to drive the UIDE system, USAGE generates an NGOMSL model of the interface which can be "run" on a typical set of user tasks and provide execution and learning time estimates.

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p. 238-244

Card, Stuart K., Pirolli, Peter and Mackinlay, Jock D. (1994): The Cost-of-Knowledge Characteristic Function: Display Evaluation for Direct-Walk Dynamic Information Visualizations. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 238-244. Available online

In this paper we present a method, the Cost-of-Knowledge Characteristic Function, for characterizing information access from dynamic displays. The paper works out this method for a simple, but important, class of dynamic displays called direct-walk interactive information visualizations, in which information is accessed through a sequence of mouse selections and key selections. The method is used to characterize a simple calendar task for an application of the Information Visualizer, to compute the changes in characterization as the result of possible program variants, and to conduct empirical comparison between different systems with the same function.

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p. 245-251

Koenemann-Belliveau, Jurgen, Carroll, John M., Rosson, Mary Beth and Singley, Mark K. (1994): Comparative Usability Evaluation: Critical Incidents and Critical Threads. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 245-251. Available online

Empirical usability evaluations (particularly formative evaluations [13]) hinge on observing and interpreting critical incidents [8] of use. We proposed [3,5] augmenting critical incident methods by analysis of what we called critical threads: sets of causally related user episodes that, taken together, define major usability themes. This paper extends this work to the comparative usability analysis of a related artifact. We discuss how our earlier claims analysis was used to orient and simplify our current evaluation efforts.

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p. 252-257

Rowley, David E. (1994): Usability Testing in the Field: Bringing the Laboratory to the User. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 252-257. Available online

Usability testing is not always best accomplished within the confines of a specially equipped usability laboratory. Logistics and resource constraints sometimes necessitate taking the testing out on the road. Field testing provides an opportunity to sample from a distributed customer base -- a requirement of significant relevance when competing in a global market. What's more, usability testing in the field can offer benefits in both marketing and public relations that in-house testing may miss. This paper describes some of the issues surrounding a field testing program, and gives suggestions about how such an undertaking can be accomplished under strict financial, resource and schedule limitations. A case study is presented to help illustrate the planning and evaluation process, and to provide insights into the types of problems such an endeavor is likely to encounter, as well as some valuable lessons learned along the way.

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p. 258-264

Kurtenbach, Gordon and Buxton, William (1994): User Learning and Performance with Marking Menus. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 258-264. Available online

A marking menu is designed to allow a user to perform a menu selection by either popping-up a radial (or pie) menu, or by making a straight mark in the direction of the desired menu item without popping-up the menu. Previous evaluations in laboratory settings have shown the potential for marking menus. This paper reports on a case study of user behavior with marking menus in a real work situation. The study demonstrates the following: First, marking menus are used as designed. When users become expert with the menus, marks are used extensively. However, the transition to using marks is not one way. Expert users still switch back to menus to refresh their memory of menu layout. Second, marking is an extremely efficient interaction technique. Using a mark on average was 3.5 times faster than using the menu. Finally, design principles can be followed that make menu item/mark associations easier to learn, and interaction efficient.

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p. 265-270

Venolia, Dan and Neiberg, Forrest (1994): T-Cube: A Fast, Self-Disclosing Pen-Based Alphabet. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 265-270. Available online

An interface for entering text to a pen-based computer is described. The technique proposes a new alphabet, where each letter is a flick gesture. These flick gestures are self-disclosing using pie menus. An experiment determined the speeds of executing the flick gestures and the transition speeds between gestures. An assignment of characters to gestures is developed and evaluated. Audio feedback is used to convey whether a gesture was well- or badly-formed. A longitudinal study showed clear progress on a learning curve. The method is compared to soft keyboards, handwriting recognition systems, and unistrokes.

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p. 271-277

Whittaker, Steve, Hyland, Patrick and Wiley, Myrtle (1994): Filochat: Handwritten Notes Provide Access to Recorded Conversations. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 271-277. Available online

We present a novel application which integrates handwriting and recorded audio in a semi-portable device: It allows users to straightforwardly access particular points in recorded spontaneous speech via handwritten notes using temporal indexing. Initial interviews with 23 users and 28 non-users of office audio showed a requirement for supplementing handwritten meeting notes with a verbatim speech record of the conversation, as well as problems in accessing particular points in long audio recordings. On the basis of this, we built a prototype system that combined co-indexed handwritten notes and recorded audio in a digital notebook. The prototype was tested on 67 users in field and laboratory trials. Laboratory studies showed objective benefits of combined notes and audio over notes alone. The utility of the access method was shown by improved performance over current audio technology such as dictaphones. We also found perceived benefits of higher quality meeting minutes in field trials. An unforeseen benefit was the use of this device as an audio editing tool. We discuss further technical extensions and user issues in relation to the prototype.

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p. 278-284

Newman, William M. (1994): A Preliminary Analysis of the Products of HCI Research, Using Pro Forma Abstracts. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 278-284. Available online

A classification scheme for the products of engineering research is described, involving three principal categories of product: improved modelling techniques, solutions and tools. These categories can be linked to the contributions they make to engineering design. A set of pro forma abstracts are proposed as a reliable means of identifying the three categories. A preliminary sample of published engineering papers indicates that normally at least 90 percent of the papers fall into these three categories. For recent CHI and InterCHI conferences, however, only about 30 percent of papers can be thus categorized. The remainder appear mostly to describe radical solutions (solutions not derived from incremental improvements to solutions to the same problem), and experience and/or heuristics gained mostly from studies of radical solutions. Some comments are made about the reasons for these departures from normal engineering research practice.

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p. 285-291

Shipman III, Frank M. and McCall, Raymond (1994): Supporting Knowledge-Base Evolution with Incremental Formalization. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 285-291. Available online

Computers require formally represented information to support users but users often cannot provide it. This paper looks at an approach called "incremental formalization", when users express information informally and the system supports them in formalizing it. Incremental formalization requires a system architecture that can integrate formal and informal representations and enable and support moving information upward in formality. The system should include tools to capture naturally available informal information and knowledge-based techniques to suggest possible formalizations of this informal information. The Hyper-Object Substrate (HOS), a system with these characteristics, has been applied to a variety of domains, including network design, archeological site analysis and neuroscience education. Users were successful in adding information informally and in incrementally formalizing that information. In particular, informal text was added, which later had attributes added and partook in inheritance relationships.

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p. 292-298

Fischer, Gerhard, McCall, Ray, Ostwald, Jonathan, Reeves, Brent and Shipman, Frank (1994): Seeding, Evolutionary Growth and Reseeding: Supporting the Incremental Development of Design Environments. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 292-298. Available online

We describe an approach to acquiring information during the creation and use of domain-oriented environments. Our model consists of three phases: seeding, evolutionary growth, and reseeding. A seed for a domain-oriented design environment is created through a participatory design process between environment developers and domain designers by incorporating domain-specific knowledge into a domain-independent architecture for design environments. Evolutionary growth takes place as domain designers use the seeded environment to undertake specific projects. Reseeding is a process that reinvolves the environment developers to help domain designers better organize, formalize, and generalize knowledge added during the use phases.

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p. 299-305

Bowers, John and Pycock, James (1994): Talking Through Design: Requirements and Resistance in Cooperative Prototyping. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 299-305. Available online

Some analyses are presented of talk between designers and a potential user in a participatory design session where a prototype application was worked with to determine future requirements. We explore the ways in which design suggestions are formulated and argued for, and how requirements emerge as a negotiated product of interaction. On this basis, we re-examine user participation in design and the relationship between prototyping and user requirements. We conclude by offering a notion (gradients of resistance in design space) to help understanding the interplay of the social and the technical in design.

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p. 3-9

Kyng, Morten (1994): Scandinavian Design: Users in Product Development. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 3-9. Available online

This paper presents an approach to user involvement in product development that has grown out of a Scandinavian tradition for cooperation with end-users in design. This tradition emphasizes early and continuing end-user involvement, and has over the last decade been applied successfully in several projects. Most of these projects have, however, been research projects or of the type in-house or contract development, and the claim is often made that this way of involving users is not suited for product development. In this paper I sketch the ideas behind involving users in the design process, and then present and discuss a case of product development in the CSCW area, where more traditional development activities were integrated with intensive cooperation with end-users.

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p. 30-36

Nishiyama, Haruhiko, Kin, Sumi, Yokoyama, Teruo and Matsushita, Yutaka (1994): An Image Retrieval System Considering Subjective Perception. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 30-36. Available online

Human interface plays an important role in information retrieval system. Visual information is a good man-machine communication medium. Therefore, it is necessary to design a visual interface to interpret the pictorial information. Such a visual interface provides user-friendly operations. It is important to design advanced image database systems from a visual aspect. The algorithms of image retrieval operations have to suit user's subjective viewpoint, such as a similarity measure, etc. This paper proposes an image retrieval scheme based on the assumption that end-users make use of image database systems. When a human being looks graphical materials like artistic paintings, he/she memorizes them using two patterns in his/her visual memory: the first pattern is that of looking roughly the whole image, the second is that of paying attention to specific objects such as a man or a desk. A user can divide the canvas into several area with appropriate color freely and put icons for representing objects. Moreover, the user can set detailed attributes of each object in order to reduce the number of candidates. Thus, by means of specifying the feature of a picture in the three levels (area, objects, attributes), an image retrieval system suited for humans' sense can be realized.

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p. 306-312

Stone, Maureen C., Fishkin, Ken and Bier, Eric A. (1994): The Movable Filter as a User Interface Tool. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 306-312. Available online

Magic Lens filters are a new user interface tool that combine an arbitrarily-shaped region with an operator that changes the view of objects viewed through that region. These tools can be interactively positioned over on-screen applications much as a magnifying glass is moved over a newspaper. They can be used to help the user understand various types of information, from text documents to scientific visualizations. Because these filters are movable and apply to only part of the screen, they have a number of advantages over traditional window-wide viewing modes: they employ an attractive metaphor based on physical lenses, show a modified view in the context of the original view, limit clutter to a small region, allow easy construction of visual macros and provide a uniform paradigm that can be extended across different types of information and applications. This paper describes these advantages in more detail and illustrates them with examples of magic lens filters in use over a variety of applications.

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p. 313-317

Ahlberg, Christopher and Shneiderman, Ben (1994): Visual Information Seeking: Tight Coupling of Dynamic Query Filters with Starfield Displays. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 313-317. Available online

This paper offers new principles for visual information seeking (VIS). A key concept is to support browsing, which is distinguished from familiar query composition and information retrieval because of its emphasis on rapid filtering to reduce result sets, progressive refinement of search parameters, continuous reformulation of goals, and visual scanning to identify results. VIS principles developed include: dynamic query filters (query parameters rapidly adjusted with sliders, buttons, maps, etc.), starfield displays (two-dimensional scatterplots to structure result sets and zooming to reduce clutter), and tight coupling (interrelating query components to preserve display invariants and support progressive refinement combined with an emphasis on using search output to foster search input). A FilmFinder prototype using a movie database demonstrates these principles in a VIS environment.

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p. 318-322

Rao, Ramana and Card, Stuart K. (1994): The Table Lens: Merging Graphical and Symbolic Representations in an Interactive Focus+Context Visualization for Tabular Information. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 318-322. Available online

We present a new visualization, called the Table Lens, for visualizing and making sense of large tables. The visualization uses a focus+context (fisheye) technique that works effectively on tabular information because it allows display of crucial label information and multiple distal focus areas. In addition, a graphical mapping scheme for depicting table contents has been developed for the most widespread kind of tables, the case-by-variables table. The Table Lens fuses symbolic and graphical representations into a single coherent view that can be fluidly adjusted by the user. This fusion and interactivity enables an extremely rich and natural style of direct manipulation exploratory data analysis.

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p. 323-329

Vora, Pawan R., Helander, Martin G. and Shalin, Valerie L. (1994): Evaluating the Influence of Interface Styles and Multiple Access Paths in Hypertext. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 323-329. Available online

No specific guidelines exist to assist in designing usable hypertext systems. In this paper, we discuss three experiments to study usability issues in hypertext design. In the first experiment, we investigated usability of four types of hypertext interfaces: graphical with labeled links (GL), graphical with unlabeled links (GU), textual with embedded links (TE), and textual with a separate list of related items/links (TS). The results favored GL interface for novice users. However, most subjects suggested incorporating multiple access pathways to facilitate search. To determine how hypertext designers could establish, a priori, these multiple structures, we extracted organization schemes from domain experts in the second experiment. Distinctly different organization structures emerged from experts with different professional backgrounds. Therefore, we modified the hypertext to incorporate multiple organization structures. In experiment 3, we compared subjects' performance using multiple and single organization structures. Multiple structures, contrary to previous evidence, enhanced search performance. The benefits of multiple structures, however, diminished over time. These experiments provide empirical evidence in favor of GL interfaces and incorporation of multiple organization structures to improve hypertext usability.

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p. 330-336

Furnas, George W. and Zacks, Jeff (1994): Multitrees: Enriching and Reusing Hierarchical Structure. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 330-336. Available online

This paper introduces multitrees, a new type of structure for representing information. Multitrees are a class of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) with the unusual property that they have large easily identifiable substructures that are trees. These subtrees have a natural semantic interpretation providing alternate hierarchical contexts for information, as well as providing a natural model for hierarchical reuse. The numerous trees found within multitrees also afford familiar, tree-based graphical interactions.

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p. 337-343

Haunold, Peter and Kuhn, Werner (1994): A Keystroke Level Analysis of a Graphics Application: Manual Map Digitizing. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 337-343. Available online

Transforming analog graphic data, such as maps, into digital format by manual digitizing is slow and expensive, but is nevertheless widely performed. Studies of digitizing methods to find opportunities for optimization are therefore warranted. The work reported here investigates the possibility of applying the Keystroke-Level Model to the modeling and optimization of manual map digitizing tasks. We tested the suitability of the model for manual digitizing at a national mapping agency and determined unit tasks with their performance times. The paper describes the design of an experiment to measure performance times under production conditions. Two new keystroke level operators are defined for manual digitizing. The use and suitability of the model are demonstrated by analyzing the differences between predicted and measured performance times for unit tasks. The results confirm the applicability and the economic importance of keystroke-level analyses of real world tasks.

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p. 344-350

Irving, Sharon, Polson, Peter G. and Irving, J. E. (1994): A GOMS Analysis of the Advanced Automated Cockpit. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 344-350. Available online

Using models developed to analyze office automation (e.g. [3]), we identified skills needed to perform tasks using the flight management computer on advanced commercial aircraft. Our GOMS analysis showed that all tasks carried out on the device can be described in terms of three methods. Novices who received instruction in a part-task computer based training guided by the GOMS analysis were tested in a flight simulator. Their performance was compared with pilots who received an integrated type of training representing three to ten times the amount of time on task and with pilots who had been using this equipment on the line for at least one year ("experts"). Inconsistencies revealed by the analysis were reflected in the performance of novices (experimentally and professionally trained) as well as the experts.

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p. 351-357

Gong, Richard and Kieras, David E. (1994): A Validation of the GOMS Model Methodology in the Development of a Specialized, Commercial Software Application. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 351-357. Available online

A formal GOMS model approach was applied to the design and evaluation of the user interface for a specialized, commercial software application. This approach was able to identify significant usability problems embedded in the procedures by which users interact with the interface. A redesign of the interface based on the GOMS approach resulted in a 46% reduction in learning time and a 39% reduction in execution time during a formal evaluation, differences predicted by the GOMS analysis. Corrections to the GOMS time

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p. 358-364

Bier, Eric A., Stone, Maureen C., Fishkin, Ken, Buxton, William and Baudel, Thomas (1994): A Taxonomy of See-Through Tools. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 358-364. Available online

In current interfaces, users select objects, apply operations, and change viewing parameters in distinct steps that require switching attention among several screen areas. Our See-Through Interface software reduces steps by locating tools on a transparent sheet that can be moved over applications with one hand using a blackball, while the other hand controls a mouse cursor. The user clicks through a tool onto application objects, simultaneously selecting an operation and an operand. Tools may include graphical filters that display a customized view of application objects. Compared to traditional interactors, these tools save steps, require no permanent screen space, reduce temporal modes, apply to multiple applications, and facilitate customization. This paper presents a taxonomy of see-through tools that considers variations in each of the steps they perform. As examples, we describe particular see-through tools that perform graphical editing and text editing operations.

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p. 365-371

Ahlberg, Christopher and Shneiderman, Ben (1994): The Alphaslider: A Compact and Rapid Selector. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 365-371. Available online

Research has suggested that rapid, serial, visual presentation of text (RSVP) may be an effective way to scan and search through lists of text strings in search of words, names, etc. The Alphaslider widget employs RSVP as a method for rapidly scanning and searching lists or menus in a graphical user interface environment. The Alphaslider only uses an area less than 7 cm x 2.5 cm. The tiny size of the Alphaslider allows it to be placed on a credit card, on a control panel for a VCR, or as a widget in a direct manipulation based database interface. An experiment was conducted with four Alphaslider designs which showed that novice Alphaslider users could locate one item in a list of 10,000 film titles in 24 seconds on average, an expert user in about 13 seconds.

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p. 372-378

Carr, David A. (1994): Specification of Interface Interaction Objects. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 372-378. Available online

User Interface Management Systems have significantly reduced the effort required to build a user interface. However, current systems assume a set of standard "widgets" and make no provisions for defining new ones. This forces user interface designers to either do without or laboriously build new widgets with code. The Interface Object Graph is presented as a method for specifying and communicating the design of interaction objects or widgets. Two sample specifications are presented, one for a secure switch and the other for a two dimensional graphical browser.

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p. 379-385

Travers, Michael (1994): Recursive Interfaces for Reactive Objects. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 379-385. Available online

LiveWorld is a graphical environment designed to support research into programming with active objects. It offers novice users a world of manipulable objects, with graphical objects and elements of the programs that make them move integrated into a single interaction framework. LiveWorld is designed to support a style of programming based on rule-like agents that allow objects to be responsive to their environment. In order to make this style of programming accessible to novices, computational objects such as behavioral rules need to be just as concrete and accessible as the graphic objects. LiveWorld fills this need by using a novel object system, Framer, in which the usual structures of an object-oriented system (classes, objects, and slots) are replaced with a single one, the frame, that has a simple and intuitive graphic representation. This unification enables the construction of an interface that achieves elegance, simplicity and power. Allowing graphic objects and internal computational objects to be manipulated through an integrated interface can provide a conceptual scaffolding for novices to enter into programming.

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p. 386-391

Burkhart, Brenda, Hemphill, Darold and Jones, Scott (1994): The Value of a Baseline in Determining Design Success. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 386-391. Available online

This paper examines the value of a baseline for usability testing in a software development organization and the specific issues that arose during the implementations of the usability test. Specifically, this testing involved the transitioning of a character-based user interface to a graphical user interface. In order to assess the efficacy of the new design and to determine if performance improvements were achieved with the new interface, a baseline was established to enable a comparative usability assessment. This usability test focused on comparing performance on similar tasks for both interfaces. Results indicated that the new interface was faster than the old interface for similar tasks. Usability goals were established at an arbitrary 50% improvement in task time over the old system. An average of 56% improvement was achieved. Advantages of the comparative design, namely better identification of tasks to target for improvement and establishment of an archive of data, are discussed. In addition, recommendations for reducing the effort involved in staging a comparative usability test are discussed.

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p. 392-398

Nardi, Bonnie A. and Johnson, Jeff (1994): User Preferences for Task-Specific vs. Generic Application Software. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 392-398. Available online

We conducted an ethnographic study to investigate the use of generic vs. task-specific application software by people who create and maintain presentation slides. Sixteen people were interviewed to determine how they prepare slides; what software they use; and how well the software supports various aspects of the task. The informants varied in how central slide preparation was to their jobs. The study was motivated by our beliefs that: 1) some software programs are task-generic, intended for use in a wide variety of tasks, while others are task-specific, intended to support very specific tasks; 2) task-specific software is preferable, but is often not used because of cost, learning effort, or lack of availability; and 3) people who infrequently perform a task tend to use generic tools, while people who frequently perform a task tend to use task-specific tools. Our findings suggest that the truth is more complex: 1) task-specificity/genericness is not a simple continuum; 2) a task cannot be looked at in isolation without reference to a higher level goal; and 3) an alternative to task-specific programs is a modular collection of independent interoperable services supporting small subtasks.

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p. 399-404

Lawrence, Deborah, Atwood, Michael E. and Dews, Shelly (1994): Surrogate Users: Mediating Between Social and Technical Interaction. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 399-404. Available online

Although human machine interaction is typically studied in the context of one person interacting with a computer, people often interact with computers in support of their communication with other people. Telephone operators are an excellent example of such "surrogate users"; they use workstations to carry out a goal for a customer, such as finding a telephone number. As the customer's intermediary, the operator must construct an accurate and well-specified search, though the information offered may be incomplete or inaccurate. We have examined both the social interaction and the human-computer interaction in such situations using several different types of analysis, first in CPM-GOMS models [1,2] and more recently in dialogue analysis and analysis of dialogue timelines. Our work has alerted us to the special human performance requirements of surrogate user tasks.

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p. 405-410

Strommen, Erik (1994): Children's Use of Mouse-Based Interfaces to Control Virtual Travel. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 405-410. Available online

Children's performances using three different mouse interfaces to control point-of-view (POV) navigation in a prototype of a CD-ROM based "virtual forest" were assessed. Results indicate that while children readily understood POV movement and were able to use all three interfaces successfully, each interface was less than optimal for different reasons. An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each interface in light of the intended usage scenario was conducted, and the least problematic of the three was selected for the system.

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p. 411-416

Douglas, Sarah A. and Mithal, Anant Kartik (1994): The Effect of Reducing Homing Time on the Speed of a Finger-Controlled Isometric Pointing Device. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 411-416. Available online

This paper describes a study of a new pointing device. Subjects' performance with two pointing devices was compared in two tasks. One task required pointing, the other both pointing and typing. One group used the standard keyboard and mouse combination. The other used a keyboard with a joystick under the 'J' key. The mouse was faster for both tasks despite the reduction in homing time shown by the joystick and keyboard combination. The experiment shows that the mouse is the faster pointing device, and that a finger controlled device complies with Fitts' law. In addition, we show that efforts to design faster pointing devices should focus on increasing the Fitts' Law Index of Performance rather than reducing the homing time.

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p. 417-423

Kabbash, Paul, Buxton, William and Sellen, Abigail (1994): Two-Handed Input in a Compound Task. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 417-423. Available online

Four techniques for performing a compound drawing/color selection task were studied: a unimanual technique, a bimanual technique where different hands controlled independent subtasks, and two other bimanual techniques in which the action of the right hand depended on that of the left. We call this latter class of two-handed technique "asymmetric dependent," and predict that because tasks of this sort most closely conform to bimanual tasks in the everyday world, they would give rise to the best performance. Results showed that one of the asymmetric bimanual techniques, called the Toolglass technique, did indeed give rise to the best overall performance. Reasons for the superiority of the technique are discussed in terms of their implications for design. These are contrasted with other kinds of two-handed techniques, and it is shown how, if designed inappropriately, two hands can be worse than one.

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p. 424-430

Houde, Stephanie and Sellman, Royston (1994): In Search of Design Principles for Programming Environments. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 424-430. Available online

Software development environments are becoming progressively more advanced in their support for construction of large software applications. However, it is still tedious and time consuming for programmers to build even simple applications. This paper describes an exploratory study which identifies some common problems experienced by programmers working with a range of currently available tools. Eight professional programmers were observed while each built the same simple application using a different software development environment. Problems encountered during the authoring process were noted. Four categories of common problems emerged. Design principles implied by these categories are suggested.

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p. 431-437

Eisenberg, Michael and Fischer, Gerhard (1994): Programmable Design Environments: Integrating End-User Programming with Domain-Oriented Assistance. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 431-437. Available online

Programmable design environments (PDEs) are computational environments that integrate the conceptual frameworks and components of (a) design environments and (b) programmable applications. The integration of these two approaches provides elements (such as software "critics" and "query-able objects") that assist users in learning both the application and its domain; in addition, an interactive "application-enriched" end-user programming environment stresses the values of expressiveness and modifiability. By way of illustration, we present a newly-developed programmable design environment, SchemeChart, for the domain of charting and information displays.

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p. 438-444

Rieman, John, Lewis, Clayton H., Young, Richard M. and Polson, Peter G. (1994): "Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?" Lessons in Interface Consistency and Analogical Reasoning from Two Cognitive Architectures. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 438-444. Available online

Users who have worked with just a few pieces of application software on a computer system are often faced with the need to use a new program on the same system. Consistency between program interfaces is intended to make the new program easier to learn in this situation, but how "consistency" should be defined is not always clear. We present a model of analogical reasoning that describes how users rely on interface consistency to induce correct actions in a new situation. Versions of the model are implemented in ACT-R and Soar. The model yields a clearer and more principled understanding of design guidelines that recommend interface consistency.

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p. 445-451

Howes, Andrew (1994): A Model of the Acquisition of Menu Knowledge by Exploration. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 445-451. Available online

This paper reports a mechanism that learns how to use a menu structure by exploration. The model, called Ayn, starts without any knowledge of the menus but when given a goal, explores and tries out options until the goal has been achieved. During this process it constructs a long-term, recognition-oriented, memory of its behavior so that on future occasions it will be able to achieve the same goal without exploration. The mechanism captures three aspects of human behaviour: it learns whilst interacting with the device, it speeds up with practice, and it acquires display-based knowledge.

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p. 452-458

Hinckley, Ken, Pausch, Randy, Goble, John C. and Kassell, Neal F. (1994): Passive Real-World Interface Props for Neurosurgical Visualization. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 452-458. Available online

We claim that physical manipulation of familiar real-world objects in the user's real environment is an important technique for the design of three-dimensional user interfaces. These real-world passive interface props are manipulated by the user to specify spatial relationships between interface objects. By unobtrusively embedding free-space position and orientation trackers within the props, we enable the computer to passively observe a natural user dialog in the real world, rather than forcing the user to engage in a contrived dialog in the computer-generated world. We present neurosurgical planning as a driving application and demonstrate the utility of a head viewing prop, a cutting-plane selection prop, and a trajectory selection prop in this domain. Using passive props in this interface exploits the surgeon's existing skills, provides direct action-task correspondence, eliminates explicit modes for separate tools, facilitates natural two-handed interaction, and provides tactile and kinesthetic feedback for the user. Our informal evaluation sessions have shown that with a cursory introduction, neurosurgeons who have never seen the interface can understand and use it without training.

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p. 459-464

Zhai, Shumin, Buxton, William and Milgram, Paul (1994): The "Silk Cursor": Investigating Transparency for 3D Target Acquisition. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 459-464. Available online

This study investigates dynamic 3D target acquisition. The focus is on the relative effect of specific perceptual cues. A novel technique is introduced and we report on an experiment that evaluates its effectiveness. There are two aspects to the new technique. First, in contrast to normal practice, the tracking symbol is a volume rather than a point. Second, the surface of this volume is semi-transparent, thereby affording occlusion cues during target acquisition. The experiment shows that the volume/occlusion cues were effective in both monocular and stereoscopic conditions. For some tasks where stereoscopic presentation is unavailable or infeasible, the new technique offers an effective alternative.

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p. 465-470

Murakami, Tamotsu and Nakajima, Naomasa (1994): Direct and Intuitive Input Device for 3-D Shape Deformation. In: Adelson, Beth, Dumais, Susan and Olson, Judith S. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 94 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-28, 1994, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 465-470. Available online

Standard input devices such as a mouse and a keyboard in present computer-aided design systems do not provide users with direct and intuitive facilities for highly 3-D shape manipulation. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a new interface system for 3-D shape manipulation by adopting a real elastic object as an input device. By deforming the device with bare hands with a tactile feedback, users can manipulate a 3-D shape modeled and displayed on a computer screen quite directly and intuitively. A prototype with a cubical input device made of electrically conductive polyurethane foam is also presented.

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