Students are encouraged
to form small multi-disciplinary groups who will conduct one research
project throughout the semester. While there will be 3 project checkpoints
during the semester, only the final version of the project will be graded.
At each checkpoints, the current status of projects will presented and
discussed in class. The goal of the project is for you to produce a
research paper suitable for submission to a conference.
Schedule:
09/16/04: Project proposal;
10/07/04: Bibliography review & presentation to class;
10/28/04: Design and methods & presentation to class;
11/18/04: Preliminary results & presentation to class;
12/09/04: Final project & presentation to class.
Possible
Projects
-
Cascading menu performance. Cascading menus are
now used extensively in modern user interface, yet very little empirical
studies have been carried out to study their performance. Design a study
which will help us understand better the parameters influencing
cascading menu selection time. (starting points:
Accot et al, Steering
law paper,
Masatomo et al. paper on cascading menu traversal)
-
Merging command selection and direct manipulation.
In recent years, I have been studying command mechanisms for which one
can select a command and perform a direct manipulation action in the
same stroke. We ran a couple of studies (first
study,
second study) which results imply that "merging" might be an
important aspect of command selection design. Using our previous studies
as a starting point, design a new study which helps improve our
understanding of the role of merging in command selection design (An
other starting point:
Odell et al. paper comparing ToolGlass and Marking menu and bimanual
Marking Menus).
-
Transition from visual feedback to muscle memory.
Several command selections techniques such as
Marking Menu and
FlowMenu can be
used by expert users without visual feedback. Design a study
(using our eye tracking equipment) to investigate how the transition
from novice to expert takes place (Another starting point:
"Eye Tracking
Methodology: Theory and Practice" by Duchowski)
-
The role of visual feedback in two-handed interaction
techniques. While studying the effect of merging (see above), I
gathered data that seems to imply that while interacting with ToolGlass,
some users are slowed down by the fact that they have to divide their
attention between both hands. Design a study (using our eye tracking
equipment) to either confirm or infirm this conjecture. In the former
case, characterize the importance of the effect (Another starting point:
"Eye Tracking
Methodology: Theory and Practice" by Duchowski).
-
Using the PADD infrastructure as an ethnographic
tool. The
Paper
Augmented Digital Document infrastructure can be used to collect
data about the life of a document from its creation to the its final
printout. Using the PADD infrastructure, design an ethnographic study
aimed at understanding better the life of a digital document.
-
Use of paper during a meeting. We will soon be
starting the interactive digital table project. One of the key goal of
this project is to design a user interface as easy to use as paper.
Design and run an ethnographic study showing how people are handling
paper during meetings. Key questions will include: What kind of
documents do people bring to meetings? How do they annotate them during
meetings? How do people interact while working together on a document?
How do they move paper around? What happen to the pieces of paper at
the end of the meeting?
-
Proofreading. How do people proofread documents?
There are many parameters involved in proofreading a document: Should
one first proofread and then correct, or is it better to proofread and
correct a the same time? Should one proofread on the screen or is it
better to proofread on paper then make the correction on the screen?
While proofreading, is it better to use a keyboard or is it better to
use a pen? Design a user study that will help us understand better the
key factors involved in the proofreading task.
-
Your own project. If you wish, you may design
your own project. In that case, please contact me as soon as possible so
that we can discuss about you idea and be sure that its format and scope
is compatible with the class.
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