Theme 5

I feel that I’ll learn very little new from the next weeks theme. This is due to the fact that I last year studied the HCI bachelor degree program. There was a heavy focus on end users, from who we got data, both qualitative and quantitative. So reading the paper for next week, I recognized the whole process. But I guess it’s good that you repeat what you already know, because the it will be easier to utilize the >knowledge<. It’s like the latin saying, repetitio est mater studiorum, kind of. Anyway, I’ll now answer the questions.

1. How can media technologies be evaluated?

1. By involving the end users in some way. I mean, you can yourself test the system and try to find weaknesses, but it’s hard. It’s even harder for you, because you’re too familiar with the system, so can’t really think outside of the box. So when a new user test your system, they are more likely to find out things that you haven’t even thought about.

2. What role will prototypes play in research? Why could it be necessary to develop a proof of concept prototype? (I mashed together question 2 and 3 since they thread in the same territory.)

1. I think it’s important to have some kind of prototype to test out your idea. You may think that you’ve a really good concept, but when you try it out with a prototype, you’ll find out that it needs some reworking if you want it to succeed. Or you’ll encounter some unexpected bugs that needs to be ironed out. So it’s a good way to catch on early if you should pursue your research or change directions. Sometimes, it may be hard to develop a prototype, and even take some time, but I think it’s essential to do so if you really want to succeed with your research.

3. What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

1. Generally speaking, prototypes are easy, cheap and fast to build. Or this really depends on if you want a low fidelity or high fidelity prototype. As with almost everything in life, you have to weigh pros and cons before you make your decisions. So one of the limitations is how much you can afford to spend on building the prototype. Another limitation is that you can’t have every possible functionality in the earlier prototypes. So if something works in the earlier prototypes, it may break when you add more functionality. But such problems can be avoided the more experienced you are.

The paper that I found by myself is Evaluating the usability of a head-up display for selection from choice lists in cars, with the authors Weinberg et al.. I found it on ACM Digital Library, which is the same place where the paper by Ylva can be found. So I presume everything is of high quality (because I can’t seem to find the IF). Anyway, here we go.

1. How is theory being used to guide the design process?

1. While not explicitly stating any theory, they seem to be guided by a theory of that you drive worse when you take your eyes of the road. This may seem trivial, but they make some references to this. Also, they seem to be using an UCD approach when designing the three different ways of interaction with the in-vehicle information system (e.g. radio, GPS). The three ways are audio, HUD (heads up display) and HDD (heads down display).

2. Which research method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

1. User evaluation, which in this case mean both qualitative and quantitative. They measured the time it took to complete the task and also asked which way they thought were the more efficient one. Although audio feedback was measured the most effective, the HUD was perceived as the most effective by the users. It can’t really see any real limitation for method in this case.

3. What did you learn about conducting design research from reading the paper?

1. Not so much. As stated earlier in this blogpost, not so much is new to me for this theme. I have a pretty solid foundation, so I hope that I’ll learn something new next week, either during the seminar or lecture.

References

Réhman, S., Sun, J., Liu, L., & Li, H. (2008). Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 10(6), 1022-1033.

Weinberg, G., Harsham, B., & Medenica, Z. (2011). Evaluating the usability of a head-up display for selection from choice lists in cars