User Interface Evaluation & HCI Technologies

Human-centered design

a design process which starts with a specific group of people who intend to use the software and ends with the new solutions that suit their needs. It is about building a solid connection with the intended user by generating new ideas and prototypes

Evaluation

considered as the last stage of software development

Usability

This refers to the ease of use and learnability of the user interface (UI)

Quantitative Assessment

This assessment often involves task performance measurement

Qualitative Evaluation

This evaluation is often conducted in order to complement the insufficiency of quantitative assessment

Qualitative Evaluation

Conducting a usability-related survey to a pool of subjects who have experienced the UI falls under this type of evaluation

User Experience (UX)

The notion of this is generally accepted as the "totality" of the involvement of the user to the software or application

The timing of an analysis

Factor of evaluation such as: The analysis in between or throughout the application development stage: early, middle, late/after

The type and number of evaluators

Factor of evaluation such as: Several human-computer interaction (HCI) experts as evaluators vs. hundreds of domain users as evaluators

The evaluation set-up

Performing a controlled experiment or a quick and informal evaluation

The place of evaluation

Performing an evaluation in a laboratory vs. an on-site/field testing

Focus Interview

This is the easiest and most straightforward evaluation method, which involves an interview with the actual/potential user to observe their interaction behavior through a simple question and answer form.

Focus Interview

This method of evaluation is often focused on particular user groups (e.g., college students and elderly) and on a specific feature of the system or interface (e.g., mode of input and information layout), although this is not structured to be comprehensive

Cognitive Walkthrough

This is an interview technique in evaluating the design of a user interface, with special attention to how well the interface supports exploratory learning for the target user. This evaluation method is done by having a subject or a group of evaluators go step by step through commonly used tasks. The evaluators can also perform it in the early stage of the design process

Expert heuristic evaluation

This evaluation method is similar to focus interview or observation study. The difference of this method is the involvement of human-computer interaction (HCI) experts as evaluators, and the analysis is carried out against a prepared HCI guidelines.

Expert heuristic evaluation

Evaluation method that is fast and relatively cost effective; thus, it is one of the most popular methods in user interface evaluation

Measurement

This method of evaluation intends to indirectly quantify the goodness of the interaction and interface design with a numerical score through task performance (quantitative) or quantified answers from a carefully prepared subjective surveys (qualitative). Both types of assessment or evaluation can optionally run over a long period, especially when memory performance and familiarity with the task are involved

Platform

refers to a group of technologies that are used as a base upon which other applications, software, systems, and processes are developed. These can be viewed as toolsets for developing and operating customized services.

Computing Platform

refers to a specific hardware (computing device) and software (operating system) on which an application or software can be run. This idea conforms to a set of human-computer interaction (HCI) standards that enables software developers to create interactive systems and applications.

Smartphone

It is a combination of a mobile phone and a handheld computer into a single device (Beal, 2015). This device has a built-in personal information management programs(such as electronic calendar and address book) typically found in a personal digital assistant (PDA) and an operating system (OS) that allows mobile applications to be installed.

Tablet

It is a computer that is intermediate in size between a laptop computer and a smartphone.

multimodal interaction and cloud-based services

A mobile device, as represented by smartphones, is a crucial point where two (2) notable trends are converging:

artificial intelligence

This refers to the ability of a digital computer or a computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with human intelligence. It is frequently applied in developing systems endowed with intellectual processing characteristics of human, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize, and learn from previous experience

High-End Cloud Service

This pertains to any service made available to users via the Internet from a cloud computing provider's server, instead of being provided by a company. It is designed to provide an easy and scalable access to applications, resources, and services

Multimodal Client Interaction

This complements different operational restrictions. This has also been an active research ground in the academic world, beginning with the first pioneering multimodal interactive system developed in the early 1980s. Since then, various ways of combining multiple modalities for effective interaction have been devised

Voice recognition

the ability of a machine or program to receive and interpret dictation or to understand and carry out spoken commands. This system enables consumers to interact with technology by speaking, which allows users to perform hands-free requests and other simple tasks.

Gestures

play an important role in human communication. It can convey a specific meaning, or it can supplement other modes of communication

Motion tracking

assists in tracking the movement of objects or humans and transferring the sensed data to an application that contains stored motion templates. It enhances human-computer interaction, plays a vital role in computer animation of a 3D model, and requires specific hardware and software programs to capture and process large amounts of data. This technology is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications and robotics

Virtual Reality (VR)

- It is the use of technology to create a simulated environment. This places the user inside an experience instead of images or videos on a screen. Users are immersed and able to interact with 3D objects by stimulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, and even smell. But it is only limited in terms of availability of content and computing power

Augmented Reality (AR)

This technology is an interactive, reality-based environment that uses the capabilities of a computer to generate natural or realistic display, sound, text, and effects to enhance the user's real-world experience. It combines reality and computer-based scenes and images to deliver a unified and enhanced view of an environment

Marker-based AR

This type of AR uses image recognition technology, which uses a camera and a visual marker (such as QR/2D code) to produce results when the reader (smartphones and tablets) senses the marker.

Markerless-based AR

It is one of the most widely implemented applications of AR that uses GPS, digital compass, velocity meter, and/or accelerometer embedded in a device to provide data based on the user's location.

Projection-based AR

This technology works by projecting light to real-world surfaces. It allows human interaction by sending light onto a surface and then detecting human interaction, such as touch, by differentiating an expected projection to an altered projection (caused by user's interaction).

Superimposition-based AR

Object recognition plays a vital role in this type of AR. It either partially or fully replaces a real-life object with a newly augmented view of the same object.

Mixed Reality (MR)

It is the result of blending the physical world and the digital world, resulting in a "hybrid" environment. Interactive virtual objects are mapped to the physical environment, blending the real and the virtual.