Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
MR Summary Presentation
1. Mark Richman - Can create usable, effective, and engaging applications - Able to complete large projects on schedule - Advocate ease of use while promoting innovation - Always open to suggestions
3. Georgia Tech - MS in HCI: John Deere projects for Human Factors and Aging Lab How would you enter text while driving a tractor? John Deere asked my lab to help them design their on-board mobile text entry system for tractors and combines. Why? Workers need to enter limited amounts of text such as workers' names How? Deere selected a rotary knob as the input device for stability on rough terrain My Work: Developed tasks to test Visual Scan (target acquisition) and Motor Control - On four keyboard shapes - Using three alphabetic arrangements, including an English-tuned alphabet that I developed based on existing research - Tested 24 younger adults and 24 older adults Results: A paper based on this study was published in Human Factors in August,2008 John Deere used this research as the basis for its Green star text entry system, now in production Also for Deere: Conducted contextual inquiries to gain tacit knowledge from lawn care workers
4. Zoomology: First Place in 2003 International IEEE InfoVis Contest Our 4-person team won first prize (student) in this competition to develop an information visualization application to compare 2 large hierarchies: in this case, variations of the classification database, the tree of life Among my contributions was a key insight that resolved an issue that had caused our work to stall. I wrote the conference paper and presented the work at the InfoVis conference
5. Blue Marble Media – Usability/Redesign of HR Intranet for Major Utility The Solution: Guide users to category headings rather than link items. When the mouse moves over an item on the category bar, text appears below describing the contents of the destination page. On category pages, headings are subtly emphasized so they can be read at a glance. Category headings are shaded and rendered in 14-point type, larger than the 11-point link items, which themselves are large enough for older adults. Other changes, such as repositioning and resizing elements, were made as well. The Problem: The site’s front page tried to be a one-click shop with dozens of links to various features. Although these were grouped under category headings, users tended to ignore the headings and instead searched through the links one by one. The problem was compounded since 40 to 60 links appeared on category pages. Users ignored the subheadings and sequentially searched the links, often giving up after reading through 10 or 15 items and failing to find the information they wanted. - Developed protocol and facilitated tests for 24 users from across the company; user success rate was poor - Reported on results; my design recommendations were adopted - In follow-up tests one year later, participants successfully completed 100% of tasks
7. Heavy Lifting: IA and Interaction Design for School/Day Care Management System - Interaction Standards and Models to speed wireframe creation - Personally designed over 200 wire frames and approved another 100 – in 5 months - Standards for representation of common data and interaction elements – dates, times, widgets, etc - Documented and enforced usability standards
8. Designed protocol for two rounds of usability tests: managers and call center operators Facilitated usability tests for 11 users Executive summary (Power Point) for both rounds of tests Provided design recommendations developed from usability testing 45-page usability report detailing test results and extensive design and usability recommendations Following this assignment, the client hired me to redesign another of their systems. Usability Evaluation for Health Care Call Center
9. Quick visual test… On the next slide: When glancing, what number do you see first? What number do you see second?
13. Conception, interaction design, information architecture, supervision of visual design and programmers. Flash-based drag-and-drop application helps the small business owner conceive, create, and activate an AutoAttendant. A wizard directs the process, including: - Adding extensions - Announcements - Menu Repeats - Scheduling - Recording and Updating Prompts - Activation May view entire attendant or drill into a single menu Intelliverse: AutoReceptionist - allows small business owner to build own automated answering system
14. AutoReceptionist: One of the more than 80 wire frames comprising the product definition
18. Some User Interface Heuristics From Neilsen: Visibility of system status The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. Match between system and the real world The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Recognition rather than recall Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Aesthetic and minimalist design Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. And also, Avoid actions that require fine precision The interface should not require precision mouse or pointing skills that interfere with the person’s goals.
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22. Microsoft Enhanced Telephony Microsoft’s phone was adopted by 7300 employees, who used it for up to eight months. Included in their (CHI 2004) conference paper is a survey-based table of features that users liked or disliked. Least liked was ‘Calling from the Dialpad Tab’ Calling from the Dialpad Tab 1.8 Feature N Avg Std dev Med-ian Receiving an e-mail when you miss a call 238 3.3 0.7 3 Automatic call forwarding based on your status 137 3.1 0.7 3 Incoming call notification window 235 3.1 0.7 3 Manually transferring a call to another phone (like your cell phone) while your phone is ringing (a.k.a. “Quick Transfer”). (Typically used on a PC away from the desk phone, like a laptop or home PC). 100 3.1 0.9 3 Muting computer’s audio while on the phone 148 3.1 0.8 3 Calling by searching for someone in ET and clicking their phone number 183 3.0 0.7 3 Call forwarding based on who’s calling (see [10] for more results regarding ET’s advanced call forwarding features] 93 3.0 0.8 3 Setting instant messenger status to “on the phone” while on the phone 152 2.9 0.8 3 Being able to search across the corporate address book and your Outlook contacts at the same time 164 2.9 0.7 3 Calling from Outlook Smart Tags 86 2.8 0.7 3 Calling from ET’s Recently Called tab 198 2.7 0.7 3 Seeing people’s free/busy calendars 145 2.7 0.8 3 Calling from ET’s Favorites tab 205 2.7 0.8 3 Call history 185 2.7 0.8 3 Initiating conference calls using ET 36 2.6 0.8 3 Transferring the call while on the phone 70 2.5 0.8 3 Taking notes while on the phone 93 2.3 0.8 2 Seeing people’s pictures 156 2.1 0.8 2 Having ET play a sound when someone calls you (ring tones) 93 2.1 0.9 2 Sharing screens 44 2.1 0.8 2 Calling from the Dialpad tab 156 1.8 0.8 2
