Usability in Pervasive Computing Environment

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Usability in Pervasive Computing Environment

• Advance Usability
• October 18, 2004
• Anuj A. Nanavati

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Agenda

• Introduction
• Usability in pervasive computing
• Pervasive Computing (PVC) lab at IBM Austin
• Lab overview
• Our work
• Discussion issues

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Introduction

• "Things that think want to link", Nicholas
  Negraponte of MIT Media Labs
• Nomadic/Amorphous/Ubiquitous computing
• User centered not machine or function centered
• Environment of connected computing devices
• Not personal computers but embedded or mobile
  devices
• General purpose devices
• Communicating through interconnected network
• Remote access through internet

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Introduction

• Major players
• PARC origin of ubiquitous computing research
• IBM PVC Lab
• Microsoft Easy Living
• MIT Project Oxygen
• NIST Smart Space
• CMU Project Aura

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Usability in Pervasive Computing

• Why usability testing?
• Understanding user interface
• User interaction with devices
• Challenges in usability testing
• New environment for users
• No predefined user tasks
• Remotely moderated testing
• Wide range of devices LCD on oven to PDA
• Tasks in multiple sessions and on multiple
  devices
• Testing tool should be independent of the device
  being monitored

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PVC Lab at IBM AustinLab overview

• Proof of concept of networked areas
• Living room TV, CD player, etc.
• Kitchen oven, ScreenFridge, iron, etc.
• Garage car
• Exercise room
• Devices
• Devices common in above areas
• Control devices
• Wireless touch control Web pad
• Connected through a service gateway
• Physical Web site
• Every device has a URL

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PVC lab overview
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PVC lab overview

• Technology
• Wireless technology
• Radio Frequency tags RFID
• Intelligent sensors
• Embedded devices

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Our WorkGoals and Concepts Dr. Bias

• Goals
• Identify and fix usability problems in current UI
• Identify gaps in current usability testing
  methods
• Concepts
• Remote migratory transactions
• Start on one device complete on another
• Device independent UI
• Start on PDA complete on ScreenFridge
• Task oriented UI compared to function guided
• Supports the users in completion of their tasks
• Task categorization - taskonomy

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Usability Testing

• User interface for testing
• Engaged areas
• Engaged devices
• Recording options
• Remote views
• Other options - data logging, data analyses etc.
• Sams Mock up http//www.ischool.utexas.edu/sbur
  ns/pervasive/
• Data collection requirements
• Observational data Audio/video
• Biometric data

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Usability TestingData Collection Requirements

• Biometric data
• Eye Tracking
• Galvanic Skin Responses
• Heart Rate
• Blood Volume
• Stress Parameters
• Blood Flow

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Data Collection RequirementsBiometric data

• Ubiquitous physiological monitoring
• Dr. Emil Jovanov from The University of Alabama
  at Huntsville
• Prototype for Wireless Body Area Network (BAN) of
  intelligent sensors (WISE)
• Personal medical monitoring
• Body sensors for brain, heart, movements etc.
• Sensors (WISE clients) controlled by a single
  server (WISE server) ? connected to internet
  through a gateway

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Data Collection RequirementsBiometric data
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Taskonomy

• Modeling user behavior in pervasive computing
  environment
• Categorize current user tasks into predefined
  categories to facilitate UI design and usability
  testing methods
• Assign future tasks to a category
• Assign devices to a category
• Task categories
• User initiated vs. system initiated
• Single session vs. multiple sessions
• Single device vs. multiple devices
• Same vs. different device
• Single user vs. multiple users
• Task scenarios
• Data downloading/uploading
• Heating food
• Setting up the temperature
• Many more.

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Taskonomy

• Structured representation of user tasks
• Task driven computing (2000), Zenyu Wang and
  David Garlan, CMU
• Relieving Users from the Distractions of
  Ubiquity Task-Centered Architectural Framework
  (2002),  João Pedro Sousa, CMU
• Task Description language (TDL)
• Three step approach
• Based on Object Modeling

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Taskonomy

• Three step approach
• Identification
• Devices
• Task categories
• Task scenarios
• Connection
• Device ? device
• Device ? task category
• Device ? scenario
• Modeling
• Scenario X for task category Y
• Problems
• Defining scenarios
• Defining sub scenarios (actions)

Links between devices show sub scenarios
(actions) for a particular scenario of a task
category
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Taskonomy - Example

• Scenario-1 (S1) Heat up the food kept in oven
  using your PDA through your work computer.
• Task category-1 (T1)
• User initiated
• Ending on different device
• Apply UI Design techniques (UID1) and Usability
  testing (UT1) methods to S1 and T1
• Imagine in future similar scenario (S115) with
  same task category (T1) comes up.
• Apply UID1 and UT1 to S115

S1 and T1
S115 and T1
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Discussion Issues

• Usability beyond traditional methods
• UI beyond traditional UI
• Modeling user behavior in pervasive computing
  environment
• Concerns
• Privacy
• Security

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References

• IBMs PVC Lab
• Candace A. York, Senior software engineer, IBM
• http//www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/wireless/lib
  rary/wi-pvc/
• Ubiquitous and pervasive computing resources
• http//www.iturls.com/English/TechHotspot/TH_77
  .asp
• Stress monitoring using a distributed wireless
  intelligent sensor system
• 2003, Emil Jovanov, IEEE
• Task driven computing
• 2000, Zenyu Wang and David Garlan, CMU
• Relieving Users from the Distractions of
  Ubiquity Task-Centered Architectural Framework
• 2002,  João Pedro Sousa, CMU

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Thank You