Title: Interactivity
1Interactivity Design
- David Kirsh
- Dept of Cognitive Science
- UCSD
2Question
Designing for experience
is it similar to Designing for efficiency
3Topics
- Physical interactivity - an example
- Efficiency
- Fundamental Design Principle
- Metrics
- Experience
- Conclusion
4Physical Interactivity an example
- Complex folding sequence
- Easy to forget
- Continuous interaction
- Difficult for one person
- How would you make this process easier?
- Think context aware, digital elements in around
cardboard.
5Video
6Design it better!
- Embed instructions (digital or physical)
- Where, when, how
- Improve manipulability
- Where, when, how
7Fundamental Design Principle
8Design Principle for Efficiency
For a given task, design an environment so that
it provides the
to support efficient work activity.
9Right for what?
- Pragmatic efficiency (getting job done quickly,
few errors) - Cognitive Efficiency
- Optimizes certain performance metrics
- Enhances experience of working/acting?
10Right(Info, Tools, Cues, Constraints, Affordances)
For cardboard task
All revealed and concealed to manage attention
11Right Info
- What is the right information to spatialize?
- Recipe study
- problems with modularizing info
- Origami study
- What activities should you support?
12Spatially Distributed Recipe
13Spatially distributed
RECIPE STIMULI Spatially Distributed - improve
locality
After learning from pilot
14Spatially Distributed Activity Map Preparation
1/2 OF RECIPE
COOKING TOOLS
Participant
POTS PANS
INGREDIENTS
2/2 OF RECIPE
Laying out ingredients, chopping, washing,
measuring
15Results
- Participants made better use of space
- Used more surface, stabilized better, prepared
better - BUT
- took much longer,
- looked at recipe more
- Wanted to look ahead!
- Implication we dont always know what
information is needed by users
16What do subjects do?Origami
To support activity we need to know what users
do - their routines etc. .. the task structure.
- More than fold
- flip over, inflate, rotate, register, point, try
out in gesture form - Pragmatic actions needed to complete structure
- on sub-goal trajectory
- fold and some non-folding actions - flatten, flip
over, inflate - But we saw other actions that were not pragmatic
but which seemed important for the subject - Only a fraction of the actions performed are
represented explicitly in origami instructions
17Non-pragmatic Hand Actions
Registration Verification Gestural
Thought Focusing Attention Trying out -
exploratory
18Upshot
- Choosing the right information to spatialize is
hard - Even when workflow is known
- What should be shown, when and where?
- But often we havelittle idea what thereal
workflow involves
19Right Form
Given some information content, cue, constraint
or tool how should it be displayed to support
- Cognitive efficiency
- Faster processing
20That is something up with which I will not put.
21I wont put up with that.
22Police police police police police.
23Police whom policemen police also police
other police.
24Topology vs. algebra
- Topological constraints are more natural
25Right Form Modality
Given some information content, cue, constraint
or tool how should it be displayed to be the
- Right modality
- Visual decisions are visual
- Audio statements free visual search
26Interface 2
27Interface 3
Rely on recognition rather than memory. Show,
dont just tell
28Right Form
Given some information content, cue, constraint
or tool how should it be displayed to have
Visibility - cue stands out
29Right Form visibility
Is there a non-R?
30Right Form visibility
31Upshot
- Each step or phase in a routine or activity
requires information or cues to be in the right
form - The right form may vary with step and task
- There are some general principles
32Right Place
- The information or cue should be placed where you
need it - given your resources and workflow
Starbucks cup
33Right Place
Volume, Channel Buttons
On steering wheel - workflow
On radio - logically
34Right Place
35Interface 2
Options are where they should be
Goes together semantically ? goes together
visually
36Right place for cue when there are distracters
Better place
reduce descriptive complexity reduce visual
complexity
37Upshot
- Spatializing information correctly depends not
just on workflow and resources but on - Showing semantic or work significant relations
between information or cues - what goes with what - A theory of attention
- Should we use P or RRR P?
- Visibility or Place
38Right Time
- See what I need to at this stage of activity
- Eg. Jigsaw puzzle might show perimeter pieces
first - Show instructions, cues, tools just when needed
in workflow - Hide tools in Illustrator that cannot be used in
current context - Encourage right sequence - soft constraints
- Travel If I choose departure time first then
calendar for return time can be autoset - Show horizon of relevant options
39Right Time relevant options
Given structure of task - order of sub-goals -
show only relevant actions
D
H or M
P
A B C
P
40Upshot
- Time, place and form interact
- Get them right and users have what they need to
make an informed choice right at their fingertips
41Right Pace
- Game coming at you too fast
- Activity has a natural frequency
- Slides in a presentation - comprehension rate
42Right Pace blind to change if slow
43Change blindness
Fast enough and you see it.
Before
After
44Upshot
- Pace is the overall speed users find comfortable
when performing their tasks - Pace can change with mood and other user states
45Bottom Line
- To give the right information at the right time
is equivalent to creating a - Dynamic keyhole - cognitive sweet spot
46Metrics
47Speed Accuracy Design
How fast can you fold the cardboard house?
48Learnability Design
How long did it take to master the folding
routine?
49Complexity Design
How much more complex structures can you fold?
50Error Recovery Design
If you make an error how long does it take to
recover?
51Variance Design
How much variance is there in your performance?
52Bean Counters Design
How often do you damage or ruin the cardboard?
53Interim Summary
- Designing for efficiency is hard
- Requires developing a science of
- Workflow analysis
- Cue effectiveness, task informativeness
- Cognitive complexity of forms
- E.g. visual simplicity, representational
efficiency - Impact of timing on routine efficiency
- Impact of pace on attention, routine efficiency
and comprehension
54Experience
55Feeling versus Efficiency
56What feeling is there in state space environments?
- Timeless
- do things in sequence but state transitions
have no function beside moving to next state - Qualitative feel of transition is irrelevant
57States and Actions
- At each node there are
- Possible actions
- Goal is to reach end state
- by selecting actions
58Reflection One
- Experience is essentially in time
- People are still experiencing even when system is
stopped - Experience is continuous never discrete
- Its about the time between the state
transitions - About the process more than the outcomes
- Longer beautiful route rather than shortest uglier
59Coverflow
What matters is the feel of the transition
Smooth, nice reflections - non-pragmatic
properties
60Design Principle
- For state space environments
- E.g. Forms, wisards, most websites, database
queries, dialogue based interfaces, most tool
based interfaces (photoshop) - Design principles needs additionRight() right
(.) that makes user feel good
61Reflection Two
- What matters is
- How agent engages an object or environment
- He was hungry and attacked his food with gusto
- How agent feels when acting or watching
- While patting his dog he felt love and devotion
62Continuous Control environments
Actions are continuous so not like state
space operators - everything is a transition
63Continuous control
Highly interactive gesture based
Theremin the first musical instrument designed
to be played without being touched.
64Engagement and Feeling
- Depends on inner state hormones, appetite,
conditioning - Agent can learn to engage or to feel
65Reflection Three
- Two forms of experience
- Consciousness - qualia
- Nature of sensation
- Cut a tomato - sharp knife
- Visceral feeling
- Content - interpreting as, seeing as,
categorizing
Ecstasy of Fruit Loops
66Qualia
- Varies between individuals
- Sensitive to inner state hormones, emotions,
- Some qualia - visceral feeling are the result of
mirror neurons - physical empathy - If affected by stage setting, anticipation,
scripting then not purely qualia
67Interpretation needs anchoring
- Cue effectiveness
- Image completion
- Word fragment completion
- Intentional framework causation vs.
self-propelling, desires - Rational gestures
- Behaving like a friend
- Criteria for making an inference-rich
attribution
wrd frgmnt
68Upshot
- Study of projection of meaning - what is
recognized and why - is necessary to determine - Right (cue) right (Form, time, place, pace) to
engender an interpretation
69Further reflections
- Pleasure and delight is also derived from
self-expression - Thought has an experiential component -
intellectual delight is content related - Absorption in environments often requires
commitment (this work is important) or the
willing suspension of disbelief - that avatar is
Josh - Flow states are desirable but mostly
ill-understood
70Conclusion
- Designing for experience in state space
environments is about the time between - Designing for experience in continuous
environments is about delight, absorption,
engagement, hormones, emotions - Both efficiency and experience design requires
developing a science of
71The End