Understanding Models in Human-Computer Interaction: Descriptive and Predictive Approaches, Study notes of Law

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Modeling Interaction 1

CS6501: Human-Computer Interaction Seongkook Heo Fall 2020, Department of Computer Science

What is a model?

• A model is a simplification of reality Architect’s scale model of a building Physicist’s model for the trajectory of a tossed ball description à provides insight into space usage, movement of people, light, etc. prediction à gives the ball’s position as a function of time

Descriptive Models

• Descriptive modeling is at times so simple, the process barely seems like modeling
• Any reduction or partitioning of a problem space qualifies as a descriptive model
• Other names:
  • Design space , framework , taxonomy , classification , and often without a name given
• As a partitioned domain, we are empowered to think differently – and critically – about the problem Models Descriptive Models Predictive Models

Descriptive Model Example #1: Groupware

• A research topic within HCI is

CSCW (computer supported

cooperative work )

• Concerned with people

working collaboratively

using computing technology

• How do we go about making a descriptive model of

groupware?

• Break it down; partition the topic into parts
• What are the things that make up groupware?
• How can they be labeled, presented, and organized?

Critiquing the Model

• The quadrant model of groupware was introduced in 1991
• The same questions apply:
  • Is the model correct? Is there a different organization that might work better? Is the model useful? Etc.
• Many of today’s collaboration methods didn’t exist in 1991
• Contemporary groupware activities include
  • Sharing photos using smartphones, Skype, social media, etc.
  • Can these be positioned in the quadrant model of groupware?

Example #2: Keyboards

• Today’s keyboards retain the

same core letter arrangement

to 1870s typewriter (qwerty),

with many extra keys

• 100+ keys can produce a wide

variety of letters, symbols,

commands, etc.

• How do we go about making a descriptive model of

keyboards?

• Break it down; partition the topic into parts
• What are the things that make up keyboards?
• How can they be labeled, presented, and organized? 1874 2019

Critiquing the Model

• Nice visualization
  • Reveals keyboard organization in terms of symbol, executive, and modifier keys
• Questions:
  • Is the model correct? Do all keys fit the model? Are there additional categories to improve the model? Do some keys fit more than one category? Can the model be applied to other keyboards, such as mobile phone keyboards or soft keyboards? Is the model useful? Etc.

Example #3: Two-handed Input

• Humans not only have two hands,

they use their hands differently

• Most people have a hand

preference ( Which hand do you

use to write? )

• Study of hand usage is called

laterality or bimanual control

• Guiard undertook such a study, examining the roles of the

preferred and non-preferred hands in common tasks

Critiquing the Model

• Guiard’s model was not developed using examples from

computing

• Paul Kabbash, a graduate student at the University of Toronto

in the 1990s, came across Guiard’s model as part of his

research in two-handed computer input

• Guiard’s model provided insight to more fully understand the

roles of the preferred and non-preferred hands for computer

input

Picture taken by Creative Tools, CC BY 2. Wacom Cintiq 24 HD Graphic tablet

Post Script

• Guiard’s model for bimanual control remains widely used in

human-computer interaction

• Most citations are from research papers in HCI

Example #4: Graphical Input

• Considerable research on GUIs followed Apple Macintosh in 1984
  • Common interactive techniques (tasks):
    • pointing, dragging, selecting, inking, rubber-banding, texting
  • Common technologies (devices):
    • mouse, trackball, touch panel, joystick, stylus, finger
• How can the tasks and devices be reconciled and understood to promote better designs? “…the lack of a vocabulary that is capable of capturing salient features of interactive techniques and technologies in such a way as to afford finding better matches between the two”, Bill Buxton^1 (^1) Buxton, W. (1990). A three-state model of graphical input. Proceedings of INTERACT '90 , 449-456, Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Newman’s State Model

• Seems the idea first surfaced about 20 years earlier: (^1) Newman, W. M., A system for interactive graphical programming, Proceedings of the Spring Joint Computer Conference of the American Federation of Information Processing - AFIP '68 , (New York: ACM, 1968), 47-54.

Mouse Touch screen?