Human Computer Interaction

(CNSCC.202)

Lecture 7 Advanced Topics for Design

Dr. Muhammad Azhar Iqbal

Lancaster University, UK
Spring Term, 2022

Acknowledgements: Jiangtao Wang, Damian Arellanes

Outline

• Part 1: Universal design

• Part 2: Socio-organization issues and

stakeholder requirements
Outline

• Part 1: Universal design

• Part 2: Socio-organization issues and
stakeholder requirements
What is Universal Design

• Universal design is the process of

designing products so that they can be
used by
– as many people as possible
– in as many situations as possible.
Universal Design Principles
1. Equitable use: the design is useful to people with
a range of abilities and appealing to all. Access
should be the same for all. Where identical use is
not possible, equivalent use should be
supported. security, privacy and safety provision
should be available to all.
– E.g. train ticket booking system in China

2. Flexibility in use: the design allows for a range

of ability and preference, through choice of
methods of use and adaptivity to the user’s pace,
precision and custom.
Universal Design Principles
3. simple and intuitive to use, regardless of
the knowledge, experience, language or level
of concentration of the user.
– The design needs to support the user’s
expectations and accommodate different language.
– It should not be unnecessarily complex and should
be organized to facilitate access to the most
important areas.
– It should provide prompting and feedback as far as
possible.
Universal Design Principles
4) Perceptible information: the design should provide
effective communication of information
regardless of the environmental conditions or the
user’s abilities.

Redundancy of presentation is important:

information should be represented in different
forms or modes (e.g., graphic, verbal, text,
touch). Essential information should be emphasized
and differentiated clearly from the peripheral content.
Presentation should support the range of devices and
techniques used to access information by people with
different sensory abilities
Universal Design Principles
5. Tolerance for error: minimising the impact and
damage caused by mistakes or unintended behavior.
Potentially dangerous situations should be removed
or made hard to reach. Potential hazards should be
shielded by warnings. Systems should fail safe from
the user’s perspective and users should be
supported in tasks that require concentration.

6. Low physical effort: systems should be designed

to be comfortable to use, minimizing physical
effort and fatigue. The physical design of the
system should allow the user to maintain a natural
posture with reasonable operating effort. Repetitive
or sustained actions should be avoided.
Universal Design Principles

7. Size and space for approach and use: the

placement of the system should be such that it
can be reached and used by any user regardless
of body size, posture or mobility. Important
elements should be on the line of sight for both
seated and standing users.

All physical components should be comfortably

reachable by seated or standing users. Systems
should allow for variation in hand size and provide
enough room for assistive devices to be used.
• E.g., ergonomics
Multi-Sensory Systems

• More than one sensory channel for interactions

– e.g., sounds, text, hypertext, animation, video,
gestures, vision

• Used in a range of applications:

– particularly good for users with special need
Usable Senses
The 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell)
are used by us every day
– each is important on its own
– together, they provide a fuller interaction with the natural
world

Computers rarely offer such a rich interaction

Can we use all the available senses?
– ideally, yes
– practically – no

We can use • sight • sound • touch (sometimes)

We cannot (yet) use • taste • smell
Multi-modal vs. Multi-media
• Multi-modal/multi-sensory systems
– use more than one sense (or mode ) of
interaction (advantage choose the most
appropriate to their abilities and situations)
e.g. visual and aural senses: a text processor may speak the
words as well as echoing them to the screen
• Multi-media systems
– use a number of different media to communicate
information
e.g. a computer-based teaching system: may use video,
animation, text and still images: different media all using the
visual mode of interaction; may also use sounds, both speech
and non-speech: two more media, now using a different mode
Multi-modal Interaction: Examples

Jiangtao Wang, et al., "CAPFF: A Context-Aware Assistant for Paper Form Filling," in IEEE
Transactions on Human-Machine Systems.
Example of Using Multimodal
Interaction in Form Filling System
• Some people may prefer textual display,
because reading guidance information on the
screen of a tablet is much faster than listening
to audio narration.

• people with vision disorder may prefer to

interact through the audio channel.
Therefore, system provides a button to switch
between audio narration and textual display.

• Vibrations to give alert (touch)

Speech

Human beings have a great and

natural mastery of speech

– it’s an easy medium for communication

– makes it difficult to appreciate the
complexities (suitable in specific
domains rather than general ones)
Speech Recognition Problems
• Different people speak differently:
– accent, volume, etc.
• The syntax of semantically similar
sentences may vary.
• Background noises can interfere.
• Words not enough - semantics needed as
well
– requires intelligence to understand a sentence
– context of the utterance often has to be known
– NLP is an important research area
Speech Synthesis
The generation of speech (e.g. audio narration
in paper form filling system)
Useful
– natural and familiar way of receiving information

problems
– intrusive - needs headphones, or creates
noise in the workplace
– transient - harder to review and browse
Useful examples
• screen readers
– read the textual display to the user
utilised by visually impaired people
• warning signals
– spoken information sometimes presented to
pilots/drivers whose visual and haptic skills
are already fully occupied

Tips: consider both the disability

and occupation issue
Non-Speech Sounds

boings, beeps, bangs, clicks etc.

• commonly used for warnings and alarms

• Evidence to show they are useful
– fewer typing mistakes with key clicks

• Language/culture independent, unlike speech

Touch
• haptic interaction
– perception (sensor)
• tactile sensation; vibrations on the skin
– kinesthetics (actuator)
• movement and position; force feedback

• Useful situations
– Other channels are disabled or occupied (visually
impaired users)
Gesture
• applications
– gestural input - e.g., “put that there”
– sign language
• technology
– data glove
• benefits
– natural form of interaction - pointing
– enhance communication between signing and non-
signing users
• problems
– user dependent, learning cost (e.g. gesture-based
keyboard)
Designing for User with Disabilities

• It is estimated that at least 10% of the

population of every country has a disability
that will affect interaction with computers.

• Employers and manufacturers of computing

equipment have not only a moral
responsibility to provide accessible
products, but often also a legal
responsibility.
Users with Disabilities

• visual impairment
– screen readers
• hearing impairment
– text communication, gesture, captions
• physical impairment
– speech I/O, eyegaze, gesture
• speech impairment
– speech synthesis, text communication
Plus…

• age groups
– older people e.g. disability aids, memory aids,
communication tools to prevent social isolation
– children e.g. appropriate input/output devices,
involvement in design process
• cultural differences
– influence of nationality, generation, gender, race,
sexuality, class, religion, political persuasion etc. on
interpretation of interface features
– e.g. interpretation and acceptability of language,
cultural symbols, gesture and colour
New Research Area: Brain–Computer
Interface (BCI)
• A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a
neural-control interface (NCI), mind-machine interface
(MMI), direct neural interface (DNI), or brain–machine
interface (BMI), is a direct communication
pathway between an enhanced or wired brain
and an external device.

• BCI allows for bidirectional information flow.

BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping,
assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive
or sensory-motor functions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnU30Lx9a2Y
Outline

• Part 1: Universal design

• Part 2: Socio-organization issues

and stakeholder requirements
 Conflict and Power
CSCW = computer supported cooperative work
?
– people and groups have conflicting goals
– systems assuming cooperation will fail!
– Will be introduced in lecture 9

Keys:
(1) Identify stakeholders – not just the
users
(2) Requirements and Design should
consider each stakeholder (avoid conflict,
enable cooperation)
Capturing Requirements

• need to identify requirements within context of

use
• need to take account of
– stakeholders
– work groups and practices
– organisational context
Who are the Stakeholders?
• system will have many stakeholders
with potentially conflicting interests
• stakeholder is anyone affected by
success or failure of the system
– primary - actually use the system
– secondary - receive output or provide
input
– tertiary - no direct involvement but
affected by success or failure (third)
– facilitating - involved in the development
or deployment of the system
 Who are the Stakeholders?

Example: Classifying stakeholders – an airline booking system

An international airline is considering introducing a new booking system for
use by associated travel agents to sell flights directly to the public.
Primary stakeholders: travel agency staff, airline booking staff
Secondary stakeholders: customers, airline management
Tertiary stakeholders: competitors, civil aviation authorities, customers’
travelling companions, airline shareholders
Facilitating stakeholders: design team, IT department staff
Who are the Stakeholders?

• designers need to meet as many

stakeholder needs as possible
– usually in conflict so have to decide
which is priority
– often priority decreases as move down
categories e.g. primary most important
Participatory Design

• User is an active member of the design

team.
• Users should have a say about
what’s actually being designed.
• Methods for user-designer
communication
– brain-storming
– storyboarding
– workshops
– pencil and paper exercises

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Hn-sONiRg
Participatory Design

• In participatory design, workers enter

into design context.

Benefits
• Make workers feel valued in design
• Encourage workers to own the products
End of This Lecture