CS295J/Research proposal (draft 2)

Introduction

We propose a framework for interface evaluation and recommendation that integrates behavioral models and design guidelines from both cognitive science and HCI. Our framework behaves like a committee of specialized experts, where each expert provides its own assessment of the interface, given its particular knowledge of HCI or cognitive science. For example, an expert may provide an evaluation based on the GOMS method, Fitts's law, Maeda's design principles, or cognitive models of learning and memory. An aggregator collects all of these assessments and weights the opinions of each expert based on past accuracy, and outputs to the developer a merged evaluation score and a weighted set of recommendations.

Overview of Contributions

Note: this is currently the aggregate set contributions from last week. Maybe we can edit/add/remove from this as needed.

• Design and user-study evaluation of novel techniques for collecting and filtering user traces with respect to user goals.
• Extensible, low-cost architecture for integrating pupil-tracking, muscle-activity monitoring, and auditory recognition with user traces in existing applications.
• System for isolating cognitive, perceptual, and motor tasks from an interface design to generate CPM_GOMS models for analysis.
• Design and quantitative evaluation of semi-automated techniques for extracting critical paths from an existing CPM_GOMS model.
• Novel algorithm for analyzing and optimizing critical paths based on established research in cognitive science.
• A design tool that can provide a designer with recommendations for interface improvements, based on a unified matrix of cognitive principles and heuristic design guidelines.
• The creation of a language for abstractly representing user interfaces in terms of the layout of graphical components and the functional relationships between these components.
• A system for generating interaction histories within user interfaces to facilitate individual and collaborative scientific discovery, and to enable researchers to more easily document and analyze user behavior.
• A system that takes user traces and creates a GOMS model that decomposes user actions into various cognitive, perceptual, and motor control tasks.
• The development of other evaluation methods using various cognitive/HCI models and guidelines.
• A design tool that can provide a designer with recommendations for interface improvements. These recommendations can be made for a specific type of user or for the average user, as expressed by a utility function.