Cognitive engineering

Hypothesises that the attributes of a document's genre determine a document's ability to be identified uniquely. Consequently, recognizing the genre will facilitate effective user-document interaction. In this pilot study, we exposed 15 participants to a set of paper and digital documents, each converted into two surrogates: one based on form, in which the text was masked, leaving only the structure, and another on function, which reduced the document to its semantic content. Our findings indicate that the form attributes of a genre play a significant role in the identification of corresponding documents, and suggest that genre can potentially serve as an interface metaphor.

Genre as interface metaphor: exploiting form and function in digital environments

This paper explores the effectiveness, efficiency and ease of use of two alternative interface interactions in a mobile tablet application. More specifically, the study employs a navigation task which novice users were required to complete by means of two types of main menu button, one utilizing text and the other utilizing a visual metaphor. Furthermore, little evidence exists on the effect of the use of metaphor on users of various ages and levels of computer experience. Our results show that young users prefer buttons that display a visual metaphor in the form of an icon, in contrast to older participants, who preferred the button that employed text. They also show that the users' performance is dependent upon age.

Text vs visual metaphor in mobile interfaces for novice user interaction

Article history: Received 20 November 2013 Received in revised form 24 January 2014 Accepted 29 January 2014 Available online 5 April 2014

Exploring Metaphor Design for Mobile Icons: The Elderly Perspectives

The increasing use of advanced automation and intelligent support systems provides an opportunity for increased efficiency and minimizing the requirement of presenting the human with laborious, dangerous and repetitive tasks. It is important to remember that although a large degree of this capability is technology-focused, the significance of the human must not be relegated or dismissed. The human component is tightly coupled to the whole system and should be viewed as working in harmony with the autonomous system. In many instances we are seeing systems that bring both human and autonomy closer together, working as teams. With both the human and autonomy working together it is important to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of this teaming arrangement. However, methods for measuring the effectiveness of human-autonomy teaming tends to focus solely on the task, with little consideration being given to how the human integrates within the system. This paper explores the factors associated with task-based measures and highlights key cognitive factors that should be considered. It is unlikely that a single metric can be used to provide a score, but rather a combination of metrics that pull in different components of the human-autonomy team. The ability to measure the effectiveness of human-autonomy teams will not only provide feedback as to current manifestations of teaming, but has implications into their future design.

Measure for Measure: How Do We Assess Human Autonomy Teaming?

Visual metaphors are often used in designing human-computer interfaces for complex systems. In order to be useful, such metaphors must be congruent with users' underlying mental models of system organization or system function. When metaphors fail to be useful in interface design, it is difficult to know whether a better metaphor would improve performance or whether the use of a visual metaphor is, in general, inappropriate for the application. A method is needed to assess the congruence between users' conceptual models of a complex process and the visual metaphor used to represent that process, independent of users' performance with the interface. We developed and applied such a method as part of an evaluation of a user coach for a manpower planning application. The results indicate a high degree of congruence between the visual metaphor implemented in the interface and the conceptual features of the manpower planning process.

Visual Metaphors and Mental Models in Display Design—A Method for Comparing Intangibles:

Advances in user interface design have made it possible to improve the effectiveness of complex software tools. This study explores the feasibility of improving user performance on a manpower-planning task by employing a user coach. A user coach is a software aid, often built directly into software applications, that assists the user at critical stages. The user coach developed for this project closely resembles the "wizards" that are commonly used in commercial software today. The user coach was applied to a software application known as SKIPPER, a manpower modeling tool employed by the Department of the Navy to plan and manage the enlisted personnel. In addition to procedural assistance, the coach also provides a visual picture of the planning process based on a hydraulic metaphor (e.g., manpower planning as a series of holding tanks, faucets, pipes, valves, etc.). This article describes the user coach, and documents a formal evaluation of its effectiveness. The evaluation compared the use and understan...

An Analysis of the Performance and Usability of a Software User Coach for Navy Manpower Planning

: This research project explored the feasibility of improving user performance on manpower planning tasks by employing a "user coach." A user coach is a software aid, often built directly into software applications, that assists the user at critical stages. The user coach developed for this project closely resembles the "wizards" that are commonly used in commercial software today. The user coach was applied to a software tool known as SKIPPER, a manpower modeling tool that is employed by the Enlisted Community Managers (ECMs) at the Bureau of Navy Personnel (BUPERS). This report describes the user coach and documents a formal evaluation of its effectiveness. The evaluation compared the use and understanding of SKIPPER (1) with the coach, (2) with the coach and a visual metaphor (a hydraulic system representation of the enlisted personnel system), and (3) without the coach or the metaphor. All users (experienced and inexperienced) were able to complete their manpower plans significantly faster using the coach than using SKIPPER unaided. Neither performance on the manpower planning task, nor the user's understanding of the task, was influenced by providing a visual picture of the process. It appears that users found the procedural "what to do" aids useful, but aids designed to help the user understand the purpose and dynamics "why do it" of the task were not effective.

Evaluation of a Software User Coach for Manpower Planning

: This research project tested a method for measuring the congruence between mental models and visual metaphors. A hydraulic system was used as a visual metaphor for a Navy school-planning process. The hydraulic system was designed as a reasonable approximation of the users' mental model of the process. The congruence between the hydraulic metaphor and the users' presumed mental model was tested using a Metaphor Rating Sheet.

Gary A. Ropp

Papers

Visual Metaphors and Mental Models in Display Design—A Method for Comparing Intangibles:

An Analysis of the Performance and Usability of a Software User Coach for Navy Manpower Planning

Evaluation of a Software User Coach for Manpower Planning

A Technique for Assessing the Congruence Between Visual Metaphors and Mental Models