This paper borrows ideas from social science to inform the design of novel "sensing" user-interfaces for computing technology. Specifically, we present five design challenges inspired by analysis of human-human communication that are mundanely addressed by traditional graphical user interface designs (GUIs). Although classic GUI conventions allow us to finesse these questions, recent research into innovative interaction techniques such as `Ubiquitous Computing' and `Tangible Interfaces' has begun to expose the interaction challenges and problems they pose. By making them explicit we open a discourse on how an approach similar to that used by social scientists in studying human-human interaction might inform the design of novel interaction mechanisms that can be used to handle human-computer communication accomplishments.

This paper presents another iteration in the ongoing CSCW dialogue between the understanding of work and the design of systems to support work. We overview the Locales Framework (and its five aspects of locale foundations, individual views, civic structures, interaction trajectory, and mutuality) as a shared abstraction for both understanding and designing. We describe the use of the framework in a telehealth case study and discuss the implications of the framework for the design of generic toolkit environments, as interpreted in the prototype system called Orbit. We conclude with a critique of the framework and suggestions for further iterations in the dialogue.

Field research methods are useful in the many aspects of Human-Computer Interaction research, including gathering user requirements, understanding and developing user models, and new product evaluation and iterative design. Due to increasingly short product realization cycles, there has been growing interest in more time efficient methods, including rapid prototyping and various usability inspection techniques. This paper will introduce "rapid ethnography, " which is a collection of field methods intended to provide a reasonable understanding of users and their activities given significant time pressures and limited time in the field. The core elements include limiting or constraining the research focus and scope, using key informants, capturing rich field data by using multiple observers and interactive observation techniques, and collaborative qualitative data analysis. A short case study illustrating the important characteristics of rapid ethnography will also be presented.

The Insight Lab is an immersive environment designed to support teams who create design requirements documents. Requirements emerge from a deep understanding of a problem domain, which is achieved through in-depth analysis of large amounts of qualitative data. The goal of the Lab is to facilitate the data analysis process through the seamless interaction of computer-based technologies with objects in the environment. Team members can use paper and whiteboards to sketch, annotate, and display their analysis work. Barcodes are used to link papers and whiteboard printouts to the multimedia data stored in the computer. Keywords Interaction design, collaboration, analysis methods, video analysis, hybrid paper electronic interfaces, digital documents, group memory, barcode technology INTRODUCTION Identifying and developing the design requirements for a new system, service or product is a complex problem. Designers need to understand and organize vast amounts of qualitative data collect...

This paper considers the potential of using patterns of cooperative interaction to support the development of general design principles drawn from a range of work settings. It reports on the development of patterns from ethnographic studies in a number of work environments. Our particular interest is in the possibilities surrounding the use of patterns as a means of organising, presenting and representing this growing corpus of ethnographic material and in the contribution this might make to CSCW design. In this paper we focus on outlining some of our experiences and difficulties in developing patterns from ethnographic studies and present some initial ideas towards the development of a pattern language to exploit the experience gained from a decade of field studies.

Abstract. This paper considers how we may provide support for the development of general design principles in domestic environments. In particular we examine the potential for using design patterns as a means of presenting ethnographic material and outlining design solutions. The paper reports on the development of an initial pattern language based on our studies of a number of domestic environments and offers a general structure for presenting these patterns. Finally, we briefly reflect on our experiences of developing an on-line set of patterns for this class of environments. Keywords.

Through a study of web site design practice, we observed that designers employ multiple representations of web sites as they progress through the design process, and that these representations allow them to focus on different aspects of the design. Designers also employ multiple tools during the course of a project, including graphic design, web development, presentation, and word processing software, as well as pen and paper. Sketching on paper is especially important during the design exploration phase of a project, when designers wish to explore many design possibilities quickly without focusing on low-level details. Web site design tools intended to support the early phases of the design process should employ informal interaction techniques, should support multiple site representations, and should integrate well with other applications that designers use regularly.

Methods for observing software users in the workplace will become increasingly important as the number of people using computers grows and developers improve existing systems. Successful redesigns rely, in part, on complete and accurate evaluations of the existing systems. Based on our evaluation experience, we have derived a set of practical guidelines to be used by designers in preparing for the evaluation, performing the field study, analyzing the data, and reporting the findings. By providing a general framework based on ethnographic research, we hope to reduce the likelihood of some common problems, such as overlooking important information and misinterpreting observations. Examples from our ongoing work with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice are used to illustrate the proposed guidelines. KEYWORDS: Ethnography, Anthropology, Participant observation, Design methods, Redesign, Evaluation, User studies INTRODUCTION There is currently great enthusiasm for user interface ...

When defining a new system, the history and functionality of the system to be replaced should be considered. This avoids repeating errors and neglecting important system functionality. The properties and the rationale behind the existing system are typically elicited by analysing concrete system usage-scenarios. The results of the analysis of the existing system are typically represented using conceptual models. To establish conceptual models of high quality, reviewing the models is common practice. The problem faced with when reviewing conceptual models, is that the reviewer can not assess and therefore understand the basis (concrete system usage) on which the conceptual models where build.

Abstract not found