Usability in Pervasive Computing Environment Advance Usability October 18, 2004 Anuj A. Nanavati

Agenda Introduction Usability in pervasive computing Pervasive Computing (PVC) lab at IBM Austin Lab overview Our work Discussion issues

Introduction "Things that think want to link", Nicholas Negraponte of MIT Media Labs Nomadic/Amorphous/Ubiquitous computing User centered not machine or function centered Environment of connected computing devices Not personal computers but embedded or mobile devices General purpose devices Communicating through interconnected network Remote access through internet

Introduction Major players PARC – origin of ubiquitous computing research IBM – PVC Lab Microsoft – Easy Living MIT – Project Oxygen NIST – Smart Space CMU – Project Aura

Usability in Pervasive Computing Why usability testing? Understanding user interface User interaction with devices Challenges in usability testing New environment for users No predefined user tasks Remotely moderated testing Wide range of devices – LCD on oven to PDA Tasks in multiple sessions and on multiple devices Testing tool should be independent of the device being monitored

PVC Lab at IBM Austin Lab overview “Proof of concept” of networked areas Living room – TV, CD player, etc. Kitchen – oven, ScreenFridge, iron, etc. Garage – car Exercise room Devices Devices common in above areas Control devices Wireless touch control Web pad Connected through a service gateway Physical Web site Every device has a URL

PVC lab overview

Technology Wireless technology Radio Frequency tags – RFID Intelligent sensors Embedded devices

Our Work Goals and Concepts – Dr. Bias Goals Identify and fix usability problems in current UI Identify gaps in current usability testing methods Concepts Remote migratory transactions Start on one device complete on another Device independent UI Start on PDA complete on ScreenFridge Task oriented UI compared to function guided Supports the users in completion of their tasks Task categorization - taskonomy

Usability Testing User interface for testing Engaged areas Engaged devices Recording options Remote views Other options - data logging, data analyses etc. Sam’s Mock up: Data collection requirements Observational data – Audio/video Biometric data

Usability Testing Data Collection Requirements Biometric data Eye Tracking Galvanic Skin Responses Heart Rate Blood Volume Stress Parameters Blood Flow

Data Collection Requirements Biometric data Ubiquitous physiological monitoring Dr. Emil Jovanov from The University of Alabama at Huntsville Prototype for Wireless Body Area Network (BAN) of intelligent sensors (WISE) Personal medical monitoring Body sensors for brain, heart, movements etc. Sensors (WISE clients) controlled by a single server (WISE server)  connected to internet through a gateway

Data Collection Requirements Biometric data

Taskonomy Modeling user behavior in pervasive computing environment Categorize current user tasks into predefined categories to facilitate UI design and usability testing methods: Assign future tasks to a category Assign devices to a category Task categories User initiated vs. system initiated Single session vs. multiple sessions Single device vs. multiple devices Same vs. different device Single user vs. multiple users Task scenarios Data downloading/uploading Heating food Setting up the temperature Many more….

Taskonomy Structured representation of user tasks Task driven computing (2000), Zenyu Wang and David Garlan, CMU Relieving Users from the Distractions of Ubiquity: Task-Centered Architectural Framework (2002), João Pedro Sousa, CMU Task Description language (TDL) Three step approach Based on Object Modeling

Taskonomy Three step approach Identification Devices Task categories Task scenarios Connection Device  device Device  task category Device  scenario Modeling Scenario X for task category Y Problems Defining scenarios Defining sub scenarios (actions) D1 D3 D2 D5 D4 Links between devices show sub scenarios (actions) for a particular scenario of a task category

Taskonomy - Example Scenario-1 (S1): Heat up the food kept in oven using your PDA through your work computer. Task category-1 (T1): User initiated Ending on different device Apply UI Design techniques (UID1) and Usability testing (UT1) methods to S1 and T1 Imagine in future similar scenario (S115) with same task category (T1) comes up. Apply UID1 and UT1 to S115 PDA OVEN WORK S1 and T1 PDA GAME WORK S115 and T1

Discussion Issues Usability beyond traditional methods UI beyond traditional UI Modeling user behavior in pervasive computing environment Concerns Privacy Security

References IBM’s PVC Lab Candace A. York, Senior software engineer, IBM Ubiquitous and pervasive computing resources Stress monitoring using a distributed wireless intelligent sensor system 2003, Emil Jovanov, IEEE Task driven computing 2000, Zenyu Wang and David Garlan, CMU Relieving Users from the Distractions of Ubiquity: Task-Centered Architectural Framework 2002, João Pedro Sousa, CMU

Thank You