Bill Gibbs – DUQUX

Designing In-Vehicle Information Systems to Reduce the Effect on Driver Attention

Bill Gibbs — Sat, 07 May 2022 18:02:40 +0000

MFA Capstone Project:

Mark O’Black

Year: 2022

ABSTRACT

Distracted driving is a primary cause of motor vehicle accidents each year, with mobile phones contributing to this type of distraction. Drivers may use their mobile phones to make calls, send text messages, or find directions to a destination while operating their vehicle, which has prompted automotive manufacturers to equip vehicles with an in-vehicle information system (IVIS). The primary goal of an IVIS is to help eliminate the need for a driver to use their mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle; however, completing a task through an IVIS requires a driver’s attention, which leads to less attention placed on the primary task of driving. When less attention is placed on the primary task of driving, the risk of a motor vehicle accident taking place increases. This project will explore the design of IVISs, their effect on a driver’s attention, and identify ways to improve an IVIS interface design so that minimal attention is required from drivers when interacting with an IVIS. Based on this research and analysis, an IVIS interface design that helps reduce the amount of attention required from a driver to perform a task will be designed and validated through user testing.

Mark OBlack Capstone Project One-Page Summary – Full-sized PDF

A Interview Research Process: Adapting the Listening Guide to UX Design Research

Bill Gibbs — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 20:28:11 +0000

MFA Capstone Project: Interview Research Processes: Adapting the Listening Guide to UX Design Research

Author: Mary (Molly) Smith

Year: 2022

ABSTRACT

User Experience (UX) design researchers continually search for new methods that aid in understanding human thinking and behavior. Aside from interviews, they use methods such as contextual inquiry and usability testing with think-aloud verbal protocols in which verbalizations are collected to gain insights about how people perceive, think, and behave when interacting with products or experiences. Because verbalizations are often ambiguous, given the differences in cultures, languages and thinking processes, disparity can exist between what a person says about their experience and the researcher’s interpretation. The Listening Guide (LG), a method of psychological analysis developed by psychologist Carol Gilligan and associates, draws on voice, resonance, and relationship as ways to know the inner world of an individual (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003). Researchers have used it to “to listen to and understand voices … [of individuals] … that have been missing from or inadequately represented” in research (Petrovic, Lordly, Brigham & Delaney, 2015). It is widely used as a method to analyze qualitative research data. This project proposes to adapt the LG as a method of inquiry in UX design research. It aims to understand the meaning of verbal responses collected in design research by simplifying the complexity of interview responses. Specifically, the project will assess the value of the LG for UX research. It will examine how the LG can help researchers gain deeper understanding of users and stakeholders through interviewing.

An Application Design for Mobile Commerce Decision Support System

Bill Gibbs — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 10:02:16 +0000

MFA Capstone Project: Application Design for M-Commerce Decision Support System

Author: Ngoc Nguyen

Year: 2021

ABSTRACT

Although people are comfortable making online purchases, the inability to effectively determine product quality and price to maximize value encumbers purchase decision-making. Existing mobile applications assist in online shopping, but do not offer search capability across different companies or return results with concise product information, customer reviews, and price comparisons. Additionally, the inconsistency of application interfaces impedes usability.

This project examined human decision making and the design process for a M-commerce application. The application allows people to conduct product research across many retailers and to review product information, explore features, make price comparisons, and obtain deal alerts. The project used the Double Diamond design process model, a framework that aids designers by highlighting key design phases, principles, and methods. It afforded an accessible means by which to explore the design problem and to streamline product research and design processes. In this project, the author discussed user research, prototyping, and testing as well as the implications of using the Double Diamond process framework for designing a M-commerce application.

Keywords: M-Commerce, Human Decision-Making, Decision Support Systems, Interaction Design, Human Factors, Double Diamond Process, User Interface Design, User Experience, UX Research.

Read Project Report:M-Commerce Decision Support System_Submitted

Stroop | Eye tracking

Bill Gibbs — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:58:43 +0000

A Stroop test | Cognitive Load.

A Stroop test is a measure of selective attention. Understanding how and why someone attends to stimuli in the environment is interesting and important. It is also valuable to understand the impact on attention as task complexity increases. This is especially important when designing user interfaces.

We conducted a Stoop test (pilot-test) to examine cognitive load on participant eye movements, pupil dilation, and electrodermal activity. We collected eye movement and electrodermal activity (GSR-Galvic Skin Response) data.

NOTE: This was not a formal study and we only performed it to test our laboratory equipment. We asked three people to participate.

Task 1: We asked participants to read aloud a list of words representing colors (e.g., blue, green, red). Words were presented in a white font colored and displayed on a black background.

Task 2: We asked participants to read a list of words representing colors (e.g., blue, green, red). Words were presented in a various font colors (e.g., the word red appeared in the color yellow) and displayed on a black background. Participants read the word. If the word “blue” was presented in the color “green”, the participant was to say “blue”.

Task 3: We asked participants to read a list of words representing colors (e.g., blue, green, red). Words were presented in a various font colors (e.g., the word red appears in the color yellow) and displayed on a black background. Participants named the color of the word. If the word “blue” was presented in the color “green”, the participant was to say “green”.

Naming the color of the word can create interference effects as participants inadvertently try to read the word rather than name the color in which it is displayed – naming the color interferes with reading the word. The interference presents both Stimulus–Stimulus and Stimulus–Response incompatibility (Proctor & Vu, 2016) and makes the reading-naming task difficult; and it potentially increases cognitive load.

In testing our lab equipment, we were interested to see if the Stroop interference effects impacted eye tracking scans, pupil size, and electrodermal activity (GSR). We were especially interested in determining how well we could collect and represent these data.

Figure 1 show a heat-map of participant normal reading of words (white words displayed on black background).

Figure 2 shows heat-map of participants naming the color of the word.

Reading Patterns and Time: All participants read words from left to right. When they completed a row of words, their eyes traversed back to the left most word on the successive row, which is interesting because they could have read the words in any order. When naming the word color (interference effect), participants took more time and had more dispersed eye scans (as shown in Figure 2).

Figure 3 shows electrodermal activity for normal reading (BW-blue line) and naming the color of the word (Color – Red line). There appeared to be increased electrodermal activity when naming the word color (interference effect, Color – Red line) compared to reading the word.

Pupil size: Pupil size increases with task demands, and pupillometry has been shown to be a stable measure of Stroop interference (Laeng, Ørbo, Holmlund, & Miozzo, 2011).

Figure 4 shows the left pupil size for normal reading (BW-blue line) and naming the color of the word (Color – Red line). Pupil size was larger when naming the color of the word (interference effect, Color – Red line).

References:

Krejtz, K., Duchowski, A., Niedzielska, A., Biele, C., and Krejtz, I. (2018). Eye tracking cognitive load using pupil diameter and microsaccades with fixed gaze. PLoS ONE 13(9): e0203629. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203629

Laeng, B. Ørbo, M., Holmlund, T., and Miozzo, M. (2011). Pupillary Stroop effects. Cognitive Process,12: pp. 13–21.

Proctor, R. and Vu, K. (2016). Principles for Designing Interfaces Compatible With Human Information Processing. Intl. Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 32: pp. 2–22.

Lajante,M., Droulers, O., Dondaine, T. and Amarantini, D. (2012).Opening the “Black Box” of Electrodermal Activity in Consumer Neuroscience Research. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economic, 5(4),pp. 238–249.

360 Media

Bill Gibbs — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 02:15:06 +0000

Abharan Yadavalli took 360 photographs of the New Broadcast Studio in the Center for Emerging and Innovative Media.

Human Factors: Mobile Application Design

Bill Gibbs — Sat, 26 Feb 2022 21:48:04 +0000

This book chapter Appeared in Human Factors Issues and the Impact of Technology on Society
Lum, 2021
URL: https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/human-factors/281748

It was written by the following students and instructor in the Interactive Design program:

E. Cooney, L. Kolber (Instructor), N. Martonik, E. Sekely
Duquesne University, USA

ABSTRACT

Human factors is a critical area of study in higher education. It is integral to applied academic programs such as Interaction Design. In this chapter, the authors begin by reviewing precepts of authentic, “real-world” learning. From a human factors and interaction design viewpoint, they then describe an authentic learning project – a mobile application design – that was done by university students in collaboration with a leading global specialty retailer. Specifically, in terms of the project, the chapter reviews the following:

benefits and challenges of academic and industry collaborations;
human factors and interaction design processes, methods, and principles used throughout the authentic project;
anthropometric features of the project prototype and their implications for usability;
precepts of cognitive information processing (i.e., human attention, perception, and memory) and their importance for the design and usability of the project’s interface;
insights and lessons learned about the use of authentic learning experiences in teaching human factors and interaction design.

DESCRIPTION OF AUTHENTIC LEARNING PROJECT

A leading global specialty retailer provided students in the Interactive Design program at Duquesne University (Interactive Design Studio course) a design challenge (project brief): design a smartphone application that alleviated known pain points within the in-store shopping experience associated with: a) product finding and browsing, b) product try on, and c) value maximization. These are authentic problems faced by many retailers who enable customers to augment shopping tasks with technology. Over a four-week period, student teams of 3-4 individuals created designs that they eventually presented to the retailer’s UX team at the conclusion of the semester.