The Design of Everyday Things - Overall

Reaction: The Design of Everyday Things

I really enjoyed reading The Design of Everyday Things. It  gave me a new outlook on the things that I use in everyday life. It was not exactly from the perspective of computer science or computer engineering, which allowed me to see what people from other fields think about and how they react to things that we design. This book also made me consciously aware that I need to keep the consumer in mind when I design and produce programs. The use of anecdotes really helped me put myself into the person's place and recall my own experiences with similar things. I do wish that Donald Norman had offered more examples in his book. He tended to focus on a few extreme examples. These included the doors, the video projection devices, like the projector and VCR, and sink faucets. It was not a hindrance on conveying his messages, but it would have been nice to have more variety in his examples. Furthermore, his reiteration of his principles helped me further internalize the things that he was explaining. He designed his book well!

Reaction: Chapter by Chapter

Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

I had never thought about even the most mundane things in my everyday life having such complex effects. For example, I have encountered similar glass swinging doors that Norman told about. I, too, was confused when I thought I was supposed to push a door, but it was actually intended to be pulled. It usually happens at department stores when they have the minimalistic look or at small shops whose handles go horizontally across on both sides, making the implication of pushing or pulling ambiguous. The discussion about the complexity of the simple telephone made me laugh. It reminds me of the telephones that I have to use at my workplace. I work in retail, so the telephones are mostly used when a guest calls or when we must page for someone in the store. It has the standard numberpad and several buttons on the right hand side. Some of the phones have a template attached that shows what each button does, but for some reason or another, some of the phones have lost these templates. All you see is a column of white buttons. When any of the employees encounter these phones, they have to pause and figure out which button to press in order to page someone. Some people actually memorized (it's the fifth button down). Others just avoid those particular phones all together.

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Things

I have experienced almost everything that Norman had described in this chapter. To this day, projectors completely baffle me. I understand the overall workings of a projector, but I would never even attempt to use one. I do tend to blame myself when I make mistakes--even if they are not really my fault. For example, my laptop has a touchpad that controls the mouse under the keyboard. Sometimes when I type, I occasionally lay my wrist down and accidentally touch the touchpad with part of my left palm. This causes the touchpad to think that I am trying to click something. I had thought I was just doing something wrong. Now, I realize that the real culprit is bad design. The designers should have taken into account a user's hand positions and placed the touchpad strategically away from resting hands. I know a lot of people who have been taught helplessness, especially when it comes to math. I have helped tutor a couple of people in algebra and calculus, and when they get frustrated, they just throw their arms in the air and exclaim, "I won't ever get math!" It is hard to get them out of that mindset, especially because it has been years since they started becoming frustrated in the subject.

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

I have a job in retail as a cashier. This would imply that I know what U.S. currency looks like. However, after trying for several minutes to figure out what the penny really looks like (without actually pulling out a penny), I noticed that I only take the shape, color, and weight into account when it comes to coins. This is so embedded in my mind that, whenever a dollar coin comes my way, I am usually thrown off. It is not a typical coin that customers pay with. The same thing happens when I get a two-dollar bill. My brain has to pause to process what it is and that it is an acceptable form of currency. When Norman listed all of the things he had to memorize, I realized that I had a lot to memorize, too. I have to remember usernames and passwords to my multiple email accounts, my UIN, social security number, my ID number at my job, birthdays, essential phone numbers, and much more. Knowledge in the world definitely takes a load off my brain, which is much appreciated.

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

In contrast to Norman, I find VCRs pretty intuitive in terms of operation. They used standardized symbols for playback; it was even easy to set the time on the VCR. The only thing that I could never figure out was how to record shows on video cassette. The biggest issue was that I had no feedback. Just as Norman said, an onscreen visual of what was going on when setting the VCR to record is necessary. The designs of doors and light switches are extremely important! There is a set of light switches in the living room. There are four little switches on the plate. One is for the ceiling fan, one is for the main light, one is for the light for the hallway, and one is for the light above the fireplace. I still don't remember which goes to what because there is absolutely no logical mapping from one light to the other. I ended up just putting a label for each light, which looks ugly but makes life so much easier.

Chapter 5: To Err is Human

I never really thought about the difference between slips and mistakes, but I guess it is appropriate to distinguish the two. Slips are unconscious and unintentional; mistakes are conscious and deliberate. It seems to be difficult to prevent slips because even preventative measures can become streamlined in many people's minds. For example, when I have to confirm a file's deletion, oftentimes I find myself just hitting the "Okay" button when the confirmation screen comes up. Usually, it is okay if I later find out that I need the file since there is the Recycle Bin which holds everything I delete. Unfortunately, on flash drives, the files are deleted permanently, which has caught me off-guard several times. Norman's discussion on the structure of tasks is interesting; it completely makes sense. Norman did not discuss mistakes themselves as much as I would have preferred, but it was interesting learning about the various ways big companies have tried to fix or prevent mistakes.

Chapter 6: The Design Challenge

This chapter might have been the most out-dated chapter out of all of them. Norman talked about the issues with keyboards, sink faucets, and computers. At present, keyboards, with an occasional slight variation in orientation (ergonomics) and relative size (correlated with the size of of a laptop), have not changed. We know that a sink faucet is sensor activated since there is an absence of sensors. Also, I do not find the lack of a temperature adjustment feature to be a big deal. There are even some sinks that are sensor-activated that include a small lever to temperature adjustment. Finally, computers have come a long way since the 1980s. Everything that Norman said he would have liked is now an integral portion of many people's lives. I am glad that he has gotten to see his hopes come to fruition. It makes me wonder how he would have written this chapter if it was written today instead of thirty years ago.

Chapter 7: User-Centered Design

This final chapter was mostly a recap of the first six chapters. There was not much new content; there was more summary and rewording of several points that Norman wanted to emphasize. He also provided some closing thoughts. His insertion of the Velcro shoes interested me. These days, children seem to be relying more on using Velcro straps before learning to tie their shoes with shoelaces. Of course, they do usually learn to tie their shoes. However, I wonder what kind of implications such a small thing like this has. I wonder if it has been translated to other things? How has the design of everyday things changed in the past couple of decades?

Good Designs of Everyday Things

1) Hole Puncher

This is a standard hole puncher that you can find at a generic office supply store. However, as common as it is, it is very well designed. Everything about it is intuitive. It is so easy to use that it did not even come with instructions at all!

Good conceptual model: One can mentally simulate putting a piece of paper in the only slot available and depressing the lever and, therefore, creating holes. The system image matches the conceptual model perfectly. This is why it is so easy to use.

Good mapping & visibility: The lever with which we depress to actually punch the holes is the most noticeable thing on the hole puncher. It even has a different texture on the middle of it to indicate where you should grip or press down. You know that when you press it down, the the mechanism actually goes down to punch the holes because you can feel the punctures.

Good constraints: There is only one place where a piece of paper can fit. Hence, we know where the piece of paper goes. We know which way to orient the paper because only longer side matches with the length of the hole puncher. We know how far the paper should go because there are raise edges in the hole puncher to stop the paper. There is only one way to move the lever--by pushing it down. There are no additional movements required to punch the holes.

Good feedback: The feedback is very simple and apparent, which is what we want in a hole puncher. You can verify that the paper has been hole punched after you depress the lever by pulling out the paper and you see holes in them.

2) Hot Sauce Dispenser

When we eat, we want the things that we use (i.e., forks, spoons, condiments, hot sauces) to be straightforward. Hot sauce is especially important; you want to control how much you get out, and you do not want it to spill it everywhere when you put it away. This particular hot sauce is great about doing that. Its bottle is squeezable, which allows you to control the flow by the amount you squeeze. Its cap twists to open and close very distinctly. This is another everyday thing that does not need an explicit set of instructions.

Good conceptual model: My conceptual model of how this hot sauce bottle matches the system image. You twist open the cap in the standard counterclockwise direction to open it. Then you squeeze the bottle itself to make hot sauce dispense. Finally, you twist the cap clockwise to close it and store it away.

Good constraints: It is easy to distinguish when the bottle is open and when it is closed. In both cases, it does not let you twist the cap more than a certain amount before it stops turning. There is a limit on how much you can squeeze out also because of the properties of the plastic that comprises the bottle.

Good mapping & visibility: For the twisting cap, there is a grip with which one can use to twist the cap to open and close. You know that it is open because the piece of plastic that appears when closed appears to recede. Likewise, you know that it is closed because the piece of plastic reappears and blocks the nozzle from dispensing the hot sauce.

Good feedback: The feedback for this device is very apparent and very delicious. I know when it is open because of the plastic piece that recedes. Also, I know that it is dispensing when I see hot sauce on my tasty meals.]

3) Air Freshener Spray

When a room stinks, you want to make it smell better immediately. Fortunately, this air freshener spray made sure that it was easy to use in emergency situations such as this. With an elegant design and a great spray mechanism, we can see good design of everyday things at its best.

Good conceptual model: This can of air freshener does exactly what you think it should. When you point it in the direction that you want to spray in and pull the trigger, it dispenses a mist of freshness. The direction in which you spray is clear from how you must position your hand in order to use the trigger. Even the shape of the top part of the spray indicates the direction in which the spray will disperse.

Good constraints: There is only one way to use the trigger: by pulling it! It is positioned so that it sprays in the direction indicated by the trigger. There is no other way to comfortably use the spray.

Good mapping & visibility: As explained earlier, the positioning of the trigger allows one to know in which direction the spray will disperse. The trigger is easy to see, too, which aids in its ease of use.

Good feedback: We know that we have used the air freshener spray correctly when we see a mist coming from the nozzle, hear a small sound from the dispensing mist, and smell the fresh air. This sort of feedback is also useful when we find out that the air freshener has run out.

4) Lip Balm

Lip balm is great to use when you have chapped lips. It is even better when it is well-designed novel packaging. Its egg shape makes it easier to apply the lip balm. Furthermore, the designers included a couple of flat parts in order for it to stand on its own and in order for it to be gripped and twisted open easily. This is an extremely popular product among several circles of people.

Good conceptual model: When I first took the lip balm in my hand, I could tell that I open up the egg by twisting it. Once I open it, I know I can use the lip balm stored inside. This conceptual model matches the actual functioning of the lip balm. It was also very smart to give the egg a flat base so it can stand on its own.

Good constraints: The lip balm uses a twist off motion in order to expose the lip balm itself. You predictably twist the top half clockwise to open the egg. You know it is closed when you twist counterclockwise until you feel and hear a click.

Good mapping & visibility: It is really easy to twist off the cap. There is a small indentation which allows you to naturally grip the egg with both of your hands and twist it off. The indentation is also large enough to find without looking for it but small enough not to detract from the packaging. You know which side is the top and the bottom of the egg from the flattened base (which is clearly the bottom).

Good feedback: The feedback is straightforward. If you are able to twist off the top, then you will be presented with lip balm. If you want to make sure the top is secured back in place, then you twist the top until it stops letting you twist and makes a small clicking sound. Also, the indentations of the top and bottom halves will line up nicely.

5) Rice Cooker

Rice cookers provide a convenient and quick way of making lots of rice. Because of they are supposed to be convenient, rice cookers need to be easy to use, too. I think this particular rice cooker is an everyday item full of good design.

Good conceptual model: When I look at the rice cooker, I think that it will cook my rice. If the "Rice Cooking" light is not lit, I need to press the lever to change the state. This intuition is what the rice cooker does. It has two functions: cook rice and keep the rice warm. There is only one lever needed then. When depressed, it cooks. Otherwise, it is keeping the rice warm.

Good constraints: As mentioned before, there is only one lever. By physical constraints, it just needs to be pushed to start cooking. Another constraint is the button at the top of the rice cooker. You can see which way the lip opens by the placement of the button. Also, you know that the lid opens by pushing down on the button.

Good mapping & visibility: The button at the top of the rice cookers maps the area where the lid must be opened. The button and the handle also indicate the hand placement in order to open the lid. Both the button and the lever to make the rice cooker are very visible. The button is large on top of the rice cooker, and the lever is on the front of the rice cooker itself.

Good feedback: We know the rice cooker is actually cooking with a light on the front. We also know that the rice is being kept warm by the other light. These are the only two states that the rice cooker can be in when plugged in. When it is not plugged in, there is no light on. Also, we know the lid is open or closed because there is a clicking sound from the locking mechanism.

Bad Designs of Everyday Things

1) Keyboard's Key Placement

I love this laptop. It has great battery life. The screen is gorgeous. The specifications are amazing. The keys are pretty. Unfortunately, not all of the keys are usefully placed on the keyboard. The keys boxed above give me so much trouble! When I want to scroll through a page or want to jump to the beginning or end of a line, I am hindered by having to consciously figure out which key I am supposed to use. This is a clear case of bad design.

Bad conceptual model: When I type, I do not usually look at the keyboard because it is time-consuming and tedious. Therefore, I expect the keys to placed in strategic locations so that when I need to use the Delete button or the Page Up button, the keys are placed strategically well. Unfortunately, they are not. I usually press the wrong button or I have to actually look at the keyboard to figure out which key is which. Where my finger thinks the key does not match where the key actually is.

Bad Constraints: There are no constraints stopping me from pressing the wrong button. There is no spaces between the related keys nor are there any sort of raised segments like those placed on the 'F' and 'J' keys.

Bad mapping & visibility: The  mapping of these six keys illogical. I have to arbitrarily remember that the left key (of the two related keys) is the one that will take me back to the beginning or top of the page and that the right key takes me to the end or bottom of the page. It would be more logical to place them vertically, so I can see that to go up or to the beginning, I choose the top button and vice versa.

Feedback: The feedback of the keys is fine, since they do perform the actions indicated. However, it is not the feedback I want. This causes a delay in completing the task or accomplishing my goal.

2) Math Equation Clock

I have a terrible reputation for not waking up when my alarm rings. I tend to sleepily hit the snooze button too much. So when I found this alarm clock, I had to get it. When the alarm goes off, I have to solve a simple arithmetic (addition or subtraction) equation in order to turn it off. However, as cool as it is, it is poorly designed. What a terrible way to start my day!

Bad conceptual model: The use of the clock to turn off the alarm is pretty intuitive: just twist the numbers until you satisfy the equation. This is where the the conceptual model and system image agreements stop. Usually alarm clocks have a snooze button to allow people extra time to work on waking up or to continue sleeping. This clock does not have a snooze option, even though on the '=' sign there is the text "snooze on." So the first few nights when I thought I could set a snooze, I was quite mistaken. This frustrated me a lot.

Bad constraints: Fortunately, the twisting motions are limited to the numbers and the mode of the clock (time set, alarm set, alarm on). However, it is not constrained enough. Sometimes when I am sleepy and trying to turn off my alarm, I twist into a different mode, making it frustrating to turn off the annoying buzzing sound. Also, I sometimes try to circumvent the lack of a snooze option by setting the alarm for ten minutes later. Unfortunately, I have changed the time itself instead of the alarm because the images of the clock and alarm on the clock is hard to distinguish.

Bad mapping & visibility: The little buttons to the right of the clock allow to you to set the time and alarm themselves. However, if I am not careful, as mentioned before, I might set the alarm in the time mode and vice versa. Also, it took a little while to realize that the first button was "set" button, that the second was "+," and the last button was"-." Then I realized that they were actually written in really tiny print on the actual buttons.

Bad feedback: The alarm clock uses a series of beeps every time you do anything with it--except when you turn the numbers. So every time I change modes, it beeps, for every minute that I adjust when setting the alarm, it beeps. It beeps too much. Norman warned about the abuse of sounds of feedback, and this is the perfect example.

3) Clothes Washer

It is an all-day affair to wash all of my clothes. I am thankful that I have a washer and dryer in the place where I live. However, sometimes I cannot help but feel very frustrated when I use this particular washer. I remember my first time using it; it took about ten minutes to figure it out. Even now I still have to take a significant amount of time to set it and start it. This is a clear case of too many functions.

Bad conceptual model: When you wash clothes, you just think about whether you need hot or cold water, if the clothes are lights or darks, and the intensity of the cycle. This thing offers way too many options for spin cycle speed, whether you want extra cycles, and different modes. I just simply do not understand the significance of them or do not understand their function at all.

Bad constraints: Each of the options are able to be selected discretely, through dial or button. However, they offer way more options than needed in an at-home washer. It confuses me and I have to consciously go through each option to make sure everything looks okay (I hope).

Bad mapping & visibility: While the knobs are pretty decent mappings for those options, I think a couple of the other options should be knobs, too. It was hard to recognize that I had to just press the button again and again to cycle through my options. A dial would have been more intutive. Also, it took a long time to figure out how to put in the detergent. It is actually on the far left side of the washer. Thre is a thing that I have to push to the right so that I can pull it out.

Bad feedback: I am still unsure about whether or not the washer does what I want it to do. At the very least, it does clean my clothes, but I am always unsure whether or not I used the right settings for each load.

4) Light/Fan Switches

I know Norman talked about light switches already, but I really had to show mine. This set of switches goes to four things. One goes to a spotlight above the fireplace, one is for the ceiling fan, one is for the light right under the ceiling fan, and one is for the hallway light. It is just one big mess. Do you like my masking tape labels?

Bad conceptual model: Without the masking tape labels, I simply had no clue about which switch turned what on. I only know that the switches were for the living room area. Nothing could be determined from the system image.

Constraints: The constraints were not really an issue here. There was only two options: flip the switch up or flip the switch down.

Bad mapping & visibility: As I made clear, I had no idea which switch controlled what device. It is so difficult to remember the arbitrary "mappings," that I ended up making the labels for them.

Feedback: Feedback is not really an issue here either. If I flipped a switch, something turned on or off. If the feedback was poor, I would have never been able to figure out which switch controlled what.

5) Window Blinds

I think I have had bad luck with window blinds all of my life. When I moved to my current residence, I thought my troubles were over. Boy, was I wrong. They cause a lot of trouble for me, too! For such aesthetically pleasing blinds, they are a design nightmare. I cannot pull them up or bring them down without having unnecessary issue with them.

Bad conceptual model: There are three main pieces to these blinds: the blinds themselves, the rod, and the pair of strings. It is easy to conclude that you turn the rod to turn the blinds. However, which string pulls the blinds up? Which one brings them back down? There is no way of realizing this without guessing (and usually being wrong).

Bad mapping & visibility: All three parts of the blinds were visible, but it was not clear what maps what to what. From experience or through logical conclusions, one can figure out that the rod is used for opening and closing the blinds; they both rotate to accomplish their tasks. However, I have to pull one of the strings to pull up the blinds and pull another one to bring them back down. Pulling a string does not exactly map to bringing the blinds back down. If the string to pull up the blinds were distinguished from the mechanism to bring down the blinds, this product would not create such headaches.

Bad feedback: We know that turning the rod and pulling the strings (even together) will open the blinds and pull the blinds up respectively. When I try to bring the blinds down, though, I have to pull the string in a certain way, and it does not always work. I have to stumble around with each string and trying to pull down the blinds manually to see if it is the right one. There is a clicking sound, but it does not always indicate success in pulling the blinds down.

The Design of Everyday Things - Chapters 2 Through 4

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Things

I have experienced almost everything that Norman had described in this chapter. To this day, projectors completely baffle me. I understand the overall workings of a projector, but I would never even attempt to use one. I do tend to blame myself when I make mistakes--even if they are not really my fault. For example, my laptop has a touchpad that controls the mouse under the keyboard. Sometimes when I type, I occasionally lay my wrist down and accidentally touch the touchpad with part of my left palm. This causes the touchpad to think that I am trying to click something. I had thought I was just doing something wrong. Now, I realize that the real culprit is bad design. The designers should have taken into account a user's hand positions and placed the touchpad strategically away from resting hands. I know a lot of people who have been taught helplessness, especially when it comes to math. I have helped tutor a couple of people in algebra and calculus, and when they get frustrated, they just throw their arms in the air and exclaim, "I won't ever get math!" It is hard to get them out of that mindset, especially because it has been years since they started becoming frustrated in the subject.

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

I have a job in retail as a cashier. This would imply that I know what U.S. currency looks like. However, after trying for several minutes to figure out what the penny really looks like, I noticed that I only take the shape, color, and weight into account when it comes to coins. This is so embedded in my mind that, whenever a dollar coin comes my way, I am usually thrown off. It is not a typical coin that customers pay with. The same thing happens when I get a two-dollar bill. My brain has to pause to process what it is and that it is an acceptable form of currency. When Norman listed all of the things he had to memorize, I realized that I had a lot to memorize, too. I have to remember usernames and passwords to my multiple email accounts, my UIN, social security number, my ID number at my job, birthdays, essential phone numbers, and much more. Knowledge in the world definitely takes a load off my brain, which is much appreciated.

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

In contrast to Norman, I find VCRs pretty intuitive in terms of operation. They used standardized symbols for playback; it was even easy to set the time on the VCR. The only thing that I could never figure out was how to record shows on video cassette. The biggest issue was that I had no feedback. Just as Norman said, an onscreen visual of what was going on when setting the VCR to record is necessary. The designs of doors and light switches are extremely important! There is a set of light switches in the living room. There are four little switches on the plate. One is for the ceiling fan, one is for the main light, one is for the light for the hallway, and one is for the light above the fireplace. I still don't remember which goes to what because there is absolutely no logical mapping from one light to the other. I ended up just putting a label for each light, which looks ugly but makes life so much easier.

The Chinese Room - A Response

The Chinese Room is an interesting thought experiment. John Searle presents it in such a way that it is hard to refute him. In summary, the Chinese Room consists of a computer that takes Chinese characters as input and, after following the instructions of a computer program, produces Chinese characters as output. This computer passes the Turing test, which means that a human Chinese speaker cannot tell if he or she is actually communicating with a human (presumably a Chinese speaker) or a computer. Searle presents many arguments that others have made against the Chinese Room experiment. First, there is the systems reply, in which one should consider the whole system and not just the individual person. Next, there is the robot reply, which supposes that the computer is part of a semi-humanoid robot. Third, there is the brain simulator reply, which simulates the actual neurological processes of the brain. Finally, there is the combination reply, which takes all three of the above counterarguments and puts them together.

In my personal opinion, I agree with Searle to a point. I do not think a computer in the traditional sense can have “intentionality.” A computer takes some input given to it, processes it through a computer program’s steps, and then outputs something.  No matter what, when presented with the same conditions, this computer should produce the same output given an input. However, with human “intentionality” and “understanding,” it is not necessarily true that the same input will produce the same output. In a directly related example, if two people were to read about the Chinese Room experiment and talked about their reactions to it, they would produce two completely different reactions. These two people both have brains, which some would equate to the “computer” or "computer program." However, their “understanding” produced different outputs, each with their own merits and each valid based on their reasoning.

Another good example is the calculator. The calculator is a computer, albeit a simple one. However, it does not “understand” that two plus two equals four. It is programmed to output four when presented with that equation. In other words, it cannot prove, in a mathematical sense, why two plus two equals four. Similarly, it does not realize that the square root of two is an irrational number; it is just outputting what the number is (to a certain accuracy). However, in mathematics, there is a formal proof that leads one to the conclusion that the square root of two is irrational. This proof in itself is based on approved assumptions (axioms) that require human “understanding” to fully grasp. It is important to note, though, that there are computers that have aided in producing mathematical proofs that humans were not able to achieve. However, these computers do not fully “understand” what these proofs really mean; they are just taking the information given to them and linking them together in such a way that produces the desired output.

Even though I agree on some points that Searle makes, I do not completely agree with his reasoning. When countering the arguments against his thought experiment, he used the same argument to make his point: the computer (or system) does not understand Chinese. Therefore, it does not have intentionality like a human who understands Chinese actually does. This made his arguments seem very circular. Furthermore, I think in Searle’s counterarguments to the counterarguments, he was beginning to allude to things that make humans “human.” There is an x-factor that gives humans “intentionality” that computers cannot acquire. It is similar to how idioms have special meanings in certain languages, and they only truly make sense if one actually understands the language (versus simply being able to translate the words literally).

The Chinese Room is quite the controversial subject in both the fields of philosophy and of artificial intelligence. However, just as the Wikipedia article stated, it belongs more to the field of philosophy of the mind debate versus that of artificial intelligence. I took an artificial intelligence class, and I was honestly more concerned about creating programs that would perform what I wanted them to. If I wanted my robot to get out of a maze without falling into a pit, then that is all I was concerned about. Of course, there are implications in the artificial intelligence field, but it should not define the whole field.

I think Searle’s argument is becoming harder to harder to see in the modern day. Because of the development of non-traditional computers, like quantum computers, the line between “intentionality” and programming is becoming fuzzier. Searle’s arguments might have to be modified to apply to different types of computers. I do not believe his arguments are quite complete or completely convincing. Nonetheless, Searle presented a thought experiment that is definitely thought-provoking and interesting. It has captivated many people for the past thirty years in a significant way, and I think it will continue to do so for years to come.

The Design of Everyday Things - Chapter 1

In chapter one of Donald A. Norman's book The Design of Everyday Things, I found myself very surprised. I had never thought about even the most mundane things in my everyday life having such complex effects. For example, I have encountered similar glass swinging doors that Norman told about. I, too, was confused when I thought I was supposed to push a door, but it was actually intended to be pulled. It usually happens at department stores when they have the minimalistic look or at small shops whose handles go horizontally across on both sides, making the implication of pushing or pulling ambiguous.

The discussion about the complexity of the simple telephone made me laugh. It reminds me of the telephones that I have to use at my workplace. I work in retail, so the telephones are mostly used when a guest calls or when we must page for someone in the store. It has the standard numberpad and several buttons on the right hand side. Some of the phones have a template attached that shows what each button does, but for some reason or another, some of the phones have lost these templates. All you see is a column of white buttons. When any of the employees encounter these phones, they have to pause and figure out which button to press in order to page someone. Some people actually memorized (it's the fifth button down). Others just avoid those particular phones all together.

When I first started working at that store, I remember having so much trouble using the phone. In particular, I was unable to put someone on hold for a while. I was taught how to use the phone at the beginning, but I had forgotten which button was the hold button. There is a red button and a pink button at the top of the phone; one is to hang up the phone and the other is to put the caller on hold. I kept mixing them up in trying to guess which was which. Let's just say that we had a few very annoyed callers for a while...

Just reading the first chapter of this book has made me change my view of everyday things. Now I think about how some things come very naturally to me without instruction. I also think about what things give me trouble, and how they should be improved. I look forward to reading the rest of the book to find out about how everyday things affect my everyday life and how I can improve upon those things in my future endeavors.

Paper Reading #6: Profanity Use in Online Communities

Introduction

In their paper, "Profanity Use in Online Communities," Sara Owsley Sood, Judd Austin, and Elizabeth F. Churchill analyzed the current methods of list-based profanity detection systems and their limitations. Then they discussed how different communities have different interpretations what is profane. That is, there is different contexts in which differing degrees of profanity is appropriate. The authors presented this paper at CHI 2012 in Austin, Texas, in May 2012. Sood is an assistant professor at Pomona College and is interested on the impact of emotion on online communication, Antin and Churchill are research scientists at Yahoo! Research.

Summary

In order to evaluate some of the current methods of profanity detection, they used a data set of user comments over a three-month period from the socials news website Yahoo! Buzz. They employed Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to evaluate a subset of the comments by answering several short questions to sort the comments. In order to train the Turkers to evaluate on similar standards, the authors used a 'gold data' model which gave examples and explanations of why certain comments were profane or insulting. The Turkers' evaluations became the basis on which they analyzed their results.

Figure 1: Different uses of symbols, like @ and #, in non-profane ways

Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

Sood, et al., said that research on profanity and other inappropriate content has been done before. After looking around, I also believe their observations. This paper is not novel in the sense that such work has been done and evaluated before.

1. Maignan, Isabelle, and Bryan A. Lukas. "The Nature and Social Uses of the Internet: A Qualitative Investigation." Journal of Consumer Affairs. 31.2 (1997): 346-71. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Maignan and Lukas's work on how people use the internet can provide Sood, et al., with reasons why users use profanity in certain domains or contexts more than in others. Furthermore, Sood, et al., could probably look at their work and how marketing activities further affect internet usage and, in turn, profanity usage.

2. Greenfield, Paul, Peter Rickwood, and Huu Cuong Tran. "Effectiveness of Internet Filtering Software Products." CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences. (2001): n. page. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Greenfield, et al., looked a specific products that filtered internet content. Sood, et al., can use this work to give a concrete perspective on the commercial success of different products that tried to filter our profanity and other inappropriate material on websites.

3. Johnson, Thomas J., Barbara K. Kaye, et al. "Every Blog Has Its Day: Politically-interested Internet Users' Perceptions of Blog Credibility." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13.1 (2007): 100-22. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Johnson, et al., provide another way through which users can comment: blogs. Sood, et al., can use their observations and interpretations from their own data to further their research into political-based blogs and see how users use profanity and insults in their comments compared to those on other blogs.

4. Finn, Jerry, and Mary Banach. "Victimization Online: The Down Side of Seeking Human Services for Women on the Internet." CyberPsychology & Behavior. 3.2 (2000): 243-54. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

For women seeking health and human services on the internet, they should not have to endure cyberstalking, identity theft, and attacks. Sood, et al., should also work towards filtering such content to protect these women and many other people from abusive attacks.

5. Semitsu, Junichi P. "Burning Cyberbooks in Public Libraries: Internet Filtering Software vs. The First Amendment." Stanford Law Review. 52.2 (2000): 509-45. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Semitsu offers a very different perspective on the effects of internet filtering. He discusses how it affects people's right to free speech. Sood, et al., did not consider the ethical use of the filtering of profane comments, but it is something that needs to be examined. In certain contexts, filtering is more appropriate, but it is not appropriate in all contexts.

6. Balkin, J.M., Beth S. Noveck, and Kermit Roosevelt. "Filtering the Internet: A Best Practices Model." (1999): n. page. Web. 11 Sep. 2012. 

Balk, et al., provide guidelines for filtering content on websites. They also consider philosophical and legal ramifications of filtering content. Sood, et al., need to keep these things in mind when discussing filtering content for different communities.

7. Zimmer, Eric A., and Christopher D. Hunter. "Risk and the Internet: Perception and Reality." Communication and cyberspace. (2002): n. page. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Zimmer and Hunter provide data that there is not as much objectionable content on the internet as is perceived by many others. This data should be interpreted by Sood, et al., as meaning that they need to examine different websites because the amount of profane comments in different categories can be quite varied from the data that they have from one website.

8. Preston, Cheryl B. "Zoning the Internet: A New Approach to Protecting Children Online." Brigham University Law Review. (2007): 1417-67. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Preston gives another way to protect children from inappropriate content on the internet. She also give another perspective on why filters do not work, which reinforces Sood, et al.'s work.

9. Shin, J. "Morality and Internet Behavior: A study of the Internet Troll and its relation with morality on the Internet." Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2008. (2008): 2834-40. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Shin looks at a new phenomenon that has been seen on the internet these days: the Troll. Sood, et al., should wonder how the Troll affects web content and profanity.

10. Sood, Sara Owsley, Judd Antin, and Elizabeth F. Churchill. "Using Crowdsourcing to Improve Profanity Detection." AAAI Technical Report SS-12-06. n. page. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Sood, et al., used their own work on how crowdsourcing can be used to detect profanity more effectively than list-based methods. This is important because there work for this paper is based on their findings from that paper.

Evaluation

The authors used very objective measures to evaluate their work. These measures were both qualitative and quantitative. The methods were systemic. In this work, Sood, et al., wanted to find the answer to three main questions: whether current profanity detection systems were effective, how profanity differs between communities, and how profanity is received by different communities.

First, to see if current profanity detection systems were effective, the authors used a shared profanity list from the website phorum.org. They built a system that simply flags a comment as profane if it contains any of the words on that list. Then they used a second list of words from noswearing.com, which has a list of community contributed profane terms. This means that this list evolves over time and is more comprehensive than the phorum.org list. They also used a stemmer which would check to see if the words in the comment had a shared stem with any word on a profanity list. They compared the Turkers' evaluations to the results of the systems that they built. They found that the best performance came from the list from noswearing.com combined with a stemming system, which detected 40.2% of the profanity cases at 52.8% precision. This is not impressive at all. The authors believe that this lack of precision and accuracy was caused by intentional or accidental misspellings (for example, shiiit) and the overlapping use of certain symbols, like the @ symbol, in different contexts.

Second, the authors evaluated how profanity differs between communities and domains. They examined how frequently profanity was used by looking at the data collected from the Turkers and the domains from which the comments came. They found that political stories contained more profanity, more insults, and more directed insults to others than any other domain. Each domain had a different emphasis on each of these three categories, implying that with differing communities and domains, there are different degrees of profanity, insults, and directed insult. They also looked at how profanity was used. Whenever a comment has profanity, it is more likely that it also contains an insult or a directed insult. Also, there was an existence of the inverse relationship; if a comment has an insult, it is more likely to contain profanity. When the comment is not an insult, profanity tends to be used when people have negative rants on the topic being discussed.

Figure 2: Distribution of comments containing profanity withing different topical domains

Finally, to look at how profanity is received, they looked at the 'rate up' and 'rate down' votes for each comment. They used this to imply that a comment got more attention. The found that profane comments were more likely to get 'rate up' votes and 'rate down' votes. The authors think this means that profane comments are more popular or more widely read than non-profane comments.

Discussion

While I think this work is interesting, I do not this work was that novel. By the authors' admission, there has been a tremendous amount of work done before. However, no work has a precise and accurate solution to filtering out profane comments. I think the evaluation was appropriate on a small scale. The analysis included just about 6500 comments. They could have explored comments on other social news media, too. However, for the data that they did use, I think they used mostly valid methods. There were a lot of assumptions made, but it is difficult to make a standard for, say, popularity. I think continued work on this is important because of how accessible the internet and social media are. We need to be conscious of ourselves and others' actions in certain communities and contexts, and we must act appropriately.

Paper Reading #5: Playable Character: Extending Digital Games into the Real World

Introduction

In their paper "Playable Character: Extending Digital Games into the Real World," Jason Linder and Wendy Ju from California College of the Arts explored the world of games in order to find out how real-world activity could be incorporated into digital games. This resulted in the development of the game Forest for the non-profit organization Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) in San Francisco. This was presented at CHI 2012 in May of 2012 in Austin, TX. Linder is pursing his MFA in Design and MBA in Design Strategy.  Ju is an assistant professor and is interested in physical interaction design.

Summary

Linder and Ju isolated certain aspects of games and analyzed how activities performed in the real world could be incorporated into a digital game system. This led to several game prototypes that were tested by various colleagues and friends. Finally, they developed their final game Forest which used these elements in an interesting manner. First, they created a game similar to SimCity called Simulation City. The players had to take pictures of real buildings in order to add items to their city. Second, they developed SphereQuest to see what connections could be made between someone's daily tasks, like eating a piece of fruit, and their video game character's stats, like magic. Third, in the game The Other End, players simply checked in at a sensor at one end of a hall and then somehow make their way to the other end of the hall and check in at a sensor there. There was a scoreboard with three categories listed: most points, most trips, and best time. Fourth, they developed Cubelord; the players had to give up personal information or perform different silly tasks to beat other players. They acquired territories (the cubicals of the studio) by buying them with funds that they acquired by doing the aforementioned things. Finally, they designed their final game Forest. They implemented a small version of the game to test the reception by volunteers of FUF and several others not affiliated with them. In the game, players could to check in a tree by taking a photo or adding information about the tree, which would earn them "leaves," a kind of currency that could be used to allow them to build and customize their Virtual Forest. They could mark a GPS location to be an ideal spot for a new tree with the "Tree Please!" function and earn more "leaves" that way. Players can earn tokens like badges or special game items by participating in team activities like volunteering.

Figure 1: Forest game - Adding information for a tree to earn "leaves"

Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

This work is not really novel. There has been a lot of research on games. The authors talked about background information about types of games and the gamification of day-to-day tasks, but they did not reference as many related works as I thought they should have. Some related works are listed below.

1. Crabtree, Andy, and Tom Rodden. "Hybrid ecologies: understanding cooperative interaction in emerging physical-digital environments." Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. 12.7 (2008): 481-93. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Crabtree and Rodden discuss how the merging of physical and digital environments are becoming more prevalent. Such background information is useful to add perspective when designing games that connect reality and digital games

2. Benford, Steve, Andy Crabtree, et al. "The Frame of the Game: Blurring the Boundary between Fiction and Reality in Mobile Experiences." CHI '06 Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems. (2006): 427-36. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Benford, et al. give a perspective on how mobile experience on how mobile devices creates new opportunities to combine reality and the digital world. They offer ways that the line between acceptable behavior in the physical world and dramatic behavior in the digital world can be blurred.

3. Cheok, A.D., Fong Siew Wan, et al. "Game-City: a ubiquitous large area multi-interface mixed reality game space for wearable computers." Wearable Computers. (2001): 156-57. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Game-City is not so different from Forest because it can span a whole city. It also combine the physical world with a digital game. The only significant difference is that Game-City uses wearable computer components, which could be applied to Forest in some way.

4. de Kort, Yvonne, Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn, and Brian J. Gajadhar. "People, Places, and Play: A research framework for digital game experience in a socio-spatial context." n. page. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

de Kort, et al. explore how digital games can be shaped by the socio-spatial context of the game. For a game like Forest, that can be seen in both the physical world and the digital world.

5. Fails, Jerry Alan, Allison Druin, et al. "Child's play: a comparison of desktop and physical interactive environments." IDC '05 Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Interaction design and children. (2005): 48-55. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Fails, et al. compared physical games and digital games for young children. Both types of games can have different impact on their social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. This is an interesting viewpoint that Linder and Ju can look at and maybe apply to their Forest game for children volunteers.

6. Bareford, CG. "Community as client: environmental issues in the real world. A SimCity computer simulation."Comput Nurs. 19.1 (2001): 11-6. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

SimCity has a lot more to offer than what Linder and Ju alluded to. They could probably take a few more elements from SimCity and add it into Forest and further enhance the game.

7. Babcock, C. "Lessons From Farmville." Information Week. (2011): 29-34. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Farmville is a much simpler game compared to Forest. However, a lot of similar elements are there, and Linder and Ju can use Farmville to come up with new ways to build upon their early version of Forest to make it more popular and increase FUF's numbers.

8. Shelley, Bruce. "Guidelines for Developing Successful Games."Gamasutra. (2001): n. page. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Shelley offers says to improve games so that they can become a success. Linder and Ju can use these suggestions to refine Forest or conduct more research on reality and digital hybrid games.

9. Churchill, Elizabeth, Andreas Girgensohn, et al. "Blending digital and physical spaces for ubiquitous community participation." Communications of the ACM - Information cities. 47.2 (2004): 38-44. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Churchill, et al. looks at how blurring the boundary between the digital and physical can increase face-to-face community participation. This is the kind of work Linder and Ju should look like because it is directly related to their goals.

10. Intille, Stephen S., Charles Kukla, et al. "Merging the Physical and Digital in Ubiquitous Computing Environments." n. page. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

There are many limitations to Forest right now. These need to be looked at critically from different angles. Intille, et al.'s work looks at how digital interfaces for physical environments, like a city, with ubiquitous displays and sensing can create some unique problems.

Evaluation

Linder and Ju's evaluations were largely subjective qualitative data. They looked at the responses of players and their own perceptions of the players' interaction between the real-world activity and the digital game element. First, for Simulation City, the players seemed to enjoy collecting interesting buildings just to have a collection of real-world items. Second, in the game SphereQuest, the more the player could connect with the action, the more fun they had; for example, they had to use public transportation to increase their stealth. The players enjoyed pretending that they were being stealthy in real life. Third, The Other End seemed to catch a lot of interest beause it was quick to play and it created lots of competition. They first tried to beat each other's times, and when that became difficult to accomplish, they focused on the other statistics. There was also an increase in social interaction; the players would linger and discuss stratgey. They also noticed that the players were trying to find a way to beat the game by bending the rules. Fourth, the Cubelord game showed that the players were more likely to do tasks that were convenient because it was the quickest way to earn funds. The game Forest combined all of the elements that Linder and Ju found engaging for players. The players tried out a small version of the game and commented on how they were excited to see the full version. There was generally positive feedback when asked about the game.

Discussion

I think this work is very interesting in trying to recruit more volunteers for a non-profit organization by making the activities seem more like a game than a job or obligations. The game experiments leading up to Forest were less interesting to me. There were probably better ways to test or research such aspects of a game. The evaluation seemed okay but there was no real data collected other than observation and user feedback. The contribution was not novel to me. In fact, Forest sounded a lot like the popular Facebook game FarmVille, but with slightly different elements involved.

Paper Reading #4: Supporting Face-To-Face Communication Between Clinicians and Children with Chronic Headaches Through a Zoomable Multi-Touch App

Introduction

In their paper "Supporting Face-To-Face Communication Between Clinicians and Children with Chronic Headaches Through a Zoomable Multi-Touch App," Juan Pablo Hourcade, Martha Driessnack, and Kelsey E. Huebner explored how zoomable drawing applications can be used to enhance the already existing Draw-and-Tell Conversation (DTC) method. DTC is used to allow children to communicate with adults their feelings or thoughts through drawings first before they use verbal descriptions. The drawings allow them to better show that they may find difficult to articulate well with words. This was presented at CHI 2012 in May of 2012 in Austin, TX. All three authors are from the University of Iowa. Hourcade is an associate professor and is interested in technology that supports creativity, collaboration, and information access for a variety of users. Driessnack is an assistant professor who finds interest in researching children's perspectives and art-based assessment and intervention methods. Finally, Huebner is interested in 3D modeling and graphic design.

Summary

The authors simply wanted to know if using a multitouch tablet would be a better tool to use than regular pencil and paper when implementing the DTC method. In particular, they were trying to figure out whether children with chronic headaches were able to more effectively show and describe how they felt through drawings. Hourcade, et al. used three different media through which the children used to draw and describe their pain. They used (1) two sheets of paper, one with the outline of a human head and one with the outline of a human body, and colored pencils and markers, (2) a zoomable drawing application on a tablet, and (3) Photogoo. Photogoo allows the user to manipulate a picture shown on the screen and draw on top of the picture. In this case, the picture was of the child's head. Each child tried every method, but in different orders.

Figure 1: A child using the zoomable drawing application of a tablet

Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

The authors talked in depth about the related work. Driessnack had developed the DTC method. I do not think the work was incredibly novel; they were only exploring a different medium through which DTC could be used.

1. Bradding, Angela, and Marie Horstman. "Using the write and draw technique with children." European Journal of Oncology Nursing. 3.3 (1999): 170-5. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

The paper by Bradding and Horstman provides background information on how drawing and writing can help adults understand what children are thinking, feeling, and perceiving in the medical field. Driessnack probably had done similar research.

2. Horstman, Maire, Susie Aldiss, et al. "Methodological Issues When Using the Draw and Write Technique With Children Aged 6 to 12 Years." Qualitative Health Research. 18.7 (2008): 1001-11. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Horstman, et al. explain how draw and write techniques need to be done in a responsible way in order to effectively and sensitively acquire information from children. Hourcade, et al. were aware of this and made sure someone who had experience with these techniques worked with the children.

3. Wesson, Michaela, and Karen Salmon. "Drawing and showing: helping children to report emotionally laden events." Applied Cognitive Psychology. 15.3 (2001): 301-19. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Wesson and Salmon offer another way for allowing children to express themselves: through reenactment. Hourcade, et al. could probably also try this technique in future work and compare it to the zoomable drawing application.

4. Butler, Sarnia, Julien Gross, and Harlene Hayne. "The effect of drawing on memory performance in young children." Developmental Psychology. 31.4 (1995): 597-608. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Butler, et al.'s work shows that children had a more accurate memory when they were allowed to draw versus when they only verbalized their memory. This has implications in the work of Hourcade, et al. because it reveals how much more accurate and therefore reliable the children's descriptions of their headaches were.

5. Maytal, Joseph, Robert S. Bienkowski, et al. "The Value of Brain Imaging in Children with Headaches."PEDIATRICS. 96.3 (1995): 413-16. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

MRIs or CT scans could have been used to give a medical perspective on children with chronic headaches. They could be used to link the descriptors with the medical diagnosis.

6. Shinnar, S., and B.J. D'Souza. "The diagnosis and management of headaches in childhood." Pediatr Clin North Am.. 29.1 (1982): 79-94. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Shinnar and D'Souza examined headaches in children. They described how they can be diagnosed and managed. Hourcade, et al. probably used information like this as a different perspective in how children were examined for chronic headaches.

7. De Carlo, L., B. Cavaliere, et al. "EEG evaluation in children and adolescents with chronic headaches."European Journal of Pediatrics. 158.3 (1999): 247-48. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

De Carlo, et al. explored the use of EEGs to help diagnose headaches in children and adolescents. This is yet another way Hourcade, et al. could use medical technology to help decipher children's chronic headaches.

8. Gladstein, Jack, and E. Wayne Holden. "Chronic Daily Headache in Children and Adolescents: A 2-Year Prospective Study." Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain. 36.6 (1996): 349-51. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Gladstein and Holden offer very distinct differences between adult and childhood chronic headaches. This goes with Hourcade, et al.'s emphasis on needing to distinguish difference between diagnosing adult chronic headaches and children chronic headaches.

9. Mikail, Samuel F., and Carl L. von Baeyer. "Pain, somatic focus, and emotional adjustment in children of chronic headache sufferers and controls." Social Science & Medicine. 31.1 (1990): 51-9. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Mikail and von Baeyer's work could offer Hourcade, et al. another perspective for children with chronic headaches. The images drawn by children could reflect a family history of chronic pain descriptors. This is because there is a trend of other family members having chronic pain, too.

10. Gascon, GG. "Chronic and recurrent headaches in children and adolescents." Pediatric Clinics of North America. 31.5 (1984): 1027-51. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

Gascon gives a general overview of chronic headaches in children and adolescents. This can give more background information about chronic headaches and their different diagnoses for children.

Evaluation

Hourcade, et al. evaluated the work through both qualitative and quantitative means. The results were largely qualitative because they used the detail in the children's descriptions and what they observed to evaluate the effectiveness of the media used. They measured part of the DTC system: the medium on which the drawings took place. Interestingly, most of the children did not like Photogoo because they did not like to manipulate their own face or they did not know what they looked like when they had headaches. Therefore, the authors only focused on the other two media. The quantitative data they collected was the phrases that the children used to describe their pain, where the pain was, and how they felt and what they did when they had the headache. From this data, the authors saw that if the paper was used first, then there was an increase in descriptors when the tablet was used; however, when the tablet was used first, there was no increase nor decrease in the amount of descriptors when the paper followed. Time-wise, both methods were completed within a short amount of time, the longest being over 10 minutes. The children spent slightly more time on the tablet than on the paper, indicating that they had more to add to it. The subjective qualitative data included the drawings themselves and what the authors interpreted from them. They saw that children could provide more detail because they could zoom into the area of pain. They also observed that the zooming allowed the children to provide more context; they linked their headaches to pain or discomfort in other parts of the body, like the stomach and neck. Finally, they observed that the children used many more colors on the tablet with pen and paper, which baffled the authors; they could only speculate why that might be the case.

Discussion

I personally think this work and contribution was slightly interesting, but not really profound. The evaluation seemed appropriate for what they wanted to measure: effectiveness in description. The contribution was not spectacularly novel. I would like to see more work like this done because children tend to be less emphasized when it comes to chronic headaches. I did not like how the authors included a section on how many children with chronic headaches tend to be treated through adult methods. I think that did not have anything directly to do with their research.

Paper Reading #3: Reducing Compensatory Motions in Video Games for Stroke Rehabilitation

Introduction

In their paper "Reducing Compensatory Motions in Video Games for Stroke Rehabilitation" Gazihan Alankus and Caitlin Kelleher explored and developed a way to help people who have had strokes rehabilitate by using a video game that could be played at home. It would be used specifically to help reduce compensation for lack of motion in the torso. This paper was presented at CHI 2012 in May 2012 in Austin, TX. Gazihan Alankus is from both Washington University in St. Louis and Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. His interests reside with video games for rehabilitiation, virtual characters, and sensor networks. Caitlin Kelleher has varied interests within HCI. Currently she is working on a project that allows children to learn computer programming.

Summary

Alankus and Kelleher conducted their research in two steps. They first designed a way to detect torso compensation and a way to evaluate such compensation. Then they designed a game which can be used as a theraputic tool to help patients get feedback on their personal conscious or unconscious compensation for lack of motion in the torso.

For the first step, they designed a harness using Nintendo Wii remotes to help track a participant's torso movements. Then they analyzed data from the movements of the participants to evaluate how compensation data was collected. They took into account the location of the Wii remotes, the movements that users make when doing shoulder abduction and adduction exercises, and the range of error in comparison to a motion capture system.

Figure 1: The harness created for this study

In the second step, the authors designed a game that would have users perform therapeutic exercises and would create situations in which users would have to naturally compensate. In this side-scrolling type game, the user has to control a floating hot air balloon. They have move their bodies to control the vertical position of the balloon to catch parachute jumpers. This causes the user to do shoulder abduction and adduction exercises. They calibrated the game for each user by including an seamless in-game method, making movements much more matched between calibration and actual performance. They placed the jumpers at both motion range extremes to create therapeutically beneficial motions and used obstacles to promote controlled motions. They used a point system and visual and audio ques to shape rewards and punishments for the users to help condition them to use less compensatory movements. They modified, improved, and tested the game in iterative steps.

Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

The authors appropriately talked about related work. They divided there related works into three sections, each addressing a different aspect of their work. Their work is not very novel. Using technology (and games) to aid in rehabilitation is not new. However, it helps supplement the work that has already been done. Several other related works are listed below.

1. McNeill, M.D.J., D.K. Charles, et al. "Evaluating user experiences in rehabilitation games." Journal of Assistive Technologies. 6.3 (2012): 173-181. Web. 5 Sep. 2012.

McNeill, et al. analyzed the game-based systems that aided in rehabilitation and discussed how current work could be improved. Alankus and Kelleher could probably look at their work in order to improve their game and harness.

2.

Evaluation

In order to evaluate the possible success of the game, the authors created five versions of the game:

1. The balloon does not tilt, so there is no compensation feedback
2. The balloon tilts only
3. Punishments and rewards are provided depending on the amount of compensation
4. Uses punishment and reward events with an adaptive algorithm
5. Uses punishment and reward events with variable ratio feedback

The authors used a subjective qualitative questionnaire and interview to see how the users felt about the game. They used the compensation data from the Wii remotes and the game to quantitatively analyze actual success in modifying compensation behavior. There was not a significant difference between the first two versions of the game nor between the second and third versions of the game. The third version was able to reduce relative compensation. However, when punishments and rewards were given, then there was a notable reduction in compensation. They also found that players were willing to play the game and seemed to enjoy it.

Discussion

I think this is a very interresting thing that the authors looked at. I have read about how video games can help people learn, but rehabilitation is another perspective that I did not think about. I think this work is novel and significant. At the same time, since this is novel, I think more time and research must be done to refine how the game can be used to effectively help patients recover compared to once-a-week sessions in physical therapy. I think the evaluation was appropriate, but it, too, must be refined to further minimize error. A possible way to do this is to use some sort of sensor or device that is less bulky than the Wii remote. I hope that these authors continue this work and that others follow in their footsteps to extend to other types of rehabilitation methods.

Reference

Alankus, Gazihan, and Caitlin Kelleher. "Reducing Compensatory Motions in Video Games for Stroke Rehabilitation." CHI '12 Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (2012): 2049-2058. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.

Paper Reading #2: Understanding User Experience in Stereoscopic 3D Games

Introduction

Jonas Schild, Joseph J. LaViola Jr., and Maic Masuch collaborated together to complete their study of "Understanding User Experience in Stereoscopic 3D Games." They presented their paper at the CHI conference in May of 2012 in Austin, TX. Jonas Schild and Maic Masuch are from the University of Duisburg-Essen Forsthausweg 2 in Germany. Schild's research interests include entertainment computing and stereoscopic 3D games. Masuch is interested in the development of interactive multimedia systems. Joseph LaViola is from the University of Central Florida. LaViola's interests in lie in computer graphics, user interface, and virtual reality.

Summary

Schild, et al. wanted to explore the actual impact that games played in 3D stereo had on players versus those played in 2D displays. They also wanted to compare the effects between different target groups and different game concepts. They decided to compare males to females. They choose three games with very different concepts: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, Blur, and Trine. Avatar is a third-person 3D action game, Blur is a racing game, and Trine is an action-adventure game. All three games were played with similar keyboard keys and were relatively similar in game mechanics and tasks. There were sixty participants; twenty-six were male and thirty-four were female. Each participant played one of the games in both stereoscopic vision and monoscopic vision.

Figure 1: A participant playing one of the games

Related Work Not Referenced in the Paper

The general area of stereoscopic vision has had much previous research. The authors did list and explain some of the previous research, but I think they tried to make their work seem more novel that it actually was. The following list shows some of related work previously done:

1. Yeh, Yei-Yu, and Louis D. Silverstein. "Spatial Judgments with Monoscopic and Stereoscopic Presentation of Perspective Displays." Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 34.5 (1992): 583-600. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.

In  Schild, et al.'s paper, the authors compared how stereoscopic vision compared to monoscopic vision in games. In Yeh and Silversetein's paper, they studied how space was judged between a stereoscopic presentation and a monoscopic presentation. The depth that people perceive affects how users interact with the environment. It affects the user's orientation and perception in the environment.

2. Singer, Michael J., Jennifer Ehrlich, and Stephen Cinq-Mars. "Task Performance in Virtual Environments: Stereoscopic Versus Monoscopic Displays and Head-Coupling." (1995): n.pag. STIC Online: Information for the Defense Community. Web. 4 Sep 2012.


Singer, et al. looked at how stereoscopic presentations affected the training of dismounted soldiers in Virtual Environments. They compared this to the monoscopic version of the Virtual Environment. They used training program tasks and general soldier tasks to test the effects. Singer, et al.'s paper is just a practical application of Schild, et al.'s work.


3. Dang, Thao, Soren Kammel, et al. "Path Planning for Autonomous Driving Based on Stereoscopic and Monoscopic Vision Cues." Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems. (2006): 191-196. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.

Thao, et al. explored how stereoscopic and monoscopic perspectives can be used together to perform path planning for autonomous driving. This can be compared to the Blur driving game that was used in "Understanding User Experience."

4. Werkhoven, Peter J., and Joris Groen. "Manipulation Performance in Interactive Virtual Environments."Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 40.3 (1998): 432-42. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.


Werkhoven and Groen compared monoscopic and stereoscopic views to see how speed and accuracy of controllers can be manipulated. This can be considered another side of Schild, et al.'s work. While Schild, et al. consider the users are affected by stereoscopic vision, Werkhoven and Groen look at the accuracy of the use of controllers when participants use them.


5. Ogle, Kenneth N. "On the limits of stereoscopic vision."Journal of Experimental Psychology. 44.4 (1952): 253-259. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.

Ogle's work is significantly older than some of the other work done on stereoscopic vision, but it still applies to today's studies. He looked at how the brain try to compromise the stereoscopic perception of depth and how it is limiting. This is what causes the symptoms of sickness in Schild, et al.'s study. It give a psychological perspective to this HCI work.

6. Woods, Andrew, Tom Docherty, and Rolf Koch. "Image Distortions in Stereoscopic Video Systems."Proceedings of SPIE 1915. (1993): n. page. Web. 5 Sep. 2012.

Woods, et al. analyzed in depth how stereoscopic video systems are not perfect. There are few distortions that can be avoided or minimized. However, there are still others that cannot be completely eliminated. Schild, et al. can use this work to help reduce sickness symptoms for people playing games in stereoscopic vision.

7. Freeman, Ralph D. "Stereoscopic Vision: Which parts of the brain are involved?." n. page. Web. 5 Sep. 2012.

Freeman gives a biological view of stereoscopic vision. Schild, et al. can use this perspective to further refine their work on the effects of stereoscopic vision compared to monoscopic vision in games for players.

8. Hakkinen, Jukka, Monika Polonen, Jari Takatalo, and Gote Nyman. "Simulator sickness in virtual display gaming: a comparison of stereoscopic and nonstereoscopic situations." MobileHCI '06 Proceedings of the 8th conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services. 227-230. Web. 5 Sep. 2012.

Hakkinen, et al. give another perspective on how stereoscopic vision causes sickness. They add in a unique perspective with their use on mobile devices.

9. Bando, Takehiko, Atsuhiko Iijima, and Sumio Yano. "Visual fatigue caused by stereoscopic images and the search for the requirement to prevent them: A review." Displays. 33.2 (2012): 76-83. Web.

Bando, et al. offer some ways to reduce sickness caused by stereoscopic vision. Schild, et al. could try to implement these techniques to see if they improve the players' experiences with stereoscopic 3D games.

10. Xiao, Wu, and Wang Fei. "A study of stereoscopic display technology and visual fatigue caused by viewing stereoscopic images." Computing, Control and Industrial Engineering (CCIE). 1. (2011): 379-282. Web. 5 Sep. 2012.

Xiao and Fei offer a general overview of stereoscopic displays and their possible future.

Evaluation

The authors used both subjective qualitative and objective quantitative evaluation methods to measure their hypotheses. They asked users what they thought about the game play, their presence within the game, and feelings of sickness in the form of questionnaires. The NeuroSky MindSet was used to measure the psychophysiological data of attention and meditation. It is important to note that MindSet has not been proven to be a standard to measure such data.

In regards to the questionnaire about game play, there was a higher rating of immersion and flow in stereoscopic vision compared to monoscopic vision. There was less tension and challenge in stereoscopic vision. Between the genders, there was a significant difference of immersion only for males. When it comes to game type, males seemed to have showed the more significant differences than females. For the measure of presence, there was significant difference in the feeling of presence in the game in stereoscopic vision versus monoscopic vision. When comparing the three games between one another, each felt increased presence. Once again, there were varied differences between the genders. Finally, when simulator sickness was analyzed, there was significantly more sickness in stereoscopic vision than in microscopic vision. When measuring the MindSet data, there was actually lower attention in stereoscopic vision for both males and females. When comparing the games to each other, Avatar and Blur showed lower attention, but Trine did to show any significant difference.

Discussion

I think the authors made a sincere effort in this research. However, I also feel that this research had no real direction. They were just providing a large amount of data. The results were not significant enough for me to find novel. The evaluation seemed appropriate except for the MindSet measure for objective data. Because it by admittance has not been validated, I do not feel completely comfortable basing results on this. I would have at least tried to find another objective measurement tool to help reinforce their conclusions. I think this paper is a good step in the right direction, but more work needs to be done before anything conclusive can be said about the effects of stereoscopic vision in video games for players.

Reference

Schild, Jonas, Joseph, J. LaViola Jr., and Maic Masuch. "Understanding User Experience in Stereoscopic 3D Games." CHI '12 Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (2012): 89-98. Web. 4 Sep. 2012.