bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
IS consultants and the change agent role
Authors: Winston Elaine R.
Published: January 2007

Markus and Benjamin (1996) proposed a change agentry model that identifies three change agent roles for the information system (IS) specialist: the traditional, the facilitator, and the advocator. This study explores these roles for IS consultants who are engaged as independent contractors by small businesses. Presented here is a field study of twenty-five cases to test these three roles. In general, the results of the study suggest that IS consultants' view themselves as change agents and can identify a role that they prefer to follow. Key relationships emerged between the change agent role selected by an IS consultant for an engagement and the quality of the IS implementation. A main finding indicates that the advocator role model is most effective when resistance to change is encountered. The study concludes with suggestions to help IS consultants improve their effectiveness as change agents, such as acquiring the broader type of skills to adopt an advocator role and attaining the flexibility to follow different change agent roles.
Coordinated data prefetching by utilizing reference information at both proxy and web servers
Authors: Chen Xin , Zhang Xiaodong
Published: January 2007

Existing prefetching techniques rely on server-based, proxy-based, or client-based reference access information. Although Web servers may provide accurate access information, our studies show that significant communication overhead can be involved by sending unnecessary reference information to clients or/and proxy servers. Our study also shows that prediction accuracy of proxy-based prefetching can be significantly limited without input of Web servers. We propose a
coordinated proxy-server prefetching technique
that adaptively utilizes the reference information and coordinates prefetching activities at both proxy and web servers. In our design, the reference access information stored in proxy servers will be the main source serving data prefetching for groups of clients, each of whom shares the common surfing interests. The access information in the web server will be used to serve data prefetching only for data objects that are not qualified for proxy-based prefetching. Conducting trace-driven simulations, we show that both hit ratios and byte hit ratios contributed from coordinated proxy-server prefetching are are up to 88% higher than that from proxy-based prefetching, and they are comparable to the ratios from server-based prefetching with a difference of 5%.
Improving the service time of web clients using server redirection
Authors: Ardaiz Oscar , Freitag Felix , Navarro Leandro
Published: January 2007

This paper describes and evaluates experimentally a web server infrastructure, which consists of a small number of servers that redirect client requests based on the estimated client service time. The web servers have replicated content, are located in geographically different regions, and redirect clients between servers. The web servers use metrics obtained from server logs to estimate the service time of a client. Based on the estimated service time the server redirects the web client. The implementation of the measurement and redirection mechanism is done in the web servers and is independent of the clients. Using server logs the measuring mechanism does not introduce traffic into the network. We have experimentally evaluated the proposed web server infrastructure. In our experiments the client service time improved from 4 to 40 % when using the proposed mechanism. The web server infrastructure could be applied to improve the service time of selected clients, which frequently access a web server to retrieve a significant amount of data.
Ad hoc on-demand multipath distance vector routing
Authors: Marina Mahesh K. , Das Samir R.
Published: January 2007

We present AOMDV, an on-demand multipath distance vector protocol for mobile ad hoc networks. AOMDV is based on a prominent on-demand single path protocol called AODV. AOMDV establishes multiple loop-free and link-disjoint paths. Performance comparison of AOMDV with AODV using ns-2 simulations under varying node speeds shows that AOMDV provides a factor of two improvement in delay and about 20% reduction in routing overhead, while having similar packet delivery fraction.
AODVjr, AODV simplified
Authors: Chakeres Ian D. , Klein-Berndt Luke
Published: January 2007

In this paper AODVjr, a simplified version of the AODV protocol, is described. AODVjr is compared in simulation to a full featured AODV implementation. The results show that AODVjr performs as well as AODV and describes other positive effects of a smaller protocol specification.
AODV and IPv6 internet access for ad hoc networks
Authors: Nilsson Anders , Perkins Charles E. , Tuominen Antti J. , Wakikawa Ryuji , Malinen Jari T.
Published: January 2007

This paper describe briefly how the Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol can be used for internetworking between wireless ad hoc networks and the IPv6 Internet. This solution relies on the signalling of AODV to find an access providing Internet Gateway that is able to distribute a globally routable prefix for the ad hoc network. We have tried to evaluate this solution by means of simulation in order to stress the design and find areas that need improvement. We have observed that a critical factor in this design is how to determine whether the node is located in the ad hoc network, or located on the Internet. In addition to these design considerations we have also investigated common performance metrics such as end-to-end delay, delivery ratio and routing overhead and verified that these are not affected in a negative way by the design.
Secure ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing
Authors: Zapata Manel Guerrero
Published: January 2007

This article gives an overview of different approaches to provide security features to routing protocols in mobile ad hoc networks (MANET). It also describes Secure AODV (an extension to AODV that provides security features) giving a summary of its operation and talking about future enhancements to the protocol.
An adaptive wireless local area network protocol that improves throughput via adaptive control of direct sequence spread spectrum parameters
Authors: Mullins Barry E. , Davis Nathaniel J. , Midkiff Scott F.
Published: January 2007

We develop and analyze an elegant, opportunistic medium access control (MAC) protocol based on the proposed MAC standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN)---IEEE 802.11. Our adaptation of 802.11 is called CATER (Code Adapts To Enhance Reliability) and allows communicating stations to reconfigure their transceivers to use a longer pseudo-noise (PN) code when retransmissions are unsuccessful over a degraded channel. Results show that our protocol continues to function, permitting up to 14 percent normalized aggregate throughput, at times when IEEE 802.11 fails. In addition, throughput experiences only a small decrease due to protocol overhead during periods when stations experience a good channel with few bit errors.
Semantic query caching in a mobile environment
Authors: Lee Ken. C. K. , Leong H. V. , Si Antonio
Published: January 2007

Caching of remote data in a mobile client's local storage can improve data access performance and data availability. Traditional approaches are page-based, without taking advantage of the semantics of cached data. It is difficult for a client to determine if a query could be answered entirely based on locally cached data, forcing it to contact the database server for additional data. We propose a
semantic caching mechanism
which allows data to be cached as a collection of possibly related blocks, each of which is the result of a previously evaluated query. We investigate mechanisms for transforming projection-selection queries to reuse cached data blocks. This avoids transmitting unwanted data items over low bandwidth wireless channels. Cache replacement techniques based on the semantics of cached data are also proposed. We describe the design of our prototype and study its performance.
EyeTap technology for wireless electronic news gathering
Authors: Mann Steve , Fung James , Moncrieff Eric
Published: January 2007

The results of actual field tests of a new class of Personal Imaging systems, the Electronic News Gathering WearComp (ENGwear), are presented. These incorporate EyeTap Technology to cause the eye itself to function as if it were a camera, and to allow the eye to be wirelessly tapped out of and tapped into, capturing exactly what the user is viewing. This brings the point of view of the camera to the same point as the user's eye, and also allows the user to allow others to wirelessly modify his/her perception of visual reality. Images thus captured are simultaneously sent and received live to and from the internet using IP-over-wireless technology. This novel application of wireless technology empowers reporters: ENGwear systems allow for a great degree of mobility, and are constantly operational and recording to a circular buffer allowing the reporter to never 'miss a shot'.
Extending mobile IP with adaptive individual paging
Authors: Castelluccia Claude
Published: January 2007

This paper proposes to extend Mobile IP with adaptive individual paging. Paging reduces the signaling cost of Mobile IP making it more adapted to wireless cellular IP networks. By reducing the number of location updates to be sent per mobile host, paging also minimizes power consumption of the mobile devices. In the proposed extension, each mobile host computes dynamically its optimal location area size according to its traffic and mobility parameters. The optimal size is the size that provides the best paging versus location update cost tradeoff and, as a result, minimizes the signaling load in the network. We compare, by simulation, the performance of the proposed scheme with that of Mobile IP [11], a paging scheme that uses fixed size location areas and Hierarchical Mobile IP [5]. We show that our extension provides a significant gain compared to Mobile IP and the fixed size paging scheme and performs as well and sometimes better than Hierarchical Mobile IP. We also show that the integration of adaptive individual paging within Hierarchical Mobile IP outperforms all schemes.
A note on SCSI bus waits
Authors: Brandwajn Alexandre
Published: January 2007

In the SCSI-2 standard, the unique IDs of devices on the bus define a fixed priority whenever several devices compete for the use of the bus. Although the more recent SCSI-3 standard specifies an additional fair arbitration mode, it leaves such fair mode an optional feature. Despite a number of allusions to potential unfairness of the traditional SCSI bus arbitration scattered in the trade literature, there seem to be few formal studies to quantify this unfairness.In this paper, we propose a simple model of SCSI bus acquisition in which devices on the bus are viewed as sources of requests with fixed non-preemptive priorities. We use the model to assess the expected extent of unfairness, as measured by the mean bus wait, under varying load conditions. Effects of tagged command queueing are not considered in this note. Numerical results obtained with our model show that there is little unfairness as long as the workload is balanced across devices and the bus utilization is relatively low. Interestingly, even for medium bus utilization a significant fraction of bus requests find the bus free which might correlate with the service rounds noted in a recent experimental study. For unbalanced loads and higher bus utilization, the expected wait for the bus experienced by lowest priority devices can become significantly larger than the one experienced by highest priority device. This appears to be especially true if the higher priority devices have higher I/O rates and occupy the bus for longer periods. As might be expected, even for balanced workloads, unfairness tends to increase with the number of devices on the bus.
Understanding the slowdown of large jobs in an M/GI/1 system
Authors: Harchol-Balter Mor , Sigman Karl , Wierman Adam
Published: January 2007

We explore the performance of an M/GI/1 queue under various scheduling policies from the perspective of a new metric: the it slowdown experienced by largest jobs. We consider scheduling policies that bias against large jobs, towards large jobs, and those that are fair, e.g., Processor-Sharing. We prove that as job size increases to infinity, all work conserving policies converge almost surely with respect to this metric to no more than 1/(1-ρ), where ρ denotes load. We also find that the expected slowdown under any work conserving policy can be made arbitrarily close to that under Processor-Sharing, for all job sizes that are sufficiently large.
Mathematical analysis of the use of application-level traffic measurements for capacity engineering
Authors: Chandramouli Y. , Neidhardt Arnold L.
Published: January 2007

In general, the traffic characteristics of the individual applications that constitute the aggregate traffic on a network can be important for capacity engineering. In this paper, we demonstrate, based on mathematical analysis, the value of application-specific measurements, even when there is no service differentiation. Specifically, under certain assumptions, we obtain the result that engineering errors occur when traffic characteristics of individual applications are ignored, and that the errors are in the direction of under-engineering. The assumptions are that the individual applications can be modeled adequately as Fractional Brownian Motions and that measurements are available only at relatively coarse time scales (as is common presently). The results in this paper emphasize the value of collecting fine-grained traffic measurements.
A comparative study of think-aloud and critical decision knowledge elicitation methods
Authors: Crandall B. W.
Published: January 2007

The knowledge elicitation phase of expert system development continues to be identified as a major hurdle in construction of comprehensive, functional expert systems (Berry, 1987; Hoffman, 1987). One of the major difficulties is that expert knowledge is multifaceted. The expert has both explicit, objective knowledge and knowledge that is more implicitly understood. Such tacit knowledge is among the most difficult for experts to articulate on their own. Reliance on standard interview methods or unstructured think-aloud protocols may inadvertently bias the knowledge engineer into focusing on those aspects of the task that can be reasonable well represented within if/then, rule-based systems. The systems that result may lack critical components of expert knowledge. It is therefore essential that knowledge elicitation methods be sensitive to the contributions made by tacit knowledge and perceptual learning (Berry, 1987; Collins, Green, & Draper, 1985; Klein, Calderwood, & MacGregor, in press).
Gaia
Authors: Román Manuel , Hess Christopher , Cerqueira Renato , Ranganathan Anand , Campbell Roy H. , Nahrstedt Klara
Published: January 2007

We envision a future where people's living spaces are interactive and programmable. Users interact with their offices, homes, cars, malls and airports to request information, benefit from the resources available, and configure the habitat's behavior. Data and tasks are always accessible and are mapped dynamically to convenient resources present in the current location. Users may extend the habitat with personal devices that seamlessly integrate with the environment. Such user-oriented interactive environments may require a novel software infrastructure to operate their resources, sense context properties, and assist in the development and execution of applications. In this article, we present an experimental middleware infrastructure called Gaia that we have used to prototype the resource management of and provide the user-oriented interfaces for such physical spaces populated with network-enabled computing resources.
John Reid Reports
Authors: Reid John
Published: January 2007

For the moment, the Committee is in deadlock. All formal proposals require that at least half the Committee members (21) vote 'yes' and that there are at least twice as many 'yes' votes as 'no' votes. We need a proposal (or rather set of proposals) that will not be unacceptable to a third of the members because it removes too much of the present language or unacceptable to a third because it does not simplify the language enough.The Chairman has charged members to prepare proposals for the next meeting that aim for acceptability to two-thirds of the members. I will be preparing one such proposal jointly with Brian Smith of Argonne.
Edward Reid:some comments on Fortran 8X
Authors: Reid Edward
Published: January 2007

During the public review period on Fortran 8X, I submitted rather extensive comments (totalling about 31 pages) which are obviously too long for full publication in Fortran Forum. I have summarized some parts of the comments that may be of interest to Forum readers.
Treating IS development as a business: an agenda for research
Authors: Licker P. S.
Published: January 2007

The Data Processing Department: Role, Function, Structure
The role of the DP department is to provide information services, software, and consulting to the rest of the firm. The first role is historically the oldest and is closely related to the roots of the DP department in mechanical processing of records relating to personnel and sales. It is a bulk,
batch processing
activity historically, although today a great deal of this processing is done on-line through terminals at managers' and analysts' desks. Nonetheless, there is little doubt that the majority of CPU cycles and the bulk of operational labour involved in running a data processing department is dedicated to batch processing of records.
A spreadsheet interface for logic programming
Authors: Spenke M. , Beilken C.
Published: January 2007

We present PERPLEX, a programming environment intended for the end-user. In its design, the concepts of logic programming and spreadsheets are combined. Thus, on the one hand, logic programming becomes an interactive, incremental task where the user gets direct visual feedback, on the other hand, functionality and scope of a conventional spreadsheet program are considerably extended. In order to perform calculations and queries, constraints are imposed on the contents of the spreadsheet cells. New predicates can be defined using a programming-by-example technique: Rules are extracted from the user's solutions for example problems. Thus, concrete intermediate results take over the role of abstract logic variables in the programming process. PERPLEX has been successfully implemented on a Symbolics Lisp Machine.
Drama and personality in user interface design
Authors: Mountford S. J. , Buxton B. , Krueger M. , Laurel B. , Vertelney L.
Published: January 2007

The title of this panel immediately leaps out as being out of place. Of all the things that come to mind when one thinks of computers and user interfaces, drama and personality are among the last. The point here is not to make using computers more dramatic, per se, but to learn and borrow from the performing arts about techniques that could improve main stream interface design. The contributions described in this panel are borrowed from the theatrical world, film producing and music. In all the panelists work, the user is at the very center of creating the actual user interface experience, either through direct user participation or via engaging the individual viewer's personality. The panelists' pioneering research has produced and created several examples of new user interface experiences and designs. The discussion will focus on what techniques offer the most promise for facilitating the design of really new experiential user interfaces.
Cumulating the science of HCI: from s-R compatibility to transcription typing
Authors: John B. E. , Newell A.
Published: January 2007

In keeping with our claim that an applied psychology of HCI must be based on cumulative work within a unified framework, we present two extensions of the Model Human Processor. A model of immediate response behavior and stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility is presented and extended to a new domain: transcription typing. Parameters are estimated using one S-R compatibility experiment, used to make a priori predictions in four other S-R compatibility tasks, and then carried over into the area of typing. A model of expert transcription typing is described and its prediction of typing phenomena is demonstrated and summarized.
Learning and transfer of measurement tasks
Authors: Lee A. Y. , Polson P. G. , Bailey W. A.
Published: January 2007

This study presents a theoretically motivated analysis of learning and performance on a micro-processor based oscilloscope. An analysis of the knowledge required to make basic measurements was done using the GOMS model and Cognitive Complexity Theory (CCT). From these analyses and the criterion used in Polson, Muncher, and Engelbeck (1986), tasks were selected for an experiment evaluating training order manipulations using naive users of oscilloscopes. Production system models for each training task were derived from CCT. The models successfully predicted transfer between tasks and training order effects. Implications for the design of systems with embedded micro-processors are discussed.
A case study of user interface management system development and application
Authors: Manheimer J. M. , Burnett R. C. , Wallers J. A.
Published: January 2007

This paper discusses the design and applications of an object-oriented user interface management system (UIMS). Specifically, the Lockheed User Interface System (LUIS) is described. LUIS is based on a user interface model that includes declarative and procedural components. The package has been used by both non-programmers and programmers in several applications at Lockheed. Experiences derived from applications of the package are used to address several key issues in the UIMS field, such as procedural versus declarative specification, separation of the user interface from applications, UIMS flexibility, and UIMS support for design evaluation.
A high-level user interface management system
Authors: Singh G. , Green M.
Published: January 2007

A high-level UIMS which automatically generates the lexical and syntactic design of graphical user interfaces is presented. The interfaces generated by the UIMS can easily and rapidly be refined by the designer by using highly interactive and graphical facilities. The UIMS accepts a high-level description of the semantic commands supported by the application, a description of the implementation device, and optionally, the end user's preferences. Based on these inputs the UIMS generates graphical user interfaces in which the commands are selected from menus and command arguments are provided through interaction with graphical interaction techniques.
Circling: a method of mouse-based selection without button presses
Authors: Jackson J. C. , Roske-Hofstrand R. J.
Published: January 2007

A method for selecting graphical objects with a mouse by circling them is described. Circling motions are detected automatically; no button presses are required. Trials conducted on a Sun 3 workstation indicate that, for the object size and layout chosen, even users experienced with mouse selection via button presses and unfamiliar with circling are able to select pairs of objects in approximately the same amount of time with either method. The number of target misses between circling and clicking also compare well for both single and paired object cases. Furthermore, many users showed a measurable preference for the circling method when given a choice.
Statemaster: A UIMS based on statecharts for prototyping and target implementation
Authors: Wellner P. D.
Published: January 2007

Most User Interface Management systems are state based and some use state transition diagrams for dialog specification. Although these diagrams have significant advantages, they suffer from drawbacks that make them impractical for the specification of complex user interfaces. Statecharts are a hierarchical extension of state transition diagrams and are well suited for specification of complex user interface dialogs. Statemaster is a UIMS implemented in C + + that uses statecharts for dialog specification. It has been successfully used both for rapid prototyping and target implementation of user interfaces. This paper describes the use of statecharts for dialog specification and the implementation of Statemaster.
Behavioral evaluation and analysis of a hypertext browser
Authors: Egan Dennis E. , Remde Joel R. , Landauer Thomas K. , Lochbaum Carol C. , Gomez L. M.
Published: January 2007

Students performed a variety of tasks using a statistics text presented either in conventional printed form or via the text browser “SuperBook” (Remde, Gomez and Landauer [18]). Students using SuperBook answered more search questions correctly, wrote higher quality “open-book” essays, and recalled certain incidental information better than students using the conventional text. Subjective ratings overwhelmingly favored SuperBook. The advantage of SuperBook appears to be particularly strong for questions that are not anticipated by the author's organization of a text.
How do experienced information lens users use rules?
Authors: Mackay W. E. , Malone T. W. , Crowston K. , Rao R. , Rosenblitt D. , Card S. K.
Published: January 2007

The Information Lens provides electronic mail users with the ability to write rules that automatically sort, select, and filter their messages. This paper describes preliminary results from an eighteen-month investigation of the use of this system at a corporate test site. We report the experiences of 13 voluntary users who have each had at least three months experience with the most recent version of the system. We found that:

People without significant computer experience are able to create and use rules effectively.

Useful rules can be created based on the fields present in all messages (e.g., searching for distribution lists or one's own name in the address fields or for character strings in the subject field), even without any special message templates.

People use rules both to prioritize messages before reading them and to sort messages into folders for storage after reading them.

People use delete rules primarily to filter out messages from low-priority distribution lists, not to delete personal messages to themselves.
Synergistic use of direct manipulation and natural language
Authors: Cohen P. R. , Dalrymple M. , Moran D. B. , Pereira F. C. , Sullivan J. W.
Published: January 2007

This paper shows how the integration of natural language with direct manipulation produces a multimodal interface that overcomes limitations of these techniques when used separately. Natural language helps direct manipulation in being able to specify objects and actions by description, while direct manipulation enables users to learn which objects and actions are available in the system. Furthermore, graphical rendering and manipulation of context provides a partial solution to difficult problems of natural language anaphora.
Prototyping techniques for different problem contexts
Authors: Gutierrez O.
Published: January 2007

Rapid prototyping and other experimental techniques are playing an increasingly important role in software development. Some common issues that concern their adoption are identifying the place in a system's life cycle where they may be appropriate, and selecting which tools to use. This paper presents a model of different problem types, suggesting that a fit must be found between the nature of the problem at hand and the features associated with available techniques. Emphasis is placed on the fact that most commercial tools are suitable for only certain problem types.

Some areas of further development are highlighted and implications concerning human-computer interaction discussed.
Design environments for constructive and argumentative design
Authors: Fischer G. , McCall R. , Morch A.
Published: January 2007

Design Environments are computer systems which support design by enabling cooperative problem solving between designer and computer. There are two complementary problem solving activities in design: constructive design and argumentative design. We have created two computer-supported environments, CRACK and VIEWPOINTS, to support these two activities.

CRACK is a knowledge-based critic which has knowledge about how kitchen appliances can be assembled into functional kitchens. VIEWPOINTS is a hypertext system based on the IBIS design methodology and contains useful information about the principles of kitchen design. The integration of these two types of systems will eliminate shortcomings of the individual systems.
Directed dialogue protocols: verbal data for user interface design
Authors: Knox S. T. , Bailey W. A. , Lynch E. F.
Published: January 2007

The development of an interface design tool called “directed dialogue protocols” is discussed. The tool is based upon Kato's (1986) method of verbal data collection, “question-asking protocols.” Three extensions to the question-asking method are detailed: 1) an experimental procedure of atomic tasks which facilitate the quantization of verbal data; 2) interventions by the experimenter that probe the subject's expectations and prompt verbalizations; and 3) a technique for answering subject queries called sequential disclosure. Also discussed are applications of the directed dialogue that have identified design choices which build learnability and usability into a product's user-interface.
An experiment into the use of auditory cues to reduce visual workload
Authors: Brown M. L. , Newsome S. L. , Glinert E. P.
Published: January 2007

The potential utility of dividing the information flowing from computer to human among several sensory modalities is investigated by means of a rigorous experiment which compares the effectiveness of auditory and visual cues in the performance of a visual search task. The results indicate that a complex auditory cue can be used to replace cues traditionally presented in the visual modality. Implications for the design of multimodal workstations are discussed.
Tools for supporting cooperative work near and far: highlights from the CSCW conference
Authors: Ehrlich S. F. , Bikson T. , Mackay W. , Tang J. C.
Published: January 2007

The second conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work has provided focus on use of computers for supporting workers that are at various levels of geographic dispersion. The participants in this panel reported case studies at that conference on group work (1) in face-to-face meetings, (2) in the same building, and (3) distributed across a number of sites. Each panelist therefore brings insight about the communication needs of their research subjects and both the value and limitations of particular technologies for supporting the communication that ties the members of the groups together as geographic distance varies.

Each of the panelists will address the following two questions:

What are the preferred types of communication (visual, written, spoken) for people working together at particular geographic distances?

What are the benefits and shortcomings of available technologies (video, electronic-mail, telephone/voice mail) for supporting these types of communication?
A document layout system using automatic document architecture extraction
Authors: Iwai I. , Doi M. , Yamaguchi K. , Fukui M. , Takebayashi Y.
Published: January 2007

A document layout system based on automatic extraction of document architecture including logical and reference structures has been developed for reducing users' effort in document preparation, and has been implemented in a practical Japanese word processor. The extracted document architecture is used for both automatic text formatting and layout of text, figures and tables. Automatic text element recognition is performed by morphological analysis using keywords. Through intra-line (one sentence) and inter-line (relations between sentences) analysis, logical and reference structures are obtained. The automatic layout system effectively lays out the document using the extracted document architecture and knowledge about the layout.
Communication methods of the vocally disabled: a review
Authors: Condie L.
Published: January 2007

Despite the growing number of augmentative aids for the vocally disabled, none allows communication at anything near speaking rates. This review looks at the types of vocal disabilities that exist and the aids available to these people. Additionally, the prostheses and speaking techniques available to laryngectomees are examined in some detail. Finally, some of the current research into augmentative aids for the vocally disabled is briefly covered.
INTERFACES FOR COOPERATIVE WORK
Authors: Erickson Thomas D.
Published: January 2007

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is one of the newer hot topics in the computer world. CSCW is also known as Collaborative Computing, and CSCW applications are known as `Groupware' or `Group Decision Support Systems' (GDSS). The marketplace is just beginning to be subjected to a flood of CSCW applications. It requires no prescience to predict that most of this groupware will fail; as the papers covered in this article demonstrate, there are a lot of uniquely hard problems associated with CSCW that are only just beginning to be understood, let alone solved. Just as one industry wag noted that `the year of the LAN lasted from 1983 through 1988,' it seems likely that any `year of groupware' will be good for another five or ten years.
Analysis of the Cognition Involved in Spreadsheet Software Interaction (Abstract Only)
Authors: Reitman Olson Judith , Nilsen Erik
Published: January 2007

This paper analyzes details of the cognition involved when people use spreadsheet software, a task that is both a major microcomputer application and a cognitively intense task. This task is analyzed in terms of the GOMS model (Card, Moran, and Newell, 1983), both to test the generality of the model and to extend its set of parameters. We found that people using two seemingly similar spreadsheet applications, Lotus 1-2-3 and Multiplan, require very different amounts of time to accomplish the same tasks. Experienced users of Lotus 1-2-3 took far longer to complete the same four tasks than experienced Multiplan users did. Some of that additional time was found to be caused by the fact that Lotus 1-2-3 offers a choice to users of two general methods to use to enter formulas. Lotus requires that the user
decide
which to use. This decision takes time. And, when the users type in the values of the formula instead of using the cursor to point to the cell in which the values reside, they pause a long time before each such typing entry. Presumably they are
scanning
the screen and
calculating
the coordinates to type in during the pause. Again, these cognitive processes take time. In an analysis of a second task, that of adjusting the column width, there was substantial evidence that the performance changes when a method is repeated in close succession. This repetition affects the parameters that reflect the time it takes to retrieve command parts from memory. When the parameters for scanning decision and repetition were added to the keystroke analysis of our task, we found remarkable correspondence with the basic parameters from Card, Moran, and Newell's original work: the keystroke times and mental preparation times from their original experiments were very close to the estimates of those same parameters in our tasks. However, in our analysis of the spreadsheet task, we expanded the parameter set in the keystroke model to account for performance in tasks that require substantial planning, scanning, and repetition.
Earcons and Icons: Their Structure and Common Design Principles (Abstract only)
Authors: Blattner Meera M. , Sumikawa Denise A. , Greenberg Robert M.
Published: January 2007

In this paper we examine
earcons
, which are audio messages
used in the user-computer interface to provide information and
feedback to the user about computer entities. (Earcons include
messages and functions, as well as states and labels.) We identify
some design principles that are common to both visual symbols and
auditory messages, and discuss the use of representational and
abstract icons and earcons. We give some examples of audio patterns
that may be used to design modules for earcons which then may be
assembled into larger groupings called families. The modules are
single pitches or rhythmicized sequences of pitches called
motives
. The families are constructed about related motives
that serve to identify a family of related messages. Issues
concerned with learning and remembering earcons are discussed.
The SonicFinder: An Interface that Uses Auditory Icons (Abstract Only)
Authors: Gayer William W.
Published: January 2007

The appropriate use of non-speech sounds has the potential to
add a great deal to the functionality of computer interfaces. Sound
is a largely unexploited medium of output, even though it plays an
integral role in our everyday encounters with the world, one that
is complementary to vision. I argue that sound should be used in
computers as it is in the world, where it conveys information about
the nature of sound-producing events. Such a strategy leads to
auditory icons, which are everyday sounds meant to convey
information about computer events by analogy with everyday events.
Auditory icons are an intuitively accessible way to use sound to
provide multidimensional, organized information to users.

These ideas are instantiated in the SonicFinder, which is an
auditory interface I developed at Apple Computer. In this
interface, information is conveyed using auditory icons as well as
standard graphical feedback. I discuss how events are mapped to
auditory icons in the SonicFinder and illustrate how sound is used
by describing a typical interaction with this interface.Two major
gains are associated with using sound in this interface: an
increase in direct engagement with the model world of the computer
and an added flexibility for users in getting information about
that world. These advantages seem to be due to the iconic nature of
the mappings used between sound and the information it is to
convey. I discuss sound effects and source metaphors as methods of
extending auditory icons beyond the limitations implied by literal
mappings and speculate on future directions for such
interfaces.
Does the Medium Make a Difference? Two Studies of Writing with Pen and Paper and with Computers (Abstract Only)
Authors: Haas Christina
Published: January 2007

This article reports two studies examining how the use of computer technology affects writers' processes and resulting written products. A partial replication of Gould's 1981 study, the first experiment compared the efficiency and quality of 15 experienced writers' persuasive letters written in three counter-balanced conditions: pen and paper, standard personal computer, and advanced workstation. Analyses of time to compose and length of the resulting letters showed that when composing with the advanced workstation, writers wrote for longer periods of time and composed longer letters than when composing with pen and paper. Rate of composition (words per minute) was similar in all three conditions. Scores for content quality, mechanics quality, and total quality were also collected and analyzed. Letters composed with the personal computer were poorer in content quality and total quality. There were no differences in mechanics quality. In the second experiment, 8 of the original 15 writers revised two of their letters in the medium with which they were composed. Think-aloud protocols collected while the writers revised were analyzed. When revising with pen and paper, writers planned more than when revising on-line, and they planned more before beginning their revisions. However, when revising in the computer conditions, writers reread their texts more and paid more attention to the medium than when revising on paper.
Item selection from menus: the influence of menu organization, query interpretation, and programming experience on selection strategies
Authors: Arnold L. M.
Published: January 2007

Computer generated menus are increasingly being used to simplify the dialog between the human user and the computer system. They are most often provided to help reduce the complexity of the user interface and are characterized by presenting lists of terms (or commands) for easy recognition rather then requiring the recall of these terms from memory. Currently, menu systems are being designed for simplifying the interface to database query languages used to retrieve information stored in computers' databases (Mezzanotte & Kibler, 1984; Williams, 1984; Ogden, Korenshtein, & Smelcer, 1986). A menu-prompted interface supporting a query language would benefit users of database systems by eliminating their need to recall specific database information and by guiding them through the process of query generation.
Beacons an initial program comprehension
Authors: Wiedenbeck S. , Scholtz J.
Published: January 2007

Beacons are any surface features which typically occur in a program and strongly point to the program's function. In a sort the swap is a beacon because it is typically present and is the prime operation which moves the problem toward the goal of a sorted list. Our objective was to establish a causal connection between the presence of beacons and comprehension of high-level program function.
A vision of education in user-centered system and interface design
Authors: Baecker R.
Published: January 2007

This paper outlines a proposal for a new curriculum in human-computer interaction and user-centered system and interface design that is intended to be based within a computer science departmental framework. The intellectual foundations and political assumptions underlying the curriculum are described. A preliminary list of course offerings and requirements for a B.Sc. degree is presented.
The development of ergonomic standards
Authors: Dzida W.
Published: January 2007

This paper is an attempt to introduce a conception for the development of human factors standards. Most propositions and assertions presented here rely upon experiences made in German standardization groups.The paper provides some assertions concerning the peculiarities of ergonomic standards. Furthermore, some prerequisites are discussed to be envisaged when a standardization committee is going to engender normative propositions. The German standard on ergonomic dialogue design (DIN 66 234, Part 8) is taken as an example for the development of ergonomic standards. The historical background and some problems with the application of the standard are explained thereby contributing to an ongoing discussion about this standard.The paper is intended to reflect a tradition of thought in German standardization committees as well as to contribute to the current debate in the human factors community as well as in the new ISO group (ISO TC 159 / SC4 / WG5: Software Ergonomics an Man-Machine Dialogue).
Human interface with logging operation optimization programs
Authors: McCoy W. E. , Cheng C. , Hadiwinata M. , Kusuma M.
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a case study involving the comparison of two programs which were designed for use in the logging industry. Of particular interest in this comparison are the human factors problems likely to arise during field use of such programs. This paper discusses the need for application of consistent sets of human factors design principles. A specific major conclusion related to the field use of these programs is that it is advisable to provide effective redundancy techniques against catastrophic loss of data in an environment where the user has multiple taks to perform. This paper also discusses the consequences of "good" as well as "poor" examples of menu design, display design, data entry error checking, and handling of erroneous keystroke and keystroke sequences.
Posture and VDU operator satisfaction
Authors: Oman P. W. , Gomes C. S. , Rains K. , Morandi M.
Published: January 2007

Few studies have looked at how workers adapt their posture to fit their work environment and virtually none have compared this adaptation to reports of user satisfaction. This study focused on the relationship between users' size and posture, and the physical attributes of VDU workplaces. A survey on VDU operator satisfaction was conducted and compared to results from a controlled study on posture transitions occurring at VDU workplaces. Results demonstrate that workers adapt their posture to fit their work environment, rather than adjust their workstation to permit an optimal posture that may increase productivity. These results support the recommendations for comprehensive worker training on the ergonomic benefits of workstation adjustment and suggest the need for dynamically adjustable workstation components that periodically conform to the workers posture.
CHI '88 Workshop on Real Time, decision support computer-human interaction
Authors: Jacobs S. M.
Published: January 2007

The purpose of the CHI '88 Workshop on Real-Time, Decision Support Computer-Human Interaction was to cover issues facing users of crucial real-time, decision support computer systems such as air traffic control computers, tactical command and control systems, and missile warning computers.
Report on the Collaborative Technology Developers' Workshop
Authors: Abel M. J. , Rein G. L.
Published: January 2007

The second Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '88) was held September 26--28, 1988, in Portland, Oregon. This was a conference on how groups work and how technology (especially computers) can help them work. The term "CSCW" refers to this new multi--disciplinary field, which draws on the expertise and collaboration of many different specialists, including social scientists, anthropologists, and computer scientists. "Groupware" is another popular word for CSCW technology.
University computing services in 1995
Authors: Glick M. D.
Published: January 2007

For me to talk to you about what computing centers will be like in the future is rather like bringing coals to Newcastle. On the other hand, that doesn't preclude me from having opinions --- neither does lack of knowledge. You must understand from whence I come. I have spent my faculty life at Wayne State University, the University of Missouri at Columbia and Iowa State University, three large midwestern state universities that between them educate 85,000 students a year. They are the heartland universities. They are the major institutions, the kinds of institutions that are responsible for educating the leadership of our nation; they tend not to be cutting, or bleeding, edge, universities, but they have a major need for integrating technology.
Simulating neural network learning with TEST/NIL
Authors: House D. E.
Published: January 2007

TEST/NIL is a neural network learning simulation tool. TEST (Threshold Element Simulation Tool) is both an input language compiler and a simulation environment builder. NIL is the Network Input Language. TEST/NIL was designed to investigate biologically plausible learning theories at a level lower than that of cognitive psychology and higher than that of chemical pulse transmission. The discrete event simulation technique used by TEST/NIL is designed for possible optimization via parallelism. Appendices summarize the input language and provide a programming example.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE ON VIDEO AS A RESEARCH AND DESIGN TOOL
Authors: Mackay Wendy E. , Tatar Deborah G.
Published: January 2007

It is our pleasure to present the following collection of papers about the use of video as a tool for research and design. As costs drop and both video and computers become more prevalent, people are finding new uses for video to support their work. Yet most video work in the CHI community has been done in isolation. Video users have not had a forum in which to present, share, or learn from each other's work. No books are available nor are there courses that teach about the effective use of video in human-computer interaction research or design.