International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Gatteschi, Valentina; Sanna, Andrea; Cannavò, Alberto

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2018.1561068pmid: N/A

Virtual character animation is receiving an ever-growing attention by researchers, who proposed already many tools with the aim to improve the effectiveness of the production process. In particular, significant efforts are devoted to create animation systems suited also to non-skilled users, in order to let them benefit from a powerful communication instrument that can improve information sharing in many contexts like product design, education, marketing, etc. Apart from methods based on the traditional Windows-Icons-Menus-Pointer (WIMP) paradigms, solutions devised so far leverage approaches based on motion capture/retargeting (the so-called performance-based approaches), on non-conventional interfaces (voice inputs, sketches, tangible props, etc.), or on natural language processing (NLP) over text descriptions (e.g., to automatically trigger actions from a library). Each approach has its drawbacks, though. Performance-based methods are difficult to use for creating non-ordinary movements (flips, handstands, etc.); natural interfaces are often used for rough posing, but results need to be later refined; automatic techniques still produce poorly realistic animations. To deal with the above limitations, we propose a multimodal animation system that combines performance- and NLP-based methods. The system recognizes natural commands (gestures, voice inputs) issued by the performer, extracts scene data from a text description and creates live animations in which pre-recorded character actions can be blended with performer’s motion to increase naturalness.

Lin, Trisha T. C.

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2018.1561813pmid: N/A

Despite growing multiscreen video-consumption worldwide, scant research has examined the relationship between users’ personal traits and their behaviors when using various devices for passive viewing and active communicative and social interactions. This study investigates how multiscreen users’ polychronicity, media multitasking motivations, and media repertoire influence passive multiscreen video viewing and active dual screening on video-related interactions. A web survey recruited 600 Singaporean social media users with online video discussion experiences. Results show that passive multiscreen video viewing and dual screening use are both positively associated with respondents having higher polychronicity and larger media repertoire. Polychronicity and media repertoire show relatively stronger effects on dual screening use than passive multiscreen video viewing. As for demographic factors, Chinese ethnicity is associated with passive multiscreen video viewing. Younger respondents tend to use smartphones and computers as second devices for video-related matters, while males use more tablets for dual screening activities than females.

Linehan, Conor; Murphy, Gillian; Hicks, Kieran; Gerling, Kathrin; Morrissey, Kellie

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1565482pmid: N/A

This article presents a qualitative driving simulator study designed to understand the experience of giving up control to automated processes in semiautonomous driving systems. The study employed an experience prototyping methodology, with 12 drivers (4 female) completing 2 sessions in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Condition A simulated a normally functioning car, while Condition B simulated a semiautonomous system that monitors driver behavior and takes evasive action when danger is detected. The simulator experience was used to ground wider discussion of automation and the experience of driving, which was explored through a semistructured interview. Results identify design challenges for autonomous driving systems; the loss of user agency and confidence, and handling the change between manual and automated control. Opportunities were identified; in augmenting rather than removing human abilities, and in providing new learning opportunities for drivers.

Siirtola, Harri; Špakov, Oleg; Istance, Howell; Räihä, Kari-Jouko

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1565746pmid: N/A

Collaboration improves efficiency, avoids duplication of efforts, improves goal-awareness, and makes working generally more pleasurable. While collaboration is desirable, it introduces additional costs because of the required coordination. In this article, we study how visual search is affected by gaze-sharing collaboration. There is evidence that pairs of visual searchers using gaze-only sharing are more efficient than single searchers. We extend this result by investigating if groups of three searchers are more efficient, and if and how the groups of searchers develop their search strategy. We conducted an experiment to understand how the collaboration develops when groups of one to three participants perform a visual search task by collaborating with shared gaze. The task was to state if the target was present among distractors. Our results show that users are able to develop an efficient search and division-of-labor strategy when the only collaboration method is gaze-sharing.

Min, Kyungbo; Lee, Sangwon

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1565747pmid: N/A

As the number of functions offered by IT devices and services has grown with technological advances, designers have increasingly incorporated factors such as usage frequency and importance into the design of the user interface (UI). In this process, rarely used functions were pushed to the remote corners of the interface; some of these include infrequent but essential functions (“raressential” functions) that can significantly affect the user experience of a service. Despite their impact on user satisfaction, there have been few studies addressing the issues arising from the use of raressential functions. This study investigates usage patterns of representative raressential functions in order to propose design guidelines for UIs with such functions. Twenty-five participants were asked to sketch and perform the process for locating raressential functions in three different platforms. The protocol analysis and data visualization identified that (1) the corners of the mobile screen are strong visual attractors, (2) the overlap between semantic scopes of icons or names complicates the searching process in the PC environment, and (3) the lack of understanding of application software hierarchy seriously hinders orderly navigation in the TV platform. Participants also exhibited repetitive search patterns unique to each platform that delayed the completion of the task. Additional behavioral characteristics and relevant design guidelines are proposed for enhancing user experience of raressential functions.

Lin, Jeffrey; Harris-Adamson, Carisa; Rempel, David

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1571783pmid: N/A

Providing input for the selection of objects in virtual, augmented, and mixed-mode reality can be done with hand-held controllers or hand gestures depending on the complexity and precision required. Free hand gestures have the advantages of eliminating the need for a controller, not needing to see the controls on the controller, and potentially being less fatiguing. However, the designs of hand gestures for object selection have not been thoroughly evaluated for usability and performance. Eighteen participants evaluated four different ray-casting hand gestures (index thrust, index click, palm thrust, and palm click) and three snapback thresholds while selecting 2D targets of different sizes. Dependent variables were mean time to select targets, number of selections not completed, number of incorrect targets selected, and subjective preference. The index thrust and index click gestures were preferred by subjects and had faster mean selection times and lower number of incorrect target selections. There were no significant differences between snapback thresholds on productivity, error, or preference. Overall, the index thrust and index click gestures were associated with greater user confidence, particularly with smaller targets.

Lin, Po-Han; Yeh, Shih-Ching

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1571784pmid: N/A

Spatial training has been shown to help student’s university retention rates and performance. The goal of this study is: (1) to explore users’ acceptance of a virtual-reality-supported technology for mental-rotation learning and (2) to examine the effects of interactivity and gender on acceptance. Little is known about whether college students nowadays perceive motion-control and virtual-reality technology as novel and interesting and how gender affects their acceptance of technology. Two learning programs were developed using motion-control and virtual-reality technologies. Learners could actively manipulate the learning object or they could only passively learn. User’s acceptance of the training program (rather than mental-rotation performance) was compared. Results showed higher levels of perceived playfulness, ease of use, usefulness, and use-intention scores were found in motion-control training, suggesting interactivity is still attractive. However, gender difference was also found. While perceived ease of use was a major contributor to training use-intention for both genders, influence of perceived playfulness on use-intention was found only in women.

Koutsabasis, Panayiotis; Vogiatzidakis, Panagiotis

doi: 10.1080/10447318.2019.1572352pmid: N/A

Mid-air interaction is a distinct style of natural HCI (Human-Computer Interaction). In mid-air interaction, users make use of their whole body—with a strong focus on hands—and apply gestures, postures, and movements to interact with digital content on distant displays or remote devices. Although the idea of exploiting body movements and gestures in HCI is not new, mid-air interaction is now possible due to the availability of reasonably priced depth cameras and sensors. This article presents a systematic review of empirical research in mid-air interaction, based on a corpus of 104 publications from 2011 to 2018. The review includes: (a) a retrospective on mid-air interaction, which outlines its historical development and clarifications on important concepts; (b) current application domains of mid-air interaction; (c) user requirements methods, focusing on gesture elicitation studies; (d) dimensions of prototyping and design; (e) empirical evaluation methods and issues; (f) a discussion on several trends and challenges for further research and development.