Design of an eTextbook
This project was completed as a requirement for cognitive engineering course in my Ph.D. program. It was a team project focused on developing early design requirements for an eTextbook (i.e., a digital solution to physical textbooks). Because of the many tasks that current physical textbooks support (e.g., annotation, bookmarking, highlighting, etc.) and the many different ways students (and faculty) interact with them, our team adopted a work domain analysis to develop an abstraction hierarchy.
Work domain analysis is part of the cognitive work analysis (CWA) methodology which is unique compared to more traditional engineering methods as it focuses on identifying the requirements, constraints, and affordances for cognitive work in a domain. CWA was originally proposed by Rasmussen et al. (1994) and further refined by Vicente (1999) as a means to support the design of complex systems that would be more adaptable under unanticipated operating conditions. Since its original application to the design of process control systems, CWA has been adapted and successfully applied to other complex domains and systems. Across these domains and systems, CWA has effectively been shown to support the design of novel interface displays through its ability to produce models of work objectives combined with constraints and affordances that inhibit or support those objectives. Additionally, as Bisantz and Roth (2003) illustrated, CWA is particularly effective for design of novel systems requiring adaptability based on unanticipated domain conditions.
The final report generated by my team, along with a design process overview and final recommendations, can be viewed below.
Evaluation of Bluetooth Laser Keyboard
Late to post online, during Fall of 2008 I worked on a group project for my Human-Computer Interaction course here at UB. The assignment was to evaluate and recommend improvements for a HCI of our choice. I suggested, and convinced my group to evaluate a Bluetooth Laser Keyboard (it projects a keyboard onto any flat surface) that I bought from ThinkGeek.com. The project was conducted over the course of the semester and included:
- Modified GOMS-KLM analysis, adapted to estimate the time to type using a standard keyboard versus the laser keyboard
- User personas for different classes of users in order to generate use case scenarios for the laser keyboard
- Online questionnaire via SurveyMonkey.com to gather general keyboard use data for the above personas
- Development of Flash based prototypes to evaluate alternate designs for the laser keyboard to improve typing efficiency
I decided to post this to my portfolio because I was particularly happy with the experimental setup I designed to evaluate prototypes of our redesigned laser keyboard. Our focus was on redesigning the layout of the keys that were projected in order to improve usefulness and usability of the device. In order to evaluate our different proposed changes our experimental setup, diagrammed above, utilized an Adobe Flash created configurable keyboard (you can try them it below using your mouse) which users interacted with by typing on scaled paper versions of the keyboard layouts that we placed under a glass touchscreen panel. This allowed us to essentially place the paper keyboard anywhere and configure it how we wished and then just put the touchscreen on top to allow for typing.
Our recommended designs significantly improved typing speed in an experiment we ran to evaluate our design versus the laser keyboard default layout (n=5, p<.05).
Redesigned Keyboard Layout
Flash Wireframes/Prototypes – Cellular Phone UI
I created these wireframes as part of my senior capstone design project for Northeastern University. The wireframes were meant to be upgraded interfaces for 3 user profiles: The Grandma, The Dad and The 20-Something College student. The motorola flash interface was created to mimic a popular phone at the time so that user testing sessions could be used to create baseline task completion times and usability ratings.
You can use the flash menus below as you would a normal cell phone basically. The Motorola version however has limited functions to specific tasks that were required for the usability sessions.
Read More...GOMS – KLM Evaluation of Digg.com Registration
This below example (flash required) shows the application of GOMS-KLM to the Digg.Com registration process. The first version analyzes the project as-is with a simple use-case. The second analysis shows an improved process flow to reduce task time with he same use-case. This was created as a sample of the GOMS methodology for a class I took at Bentley.
KLM (or KLM-GOMS) stands for Keystroke-Level Model, a hard science approach to human–computer interaction (HCI), based on CMN-GOMS. The Keystroke-Level Model is an 11 step method that can be used by individuals or companies seeking ways to estimate the time it takes to complete simple data input tasks using a computer and mouse.
Usability Study – FalconNet
Bentley University created FalconNet as a tool for students, alumni and potential employers to connect with one another inside the Bentley domain. Unfortuantely due to a plethora of usability issues early adoption was somewhat lacking. As a result the school requested a usability study be conducted to weed out the main issues for both student and alumni users to try and enhance the over all user experience. The project was conducted as part of a team of students via HFIDO again while I was serving as Director of Testing & Assessment. The final report along with screenshots, usability session findings, survey results and recommendations can be viewed below (flash required).
Expert Review – Youthbuild.org SiteView
This was an expert review that was created along with four other students as a project for Bentley’s Human Factors in Information Design Organization (HFIDO), which offers free consulting services to non-profit organizations. This, as opposed to the MEC project, was a full on review of their internal web-based reporting system for all of their locations across the country. View/download the report using the tool below (requires flash).
Mini-Heuristic Review
I created the attached mini-heuristic review report for More Effective Consulting (a company I have been a consultant with for the past 3 years). This was actually the first heuristic review I created on my own that was for an actual client (as opposed to classwork based ones that were done for practice). The review is based on the heuristics found at the end of the report which can be viewed in its entirety at the link below. I created this as a practice project while working at Bentley’s Design and Usability Center.
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