Design Engineering and Human Computer Interaction: Function Oriented Problem Solving in CAD Applications

Human-computer interaction for virtual-real fusion

Human-computer interaction (HCI) design is the modern and advanced research area that is focused on human or user and system or device interactions. HCI is concerned with new and advanced approaches to a system that must be reliable and efficient to the user. HCI design required a longer and critical development process, methods or framework that passes through various evaluation phases. Due to an inadequacy of user-centered and value sensitive design for a system or device, numerous designs and artifacts do not draw attention to the user. On the other hand, user perception of advanced and new devices are not acceptable and perceived, if not reliable or facile to them. HCI comprises several methods, principles, and criteria which are followed during the development of interaction design. Even then, at times the evolved new and advanced interaction artifacts are unable to reach the user attraction. The HCI methodologies promote the researchers as well as designers to form and develop new and advanced innovations whereas, interaction design term plays a significant role in the design process. In this paper, the key concern is to analyze the conventional design method, Activity Theory (AT) and consider the principles of HCI and bring in a conceptual extended AT model to develop the appearance of Human-computer interaction design.

In Memoriam: Dr. Clive L. Dym (1942–2016)

In this paper, a method-mix (cultural dimensions, intercultural variables, user interface characteristics and human computer interaction (HCI) dimensions) for intercultural user interface design (IUID) is presented. Based on a hybrid approach covering cultural contexts in human–computer interaction (HCI) design using a model of culturally influenced HCI, this IUID method-mix represents the main constituent of a reasonable toolbox for IUID. The IUID method-mix is exemplified by application examples to demonstrate and discuss its benefit and limitations. The examples elucidate why and how cultural aspects play a role in HCI design and usability/UX engineering. Cultural influence on HCI is described using cultural variables for user interface design. The IUID method-mix serves to inspire HCI engineers in the requirement analysis phase as well as HCI designers in the design phase. The readers are sensitized to the challenges of intercultural usability/UX engineering and intercultural HCI design and will be equipped with relevant methodological knowledge needed to actively derive design recommendations for user interface design for and in their desired cultural contexts. Practitioners can prognosticate the ensuing effort and the expenditure for considering cultural context in intercultural user interface design.

In many parts of the world, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) emerged as an interdisciplinary activity between the fields of Computer Science, Cognitive Psychology and / or Human Factors. Elsewhere, the field of Information Sciences gave birth to the discipline now recognized as Information Architecture (IA). In India however, it emerged as Interaction Design, largely based in the field of Design. In this paper, I talk about this experience, give a summary of current status in industry and research and suggest an agenda for the future, particularly for interaction design education.

Although the object of surface ships and submarine industries is the same (a floating artefact aimed to comply with a particular function), the particularities of this same function, the ways for achieving it, the costs involved, and the metrics used to analyse results are so different that in fact make both industries different, usually considering that tools and processes used in both should also be different. This includes CAD Systems, although in this case the dichotomy was not established in the very beginning, but formed as the processes in submarines and surface ships diverged with the pass of the time. In fact, CAD Systems were first conceived for solving problems in other sectors like aerospace/defence, as these industries had the resources to invest in such advanced technology. Submarines has been often perceived as a product with more similarities with hi-tech industries than with traditional shipbuilding. However, the impressive growth of surface ships and its requirement for reducing costs and delivery time made shipbuilding CAD Systems suppliers focus their attention in it as a source for obtaining incomes, developing, and adapting systems to this particular industry. General CAD Systems took advantage of the situation to implement themselves in submarine, where they remained (still remain) for many years. But the requirements for reducing costs also catch up with submarine, so in many cases they decided to put forward the replacement of general purpose CAD Systems with shipbuilding specific ones, and this produced an automatic reaction of shipbuilding CAD Systems suppliers that have devoted more effort to try to solve particular submarine problems. In order to check the convenience of the use in submarine of shipbuilding CAD Systems, nowadays focused in surface ships, first of all it should be studied the differences between both surface ships and submarines. Once established them, we would be in position to propose a suitable solution. As summary, this paper covers the differences between surface ships and submarine as well as provide a series of recommendations toward the design of current and future CAD Systems.

In this panel, we propose to figure out how requirements engineering and interaction design can be usefully combined. In particular, some people argue that scenarios/ use cases should be concrete, as in story-telling. Others argue for use of essential use cases as a methodological approach to interaction and user-interface design. Somewhat in the middle, it is argued that use cases should help acquiring the requirements in the first place. What should the practitioner believe and, in particular, do, in order to develop useful and usable software and systems? Software development and interaction design require different skills and different methods and are typically done by different people. Still, scenario-based design is proposed for several activities relevant for both tasks, such as requirements elicitation, software design, and interaction design. Symbolic modeling in this spirit is actually common to various fields. However, scenario-based approaches vary, especially with regard to their use, e.g., employing abstract use cases or integrating scenarios with functions and goals in a systematic design process. So, the key issue to be raised at the panel is how to combine different approaches, e.g., in scenario-based development, so that the interaction design as well as the development of the user interface and of the software internally result in an overall useful and useable system.

The challenges of designing computer support for education have shifted considerably in recent years, with, e.g., the rapid growth of the Web, online learning and social networking. New human–computer interaction (HCI) design approaches, methods, tools and theories are now required to analyze and understand interactions and learning of online groups. This chapter first reviews a number of issues related to the new software and pedagogy challenges. It then presents the approach of the VMT research project to address these issues by combining support for integrated synchronous and asynchronous collaboration media. The VMT system integrates a lobby, small-group chat rooms, multiple shared work spaces and community wiki pages to foster learning at the individual, small-group and community levels. The use of this system for a college HCI course is reported. The VMT Project illustrates the application of design-based research to system development, the theory of group cognition as a conceptual framework and an adaptation of chat interaction analysis for HCI design.

Much work has been carried out on the creation of protocols for the exchange of data between CAD systems, but very little on the transfer of knowledge. The knowledge behind the development of a product is vital if modifications and adaptations are to be made within a concurrent development environment. Current CAD systems only contain a limited level of product knowledge through user-defined parametric structures. It is the underlying relationships in these programs that need to be communicated between systems, rather than the form of their individual programming languages. A generic structure is proposed that is able to handle both the current level of parametric programming and is suited to the resolution of conflict through the use of constraint modelling procedures. The structure of a parametric description is described and decomposed into its fundamental components. These components are then re-formed within a truth maintenance structure to allow a transfer protocol to be created. The derived protocol structure is then demonstrated on a number of simple examples.

Building it better: Applying human–computer interaction and persuasive system design principles to a monetary limit tool improves responsible gambling

The ultimate concern of cognitive engineering is how complex sociotechnical systems might be designed so that humans can work within them and control them safely and effectively. Because of this, large amounts of observational data analysis and knowledge elicitation are incorporated in cognitive engineering. At many points, these two methodologies coalesce. In this paper, we describe two complementary cognitive engineering software tools—MacSHAPA and COGENT—that are being developed alongside each other. MacSHAPA is designed for observational data analysis, and COGENT is designed for knowledge elicitation and cognitive engineering, but both sup-port requirements gathering. We first outline current trends in cognitive engineering that have given rise to the need for tools like MacSHAPA and COGENT. We then describe the two tools in more detail, and point to their similarities and differences. Finally, we show how the two tools are complementary, and how they can be used together in engineering psychology research.

Advances in graphing applications, plug-ins and toolkits means that integrating charts and graphs into software is easier than ever before. However, selecting the optimal graphing technique for a workers task remains a difficult challenge. Information visualisation experts draw on research from cognitive engineering, perceptual psychology and human computer interaction when designing displays. For the increasing number of developers who are integrating visual displays into applications, there is for a lack of a general methodology that pulls together key activities from these diverse fields. In the absence of such a methodology, it is very difficult for software developers to identify if their choice of representation satisfies both the user’s tasks and perceptual limitations. We describe the approach taken in the redesign of an interactive chart used in a High Volume Manufacturing environment. We show how analyses of the work domain, the data and the users’ tasks are all crucial steps in the design process.

Hands-free is very important in the design of human-computer interaction (HCI) in the application of virtual reality or augmented reality (AR). Head tracker with six-degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) is common used in AR, without additional devices, this paper presents a new and practical approach to design HCI by virtue of it. The design includes two steps: the first is the calibration or initialization, in this stage the rotate coordinate planes or axes for every HCI actions should be calculated; the second is the recognition of HCI, by analyzing the motion trajectory of user's head to judge whether it matches one of the interactions. For the effect of this design, this paper uses a test program and a practical application to demonstrate it.

The infusion of engineering (CogE) methods and tools into traditional systems engineering processes and practices is becoming an important priority as the systems engineering community begins to tackle system of systems (SoS) problems. As one illustration, the military is interested in creating cognitively-inspired systems (as small as a PDA and as large as a weapon platform) that maximally exploit human potential while also accelerating both human supported and automated decision making. To date, engineering has been successfully applied to the planning and requirements definition phases of systems engineering (also known as front-end analysis) but has yet to be infused into the remaining phases of systems engineering. To span the full systems engineering lifecycle, it is important, first and foremost, to communicate the return-on-investment to the various stakeholders to get their buy in. The second question that needs to be answered is whether or not cognitive engineering is ready for primetime. This paper presents promising technical and management strategies to overcome the challenges in introducing engineering into system-of-systems engineering (SOSE). Specifically, it presents a representative set of engineering methods and tools to span the full SoS life-cycle as well as engineering awareness initiatives to penetrate both the DoD acquisition community and commercial industry.

To achieve dependable, usable, and well-engineered interactive devices in healthcare requires applied Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research and awareness of HCI issues throughout the lifecycle, from design through to procurement, training and use. This paper shows that some healthcare devices fall far short, and thus identifies a gap in applied HCI. We use a basic, interactive hospital bed as a case study, arguably so routine and simple enough that there should have been very few problems. However, the bed’s interactive control panel design violates standard HCI principles. It is also badly programmed by the manufacturer. Evidently, something has gone wrong, somewhere from design to procurement, and we argue most of the problems would have been managed or avoided by conventional HCI processes. Driven by the case study, this paper explores the problems and makes recommendations. There are many similarly poorly designed medical devices. Manufacturers and healthcare purchasing groups should adhere to HCI processes and guidelines, as well as those provided by regulatory agencies for the design, regulation, and procurement of devices, products, or systems that contribute to patient safety. The challenge is to make HCI knowledge and priorities available to and effective in this important domain in any places that can make a difference. Eye-tracking, awareness tools, machine learning, coordination, expertise