CARE propertiesChris Vandervelpen

chris.vandervelpen@uhasselt.be

Overview

• Introduction• CARE properties explained• S-CARE properties v.s. U-CARE

properties• CARE integration

– Design– Deployment

• Conclusions• Questions

Introduction

• [Nigay, Coutaz 1995: Multifeature systems: The CARE properties and their Impact on Software Design]

• Interaction Technique = Modality = Physical Device + Interaction Language:– Direct Manipulation Input: Mouse / Direct manipulation

language– Direct Manipulation Input: Touchscreen + Stylus / Direct

manipulation language– Speech Input: Microphone / Pseudo natural language– Speech output: Speaker / Natural language– Audio output: Speaker / Set of sounds– Graphical output: Screen / graphical Language

Introduction

• CARE properties– Evaluating usability

• Interaction flexibility• System robustness

– Relations between interaction techniques and tasks

• Classification of and reasoning about interactive multi modal systems

CARE explained

• System CARE properties Relations–Complementarity–Assignment– Redundancy–Equivalence

• CARE relations are– Permanent or transient: states– Total or partial: tasks

CARE Explained: Equivalence

• Equivalence(I,s,T)- Interaction techniques in a set I are equivalent

over a state s and a set T of tasks if all of the tasks in T can be performed using either one of the interaction techniques in I

• Total (tasks) / Permanent (states)• Filling in departure city in a form

– Speech: say “Brussels”– Direct Manipulation: Choose “Brussels”

from a drop-down list using the mouse

CARE Explained:Assignment

• Assignment(i,s,T)- An interaction technique i is assigned to a set

of tasks T in a state s if there is no other interaction technique that is equivalent to it for a set of tasks T in state s

• Total (tasks) / Permanent (states)• 3D navigation

– Very difficult using speech– Assign direct manipulation with mouse

interaction technique to this task

CARE Explained:Redundancy

• Redundancy(I,s,t)– Interaction techniques in a set I can be used

redundantly for performing a task t in state s if they can be used simultaneous to execute task t in state s

• Total (tasks) / Permanent (states)• Selecting toppings for the pizza using

speech and DM redundantly- Speech: “I want pizza with onion”- Direct Manipulation: “Selecting onion from a

list” using the mouse- Use the two simultaneous

CARE Explained:Complementarity

• Complementarity(I,s,T)– Interaction techniques in a set I are

complementary in a state s for tasks in a set T if T can be partitioned in subsets Tp and there exists an interaction technique in I that is assigned to Tp

– Say “I want a flight from this city to that city” (speech) while selecting Brussels and Amsterdam from a list using a mouse (direct manipulation)

• Speech denotes the slots (this and that)• Direct manipulation denotes the slot values (Brussels

and Amsterdam)

CARE Explained:Usability assessment

• Equivalence– Enhance flexibility

• Multiple choices– Enhance robustness

• Noisy: speech not adequate DM• Silent: use speech

• Redundancy– Enhance robustness

• One modality is a backup for the other• Complementarity

– Danger of cognitive overload– Implementation: synchronization problems

• UI Consistency– Partialness (tasks) – Transiency (states)

CARE Explained:Usability assessment

• System CARE v.s. User CARE

• U-CARE properties– User’s choice between modalities– Translated to user preferences– Compatibility with S-CARE properties

CARE Integration

• Research challenges– Extend model-based user interface design

(MBUID) with multi-modal user interfaces capability

• Integrate/relate the CARE properties into existing MBUID models (environment model, task model, user model)

– Deploy multi-modal user interfaces in an AmI environment using MBUID

• Using the updated models to dynamically deploy the UI

• Make decisions for distributing UI keeping CARE properties in mind

CARE integration:Environment model

• Interaction cluster Interactive device• For all interaction clusters in environment

model define supported interaction techniques

• For example– desktop_computer001 cluster supports

• it1: dm/mouse• it2: speech_input/microphone• it3: speech_output/speaker• it4: graphic_output/screen

CARE Integration:Task Model

• Specify for every task the suitable interaction techniques and the CARE properties between them

• Make task associations explicit in ConcurTaskTree

CARE Integration:Task Model

multimodal tasks

unimodal tasks

R(it1,it2)

E(it1,it2)R(it3,it4)

A(it1)

it1: dm/mouseit2: speech_input/microphoneit3: speech_output/speakerit4: graphic_output/screen

CARE Integration:User model

• Users define interaction technique preferences U-CARE– Globally– For particular tasks– In particular circumstances (context

dependent)• If noisy environment, prefer DM otherwise prefer

speech• When in car, prefer speech otherwise prefer DM• If in meeting, use DM, otherwise use speech

CARE Integration:Deployment

• Using information in updated models to– Help UI designer make decisions based

on environment possibilities– Choose modality and/or deployment

device (interaction cluster) at runtime

Conclusions

• CARE properties– Make reasoning about multimodal user

interfaces possible– Useful for designing/deploying

multimodal user interfaces in a MBUID process

– Useful for assessing the usability of a system

• Further research needed

Questions???