VISUAL AND PHYSICAL INTERACTION DESIGN FOR INFORMATION SERVICES

Werner A. König Werner.Koenig@uni-konstanz.de Human-Computer Interaction Group University of Konstanz, Box D-73 http://hci.uni-konstanz.de

Abstract With growing quantity and complexity of available information, novel user interface concepts are needed which support users’ natural seeking behavior and provide natural ways of interaction. We discuss general user requirements and present design principles which we identified as crucial for the successful design of a user-centered visual information-seeking system. We also illustrate novel input modalities and display techniques such as multi-touch tables, gesture tracking systems and physical tokens which lead towards a more reality-based and thus natural interaction.

1 Motivation

With the introduction of online public access catalogs (OPAC) in the 1980s and the growing amount of directly online available information, the role of public libraries changed fundamentally regarding to the services provided to and used by the end-user. Instead of using the personal on-site services, a majority of users search for the desired information with the help of more or less usable OPAC systems provided by the libraries. Usability flaws that were already identified and reported in 1986 by Borgman [Borgman, 1986] remain omnipresent in today's search interfaces [Gerken, 2008]. Additionally, the users are confronted with information that is rapidly growing in quantity, heterogeneity and dimensionality [Jetter, 2005]. Therefore, more effective tools are required to facilitate the exploration and search in these information spaces. In the following chapter we will give a brief overview of general design principles we identified as crucial for the successful design of a user-centered visual information-seeking system. Thereafter, we will illustrate some visions to enrich the on-site user experience and facilitate collaborative approaches by using more intuitive user interfaces such as multi-touch tables or physical tokens.

2 Designing visual information-seeking systems

Over the last years we developed at the Human-Computer Interaction Group, University of Konstanz, several visual information-seeking systems for various application domains spanning from web search for business information in the INSYDER project [Reiterer, 2005] over visual metadata browsing for location site planning in the VisMeB project [Limbach, 2003] to visual exploration of multimedia content and connected web resources in the MedioVis project [Heilig, 2008] (see Figure 1). Based on the experiences we gained from the design and the evaluation of these systems, we identified four essential principles which should be considered when designing visual information-seeking systems (see [Gerken, 2008] for more details). These are:

Support various ways of formulating an information need Users are not always able to precisely express their information need or do not exactly know what they want to find in advance. Therefore it is essential that a visual information-seeking system provide different ways of query formulation such as visual query preview, query expansion and query refinement techniques to support users in expressing their need. We address this issue by providing overview visualizations such as our HyperScatter [Gerken, 2008], an enhanced scatter-plot which allows users to gradually refine their information need through zooming and filtering.

Integrate analytical and browsing oriented ways of exploration Humans use different strategies when searching for information ranging from an analytical, known-item search to a browsing or interest-guided search strategy [Bates, 1989], [Marchionini, 1997]. While searching for a specific item, users might come across interesting objects they were not originally looking for and thereby explore the information space by browsing. Since users shift frequently between the strategies visual information-seeking systems need to integrate the different search strategies in a coherent and flexible way. Based on a traditional table view, the HyperGrid [Jetter, 2005] visualization in MedioVis for example provides sorting and textual filtering possibilities, giving the user an analytical access to the information space. At the same time it allows the user to zoom into table cells and access further details on demand (using semantic zooming). By even integrating web-browser capabilities, each cell can be the used as a starting point for intensive exploration and browsing [Rexhausen, 2007].

Provide views to different dimensions of an information space Most digital libraries offer a broad variety of data dimensions to the user. When searching for a specific book, apart from the book title and content, the user might be also interested in the author, its social relationship to other authors, where the book was written and in which period. The system therefore needs to provide multiple views offering an appropriate access to each dimension. We combine multiple coordinated view approaches [North, 2000] with zoomable user interface concepts [König, 2007],[Jetter, 2008] in MedioVis allowing users to access several dimensions simultaneously [Heilig, 2008]. Furthermore, we allow the seamless integration of web services, such as Google Maps, Youtube, or social bookmarking sites. By directly interlinking these with catalog objects we approach the Web 2.0 or Mashup concept from a whole new direction [Rexhausen, 2007].

Figure 1: MedioVis – A Visual Interface for Searching and Exploring Multimedia Libraries

Make search a pleasurable experience In the last years people are more and more aware that the success of a product depends not only on the functionality and usability but also on more “soft factors”, such as an aesthetically appealing visual design, joy of use, or other hedonic qualities [Hassenzahl, 2000]. Designers of visual information-seeking systems should pay attention to these factors, which are often subsumed under the term user experience. In general it requires the knowledge of domain experts. Hence, MedioVis was and is developed in close coordination with communication designers to better address this issue.

3 Physical Interaction for a Blended Library

In times of library digitization the majority of information is directly available online. Web-based visual information-seeking systems provide instant access to the desired information from anywhere without the need of physically being inside the library. Thus, users may ask for the extra value of traditional libraries. Can well-designed visual information-seeking systems even replace the possibilities and experiences gained from a visit at the local library? In the following, we will illustrate some ideas how additional value can be provided to the user by enabling collaboration and providing innovative on-site work environments at the library. Thereby, we propose to augment the real world library with information technology beyond the OPAC user interface forming a “Blended Library” which supports users’ natural seeking behavior and provide natural ways of interaction. Some of today’s OPAC systems already offer possibilities to save search results or interesting objects as favorites in a private collection. Thus, users have the possibility to build up their own digital library. A student can search for relevant literature for a seminar and collect it in her private library for example. But functionalities to share the collected information online with colleagues and to discuss and to organize it together are mostly unconsidered in OPAC systems. In the real world, traditional libraries basically address this issue by providing designated rooms for group discussion which are inside the library, enabling users to bring in all relevant artifacts. This may make physically quite an effort or it is sometimes impossible since not all objects are always available. How could a better environment for collaborative work look like? Imaging there is a “token”, a physical representation of a user’s private digital library in form of an artificial object such as a plastic cylinder or even a mobile phone (see Figure 2). It can be used just like a physical storage for the digital library. But it bridges the gap between real and digital world when using it as a tangible user interface at an interactive surface such as a multi-touch tabletop (see Figure 2, left).

Figure 2: Collaborative exploration of digital collections on a multi-touch tabletop (left) or on

a high-resolution display wall (right) using physical artifacts or mobile input devices.

The user places the token on such a display and it visually reveals the objects of the private library enabling the user to physically explore the objects themselves and corresponding metadata e.g. geographic data (see Figure 2, right). When multiple users bring in their tokens they may collaboratively organize their libraries, identify relationships to other collections, and discuss them in groups (see Figure 3). Based on the notion of Reality-Based Interaction [Jacob, 2008] the combination of these physical objects and the manual exploration of the personal collections facilitate a very natural and intuitive interaction [Klinkhammer, 2008].

Figure 3: Natural exploration of information with tangible user interfaces on an interactive

surface for private or collaborative usage [Klinkhammer, 2008]. A further step to a next generation collaborative work environment is shown in Figure 4. The seamless integration of multiple interactive displays in combination with a broad variety of multimodal interaction techniques offer great flexibility to users for sketching, organizing and sharing information especially in the context of creative design processes. In multimodal interaction, the user is not restricted to a single input modality, but can benefit of the combination of different modalities such as pointing to an object with the finger [Foehrenbach, 2008] or a laser-pointer [König, 2007] and expressing the desired action verbally. These results in higher input performance, more stable and robust overall system and a superior user experience [Oviatt, 2008].

Figure 4: Collaborative work environment facilitating multimodal interaction with multi-

touch, speech, hand-gesture, handheld-PC, digital pen, and laser-pointer interaction.

3 Conclusion

Based on the experiences we gained from the design and the evaluation of diverse visual information-seeking systems we identified four design principles which help to develop more effective tools facilitating the exploration and search in digital libraries. Furthermore, we sketched some ideas how physical interaction with tangible user interfaces and interactive surfaces can enhance collaborative processes in libraries bridging the gap between digital and real world.

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