HCI-FUN

In the first experiment users would be taken on a mission (landing or docking a ship) but their user interface would be broken in several (randomly assigned) ways. After the mission they would be interactively debriefed about their experience and be presented with ways they could improve the space ship before continuing on the next mission. Thus they could explore such issues as:

- Naturalness of dialogue (awkward ways of operating the space ship)
- Use of techincal jargon in error messages
- Aspects that overload their working memory
- Inconsistencies in the interface
- Lack of feedback (e.g. audio-only feedback, limited graphics)
- Slow response times

The aim is to expose people to issues in user interface design and let them become evaluators by making instant changes and seeing their effects. The random aspect would present users with different challenges each time they used the display. Web technologies would be used so that the program can also be used on the Internet. The program would be based at the Liverpool John Moores Web Site.

The development part of the work would be undertaken by a Liverpool John Moores placement student directed by the principal investigator. The development of the first experiment would provide a framework to ease the building of the subsequent experiment. The Internation Centre for Digital Content , ICDC, would be commissioned to provide multimedia scenarios and the visual design of the experiments.