Browsing by Author "Sears, Andrew"
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Item Developing tactile icons to support mobile users with situationally-induced impairments and disabilities(Association for Computing Machinery, 2013-10) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewAlthough it is well known that interaction with a mobile device can be impacted when the environment is inhospitable or when the user is on the move, situationally-induced impairments and disabilities (SIIDs) are often overlooked in the mobile interface design process. In this paper, we describe one step toward supporting mobile users with SIIDs, through the design of tactile notifications. The tactile channel offers considerable promise to convey notifications to the user, freeing their visual and auditory channels for other tasks. A study was conducted to determine whether participants could develop tactile cues to convey the key characteristics of alerts to mobile users (e.g. urgency, relationship with the sender). The results highlight the benefits of tactile prototyping tools to encourage generation of design ideas, and the use of scenarios to situate these design ideas within the intended context of use.Item An Examination of Vote Verification Technologies: Findings and Experiences from the Maryland Study(2006-04-15) Sherman, Alan T.; Gangopadhyay, Aryya; Holden, Stephen H.; Karabatis, George; Koru, A. Gunes; Law, Chris M.; Norris, Donald F.; Pinkston, John; Sears, Andrew; Zhang, DongsongWe describe our findings and experiences from our technical review of vote verification systems for the Maryland State Board of Elections (SBE). The review included the following four systems for possible use together with Maryland’s existing Diebold AccuVote-TS (touch screen) voting system: VoteHere Sentinel; SCYTL Pnyx.DRE; MIT-Selker audio system; Diebold voter verified paper audit trail. As a baseline, we also examined the SBE’s procedures for “parallel testing” of its Diebold system. For each system, we examined how it enables voters who use touch screens to verify that their votes are cast as intended, recorded as cast, and reported as recorded. We also examined how well it permits post-election auditing. To this end, we considered implementation, impact on current state voting processes and procedures, impact on voting, functional completeness, security against fraud, attack and failure, reliability, accessibility, and voter privacy.Item A Longitudinal Pilot Study to Evaluate Non-Visual Icons in a Mobile Exertion Application(Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewThis paper describes an evaluation of a mobile exertion application, developed to promote physical activity among adult users. To extend previous work, we aimed to identify changes in walking behavior over time, and to determine the efficacy of non-visual cues presented via the phone. Data was gathered using three methods: automated logging, participant-maintained diaries and interviews. Findings revealed that participants were able to respond most effectively to multimodal icons to modify their pace over a two week period. However, their preferences were noted to change depending on the situational context. The study has also highlighted the complexities associated with data collection techniques for mobile evaluations.Item Maintaining levels of activity using a haptic personal training application(Association for Computing Machinery, 2010-04) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewThis paper describes the development of a novel mobile phone-based application designed to monitor the walking habits of older adults. Haptic cues integrated within the prototype, are designed to inform an individual of changes which should be made to maintain a prescribed level of activity. A pilot study was conducted with fifteen older adults walking at varying speeds, both with and without the presence of assistive haptic feedback from the prototype. The results confirm that more steps were taken when haptic feedback was provided while walking at normal and fast paces. However, results also indicate that further refinements would be needed to improve the identification of haptic cues while individuals are in motion.Item A Study of Vote Verification Technologies Part I: Technical Study(2006-02) Norris, Donald; Sears, Andrew; Nicholas, CharlesItem Supporting the mobile notification process through tactile cues selected using a paired comparison task(Association for Computing Machinery, 2014-04) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewThe process of checking mobile notifications can be challenging when the user is engaged with another task that requires him/her to monitor the path ahead (e.g. running, driving). Developing expressive tactile feedback to communicate key components of the message would enable users to decide whether to attend to the notification, or to continue with the on-going activity. We describe the design of a paired-comparison task to determine how to map tactile parameters to characteristics of incoming messages. Early findings from a field study highlight the promise offered by multi-parameter tactile cues designed using mappings identified from the paired-comparison task, even when distracters are present.Item Tactile notifications for ambulatory users(Association for Computing Machinery, 2013-04) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewDifficulties are often associated with perceiving tactile feedback from a mobile device while ambulatory. In this paper, we describe a study conducted using multi-parameter tactile icons (tactons) with a view to identifying designs to better resist the masking effects associated with walking. Our findings suggest that tactons encoded with longer durations (800ms) or those with stronger intensities (Amplitude: 2.1g Frequency: 255Hz) offer promise to individuals on-the-move. In terms of future work, we aim to identify ways to reduce the recognition time and the levels of cognitive workload experienced when resolving multi-parameter tactons, to augment the human-mobile interaction experience.Item Towards identifying distinguishable tactons for use with mobile devices(Association for Computing Machinery, 2009-10) Qian, Huimin; Kuber, Ravi; Sears, AndrewThis paper describes a study designed to identify salient tactile cues which can be integrated with a cellular telephone interface, to provide non-visual feedback to users when accessing mobile applications. A set of tactile icons (tactons) have been developed by manipulating the pulse duration and interval of vibrotactile signals. Participants were presented with pairs of tactons, and asked to differentiate between each respective pair and rank their salience. Results suggested that the combination of two static tactons is the most effective way to convey tactile information, when compared with dynamic or mixed tactile cues. Further studies will be conducted to refine feedback in order to communicate the presence of graphical objects on a mobile device interface, or to present events and alerts more effectively. The long term goal is to improve access to an interface by using the tactile channel, thereby freeing the visual and auditory channels to perform other tasks.