Current Research of the Human Interface Society

A Special Issue of the international Journal of Human-computer Interaction

Osamu Katai

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780805895544
• eBook ISBN: 9780429529931
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Human-Computer Interaction
• Index: Computer Science

This special issue is the first opportunity to introduce the research activities of the Human Interface Society. The first article gives a microworld approach to identify design requirements for better situation awareness. Next, a focus on evaluation of organizational structure in emergency situations from the communication viewpoints is examined,

Trends in Usability Research and Activities in Japan

Masaaki Kurosu

Research and Development Division, National Institute of Multimedia Education

Tadashi Kobayashi

Quality Assurance Department, Fujitsu Info Software Technologies

Ryoji Yoshitake

User Experience Design Center, IBM Japan

Hideaki Takahashi

Research and Development Division, National Institute of Multimedia Education

Haruhiko Urokohara
Daisuke Sato

Usability Research and Development Department, U’eyes Novas Inc.

This article presents an outline of information on the usability activities in Japan with a focus on the last 10 years. Although there were many activities in academia, substantial efforts were made in industry, and both activities coincided to form unique usability engineering in the country. Because of the language barrier that exists in many Japanese usability engineering professionals, just a few works have been presented at international conferences. This is the reason why the tried to summarize in English the usability engineering activity in Japan.

1.INTRODUCTION

This article describes research into usability and related practical activities that have been undertaken in Japan over the course of the past 10 years or so.

Here in Japan, usability research and related activities have only really taken off in recent years with the influence of ISO13407, although there had been steady activity in the fields of ergonomics and cognitive engineering even before that. Recently it has become normal for companies to establish a dedicated usability section and install a usability laboratory. Although usability activities do not yet stretch to cover all products, it is safe to assume that such activities will only increase with time.

Domestically, these research and practical activities are the result of work by groups such as the Human Interface Society and the Japan Ergonomics Society Unfortunately, due to language difficulties, the activities described herein are only partially known overseas.

2.TRENDS IN USABILITY RESEARCH

2.1Research Trends in Usability Processes

In Japan, research papers on the incorporation of the results of usability testing into finished products began to appear only a few years ago. Although some manufacturers reportedly included usability activities in their product development procedures, almost no academic activity in this field is known to us before 1990. Since then, however, Amemiya (1990) and Ohtsuka (1992) reported on the application of principles and guidelines for usability and the user interface to general product design. Additionally, Y. Shibata (1992) proposed a user participation method and Tsuchiya, Horii, Kitamura, and Tamura (1996) proposed a design method whereby usability was the goal of product design solution.

Subsequently, as usability became a more readily recognized concept, human-centered design (HCD) and user-centered design (UCD) processes came to prominence and, around the time that ISO 13407 took effect in 1999, the concept of usability was framed in the HCD process (Arai, 2001; Igeta, 2001). Kurosu et al. (2001) took the lead in promulgating ISO13407 by writing an ISO 13407 book for the first time in the world, and recently (Bevan, Earthy, & Kurosu, 2001; Kurosu, 1997; Kurosu et al., 2001) research papers have appeared based on activities aimed at establishing HCD and UCD. Kurosu et al. (1999) also published a book promoting a new concept of user engineering.

Also during the 1990s, related works by Norman (1988), Landauer (1995), Nielsen (1993), and Cooper (1999) were translated into Japanese and published. Subsequently, Norman's entire series of writings on the subject was also translated. Japanese writers remained active in this field with notably Kurosu et al. (twice in 2001) and Kurosu (as editor in 2003) publishing w orks on usability, w hile Yamaoka, Suzuki, and Fujiwara (2000) promoted the interface design method known as SIDE, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (2001) reported on in-company activities.

Research in this field includes the work of Nagamatsu, Yamamoto, Iwata, and Yoshikawa (2001), who, based on the method of user-centered design and evaluation of virtual environments proposed by Gabbard et al., created a cooperative machine maintenance training system at a nuclear power plant and investigated the effectiveness of user task analysis, design and evaluation, and user-centered evaluation. Yoshitake and Hosokawa (2001) argued the case for UCD activities with their report on the application of user-centered design to the development of a consumer image processing software, which proved the effectiveness of task analysis, design walkthrough, and design evaluation and validation. Sato, Itoh, and Kobayashi (2002) succeeded in incorporating usability testing into the software development process and described their results. Other related publications include Hasegawa and Kobayashi (2001) on effective HCD and UCD activities; I. Okamoto, Tanaka, and Itoh (2001) on ongoing cases of continuous UCD activity; and Kanayama, Ogasawara, and Kimijima (2002) on a proposal for a new design framework by corporate Web site investigations. Additionally, Waida (2002), A rai, Itoh, Urokohara, and Takamoto (2002), and Wakamatsu, Sawada, and Nomoto (2002) reported corporate-level activities in HCD and usability.

In addition to the practical activities mentioned previously, Kajii and Itoh (2001) described the difference between usability testing for product evaluation and usability testing based on HCD, and Kurosu et al. (2001), Kurosu (2001), and Hosono, Inoue, Tomita, and Yamamoto (2002) published their results on research limited not only to Japanese users. Recently Nakakoji, Kamiya, Takashima, and Yamamoto (2001) proposed an approach and method for building interactive systems that are not only usable and useful, but also highly desirable, and Kurosu, Ito, Horibe, Hirasawa, and Fujiwara (2000) proposed COEDA (formerly SDOS), an interactive analysis method for analyzing approaches to HCD in businesses.

2.2Requirements Method

Research into the gathering of information on user requirements, its analysis, and clarification of the conditions that determine those requirements has only become readily available in recent years.

Regarding the gathering of information on user requirements, S. Shibata (2000) set up a users' forum for the purpose of perfecting hitherto used methods of usability research such as usability testing and focus groups, site visits, Web surveys, and beta monitoring. This forum acts as a link between users and developers via media such as electronic bulletin boards and chat sites, mail magazines, mailing lists, and actual meetings, giving the currently registered 500 users an opportunity for their voice to be heard during the development process. With opinions such as, "This product is more expensive than I expected," and, "We should be careful that this does not cause consumers to lose trust in the company," expressed, this has proved to be an extremely beneficial source of information. Although not necessarily a systematic approach, many companies build and maintain a database of survey responses to actively gather information from users not just within their company, but also from external users.

By collecting user responses to questionnaires and usability testing, information on requirements early in the development process can be collected. For example, Ogino, Ichikawa, and Shimamura (2000) found benefits for creating product concepts by conducting questionnaire surveys and usability evaluation before the product concept was created. With the questionnaire survey, it was impossible to evaluate the concept and functionality of the system when it is in operation by users. For this type of testing, it was discovered that usability testing is more effective than the questionnaire survey. In addition, Mine, Ikeda, Inagaki, and Okuizumi (2001) described having assumed users use a product over a period of time and analyzed sequential changes in observations, levels of task accomplishment, and responses to questionnaires and interviews in order to analyze user requirements. The study confirmed positive benefits for later versions of the product by looking at the sequential change in the results, in terms of impression, level of mastery, usage, and needs. Mayuzumi et al. (2001) offered an example of a questionnaire- based approach. To attain effective communication on environment in a company's ecological site, they created a checklist based on usability evaluation items for the Web, the results of which were used to suggest a method of solution. They are now investigating how to extend these methods to communication design methods specialized for ecological sites.

Turning to the analysis of user requirements, model-based methods are now the most prevalent. Yamaoka and Baber (2000) developed a three-point task analysis system in which user information processing is judged and human error is estimated for each task based on three criteria: information gathering, understanding and decision-making, and operation. Yamaoka and Baber recommended combining this "micro" three-point task analysis method with a "macro" error estimation method known as Task Analysis for Error Identification (TAFEI), based on layered task analysis, the spatial scheme of state, and the transition matrix to give a comprehensive estimation of human error when a task is performed. The flow chart-based analytical method proposed by Urokohara (1996) illustrated a similar approach. Urokohara recommended the use of operational flow charts to regulate tasks and specifications in the development of interactive software. In this article, three types of operational flows were considered: thought flow, task flow, and screen transition diagram. This method was based on the thought flow as a representation of the user's dynamic thought patterns. Then the task flow is created to consider corresponding functions based on the thought flow. Finally screen transition was determined based on the task flow, following which screen design was carried out. In addition, Nakagawa and Mitome (2000) applied the evaluation grid interview method known as laddering (first developed by Sanui in 1986) and its analysis method to usability issues. In other words, starting from an ambiguous image of usability, they sought to find out to whom usability is of value and what that value is by expressing this information diagrammatically to clarify user benefits.

The model-based method is also applied in interface design for large-scale systems. Regarding such interface design, M. Takahashi, Ito, Niwa, and Kitamura (1999) argued the necessity of concrete design guidelines in order to precisely reflect the necessity of being able to model various task accomplishment modes and the importance of formulating and clearly communicating the requirements of system users. Based on this way of thinking, Nishikawa et al. (1999) proposed a method of functional adaptation for an interface comprised of two elements of user cognitive model in task accomplishment mode and clarification of user requirement specifications. The cognitive modeling would be based on an expert level of cognizance, from which the interface design requirements would be determined. Regarding the clarification of user requirements, matters not taken into account during the initial design phase would be determined and the interface would be gradually improved. The interface of the accelerator system used in experiments at the Fast Neutron Laboratory of Touhoku University was designed using this method.

For this kind of requirement analysis method, the contextual design method promoted by Bayer and Holtzblatt (1988) is attracting attention. Ito, Yamada, and Kurosu (2000) analyzed the effectiveness of the flow model construction method described as part of the contextual design method promoted by Bayer and Holtzblatt (1998) on qualitative information obtained during fieldwork and compared instances where ideas were generated after qualitative information was given to instances where ideas were generated after no qualitative information was given. Their results showed that giving or withholding qualitative information had no effect on the amount of ideas produced and that, content-wise, where possibilities were high, ideas on improvements were more likely to be forthcoming. Furthermore, Kurosu et al. (2001), regarding the process model required by ISO13407, recommended using an integrated method combining microethnography, contextual design, and scenario-based design for analyzing early processes in development. However, Sugizaki, Araki, Itoh, and Kurosu (2001) asserted that the flow model method used in contextual design was unreliable for major decisions due to differences in the way individuals draw flows, that chronological sequences were difficult to distinguish, and that it could not be applied to complicated systems. Moreover, Araki, Sugizaki, Itoh, and Kurosu (2001) identified several problems, such as the possibility of numerous variations in the sequential model method in contextual design, the conditional branches, displaying relations to other sequences, and describing sporadic actions, in highlighting the need for improvement in this method.

In addition, through Carroll's (1995; Rosson & Carroll, 2002) efforts, the scenario- based design method is also the subject of attention, and Itoh, Ikeya, and Nakano (2001) asserted that we should differentiate be...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright Page
• Introduction
• A Microworld Approach to Identifying Issues of Human-Automation Systems Design for Supporting Operator’s Situation Awareness
• Evaluation of Organizational Structure in Emergency Situations From the Viewpoint of Communication
• InterActor: Speech-Driven Embodied Interactive Actor
• Remote Infrared Audible Signage System
• Design of Interactive Skill-Transfer Agent From a Viewpoint of Ecological Psychology
• Visualization of Respiration in the Embodied Virtual Communication System and Its Evaluation
• Trends in Usability Research and Activities in Japan
• Schedule of Events, 2004