The New Science of
Universal Usability
Ben Shneiderman
ben@cs.umd.edu
Founding Director (1983-2000), Human-Computer Interaction Lab
Professor, Department of Computer Science
Member, Institutes for Advanced Computer Studies &
Systems Research
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Interdisciplinary research community
- Computer Science & Info Studies
- Psych, Socio, Poli Sci & MITH
(www.cs.umd.edu/hcil)
Scientific Approach (beyond user friendly)
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Specify users and tasks
Predict and measure
• time to learn
• speed of performance
• rate of human errors
• human retention over time
Assess subjective satisfaction
(Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction)
Accommodate individual differences
Consider social, organizational & cultural context
Design Issues
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Input devices & strategies
• Keyboards, pointing devices, voice
• Direct manipulation
• Menus, forms, commands
Output devices & formats
• Screens, windows, color, sound
• Text, tables, graphics
• Instructions, messages, help
Collaboration & communities
Manuals, tutorials, training
U.S. Library of Congress
• Scholars, Journalists, Citizens
• Teachers, Students
Visible Human Explorer (NLM)
• Doctors
• Surgeons
• Researchers
• Students
NASA Environmental Data
• Scientists
• Farmers
• Land planners
• Students
NSF Digital Government Initiative
• Find what you need
• Understand what you Find
Census,
NCHS,
BLS, EIA,
NASS, SSA
www.ils.unc.edu/govstat/
iSonic: Sonification for Maps
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Motivation: improve vision-impaired users’
access to geo-referenced statistical data
Approach: interactive sonification
• Data-to-sound mapping: Piano pitch -> value.
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User study: 7 blind subjects, 6 hours each
• Users can recognize geographical patterns
• Users preferred spatial audio map over table
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/audiomap
International Children’s Digital Library
www.childrenslibrary.org
Home Medical Devices
• Bathroom scale
• Thermometer
• Blood pressure
• Diabetes: Glucose
• Asthma: Breath
• Fat monitor
• EKG
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/soh/ws_meddevice.htm
Electronic Health Records: LifeLines
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/lifelines/
Spotfire: DC natality data
Treemap: Stock market, industry clustered
www.smartmoney.com/marketmap
Treemap: Product catalogs
www.hivegroup.com
Treemap: Newsmap
Creativity Support Tools
More people,
More creative,
More often
6th Creativity & Cognition Conference
• Washington, DC June 13-15, 2007
• Receptions at Nat’l Academy of Sciences
& Corcoran Gallery of Art
• Expand community of researchers
• Bridge to software developers
• Encourage art & science thinking
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/CC2007/
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/CC2007
Leonardo’s Laptop
The old computing is about
what computers can do,
The New Computing is about
what people can do
mitpress.mit.edu/leonardoslaptop
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/newcomputing
Requirements Analysis
In a fair society, all individuals would have
equal opportunity to participate in,
or benefit from, the use of computer
resources regardless of race, sex,
religion, age, disability, national
origin or other such similar factors.
-- ACM Code of Ethics
Goals of Public Access
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Enable participation by every citizen & visitor
Voting
Licenses
Passports Registrations
Permits
Regulations
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Social security services
Police-fire-emergency
National-local government
Offer services to all
Healthcare Housing
Education Employment,
Shopping Museums Libraries Transportation
Recreation Sports
Tourism
Entertainment
Universal Usability Challenges
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Technology variety
• Fast & slow modems, small & large displays
• Diverse platforms, multiple versions
User diversity
• Novice & expert, old & young
• Users with disabilities, poor literacy, or low motivation
Bridge the gap between what users know
and what they need to know
• Multi-layer interfaces
• Help vs. ShowMe!
Communications of the ACM, May 2000
Technology variety
1 to 100 range in processor speeds
486 Pentium
Multi-core
1 to 100 range in screen sizes
Palm
devices
80,000
Laptops
800,000
Device Independence
Input: keyboard, speech,...
Output: visual, auditory,...
Conversion
Large Desktop or Wall Display
8,000,000 pixels
1 to 100 range in network bandwidth
9.6K 56K
10,000Kbps
Software Versions
Compatibility
File conversion
Multiple platforms
User diversity: Accommodate all users
Skills
Computer newbie to hacker
Knowledge
Disabilities
Visual, auditory, motoric, cognitive
Domain novice to expert
Age
Young to old
Gender
Male or Female
Disabling conditions
Mobility, injury, noise, sunlight
Income
Impoverished to wealthy
User diversity: Accommodate all users
Race
Ethnicity
Religion
National Origin
Culture
Western, Eastern, developing...
Personality
Introvert vs extravert
Thinking vs feeling
Risk aversion
Locus of control
Planful vs playful
Literacy
Fluent to illiterate
Multiple languages
Gaps in User Knowledge-Strategies
Bridge the gap between what users know and
what they need to know
Online Learning
Design
Multi-Layered
Task-oriented
(evolutionary, phased)
Introductory tutorials
Getting started manuals,
Cue cards
Walkthroughs/Demos
Minimalist/Active
Training
Fade-able scaffolding
Training wheels
Minimalist
Online help
Context sensitive, tables of contents,
Indexes, Keyword search,
FAQs, answer gardens
Gaps in User Knowledge-Strategies
Bridge the gap between what users know and
what they need to know
Customer service
Email
Phone
Help desks
Supplements
Online manuals, paper
Audio, video,
Live lecture, peer training, personal trainer
Community
Newsgroups, online communities
Chat rooms
Research Agenda for Universal Usability
For Desktop, Web, and Mobile Devices:
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Evidence-based Guidelines
Automated analysis tools
Improved application generators
Improved user customization tools
Social facilitation
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Tested with developers & users
Shneiderman & Hocheiser, Behaviour & Info Technology, 2001
HCI Challenges
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Information Access
Universal Usability
Trusted Voting
Healthcare
Information Visualization
Creativity Support Tools
HCI Challenges
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Information Access
Universal Usability
Trusted Voting
Healthcare
Information Visualization
Creativity Support Tools
Environmental Sustainability
Emergency/Disaster Response
International Development
UN Millennium Development Goals
To be achieved by 2015
• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development
Interdisciplinary Challenges
• Modern problems are complex
• Solutions require multiple disciplines
• Laboratory studies have limited relevance
• Natural sciences are not sufficient
Historic Transformation
• Existing sciences have reached limits:
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The End of Science: Facing the
Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight
of the Scientific Age, John Horgan
End of Physics
End of Computer Science
End of History, Francis Fukuyama
Science 1.0
• Reductionist
• Controlled
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Experiments
Replicability
Laboratory
Natural World
Science 1.0
• Reductionist
• Controlled
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Experiments
Replicability
Laboratory
Natural World
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Science 2.0
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Integrated
Case
Studies
Validity
Situated
Made World
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Science 1.0
• Reductionist
• Controlled
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Science 2.0
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Integrated
Case
Studies
Validity
Situated
Made World
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Experiments
Replicability
Laboratory
Natural World
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Hypothesis Testing  Hypothesis Testing
Predictive Theories  Predictive Theories
Replications
 Replications
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Science 2.0 Emerges
Interdisciplinary study of the made world
Socially embedded
Bringing closer together
- theory & practice
- basic & applied research
New research directions
(Emerson, Dewey, James, Vygotsky,
Simon, Suchman, Berners-Lee,…
… and many of you!)
Science 2.0 Evaluation Methods
Ethnographic Observational Situated
• Multi-Dimensional
• In-depth
• Long-term
• Case studies
Science 2.0 Evaluation Methods
Ethnographic Observational Situated
• Multi-Dimensional
• In-depth
• Long-term
• Case studies
Domain Experts & Communities
Doing Their Own Work
for Weeks & Months
Science 2.0 Evaluation Methods
Ethnographic Observational Situated
• Multi-Dimensional
• In-depth
• Long-term
• Case studies
MILCs
Shneiderman & Plaisant, BeLIV workshop, 2006
MILC example
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Evaluate
Hierarchical
Clustering Explorer
Focused on rank-by-feature framework
3 case studies, 4-8 weeks
(molecular biologist, statistician, meteorologist)
57 email surveys
Identified problems early, gave strong positive
feedback about benefits of rank-by-feature
Seo & Shneiderman, IEEE TVCG 12,3, 2006
MILC example
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Evaluate
SocialAction
Focused on integrating statistics & visualization
4 case studies, 4-8 weeks
(journalist, bibliometrician, terrorist analyst,
organizational analyst)
Identified desired features, gave strong positive
feedback about benefits of integration
Perer & Shneiderman, 2007
Case Study Methodology
1) Interview (1 hr)
2) Training (2 hr)
3) Early Use (2-4 weeks)
4) Mature Use (2-4 weeks)
5) Outcome (1 hr)
Short Range Goals
• Validate benefits of new designs
• Collect evidence to support/reject hypothesis
- rank-by-feature
- integrating statistics & visualization
• Rapid refinements of tools
• Benefits to users
Long Range Goals
• Harness Collaboration
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Pair-wise
Small Team
Larger Group
Social Creativity
Long Range Goals
• Harness Collaboration
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Pair-wise
Small Team
Larger Group
Social Creativity
Thomas Edison:
1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration
Long Range Goals
• Harness Collaboration
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Pair-wise
Small Team
Larger Group
Social Creativity
Thomas Edison 2.0:
1% Inspiration, 99% Collaboration
Long Range Goals
• Understand dynamics of
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Trust
Empathy
Responsibility
Privacy
Etc.
Thomas Jefferson
I feel... an ardent desire to see
knowledge so disseminated
through the mass of mankind that
it may...reach even the extremes
of society: beggars and kings.
-- Reply to American Philosophical Society,
1808
25th Annual Symposium
May 29, 30, 2008
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil