Leonardo's Laptop:
Human Needs and the New Computing
Ben Shneiderman (ben@cs.umd.edu)
Founding Director (1983-2000), Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory
Professor, Department of Computer Science
Member, Institutes for Advanced Computer Studies &
Systems Research
University of Maryland
ben@cs.umd.edu
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory
Interdisciplinary research community
- Computer Science & Psychology
- Information Studies & Education
(www.cs.umd.edu/hcil)
Scientific Approach (beyond user friendly)
• 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
• 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
www.awl.com/DTUI
usableweb.com
hcibib.org
useit.com
Library of Congress
• Scholars, Journalists, Citizens
• Teachers, Students
Visible Human Explorer (NLM)
• Doctors
• Surgeons
• Researchers
• Students
NASA Environmental Data
• Scientists
• Farmers
• Land planners
• Students
Bureau of Census
• Economists, Policy
makers, Journalists
• Teachers, Students
NSF Digital Government Initiative
• Find what you need
• Understand what you Find
UMd & UNC
www.ils.unc.edu/govstat/
Information Visualization
The eye…
the window of the soul,
is the principal means
by which the central sense
can most completely and
abundantly appreciate
the infinite works of nature.
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452 - 1519)
Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think
• Visual bandwidth is enormous
 Human perceptual skills are remarkable
 Trend, cluster, gap, outlier...
 Color, size, shape, proximity...
 Human image storage is fast and vast
• Opportunities
 Spatial layouts & coordination
 Information visualization
 Scientific visualization & simulation
 Telepresence & augmented reality
 Virtual environments
Treemap - Stock market, clustered by industry
Current Research - TimeSearcher
• Time series
 Stocks
 Weather
 Genes
• User-specified
patterns
• Rapid search
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
An Inspirational Muse:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Renaissance Man
• Combined science & art
• Integrated engineering & esthetics
• Balanced technology advances
& human values
• Merged visionary & practical
Goals for The New Computing
1) Usable: Reliable
& comprehensible
2) Universal: Diverse users
& varied equipment
3) Useful: In harmony with
human needs
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/newcomputing
1) Usable: Ending User Frustration
• Goal - make computer usage less frustrating
• Identify top ten frustrations
• Measure severity & frequency in lost time
• Determine if the situation is improving
• Related areas
• Errors
• Time delays
• Emotional reactions
1) Frequent frustrating experiences
Networking & Web
1) Frequent frustrating experiences
Application & System Crashes
1) Time diary study
Self reports & observations (64 UMD & 47 Towson)
• Pre-session survey:
• demographic information
• computer experience and attitudes
• level of computer anxiety, mood
• Users spent 1 hour & report their frustrating experiences
• Post-session survey:
• assess mood after the session
• overall frustration level
• loss of time
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/newcomputing
1) Results
Internet
Applications
Operating System
timed out/dropped/
refused connections (32)
error messages (35)
crashes (16)
long download time (23)
freezes (24)
wrong response (10)
web page/site not found (17)
missing/ hard to find
features (23)
slow response (8)
email (15)
crashes (13)
unexpected message boxes (6)
Frustration scale
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1) Minutes lost – UMD & Towson
Total minutes lost: 4250
UMD
902
877
568
3652
Towson
294
353
Total minutes: 9485
1513
Email
OS
Web browsing
Other minutes lost
Productive minutes
7968
1) Next Steps
• Validate results with other users
• professional
• elderly
• novice
• Develop more precise monitoring software
e.g. www.bugtoaster.com
• Explore ways to improve:
•
•
•
•
Online help & help desks
Customer service & online communities
Education & training
Software & interface re-design
2) Universal: Digital Divide Remains Troubling
Percent of Internet Use by Educational Attainment
100
90
Sept. 2001
80
Aug. 2000
P e rc e nt
70
D ec. 1998
60
O ct. 1997
50
40
30
20
10
0
Less Than
High School
High School D iploma / G ED
Some C ollege
Bachelors
Beyond
D egree
Bachelors
D egree
U.S. Department of Commerce
www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/
2) Universal Usability in Practice
www.otal.umd.edu/uupractice/
2) Universal: Diverse Users & Varied Equipment
• User diversity:
Accommodate users with different skills,
knowledge, age, gender, disabilities,
disabling conditions
(mobility, injury, noise, sunlight),
literacy, culture, income, etc.
• Technology variety:
Support broad range of hardware,
software, and network access
• Gaps in user knowledge:
Bridge the gap between what users know
and what they need to know
Communications of the ACM, May 2000
3) Useful: Generative Theories
Predictive & explanatory theories are useful,
but the big step forward will be
 generative theories
Theories of human needs to guide our
invention of new technologies
3) Theories of Human Needs
• Jefferson: Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness
• Roosevelt: Freedom of speech & expression, religion,
from want, from fear
• Maslow: Hierarchy of human needs
•
•
•
•
•
Physiological
Safety
Love
Esteem
Self-Actualization
• Covey: Living, Loving, Learning & Leaving a legacy
3) Human Needs for Relationships
Relationships
• Self: working on your own
• Family & Friends: 2-50 close intimates
• Colleagues & Neighbors: 50-5000 acquaintances
• Citizens & Markets: 5000 and more
3) Human Needs for Activities
Activities
• Collect: Information
• Relate: Communication
• Create: Innovation
• Donate: Dissemination
3) Activities and Relationship Table (ART)
Activities
Relationships
Collect
Relate Create Donate
Self
Family & Friends
Colleagues & Neighbors
Citizenry & Markets
Skeptics corner
- Are relationships more complex?
- Are these useful activities?
Activities and Relationship Table (ART)
Activities
Relationships
Collect
Relate
Create
Donate
Identicam
PhotoDiary
Family & Friends
PhotoFinder Album
sharing
PhotoMesa
StoryStarter Family
photo
history
Colleagues & Neighbors
PhotoFinder PhotoWall
Kiosk
Citizenry & Markets
PhotoFinder
Webstarter
Self
PhotoQuilt
Photo
sharing
Activities and Relationship Table (ART)
Activities
Relationships
Self
Collect
Relate
Medical log
Colleagues & Neighbors
InfoDoors
Citizenry & Markets
WebBushes
WorldWide
Med
Donate
Diary
Find-aFriend
Family & Friends
Create
MusicLists
Family
vacation
history
Send-a-Link
GatherEmail
Million
Medical
person
diagnosis
communities
Tourist
sharing
3) Future Directions
• E-learning: The new education
• E-business: The new commerce
• E-healthcare: The new medicine
• E-government: The new politics
• Mega-creativity
• Grander Goals & The Next Leonardo
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/newcomputing
Getting to the Golden Age of Usability
• Action Items
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Developers: Apply usability guidelines
& testing methods
Web producers: Develop UU statements
Managers: Provide responsible leadership
Journalists: Raise public expectations
Policy makers: Raise & clarify requirements
Funders: Expand research on usability
Educators: Disseminate scientific results
Researchers: Explore bold new visions
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Three lessons
1) Usable: Reliable
& comprehensible
2) Universal: Diverse users
& varied equipment
3) Useful: In harmony with
human needs
The old computing is about
what computers can do,
The New Computing is about
what people can do
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory
20th Anniversary – May 29-30, 2003
www.cs.umd.edu/hcil