NECTAR News

A Representational Basis for Human-Computer Interaction

June 30th, 2005

Barry Po

Mental representations are “data structures of the mind,” which are important to understanding human behaviour. In the study of human-computer interaction (HCI), mental representations could be used to improve the design and evaluation of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and interactive systems. This thesis presents a representational approach to the study of user performance and shows how understanding mental representations can be applied to address several key assumptions about user interface design. Three particular assumptions are challenged: (1) the use of directional arrows as pointing cursors (figure); (2) the use of spatial layout to facilitate pointing in graphical displays; (3) the use of visual feedback for pointing on large screens. Design guidelines based on the representational approach are provided and its broader implications to HCI are discussed with reference to the design and evaluation of interfaces for time- and safety-critical systems, interaction with computer graphics, information visualization, and computer-supported cooperative work.

Milestones

• PhD Thesis produced
• Barry now has a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Imager Lab for Computer Graphics, Visualization, and HCI, University of British Columbia.

For more information

• see the PhD Thesis
• Contact Barry Po po@cs.ubc.ca
(see his Webpage)

Entry Filed under: Publications, Project Summaries