Thesis on "Adaptive Graphical Interfaces"

Thesis 10 pages (3205 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Adaptive Graphical Interfaces

The entire human race represents a great diversity in personality, moods, background, preferences, motivation, goals, education and cognitive skills. Similarly, computers too display variation in purpose, functionality, structure, size and the manner in which their internal functioning are represented. These computer systems have been ultimately designed to be used by human beings and therefore the complexity of the human computer interaction (HCI) is something that must be considered seriously. HCI does not only involve political, organizational and social factors but also the demands of a situation along with user support. The usability of a computer system depends on the user interface displayed on the computer and the human in front of it. The different command names, icons and signs displayed on the screen conveys different meanings for different users and therefore the responses also vary. This increasing complexity of human computer interaction has been the subject of many studies and active efforts are underway to decrease this complexity and increase computer usability through various methods. (Benyon, Accommodating Individual Differences through an Adaptive User Interface); (Schneider-Hufschmidt, Adaptive User Interfaces Class 8113d, Fall 94)

One way in which the system can be personalized is by customization where the user himself/herself makes certain changes to the system which personalizes the system to their individual needs. These changes are initiated by the user only and depend totally on the level of awareness and knowledge of the computer system in which he/she is working. The other way to make the computer system more usable and the human computer interaction less complex is to make the system itself initiate and execute the personalized and user-centric changes. To do so, the system must be able to obtain some vital information regarding the user by means of some kind of inference mechanism and thus coming up with a user model. (Benyon, Accommodating Individual Differences through an Adaptive User Interface); (Schneider-Hufschmidt, Adaptive User Interfaces Class 8113d, Fall 94); (Karwowski, 1004)

One of these methods involves the use of "adaptive graphical interfaces" or "adaptive user interfaces." The objective behind designing an adaptive user interface is to customize the interactive behavior of a system in such a way as to consider both the changing conditions inside an application environment as well as the specific individual requirements of the users. Adaptive user interfaces have the flexibility to change both functionalities and displays corresponding to the user capabilities, needs and preferences by monitoring the user computer interaction. Adaptive interfaces should help users to accomplish their tasks with fewer actions. The eventual goal of adaptive systems is to present an interface that contains only those functionalities, contents and features that the user specifically wants or needs and nothing more. However, the system may also be able to predict certain functions that the user may need in the future. (Benyon, Accommodating Individual Differences through an Adaptive User Interface); (Schneider-Hufschmidt, Adaptive User Interfaces Class 8113d, Fall 94); (Karwowski, 1004)

Adaptive graphical interfaces can not only improve a user's performance but also system performance and quality of human computer interaction. Such interfaces can help to get rid of problems arising from information overflow or system complexity. (Benyon, Accommodating Individual Differences through an Adaptive User Interface); (Schneider-Hufschmidt, Adaptive User Interfaces Class 8113d, Fall 94); (Karwowski, 1004) Adaptive graphical interfaces possess a tremendous amount of potential for providing assistance to a broad range of users operating across a wide span of work contexts. Plenty of research has gone into the development of such systems. Computer systems can be made adaptable if it is provided with an appropriate theory of interaction along with the necessary instructions of how this interaction can be improved. The representations and structure offered at the interface can be made to complement the user's individual needs, desires and preferences if the computer is arranged to alter its functioning. (Benyon, Accommodating Individual Differences through an Adaptive User Interface); (Jacko; Sears, 518)

Today, the most common form of adaptive graphical interfaces can be seen in the changes witnessed in menu items displayed in an application wherein the number and type of menu items changes dynamically depending on the most recent choices made by the user. Less accessed menu items cannot be immediately seen in the menu and have to be selected by going through another action. Adaptive interfaces can take on a more complex form when the interfaces change their functionality or display in real time and adjust to the current user's preferences and needs. Such interfaces have also been referred to as Dynamically Adaptive Interfaces or DAI. For example, in the field of aviation, a computer system displaying Adaptive Automation -- AA may display only that information to the pilot which is relevant as well as dependent on the conditions like system state, current workload, etc. existing at that particular point of time. (Karwowski, 1007)

Early research works conducted for developing adaptive GUI -- Graphical User Interface include the MERCATOR project conducted by Mynatt and Weber in 1994 and the 'GUIB or Textual and Graphical User Interfaces for Blind People' project conducted by Petrie, Morley and Weber in 1995. Mercator developed interfaces which modeled graphical components and built up hierarchical relationships between other objects. Both the models could predict user interactions and tried to establish "environment-level adaptations to GUIs" in order to increase their accessibility. Other developments in making user interfaces more adaptable include nonspeech sounds, digitized and synthetic speech and refreshable Braille. Leading developments in nonspeech sound research have resulted in earcons and auditory icons. Earcons, which were developed by Blattner, Sumikawa and Greenberg in 1989, basically utilize nonspeech audio in the graphical user interfaces which provides the user with audio messages about computer operations or objects. Auditory icons, which were developed by Gaver in 1989, include everyday sounds that occur all round us and are mapped in relevant fashion in the computer system. (Jacko; Sears, 524)

Adaptive GUIs are not meant only for the visually or physically impaired but also for infrequent or novice users who can gain from interface dialogue styles which facilitate recognition of commands and through fill-in form dialogue styles and menu choices which serve to decrease their memory load. Adaptive user interfaces should be attuned to the needs of the more experienced user who may simply get irritated by the "overly helpful" icons, sounds and other such objects. The user interface should be able to adapt to such experienced users as well by providing command interfaces or other such interfaces where the user does not feel restricted. (Stephanidis; Jacko, 385)

According to Rothrock and colleagues, the design and modeling of adaptive interface systems can follow two different approaches. The first approach called the "human factors approach" should tackle adaptation from the perspective of automation. Here, the main focus should be on a suitable level of automation -- LOA and the splitting up of the tasks between the user and the computer system. This refers to the decisions regarding what kind of tasks should be automated and what should be left to the user, at what point automation should be enables or disabled and who would do the task of enabling or disabling of the automation system. The human factors approach also includes the measurement and analysis of the user's mental workload and cognitive ability and resources. The second approach outlined by Rothrock et al. is the HCI or "human computer interaction" approach. This involves research in mechanisms that help the system to adapt to the user, situation or task dynamically. In this context, "intelligent user interface" is often used. (Karwowski, 1010)

A user interface may be referred to as "intelligent" in the degree to which it makes adaptations, dynamically takes communication decisions and adapts itself at run-time. According to Maybury, intelligent user interfaces help in establishing a human computer interaction which is more natural trying to imitate the communication that occurs between two humans. In the context of adaptive user interfaces, researchers have identified a few variables which are required for the system to adapt to the user. These variables include user knowledge, user situation awareness, user goals, user performance, task variables like system variables and situation variables, user workload, user personality, user cognitive style and groups of users. (Evangelos Triantafillou, Elissavet Georgiadou, 357); (Stephanidis, 391)

Some other configurable or adaptive interface designs that have been deeply researched include the extremely flexible abstract widgets. Abstract widgets refer to a modeling approach which uses a "semantic abstraction of user interaction." The separation of the application functionality from the user interface in this modeling approach facilitates users to interact with whichever interface they select, irrespective of their environment.

PAT or Pervasive Accessible Technology is yet another approach which helps disabled individuals to make use of the usual interface devices to interact with the computer system infrastructures. Depending on the disability of the user the UIMS or User Interface Management System model offers the required versatility to adapt the user interface in accordance to their needs. Research has also been carried out on hypermedia systems concentrating on development of adaptive applications… READ MORE

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