Mjolnir: talks
Computer-based graphical user interfaces tend to trap users in a 'beginner mode' of operation. While user interface design guidelines advocate the provision of shortcut facilities for experts, it is known that most users persistently fail to adopt these methods, consequently impairing their productivity for months, years, and decades of use.
I will introduce four domains for potential performance improvement: intramodal improvement within a single interface method; intermodal improvement that occurs between methods; vocabulary extension, in which the user broadens their knowledge of the range of functions available; and task mapping, which examines how users perform their tasks, including task learning and strategies. I will also review several of our research systems that demonstrate promising approaches for facilitating transitions to expert performance.
Andy Cockburn is a Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. His research interests are in Human Computer Interaction (HCI), with a focus on improving human performance with computer systems by understanding and exploiting underlying human factors. Key problems that he has worked on include improving mechanisms for navigating within electronic documents (e.g., scrolling and zooming), navigating between electronic documents (e.g., file retrieval, window switching and web navigation), command activation (e.g., menus and hotkeys), and interfaces that facilitate transitions to expertise. He is a fan of spatially stable user interfaces and of rigorous experimental research validation.