Understanding Usability Challenges in Shifting between Multiple Devices during a Task

Ngoc Thi Nguyen and Hyowon Lee

In: 2019 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerCom Workshops)

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8730756

Abstract

The use of multiple interactive devices in conducting one task is becoming more and more commonplace today. However, as the user interfaces (UIs) and interaction strategies have mostly been designed for individual devices or for a small number of paired devices, spontaneously combining different devices may result in usability issues that are worse than it was before the change takes place. In this paper, we present and demonstrate the concept of device composite - a combination of devices together with a set of suitable user interfaces and interaction strategies which will be activated when these devices are used together. Focusing on the usability side of the multi-device usage scenarios, we categorize the device composites into six basic interaction settings or configurations, and discuss corresponding usability issues associated with them. Two of the composite situations were developed into a fully-working prototype device ecosystem, and a user study was conducted with 18 participants. Findings and insights are reported suggesting further design directions for multi-device usability. 

BibTeX

@INPROCEEDINGS{8730756,

author={N. T. {Nguyen} and H. {Lee}},

booktitle={2019 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops (PerCom Workshops)},

title={Understanding Usability Challenges in Shifting between Multiple Devices during a Task},

year={2019},

volume={},

number={},

pages={3-8},

keywords={interactive devices;user interfaces;interaction strategies;multidevice usage scenarios;device composite;prototype device ecosystem;multidevice usability;usability challenges;multiple interactive devices;user interfaces;Task analysis;Usability;Input devices;Ecosystems;Conferences;Mobile computing;User interfaces;device composite;device combination;context-aware shift;multi-device interaction;multi-device usability},

doi={10.1109/PERCOMW.2019.8730756},

ISSN={},

month={March},}