Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Houston Chapter

M1

Minmin Yang, Aniko Sandor and David Lane
Rice University

Cascading Versus Panel Menus: The Tradeoff of Screen Space and Usability in Menu Design

The design of a user interface invariably involves weighing tradeoffs among a number of factors. A very common tradeoff is the one between screen space and usability. This study investigated the tradeoff between space and usability in menu design. Two types of computer menus were compared: cascading menus and panel menus (which show all submenu items simultaneously on a panel). It is known that cascading menus are frequently used and generally take less screen space than panel menus. However, it is not known which type of menus can lead to shorter performance time and better satisfaction rating.

Two experiments were conducted to compare cascading menus and panel menus (which show all submenu items simultaneously in a panel).

Participants were found to be 30% and 20% faster using panel menus than when using cascading menus in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 respectively. Participants preferred both panel and cascading menus similarly in Experiment 1 whereas they preferred panel menus to cascading menus in Experiment 2. The experiments also examined the effect of a delay factor in cascading menus. Including a delay of 150 ms in cascading menus improved neither performance nor preference. As such, panel menus appear to be a better choice than cascading menus in most situations. However, since panel menus require more screen space, the tradeoff between space and ease of use may favor cascading menus when screen space is extremely limited.

M2

Michael Byrne, Kristen Greene, and Sarah Everett
Rice University

Usability of Voting Systems: Baseline Data for Paper, Punch Cards, and Lever Machines

In the United States, computer-based voting machines are rapidly replacing other older technologies. While there is potential for this to be a usability improvement, particularly in terms of accessibility, the only way it is possible to know if usability has improved is to have baseline data on the usability of traditional technologies.  Unfortunately, such data are surprisingly scarce.  We report an experiment assessing the usability of punch cards, lever machines, and two forms of paper ballot using metrics of efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.  81 participants voted in a simulated election on a 27-contest ballot.  There were no differences in ballot completion time between the four methods (the only variable which affected completion time was education), but there were substantial effects on error rate, with the paper ballots superior to the other methods as well as demonstrating an interaction with age of voters.   Overall, error rates were quite high.

Participants made errors on 2.6% of the individual contests, and 26% of the ballots "cast" contained at least one error.  Subjective usability was assessed with the System Usability Scale (SUS) and showed a slight advantage for bubble-style paper ballots. Overall, paper ballots were found to be particularly usable, which raises important technological and policy issues.

M3

Michael Bartha and Cynthia Purvis
Hewlett-Packard

Comfort-focused Design at Hewlett-Packard: An Historical Perspective

Researchers estimate that 40-50% of computer users perceive that they are in pain in their upper extremities (neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, and hands) and that approximately 70-75% of computer users experience symptoms of eye strain or fatigue (headaches, blurred vision, dry or irritated eyes).  The general public perception is that ergonomics is a mature science and that the factors associated with symptoms of upper extremity and eye discomfort are simple and well understood. Contrary to this popular perception, ergonomics is still a relatively immature science and in fact, research to date has shown that the potential factors associated with upper extremity and eye discomfort are multi-factorial and complex. However, ergonomic science in general and our understanding of the underlying etiologies of upper extremity and eye discomfort continue to mature. It is likely that at some point in the future, research developments may occur which may lead to comfort innovations in product design or ergonomic interventions and training. 

Over the past 15 years, Hewlett-Packard (starting with activities begun at Compaq and continuing through the merger in 2002) has matured a comfort-focused design process for taking good ergonomic science and translating it into comfortable personal computing experiences for users at all stages of life. In addition to internal research activities, this process has included participation in external research consortia and foundations that provide funding to support ergonomic research, such as the VDT Health Foundation and the Office Ergonomics Research Committee, as well as direct funding of university-based research. Also, active participation in national and international ergonomic standards writing bodies has been a cornerstone of this comfort-focused design process. Subsequent to the merger of Compaq and HP in 2002, the maturation of this comfort-focused process has culminated in the formation of an internal HP council, the HP Office Ergonomics Council (OEC). This paper will review the history of the development of this approach to ergonomics at HP and outline some of the key lessons learned as this process has matured.

M4

Jiajie Zhang and Todd Johnson
University of Texas

Human-Centered Computing in Biomedical Informatics

A current and significant challenge in the design and implementation of health information technology (HIT) is to deal with the high failure rate of HIT projects.  A large number of HIT projects fail. Most of these failures are not due to flawed technology, but rather due to the lack of systematic considerations of human and other non-technology issues in the design and implementation processes. In other words, designing and implementing HIT is not so much an IT project as a human project about human-centered computing such as human-computer interaction, workflow, organizational change, and process reengineering. Due to the complexity and unique features of healthcare, human-centered methods and techniques specifically developed for healthcare are necessary for the successful development of health information systems that would increase efficiency and productivity,increase ease of use and ease of learning, increase user adoption, retention, and satisfaction, and decrease medical errors, decrease development time and cost, and decrease support and training cost. In this talk we will present one such method that is specifically developed for Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems.

P1

Craig Neely, Nan-Xiang Sheng, and Zheng-Xuan Zhao
Hewlett-Packard

Usability in China: Lessons Learned from Conducting Research in the People s Republic

Globalization is necessary to survive in today's technology market.  Focusing on usability in emerging markets such as China is a critical element to this success.  To facilitate understanding of the Chinese user, Hewlett-Packard has recently established a small usability group in Shanghai.  This poster will cover the lessons learned in setting up this usability lab as well as conducting standard usability tests and contexual research.

P2

Barry Tillman
NASA-JSC

Human Factors Engineering Standards at NASA

NASA has begun a new approach to human factors design standards. For years NASA-STD-3000, Manned Systems Integration Standards, has been a source of human factors design guidance for space systems. 

In order to better meet the needs of the system developers, NASA is revising its human factors standards system. NASA-STD-3000 will be replaced by two documents: set of broad human systems specifications (including both human factors and medical topics) and a human factors design handbook.

This presentation will discuss the format of the new documents and how NASA anticipates they will be used. In addition, current trends in human factors standards (military, industry, FAA, etc.) will be described and discussed. 

P3

S. Camille Peres, Vickie Nguyen, Melodee Alexander, and Sonia Dutt
University of Houston-Clear Lake

Efficiency with Microsoft Word: Validating Self-report data

Since Carroll and Rosson's seminal work on the paradox of the active user, research has consistently shown that regardless of the amount of time people use software, they do not necessary achieve efficient levels of performance. Recent work has investigated users efficiency by examining their use of the keyboard to issue commands (KIC). This method of issuing commands can be faster and is better ergonomically than using the mouse. Preliminary results from an experiment currently in progress suggest that the self-report data from previous studies on the utilization of KIC are representative of users actual behavior. In particular, these results show that both efficient and inefficient users are remarkably consistent in their use of different methods for issuing commands and that many demographic variables are not predictive of efficiency.

P4

Andrew Muddimer
Schlumberger

Future Microsoft UI Possibilities

With the latest Microsoft advances with .NET 3.0 and Vista operating system Schlumberger decided to investigate how this may effect our current developments and what a future application might look like. A working prototype was made late in the summer of 2006.

P5

Andy Su and Phil Kortum
Rice University

Effect of Musical Auditory Progress Bars on Hold Time estimation

Auditory progress bars are sonic analogues to the ubiquitous visual progress bars, composed of tonal cues which convey information about the amount of time the user needs to wait. An auditory progress bar aims to improve the accuracy of time estimation, increase user satisfaction, and minimize cognitive load. For the present study, an APB was constructed to retain prior effects involving computer generated tones while improving satisfaction scores. The effects of pitch and duration change on wait time estimation and satisfaction are investigated, and results are compared with prior work to inform APB design.

P6

Dorinne Hammons and Phil Kortum
Rice University

Response Bias in a Medical IVR System

The perceived personality of an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system can affect how users respond to the system.  This study focuses on the effect of the voice used in the IVR, and tries to determine whether the perceived personality of that voice can induce response bias.  Subjects are presented with one of two personality versions of an IVR survey that measures medical symptoms such as pain, and asked to respond honestly to the survey. Average responses are then compared across the two versions of the IVR to determine whether any response bias is present.

P7

Aniko Sandor and David Lane
Rice University

Graph use in psychology journals

In an investigation of graph use in psychology, we surveyed two prominent APA journals and analyzed a set of 68 graphs. Graphs rarely portrayed distributional information beyond central tendency and few graphs portrayed inferential statistics. Moreover, those that did portray inferential information generally did not provide it in a way that was useful for interpreting the data. We conclude that there is a large gap between theory and practice in the construction of graphs.

P8

Sebastian Thomas, David Lane and Leslie Miller
Rice University

Assessing the impact of story line in a web-based computer game on the motivation level and learning in middle school children

This study examined the effect of a storyline on the motivation and learning of middle school children playing a web-based educational computer game. Accordingly, participants completed a pre and post test and indicated their motivation for the full-game version and no-story-line version of the game. Students’ motivation was high for both versions and students learned a significant amount with both versions. There was no evidence of an effect of storyline.  

P9

Stephen Goggin and Michael Byrne
Rice University

An Examination of the Auditability of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) Ballots

With heightened concerns over the security of electronic voting   machines, 37 states now require some form of voter verification mechanism which could then be used in a recount.  This usually takes the form of a Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). 

Unfortunately, little is know about the usability of VVPATs for recount purposes. The current study examines the speed and accuracy of hand recounts of VVPATs.  Forty Rice undergraduates counted spools of completed VVPAT ballots; the ballots were based on those actually in use in DRE machines today.  Participants manually recounted two races from of a spool of 120 ballots from a fictional election. This involves not just counting, but first separating the ballots from the spool and removing ballots that were marked as rejected by the voter.  This task was time-consuming and prone to high error rates, with only 57.5% of participants' counts providing the correct election results.  Furthermore, ballot rejection rate interacted with the closeness of the race being counted.  When the ballot rejection rate was high, participants were significantly more error-prone when conducting recounts of close (as opposed to more lopsided) races. This experiment raises serious concerns about the viability of conducting manual recounts using current VVPAT technology.

P10

Sarah Everett, Michael Byrne, and Kristen Greene
Rice University

Do voters notice if their choices are changed?

The problems in the 2000 election in Florida focused national attention on the need for usable voting systems. As a result, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 provided funding for updating voting equipment and many states purchased direct recording electronic (DRE) systems. Although these electronic systems have been widely adopted, they have not been empirically proven to be better than their predecessors. The study presented here provides usability data on DREs to compare with that of the previous voting technologies (paper ballots, punchcards, and lever machines). It also goes beyond usability comparisons and focuses on a more specific aspect of the electronic voting experience: review screen use. The study explores whether voters notice any changes that are made their review screens.

AI-1

Aniko Sandor and Kritina Holden
NASA-JSC

Determining Desirable Cursor Control Device Characteristics for NASA Exploration Missions

The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that will travel to the moon and Mars, and all future Exploration vehicles and habitats will be highly computerized, necessitating an accurate method of interaction with the computers. The design of a cursor control device will have to take into consideration g-forces, vibration, gloved operations, and the specific types of tasks to be performed. The study described here is being undertaken to begin identifying characteristics of cursor control devices that will work well for the unique Exploration mission environments. The objective of the study is not to identify a particular device, but to begin identifying design characteristics that are usable and desirable for space missions. Most cursor control devices have strengths and weaknesses; they are more appropriate for some tasks and less suitable for others. The purpose of this study is to collect some initial usability data on a large number of commercially available and proprietary cursor control devices. A software test battery was developed for this purpose. Once data has been collected using these low-level, basic point/click/drag tasks, higher fidelity, scenario-driven evaluations will be conducted with a reduced set of devices.

The standard tasks used for testing cursor control devices are based on a model of human movement known as Fitts  law. Fitts  law predicts that the time to acquire a target is logarithmically related to the distance over the target size. To gather data for analysis with this law, fundamental, low-level tasks are used such as dragging or pointing at various targets of different sizes from various distances. The first four core tasks for the study were based on the ISO 9241-9:(2000) document from the International Organization for Standardization that contains the requirements for non-keyboard input devices. These include two pointing tasks, one dragging and one tracking task. The fifth task from ISO 9241-9, the circular tracking task was not used because it is a movement that is not applicable to most of the applications used on aviation displays. Additionally, we opted to add a multi-size and multi-distance pointing task, and two ecologically more valid tasks which included t  ext selection, and interaction with drop down menus, sliders, and checkboxes. The Visual Basic test battery tracks the task and trial numbers, measures the pointing, tracking or dragging time, as well as the number and types of errors. 

The testing session includes a practice set for each input device, then the randomized 7 tasks, and finally a questionnaire about the device. This is repeated for all the devices tested within a session. The experiment is a within-subjects design, with participants returning for multiple sessions to test additional devices. The input devices will be compared based on objective performance data from the tasks, as well as subjective feedback and ratings on the questionnaire.

AI-2

Harry Litaker, Jr., Ron Hoffman, Jody Solem, Kritina Holden, and Mihriban Whitmore
NASA-JSC

Evaluation of Hands-Free Devices for Space Habitat Maintenance Procedures

Currently, International Space Station (ISS) crews use a laptop computer to display procedures for performing onboard maintenance tasks. This approach has been determined to be suboptimal. A heuristic evaluation and two studies have been completed to test commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)  near-eye  head up displays (HUDs) for support of these types of maintenance tasks. In both studies, subjects worked through electronic procedures to perform simple maintenance tasks. One task focused on inspection of air filters in a life support system for contamination and the other, rewiring of associated circuits. As a result of the Phase I study, three HUDs were down-selected to one. In the Phase II study, the HUD was compared against two other electronic display devices - a laptop computer, and an e-book reader. Results suggested that adjustability and stability of the HUD display were the most significant acceptability factors to consider for near-eye displays. Perceptual grouping characteristics may have been a key contributing factor in the rankings of the HUDs. The Phase II study uncovered a number of advantages and disadvantages of the HUD relative to the laptop and e-book reader for interacting with electronic procedures. The e-book was ranked over the laptop and the HUD as the best device for performing maintenance tasks.

AI-3

James Maida
NASA-JSC

Virtual Light Meter: Using Computer Generated Illumination Maps to Predict Interior Lighting Conditions on the International Space Station

After the STS-115 Columbia incidence in Feb 2003, there were no shuttle flights to the International Space Station (ISS) until July 2005. During that period, re-supply missions were greatly reduced. Regarding internal illumination, many luminaires began to reach their end of life and because of re-supply priorities, luminare replacements were not keeping pace with failures. As there were no onboard measurements of the illumination, there was no clear understanding of the lighting conditions other than the subjective assessments of the crews. To provide an objective estimate of conditions, the Radiance lighting modeling system, adapted and validated by the Graphics Research Analysis Facility (GRAF) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) for use in space human factors analyses, was used as virtual light meter to predict the illumination levels and compare those levels to ISS program requirements. The number and location of functioning and failed luminaires were tracked over time and modeled accordingly. At each stage of a failure or replacement, the modeling system computed the illumination within the U.S. Laboratory, node 1 and airlock modules and compared those results with ISS program requirements for a variety of tasks and conditions. These results provided the ISS program managers and safety engineers the ability to better understand conditions onboard ISS and to help set priorities for supplying spare luminaires up to and including the July 2005 visit by STS-114.

AI-4

Sherry Thaxton and Sudhakar Rajulu
NASA-JSC

Anthropometric Accommodation in Space Suit Design

Anthropometric design requirements for next generation space suits are currently being determined by NASA.  Anthropometric requirements are specified in terms of minimum and maximum values for critical human dimensions that suits must accommodate.  These dimensions drive suit design, and implicitly have an effect on crew selection.  The space suit design team identified anthropometric parameters that will be critical for future suit designs.  In addition, they provided technically feasible minimum and maximum values for these parameters.  Using an adjusted 1988 ANSUR database to represent a predicted future astronaut population, ABF personnel calculated the proportion of that population that will be accommodated within the identified ranges of anthropometric parameters.  This analysis provided the suit design team with an estimate of the accommodation levels associated with their identified ranges of critical parameters.  Future analyses will employ principal component analysis and digital mannequins to enhance accommodation estimates.

AII-1

Clare Hobby
TCO

Ergonomic and human factor aspects of working with new flat panel display technologies

TCO Development is a worldwide ergonomic and environmental standards organization focusing on the use of electronic office equipment. IT products used in office settings today offer many ergonomic challenges, particularly in visual ergonomics. Recent market developments show an increase in flat panel computer displays and notebook computers designed with a so called glare panel i.e. highly glossy screens. The shiny look of the display appeals to consumers and many argue that the contrast and color saturation improve by using a glare panel.

TCO is currently carrying out user studies to examine the effect of gloss / glare computer monitors on worker comfort and performance. Study groups have compared their experiences working with high gloss and matte computer screens in a variety of ambient office lighting scenarios. The results show a slight advantage for the glossy screen when no disturbing reflexes are present, however the difference was not statistically significant. When disturbing reflexes are present the advantage is changed into a larger disadvantage and this difference is statistically significant. The session will present study findings and examine the ergonomic pros and cons of the latest flat panel monitors. 

LCD displays also produce an angular dependent picture quality. This has been even more pronounced by the introduction of Prism Light Guide plates into displays for notebook computers. User studies analyzing the effects of techniques to enhance notebook computer backlighting have also been carried out. Results from this study will  be presented in the session. How do these new technologies impact worker comfort and productivity? Attendees will learn how to determine which kind of product is most suited to a particular working environment and how new technologies are impacting the comfort of computer users.

AII-2

Miriam Joffe
Auburn Engineers

Cost-Effective Management When You re a One-Person Show

Picture this. You are the sole ergonomist (or chief to a relatively small tribe of experts) for a company spread across the state or country. You are charged with the goal of improving efficiencies while reducing WRMSDs by 50% in the next 2-3 years. What do you do next? Well, in this scenario the sole ergonomist understands the need to utilize a uniformed problem-solving process that hinges upon standardized objective measurement tools, allowing everyone (from the line-worker to the general manager) to speak the same language  and track cost-effective improvements. Once integrated into the system, they promote the sharing of learnings between similar processes to improve efficiencies. And with a centralized system, tracking and measuring such improvements becomes a tangible reality. This presentation demonstrates how Michelin North America effectively uses an in-house assessment tool and the Ergo Job Analyzer to identify, implement and measure cost-effective  ergonomics improvements across the US, Canada, Mexico, Romania and Ireland.

AII-3

Vicky Byrne, Kritina Holden, and Mihriban Whitmore
NASA-JSC

Implementing a Human Factors Plan into the Design of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV)

NASA s Space Exploration vision for humans to venture to the moon and beyond provides interesting human factors opportunities and challenges. The Human Engineering group at NASA has been involved in the initial phases of development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), Orion. Getting involved at the ground level, Human Factors engineers are beginning to influence design; this involvement is expected to continue throughout the development lifecycle. The information presented here describes what has been done to date, what is currently going on, and what is expected in the future. During Phase 1, prior to the contract award to Lockheed Martin, the Human Engineering group was involved in generating requirements, conducting preliminary task analyses based on interviews with subject matter experts in all vehicle systems areas, and developing preliminary concepts of operations based on the task analysis results. In addition, some early evaluations to look at CEV net habitable volume were also conducted. The program is currently in Phase 2, which is broken down into design cycles, including System Readiness Review, Preliminary Design Review, and Critical Design Review. Currently, there are ongoing Human Engineering Technical Interchange Meetings being held with both NASA and Lockheed Martin in order to establish processes, desired products, and schedules. Multiple design trades and quick-look evaluations (e.g. display device layout and external window size) are also in progress. Future Human Engineering activities include requirement verification assessments and crew/stakeholder evaluations of increasing fidelity. During actual flights of the CEV, the Human Engineering group is expected to be involved in in-situ testing and lessons learned reporting, in order to benefit human space flight beyond the initial CEV program.

AII-4

Steve Umbach
University of Houston

Teaching Human Factors & Ergonomics to Industrial Design and Architecture University-Level Students

In 2002 The University of Houston, College of Architecture offered for the first time a four year degree program in Industrial Design.  Because Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomic specialists of all types are so often partners in the product development process with Industrial Designers, it was important when developing the curriculum for the new program, to offer a course in HF/E as part of the degree requirement. The University hired a practicing industrial designer, Mr. Umbach, with a strong human factors background to develop the course and teach it for students in their 3rd year of the ID program.  The first course was offered in the fall of 2004.  Mr. Umbach will present his experience in designing a course in HF/E for non HF/E majors as well as some of the lessons learned in teaching the course for 3 years now.  Additionally, Mr. Umbach will review the basic structure and content of the course as well as talk about how some of the HF/E industry professional  s in Houston and Austin have been involved in supporting the course.