Multilingualism and Just-in-time Feedback

on the Web

Leveling the learning curve for a truly international virtual

experience(changing the tools instead of forcing the culture)

Radu Luchianov:HOTLab, 03 October 2003, Carleton University, Ottawa

Interactive examples• Baloon help• Monade (under development)

(graph editor)

• eastcree.org:– read-along– stories database

• MoStaConTools• Flash• DHTML• Java• Other scripting options with cross-platform support

Problem examplesLinguistic vandalism

Clickeaza vs. ApasaSwitched word orderspecific modifiers

Icon opacitysave/open icon evolution

The WorldWideWaitGuess-the-function

Research objectives

• Design: Implement theory in functional prototypes

• Test: Verify/Validate theoretical and practical assumptions (e.g. – multilingualism vs.

“internationalization”

– JIT feedback vs. decoupled or serial “help” sources)

Design

Theory(MonDoc)

Existingtechnology

Experiment

Some ubiquitous feedback loops

MaintenanceMaintenance

End-user

End-user

Des

igne

r

Des

igne

r

Programmer

Programmer

Test

erTe

ster

CollaborationCollaboration

Func

tion

Func

tion

Reply-Reply-interaction

interaction

Mu

tual

Mu

tual

com

pre

hen

sio

nco

mp

reh

ensi

on

ExpressionExpression

FormForm

CreationCreation

IdeaIdea

Pro

toty

pe

Pro

toty

pe

UseUse

Continuousspecialization

Currently dissociated,spatially and culturally,

due to economic constraints

Systemside

Userside

Supports everything else

Existing Web technologiesallow for JIT interactivity. JITF multilingual presentation is still problematic.

Layers of interaction

• Representation based on abstraction (from sensory perception)

– Features follow function– Function is context-

based

Prototypeimplementation

Prototypefunctional

description

Theoreticalassumptions

Design Theory

Possible uses

Uses for aspecific task

Use at agiven moment

Functionality

Action Theory

Continuous system feedback(conceptual and perceptual)

Implicit knowledge(perceptual and conceptual)

Explicit knowledge

Goal analysis(mostly sub-conscious)

Currentgoal

Personalexperience

• Unexpected effects– Cross-layer feature

interactions • due to label scarcity or

conceptual proximity (e.g. Search/Browse, Browse/Select)

– Memory effects on action recall

Interface features should change too

Design Functionality• In real products, function is based on applied physics

(engineering, ergonomics)

• In software, function is based on correct instructions (exhaustively verified algorithms and interfaces)

• … but the computer is not the only element at work; it is not enough to provide functionality, the system is also responsible to make that functionality accessible:– fit the interaction model the user expects, or JITF:

• guide the user to understand the internal model of the product, or

• change the internal model to fit specific user cultures

Badly designed stroller, requires a lot of force to handle, thus breaks fast and stalls very often.

Shopping carts are designedbetter, with the pivoting wheelsin the back.

Affordance

• Features of an object which suggest its possible uses

• Context-based reasoning is heavily influenced by perceived affordances.

• However, affordance, especially for symbols is mostly conventional, thus culture-dependent.

Point Move Undo

“Move the cursoron the screen

with the mouse”

Aesthetics

• used to be neglected, though it positively influences perceived affordance and helps focus attention

TestTest Test

Link Plain Button Nice, realistic Button

Some stumbling blocks• for Multilingualism

– Different grammatical rules (creating multilingual generators is usually overkill) (computer-oriented NLP research vs. pragmatic interaction)

– Uncharted cultural differences (inter- and intra-group differences in symbol assignment and norms)

– Inaccessibility to functional and formal differences in designers vs. end-users (non-HCI designers create tools based on their own cultural biases; differences are apparent only after product is distributed)

– Current technological hiatus (Unicode)

• for Just-in-time feedback– Reducing perceptual load (hiding complexity) can

increase user confusion (especially in less technically-inclined cultures)

– Layout modification issues– General reluctance to Virtual media– Economic issues (income from training)

Thank You