Lecture 3: Displays

Question 1

What is the problem with those nice, well-lit office spaces that designers work from?

Answer 1

The environment doesn’t allow the designer to consider context of use and an in depth behavior of the intended user. Designers give 150% of their attention to design.

Question 2

What is cross-pollination?

Answer 2

sharing information across modules or elements of a system; pushing of information from other pages to the user

Question 3

What is transparency?

Answer 3

the degree to which an interface presents the relevant, underlying operations which should effect user actions or the results of their actions; giving progress updates, letting the user know what is happening behind the scenes, not hiding anything

Question 4

What is analog perception?

Answer 4

the need to judge distance, extent and depth of objects or distances between them in order to derive information about the state of the world or some system

Question 5

Which type of large difference is more significant than small ones?

Answer 5

Large spatial differences are more signification; as opposed to digital readout

Question 6

When making graphs, what characteristic should physical dimensions have?

Answer 6

they should be easily perceivable and be unbiased; don’t use area, volume, and depth to convey precise information

Question 7

What is the best format for comparing quantities? What’s worst?

Answer 7

two lines with a common baseline; comparing two hues

Question 8

What should graph formats be compatible with?

Answer 8

the task to be performed

Question 9

When should you use separated displays?

Answer 9

for point reading and local comparison

Question 10

When should you use integrated displays?

Answer 10

for synthesis and global comparison

Question 11

What are examples of separated graphs?

Answer 11

bar graph and pie chart

Question 12

What are examples of integrated graphs? What benefit do these provide?

Answer 12

line graph and object graph; emergent feature

Question 13

What should be minimized in graphs?

Answer 13

number of mental operations performed by user while reducing complexity of operations that must be performed

Question 14

Should the data-ink ratio be high or low?

Answer 14

high, minimize ink that does not depict data points, like backgrounds, gridlines, etc.

Question 15

How should multiple graphs be coded?

Answer 15

consistently

Question 16

Which type of variables should be on the x-axis?

Answer 16

quantitative variables

Question 17

What is the most important guideline for display design? What are the advantages?

Answer 17

compatibility; read faster with more accuracy and less stress (have gains in stressful environments)

Question 18

What are the features of a compatible display?

Answer 18

understanding physical system
train the operators to have an accurate mental model of the physical system
understand resultant mental model and information processing needs of operators
display information to match this model and conform to the information processing limitations of operators

Question 19

What is the analog design principle?

Answer 19

if something exists in the world in analog form, it should exist in the display

Question 20

Why should 3 dimension be used?

Answer 20

attract users
increase fidelity and immersion
display 3D data
convert depth or height
create better visual momentum
create consistency with mental model of the real world

Question 21

What is an ego-centered display?

Answer 21

it’s taken from the operator POV

Question 22

What is an eco-centered display?

Answer 22

it’s taken from the world or god’s eye view

Question 23

What is local guidance?

Answer 23

the ability to dynamically control the vehicle and navigate the desired course

Question 24

What is situation awareness?

Answer 24

global; the ability to detect and interpret surrounding events of relevance

Question 25

What did Wickens and Prevett find different between performance and situation awareness in terms of centricity for flight simulation tasks?

Answer 25

performance was best when the user was egocentric (had better local guidance); situation awareness was best when the user was exocentric (had better global awareness)

Question 26

What is the best perspective for tasks?

Answer 26

mixture of both egocentric and exocentric perspectives

Question 27

What is the purpose of usability inquiry methods?

Answer 27

obtain information about user’s needs, likes, dislikes, behaviors, and usage characteristics; provides context and baseline to an expert evaluation; supplements with end-user touchpoint