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Interfaces for Staying in the Flow

Interfaces for Staying in the Flow. Benjamin B. Bederson Computer Science Department Human-Computer Interaction Lab University of Maryland www.cs.umd.edu/hcil bederson@cs.umd.edu. Human Goals. Life Goal: Happiness Work Goal: productivity, creativity, recognition, etc.

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Interfaces for Staying in the Flow

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  1. Interfaces for Staying in the Flow Benjamin B. Bederson Computer Science Department Human-Computer Interaction Lab University of Maryland www.cs.umd.edu/hcil bederson@cs.umd.edu

  2. Human Goals • Life Goal: Happiness • Work Goal: productivity, creativity, recognition, etc.

  3. Flow – Folk Definition • “To move or run freely in the manner characteristic of a fluid” • Concentrate to the exclusion of all else • To be “in the zone” • Counter example: Writer w/ writer’s block

  4. Flow – Psychology Definition • “Optimal Experience” – see “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990) • Started by interviewing “experts” • Then used “Experience Sampling Method” => Characteristics of optimal experience => Flow is universal, and is a combination of activity, individual and state of mind

  5. 1. Challenge and Require Skill • Person must expend effort to acquire skills, and then apply them • Examples: • Tennis • Programming • Not passive or relaxing • Not “go with the flow”

  6. 2. Concentrate • Ability to focus attention at length is crucial • Focusing enables tuning out of other input • People w/ A.D.D. at real disadvantage • Examples: • Reading • Painting

  7. 3. Clear Goals and Feedback • Must define success up front • Clearly measure progress along path • Examples: • Surgery • Factory work

  8. 4. Maintain Control • Minimize loss of “objective” control • Maximize “subjective” control • Examples: • Mountain climbing • Counter example: Driving in traffic

  9. 5. Transformation of Time • Time flies • Or, can slow down • Examples: • Pottery • New romantic interest

  10. Our Goal • Build computer systems that work as a “tool” to support optimal experience ► But computers could never be that good. You’ve described only simple tools. ► But isn’t flow a fuzzy, unmeasurable and unscientific concept? And even if you could measure it, is it really important?

  11. Interfaces for Staying in the Flow • How do these characteristics of flow apply to interface design?

  12. 1. Challenge and Require Skill • Interfaces should be: • neither so difficult as to discourage users • nor so easy as to be boring FlowChannel DemoTimeSearcher Anxiety Challenges Boredom Skills

  13. Guimbretière et al. “FlowMenus: Combining Command,Text Entry and direct manipulation”UIST 2000 2. Concentrate • Avoid interruptions • Stay in task domain, not interface domain Three levels of interaction: 1. Learn from the interface 2. Feedback from the interface 3. Autonomous interaction (no feedback necessary)

  14. 2. Concentrate (cont.) • Maintain object constancy • Save short-term memory DemoPhotoMesa

  15. 3. Clear Goals and Feedback • Help user to specify what they are doing • And how they are getting there • Many e-commercewebsites

  16. 4. Maintain Control • Challenge of “Expert” vs. “Novice” interfaces (controls vs. wizards) (Microsoft vs. Apple philosophy) • Emacs vs. IDEs (Visual Studio & Eclipse) • Difficulty of learning • Keyboard vs. mouse control • Home keys vs. arrow/nav keys • Integrated shell, grep, directory, etc. • Filename completion, command history

  17. 4. Maintain Control (cont.) • Problem w/ adaptive interfaces: • Unpredictable • Loss of objective control • Leads to frustration and slow performance • Encourage controllable,configurable interfaces DemoFavorite Folders

  18. 5. Transformation of Time • Based on pyschology principle: • When interrupted, people will overestimate time • Relative Subjective Duration (RSD)Czerwinski et al., “Subjective Duration Assessment: A New Metric for HCI”, HCI 2001 • Avoids positive bias of subjective preference DemoDateLens

  19. Summary • Maintain lofty goals • “Computer as tool”should be an extension of our body • Don’t underestimate the importance of speed in supporting: • creativity • quality • enjoyment

  20. Design Principles • Human memory is limited • Modes are bad • Input device switches are bad • Maintain object constancy • Minimize use of interface • Balance features vs. ease-of-use

  21. Challenge • Design for novices and experts is really hard, but important • Don’t forget the expert!

  22. Suggestion • Add Relative Subjective Duration (RSD) to standard list of metrics => Minimizing cognitive load and improving subjective satisfaction can help achieve optimal experience

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