Long Term Human-Computer Interaction: An Exploratory Perspective

Wordprocessors and other information technology are now used on a daily basis by a wide variety of people. Although interfaces have been made much easier for novices to learn, very little is still known about how users progress from novice to expert performance. This volume is based upon a large continuous field study - seven years of editor use by 4000 students at Sydney University. It assesses the results and argues that the process of change in long term HCI appears to be constrained by three pillars: an essentially static measure of vocabulary use; continuous growth through exploration; and specialization between methods via crossovers. This book will be of interest to HCI researchers and designers, computer scientists, information specialists, cognitive scientists, academics and postgraduate students.

Table of Contents:
1. Setting the Scene.- 1.1 Evidence for Continuous Change.- 1.2 A Changing Focus in HCl.- 1.3 Framework for Long Term Interaction.- 1.4 The Costs of Longitudinal Studies.- 1.5 The Sydney Study.- 1.6 Outline of the Book.- 2. The Long Haul From Novice to Expert.- 2.1 Skill Acquisition.- 2.2 The Problems of Novices.- 2.3 Experienced Performance.- 2.4 Longitudinal Studies.- 2.5 Conclusion.- 3. Data Collection.- 3.1 Approaches to Longitudinal Data Collection in HCI.- 3.2 The White Rat of HCI.- 3.3 Monitoring at Sydney.- 3.4 Cohorts.- 3.5 Drop Out Rates.- 3.6 Summary.- 4. Learning and Transfer.- 4.1 The First Lab.- 4.2 Task Descriptions.- 4.3 Initial Learning in 1991.- 4.4 Initial Learning in 1992 and 1993.- 4.5 Typing Speeds.- 4.6 Performance Improvements in Editing.- 4.7 Conclusions.- 5. A Fresh Look at Vocabulary.- 5.1 Previous Work.- 5.2 Frequencies in the Sydney Study.- 5.3 The Type Token Ratio.- 5.4 Trends in TTR.- 5.5 Transitions in the TTR.- 5.6 Other Behaviours.- 5.7 Discussion.- 5.8 Conclusions.- 6. Exploration.- 6.1 Previous Field Studies of Exploration.- 6.2 Operational Definition of Exploration.- 6.3 Early Exploration.- 6.4 Continuous Exploration.- 6.5 Serendipity.- 6.6 The Importance of Chance.- 6.7 Conclusions.- 7. Crossovers.- 7.1 A Classification of Temporal Effects.- 7.2 Longitudinal Changes in sam Command Use.- 7.3 File Write Methods.- 7.4 Visualisation Technique.- 7.5 File Write Crossover Results.- 7.6 Discussion.- 7.7 The Zone of Exploration Model.- 7.8 Conclusion.- 8. Conclusions.- 8.1 Methodologies.- 8.2 Process Dynamics.- 8.3 Implications for Design.- 8.4 Training, Education and Job Design.- References.- A. Command Codes and Ranks.- A.1 Command Ranks for the 91–93 Cohort.- A.2 Honours Year Command Ranks.- B. A Model of the Command Distribution.- B.1Introduction.- B.2 Application to Observed Vocabulary.- Author Index.