Interfaces for Staying in the Flow

Benjamin B. BedersonComputer Science Department

Human-Computer Interaction LabUniversity of Maryland

www.cs.umd.edu/hcilbederson@cs.umd.edu

Human Goals

Life Goal: Happiness Work Goal: productivity, creativity,

recognition, etc.

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

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

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”

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

3. Clear Goals and Feedback

Must define success up front Clearly measure progress along path

Examples: Surgery Factory work

4. Maintain Control

Minimize loss of “objective” control Maximize “subjective” control

Examples: Mountain climbing Counter example: Driving in traffic

5. Transformation of Time

Time flies Or, can slow down

Examples: Pottery New romantic interest

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?

Interfaces for Staying in the Flow

How do these characteristics of flow apply to interface design?

1. Challenge and Require Skill

Interfaces should be: neither so difficult as to discourage users nor so easy as to be boring

Demo

TimeSearcher

Ch

alle

ng

es

Skills

F

low

Chann

el

Boredom

Anxiety

2. Concentrate

Avoid interruptions Stay in task domain, not interface domain

Guimbretière et al. “FlowMenus: Combining Command,Text Entry and direct manipulation”UIST 2000

Three levels of interaction: 1. Learn from the interface 2. Feedback from the interface 3. Autonomous interaction

(no feedback necessary)

2. Concentrate (cont.)

Maintain object constancy Save short-term memory

Demo

PhotoMesa

3. Clear Goals and Feedback

Help user to specify what they are doing And how they are getting there

Many e-commercewebsites

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

4. Maintain Control (cont.)

Problem w/ adaptive interfaces: Unpredictable Loss of objective control Leads to frustration and

slow performance

Encourage controllable,configurable interfaces

Demo

Favorite Folders

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

Demo

DateLens

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

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

Challenge

Design for novices and experts is really hard, but important

Don’t forget the expert!

Suggestion

Add Relative Subjective Duration (RSD) to standard list of metrics

=> Minimizing cognitive load and improving subjective satisfaction can help achieve optimal experience