Intelligent User Interface for Mobile Computing

Perancangan Antarmuka Pengguna yang Cerdas Untuk Komputasi Bergerak

Makalah ini mendiskusikan tantangan dan solusi yang potensial untuk interaksi yang efektif dengan sistem bergerak. Topik yang dibahas mencakup dasar teori, perancangan, evaluasi dan pendekatan yang bersifat teknis untuk seluruh piranti komputasi bergerak. 1. Pendahuluan

Mobile computing is one of the dominant computing usage paradigms at present and encapsulates a number of contrasting visions of how best the paradigm should be realized. Ubiquitous computing (Weiser, 1991) envisages a world populated with artefacts augmented with embedded computational technologies, all linked by transparent high-speed networks, and accessible in a seamless anytime, anywhere basis.

Mobile computing supports mobile users with connectivity and access to services and backend systems while being on the move. A synonymous term is nomadic computing, emphasizing the goal of providing a working environment more or less equivalent to that of a desktop user. The widespread availability of cellular networks and 802.11 WiFi allows a field worker to connect to an arbitrary service on the Internet or to the company’s backend at almost any place and at any time.

Mark Weiser envisioned in the beginning of the 1990s that ubiquitous computing, intelligent small-scale technology embedded in the physical environment, would provide useful services in the everyday context of people without disturbing the natural flow of their activities.

ChallengesDesigning user interfaces for ubiquitous computing applications is a challenging

task. The foundations are usability criteria that are valid for all computer products. There are a number of established methods for the design process that can help to meet these goals. In particular participatory and iterative so-called human centered approaches are important for interfaces in ubiquitous computing. The question on how to make interfaces more intelligent is not trivial and there are multiple approaches to enhance either the intelligence of the system or that of the user. Novel interface approaches follow the idea of embodied interaction and put particular emphasis on the situated use of a system and the mental models humans develop in their real-world environment.

User interfaces for computational devices can be challenging for both their users and their designers This already shows why user interface design is crucial for any successful product. However, we want to extend the question of user interface design in

two directions: the user interface should become more intelligent and adaptive and we want more suitable interfaces for ubiquitous computing scenarios.

The first aspect seems to be clear at first sight: intelligent user interfaces are just what we want and nobody will neglect the need for smart, clever, and intelligent technology. But it becomes more difficult if we strip away the buzzwords and dig a bit deeper into the question of what an intelligent user interface actually should do and how.

The second aspect introduces a new level of complexity: an interface is by definition a clear boundary between two entities. A user interface resides between human and machine; other interfaces mediate, for instance, between networks and computers. In ubiquitous computing we have the problem that there might not be a clear boundary any more. Computers are no longer visible and, in the end, they can disappear from the user’s conscious perception. We will, therefore, face the challenge of building an interface for something that is rather shapeless.

Piranti komputasi bergerak yang ada saat ini, misalnya komputer palmtop, notebook, netbook, personal digital assistant (PDA), telepon seluler, bluetooh-enabled kamera, dan pemutar musik memiliki banyak implikasi dalam perancangan antarmuka pengguna. Piranti-piranti tersebut umumnya memiliki kendala yang sama, yaitu bagaimana menyediakan layanan dan sumberdaya komputasi yang powerful melalui antarmuka yang relatif kecil, dimana tampilan visualnya sempit, fasilitas interaksi audio yang minim, serta teknik input yang terbatas.Namun, piranti-piranti tersebut juga memunculkan tantangan baru misalnya

2. Dasar TeoriMobile computing is a computer usage paradigm where end-users access

applications and services in diverse scenarios, while mobile. Mobile telephony is a popular realization of this paradigm, but wearable computing and telematic applications could also be considered as realistic interpretations of mobile computing.

Ubiquitous computing, conceived in the early 1990s, ubiquitous computing envisages a world of embedded devices, where computing artefacts are embedded in the physical environment and accessed in a transparent manner

The term “intelligent user interface” has been debated for a while and it is not so clear what it means and if at all intelligent interfaces are something beneficial. In general, a technical solution can be called “intelligent” for two reasons: (1) there is some built-in intelligent computation that solves some otherwise unsolvable problem; (2) using the system, a user can solve an otherwise unsolvable problem, even though the system itself does not actually do anything intelligent. Suppose that calculating the logarithm of a number is a hard problem for a human, then a calculator is a good example for case (1) and an abacus would be an example for (2). The calculator solves the problem for the human and the abacus empowers the user to solve the problem on her own.

3. Perancangan Antar Muka Pengguna

Ubiquitous Computing Transforms Human-Computer InteractionHuman-computer interaction currently is shifting its focus from desktop-based

interaction to interaction with ubiquitous computing beyond the desktop. Context-aware services and user interface adaptation are the two main application classes for context awareness. Many recent prototypes have demonstrated how context-aware devices could be used in homes, lecture halls, gardens, schools, city streets, cars, buses, trams, shops, malls, and so forth.

With the emergence of so many different ways of making use of situational data, the question of what context is and how it should be acted upon has received a lot of attention from researchers in HCI and computer science. The answer to this question, as will be argued later, has wide ramifications for the design of interaction and innovation of use purposes for ubiquitous computing.

Human Factors for Ubiquitous ComputingIn classical human-computer interaction, we have a well-defined setting. In

ubiquitous computing, we do not know where the users are, what tasks they are doing currently, which other persons may be around. This makes it very hard to account for some human factors that can greatly influence the interaction. Depending on time, concurrent tasks, and so forth, the user’s cognitive load, stress level, patience, and mood may vary extremely. Thus an interface can, in one situation, be well suited and in another situation the user is either bored or overloaded.

Another problem lies in spatial and temporal constraints. In many ubiquitous computing applications, location and time play a crucial role. Users need the right information at the right time and place. In a system that helps a user to navigate her vehicle through a city, the information “turn right” only makes sense at a very well defined point in space and time. An information delay is not acceptable. Even though space and time are the most prominent context factors in systems today, other context factors may also play a big role.

An interface can adapt to such context factors and take into account what is going on. In particular, the user might not have the focus of attention on the system but rather might be busy doing something else. But not only user-driven activities can distract the user; other people and events are not the exception but the normal case in many ubiquitous computing scenarios.

The typical list of usability goals contains at least the following five (ISO 9241, 2006):• Safety and Security: Good design should not harm users or other people affected bythe use of a product. It should also help to avoid errors made by humans in using thesystem.• Effectiveness: A good user interface supports a user in solving a task effectively, that is, all aspects of a task can be actually handled.• Efficiency and Functionality: A well-designed and usable system should allow for quick and timely work.• Joy and Fun: How enjoyable is it to work (or play) with the system? Is it fun or is it a pain to interact with it?• Ease of Learning and Memorizing:How fast can new users interact with the system and will they remember what they learned?

Intelligent user interfaces for ubiquitous computing will be a necessary thing in the future. However, there are multiple competing views and philosophies. In general, three things could be intelligent: the user, the system or the way in which they interact. Most researchers focus on enhancing the system’s intelligence and the assumption is that this will lead to a better usability.

4. Evaluasi dan ProblemA final point to note is that evaluation is a process of comparing the product against

something else, for example, other products, design targets, requirements, standards.

Thus, evaluation requires a referent model (Baber, 2005). It is naïve to believe that one can “evaluate” something in a vacuum, that is, to think that one can take a single product and “evaluate” it only in terms of itself. In many ways this is akin the concept of a control condition in experimental design; one might be able to measure performance, but without knowing what would constitute a baseline for the measure, it is not possible to determine whether it is good or bad.

5. Kecerdasan Buatan dalam Komputasi BergerakOne pioneering effort at harnessing the use of intelligent techniques on devices of

limited computational capacity is the Ambient intelligence (AmI) (Vasilakos & Pedrycz, 2006) initiative. AmI builds on the broad mobile computing vision as propounded by the ubiquitous computing vision. It is of particular relevance to this discussion as it is essentially concerned with usability and HCI issues. It was conceived in response to the realization that as mobile and embedded artefacts proliferate, demands for user attention would likewise increase, resulting in environments becoming inhabitable, or more likely, people just disabling the technologies in question.

Intelligent UIIde dasar :

Given this notion of being “invisible” we can see that this does not necessarily mean “not there,” but rather present without conscious interaction. A good example of such a “ubiquitous” technology is present in our homes already: electrical light. Whenever we enter a room that is dark, we just find a switch with our hands next to thedoor and the light goes on. Without thinking we turn on the light. We do not think of cables that conduct electrons. We do not have to consider how the light bulb works or how they generate electricity at the power plant.

6. Challenges

Mobile devices present human-computer interaction (HCI) designers with five main challenges:1. Designing for mobility: As users are mobile they will not have many of the props

around them to support work (e.g. notes on desks), will need to work with small devices, are likely to have a far from ideal working environment and this environment will change drastically as the user moves;

2. Designing for a widespread population: Users will not normally have any formal training in their technologies and consider them as devices to be used rather than computers to be maintained;

3. Designing for limited input/output facilities. Screen sizes will improve in resolution in terms of colour support and pixels per cm, but will always be small due to the need for portability. Sound output quality is often very poor with restricted voice recognition on input. Keyboards are limited in size and number of keys and other pointing devices are often hard to use when on the move.

4. Designing for (incomplete and varying) context information: Through various sensors and networks, mobile devices can be made aware of their context (e.g. current location through the Global Positioning System). This gives new information to the systems but brings problems of implying task and user level activities from sensor information and unreliable or patchy sensor coverage. Work on position aware tourism guides, for example, highlight many of these problems.

5. Designing for users multitasking at levels unfamiliar to most desktop users: Multitasking and support for task interruption is one of the keys to successful desktop design, with mobile devices the opportunities for and frequency of interruptions are likely to be much higher given the environments in which the devices will be used.

7. Current IssuesThe main challenges for future research will lie in the problem of extensibility and

scalability of intelligent user interfaces. How could a system that has been designed for a user A in situation S be extended to support thousands of users in a hundred different situations?

Referensi

1. Introduction to Ubiquitous Computing, Max Mühlhäuser, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany; and Iryna Gurevych, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

2. Ubiquitous Computing and the Concept of Context, Antti Oulasvirta, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Finland; and Antti Salovaara, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Finland

3. Evaluating Mobile Human-Computer Interaction, Chris Baber, The University of Birmingham, UK

4. Security for Ubiquitous Computing, Tobias Straub, Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, Germany; and Andreas Heinemann, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany

5. Designing for Tasks in Ubiquitous Computing: Challenges and Considerations, Stephen Kimani, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya; Silvia Gabrielli, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy; Tiziana Catarci, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy; and Alan Dix, Lancaster University, UK

6. Content Personalization for Mobile Interfaces, Spiridoula Koukia, University of Patras, Greece; Maria Rigou, University of Patras, Greece & Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, Greece; and Spiros Sirmakessis, Technological Institution of Messolongi, Greece & Research Academic Computer Technology Institute, Greece

7. Human Factors Problems of Wearable Computers, Chris Baber, The University of Birmingham, UK; and James Knight, The University of Birmingham, UK

8. Device Localization in Ubiquitous Computing Environments, Rui Huang, University of Texas at Arlington, USA; Gergely V. Záruba, University of Texas at Arlington, USA; and Sajal Das, University of Texas at Arlington, USA

9. Voice-Enabled User Interfaces for Mobile Devices, Louise E. Moser, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; and P. M. Melliar-Smith, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

10. Intelligent User Interfaces for Mobile Computing, Michael J. O’Grady, University College Dublin, Ireland; and Gregory M. P. O’Hare, University College Dublin, Ireland

11. Intelligent User Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing, Rainer Malaka, Bremen University, Bremen

12. Enabling Programmable Ubiquitous Computing Environments: A Middleware Perspective, Christine Julien, The University of Texas at Austin, USA; and Sanem Kabadayi, The University of Texas at Austin, USA