WP2: User requirements research, user interface and user evaluation

aceMedia will develop highly innovative, knowledge-based technology, which will show its benefits throughout the whole value chain of multimedia content creation, provision, consumption, and re-use. In order to meet the needs of the target user groups, namely consumers in several application scenarios and professional content managers, aceMedia will put substantial effort into user-oriented research and development activities

Objectives

All development within aceMedia will be focused on user needs, and two application systems developed in aceMedia will be evaluated for user-perceived qualities (e.g. usefulness, usability, trustworthiness, and user satisfaction). User-oriented development will be a continuous, iterative process as recommended by ISO 13407.

Several HCI challenges will be researched. One such challenge is system adaptivity, which will be based on context modelling, using a user model that learns from the user's interaction, and attaches knowledge about usage to ACEs. Another goal is to design user interfaces which allow users to benefit from knowledge-based processing whilst protecting them from complexity of interaction. aceMedia will develop sophisticated, user-oriented solutions for knowledge-based content retrieval and browsing. Particular HCI research will be undertaken to design the user interface for mobile devices with their specific display and processing constraints.

Among the user groups to be involved will be content managers/authors as well as end users. Special efforts will be made to include users that are very often at a disadvantage in accessing content, such as female, elderly or disabled users. The final user evaluation of aceMedia will include users from several European countries, and will apply quantitative state-of-the-art methods.

Innovation

While the methods of user orientation and user evaluation that are applied in the project’s user-oriented approach are proven and established, the interface and the personalisation both are challenges where the project cannot build on existing solutions but has to devise and implement special and innovative approaches.

Innovative solutions shall be found for the user interface, in particular:

The crucial aspect of user interface development here is the functionality to be made available for users, and what are the most suitable metaphors and rationales to guide the interface design. The interface has to allow for an effective, efficient, and satisfactory system usage by all user groups, considering the new ways of multimedia consumption and management that is envisaged for the Personal Content Services (PCS) and Commercial Content Management (CCM) application frameworks.

Innovative solutions will also be developed concerning the personalization of aceMedia services, based on an adaptive user and context model.

Workplan

The user-centred objectives of WP2 are as follows:

This will be done in two cycles, in order to iteratively design and improve the aceMedia system components and applications.

Results

In the first year, the first set of user requirements has been established by a scenario-based requirements analysis process. The process included private content consumers as well as the commercial content creation, management and consumption domain. Stepwise, this goal was achieved by

Over 40 user interviews were conducted and analysed. From a total of more than 1320 user statements, 585 were classified as concerning users goals and current ways to achieve tasks (i.e. the context of use). 735 statements directly related to aceMedia, its functionality and its user-perceived qualities. These comments on aceMedia were assessments, concerns and requirements, from which by careful analysis a condensed set of 160 essential user requirements has been identified. In the sequel, such user requirements have been translated into system requirements, and design solutions have been devised.

User interfaces of the aceMedia prototypes have been designed. The challenge is to provide a homogeneous, adaptive user interface for

The first PCS prototype is available in autumn 2005, and a thorough evaluation by target user groups will take place by end of October 2005. User evaluation will cover usefulness, usability and other user-perceived qualities. It will also validate more, innovative scenarios. The project will use user feedback to guide further development and improvements, of concepts and prototype.