Research: What is the Interaction Cost in Information Visualization? by Enrico Bertini, came to us via Sam Hunting.
A summary of Heidi Lam’s A Framework of Interaction Costs in Information Visualization but both will repay the time spent reading/studying them.
However intuitive it may seem to its designers, no “semantic” interface is any better than it is perceived to be by its users.
Questions:
- After reading Lam’s article, evaluate two interfaces, one familiar to you and one you encounter as a first-time user.
- Using Lam’s framework, how do you evaluate the interfaces?
- What aspects of those interfaces would you most like to test with users?
- Design a test for two aspects of one of your interfaces. (project*)
- Care to update Lam’s listing of papers listing interactivity issues? (project)
* Warning: Test design is partially an art, partially a science and partially stumbling around in semantic darkness. Just so you are aware that done properly, this project will require extra work.