Individual differences and task-based user interface evaluation: a case study of pending tasks in email

Abstract This paper addresses issues raised by the ever-expanding role of email as a multi-faceted application that combines communication, collaboration, and task management. Individual differences analysis was used to contrast two email user interfaces in terms of their demands on users. The results of this analysis were then interpreted in terms of their implications for designing more inclusive interfaces that meet the needs of users with widely ranging abilities. The specific target of this research is the development of a new type of email message representation that makes pending tasks more visible. We describe a study that compared a new way of representing tasks in an email inbox, with a more standard representation (the Microsoft Outlook inbox). The study consisted of an experiment that examined how people with different levels of three specific cognitive capabilities (flexibility of closure, visual memory, and working memory) perform when using these representations. We then identified combinations of representation and task that are disadvantageous for people with low levels of the measured capabilities.

[1]  Wendy E. Mackay,et al.  More than just a communication system: diversity in the use of electronic mail , 1988, CSCW '88.

[2]  Loren G. Terveen,et al.  Managing long term communications: conversation and contact management , 2002, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[3]  B. Nardi.  Context and consciousness: activity theory and human-computer interaction , 1995 .

[4]  K. Kuutti.  Activity theory as a potential framework for human-computer interaction research , 1995 .

[5]  Martin Wattenberg,et al.  ReMail: a reinvented email prototype , 2004, CHI EA '04.

[6]  Jeffrey O. Kephart,et al.  MailCat: an intelligent assistant for organizing e-mail , 1999, AGENTS '99.

[7]  Carman Neustaedter,et al.  Understanding sequence and reply relationships within email conversations: a mixed-model visualization , 2003, CHI '03.

[8]  Jacek Gwizdka,et al.  TaskView: design and evaluation of a task-based email interface , 2002, CASCON.

[9]  Roy Rada,et al.  Interacting With Hypertext: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Studies , 1996, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[10]  Stan Matwin,et al.  Email classification with co-training , 2011, CASCON.

[11]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Human Information Processing. , 1971 .

[12]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  User Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction , 1988 .

[13]  Jacek Gwizdka.  Supporting prospective information in email , 2001, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[14]  A. Miyake,et al.  Individual differences in working memory: introduction to the special section. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[15]  Mary Beth Rosson,et al.  Notification and awareness: synchronizing task-oriented collaborative activity , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[16]  O. John,et al.  Los Cinco Grandes across cultures and ethnic groups: multitrait multimethod analyses of the Big Five in Spanish and English. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[17]  Loren G. Terveen,et al.  Let's Stop Pushing the Envelope and Start Addressing It: A Reference Task Agenda for HCI , 2000, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[18]  V. Kaptelinin.  Activity theory: implications for human-computer interaction , 1995 .

[19]  John B. Carroll,et al.  PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS AS COGNITIVE TASKS: A NEW "STRUCTURE OF INTELLECT" , 1974 .

[20]  Aleksandra Jovicic.  Implications for the design of email management software , 2000 .

[21]  Timothy Cribbin,et al.  Exploring Cognitive Issues in Visual Information Retrieval , 2001, INTERACT.

[22]  Candace L. Sidner,et al.  Email overload: exploring personal information management of email , 1996, CHI.

[23]  Christopher D. Wickens,et al.  The Proximity Compatibility Principle: Its Psychological Foundation and Relevance to Display Design , 1995, Hum. Factors.

[24]  R. Cattell,et al.  Abilities : Their Structure , Growth , and Action , 2015 .

[25]  Daniel M. Gruen,et al.  The role of external resources in the management of multiple activities , 1996 .

[26]  Jock D. Mackinlay,et al.  Cone Trees: animated 3D visualizations of hierarchical information , 1991, CHI.

[27]  Nahid Shahmehri,et al.  CAFE: a conceptual model for managing information in electronic mail , 1998, Proceedings of the Thirty-First Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

[28]  Victoria Bellotti,et al.  E-mail as habitat: an exploration of embedded personal information management , 2001, INTR.

[29]  S J Westerman.  Computerized Information Retrieval: Individual Differences in the Use of Spatial vs Nonspatial Navigational Information , 1995, Perceptual and motor skills.

[30]  Timothy Cribbin,et al.  Cognitive ability and information retrieval: When less is more , 2000, Virtual Reality.

[31]  Jiajie Zhang,et al.  Representations in Distributed Cognitive Tasks , 1994, Cogn. Sci..

[32]  Mary Czerwinski,et al.  A diary study of task switching and interruptions , 2004, CHI.

[33]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[34]  Kenrick J. Mock.  An experimental framework for email categorization and management , 2001, SIGIR '01.

[35]  Anoop Gupta,et al.  Supporting Email Workflow , 2001 .

[36]  Mark H. Chignell,et al.  Individual Differences in Exploration Using Desktop VR , 2003, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[37]  Mary Czerwinski,et al.  Instant Messaging and Interruption: Influence of Task Type on Performance , 2000 .

[38]  D. Norman,et al.  Psychological Issues in Support of Multiple Activities , 1986 .

[39]  Antti Oulasvirta,et al.  Long-term working memory and interrupting messages in human – computer interaction , 2004, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[40]  P. Rabbit.  Human information processing , 1977, Nature.

[41]  Gerald L. Lohse,et al.  The role of working memory on graphical information processing , 1997, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[42]  Ian Smith,et al.  FLANNEL: adding computation to electronic mail during transmission , 2002, UIST '02.

[43]  Timothy Cribbin,et al.  Mapping semantic information in virtual space: dimensions, variance and individual differences , 2000, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[44]  Sasha Jovicic.  Role of memory in email management , 2000, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[45]  Ian Smith,et al.  Taking email to task: the design and evaluation of a task management centered email tool , 2003, CHI '03.

[46]  David C. Rubin,et al.  Autobiographical memory: Introduction , 1986 .

[47]  Jacek Gwizdka,et al.  Reinventing the inbox: supporting the management of pending tasks in email , 2002, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[48]  Thomas W. Malone,et al.  How do people organize their desks?: Implications for the design of office information systems , 1983, TOIS.

[49]  Gary Boone,et al.  Concept features in Re:Agent, an intelligent Email agent , 1998, AGENTS '98.

[50]  Mia Stern.  Identifying and Understanding Dates and Times in Email , 2003 .

[51]  Lorne Olfman,et al.  Visualization Ability as a Predictor of User Learning Success , 1993, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[52]  Andrew Dillon,et al.  User analysis in HCI - the historical lessons from individual differences research , 1996, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[53]  Victor Kaptelinin,et al.  UMEA: translating interaction histories into project contexts , 2003, CHI '03.

[54]  J. Gregory Trafton,et al.  Preparing to resume an interrupted task: effects of prospective goal encoding and retrospective rehearsal , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[55]  Johanna D. Moore,et al.  Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , 1989 .

[56]  Mary Czerwinski,et al.  Data mountain: using spatial memory for document management , 1998, UIST '98.

[57]  Ruth B. Ekstrom,et al.  Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests , 1976 .

[58]  Olle Bälter,et al.  Bifrost inbox organizer: giving users control over the inbox , 2002, NordiCHI '02.

[59]  Gavriel Salvendy,et al.  The Implications of Visualization Ability and Structure Preview Design for Web Information Search Tasks , 2001, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[60]  Rune Hjelsvold,et al.  Visualizing electronic mail , 2002, Proceedings Sixth International Conference on Information Visualisation.

[61]  Andrzej Turski,et al.  Personal Map: Automatically Modeling the User's Online Social Network , 2003, INTERACT.

[62]  David D. Woods,et al.  Visual Momentum: A Concept to Improve the Cognitive Coupling of Person and Computer , 1984, Int. J. Man Mach. Stud..

[63]  Stephen J. Westerman,et al.  Individual differences in human-computer interaction , 1993 .

[64]  Thomas Jackson,et al.  The cost of email interruption , 2001, Journal of Systems and Information Technology.

[65]  Christine Neuwirth,et al.  Envisioning communication: task-tailorable representations of communication in asynchronous work , 1998, CSCW '98.

[66]  T. Landauer,et al.  Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction , 1997 .

[67]  Daniel C. McFarlane,et al.  Comparison of Four Primary Methods for Coordinating the Interruption of People in Human-Computer Interaction , 2002, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[68]  Ronald Baecker,et al.  A Time-Based Interface for Electronic Mail and Task Management , 1997, HCI.

[69]  Kara A. Latorella,et al.  The Scope and Importance of Human Interruption in Human-Computer Interaction Design , 2002, Hum. Comput. Interact..