EarBenders : using stories about listening to design auditory interfaces

A method for designing auditory interfaces by example is proposed. The examples are stories about everyday activities which involved listening. The design method has four steps situation description, situation analysis, example lookup, and design synthesis. Situation Description is a brief story about an activity, which identifies key features. Situation Analysis extracts task, information, and data structure using Bertin’s observation that “useful information is the answer to a question”. Example Lookup ranks examples by their similarity in analysis structure to the design situation. Design Synthesis uses the examples as a starting point for an auditory interface. A case study of an information presentation to support water resource management is used to illustrate the method.