Alan Dix > 2011

Opening the Box: Meta-level Interfaces Needs and Solutions

Alan Dix

Talis, 43 Temple Row, Birmingham, B2 5LS, UK
and Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK

Paper at 1st International Workshop on Supportive User Interfaces (SUI 2011) (part of ACM EICS 2011), Pisa, 13 June 2011

Download full paper (PDF, 233K)

Abstract

This paper begins by considering reasons why some form of meta-level interface may be required for modifying or exploring existing user interfaces, from obvious functional reasons of customisation and personalisation to more political and social goals such as education and empowerment.  The paper considers examples of systems developed by the author and others, and uses these to present a number of techniques and principles for effective meta-interactions.  Some of these concern more surface manipulation, and others deeper levels of code and meta-descriptions of the application and UI.  It concludes that meta-interaction may be a key element for future liberal society.

keywords: customisation, personalisation, end-user programming, end-user empowerment, appropriation
Full reference:
A. Dix (2011). Opening the Box: Meta-level Interfaces Needs and Solutions. 1st International Workshop on Supportive User Interfaces (SUI 2011) G. Lehmann, A. Demeure, M. Petit, G. Calvary (eds.) (at ACM EICS 2011), Pisa, 13 June 2011, pp. 13-16.
http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/
SUI2011-meta/
more:
Download full paper (PDF, 233K)

 

References

  1. Beardon, H., Munyampeta, F., Rout S. and Maiso Williams, G. ICT for Development, Empowerment or Exploitation: Learning from the Reflect ICTs project. ActionAid. (2005) http://www.actionaid.org.uk/1413/ict_for_development_empowerment_or_exploitation.html
  2. Beaudouin-Lafon, M. Instrumental interaction: an interaction model for designing post-WIMP user interfaces. in Proc. of the CHI '00. ACM Press, (2000) 446–453.
  3. Beaudouin-Lafon, M and Mackay, W. Reification, polymorphism and reuse: three principles for designing visual interfaces. in Proc. of  AVI '0). (2000) ACM Press ,102-109.
  4. Bizer, C., Heath, T. and Berners-Lee, T. Linked Data – The Story So Far. International. Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems, 2009.
  5. Bunt, A., Conati, C., and McGrenere, J. Supporting interface customization using a mixed-initiative approach. In Proc. of IUI '07. (2007) ACM Press. 92-101.
  6. [Di90] Dix, A. (1990). Information processing, context and privacy. in Proc. of  INTERACT'90, (1990) North-Holland. 15–20. http://hcibook.com/papers/int90/
  7. [DP94]  Dix, A. and Patrick, A. (1994). Query By Browsing. Proc. of IDS'94: The 2nd International Workshop on User Interfaces to Databases, (Lancaster, UK, 1994), Springer Verlag. 236–248.  http://hcibook.com/alan/papers/QbB-IDS94/
  8. Dix, A. Beyond intention – pushing boundaries with incidental interaction. Proc. of Building Bridges: Interdisciplinary Context-Sensitive Computing, (Glasgow University, 9 Sept 2002) http://hcibook.com/alan/papers/beyond-intention-2002/
  9. Dix, A. 2007. Designing for appropriation. In Proc. of  HCI2007 Volume 2. (2007). BCS, 27–30. http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/13347
  10. Dix, A., Kozhissery, R., Ravichandran, R. and Dayanand, D. Content Development Through the Keyhole. in Proc. of EISE2009, Expressive Interaction for Sustainability and Empowerment, (2009) 67–78. http://hcibook.com/alan/papers/EISE2009-Keyhole/
  11. Höök, K.  Steps to take before intelligent user interfaces become real. Interacting with Computers, 12 (2000) 409--426,.
  12. Jensen, R.  The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3), (2007) 879–924.
  13. Leigh, J. and Wood, D.  RDFa as a Query Language. Semantic Technology Conference. (June 2010)
  14. MacLean, A., Carter, K., Lövstrand, L., and Moran, T.. User-tailorable systems: pressing the issues with buttons. In Proc. CHI '90. (1990) ACM Press, 1990, 175–182
  15. Marsden, G. Overcoming Design and Execute Modes in User Interface Design Environments. in Proc. of HCI 95 people and Computers (1995), 133-137
  16. Marsden, G., Maunder, A. and Parker, M. People are people, but technology is not technology.  Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2008) 366, 3795–3804.
  17. Mobile Design Dialog. (Cambridge. 3–4 April 2008)
    webpage: http://www.cs.swan.ac.uk/mobdesign/
    Mobile Design Dialog discussion: http://mobiledesigndialog.nexo.com/
  18. Nardi, B.and Miller, J. An ethnographic study of distributed problem solving in spreadsheet development. In Proceedings of the 1990 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW '90). (1990) ACM, Press, 197–208.
  19. Nielsen, J. Heuristic evaluation. In Nielsen, J., and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Usability Inspection Methods, (1994)  John Wiley & Sons, New York, USA.
  20. Winter School on Interactive Technologies. (HP Labs in Bangalore, 2nd & 3rd February 2009). UK-India Network on Interactive Technologies. http://www.ukinit.org/02122008/winter-school-interactivetechnologies

     

 


Figure 1. Screw Metaphor from [15]
(a) screw in – UI (b) screw out – metaUI

 

  
Figure 2. Mac OS Dashboard widget
(a) front – UI (b) back– metaUI

 


Figure 3.  Wall Stud Detector

http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/SUI2011-meta/

Alan Dix 29/4/2011