Browsing by Author "Tungare, Manas"
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- Evaluation of a Location Linked Notes SystemTungare, Manas; Burbey, Ingrid; Raghavan, Ananth; Pérez-Quiñones, Manuel A. (Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, 2004)We present a location-aware messaging system that lets users read and post notes tied to a particular location. We developed multiple clients (desktop, PDA and cell phone) so that users could choose the most contextually-appropriate device to interact with the system. We allowed remote access and authoring to avoid imposing artificial restrictions on users. We report on our initial evaluation of the system. The goal of the evaluation was to explore novel potential uses of the system and to identify users' preferences regarding the different system features. In our evaluation, we found that users were receptive of this system for leaving and receiving location-targeted reminders. They also overwhelmingly approved of the remote access and authoring capability, and suggested scenarios where these features would be crucial. We discuss our experiences building the system and our findings from the initial evaluation.
- Mental Workload in Personal Information Management: Understanding PIM Practices Across Multiple DevicesTungare, Manas (Virginia Tech, 2009-03-25)Multiple devices such as desktops, laptops, and cell phones are often used to manage users' personal information, such as files, calendars, contacts, emails, and bookmarks. This dissertation presents the results of two studies that examined users' mental workload in this context, especially when transitioning tasks from one device to another. In a survey of 220 knowledge workers, users reported high frustration with current devices' support for task migration, e.g. making files available on multiple machines. To investigate further, I conducted a controlled experiment with 18 participants. While they performed PIM tasks, I measured their mental workload using subjective measures and physiological measures. Some systems provide support for transitioning users' work between devices, or for using multiple devices together; I explored the impact of such support on mental workload and task performance. Participants performed three tasks (Files, Calendar, Contacts) with two treatment conditions each (lower and higher support for migrating tasks between devices.) This dissertation discusses my findings: workload measures obtained using the subjective NASA TLX scale were able to discriminate between tasks, but not between the two conditions in each task. Task-Evoked Pupillary Response, a continuous measure, was sensitive to changes within each task. For the Files task, a significant increase in workload was noted in the steps before and after task migration. Participants entered events faster into paper calendars than into an electronic calendar, though there was no observable difference in workload. For the Contacts task, task performance was equal, but mental workload was higher when no synchronization support was available between their cell phone and their laptop. Little to no correlation was observed between task performance and both workload measures, except in isolated instances. This suggests that neither task performance metrics nor workload assessments alone offer a complete picture of device usability in multi-device personal information ecosystems. Traditional usability metrics that focus on efficiency and effectiveness are necessary, but not sufficient, to evaluate such designs. Given participants' varying subjective perceptions of these systems and differences in task-evoked pupillary response, aspects of hot cognition such as emotion, pleasure, and likability show promise as important parameters in system evaluation.
- Performance Evaluation of Navigation Approaches on High-resolution DisplaysMenon, Suraj; Montabert, Cyril; Tungare, Manas; North, Christopher L. (Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, 2007-12-01)We conducted a study to discover if the data navigation techniques suitable for high-resolution displays differed significantly from those traditionally used for single-screen desktop displays. The high-resolution capability of the former display makes it possible to show more data at once without having the user drill-down to get to the details. At the same time, the larger physical size makes it difficult for the user to interact with such a display using current day interaction techniques. Given these factors, we compare the performance of users on tasks that involve navigating into hierarchically-structured data. The specific visualization we use is a cushion treemap, displayed at multiple resolutions—on a 3x3, 17” tiled screen display; on a 2x2, 17” tiled screen display; on a single 17” screen display, and on a 66” SMART Board™. Through the performance evaluation of 24 users, we show that beyond a certain resolution and physical screen size, the drill-down technique fares relatively poorly, while the straightforward technique of displaying all the data at once results in better performance at the tasks we studied.
- A Special Topics Course on Personal Information ManagementPérez-Quiñones, Manuel A.; Tungare, Manas; Pyla, Pardha S.; Kurdziolek, Margaret (Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, 2006-12-01)Personal Information Management (PIM) is an important emerg- ing area of study in Computer Science and Information Systems. During the Spring of 2006, we offered a special topics course in PIM at Virginia Tech. This paper presents some motivation of why studying PIM is important, the goals for the course, some sam- ple material from the course, and a few student evaluations. The paper presents in detail an activity called “Day in the Life of My Information” that resulted in an interesting experience from both, educational and research points of view.