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Interview 139

bring to people's day-to-day activities, and also how very different depending on the kind of reading the
they would fit into those existing activities. users are doing. So, for example, if they're reading by
themselves, the screen size and viewing angle may not
be as important as if they're reading with others. If
YR: And what about cognitive aspects, such as how
they're skim reading, the ability to quickly flick
people carry out their tasks, what they remember,
through pages is important. And if they're reading
what they are bad at remembering? Is that also im-
and writing, then this points to the need for a pen-
portant to look into when you are doing these kinds
based interface. All of these issues become important
of studies?
design considerations.
AS: Yes, if you think about evaluation studies, then
This study then led to the development of some
cognitive aspects are extremely important. Looking at design concepts and ideas for new kinds of reading
cognitive aspects can help you understand the nature devices. At this stage we involved designers to de-
of the user interaction, in particular what processes
velop different "props" to get feedback and reactions
are going on in their heads. This includes issues like
from potential users. A prop could be anything from
learning how users perceive a device and how they
a quick sketch to an animation to a styrofoam 3D
form a mental model of how something works. Cogni-
mockup. Once you have this initial design work, you
tive issues are especially important to consider when
can then begin to develop working prototypes and
we want to contrast one device with another or think test them with realistic tasks in both laboratory and
about new and better ways in which we might design natural settings. Some of this work we have already
an interface.
completed, but the project has had an impact on sev-
eral different research and development efforts.
YR: I wonder if you could describe to me briefly one
of your recent studies where you have looked at cog-
YR: Would you say that user studies are going to be-
nitive and social aspects.
come an increasingly important part of the interaction
AS: How about a recent study we did to do with design process, especially as new technologies like
building devices for reading digital documents? When ubiquitous computing and handheld devices come
we first set out on this study, before we could begin to into being-and where no one really knows what ap-
think about how to build such devices, we had to plications to develop?
begin by asking, "What do we mean by reading?" It AS: Yes. I think the main contribution of user stud-
turned out there was not a lot written about the dif-
ies, say, 15 years ago was in the area of evaluation and
ferent ways people read in their day-to-day lives. So
usability testing. I think that role is changing now in
the first thing we did was a very broad study looking that user studies researchers are not only those who
at how people read in work situations. The technique
evaluate devices and interfaces but also those who de-
we used here was a combination of asking people to
velop new concepts. Also, another important devel-
fill out a diary about their reading activities during the
opment is a change in the way the research is carried
course of a day and interviewing them at the end of
out. More and more I am finding that teams are draw-
each day. The interviews were based around what was
ing together people from other disciplines, such as so-
written in the diaries, which turned out to be a good
ciologists, marketing people, designers, and people
way of unpacking more details about what people had
from business and technology development.
been doing.
That initial study allowed us to categorize all the
different ways people were reading. What we found YR: So they are essentially working as a multidisci-
plinary team. Finally, what is it like to work in a
out is that actually you can't talk about reading in a
generic sense but that it falls into at least 10 different large organization like HP, with so many different
categories. For example, sometimes people skim departments?
read, sometimes they read for the purpose of writing AS: One thing about working for a large organiza-
something, and sometimes they read very reflectively tion is that you get a lot of variety in what you can
and deeply, marking up their documents as they go. do. You can pick and choose to some extent and, de-
What quickly emerged from this first study was that if pending on the organization, don't have to be tied to
you're designing a device for reading it might look a particular product. If, on the other hand, you work