Belda-Lois

Can human movement analysis contribute to usability understanding?

Test on elderly with domotic (screen touch) device & washing machine

18 octo 2010
529-41

529-30 abstract

“The results of the study provide support for the existence of different concurrent processes in learning,
previously demonstrated for motor tasks. Moreover, the learning process is actually associated with
changes in movement patterns. Finally, the results show that the progression of the learning process
depends on age, although elderly people are equally capable of learning to use technological systems as
young adults.”

530-1
usability and interaction often center on design & cognitive processes; overlook learning and physical
movements/muscular development

538
this study examined the impact of the influence of the days as well as the influence of repetitions, age,
and gender

all of these issues further complexify the situation, especially when you are centering on the user and
not just on the device or the situation.

539
conclusion
learning has different concurrent mechanisms operating on different time scales
coordination aspects of movement depend on user's learning state as well as state of concurrent
learning mechanism's state
elderly need more time to learn a technological device
movement analysis can help reveal different strategies different users, like men and women, use to
work with different kinds of interfaces; this also allows you to track where people hesitate and thus
know where there's a weak spot in the system

How this relates to my dissertation:

-this indicates even more how users are complex in and of themselves
-it also points out that the learning aspect which is raised in MEELS may be much more complex and
involved than it has been treated so far
-finally, the notion that different learning processes are happening concurrently in different time frames
creates another model/offers another model about just how complex things might/could be as well as
offering insights in how things may appear to be simple when in fact they are operating in a very
complex manner underneath. This multiple concurrent learnings also offers a potential model for either
assemblage, for communities, or collectives and groups of people—this type of learning does not
necessarily just have to take place in a person but instead it can happen in a community.