Assisting Visuo-Spatial Tasks – Perceptual, Cognitive and Computational Factors that Matter for Usability

Abstract

Creating and evaluating human-machine interaction that one can use well often necessitates an integrated stance that takes into account factors across perceptual, cognitive and computational levels. This is particularly true for complex tasks, for tasks with mixed initiative or when control and responsibilities are shared asymmetrically between human and machine partners. A number of visuo-spatial tasks will be presented as cases in point, along with matching approaches. These range from understanding text and diagrams, to designing for users' mental models, to spatial reasoning and problem solving.

Vita

Sven Bertel is a junior professor at Bauhaus-University Weimar where he joined the Faculty of Media (Computer Science and Media Division) in April 2011 as chair of usability. Before moving to Weimar, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was dually affiliated with the Human Factors Division and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Prior, Sven had been a researcher at University Bremen and the SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition. He holds a doctoral degree in informatics from University Bremen and a diploma in informatics with minors in psychology and economics from University Hamburg. Sven was a Fellow at the Hanse Institute of Advanced Studies, Delmenhorst, in 2010 and 2011, a visiting researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2004/05, and an Overseas Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington in 1998/99.

Bertel's research interests center on intersections of computing and cognition with human-computer interaction and information design. Research themes include cognitive models/cognition-based heuristics to improve human-computer interaction and collaboration quality; the mental representation and processing of (visuo-) spatial knowledge; eye movements during spatial/diagrammatic reasoning and problem solving; the use of mental heuristics/(spatial) representations in architectural design, and perspectives for design support tools.

More information are available at  http://www.bertel.net/.

Last Changes 03.02.2012