The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Metropolitan (MET) Chapter and
Communications Technical Group (CTG)
Present
COMMUNICATING OVER THE NET
The Joint 1997 Symposium
Tuesday, October 21, 1997
Howe Center (formerly Stevens Center)
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, New Jersey
HFES-MET Chapter and CTG will jointly sponsor a one-day symposium on
internet communications. Experts in related fields will present their
research, and share their experiences and opinions on current human
factors issues for internet communications. Internet communication has
become an important part of everyone's life, from searching information
at work to shopping at home. A tremendous amount of information has been
made available on the Internet. Archie and Veronica have been rendered
nearly obsolete by Web pages and search engines. Communities are being
rewired to accommodate increased Web access, broadband services such as
video, and even internet-based telephone service. The rapid growth of
internet technology is expanding and in some cases, changing traditional
characteristics of user interactions. How do we design Web services so
that users can easily find information they need? What are the legal
issues that the Web site designers need to consider? What are the human
factors issues in internet telephony?
Fees: $70 (by September 22, 1997)
$90 thereafter
Registration includes membership to both sponsoring organizations for
1998.
Mark your calendar and come join us!
Check out our Website at http://ctg.hfes.org See: Events
Use www.mapquest.com, www.mapsonus.com or www.yahoo.com to generate maps
and driving directions to the symposium.
PRESENTATIONS
Why do they come? Assessing how sites meet user expectations
Rick Omanson - Ameritech
One characteristic of successful Web sites is that the site's purpose
matches the goals of users coming to the site. Thus assessing user goals
is an important aspect of Web site evaluation. This talk will describe
recent experiments and log analyses that assess user goals and
expectancies and whether or not they are met by Web sites they visit.
Usability evaluations of Internet Telephony Applications
Joanne Walsh & Karen Hewitt - Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies has instituted a competitive usability evaluation
process to provide designers and market managers with usability
benchmarks from the marketplace, against which they can measure their
success. The methods and processes by which these benchmarks are set
will be discussed and explored in the context of the swiftly emerging
Internet telephony market. What are these critical usability factors and
dimensions that will determine the fate of the Internet telephony
applications? After tracking the market and evaluating products for the
past 18 months, the authors will provide some insights to future trends
while exploring how Internet telephony, like many other Internet-related
markets, has raised the bar for user interface designers. This work
focuses on how within this marketplace, usability more than technology,
quickly differentiates the market leaders.
"Alice" and Her Adventure in the Webland
Emily Hartzell & Nina Sobell -
NYU - Center for Advanced Technology
VirtuAlice is an interactive artwork which spans interior space,
exterior space, and cyber space, and which catalyzes interactions among
participants in all three dimensions. VirtuAlice is an installation for
a new kind of art exhibition space, which exists both in physical space
(the gallery) and in cyberspace (the Website). In this installation, the
Website does not act simply as a space for static documentation of the
gallery show, but instead provides a portal through which participants
unable to visit the gallery physically can visit and explore the space
virtually. Their presence is felt by gallery visitors. VirtuAlice comes
to life when she is inhabited by the spirit of a Web participant, as she
enacts their will. The Web visitor, likewise, is aware of gallery
visitors: it is only through engagement with them that the Web visitor
is able to fully explore the gallery. Participants from each dimension
share control over VirtuAlice, and it is together that they create the
dynamic theater that is the artwork. VirtuAlice is a physical metaphor
which challenges the collective imagination of the Web.
Collecting data over the Net: Legal Do's & Don'ts
Larry Hertz - Hall, Dickler, Kent, Friedman & Wood
On-line promotional games are becoming increasingly popular marketing
tools to attract visitors to Web Sites. Advertisers using on-line
sweepstakes or contests award prizes to site visitors who spend time at
the site completing puzzles, participating in treasure hunts, playing
instant win games and the like. These games are often designed to induce
visitors to provide personal demographic information about themselves.
The first part of this presentation will discuss the important legal
considerations in structuring an online game. The second part will look
at the voluntary privacy initiatives proposed by industry groups and the
status of the Federal Trade Commission's latest regulatory proposals.
Moving Beyond "COOL": Building A Usable Website
Jared Spool - User Interface Engineering Inc.
Adding fancy graphics or a neat animation may win you a "Cool Site of
the Day" award, but probably won't help your users get their work done.
As a Web designer in a business environment, you need to understand what
people are doing with your site and how you can best help them achieve
their goals. This is our latest research about what works - and what
doesn't - on the Web. We'll discuss how user's questions impact their
success at finding answers in your Web site. With examples from existing
sites, we'll show you navigational structures that worked for users, and
a few that didn't.
Using the Internet to Enhance Wireless PCS Products
Bob Moritz & Jim Ralston - Sprint PCS
One of the major advantages of Personal Communication Services (PCS)
over traditional cellular telephone service is that a single wireless
handset can be used for voice calling, voice messaging, numeric paging
and text messaging. PCS devices are converging with the Web to increase
the functionality that can be provided in an "all-in-one" wireless
device. A recent review of PCS providers shows that a number of service
providers are enhancing their product functionality via "Messaging
Centers" on the Web, providing e-mail addresses to both broad-band and
narrow-band PCS devices and a few carriers even allow for "Web browsing"
via a wireless data connection on a multi-purpose phone device. This
trend of linking PCS devices with internet and the World-Wide-Web may or
may not continue, but early on the trend has been to use the internet to
enhance the functionality, utility and potentially the usability of
handheld wireless devices. A variety of examples will be shown that
demonstrate web-based messaging applications, related usability issues
and will discuss how a variety of carriers are merging PCS
products/services with the unique capabilities afforded by the internet
to truly communicate over the web.
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REGISTRATION FORM
Please supply the following information for membership in the MET
Chapter and the Communications Technical Group (CTG).
Name:__________________________________________________
Organization:__________________________________________
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State:____ Zip:________________
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Fax:____________________________________
Email:__________________________________
Special Instructions/dietary needs:
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Fees: $70 (by September 22, 1997)
$90 thereafter
Registration includes lunch during the symposium and membership to both
sponsoring organizations for 1998.
Please make check payable to: MET Chapter of HFES and mail to:
Elizabeth A. Hohne
AT&T Labs
Room 2A-606
101 Crawfords Corner Road
Holmdel, NJ 07733-3030
-- OR -- Cut and return form by email
email: [log in to unmask]
fax: (732) 949-6160
voice: (732) 949-7841
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