*Meaningful Measures: Valid Useful User Experience Measurement (VUUM)*

5th COST294-MAUSE Open Workshop

Date: 18th June 2008 (Wed.)
Venue: University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Website: http://cost294.org/vuum/

 
BACKGROUND

While some HCI researchers and practitioners are strongly convinced 
about the need for measurement, others are ambivalent about the role of 
numerical values in providing useful, valid and meaningful assessments 
and understanding of complex interactions between humans and machines. 
Some go further and deny the measurability of affective states such as 
love, beauty, happiness, and frustration.  Strictly, one can measure 
(almost) anything in some arbitrary way. The compelling concern, 
however, is whether the measure is meaningful, useful and valid to 
reflect the state or nature of the object or event in question.

In usability evaluation, measures can objectively be taken by usability 
professionals (e.g. task completion time) or subjectively by users (e.g. 
self-perceived duration).  The debate on objective vs. subjective 
measurements animates many HCI discussions.  In dispute are not only 
which type of measure is more appropriate, but also whether and how they 
are related and under which conditions.  More important perhaps however, 
is the question of how to interpret measurements taken and use them to 
support improvement of an interaction design.

Usability manifests as quality in design, in interaction and in value, 
with diverse measures from many methods and instruments.  The challenge 
is how to select appropriate measures to address the particularities of 
an evaluation context. The necessity and utility of usability measures 
is apparent. However, both the construct validity and predictive power 
of some usability measures are of particular concern.

 Whereas some qualities of intangible interactions/products may be 
considered as non-measurable, there are un-measured but tangible 
qualities such as affordances and constraints of interfaces.  
Furthermore, there is a substantial philosophical literature on qualia, 
which are not even directly detectable, never mind measurable.  It is 
intriguing to consider indirect measurement and inference of qualia.  
Besides, we should consider alternative approaches from the fine arts 
where there are not systematic measures, but critical assessments of 
artefacts. Most importantly, all sorts of measurements should be rooted 
in sound theories, usability measures are no exception.

 
GOAL & OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of this workshop is to understand challenges relating 
to measures of usability and user experience (UX), and to identify 
effective practical responses to these challenges. Submissions are 
invited that address the following objectives:

* To gather evidence of the contextual bases for meaningful and useful 
usability and UX measures;
* To identify validity and reliability concerns for specific usability 
measures;
* To identify practical strategies for selecting appropriate usability 
measures and instruments that meet contextual requirements, including 
commercial contexts;
* To explore the notion of qualia from the philosophical perspective and 
its practical implications for usability engineering;
* To identify whether non-measurable properties of usability/UX exist, 
and propose alternative critical methods and techniques for their 
assessment;
* To extend the range of measures to currently tangible but unmeasured 
and under-used physical and other properties, such as affordances and 
constraints inherent in interfaces;
* To review and analyse the theoretical frameworks underlying different 
usability measures;
* To examine the applicability of existing usability measures to new 
interaction styles;

 
PARTICIPANTS & SUBMISSIONS

Target groups of the workshop are students, researchers and 
practitioners working on usability, user experience and related areas.

Papers addressing the above objective(s) are invited. Each paper should 
be up to 6 pages long and follow the SIGCHI paper format 
(www.chi2008.org/chi2008pubsformat.doc) in pdf. The format of the file 
name is: {the main author's lastname}-VUUM.pdf

Papers should be sent to the first co-organizer, Effie Law, per e-mail: 
[log in to unmask]  All papers will be peer reviewed by members of the 
program committee with regard to the relevance and originality of the 
work and their ability to generate discussions among the participants of 
the workshop.

 
IMPORTANT DATES

Submission Deadline:          25th April 2008 (Fri.)
Acceptance Notification:     5th May 2008 (Fri.)
Camera-ready Deadline:      16th May 2008 (Fri.)

 
WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

Prior to the workshop, a Green Paper will be drafted based on ideas to 
be extracted from the submissions of the workshop. It will then be 
distributed to the workshop participants for comments and be revised.  
In the workshop, the following activities will be conducted:

(i) Presentation of the Green Paper, highlighting several reflective 
questions
(ii) Paper presentations by the main author of each accepted submission
(iii) Group Discussion: Participants will be divided into small groups 
to discuss one of the reflective questions
(iv) Plenary Reporting: Each group will report their major ideas to the 
plenum.
(v) Wrap up: Participants will discuss a plan for the future work along 
this line of inquiry

 
WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS

* Effie Law, ETH Zürich, Switzerland/University of Leicester, UK
* Nigel Bevan, Professional Usability Services
* Georgios Christou, European University Cyprus, Cyprus
* Mark Springett, Middlesex University, UK
* Marta Lárusdóttir, Reykjavik University, Iceland

 
PROGRAM COMMITTEE

* Gilbert Cockton, University of Sunderland, UK
* Kasper Hornbæk, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
* Marc Hassenzahl, University of Landau, Germany
* Ebba Hvannberg, University of Iceland, Iceland
* Jan Gulliksen, Uppsula University, Sweden
* Timo Jokela, University of Oulu, Finland

 
PUBLICATIONS

* Accepted papers will be published in the workshop proceedings in both 
online and printed versions.
* Selected papers may be invited to submit an extended version to a 
special issue of an HCI journal


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