At the ICT&S Center (Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society) a radically new Usability and Interface Experimental Lab has been established in 2005. There are various areas which can be used for usability study purposes:

1. The Usability Lab area inside the ICT&S Center: This room is equipped with digital cameras, which deliver MPEG-streams via the LAN. There are wall-mounted cameras as well as cameras on tripods. Furthermore, the Control Desk is located in this room, with all the equipment to control the cameras, log the observations, choose the audio/video inputs to be recorded, etc.

2. Any other area within the ICT&S Center: There is a whole range of other areas relevant for usability testing within the ICT&S Center, such as a huge 3D-projection, the Meeting Room with its projection screen, or the ICT&S Lounge, which is a relaxing area with a wall-mounted plasma screen.

3. The courtyards of the ICT&S Center: The two outdoor areas can also be used for usability and user experience experimentation. In the outer courtyard a digital camera is mounted in an unobtrusive dome housing.

4. The surroundings next to the ICT&S Center: In an extended set-up, an interactively arranged public space (Max-Reinhardt-Platz) neighboring the ICT&S Center is also considered for testing purposes.

These possibilities allow for flexible usability observations beyond the limits of common usability study facilities (in particular moving out of the lab). Our usability lab also features a mobile testing variant which allows usability testing to be performed on-site for our clients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floor plan of the ICT&S Center                                                         Floor plan extract of the lab

The technology of the lab exploits the digital potentials based on a sophisticated network infrastructure and integrates user experience measurement facilities (e.g. physiological measurements). In its expansion stage, the Interaction Experimentation Lab includes building blocks to develop test beds in various areas of interaction innovation (e.g. ambient intelligence, multimodal interfaces, games, and mobile interfaces). Different types of sensors, gaze and body movement sensors, display technologies, and several other technologies will be adapted and integrated to enable their adoption in several scenarios.

A "classical" test situation on a PC in our Usability Lab.

With this set-up we can evaluate any software-based user interface (such as web sites or other applications). The user is recorded by a multitude of cameras (see upper right corner), the screen contents are transmitted and recorded via a hardware screen capture switch (enabling remote control), and the users attention on the user interface can be tracked with an eye tracker. All recorded data are stored synchronously to ensure a meaningful analysis of the test. It doesn't matter on which platform (Windows, Linux, Macintosh) we carry out the test, since the server and the eye tracking system operate operating system independently.

The Control Desk in our Usability Lab.

From here it is possible to control the whole test situation: adjusting the cameras, recording any available inputs (audio/video, eye tracking data, physiological measurements, etc.) synchronously, communicating with the test participant via radio microphones (important for test situations outside the lab), producing an event-log during the test using Noldus' The Observer, etc. After the test we carry out qualitative and quantitative statistical analyses on the recorded data and compile a usability report. We also produce highlight videos, containing interesting scenes from the test situations.

A test situation with interactive television in our Usability Lab.

The technical set-up is very similar to a test with a computer software interface, but the social context is completely different: while the TV is still a collective medium typically used in company in a domestic context, the PC is an individual medium used alone.  

A video recording of a test situation with interactive television in our Usability Lab.

The eye tracker can be used for a whole range of applications. In this case we integrated it into the test set-up to perform a gaze-tracking on the TV screen (the eye tracker is the black box on the table in the image on the upper right). With our "Live View" feature the testing sessions can be viewed as a live video-stream via the internet, enabling our clients to remotely observe as we test their products.

The stereoscopic 3D-projection at the ICT&S Center.

Using two beamers with polarizing filters, we can produce 3D-images which become visible when wearing appropriate glasses (using the corresponding polarizing filters for each eye). This is also an important area for user experience testing.

 

The meeting room at the ICT&S Center

The meeting room is a collaborative working environment which provides a further possibility for usability and user experience research.

The ICT&S Lounge

The ICT&S Lounge is equipped with a wall mounted plasma screen which can display TV contents as well as computer-generated contents. The Lounge conveys a rather relaxing and leisure after-work feeling, which makes it an interesting area for studying user experience.  

 

Testing a mobile device in the inner courtyard of the ICT&S Center.

The cell phone to be evaluated is attached to our Mobile Device Camera which allows the wireless transmission and recording of a video image showing the display and the keypad of the cell phone. The test situation is recorded with a camcorder and additional cameras on tripods.

An outdoor test with a mobile device in the outer courtyard of the ICT&S Center.

The test situation is recorded with the camera in the dome housing (which can be seen in the background) and a camcorder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ICT&S Center
University of Salzburg
Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18
5020 Salzburg Austria
http://www.icts.sbg.ac.at/