We conducted a study to the topic of this active idle screen (AIS) with regards to the services users prefer. To this end, we employed card-sorting techniques for predefined services and applications with personalization and customization aspects, followed by specific brainstorming to generate additional ideas. To evaluate in which specific contexts participants would prefer to use selected services, we employed a semi-closed card-sorting technique ('context-card-sort'), where we defined five basic contexts as group headings but allowed for changes or updates of the groups where the user would need or miss specific elements.In a second step, the users created their own 'active idle screen' and three navigation concepts for the AIS were presented to the users. In a short task-based study, users explored the four concepts using paper prototypes and reflected on them as to which would appeal most to them. Participants felt mainly attached to their own heavily personalized design where exactly those services were included that they missed, and otherwise chose concepts that they knew as opposed to alternative ones that provided more playful experience.

This paper shows how basic human values are related to behavior patterns of the usage and production of mobile multimedia content. For these purposes we applied an interview technique called Laddering, a technique referring to the means-end theory. These in-depth interviews establish relations between product characteristics (attributes), user behaviors (consequences) and basic values and user goals. We carried out interviews with 24 respondents. We found that the entertainment of other people, the exchange of content, the desire to save time and strategies to influence one's mood are the main driving forces for multimedia usage. Those are strongly related to basic values like social recognition, pleasure and happiness as well as to ambition. It is shown that usability aspects, like an intuitive UI, are strongly related to the users' desire for being effective and ambitious. Summarizing, we report the method's applicability in the realm of (mobile) HCI.

This paper describes the results of three studies investigating an embodied agent that supports its interaction with the user by gazing at corresponding objects within its close environment. Three experiments were conducted in order to research whether users can detect an agent's line of sight, whether the agent's gaze direction can help to guide the users' attention towards designated locations and whether such a setup can be used to improve realistic interaction situations. The results show that a) users can detect the agent's gaze direction quickly (within 200 ms) but not very exactly, b) the use of the agent's gaze direction can speed up but also slow down the detection of objects in dependence on their location and c) that the agent's gaze towards corresponding objects during the interaction can have counterproductive effects in realistic settings.

The optimal way to structure information in hierarchies has occupied researchers for at least two decades. In the last few years, mobile devices added new challenges to this research: the limited screen size, navigation methods and data transfer rates make the search for the optimal information structure even more complex. In this paper an experiment is presented that investigates the usability of 4 different information hierarchies (46, 84, 163 and 642) on three mobile devices. It turns out that the narrow hierarchies (46 and 84) perform better than the broader hierarchies on the three devices. The experiment was repeated on two more occasions with the same participants to test expertise effects; the preference for narrow hierarchies did not change over the three occasions.

MAUSE-COST294 is a community of interest with its members sharing a common goal of bringing more science to bear on usability evaluation methods. This goal is being realized through systematic collaborative efforts of a network of usability experts and learners. Scientific activities are being coordinated under the respective frameworks of four Working Groups (WGs) with each of them having specific objectives, inputs and anticipated outputs. Further, MAUSE partners' research projects on usability will be integrated into the WGs. Specifically, several partners are actively involved in researching the usability of mobile user interfaces.

Navigation aids based on landmarks have been successfully investigated over the last years. There seems to be little doubt that navigation systems using landmarks clearly outperform those systems, relying only on distance specifications. Little, however, is known about the optimal selection of landmarks that are used to lead the user through an environment. This paper presents five methods to select landmarks that are visually and semantically distinguishable and which are suited to lead the user to his/her goal. The paper also discusses the lessons learned from the application of these methods. It shows the results that can be expected and it highlights also their possible traps and drawbacks.

Increasing use of mobile phones in leisure and communication with digital images are important and current issues in the field of telecommunications. However, little is known about how images would be used in leisure related communication. According to our experience field trials are the best way of studying it. In this paper, we describe a field-trial case study of leisure related communication with digital images. Moreover, we discuss the advantages of conducting field trials as part of product concept design process.