This study examined the interface design of an augmented reality (AR) system that was being developed by the Dutch Police Force to assist police officers on horseback in navigating unknown terrain....Show moreThis study examined the interface design of an augmented reality (AR) system that was being developed by the Dutch Police Force to assist police officers on horseback in navigating unknown terrain. The main research objective was to investigate the effect of visual notifications on the officers’ responsiveness to navigation-assisting stimuli (i.e. ‘user performance’). These stimuli consisted of buzzer sounds and direction indicators. Since navigation support was the primary goal of the interface, attention focused on navigation-supporting stimuli was regarded endogenous. Because information provision was a secondary goal, attention drawn to notifications was regarded exogenous. To investigate the influence of exogenous stimuli on the quality of endogenous information processing, a virtual environment was created. In this environment, ninety-nine participants walked both a route with notifications and a route without notifications. (Endogenous) response times of both conditions were compared to determine the effect of the exogenous stimuli. Subsequently, both the role of timing and the effect of endogenous-exogenous competition on travel speed were investigated. Several repeated measures analyses of variance have been conducted. Exogenous stimuli were found to have a significant negative effect on user performance, F(1,87) = 11.193, p = .001, η2 = .114. In addition, the range between approximately 600 and 1000 milliseconds before the appearance of endogenous stimuli is probably the region in which endogenous user performance starts to be prone to exogenous stimuli, F(1,9) = 10.005, p = .011, η2 = .526. Lastly, it turned out that notifications caused participants to run faster, F(1,86) = 8.162, p < .05, η2 = .087. This study showed that stimuli in AR interfaces can enhance the travel speed of users. This is a desirable effect, since it is important for police officers to arrive at their destination as quickly as possible. This study also showed that exogenous stimuli can decrease user performance, as a result of which they could jeopardize users and others in the (traffic) environment. However, this study also provided an indication of the timing range in which exogenous stimuli are most likely to cause this undesired effect. Based on this range, timing-related blockages of distracting stimuli can be built into AR systems in an effective and efficient way, through which the performance-reducing effect of exogenous stimuli could be avoided. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In deze studie is onderzoek gedaan naar een ‘augmented reality’ (AR) navigatie systeem dat de politie wil gebruiken bij evenementen. Met de AR technologie kan door middel van een digitale bril een virtuele laag over het gezichtsveld van politieagenten worden geplaatst. Deze laag bestaat deels uit richtingaanwijzers en deels uit notificaties. Hierdoor kunnen politieagenten worden geholpen met het vinden van de weg en kunnen zij daarnaast worden geïnformeerd over de omgeving of noodsituaties. Het effect van notificaties op de ‘gebruikersprestatie’, die aan de hand van reactietijden is gemeten, stond centraal in dit onderzoek. Het idee hierachter is dat de gebruikersprestatie iets zegt over de mate waarin iemand zich kan concentreren op de richtingaanwijzers en het verkeer. Dit is onderzocht aan de hand van een virtuele omgeving, waarin participanten zowel een route met notificaties als een route zonder notificaties hebben gelopen. Het onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat de snelheid waarmee de participanten door de virtuele omgeving liepen door de notificaties werd verhoogd. Dit is een gewenst effect, omdat het in noodsituaties van belang is dat politieagenten snel ter plaatse zijn. Ook is gebleken dat het tonen van notificaties de gebruikersprestatie verlaagt, hetgeen een ongewenst effect is omdat het in het kader van de navigatiedoelstelling en de verkeersveiligheid belangrijk is dat politieagenten snel op richtingaanwijzers en hun omgeving kunnen reageren. Echter kwam uit het onderzoek ook naar voren dat de gebruikersprestatie minder sterk werd beïnvloed wanneer een notificatie minimaal 1000 milliseconden na een navigatie-ondersteunend signaal werd weergegeven dan wanneer een notificatie maximaal 600 milliseconden na een dergelijk signaal werd weergegeven. Dit resultaat stelt ontwerpers van AR-systemen in staat om te voorkomen dat notificaties de gebruikersprestatie verlagen, omdat zij op basis van deze informatie een specifiek kader hebben waarmee zij notificaties afhankelijk van hun timing tijdelijk kunnen blokkeren. Zo kan op een effectieve en efficiënte manier worden voorkomen dat agenten op kwetsbare momenten worden afgeleid, zonder dat dit ten koste gaat van tijdige communicatie van informatie die de agenten nodig hebben om hun overige taken uit te voeren.Show less
This objective of this thesis is to discuss how an interface can give access to digitalized museum collections. In order to achieve this research objective, this thesis discusses the research...Show moreThis objective of this thesis is to discuss how an interface can give access to digitalized museum collections. In order to achieve this research objective, this thesis discusses the research question How does the interface of Google Arts&Culture give the user access to the oeuvre of Claude Monet? By using the three principles of Information Flaneur Model, this thesis critically examines Claude Monet’s (1840-1926) collection interface provided by Google Arts&Culture from the perspectives of Exploration, Orientation and Playfulness. The analysis shows the importance of a browsing-based interface concerning the improvement of visitors’ exploratory experience and the significance of building up a media visualization interface overview with a clear navigation structure. Additionally, this thesis also discusses the advantage of providing interactive, playful and creative digital approaches for the visitors to view museum collections online.Show less
Medieval manuscripts are our most important sources about more than a millennium of history and culture. Because they are kept in repositories all over the world and because they are valuable and...Show moreMedieval manuscripts are our most important sources about more than a millennium of history and culture. Because they are kept in repositories all over the world and because they are valuable and vulnerable artefacts, access to them has always been very limited. This is changing as a growing number of medieval manuscripts is digitised and made available online for everyone, everywhere. However, it has been claimed that digitisation programmes are often focused more on preservation of the manuscripts than on serving the user community. This thesis explores to what extent online collections of medieval manuscripts currently meet the needs of their main user group, humanities scholars. First, it is investigated which characteristics interfaces of such collections should ideally offer, and then three websites with medieval manuscript collections are analysed to find out whether they meet these criteria. The overall structure and design of the analysed websites were found to meet most of the criteria, but functionalities at the level of the manuscripts can still be expanded a lot. This includes image manipulation tools and tools for extracting, adding and sharing information.Show less
