Electron Hut: Kyle Bedell’s Blog

Graduate Papers and Projects

HF700 - Foundations in Human Factors
Biological Processing Systems: Vision and its Limitations
A look at how the mind performs its lowest-level visual processing with implications for design.

Preattentive Processing: Guiding Information for Visual Search
The first 250ms after someone observes an interface are extremely important. This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of how the mind operates and organizes visual information in that short span.

Mental Models: Structuring Knowledge in its Many Forms
We all have schema and models that we use to organize our knowledge. A discussion on how the mind accomplishes this.

Cognitive Factors: Learning Styles
Everyone has different styles of learning. Some of us may prefer verbal instruction, others pictorial. This paper discusses the various types of learning styles and makes recommendations on how to structure content accordingly.

Memory and Emotion (with a casy study of Valve Software’s Left 4 Dead)
Working memory is the mind’s “mental sandbox” where information processing is done. This paper examines the limitations of working memory and the effects of certain emotions on that space.

HF710 - Managing a User-Centered Design Team
Heuristic Analysis of the Tally-Ho Tailors Website (with Justin Onoratio, Tara Halwes, and Ria Roy)
Our team assembled a heuristic analysis of a website with severe usability problems and proposed solutions to said issues. This presentation includes our findings and a postmortem assessment of the project.

Redesign of MIT Architecture’s Navigation UI (with Justin Onoratio, Tara Halwes, and Ria Roy)
I acted as project lead on this assignment. Working with a requirements document created by another student team, we redesigned the main navigation and page designs on the MIT Architecture website. It was also our first attempt at using agile methods (SCRUM) to run a project. This presentation includes our work (wireframes, new sitemaps, and new UI icons) along with a postmortem assessment of the project.

Prototype Recommender Analysis (with Justin Onoratio, Tara Halwes, and Ria Roy)
Working with a leading hardware/software company, we developed a design roadmap and a search interface for their prototype music recommender. Non-disclosure agreements prevent the publishing of this presentation.

HF730 - Visualizing Information
The Cognition of Creative Thinking
Discusses the cognitive load that creative thinking places on the mind and the cognitive strengths/weaknesses associated with the process. There’s an accompanying visualization (and explanation of why it aids the creative thinking process) at the end of the document.

The Cognition of Decision Making
Discusses the cognitive load associated with decision making, along with the various strengths and weaknesses our minds possess when engaged in the process. A visualization and accompanying explanation are included.

Examining Multivariate Displays
Examines the cognitive load associated with interpreting information from graphs, specifically multivariate ones that plot more than two variables. Particular attention is paid to how the mind handles various elemental perceptual tasks (direction, curvature, etc). A visualization and accompanying explanation are included.

Information Graphics: Uses of Text vs. Images in Graphical Presentations
Primarily focuses on how one can leverage both the verbal and visual areas of the mind to improve comprehension of information graphics.
(with accompanying visualization)

Dynamic Displays: Information Visualization for the Modern Age
Discusses the perceptive and cognitive challenges associated with creating a functional dynamic display.
(with accompanying visualization)

HF750 - Testing and Assessment Programs
The Reliability of Usability Testing
If usability is to survive as a profession, our methods need to be reliable and reproducible. This paper discusses some of the current issues with usability testing from that angle.

HF760 - Intelligent User Interfaces
Intelligent User Interfaces in GUIDE: A Look at IUI Design in an Electronic Tour Guide
An analysis and critique of a electronic tour guide that implemented an intelligent user interface.

PackingGenie Smart Suitcase (with Taylor Clark, Drew Condon, and Maria Garcia)
The clothing industry encompasses multiple activities ranging from clothing production and sales to storage and washing. Our goal is to produce an intelligent user interface that can simplify packing for trips. Interfacing with one’s calendar, SmartCloset™, and a weather data source, PackingGenie not only helps you decide what to pack, but how to pack it.

HF780 - Field Methods
IM Interviews: The Google Maps Street View Interface
For our user research project in HF780, I decided to conduct interviews over instant messaging to determine possible areas of improvement for the Google Maps Street View feature.

HF799 - Ethnography for Design
Distributed Coordinated Action in World of Warcraft
The results of a virtual ethnographic study I conducted on small group interactions in World of Warcraft, covering textual, voice, and implicit communication.