Author(s):

Plaue, Christopher; Miller, Todd; Stasko, John

Title:

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? An Evaluation of Information Awareness Displays

Publication:

Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on Graphics Interface

Keywords:

ambient displays; appeal; awareness; comparative evaluations; comprehension; conceptual models; effectiveness; enjoyment; interaction; peripheral displays; predictability of application behavior; public information displays; qualitative research methods; success metrics; usability; usability testing; user evaluation; user satisfaction

Paper Summary:

This paper presents the results of a comparative user evaluation of ambient/peripheral displays. The authors make a distinction between ambient displays which are primarily focused on one communications goal and peripheral displays which present multiple information terms.

Although the authors note that characteristics like aesthetics and attractiveness influence adoption, for purposes of this study, they focused on evaluating the ability of the develop to convey information.

The study evaluates three displays, InfoCanvas (a piece of electronic art which displays information) beach scene, a text-based display and a web portal-like display. Each display included 10 pieces of information. Results for the evaluation showed that the InfoCanvas had the highest average of correct answers to questions on seven of the ten information pieces. The web portal had the highest average on two information pieces, and the text-based system performed the best on one information item.

On a satisfaction questionnaire, participants generally rated the InfoCanvas the highest, with the exception that participants ranked the web portal as being a more effective presentation of data. Additionally, participants preferred the web portal, but rated InfoCanvas as best for recall.

The authors conclude that the InfoCanvas, and displays like it, have the ability to communicate information effectively and quickly (at a glance), despite the cognitive load required to translate the pictorial images into useful information.

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