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Presenter: Benjamin B. Bederson - Assistant Professor Computer Science and Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, U.S.A.
Supervisor: Dr. M. Storey - Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department

Date: Wed, September 17, 2003
Time: 13:30:00 - 14:30:00
Place: Centre of Innovative Teaching (CIT), Room 116

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT:

The common notion of "staying in the flow" implies the ability to concentrate on a task, being immersed and engaged to the point where the perception of time slows. An artist, athlete or reader might not realize that half the day went by while working on something, and yet, most computer users would report that flow is something they rarely achieve.

Researchers have found that for people to stay in the flow, the task must be neither too difficult to discourage them, nor so easy that they become bored. A lack of interruption is also very important for staying in the flow. It has also been noted that flow is improved when users spend more time on the task domain, and less time on the interface domain (such as organizing, navigating, etc.)

In this talk, I will discuss how flow relates to user interfaces. By looking at interruptions, perceived time duration, and interface organization, I will show how interfaces can be designed to increase flow. To demonstrate these concepts, I will show a range of interfaces our lab has developed that we believe helps users to stay in the flow.

Benjamin B. Bederson is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. His work is on information visualization, interaction strategies, and collaborative applications.

He completed his Ph.D. in 1992 and his M.S. in 1989 at New York University in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Computer Science. He graduated with a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1986. From 1990-1992, he was a research scientist at Vision Applications, Inc. working on miniature robotics and computer vision. Dr. Bederson worked as a research scientist at Bellcore in the Computer Graphics and Interactive Media research group, and as a visitor at the New York University Media Research Laboratory in 1993 and 1994. From 1994-1997, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico.