Improving the Discoverability of Interactions in Interactive Systems

Abstract

In an ever increasingly complex technological landscape, interaction methods need to support users in their own discovery. This is exacerbated by a general aversion to instruction manuals and a trend towards invisible controls. Consequently, a lack of support for awareness or recognition of interaction possibilities leads to inefficient usage or complete disregard of the system. However, despite standard work imploring that users should be able to "figure out what actions are possible and where and how to perform them", this problem is rarely considered in the introduction of new interaction methods. My doctoral research is focused on improving the discovery of interaction possibilities. To do so I am combining a theoretical approach, focused on identifying, defining and framing relevant considerations with a practical approach to validate those theoretical considerations and identify and formulate actionable improvement methods for researchers and designers. In the process I hope to highlight the importance of discoverability to the research community and advocate for its increased consideration.

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