Evaluation of an anthropomorphic user interface in a travel reservation context and affordances

Murano, P; Gee, A; Holt, PO

Abstract

This paper describes an experiment and its results concerning research that has been going on for a number ofyears in the area of anthropomorphic user interface feedback. The main aims of the research have been to examine theeffectiveness and user satisfaction of anthropomorphic feedback in various domains. The results are of use to all interactivesystems designers, particularly when dealing with issues of user interface feedback design. There is currently somedisagreement amongst computer scientists concerning the suitability of such types of feedback. This research is working toresolve this disagreement. The experiment detailed, concerns the specific software domain of Online Factual Delivery in thespecific context of online hotel bookings. Anthropomorphic feedback was compared against an equivalent non-anthropomorphicfeedback. Statistically significant results were obtained suggesting that the non-anthropomorphic feedback was more effective.The results for user satisfaction were however less clear. The results obtained are compared with previous research. Thissuggests that the observed results could be due to the issue of differing domains yielding different results. However the resultsmay also be due to the affordances at the interface being more facilitated in the non-anthropomorphic feedback.

Citation

Murano, P., Gee, A., & Holt, P. (2011). Evaluation of an anthropomorphic user interface in a travel reservation context and affordances. Journal of computing, 3(8),

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Computing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 8
• Publisher URL: http://www.journalofcomputing.org/