Through an examination of the emerging domain of cognitive systems, with afocus on attention-centric cognitive systems used for notification, this document exploresthe human-computer interaction challenges that must be addressed for successfulinterface design. This document asserts that with compatible tools and methods, usernotification requirements and interface usability can be abstracted, expressed, andcompared with critical parameter ratings; that is, even novice designers can assessattention cost factors to determine target parameter levels for new system development.With a general understanding of the user tasks supported by the notification system, adesigner can access the repository of design knowledge for appropriate information andinteraction design techniques (e.g., use of color, audio features, animation, screen size,transition of states, etc), which have analytically and empirically derived ratings.Furthermore, usability evaluation methods, provided to designers as part of the integratedsystem, are adaptable to specific combinations of targeted parameter levels. User testingresults can be conveniently added back into the design knowledge repository andcompared to target parameter levels to determine design success and build reusable HCIknowledge.This approach is discussed in greater detail as we describe five HCI challengesrelating to cognitive system development: (1) convenient access to basic research andguidelines, (2) requirements engineering methods for notification interfaces, (3) betterand more usable predictive modeling for pre-attentive and dual-task interfaces, (4)standard empirical evaluation procedures for notification systems, and (5) conceptualframeworks for organizing reusable design and software components.This document also describes our initial work toward building infrastructure toovercome these five challenges, focused on notification system development. Wedescribed LINK-UP, a design environment grounded on years of theory and methoddevelopment within HCI, providing a mechanism to integrate interdisciplinary expertisefrom the cognitive systems research community. Claims allow convenient access tobasic research and guidelines, while modules parallel a lifecycle development iterationand provide a process for requirements engineering guided by this basic research. Theactivities carried out through LINK-UP provide access to and interaction with reusabledesign components organized based on our framework. We think that this approach mayprovide the scientific basis necessary for exciting interdisciplinary advancement throughmany fields of design, with notification systems serving as an initial model.A version of this document will appear as chapter 3 in the book CognitiveSystems: Human Cognitive Models in Systems Design edited by Chris Forsythe, MichaelBernard, and Timothy Goldsmith resulting from a workshop led by the editors in summer2003. The authors are grateful for the input of the workshop organizers and conferenceattendees in the preparation of this document.
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