Making it personal: tools and techniques for fostering effective user interaction with feature-rich software

大多数为支持生产力和创造性任务而设计的功能丰富的软件应用程序-如电子表格、照片编辑器和三维建模-都遵循“一刀切”的模式，向所有用户提供相同的用户界面和功能，而不管用户的需求、任务和能力以及使用环境的多样性如何。新用户可能会被这些应用程序弄得不知所措，因为这些用户可能甚至不知道从哪里开始开始，并且他们在学习和发现相关功能和命令方面挣扎。虽然随着时间的推移，一些用户确实对应用程序感到满意，但很少有人能够熟练地使用大多数应用程序功能。 作为回应，现代基于云的应用程序现在利用敏捷的持续开发和部署方法，原则上允许它们利用用户的交互数据。这使得发布新接口的周期更快。然而，在实践中，功能丰富的应用程序的大多数用户-无论专业知识如何-都抵制界面升级，因为它们带来的变化迫使用户学习新旧应用程序命令和工作流之间的映射。虽然这些用户并不缺乏可用的帮助，但用户有责任找到最适合其特定需要的信息来源。这对某些用户来说尤其成问题，尤其是那些超越传统知识工作者的用户。 在拟议的研究中，我们的总体目标是利用人机交互（HCI）的原则和方法，研究新的工具和技术，促进有效的用户交互，提高用户与现代功能丰富的软件应用程序的参与度。特别是，我们将利用新的交互技术、分析工具和社交平台来发明新的解决方案，从根本上重新思考功能丰富的界面的设计及其提供的用户帮助。我们的解决方案将专注于如何对这些界面进行个性化，以适应不同的用户及其个性化需求，以及用户如何访问更个性化的应用程序内帮助和学习资源。

Most feature-rich software applications that are designed to support productivity and creativity tasks -- such as spreadsheets, photo editors, and 3D modelling -- follow a "one-size-fits-all" model, offering the same user interface and functionality to all users, regardless of an increasing diversity in users needs, tasks and abilities, and contexts of use. New users can be especially overwhelmed by these applications, as these users may not know even where to begin and they struggle in learning and discovering relevant features and commands. While some users do become comfortable with an application over time, few ever become expert enough to engage with the majority of the application functionality. In response, modern cloud-based applications now leverage agile continuous development and deployment approaches that, in principle, allow them to harness users' interaction data. This enables quicker cycles for releasing new interfaces. In practice, however, most users of feature-rich applications -- regardless of expertise -- resist interface upgrades, as the changes they bring force users to learn the mappings between old and new application commands and workflows. Although there is no shortage of help available for these users, the onus is on the user to find the sources of information best suited to their particular needs. This is particularly problematic for certain users, especially those beyond the classic knowledge worker. In the proposed research, our overarching goal is to draw upon principles and methods of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to investigate new tools and techniques that foster effective user interaction and improve user engagement with modern feature-rich software applications. In particular, we will exploit new interaction techniques, analytics tools, and social platforms to invent novel solutions that fundamentally rethink the design of feature-rich interfaces and the user assistance they offer. Our solutions will focus on how these interfaces can be personalized to accommodate diverse users and their individual needs, and how users can access more personalized targeted in-application help and learning resources.