Bridging user context and design models to build adaptive user interfaces

Abstract

With respect to modeling the context of interaction, two different research communities consider the context from different viewpoints. The user-centered view which prevails in the HCI and the device-centered view which is dominant in the mobile and ubiquitous computing. Despite existing advances, context modeling and user interface (UI) design methods are still poorly integrated, making it difficult to use the contextual elements directly in UI design. This paper focuses on bringing user-related aspects of the interaction context in UI design. We propose a model-driven framework for the development of adaptive user interfaces. The framework describes the interaction context by integrating contextual factors from different context perspectives in a unison manner. Then it provides formal semantic relations between contextual and UI elements. The framework has been used in the data visualization domain, particularly in the design of the software instrument table for UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) that takes into account user context, namely human perceptual abilities.