Outsourcing & Insourcing: Current Trends for the Software Market

Enhancement on the agreements on international trade, the incorporation of new countries to global economic cycles, the increase in air traffic, the exponential increase in the quality and bandwidth of telecommunications, the disclosure of internet culture around the globe are all factors that are dramatically changing markets in all countries. Increased competition has led more companies to seek the expertise of all its processes. Focusing on core business and move to a third party support functions result in a high impact on costs and quality of services. This is the way that outsourcing promises.

Out-Sourcing Trends 

Enhancement on the agreements on international trade, the incorporation of new countries to global economic cycles, the increase in air traffic, the exponential increase in the quality and bandwidth of telecommunications, the disclosure of internet culture around the globe are all factors that are dramatically changing markets in all countries. Increased competition has led more companies to seek the expertise of all its processes. Focusing on core business and move to a third party support functions result in a high impact on costs and quality of services. This is the way that outsourcing promises.

This service is an analogy of industrial production processes, can reduce risks in the construction and maintenance of software projects, provides direct benefits on the reliability and satisfaction of the delivered products, providing a clearer budget and timetable more limited projects.

This concept of service allows for the optimization of resources, technological potential and the advantages gained through economies of scale and improved cost-benefit ratio. It can be applied to the full development of new projects or some modules, as well as for the maintenance of production systems. There are three working schemas that could be applied under this model: Complete Project Development, Functional cases (parts or modules of a project) and Resource / Day-Hour (specific functions).

Clients who outsource software to outside providers are expecting nothing less than great quality, as the IT development outsourcing scene matures. After about a decade of growth, it is time for superior customer service, reliable organization, modern management and, most important of all, top-notch solutions. Knowing that they can turn to hundreds of other outsourcing firms competing for their budgets, clients are likely to reward not just affordable prices, but sustainable high quality (ClearCode, 2011).

New concepts are also emerging within the software outsource business, and along with these new concepts new forms of business appear. That is the case of nearshoring, farmshoring and cloudshoring. Each of these terms means outsourcing to a nearby country, to a rural area or moving operation to an IT cloud (For computing power, storage, bandwidth, processing, etc) respectively. According to the forecasting made by Clear Code in it article “Software Outsourcing Trends for 2011”, in 2011, these ideas will make it possible to cut costs further, as well as improve management and control over third-party contract execution.

Cloud sourcing which has often been predicted as the death of outsourcing, will soon merge with the existing outsourcing market and provide better opportunities for the entire industry. Infrastructures supported by cloud resources and based on SOA principles will encourage smaller outsourcing providers, which will in turn energize the outsourcing market by heightening competition and lowering prices (OutSource2India, 2011).

International outsourcing of services has increased in the United States but still remains low, based on our economy-wide measure using International Monetary Fund trade data. Imports of computer software and information plus other business services as a share of GDP were only 0.4 percent in 2003. This share has roughly doubled in each decade; from 0.1 percent in 1983 to 0.2 percent in 1993 and to 0.4 percent in 2003. The United Kingdom has a higher outsourcing ratio than the United States at 0.9 percent in 1983, 0.7 percent in 1993, and 1.2 percent in 2003 (Amiti, 2004).

Finally Industry experts predict the emergence of a Latin America outsourcing boom especially in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru. Service providers will also continue to shift their delivery centers to markets such as China, Philippines and Egypt, since these countries represent big markets with big demand for transformational and discretionary spend activity (OutSource2India, 2011).

In-Sourcing Trends 

The opposite of outsourcing can be defined as insourcing. When an organization delegates its work to another entity, which is internal yet not a part of the organization, it is termed as insourcing. The internal entity will usually have a specialized team who will be proficient in the providing the required services. Organizations sometimes opt for insourcing because it enables them to maintain a better control of what they outsource.

Organizations involved in production usually opt for insourcing in order to cut down the cost of labor and taxes amongst others. The trend towards insourcing has increased since the year 2006. Organizations who have been dissatisfied with outsourcing have moved towards insourcing. Some organizations feel that they can have better customer support and better control over the work outsourced by insourcing their work rather than outsourcing it. According to recent studies, there is more work insourced than outsourced in the U.S and U.K. These countries are currently the largest outsourcers in the world. The U.S and U.K outsource and insource work equally (OutSource2India, 2011 ).

Professor Matthew Slaughter from Dartmouth College, presented a study about the Insourcing Market in the USA. His findings remarked the following trends:

• Insourcing companies employed over 5.4 million U.S. workers. This was nearly 5 percent of the private-sector total employment up from just 3 percent in 1987.
• The share of U.S. private-sector capital investment accounted for by insourcing companies rose from over 8 percent in 1992 to over 10 percent—$111.9 billion.
• For many years insourcing companies have accounted for around 20 percent of U.S. exports of goods—now $137 billion.
• Insourcing companies paid their American workers over $307 billion in compensation. This was more than 6 percent of all U.S. private-sector labor compensation.

Pros and Cons

This form of contracting has its promoters and defenders, but also its detractors. Among the arguments against the sub-contracting, opponents mentioned:

1. Professional employees or sub-contractors may not have a sense of loyalty to the company contracting the service because; in fact these senses belong to the contractor.
2. That working conditions in which these workers are not usually play best as, for example, are hired on a temporary basis but the workflow is continuous. Critics of sub-contracting system argue that this figure is a contractual covert abuse labor rights.
3. That the system of outsourcing often eliminates jobs in the local labor market.

On the positive side, outsourcing is claimed to:

1. Allow to obtain products and services of better quality elsewhere if they are not found in the local market.
2. Reduce production costs.
3. Reduce the number of routine tasks in the contracting company and allows employees to focus on more creative and productive aspects of the task.

On regards to CMM and outsourcing, the market has a sense of pressure that if the outsource providers are not CMM certified, the customers will doubt when giving out their projects. However, according to Mark Hillary and his article “CMM might be mature, but is it adapted”, the CMM models do not yield to a better quality, mostly because most of the smaller companies are not even equipped to provide their offshore suppliers with the required inputs in terms of specifications, validation, etc. This consultant also reported that the relationship he is setting with his customers does not touch on CMM (although they have the accreditation), but rather revolves about the frequency of communication, the quality of deliverables, mixed teams with people on both sides of the ocean, etc.

Immigration policies for foreign IT graduates 

According to a news release from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE announced an expanded list of science, technology, engineering, and math degree programs that qualifies eligible graduates to extend their post-graduate training.

The current administration of Presidents Obama had reiterated their decision and strong support, as a part of comprehensive reform, for new policies that embrace talented students from other countries, who enrich the nation by working in science and technology jobs in the United States.

This reform includes the expansion of the degrees and fields that are considered important for the US economy. The list includes a comprehensive relation of career related to mathematics, high tech and computer science. According to the US Labor Office, these areas are suffering from a shortage of skilled workers. Again, the Obama administration is helping to address shortages in certain high tech sectors of talented scientists and technology experts-permitting highly skilled foreign graduates who wish to work in their field of study upon graduation and extend their post-graduate training in the United States.

Under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges and universities are able to remain in the U.S. and receive training through work experience for up to 12 months. Students who graduate with one of the newly-expanded STEM degrees can remain for an additional 17 months on an OPT STEM extension (US Immigration Office, 2011).

References

Amiti, .M. (2004). “Fear of Service Outsourcing: Is It Justified?”. Working Paper. International Monetary Fund.

Clear Code. (2011). “Software Outsourcing Trends in 2011”. Visited on May 17, 2011. Online  at: http://clearcode.cc/2011/01/17/software-development-outsourcing-trends-2011/

Hillary, .M. (2007). “CMM might be mature, but is it adapted?”. Visited on May 16, 2011. Online at: http://www.it-outsourcing-china.hyveup.tv/2007/05/cmm-might-be-mature-but-is-it-adapted/

Kirkegaard, F.( 2004). “Outsourcing-Stains on the White Collar?”. Institute for International Economics.

OutSource2India, (2011). “The Future of OutSourcing”. Visited on May 12, 2011. Online at: http://www.outsource2india.com/trends/future_outsourcing.asp

Slaugther, .M. (2006). “Insourcing Jobs: Making the Global Economy Work of America”. Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. 

US Immigration Office (2011). News Release. “ICE announces expanded list of  science, technology, engineering, and math degree programs Qualifies eligible graduates to extend their post-graduate training”. Visited on May 12, 2011. Online at: http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1105/110512washingtondc2.htm

The Human Body as a Computing Interface

< Interface /ˈint-ər-ˌfās/: The point of interconnection between two entities.>

Interfaces take places into our lives in the form of the various devices, analog or digital, with whom we normally establish some kind of interaction. This means that the interfaces are "tools" extenders for our bodies, such as computers, cell phones, elevators, etc. The concept of interface is applicable to any situation or process where the exchange or transfer of information takes place. Some of the ways of thinking to the interface might be like “the area or place of interaction between two different systems not necessarily a technological system”. Traditional computer input devices leverage the dexterity of our limbs through physical transducers such as keys, buttons, and touch screens. While these controls make great use of our abilities in common scenarios, many everyday situations command the use of our body for purposes other than manipulating an input device (Saponas, 2010, p. 8). Humans are very familiar with their own body. By nature, humans gesture out their body parts to express themselves or communicate ideas. Therefore, body parts naturally lend themselves to various interface metaphors that could be used as interaction tools for computerized systems.

For example, imaging rushing to a class while wearing gloves in a very cold morning, all of the sudden you have to place a phone call to your classmate to remind him to printout a homework, dialing a simple call on a mobile phone’s interface within this situation can be difficult or even impossible. Similarly, when someone is jogging and listening to music on a music player, their arms are typically swinging freely and their eyes are focused on what is in front of them, making it awkward to reach for the controls to skip songs or change the volume. In these situations, people need alternative input techniques for interacting with their computing devices (Saponas, 2009, p. 4).

Appropriating the human body as an input device is appealing not only because we have roughly two square meters of external surface area, but also because much of it is easily accessible by our hands (e.g., arms, upper legs, torso). Furthermore, our sense of how our body is configured in three-dimensional space allows us to accurately interact with our bodies in an eyes-free manner (Harrison, 2010, p. 11).

In terms of interface suitability and human needs, researchers had been looking for ways to provide the user with greater mobility and enable more and more interaction. However, and although this interaction with the new interface is greater, users do not have a clear mental model of its operation, since in some cases cease to be intuitive and demand to the users a constant relearning. However, several research areas offers possibilities for full body incorporation into the interfaces process, such as: speech recognition, gesture detection, computer vision, micro gestures, skin surface, body electricity, brain computing, and muscles gesture, among others.

A Current research that explores different ways to use the features of one’s own body for interacting with computers, presented by The Imaging Research Center of South Korea, has divided this area into four types of human body based interfaces:

1. Body Inspired Metaphor (BIM): Uses various parts of the body as metaphoric interaction.
2. Body As An Interaction Surface (BAIS): Uses parts of the body as points of interaction. In this model, researchers are investigating what parts of the human body are more suitable to be used as interface for a given task. They are trying to find the best spot taking into account cognitive and ergonomic factors. So far, they had found that one of the most plausible locations seems to be the forearm of the non-dominant hand for its mobility, accessibility to the dominant hand, and visibility, although other parts of the body may be considered, such as on the lap (Changseok, 2009, p. 264).
3. Object-Mapping (OM): It transports the user into the location of the object by becoming it, and manipulates it from the first person viewpoint both physically and mentally.
4. Mixed Mode (MM): A mix of BIM and BAIS.

To draw an example on how the hand, the body and now the skin are being used in digital interaction process, we could refer to the film starring Tom Cruise in which the computer interface is manipulated by the hands of touch; or just how to recognize a body movement or gesture as the recent "Nathan Project" (Commercially known as "Kinect") from Microsoft, as a development of an interface for the Xbox 360. No doubt we are in the era of the touchpad, but we were far from thinking that simply by gestures, we could handle an interface, such as the prototype Gesture Cube, a "cube" that interprets the movement of the hands and we can act with different devices without having to touch a hand tool and moving a short distance. This Gesture Cube has a series of sensors that instantly detect the position and transmits the coordinates to a CPU installed in its interior, so that some previously programmed motions allow the execution of a specific task such as opening a program, call someone, listening to music. 

Unlike what we may think, GestIC as its creators have called this cube, does not have sensors that read the position of the hands in an optical process, but instead is equipped with an array of sensors that are grouped in fours to measure the variation of the magnetic field generated by the human skin that is produced according to the variation in the distance. The interesting addition to this, is that the interface allows you to associate a different device to each of the faces of the cube.

Another area refers to muscle sensing. While muscle-sensing techniques promise to be a suitable mechanism for body interface, previous work suffers from several key limitations. In many existing systems, users are tethered to high-end equipment employing gel-based sensors affixed to users’ arms with adhesives (Saponas, 2009, p. 19). Other efforts developed experiments using motor neurons stimulate muscle fibers into the skeletal muscles causing movement or force. This process generates electrical activity that can be measured as a voltage differential changing over time. While the most accurate method of measuring such electrical activity requires inserting fine needles into the muscle, a noisier signal can be obtained using electrodes on the surface of the skin. So far these experiments have yielded little success. (Mastnik, 2008, p. 64).

However, a recent project, called Skinput, demonstrated by Microsoft research represents an enormous advance in this area. Skinput is an input technology that uses bio-acoustic sensing to localize finger taps on the skin. When augmented with a pico-projector, the device can provide a direct manipulation, graphical user interface on the body (For Example, in a person’s forearm). The technology was developed by Chris Harrison, Desney Tan, and Dan Morris, at Microsoft Research's Computational User Experiences Group.

Wearable computing and virtual reality would be ideal application areas for body interface technologies. For instance, one of the defining goals of the virtual reality system is to create the feeling of being in the environment and one cause of breaking presence is the existence of intrusive wired sensing devices. While body based interfaces may not increase realism, they may still find good uses for imaginary virtual worlds for increasing self-awareness through self-interaction (Changseonk, 2009, p. 271).

Another study conducted by Nokia Research Center suggested the concept of “virtual pockets” for opening and saving documents in a wearable computing setting. Virtual pockets are physical pockets augmented with pressure sensors on one’s clothing woven with a special material for tracking the finger position on the clothing surface. A user can move files between different pockets, a process analogous to the “dragging and dropping” in the familiar desktop environment. Using finger pressure, files can be opened or saved. This can be viewed as mapping the desktop space onto the front surface of the upper body (Changseok, 2009, p. 269).

When exploring the body as an interaction device, challenges are how to utilize the corporal potential in the interaction context; and what influence and significance the use of the body has on interactive experiences. Characteristics to be considered when utilizing the body include: small/large degree of bodily involvement in the interaction; less/large accentuation of the significance of the body in the user experience; and finally, small/large degree of user influence (Karen, 2008, p. 2). According the experts in the subject, body interfaces can contribute to reducing task completion time and errors because it is natural and less confusing to users. However, they also appoint that excessive moving of body parts can cause muscle fatigue. Therefore, not all tasks are suitable for association with body parts

Another trend in the quest to integrate the human body into the interface process states that in order to accomplish such goals, besides HCI other areas area such as electronics, bio informatics and science materials, must evolve in their own subject matter. A research work called Communications Trough Virtual Technologies and sponsored by Association of European Telecoms concluded that unobtrusive hardware miniaturization is assumed to permit the necessary enabling developments in micro and optical electronics that is required for the usage of the body as a computer interaction device. Molecular and atomic manipulation techniques will also be increasingly required to allow the creation of advanced materials, smart materials and nanotechnologies (Fabrizzio, 2009, p. 33). 

In addition to these conclusions, the same study adds that it is also required significant advancements in the areas of: 

a) Self-generating power and micro-power usage in devices.

b) Active devices such as sensors and actuators integrated with interface systems in order to respond to user senses, posture and environment that can change their characteristics by standalone intelligence or by networked interaction.

c) Nano devices to have lower power consumption, higher operation speeds, and ubiquity.

In the current stage of HCI research, a slight finger tap, an acoustic vibration in the air, a movement of the eyes and tongue, or a pulse in the muscle can become a method for information transmission, and people are not only interacting with computers, but also with every object around them (Hui, 2010, p. 1).

Citations and References

Changseok, .C., (2004). Body Based Interfaces. Proceedings of the Fourth IEEE International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (ICMI’03)Fabrizzio, .D. (2009). Communications Through Virtual Technologies. Galimberti and G. Riva (eds.), La comunicazione virtuale, Guerini e Associati, Milano

Harrison, .S., (2010). Skinput: Appropriating the Body as an Input Surface. In Proceedings ACM CHI 2010 

Hui, .M. (2010). Human Computer Interaction, A Portal to the Future. Microsoft Research. 

Karen, .J. (2008). Interaction Design for Public Spaces. ACM MM’08, October 26–31, 2008, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Mastnik, S., (2008). EMG-based Hand Gesture Recognition for Realtime Biosignal Interfacing. Proceedings ACM IUI ‘08, 30-39.

Musilek, P. (2007). A Keystroke and Pointer Control Input Interface for Wearable Computers. In Proceedings IEEE PERCOM ’07

Saponas, T., (2009). Enabling Always-available Input with Muscle-Computer Interfaces. In Proceedings ACM UIST ’09.

Saponas, T., (2010). Making Muscle-Computer Interfaces More Practical. In Proceedings ACM CHI 2010.

Saponas, T. (2009). Demonstrating the feasibility of using forearm electromyography for muscle-computer interfaces. In Proceedings ACM CHI ’09.

Understanding Brain Computer Interfaces

The human brain and body are prolific signal generators. Recent technologies and computing techniques allow us to measure, process and interpret these signals. We can now infer such things as cognitive and emotional states to create adaptive interactive systems and to gain an understanding of user experience (Girouard, 2010).

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can be defined as an HCI system that can translate our mental intentions into real interaction within a physical or virtual world. The basic operations of a BCI are to measure brain activity, process it for obtaining the characteristics of interest; and after obtaining these characteristics, interact with the environment as desired by the user. From a standpoint of human-computer interaction, BCI like interfaces has two characteristics that make it unique compared to all existing systems. The first is its potential to build a natural communication channel with the human. The second, it potential to access cognitive and emotional information from the user. Our work intends to address the brain computer interface technology from a technological point of view by presenting their current context and technological problems and associated research. 

Computer interfaces as we normally know them are not natural in the sense that human thoughts must be translated in order to match the type of interface. For example, while using a keyboard, the thought of writing the letter "X", must be translated into a press of a finger on a given key. Although it is efficient and serves to accomplish the task, it does not represent a natural user interaction. In fact, if there is no training for it, the user would not know how to complete the operation. BCI interfaces in principle have access to the human cognitive information, as it is based on measuring brain activity, which is assumed to encode all these aspects. The scientific and technological challenge is to decode this information throughout the continuous and huge volume of data.

Current interfaces such as pointing devices, keyboards, or eye trackers, etc., are systems that convert the user control intentions into actions. However, there are not natural ways to model and implement the interaction, and in turn they lack of potential to access cognitive information such as workload, perception of system errors, affective information, etc. (Goriuard, 2010). BCI has the ability to build a natural communication channel for the human with the machine as it translates directly intentions into orders.

The idea behind this technology is very simple: it is to turn our thoughts into real actions around our environment. These actions can be directed to elements as simple as turning on or off the lights in our house, and up to a machine as complex as wheelchairs. The idea is simple but the technological challenge is enormous because it involves a highly multidisciplinary group of knowledge as the intersection of neuroscience, biomedical engineering and computer science. 

BCI seen as the machine that translates human intentions into action has at least three distinct parts (Minguez, 2009):

1) Sensor: is responsible for collecting brain activity. The vast majority of sensory modalities used in BCI from clinical applications, such as the electroencephalogram, functional magnetic resonance imaging, etc.

2) Signal Processing Engine: This module collects the signal measurement result of brain activity and applies filters to decode the neurophysiological process

reflecting the intention of the user.

3) Application: is the interaction module with the environment and shapes the final application of the BCI. May be moving a wheelchair or writing with the thought in a computer screen.

All research taking place in BCI can be classified within these three points. First, researches are working on new sensory modalities that enhance the temporal and spatial resolution measurements of brain activity, and improving the usability and portability of the devices in general. Second, much research is being conducted on strategies to address the BCI signal processing. The most relevant aspects that complicate the problem are that each individual has different brain activity and also the brain activity is non-stationary. The work is focused towards improving the filtering processes, automatic signal learning, and adaptation to each particular individual over time (McCullagh, 2010). The final aspect is to integrate the BCI in a useful application for the user, which is encouraging efforts in areas such as hardware and software integration and inclusion in actual application environments.

One important challenge that faces HCI research is the consideration about where to place the sensors or with respect to the human body. This election has important implications for usability, ethics and design of the system, since it determines the type of neuronal process that can be measured and processed later. If the sensor is placed so that no intrusion is performed on the human body is called non-invasive technique, which is the mostly used in BCI. However, other techniques exist that require performing a craniotomy, in this case we can talk about an invasive technique. Broadly speaking there are different levels of penetration and placement of sensor systems varying from penetrating the cerebral cortex to electrodes that measures the cortex activities for which the sensors are placed over the surface of the cortex. Beyond ethical problems with these invasive technologies, it faces the difficulty of maintaining a stable sensorial mechanism. Because a small movement of the sensor may involve a large movement at the cellular level causing the activation of body defenses attacking the “intrusive sensors” until it gets disabled (Ferrez, 2009).

Recover or replace human motor functions has been one of the most fascinating but frustrating areas of research of the last century. The possibility of interfacing the human nervous system with a robotic or mechatronic system, and use this concept to recover some motor function, has fascinated scientists for years (Minguez, 2009). The typical paradigm of work is a patient with severe spinal cord injury or a chronic neuromuscular disease that interrupts the flow of motor neural information to the body's extremities. One aspect that has enabled these developments has been the advance in technology since BCI are systems that allow real-time translating electrical activity result of thinking in order to directly control devices. This provides a direct communication channel from the central nervous system devices, avoiding the use of the neural pathways that can no longer be used normally because of the presence of severe neuromuscular diseases such as stroke, brain paralysis or spinal injuries (Ferrez, 2008). On the other hand, robotics has advanced enormously in the last years in various fields such as sensors, actuators, and processing capacity up autonomy

The first element in a BCI is a device for measuring brain activity, which is usually a clinical device that measures brain activity directly or indirectly. From all of the forms for measuring brain activity, electroencephalogram or EEG is one of the most widespread options. It is preferred by specialists because of its great adaptability, high temporal resolution, portability and range of possibilities derived from its clinical use. Normally, the installation of an EEG system requires a cap that fits over the head and usually includes integrated sensors for measuring the differential on the electrical potential. A conductive gel is applied to improve the conductivity between the scalp and the sensor (Ferrez, 2009). All sensors are connected to an amplifier that digitizes the signal and sends it to a computer. However, one of the biggest entry barriers for this technology is the use of the conductive gel that needs to be applied to the head. Current works related to this area focus on the elimination of this gel usage (Minguez, 2009).

There are many applications where we can think of related to this technology, such as entertainment, education, machinery operations, assistance for the elderly or physically challenged, etc. One of the first applications that are gaining terrain is the video game control by BCI and my means of the users’ thoughts. The qualitative leap achieved by the use of BCI in these technologies is enormous. Market studies shows that it will be one of the channels through which this technology will be introduced first. This is because video game users are a very large community, very tolerant to new technologies that spend many hours using the devices. This somehow facilitates the testing stages (Nijholt, 2008). 

Much research is also being conducted in what has been called intelligent environments. These involve intelligence embedded in the environment with capabilities of autonomous interaction with the user; with the clear objective to make life easier for people in different fields. For example: wearable computing. BCI in this context provides a direct communication channel with the environment to make control orders and in turn could provide information on cognitive and emotional status of the users, so the environment could make smarter decisions appropriate to each person (Ferrezm 2008). 

In 2007, a panel of experts to study the state of BCI technology worldwide was formed. The following research aspects were appointed. First efforts in this line are very significant in the U.S., Europe and in Asia, where clearly the amount of research in this area is to increase. Second, the current state of BCI is, if not about to, or entering into the generation of medical devices, but is expected to have a strong acceleration in non-technical areas and in more commercial environments such as video games, industrial automotive and robotics. Third, research efforts are oriented towards invasive technology in the United States, non-invasive in Europe and the synergy between the two types of interfaces and robotics in Japan. In the case of Asia and particularly China, has invested in programs of biological and engineering sciences, which has increased the investment in BCI and related areas. (Bergel, 2007). BCI research efforts throughout the world are extensive, with the magnitude of that research clearly on the rise. Even though, initial works on BCI focus on medical applications, BCI research is expected to rapidly accelerate in nonmedical arenas of commerce as well, particularly in the gaming, automotive, and robotics industries. 

Despite of the technological advancement, the operability of a BCI device in an out-laboratory setting (i.e. real-life condition) still remains far from being settled. The BCI control is indeed, characterized by unusual properties, when compared to more traditional inputs (long delays, noise with varying structure, long-term drifts, event-related noise, and stress effects). Current approaches to this are constituted by post hoc processing the BCI signal in order to better conform to traditional control (Cincotti, 2009). Being our input and output devices the major obstacles to effectively use computer tools and technology in general, it could be predicted that, in a moderate time (8-10 years), BCI will become an actual viable alternative to other input methods, like touchscreens, keyboards, and mice. 

Citations and References

Berger, T. (2007). International assessment of research and development in brain-computer interfaces. In: WTEC Panel Report.

Cinccotti, .F. (2010). Interacting with the Environment through Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces. ACM UAHCI '09 Proceedings of the 5th International on Conference.

Ferrez, E. (2008). The use of brain-computer interfacing for ambient intelligence. LNCS, Springer Verlag.

Ferrez, P. (2009). Error-related eeg potentials generated during simulated brain-computer interaction. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 55(3), 923–929.

Girouard, . A. (2010). Brain, body and bytes: psychophysiological user interaction. ACM CHI EA '10 Proceedings.

McCullagh, .P. (2010). Brain Computer Interfaces for inclusion. ACM AH '10 Proceedings of the 1st Augmented Human International Conference.

Minguez, .J. (2009). Brain Computer Interaction Technologies. Journals of Research group for Robotics and Real Time Perception. Department of Informatics. Universitat Stuttgart. No. 23l. Vol3. PP, 20-44

Nijholt, A. (2008). Bci for games: A ’state of the art’survey. ACM ICEC '08 Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Entertainment Computing.

HCI Trends for a New Era

Experts predict that the computer, at least as we know it today, will disappear in no time. The computer will be integrated into other devices and the user will not be aware of their existence rather than by the functions offered. This seems to mean the disappearance of the explicit user interface and the development of a new implicit interface, focused on concrete tasks, more intelligent, and able to communicate with other elements. Is not about the physical machine anymore, we are getting away from the desktop, interaction styles are different. In a couple of years we might not be conscious of computers are around (Rozanski, 2010).

The field of HCI will be characterized by two trends: an evolutionary progress in dealing with current systems interactions by improving their usability, developing new methodologies and design tools that are adapted to the industrial environment; and a revolutionary trend, trying to create a new generation of interfaces that are characterized by being smarter, mobile and less visible to the user.

The evolutionary trend of HCI will work in the development of new concepts of interface usability, increasing the knowledge that we have about the user perspective and developing new methods for implementing these ideas. However, many experts believe that current development of interaction systems has reached an impasse given that most of new designs are found to be variations on the same subject (Moulton, 1998). Achieving a substantial advance in this area requires profound changes that introduce new styles of interaction, including new input/output devices or mechanisms. Until now it was expected that these changes would come from the advancement of virtual reality systems and multimedia. Nowadays, most experts are betting on ubiquitous systems, mobile computing, interfaces for natural language, etc. 

Intelligence, personality, expression, the ability to understand meaning, interactivity, and sensory richness are all essential to good interface design. Future computers should be able to sense human presence and emulate face-to-face communication. These agents, will be endowed with enough intelligence to be knowledgeable about the user's taste's, interests, acquaintances etc. (Negroponte, 1995). 

The goal of trying to break the paradigm of desktop computer is common to the works on mobile, ubiquitous and wearable computing. They claim that the services provided by computers should be as mobile as their users and should allow taking advantage of the constantly changing context in which they are used. This can lead to active environments in which these computers interact with each other and with the user in an intelligent and non-invasive mode. The philosophy of ubiquitous computing is the opposite of virtual reality. VR tries to introduce the person inside the computer. Ubiquity however, talks about computers integrated into the lives of people under the slogan the world is not a desktop (Weiser, 1994).

Wearable computing provides us with computers integrated and adapted to the user personal space. This personal space could be comprised by the users clothes, body surface and even the interior of it organism. Wearable computer extends the reach of human senses; improve their memory capabilities and increases intelligence (Ross, 2000). It should be also a gateway access between human beings and the outside world, filtering what is not relevant and serving as a protective wall of cyber attacks (Mann, 1998). Wearable computers represent a real challenge for actual HCI designers and engineers because interfaces as we know it, invades the personal spaces of the user. As in other technologies, one of the most important drivers of change is the market. For example, graphical user interfaces (GUI) opened the market for personal computer users without IT knowledge. The need to seek new markets leads to deepening the concept of usability. It is noticeable that, even now that we count with technical capabilities to meet these revolutionary concepts of interaction, companies that design hardware and software tend to be very cautious. They are still using standard interfaces due to fear of that any drastic changes may cause rejection of the user. Progress is purely cosmetic, colors, shapes, designs, but not fundamental. Designers, meanwhile, blame users. According to them, users are very conservative and cling to the systems they know, avoiding adventures with other systems, even if they promise better features (Jiang, 2000).

The great challenge is to be able to build general purpose portable computers, which accomplish with five attributes described with Steve Mann (Mann, 1998). These devices should be: PERSONAL: Human and computer are inextricably intertwined. PROSTHETIC: You can adapt to it getting the sense as a true extension of your body. CORPOREAL: It does not make the user look strange to others. PRIVATE: Others can't observe or control it unless you let them. CONSTANT: Always on, always running, always ready. Formal HCI principles for designing software and hardware interfaces are the corner-stone to accomplish these objectives. However, it stills represents a big challenge given the actual conditions of technology advancement, such as computing power, energy consumption, physical limitations, hardware volume, etc. Experts predict drastic changes for human-computer interaction. The ability to track eyes, recognize speech, and to sense touch are important ways in which future computers can be improved to better respond to the needs of the user (Rozanski, 2010). These changes have much to do with disappearance of the computer as we know it. However, predictions on new input/output devices and new styles of interaction are based on existing products; some of them are only at the prototype stage. This calls into question the premise of “total change”. Surely the changes that will occur in the next five to twenty years, if they are to be truly revolutionary, are impossible to predict based on today's standards.

References

Rozanski, Evelyn. (2010) “Lecture on Human Computer Interaction”. Gollisano College of Computing and Information Sciences. Rochester Institute of Technology. Rochester,NY.

Moulton, Dave (1998) “Optimal Character Arrangements for Ambiguous Keyboards”, IEEE Transactions on Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 415-23.

Starner, T. (2002) “Wearable Computers: No Longer Science Fiction”, Pervasive computing. 

Negroponte, Nicholas. (1995). “Being Digital”. New York, NY: Random House.

Preece, Jenny (1994). “Human Computer Interaction”. New York, NY: Wesley.

Mogridge, Bill (2006). “Designing Interactions”. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mann, Steve (1998). “WEARABLE COMPUTING as means for PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT”, Keynote Address for The First International Conference on Wearable Computing, ICWC-98, May 12-13, Fairfax, VA.

Mann, Steve (1998). “Humanistic Intelligence: `WearComp' as a new framework and application for intelligent signal processing”. Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 11. Ontario, Canada.

Jiang, James (2000) “User resistance and strategies for promoting acceptance across system types” Information & Management, Volume 37, Issue 1, Pages 25-36. Amsterdam, NL.

Weiser, Mark (1994) “The World is not a Desktop”. Interactions, January 1994, pp 7-8

Ross, A. (2000) “Wearable Interfaces for Orientation and Wayfinding”, ASSETS’00, November 13-15, Arlington, VA.

Trends in Distributed Database Systems

In recent years, the availability of databases and computer networks has promoted the development of a new field known as distributed databases. A distributed database is an integrated database which is built over a computer network instead of a single computer. The distributed databases offer several advantages to designers and users of databases. Among the most important is the transparency in accessing and locating information. However, the design and management of distributed databases faces major challenge that includes problems not found in centralized databases. For example, patterns of fragmentation and finding information, managing distributed sites and consultation mechanisms for concurrency control and reliability in distributed databases. There are two forces driving the evolution of database systems. On the one hand users as part of more complex organizations have demanded a number of capabilities that have been incorporated in database systems. An example of this is the need to integrate information from various sources. On the other hand, technology has made it possible for some facilities initially imagined only in dreams come true. For example, online transaction that allows the current banking system would not have been possible without the development of communication equipment. Distributed computing systems are clear examples where organizational pressures combined with the availability of new technologies enable the realization of such applications.

In its simplest definition, distributed database systems pursue the integration of diverse and heterogeneous database systems. Its main goal is to provide the user with a global vision of the available information. This integration process does not involve the centralization of information, rather, with the help of computer networking technology available, the information is kept distributed and the systems of distributed databases allow access to it as if it were located in one place. The distribution of information allows, among other things, to have quick access to information, have copies of information for faster access and to have backup in case of failure.

Today’s enterprises must support hundreds or even thousands of applications to meet growing business demands, but this growth is dramatically driving up the cost of running and managing the databases under those applications. The stress this puts on the IT budget makes it harder to provide databases to support new requirements such as Web 2.0 applications or other emerging collaboration solutions or even to support other uses such as increased application testing (Yuhanna, 2008, p. 1).

Distributed Database As a Service

A new emerging option called database as a service (DaaS) hosts databases in the cloud and is a good alternative for some new applications. According to Forrester Research Study, some world known companies, such as Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are all targeting the DaaS market. Although most of today's DaaS solutions are very simple, in the next two to three years, more sophisticated offerings will evolve to support larger and more complex applications (Yuhanna, 2008, p. 2). 

Data outsourcing or database as a service has emerged as a new paradigm for distributed data management in which a third party service provider hosts a database and provides the associated software and hardware support.

The Database Service Provider 

This new approach on distributed database technologies allows for the apparition of a new entity named “The Database Service Provider”. Whose mission is to provide seamless mechanisms for organizations to create, store, and access their databases. Moreover, the entire responsibility of database management, i.e., database backup, administration, restoration, and database reorganization to reclaim space or to restore preferable arrangement of data, migration from one database version to the next without impacting availability will befall in such an organization

Users wishing to access data will now access it using the hardware and software at the service provider instead of their own organization’s computing infrastructure. The application would not be impacted by outages due to software, hardware and networking changes or failures at the database service provider’s site. This would alleviate the problem of purchasing, installing, maintaining and updating the software and administrating the system. Instead of doing these, the organization will only use the ready system maintained by the service provider for its database needs (Hakan, 2005, p. 5).

The Database Service Provider provides data management for its customers, and thus obviates the need for the customer to purchase expensive hardware and software, deals with software upgrades, and hires professionals for administrative and maintenance tasks. However, as wonderful as it sounds, these new capabilities on distributed systems and data management technologies leads to the introduction of new challenges related to distributed database model. Among the most important: 

1) Additional overhead of remote access to data,

2) Data privacy and security concerns, and

3) User interface design for such a service. 

Security as a Main Concern

The distributed database has all of the security concerns of a single site database plus several additional problem areas. Some security threats involve: data tampering, eavesdropping and data theft, falsifying user identity, and administering too many passwords as well as others. Security can be provided for distributed databases by providing access control, user authentication, location transparency, and view transparency (Zubi, 2010, p. 3).

With critical and sensitive amount of data being transferred across the network it is imperative that some form of security is implemented to secure the integrity and confidentiality of the system. General database security concerns must satisfy the following requirements: Physical integrity, which is the protection from data loss; Logical integrity, which is the protection of the logical structure of the database; Elemental integrity, which is ensuring accurate data; Easy Availability; Access control to some degree depending on the sensitivity of the data and user authentication to ensure that a user is who they say they are. The goal of these requirements is to guarantee that data stored in the distributed database system, is protected from unauthorized modification, and inaccurate updates (Coy, 2010, p. 269). 

Market Concerns: More Security, Optimization and Integrity.

According to the National Science Foundation Project on DaaS, conducted by Dr. Sharad Mehjotra, the following topics are considered as a high priority on the subject:

1) The integration of data encryption with database systems to protect data against outside malicious attacks and to limit the liability of the service provider. However, encryption techniques have significant performance implications on query processing in databases. 

2) The development of mathematical and statistical measures of Data Privacy for various privacy preserving schemes. 

3) Development of techniques to protect the privacy of user data from the database service providers themselves. If the service providers themselves are not trusted, the protecting the privacy of users' data is much more challenging issue. 

A service provider would need to implement sufficient security measures to guarantee data privacy. One key issue is how much privacy is enough. Any data privacy solution will have to utilize encryption which, as usual, comes with a certain cost in terms of database performance and additional hardware requirements. A fundamental question is whether encryption is too costly thus making the database service provider model infeasible (Mehtrotra, 2006, p. 11).

Another approach regarding the security strength is the optimization of the Query Process, which must able to perform efficiently over encrypted databases. New techniques changes the way we process queries over encrypted databases. Thus, optimization of these reformulated queries has to be carefully studied. The optimization process should ensure that the users of the system, the clients, can take full advantage of the capabilities promised by DaaS model (Hayes, 2008, p. 10). 

Other important element the demands attention is the database integrity. Once data encryption is employed as a solution to data privacy problem, it may generate integrity issues in this context. As a result of both malicious and non-malicious causes the integrity of the data may be compromised. When this happens, the client does not have any mechanism to detect the integrity of the original data. Therefore, new techniques have to be developed to provide clients mechanisms to check the integrity of their data hosted at the service provider side (Coy, 2010, p. 265). 

An additional issue to address in the context of encrypted databases is key management. All encryption techniques rely on secure and efficient key management architectures. DaaS model puts additional complexity on key management architectures. Therefore, they demand new techniques for generation, registration, storage, and update of encryption keys (Reavies, 2010, p. 28). 

Other emerging technologies that have evolved in some way from distributed databases are collaborative computing systems, distributed object management systems and the web. Much of the work on securing distributed databases can be applied to securing collaborative computing systems (Zubi, 2009, p. 10). 

A Market Survey for DaaS Adoption

In 2009, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) performed survey over 1,500 professionals across 50 countries, in order to measure the relative immaturity of DaaS over cloud computing usage and the uncertainty of the balance between risk and reward. This survey revealed that:

• 9.4% of respondents plan to use DaaS cloud computing for mission-critical IT services.
• 8.8 % will only use the cloud for low-risk, non-mission-critical IT services.
• 35.6% do not plan to use the cloud for any IT services.
• 28.2% were not aware of any plans for cloud computing.
• 12.1% would take large risks to maximize business return.
• 61% of reported that they believe the biggest risk to their organizations is failing to protect confidential data.

A similar study was appointed by Art Coviello, Executive Vice President of EMC Corporation. During a key note message during the RSA Conference 2010, he cited a recent survey conducted by CIO Magazine that stated 51% of IT chiefs in the USA, were unwilling to adopt DaaS or cloud computing because of security issues.

The industry needs to deliver solutions that ensure levels of protection for databases in the cloud that would surpass what physical environments are providing today. Security needs to be embedded in the virtual layer and practitioners need to shift from safeguarding the enterprise architecture to adopting a posture of information-centric protection (Coviello, 2010, p. 1).

Another survey conducted by IEEE/CSA in 2010, revealed that IT professionals are concerned and recognize the importance and urgency of DaaS security standards. 

• 44% responded that are already involved in cloud computing projects but project that not involve corporative data stored in the cloud.
• 93% considered the need for cloud computing security standards as important.
• 82% percent said the need is urgent. Data privacy, security and encryption comprise the most urgent area of need for standards development. 

Distribute databases on its DaaS flavor is still a young technology. It runs on the cloud and by consuming cloud services is important to recognize the dangers and potential risks facing us, as with any new or existing IT investment. The security concerns, questions about the maturity of the supplier in an industry in its infancy, reliability, and regulatory issues are topics that are of the concern of those professional making decisions regarding the adoption of this new technology

It’s clear from the findings on the mentioned surveys, that enterprises across sectors are eager to adopt database services over cloud computing, but security standards are needed both to accelerate cloud adoption on a wide scale and to respond to regulatory drivers (Smith, 2010, p. 18).

The absence of a security compliance environment is having impact on the adoption on database services over cloud computing. Distributed database systems are a reality, and more over are here to stay. Many organizations are now deploying distributed database systems. Therefore, we have no choice but to ensure that these systems operate in a secure environment. 

There is still a long road to travel; efforts are being done. The overall issue, aside from the database itself is to ensure that the databases, operating systems, applications, network, web technologies and clients are not only secure, but are also securely integrated (Zubi, 2010, p. 9).

Works Cited

Coviello, A. 2010. Securing the Path to Virtualization and the Private Cloud from the Desktop to the Datacenter. In Proceedings of RSA 2010 Security Decoded Conference . International Conference on Computer Security. EMC-RSA, Inc. Boston, MA, 34-35.

Coy, .S. (2010) Implications of the Choice of Distributed Database Systems. In Proceedings IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, pp. 260-272.

Hakan, .H. (2005). Providing Database as a Service. ACM Transactions on Database Systems. pp. 25-29.

Hayes, .B. (2008). The LDV Secure Relational DBMS Model. Communications of the ACM, pp. 9–11

Mehtrotra, .S. (2005). Encryption in relational database management systems. In Proc. Fourteenth 

Annual IFIP Working Conference on Database Security. pp. 105-109

Reavies, J. 2010. Regulatory requirements demand security standards compliance. In Survey By IEEE And Cloud Security Alliance Details Importance And Urgency Of Cloud Computing Security Standards. IEEE Press Release. IEEE Computer Society Press. pp. 29-30.

Smith, B. 2010. Building Confidence in the Cloud. In A Proposal for Industry and Government 

Action for Europe to Reap the Benefits of Cloud Computing. International Conference on EU Digital Market. Microsoft Press. Seattle, WA, 11-20.

Yuhanna, .N. (2008). Database-As-A-Service Explodes On The Scene. Forrester Research. 

Zubi, .S. (2010). On Distributed Database Security Aspects. . ICMCS '09 International Conference on Multimedia Computing and Systems, 2009.

Cognitive Walkthrough for the Microsoft Xbox 360 ® Gamepad Controller

The gamepad is a device with a direction controller situated on its left side and action buttons on the right. Even if, along the years it changed its shape, size and gained a few extra buttons and options, the device retains its basic form and button placement. These devices are the primary means of input for video games consoles. Gamepad Controllers allows enhancing the perception of elements residing in a non-spatial part of the gaming design space, and makes up for the broken perceptual link that occurs when a player is linked to a virtual avatar through a display and an audio system.

Among contemporary objects, Gamepads are peculiar given their existence both as physical artifacts and as interfaces to control characters in digital environments. Unlike joysticks, they correspond to a type of game controller held in the hand where fingers interact with buttons, sliders and tiny sticks. Therefore, observing this unique device enables to highlight critical implications about human-computer interaction and innovation in the field of new media: the complex relationship between controllers and video game design, the evolution of game interfaces as well as the evolution of technical objects in general.

Figure 1

The most current controller generation for the famous Xbox 360 ® is not the exception. This sophisticated controller represents an interesting evolution from the previous versions of gamepads. A lot of functions has been added: Instead of two fire buttons, the controller now has four, it retained its digital directional pad but now has two extra analog sticks, four extra buttons on the front side (Left 1 and 2 and Right 1 and 2), a guide button, charge port, ring of light, audio port, battery bay, back and start button, a vibration function and even wireless technology, as appreciated in Figure 1. It is important to know, that Microsoft target audiences for this device are male, hard core gamers from +17 years old.

Sticks and directional pad interactions correspond to spatial movement and/or directionality; buttons correspond to actions the user can take. They tend to be fairly simple; limiting the user’s actions to a few well understood options (though complexity can increase with the number of buttons and context-sensitive buttons). They are efficient, as the user can rapidly and repetitively enter game commands with the same muscle movements. Such interfaces have proven to be familiar and comfortable after having been the standard for so long.

Figure 2

The Controller provides a good conceptual model of its use. The quality of the materials used in the controller, from the enclosure to the different buttons and sticks, are first rate and provides a solid feeling. The curvature given to the top surface plays an important role on the way the face button feels, how everything on the controller’s surface seems handy and easy to reach and at the same time creates a constrain about how the controller should be manipulated. The user can easily interpret that the controller must be grabbed with both hands. Once the controller is grabbed, the natural position of the thumbs will correspond almost exactly with the actual location of the Sticks and Control Buttons. Ergonomics for the triggers buttons perfectly accommodates the index and middle fingers; giving the user the sense of the device as a natural extension, as appreciated on Figure 2. The controller is very comfortable, light and the layout is quite well done. It can be used while standing, it is easy to learn and the presence of two analog stick, several buttons offer a great variety of input possibilities. As of now, though, the majority of virtual environments using the Xbox 360 ® Gamepad as an interaction device allows users to navigate freely, look around and offers a very good degree of interactivity.

In regards to the possible actions that the Xbox 360 ® controller provides and suggest to the user, we can find a quiet good set of affordances: spatial movement, fast triggering, double triggering, multiaction points, up to 6 simultaneous command combinations, among many others.

In terms of usability, regular gamers tend to adapt naturally to this new version of Controller. When the controls are too difficult to learn or use or if they detract from the gaming experience, users will decide not to play the game (Smith, 2006). This effect is sometimes seen in new players or casual users when they have to fight the controls more than the game mechanic and gives up in frustration. However, this symptom is not exclusive for the Xbox 360 ® Controller, but for all video games controllers or interfaces known so far.

A factor that is easily conveyed by users first iteration in modern video games, is the loss of sense of direction that occurs when a player navigates a virtual space with his/hers real-world navigation skills, while being perceptually linked to this world through a display, audio system and a haptic controller interface. The Xbox 360 ® overcomes this phenomenon by allocating the gamepad controller functions according to the human reality standard references. For example, when people play a game, the game pad faces to the ceiling. Hence, it is reasonable to use and easy to deduce that the “up” and “down” keys of the “Cross pad” allows performing inward and outward movements.

Control components are visible and are layout in a way that it is clear to user what actions are possible and what the appropriate way to perform those actions is: move, press, push down, pressure, etc. The Xbox 360 ® Controller provides means of easy identification of interaction elements, so the user is able to perform intuitively. In the other hand, the controller layout provides overall flow needed to accomplish end goal, therefore golfs of execution are easy to map. In terms of gulfs of evaluation, this will be addressed when evaluating the feedback channels provided by the controller. These characteristics go in hand with the Principle of “Knowledge in the World”. This concept refers to information that exists in the world that we don’t need to memorize to utilize. This is evident by the fact that game players do not memorize the button combination. They play intuitively without thinking, watching or calculating their actions over the controller. 

Figure 3

Another interesting characteristic is the presence of signifiers. A signifier, as defined by Norman, is some sort of indicator or signal in the physical or social world that can be interpreted meaningfully (Norman, 2008). These are present in the Xbox Controller via four independent quadrants that lights up according to what controller number must be pressed or hold, as shown in Figure 3. Allowing the user to easily interpret what button and in which direction to press in order to complete the option explained on the screen.

In relation to the feedback mechanisms, the Xbox 360 ® Controller allows for novel way to provide the user with information hard to convey in a subtle visual manner. The Xbox 360 ® controller has two vibration motors that enable it to give haptic feedback in stereo by varying the output of the different motors. For example: the controller vibrates when the player fires his or hers weapon, or when the player is being hit by enemy fire, when the player is near from the edge of a building, falling from high altitude, etc. According the ISO 9241-9 standard about ergonomics requirements for non-keyboard input devices, the Xbox 360 ® Controller complies with the usability aspects shown in Table 1. In other hand, regarding targeting tasks that involves on screen point selection, again the layout and shape of the interaction points allows for an easy mental mapping. Targeting is a common task in video games, and the action can be interpreted in a variety of ways, ranging from shooting on-screen enemies to selecting on-screen menu options.

Usability Aspect	Rating
Force required for actuation	Low
Smoothness during operation	Smooth
Mental effort required for operation	Moderate
Accurate pointing	Moderate
Operation speed	Very Fast
Finger fatigue	Low
Wrist fatigue	None
General Comfort	Confortable

Table 1. Xbox 360 ® ISO 9241-9

The traditional controller scheme locates the analogue stick right below the thumbs, this can interpreted as a forcing function to suggest that one stick could be used for navigation and a second analogue stick for targeting. Normal input generally involves moving/pressing stick or pushing buttons in a certain sequence, or at a certain time, to perform game actions. In regards to the Norman’s 7 Stages of Actions, the Xbox 360 controllers allows for multiple actions and functions. For the purpose of this analysis we will consider a simple interaction with a games setting menu for effects volume control. Having this said, we can determine the following outcome:

Action	Stage	Outcome
Activity	Forming the Goal	The user presses the Menu button. The Volume Settings menu offers an option to lower the effects volume.
Interaction	Forming the Intention	There's a control labeled “Effects”. The user understands that he can use the gamepad controller to manipulate it in some way to reduce the sound effect volume.
	Specifying the Action	“Effects” control looks like a little handle on a horizontal track. The user understands that if he could grab the handle and drag it along the track, the volume will change. The user maps the controller sticks with the available screen functions. The controller stick allows for left/down and right/up movement.
	Executing the Action	The user decides to move the Stick to the left.
Information	Perceiving the State of the World	As the user moves the stick to the left, the handle on the screen moves towards the left. When the user releases the stick the game plays a sample sound effect.
	Interpreting the State of the World	Now the handle is closer to the icon of the smaller speaker and the sample sound seemed to be quieter than the one that was heard during the game, before moving the handle with the controller stick.
	Evaluating the Outcome	The user wanted to turn down the sound effects volume. He continues playing and notice that the volume of sound effects is lower.

Table 2. Norman 7 Stages of Action Analysis

A typical user would move through these stages subconsciously in a couple of seconds, but if he isn't able to smoothly move through each and every one then it can lead to confusion or frustration. The largest hurdle to involvement is the user interface, or how a player interacts with the game. Analyzing usability and adhering to accessibility design principles makes it both possible and practical to develop fun and engaging game user interfaces that a broader range of the population can play. The success for a normal execution will be an appropriate coordination between the controller and the video interface, which as we know is out of the scope of this analysis. 

Finally, the Xbox 360 ® Controller implements a mixture of interlocking and lockout mechanisms for error control and management. The user is unable to perform forbidden operations like playing the game without calibrating the control, navigating away from the screen, etc. Again the feedback channels via the vibration function and the visual clues on the light ring are used to provide memory aid and guidance in case of wrong usage. Normally this error management functions are reinforced by on screen visual clues.

In conclusion, the Xbox 360 ® Controller is an overall very well designed artifact. Its adoption has been considerable having more than 40 million users, with over 70% rate of 5 points of satisfaction (Amazon Reviews, 2010). It is likely that many of the upcoming innovations in gaming will come from new developments in user interface technology. Direct manipulation of user interfaces, context sensitivity, and cross platform titles will all result in new ways to play. Combining these technologies can lead to a new generation of games and experiences that are fun and exciting for a broad user base. If thoughtfully conceived these technologies can lead to added usability and accessibility for systems as well.

Recommendations

The proximity between both triggers and the respective bumper buttons (See Figure 1). These elements are close in distance and aligned at the same depth; both pairs tend to be confused between each other, resulting in a wrong button press. I would suggest giving special shape to these buttons.

Analogue stick targeting is not a good method for performing point-select tasks. Despite this, the method is used in many games that use traditional controllers (Castellucci, 2008). It would be a good idea for future generations of consoles to introduce new controller schemes which would make targeting and point-selection easier (i.e. Wii mote)

Sometimes it is unclear how long to press a specific button. Indicating the estimated pressing time via visual clue would help to fix this issue.

References

Norman, D. (1990). The Design of Everyday Things. New York, NY. Currency and Doubleday.

Eysenck, M. (2007). Fundamentals of Cognition. New York, NY. Psychology Press.

Norman, D. (2008) . Signifiers, Not Affordances. Interactions Archive. XV. Nov., pp. 42-44.

Smith, J. David. (2006). Use of eye movements for video game control. ACE '06: Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology, 20.

Hill, W., Hollan, J. D., Wroblewski. (1992). Edit Wear and Read Wear: Text and Hypertext. Proceedings of the 1992 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '92).

Castellucci, S. J. and MacKenzie. (2008). Text entry using three degrees of motion, Extended Abstracts of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 2008., 3549-3554.

Silfverberg, M., MacKenzie. (2001). An isometric joystick as a pointing device for hand-held information terminals, Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2001. Information Processing Society, 2001, 119-126.

Amazon Reviews. Customers Review for Xbox 360. Web. October 7, 2010.[Online] http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000UQAUWW/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1