Autodesk Research

Learning

The Learning project aims to investigate advanced techniques for assisting users in learning complicated applications. We are interested in a range of investigations from the scientific study of the human learning process to prototyping novel interaction techniques for improving the general learning mechanisms that can be applied to all applications.

One of our main observations is that the fundamental application provided learning mechanism, the "help system", has not changed much in the last 10 years or so. However, our computing environment has undergone significant changes such as:

  • Widespread Internet usage
  • Google searching (and indexing of vast quantities of information)
  • Cheap video streaming (e.g., YouTube)
  • Larger and higher resolution displays
  • CPU/GPU speed improvements
  • Online communities

The Learning project will focus on a variety of research questions such as:

  • Can we improve the way people learn complicated applications?
  • Can we provide ways of capturing expert workflows and share them with colleagues by visualizing the workflows within an application?
  • Are there ways of intelligently recommending contextually-based learning material to users based on analyzing CIP data (time-stamped command histories) reported by thousands of users and comparing that to a user's own command history?
  • Can we visualize and detect patterns of command usage and command sequencing to help inform interface design?

Related Projects

CommunityCommands

CommunityCommands

Amazon recommends books to its users. Netflix recommends movies. With CommunityCommands, Autodesk will recommend command functionality to its users. CommunityCommands collects usage data from thousands of Autodesk users, through the Customer Involvement Program (CIP), and then generates personalized command recommendations using newly developed algorithms. CommunityCommands will expose users to the critical commands which they should be using, but are not aware of, accelerating the learning process.

ToolClips

ToolClips

One of the main learnability challenges associated with complex software applications is learning to use the tools which the application provides. Advancements in the technologies that we use provide new opportunities to provide the necessary assistance. In particular, video assistance has become widespread. However, such assistance is generally in the form of long video tutorials, accessed externally from the software application. With the ToolClips project, we augment traditional tooltips with videos, giving users rapid, contextual, and within-application access video clips, to help understand how to use the associated tools. Our research on ToolClips has been published and is also being transferred into Autodesk products.

Visualization

Visualization

With the Visualization project we take large datasets and create graphics to present the information in way which allows us to examine the data and look for interesting trends. Much of the data comes from the Autodesk Customer Involvement Program (CIP) which collects anonymous usage data from Autodesk products. By visualizing this data we hope to detect patterns in product usage which we can use to inform product direction and interface design.

Chronicle

Chronicle

The Chronicle Research Project is exploring a new type of system that will allow users to easily share and learn from software workflows. The Chronicle system records the timing and details of workflow information – the mouse clicks and typing, the tool and settings being used, along with a continuous screen capture. We associate all of this captured information with the application’s data file – so every document can also have an automatically generated “making of” video.

Recent Publications

TutorialPlan: Automated Tutorial Generation from CAD Drawings

Wei Li, Yuanlin Zhang & George Fitzmaurice. (2013 - In Press).
TutorialPlan: Automated Tutorial Generation from CAD Drawings
IJCAI 2013 Conference Proceedings:
International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
8 pages.

Details

The Effect of Time-based Cost of Error in Target-directed Pointing Tasks

Nikola Banovic, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2013).
The Effect of Time-based Cost of Error in Target-directed Pointing Tasks
CHI 2013 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 1373-1382.

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Delta: A Tool for Representing and Comparing Workflows

Nicholas Kong, Tovi Grossman, Björn Hartmann, George Fitzmaurice & Maneesh Agrawala. (2012).
Delta: A Tool for Representing and Comparing Workflows
CHI 2012 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
10 pages.

Download PDF | Watch Video | Details

Triggering Triggers and Burying Barriers to Customizing Software

Nikola Banovic, Fanny Chevalier, George Fitzmaurice & Tovi Grossman. (2012).
Triggering Triggers and Burying Barriers to Customizing Software
CHI 2012 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
10 pages.

Download PDF | Watch Video | Details

Citeology: Visualizing Paper Genealogy

Justin Matejka, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2012).
Citeology: Visualizing Paper Genealogy
Extended Abstracts (alt.chi): Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
January 2012.
9 pages.

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IP-QAT: In-Product Questions, Answers & Tips

Justin Matejka, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
IP-QAT: In-Product Questions, Answers & Tips
UIST 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 175-184.

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Searching for Software Learning Resources using Application Context

Michael Ekstrand, Wei Li, Tovi Grossman, Justin Matejka & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Searching for Software Learning Resources using Application Context
UIST 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 195-204.

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Sketch-Sketch Revolution: An Engaging Tutorial System for Guided Sketching and Application Learning

Jennifer Fernquist, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Sketch-Sketch Revolution: An Engaging Tutorial System for Guided Sketching and Application Learning
UIST 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 373-382.

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TwitApp: In-product Micro-Blogging for Design Sharing

Wei Li, Tovi Grossman, Justin Matejka & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
TwitApp: In-product Micro-Blogging for Design Sharing
UIST 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 185-194.

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Design and Evaluation of a Command Recommendation System for Software Applications.

Wei Li, Justin Matejka, Tovi Grossman, Joe Konstan & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Design and Evaluation of a Command Recommendation System for Software Applications.
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction.
June 2011, Volume 18, Issue 2, Article 6.
38 pages.

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AppMap: Exploring User Interface Visualizations

Michael Rooke, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
AppMap: Exploring User Interface Visualizations
GI 2011 Conference Proceedings:
Graphics Interface Conference.
8 pages.

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Ambient Help

Justin Matejka, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Ambient Help
CHI 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 2751-2760.

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Modern Software Product Support Processes and the Usage of Multimedia Formats

Parmit Chilana, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Modern Software Product Support Processes and the Usage of Multimedia Formats
CHI 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 3093-3102.

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Post-Deployment Usability: A Survey of Current Practices

Parmit Chilana, Andrew Ko, Jacob Wobbrock, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2011).
Post-Deployment Usability: A Survey of Current Practices
CHI 2011 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 2243-2246.

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Chronicle: Capture, Exploration, and Playback of Document Workflow Histories

Tovi Grossman, Justin Matejka & George Fitzmaurice. (2010).
Chronicle: Capture, Exploration, and Playback of Document Workflow Histories
UIST 2010 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 143 - 152.

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ToolClips: An investigation of contextual video assistance for functionality understanding

Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2010).
ToolClips: An investigation of contextual video assistance for functionality understanding
CHI 2010 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 1515-1524.

Best paper award nominee

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CommunityCommands: Command Recommendations for Software Applications

Justin Matejka, Wei Li, Tovi Grossman & George Fitzmaurice. (2009).
CommunityCommands: Command Recommendations for Software Applications
UIST 2009 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology.
pp. 193-202.

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A Survey of Software Learnability: Metrics, Methodologies and Guidelines

Tovi Grossman, George Fitzmaurice & Ramtin Attar. (2009).
A Survey of Software Learnability: Metrics, Methodologies and Guidelines
CHI 2009 Conference Proceedings:
ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
pp. 649-658.

Best paper award nominee

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