西 南 交 通 大 学 本科毕业设计(论文)
外 文 翻 译
年 级:2007级 学 号:20075553 姓 名:刘金鑫 专 业:计算机软件 指导老师:凯定吉
2011年6月
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目 录
一、英文原文 ........................................................... 1 INTERACTION AND USABILITY OF SIMULATIONS & ANIMATIONS :A CASE STUDY OF THE FLASH TECHNOLOGY ....................................................... 1
1. Simulations and Animations ....................................................................................... 1 2 Design for Usability ..................................................................................................... 1 3 Why Flash? .................................................................................................................. 2 4 Two similar Projects .................................................................................................... 2
4.1 VMC-Graz ......................................................................................................... 2 4. 2 iVISiCE ............................................................................................................. 3 5 Flash: Pros & Cons ...................................................................................................... 4 6 Lessons learned ............................................................................................................ 5 7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 6 二、中文翻译 ........................................................... 8 关于FLASH技术中模拟动画的互动及可用性研究 ............................. 8
1 模拟和动画 ................................................................................................................ 8 2 设计可行性 ................................................................................................................ 8 3 为什么是Flash? ......................................................................................................... 8 4两个相似的项目 ......................................................................................................... 9
4.1 VMC-Graz ......................................................................................................... 9 4.2 iVISiCE .............................................................................................................. 9 5 FLASH支持者和反对者 .......................................................................................... 10 6吸取的经验教训 ....................................................................................................... 11 7结论 ........................................................................................................................... 12
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一、英文原文
Interaction and Usability of Simulations & Animations :A case study of the Flash Technology
1. Simulations and Animations
Access to complex systems for training is usually limited, risky and costly. According to (Guttormsen-Schär and Krueger, 2000), interactive simulations can demonstrate the conditions of actions and events in the real world and support a constructivist learning approach within Multimedia Learning (Holzinger, 2002a). With simulations, developers attempt to provide a rich environment wherein students can explore freely. This is in close accordance with problem-based learning (PBL), which is of great importance in the area of medical education (Barrows and Tamblyn, 1976). This approach also states that learning needs to be student centered (Motschnig and Holzinger, 2002), which influences the motivation of the students positively (Holzinger, 1997), (Weiss et al., 2002). Such an environment places more initiative and control in the hands of the students and makes several different strategic approaches possible. An optimal combination of information and media features should be aimed at in order to support information acquisition. According to Guttormsen-Schär et al. (2001) a combination of media and information based on their specific characterization is feasible. However, more emphasis must be put on the User Interface (Guttormsen-Schär et al., 1997), (Marcus, 2002), and even more importantly, the needs and demands and requirements of the users (Bevan,1999).
2 Design for Usability
The golden rule of design which (Dix, 2001) repeats again and again is: Understand your materials. As an example Dix suggests taking a metal chair design and building it in plastic (in the same dimension). What would happen? It would possibly break or collapse. Different materials require different designs to achieve the same purpose. In HCI the materials include not only computer hardware, user-interface toolkits, programming languages and tools with which we create interactive software; but also the people who use them – a fact that is often ignored. Thus we need to not only understand the properties of the materials– what is possible and what is not – but we need to also understand the
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properties of the target users – what they can do and what they can not do. The study of human cognition and psychology in HCI is thus an integral part of our struggle to understand the properties of our raw materials (Dix et al., 1998) and thus also a basis for successful interaction design (Preece et al., 2002).
3 Why Flash?
In this study we focused only on simulations & animations which were created by Macromedia Flash MX (Macromedia, 2003). Flash is one of the premiere tools to create content for the internet. Flash files are referred to as movies and are compact in size. The programming of user-dependent interactivity is possible by using the programming language Action Script (Keating, 2002). It was of interest for us, because it is widely available within our university campuses due to it is not expensive and many teachers use it..
4 Two similar Projects
We gathered our experiences out of two similar projects in different fields: Medicine and Civil Engineering. It was interesting to see the common characteristics, advantages and disadvantages regarding the kind of interaction design and usability.
4.1 VMC-Graz
The general objective of the Virtual Medical Campus Graz (http://vmc.uni-graz.at) is the realization of an tailor-made modular multi-medial Information System to make the new curriculum digitally accessible (Holzinger, 2002b). The content is organized in so-called Learning objects (LO). These LOs consist basically of four parts: preknowledge questions, the material itself, selfassessment questions and the relating metadata (Holzinger et al., 2001). Because in this concept the metadata are an essential part to serve as a basis for international education, we entitle our LOs as Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). The material of a LO can consist of almost every imaginable type of content - from simple text right up to interactive simulations & animations. Amongst one of many tools (e.g. Visual Basic, Sun JDK, Macromedia Director etc.) we used Macromedia Flash for the production of simulations & animations and concentrated on multimedia design (Sutcliffe, 2002).
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4. 2 iVISiCE
The project iVISiCE (http://ivisice.tugraz.at) was started in November 2001 to assist the lecture Structural Concrete of the Institute of Structural Concrete (IBB) of the University of Technology of Graz (Ebner and Holzinger, 2002). The course has been supported by the course management system Hyperwave eLearning Suite, which is based on the Hyperwave technology (Maurer, 1996). Within the project a large number of simulations & animations have been created by using Flash (fig. 1).
Figure 1: Interactive Animation: Altering parameters makes the effects immediately
visible.
Most of these learning objects are interactive, thus we call them Interactive Learning Objects (ILO). One such ILO consists of three major parts: an advanced organizer, the learning material and a problem. The advanced organizer is intended to provide information for the students, to scaffold their learning processes and to support them in navigation through the ILO effectively. Essential is that the students have to solve a problem. Another part of such an ILO is communication. Furthermore,specific discussion forums on the topic of the ILO's support the students. Finally there is always a small examination. Thus the major facts of the ILO have been proven and repeated. The students
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can check their knowledge by themselves, simliar to the selfassessment questions in the VMC-Graz.
5 Flash: Pros & Cons
Some advantages of Flash include:
Scalability. Vector graphics serve the main function of making it possible to zoom in or out on any given image - a feature that is an additional benefit for the animation process and was not possible on the Web before Flash.
Independence from a specific operating system (only a conventional browser and the free plug-in are needed).
Scalability. Vector graphics serve the main function of making it possible to zoom in or out on any given image - a feature that is an additional benefit for the animation process and was not possible on the Web before Flash.
Consistency. A tool programmed with Flash looks practically the same in every browser and on every operating system.
Integration of sound made easy via the MP3 format (necessary for some learning objects, e.g. for the simulation of the intensity of a radioactive source etc.).
Small files, because parts of the tool run on the client side, the vector-based technology, the reuse of the same objects and the embedded MP3-files.
High quality graphics, due to the vector-based technology.
Small plug-in required (250 kB), free of charge and widely used (on most computers the plug-in is already installed).
Some disadvantages of Flash include:
Obligatory browser-plug-in is often disliked by the users because of the monopoly position of the
producer.
Misusage of the various possibilities of Flash leads often to “colorful graphic displays”. Search engines can hardly find Flash-content (This problem was solved in the VMC-Graz by using consistently separate learning object metadata (LOM).
Action Script, the programming language, was indispensable to provide user-dependent simulations
& interactions of models on-demand. The handling of action script needs some experience.
Modification of the content is indeed very cumbersome. Mostly the creator of such an animation becomes indispensable, because of complex programming structure when using Action Scripts elements. We encountered exactly this as the most prevalent disadvantage of the Flash approach.
Divergence from the known objects of the Internet. Flash-Objects look different than for example Java-Script.
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6 Lessons learned
In both projects we used several inspection methods including thinking-aloud studies, field observations and questionnaires (Nielsen and Mack, 1994), (Rubin, 1994), (Carroll and Rosson, 2001)) with several students using different Flash-Objects.
The objective was to find commonalities within our different projects, allowing us to determine the presented in this paper.
Support goal-orientation: Users usually have a goal in mind when using a Learning Object. Each click must meet their expectations and lead them toward their goal. Thus, the key navigation links must appear first. It must be obvious to the students how to use the Learning Objects.
Consistency is a must. Emulating commonly known windows elements increases usability. Users
do not like having a different look-and-feel. Using an inconsistent representation might result in a
stimulus conflict for the learner (Weiss et al., 2002).
Provide Logical Navigation: Keep the user oriented, they want to know where they are and where they can go at all times. Users like to have an easy exit and an easy return to their starting point. They appreciated most being able to stop the animations and to start them again when they understand the topic.
Provide extensive help: Our users, especially in medicine, were neither experts in Computing nor experts in their domain. As novices they need help and they want a comprehensive and easy to understand introduction similar to an advanced organizer (fig. 2):
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Figure 2: One outcome of our usability tests: An advanced interactive organizer provides
information about what the users can expect.
Include Users in the Design. Unfortunately, exactly this is often neglected. Professors often think that they know best what poses problems for their students. From the viewpoint of Usability and HCI it is essential to bring in the end-users as early as possible in the design phase.
Test for Usability. It is astonishing what came up from untested Learning Objects. Usability testing must never be ignored.
7 Conclusion
The version of Flash introduced in 2002 (Flash MX) has solved many of the usability problems in previous versions of Flash. The standard set of interaction controls is now appropriate. Among other things, Flash now supports the use of the backbutton, which most of the users want to use. We could see within our projects that programmers or content developers think and behave differently than the standard user. The standard user in the area of medicine still has a relatively low level of computerliteracy, wants simplicity and success and accepts less control, compared to the students of civil engineering. Although not a topic within this study we saw that simulations & animations can help clarify abstract relationships, in both areas of medicine and civil engineering, that might otherwise be difficult to understand and learn. Often it isn't possible to explain complex connections in just a few words or with one drawing, but a dynamic simulation can easily display such models. However, though it may seem obvious, it can not be emphasized
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enough - Every programmer or content developer should first consider which users will be using the software and thus incorporate a proper usability strategy. If not familiar, it is best to consult the Usability or HCI-Expert as early as possible.
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二、中文翻译
关于FLASH技术中模拟动画的互动及可用性研究
1 模拟和动画
进入复杂的系统培训,通常有限,有风险和代价高昂的。根据(Guttormsen-Schär和Krueger,2000)的研究,交互式的模拟可以表现动作的环境和真实世界中的事件,并且构建一种多媒体媒介的学习方法(Holzinger, 2002a).。随着模拟的进行,开发人员试图提供一个丰富的环境,学生可以在其中自由地探索。这是和问题导向(PGL)密切相关的,这种教育方式在医疗领域具有重要意义教育(巴罗斯和坦布林,1976)。这种学习方法要求学生需要有目的的学习(Motschnig和Holzinger,2002年),通过这种方式来影响学生的积极性(Holzinger,1997年),(魏斯等。,2002)。在这样的学习环境中学生更加的主动使多种教育方针成为可能。这种最佳的信息和媒体合并方式应该注重信息的获得,据Guttormsen- Schar等(2001)。媒体和信息的组合根据其具体特征是可行的。然后,更多的重心应该放在用户接口上面。(Guttormsen- Schar等。,,(马库斯2002年),最后最重要的是满足用户的需求(贝文,1999)。 1997)
2 设计可行性
(Dix, 2001)强调过一遍又一遍的设计的铁则是:理解你的素材。Dix举过这样一个例子,拿一个合金椅子的设计却用塑料去当材料,会发生什么呢?它很可能折断或则崩溃。不同的材料需要不同的设计才能达到同样的效果。而人机交互的材料不仅包括电脑,硬件,用户界面工具包,编程语言和我们制作交互软件的工具,还有使用这些工具的人,这一点经常被我们忽视。这需要我们不仅要理解各种材料的特性既什么是可能的什么是不可能,还要去了解目标用户的性质—他们能做什么,不能做什么。研究人类的认知与心理的人机交互,于是变成了我们了解自身原材料的属性的斗争的一个组成部分(迪克斯人,,同时也是成为成功交互设计的基础(普里斯 et al。1998 年)。 2002年)
3 为什么是Flash?
在这项研究中我们只注重模拟科技由利器 Flash MX创建的动画。(利器,2003年)。Flash 是用来来创建互联网的内容的最早的工具之一。Flash 文件被称为电影,体积小。用户的交互编程可能依赖于通过使用编程语言操作脚本(基廷,2002年)。
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它的确让我们感兴趣,因为由于它的价格不贵,在大学校园里可以广泛的获得,并且有许多教师使用它。
4两个相似的项目
我们积累了在不同领域两个类似的项目的经验: 医学与土木工程。看到常见的特点、 优势及交互设计和可用性方面的缺点,这的确很有意思。
4.1 VMC-Graz
虚拟的医疗校园格拉茨 (http://vmc.uni-graz.at) 的总体目标是,为新课程数字访问的实现而建立的度身订造的、 模块化的、多媒体的信息系统。(2002b 霍尔茨英格尔)这些课程的内容被集中在称为(LQ)的学习工具中,而LQ有四个方面的要求:事先了解问题,素材本身,自行评估问题和相关的元数据(2001 霍尔茨英格尔)。因为在这个概念中元数据是构成网络教育基础的重要要素,我们称我们的(LQ)为可以重复使用的学习工具。LQ的材料可以构成你能够想象到的所有类型的内容,从简单的课本转换成互动模拟动画。在Visual Basic, JDK, Macromedia Director等众多工具中我们选择Macromedia FLASH作为制作模拟动画的工具并且集中于多媒体的设计(萨特克利夫,2002)。
4.2 iVISiCE
该项目iVISiCE(http://ivisice.tugraz.at)从2001年11月开始用于协助格拉茨大学建筑学院(IBB)的混凝土结构技术讲座(埃布纳和Holzinger,2002)。本课程基于Hyperwave电子学习套件的课程管理系统,这是基于Hyperwave技术的(毛雷尔,。项目中大量的模拟与动画使用Flash(图1)创建。 1996)
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图1:交互式动画:改变参数使得效果立即可见。
大多数的这类学习软件都是互动的,所以我们称他们为交互式学习软件(ILQ)。一个交互式学习软件有三个主要方面构成:先进的组织者,学习材料和问题。这个先进的组织者意在为学生提供信息,来搭建他们的学习流程并使他们能够有效的使用ILQ完成这一流程。ILQ的另外一个重要方面是沟通。此外ILQ还为学生提供一个用于交流的主版块。最后,总是有一个小测试。因此,ILQ的主要作用被证实和重用,学生可以检测他们学习到的知识和使用VMC-Graz的工具一样。
5 FLASH支持者和反对者
FLASH的优点包括:
可伸缩性:矢量图形服务主函数使它能够放大或缩小任意给定的图像,这是图形动画中新加入的功能在以前的WEB FLASH版本中并没有这个功能。并且独立于特定的操作系统 (只是需要一个常规的浏览器和免费插件)。
一致性:一个被Flash编辑的工具和每个浏览器,每个操作系统看起来都是一样的。
集成的声音更加轻松通过MP3 格式完成(对于一些学习对象,例如强度等的放射性源的仿真有必要)。小文件,因为该工具的部件运行客户端, 基于矢量技术, 重复使用相同的对象和嵌入的 MP3 文件。高质量的画面,基于矢量的技术。需要 (250
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kB),免费,并广泛使用 的小插件(在大多数计算机已安装的插件是小插件)。 Flash 的缺点包括:
由于的生产商的垄断地位,用户都往往喜欢浏览器不强制的插件。
Flash 的多种可能性的误区导致经常将彩色图形显示。搜索引擎中很难找到 Flash 内容 (这个问题是在病毒性心肌炎格拉茨通过使用始终单独学习对象元数据 (LOM)来解决的)。操作脚本,编程语言中,在用户的模拟科技需求模型的交互提供不可或缺的。一些操作脚本处理需要经验。
修改内容的确是很麻烦的。大多数情况下,这类动画的创建者成为不可或缺的,因为当使用操作脚本元素时编程结构是很复杂的。我们遇到这个问题是作为闪存的方法最流行的缺点。从互联网的已知对象而来的分歧。Flash 对象看起来不同,例如 Java 脚本。
6吸取的经验教训
在这两个项目中我们使用了多方面的方法包括理论研究,现场观察和问卷调查(尼尔森和麦克,1994年),(鲁宾,1994年),(卡罗尔和罗森,2001年)研究几千名使用FLASH学习软件的学生。旨在找出这两个不同项目当中的共性,通过本文允许我们确定通用的设计方案。
支持确定目标:学生在使用学习软件是都会有一个确定的目标,每一个按键需要和他们的期望相互适应并且知道他们朝着自己的目标前进。因此,关键的导航链接必须先出现。它必须显而易见的指导学生如何使用学习软件。
一致性是必须的:一般来说模仿已知的Windows元素可以增加可用性。学生并不喜欢另外的设计风格,使用不一致的设计可能会导致学习者对于软件的反感(魏斯等。,2002)。
提供逻辑导航:保持用户导向,他们总是希望知道他们正在使用什么,并且还能够使用什么。他们喜欢能够方便的退出和开始使用软件。他们希望可以随时暂停软件的使用并且在他们理解了这段主题后可以轻松的回到他们暂停的地方。
提供广泛的帮助:我们的用户,尤其是医药专业的学生。既不是电脑专家也不是本专业的专家。作为新手,他们需要全面的帮助并且类似图2一样的指导能够帮助他们理解。
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图2:我们的一个可用性测试的结果:一个学习软件提供先进的交互式信息以及
哪些是用户可以期望得到的。
设计要考虑到用户:不幸的是这一点是经常被忽略的。教授们常常觉得他们最清楚什么是学生遇到的主要问题。通过这些可以看出软件可用性和人机交互功能作为对最终用户非常重要的一点必须在设计的初期尽可能早的提出。
可用性的测试:从未测试的用户中得出的惊人结论是,可用性测试绝对不能忽视。
7结论
2002版的flash解决了之前版本flash很多不稳定问题。交互式控制的标准台已经完善。在其他方面,flash现在支持很多用户都想使用的后退键的使用。可以看出在我们的项目里,程序师或目录发者的思考和行为方式与标准用户是不同的。与土木工程的学生比起来,在医学领域的标准用户任具有相对低的电脑水品,缺乏简易与成功,并接受较少的约束。尽管不是这一研究的一个主题,但可以看出模仿和激励可以阐明在医学和土木工程领域的一些比较难以理解和学习的抽象关系,一般情况下,想用几句话轻描淡写地解释复杂的联系是不可能的,但生动的模仿可以轻易演示这种模型。然而,尽管看起来明显,但它依旧得不到充分的重视——每一个程序师或目录开发者都应该首先考虑什么样的用户会使用该软件,从而制定一个合适的策略。如果对之不熟悉,最好尽快查询Usability或者HCl-Expert.
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