Yue Pan & Erik StoltermanIndiana University Bloomington, IN, USA

{panyue, estolter}@indiana.edu

Pattern Language and HCI: Experiences and Expectations

Pattern Language in Architecture Design

Pattern Language in Architecture Design

Pattern Language• Problem• Context• Forces• Solution

Pattern Language in Interaction Design

Pattern Language in Social Studies

Pattern Language in Ubiquitous Computing

Pattern Language in Ethnography Research

research question1:why has Pattern Language as an object of study created such enthusiasm and interest over the years?

research question2:why has Pattern Language as a tool not been more widespread and successful?

Interviews

interview

We sent email to 24 PL experts.

14 experts replied.

Interviews were conducted by email or Skype.

4 experts are working for industry.

10 experts are working for academia. PL experts

interview

Interview questions:

1. People’s initial engagement with PL;

2. Rewards and Challenges of developing PL;

3. Why PL not been more successful;

4. Future of PL in HCI field.

Findings

Challenges of Developing PL—Demand Extensive Efforts

R3: “First of all, IT IS AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF WORK!!! First you harvest ideas for potential patterns, then you seek the evidence (examples where it was used), and then you start writing the first draft, then iterate and publish. Do that 100+ times and it will cost you more than a year of your life!”

Challenges of Developing PL—Applying PL in Real World

R3: “I think there is one area where the PL research is still weak and that is the area of evidence in patterns. Most patterns, including mine, use 'common sense' to argue that they are good solutions. It would be good to do more research and see to what extend they really work.”

R10: “In contrast, computer scientists and programmers in particular are very comfortable with formalizations. So its no surprise that patterns has had success in programming where you have things like UML.”

“Designers on the other hand resist formalizations, particularly descriptive ones rather than generative or process-oriented ones like design methods.”

Challenges of Developing PL—Formalization

Insight:PL is NOT easy to use.

Pattern LanguageAdvantages of Using PL—Education

R8: “As part of teacher I do. I use Jennifer Tidwell’s book in my course ‘Interacting Form’ to teach graphic students.”

Advantages of Using PL—Representing Knowledge

R3: “Patterns could be a great way to capture design solutions and link it to characteristics of the task, user or any other part of the context of use. And so I started writing my first patterns, trying to find out how I could use the pattern 'format' to capture design knowledge.”

Pattern LanguageAdvantages of Using PL—Design Thinking

R2: “(PL) Help people perceive the world. PL opens up people’s perceptions and awareness that people may not realize.”

“Creating PL is also interesting. Start from nothing, observation, synthesis something and bring it into very clear. ”

Insight:Use PL to inform design thinking.

PL Expectations and Future—Creating PL rather than Patterns

R1: “One sort of weakness in design patterns, especially if it is done by multiple distributed people in a bottom-up fashion, is a lack of a coherent pattern language.”

Insight:

Develop PL rather than patterns.

PL Expectations and Future—More Evaluation

R6: “More research examining the practicalities of using PLs within actual design processes, ethnographic and empirical studies are needed.”

Insight:

Evaluate PL in a real design setting.

Discussion

Pattern LanguageDiscussion

We study and evaluate PL as

1. A tool and methodological approach to learn about other methods and tools in general.

2. A catalyst to understand problems, solutions, values within design and research process.

Design Methods Research @IU

Yue Pan & Erik Stolterman

Indiana University, USA

{panyue, estolter}@indiana.edu

NSF

Thanks!