User interface design for situation-aware decision support systems

Information recall about general situations incurs memory and cognitive loads on operators. Recognition of information for specific situations identified with users´ context and the state of the world is helpful to operators in performing tasks in complex environments. The emergence of ubiquitous, ambient, and pervasive technologies is increasingly providing methods to help operators to perform their tasks in smart and intelligent ways. Existing user interface design does not solve the problem of drawing together the information required for situation-aware decision support systems in a way that minimises cognitive load. This paper discusses a framework for user interface design of situation-aware systems that exploit inputs from users and the environment to provide information tailored to the user´s tasks in specific situations. The user interface can reconfigure automatically in order to adapt to the current situation. The adaptation of the user interface to the current situation and the presentation of a reusable sequence of tasks in the situation reduces memory loads on operators. Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) is used to describe tasks for various types of situations. HTA is supplemented with scenarios to stimulate design ideas and requirements analysis is used to represent interrelationships between tasks.