Instant Messaging Usability

A continuing study measuring the usability of Instant Messaging (IM) software and developing new features and user interface enhancements

We have developed IM software the captures detailed usage information. We have begun a series of lab experiments with groups of people using IM for a number of different tasks. Research this summer will include continuing these experiments. After appropriate training, this will involve running the experiment with participants. Based on the preliminary results, we have plans for a number of changes to the IM software, including addition of speech recognition as an input and several improvements to the user interface. Studies later in the summer will evaluate these new features.

The ideal person to work on this project this summer would have experience with Tcl/Tk programming to be able to assist with modifying the existing software. Since such modification is the not the primary research task, candidates interested in this project but who do not have Tcl/Tk experience will be considered.