Embracing Less Common Evaluation Strategies for Studying User Experience in NIME

P. J. Charles Reimer, and Marcelo M. Wanderley

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

Assessment of user experience (UX) is increasingly important in music interaction evaluation, as witnessed in previous NIME reviews describing varied and idiosyncratic evaluation strategies. This paper focuses on evaluations conducted in the last four years of NIME (2017 to 2020), compares results to previous research, and classifies evaluation types to describe how researchers approach and study UX in NIME. While results of this review confirm patterns such as the prominence of short-term, performer perspective evaluations, and the variety of evaluation strategies used, they also show that UX-focused evaluations are typically exploratory and limited to novice performers. Overall, these patterns indicate that current UX evaluation strategies do not address dynamic factors such as skill development, the evolution of the performer-instrument relationship, and hedonic and cognitive aspects of UX. To address such limitations, we discuss a number of less common tools developed within and outside of NIME that focus on dynamic aspects of UX, potentially leading to more informative and meaningful evaluation insights.

Citation:

P. J. Charles Reimer, and Marcelo M. Wanderley. 2021. Embracing Less Common Evaluation Strategies for Studying User Experience in NIME. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.21428/92fbeb44.807a000f

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{NIME21_12,
 abstract = {Assessment of user experience (UX) is increasingly important in music interaction evaluation, as witnessed in previous NIME reviews describing varied and idiosyncratic evaluation strategies. This paper focuses on evaluations conducted in the last four years of NIME (2017 to 2020), compares results to previous research, and classifies evaluation types to describe how researchers approach and study UX in NIME. While results of this review confirm patterns such as the prominence of short-term, performer perspective evaluations, and the variety of evaluation strategies used, they also show that UX-focused evaluations are typically exploratory and limited to novice performers. Overall, these patterns indicate that current UX evaluation strategies do not address dynamic factors such as skill development, the evolution of the performer-instrument relationship, and hedonic and cognitive aspects of UX. To address such limitations, we discuss a number of less common tools developed within and outside of NIME that focus on dynamic aspects of UX, potentially leading to more informative and meaningful evaluation insights.},
 address = {Shanghai, China},
 articleno = {12},
 author = {Reimer, P. J. Charles and Wanderley, Marcelo M.},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.21428/92fbeb44.807a000f},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/WTaee8NVtPg},
 title = {Embracing Less Common Evaluation Strategies for Studying User Experience in NIME},
 url = {https://nime.pubpub.org/pub/fidgs435},
 year = {2021}
}