The IFIP Working Group (WG) 2.7/13.4 on User Interface Engineering aims at advancing the state of the art in all aspects of designing, developing and evaluating interactive computing systems with a particular focus on principled, methodological engineering approaches. The scope of investigation comprises, among others, methods and tools for modelling, prototyping, developing and evaluating user interfaces (UI), quality models for interactive systems, and new interface technologies suitable to improve user interaction.
The WG understands UI Engineering as the creation and application of scientific knowledge and systematic, structured design and development methods to predictably and reliably improve the consistency, usability, scalability, economy and dependability of practical problem solutions. UI Engineering addresses all aspects related to methods, processes, tools, technologies, and empirical studies involved in the invention, design and construction of interactive systems. The techniques addressed concern all types of applications, for example, business applications, social media, smart environments, medical devices, automotive and aeronautics applications, and others. Of particular interest are innovative and emerging UI techniques, comprising, among others, topics such as:
- multimodal user interfaces including gesture, voice, body motion and other modes of interaction such as brain computer interaction,
- context-adaptive and personalized interactive systems,
- cross-device interaction,
- mobile and pervasive systems,
- wearable and physiological interfaces,
- safety-critical systems and infrastructures,
- new hardware and software architectures for interactive systems,
- creativity support tools,
- daily-life applications such as persuasive technologies for sustainable user changes.
The Working Group brings together researchers and practitioners from all fields concerned with the engineering of interactive systems to exchange their knowledge and to foster collaborations on dedicated research topics. The WG’s work mode comprises regular working meetings and dedicated projects that are carried out both in meetings and through online collaboration. An important objective is also to transfer UI engineering knowledge to a broader audience of system designers and developers. The WG supports this by publications as well as through conference events. Since 2009, the WG is a major supporting organization of the yearly ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS). Interested researchers are welcome to participate in the WG as observers and may become members in case of their continued interest and contribution to WG activities.