ICAD05-1 THE INTERACTIVE BEHAVIOR TRIAD AND AUDITORY GRAPHS: SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK S. Camille Peres and Michael D. Byrne Rice University, Department of Psychology, Houston, TX USA peres@rice.edu and byrne@rice.edu ABSTRACT Auditory graphs are important tools for the display of information for those with visual impairments and in situations with a reduced opportunity for visual displays. The first annual Auditory Graph Symposium provides an important and unique opportunity for auditory graph researchers and designers to come together and discuss the current state of the field, what we would like to see happen over the next five to ten years, and how we plan on accomplishing these goals. This paper presents a possible framework for organizing and informing this research. The Interactive Behavior Triad (IBT) is a framework for examining, and ultimately predicting, human behavior in interactive environments. The IBT identifies the three elements necessary to predict interactive behavior, specifically, embodied cognition, the task, and the environment associated with the performance of the task by the operator (i.e., the person). When all of these elements of the interactive behavior of using auditory are considered and understood, the community of auditory graph researchers and designers will better be able inform the design and utilization of these important displays. 1. INTRODUCTION The use of sound to display data is not a new phenomenon. For instance, the Geiger counter has been in use since the early 1900’s for measuring radiation. Indeed some work has indicated that the Geiger counter’s auditory display is more effective for measuring radiation than a visual or combined (visual and auditory) display [1]. However, many designers have not considered the auditory display of information for broader use until recently when powerful yet relatively inexpensive technology has made the development of auditory displays more practical. One type of auditory display—the auditory graph—has received a good deal of attention from engineers, designers, as well as auditory, cognitive, and Human-Computer Interaction researchers. The work done by these individuals has created a body of knowledge that is scientifically and practically important with regard to the development of a mature understanding of auditory graphs. Ultimately, a mature and comprehensive understanding of auditory graphs will inform not only the best practices for design and implementation of auditory graphs but could have important theoretical implications as well. A mature and comprehensive understanding of any body of knowledge requires not only the full understanding of the issues and details associated with those issues, but also a clear understanding of how the issues relate to and affect each other. If designers know how different issues regarding auditory graphs relate to and affect each other, but do not have sufficient knowledge regarding the issues themselves, their ability to make accurate predictions is compromised. Conversely, if designers have a thorough understanding of the issues but no clear understanding of how the issues relate to each other, then they may be able to very accurately predict behavior in very specific situations, but not be able to make predictions that generalize to new situations. The position that all aspects of the interactive process of using auditory graphs must be understood is not a novel one and has been mentioned in much of the research on auditory displays and graphs (e.g., [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]). In this paper, we are suggesting a possible framework for organizing these issues associated with auditory graphs. This organizational framework could possibly facilitate the development of the body of work on auditory graphs from a list of issues that need to be addressed to an organized and comprehensive understanding of auditory graphs—both how to design them and when to use them. An understanding of this sort could allow for predictions of how people will performed when utilizing auditory graphs for many different tasks, in many different environments. Previous research designed to characterize and predict behavior with HCI tasks [7, 8, 9, 10] has outlined a framework for examining, and ultimately predicting, human behavior in interactive environments. This framework is called the “Interactive Behavior Triad” (IBT) as it refers to the three elements necessary to predict interactive behavior (Figure 1): 1) embodied cognition, 2) the task, and 3) the environment associated with the performance of the task by the operator (i.e., the person). This paper will first present the IBT and then illustrate how the three components relate to auditory graphs. Then we will present how some of the previous research on auditory graphs fits into this triad. We will list some potential benefits of using the IBT to develop an organizational framework for the study and development of auditory graphs. Finally, we propose a possible mechanism for realizing the use of this framework, specifically a framework that will allow for a systematic method of collaborating between and among the auditory graph researchers, designers, and users. 2. THE INTERACTIVE BEHAVIOR TRIAD Reading and using graphs is essentially an interactive behavior given that successful reasoning based on a graphical representation requires the interaction between the user’s cognitive skills, the graphical representation itself, and the task being done by the user. Thus, it stands to reason that a deeper understanding of the relationship between these three elements will facilitate the design of effective graphs. Under the IBT, the graph would be considered part of the environment, the cognitive skills of the user would be part of the embodied