DEliverable 2.3 - the School of Engineering and Design - Brunel ...

ICT Project 3D VIVANT– Deliverable 2.3
Contract no.:
248420
User Acceptance Validation Plan
• Service acceptance – As the hyperlinking of single moving objects in a videostream is a new
video service scenario, the general acceptance of such a service by users has to be validated. The
acceptance issues to be considered will include: did the end-users understand the concept of the
service, did it fulfil their expectations, could they imagine using it, would they recommend it to
their friends, what are the perceived benefits, what did they like/dislike about it, etc.
4.2.2 Search and Retrieval Framework
Another functionality that the 3D VIVANT system will support is the retrieval of objects similar to
samples given by users. This functionality is expected to be used by professional rather than by endusers.
Professional users will want to exploit this functionality, especially during 3D scene
composition, when they want to change the scene and replace certain objects with similar ones. It
might be interesting for end-users to use this functionality to surf through or retrieve content from 3D
holoscopic content databases. However, in the course of the project we can consider this technology
as well as the availability of 3D holoscopic content as exclusive to professional users.
In 3D VIVANT, validation tests will be conducted only with professional users to consider
acceptance and usability issues with respect to functionality, performance and user friendliness
aspects. More precisely these are as follows:
• Functionality – In this case, testing aims to validate user acceptance pertaining to whether the
architecture meets user expectations in terms of functionality. It associates with the completeness
that the system offers regarding the defined and implemented functions. It is focused on aspects,
such as the supported content types (e.g., video, picture, 3D, 2D), search methods and metadata
storage procedures, without emphasising on whether these features are fast, reliable, friendly to
the user, etc.
• Performance – Validation testing will also consider the performance of the different functional
modules in terms of retrieval accuracy, processing power requirements, storage capacity
requirements and corresponding response latency. Retrieval accuracy is the core indicator of the
performance of any search engine as it can provide strong evidence about its actual usefulness
and effectiveness. Retrieval accuracy reveals the capability of a search engine to discriminate
between relevant and irrelevant objects with respect to the query and to present only the most
relevant objects. However, it is important that a search engine not only is effective, but efficient
as well. Resources are usually limited and, therefore, processing power and storage requirements
are critical parameters so that a search and retrieval framework may be applied in practice and
exploited by end-users. Finally, a positive decision to accept a search and retrieval framework
also depends on the time required to perform a retrieval request. In case that the user searches in
small multimedia databases, time is not a critical parameter. However, as multimedia databases
tend to grow exponentially, it becomes obvious that fast processing and system response get more
and more significant.
• User friendliness – Apart from the aforementioned characteristics, which refer mainly to the
technical aspects of the search and retrieval framework, validation tests will also investigate the
user friendliness and usability of the user interface allowing the searching of holoscopic content.
These tests will be performed in the context of the general acceptance tests regarding the user
interface of the 3D VIVANT system.
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