Title: An interface for the online visualisation and evaluation of simple textile properties for electronic retailing

Authors: Patrick J. Casteel, Arvin Agah

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. ' Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7621, USA

Abstract: This paper describes an interface for the visualisation and evaluation of simple properties of textiles on the web for online shopping. Previous work in this area has shown that a mere image is not sufficient to accurately represent textiles for electronic retailing. The focus of this paper is on the design, implementation and assessment of an interface that allows users to visualise the physical textile properties of elasticity, smoothness, stiffness and thickness, in order to gain insight into whether or not simple visualisations can accurately represent the actual textiles. The approach consisted of four steps: a previsualisation survey (based on physical interaction with the fabrics), textile property visualisation (using the interface), a visualisation survey (based on the interface) and statistical analysis. Mean values were obtained from the two surveys and compared in order to determine whether the visualised properties using the interface accurately represented the actual physical textile properties of the textiles.

Keywords: online shopping; electronic retailing; textile properties; visualisation; e-shopping; electronic shopping; e-tailing; textiles; textile representation; elasticity; smoothness; stiffness; thickness; textile fabrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2009.025250

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2009 Vol.2 No.4, pp.363 - 377

Published online: 17 May 2009 *

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