Bridging technical and HCI research: Creating usable ubiquitous computing

This paper describes methods used to support collaboration and communication between practitioners, designers and engineers when designing ubiquitous computing systems. We tested methods such as “Wizard of Oz” and design games in a real domain, the dental surgery, in an attempt to create a system that is: affordable; minimally disruptive of the natural flow of work; and improves human-computer interaction. In doing so we found that such activities allowed the practitioners to be on a ‘level playing ground’ with designers and engineers. The findings we present suggest that dentists are willing to engage in detailed exploration and constructive critique of technical design possibilities if the design ideas and prototypes are presented in the context of their work practice and are of a resolution and relevance that allow them to jointly explore and question with the design time. This paper is an extension of a short paper submitted to the Participatory Design Conference, 2004.

Measurement and management of genotype-environment interaction (GxE) for the improvement of rainfed lowland rice yield in Cambodia

The magnitude and nature of genotype-by-environment interactions (G×E) for grain yield (GY) and days to flower (DTF) in Cambodia were examined using a random population of 34 genotypes taken from the Cambodian rice improvement program. These genotypes were evaluated in multi-environment trials (MET) conducted across three years (2000 to 2002) and eight locations in the rainfed lowlands. The G×E interaction was partitioned into components attributed to genotype-by-location (G×L), genotype-by-year (G×Y) and genotype-by-location-by-year (G×L×Y) interactions. The G×L×Y interaction was the largest component of variance for GY. The G×L interaction was also significant and comparable in size to the genotypic component (G). The G×Y interaction was small and non significant. A major factor contributing to the large G×L×Y interactions for GY was the genotypic variation for DTF in combination with environmental variation for the timing and intensity of drought. Some of the interactions for GY associated with timing of plant development and exposure to drought were repeatable across the environments enabling the identification of three-target populations of environments (TPE) for consideration in the breeding program. Four genotypes were selected for wide adaptation in the rainfed lowlands in Cambodia.

Online conference case study: Creating a comfort zone within an emerging community of practice

This paper outlines the context and theoretical basis for the design, implementation and evaluation of an online conference conducted in 2003. The purpose of the conference was to provide postgraduate distance learners with an opportunity to interact with human factors and healthcare professionals, thereby providing them with exposure to this emerging community of practice. The conference was delivered through a WebCT site and stimulated various modes of interaction. The paper discusses the design and format of the conference and details an analysis of the online transcript that shows development of learning communities as “comfort zones” within which the participants could communicate in a common language and atmosphere of understanding over the 2 days that the conference ran.

Creating an authentic aural experience in the digital songlines game engine: Part of a contextualised cultural heritage knowledge toolkit

Digital Songlines is an Australasian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID) project that is developing protocols, methodologies and toolkits to facilitate the collection, education and sharing of indigenous cultural heritage knowledge. The project explores the areas of effective recording, content management and virtual reality delivery capabilities that are culturally sensitive and involve the indigenous custodians, leaders and communities in remote areas of the Australian ‘outback’. It investigates how players in a serious gaming sense can experience Indigenous virtual heritage in a high fidelity fashion with culturally appropriate interface tools. This paper describes a 3D ambient audio quilt designed and implemented specifically for the Digital Songlines software, which is built using the Torque Game Engine. The audio quilt developed provides dynamic ambient fauna and flora sound effects to represent the varying audio environment of the landscape. This provides an authentic contextualised interesting aural experience that can be different each time a location is entered. This paper reports on completed and ongoing research in this area.

Creating and sustaining competitive advantage in collaborative systems:the what and the how

Initially this paper asks two questions: In order to create and sustain competitive advantage through collaborative systems WHAT should be managed? and HOW should it be managed? It introduces the competitive business structure and reviews some of the global trends in manufacturing and business, which leads to focus on manage processes, value propositions and extended business processes. It then goes on to develop a model of the collaborative architecture for extended enterprises and demonstrates the validity of this architecture through a case study. It concludes that, in order to create and sustain competitive advantage, collaborative systems should facilitate the management of: the collaborative architecture of the extended enterprise; the extended business processes and the value proposition for each extended enterprise through a meta level management process. It also identifies areas for further research, such as better understanding of: the exact nature and interaction of multiple strategies within an enterprise; how to manage people/teams working along extended business processes; and the nature and prerequisites of the manage processes.

Creating and managing value in collaborative networks

This is a theoretical paper that examines the interplay between individual and collective capabilities and competencies and value transactions in collaborative environments. The theory behind value creation is examined and two types of value are identified, internal value (Shareholder value) and external value (Value proposition). The literature on collaborative enterprises/network is also examined with particular emphasis on supply chains, extended/virtual enterprises and clusters as representatives of different forms and maturities of collaboration. The interplay of value transactions and competencies and capabilities are examined and discussed in detail. Finally, a model is presented which consists of value transactions and a table which compares the characteristics of different types of collaborative enterprises/networks. It is proposed that this model presents a platform for further research to develop an in-depth understanding into how value may be created and managed in collaborative enterprises/networks.

The interaction between master production scheduling and detailed capacity requirements planning : closing the loop in manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) systems

The widespread implementation of Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) systems in this country and abroad and the reported dissatisfaction with their use formed the initial basis of this piece of research which concentrates on the fundamental theory and design of the Closed Loop MRPII system itself. The dissertation concentrates on two key aspects namely; how Master Production Scheduling is carried out in differing business environments and how well the `closing of the loop' operates by checking the capcity requirements of the different levels of plans within an organisation. The main hypothesis which is tested is that in U.K. manufacturing industry, resource checks are either not being carried out satisfactorily or they are not being fed back to the appropriate plan in a timely fashion. The research methodology employed involved initial detailed investigations into Master Scheduling and capacity planning in eight diverse manufacturing companies. This was followed by a nationwide survey of users in 349 companies, a survey of all the major suppliers of Production Management software in the U.K. and an analysis of the facilities offered by current software packages. The main conclusion which is drawn is that the hypothesis is proved in the majority of companies in that only just over 50% of companies are attempting Resource and Capacity Planning and only 20% are successfully feeding back CRP information to `close the loop'. Various causative factors are put forward and remedies are suggested.

Bringing the High Seas into the Lab to Evaluate Speech Input Feasibility: A Case Study:SiMPE – 5th Workshop on Speech in Mobile and Pervasive Environments (part of ACM MobileHCI’2010)

As mobile technologies continue to penetrate increasingly diverse domains of use, we accordingly need to understand the feasibility of different interaction technologies across such varied domains. This case study describes an investigation into whether speechbased input is a feasible interaction option for use in a complex, and arguably extreme, environment of use – that is, lobster fishing vessels. We reflect on our approaches to bringing the “high seas” into lab environments for this purpose, comparing the results obtained via our lab and our field studies. Our hope is that the work presented here will go some way to enhancing the literature in terms of approaches to bringing complex real-world contexts into lab environments for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of specific interaction technologies.

Are web designers resisting the inclusion of social cues when creating website user interface?

Using the resistance literature as an underpinning theoretical framework, this chapter analyzes how Web designers through their daily practices, (i) adopt recursive, adaptive, and resisting behavior regarding the inclusion of social cues online and (ii) shape the socio-technical power relationship between designers and other stakeholders. Five vignettes in the form of case studies with expert individual Web designers are used. Findings point out at three types of emerging resistance namely: market driven resistance, ideological resistance, and functional resistance. In addition, a series of propositions are provided linking the various themes. Furthermore, the authors suggest that stratification in Web designers’ type is occurring and that resistance offers a novel lens to analyze the debate.

Bringing the High Seas into the Lab to Evaluate Speech Input Feasibility: A Case Study : SiMPE – 5th Workshop on Speech in Mobile and Pervasive Environments (part of ACM MobileHCI’2010)

As mobile technologies continue to penetrate increasingly diverse domains of use, we accordingly need to understand the feasibility of different interaction technologies across such varied domains. This case study describes an investigation into whether speechbased input is a feasible interaction option for use in a complex, and arguably extreme, environment of use – that is, lobster fishing vessels. We reflect on our approaches to bringing the “high seas” into lab environments for this purpose, comparing the results obtained via our lab and our field studies. Our hope is that the work presented here will go some way to enhancing the literature in terms of approaches to bringing complex real-world contexts into lab environments for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of specific interaction technologies.

Adapting workflows to intelligent environments

Intelligent environments aim at supporting the user in executing her everyday tasks, e.g. by guiding her through a maintenance or cooking procedure. This requires a machine processable representation of the tasks for which workflows have proven an efficient means. The increasing number of available sensors in intelligent environments can facilitate the execution of workflows. The sensors can help to recognize when a user has finished a step in the workflow and thus to automatically proceed to the next step. This can heavily reduce the amount of required user interaction. However, manually specifying the conditions for triggering the next step in a workflow is very cumbersome and almost impossible for environments which are not known at design time. In this paper, we present a novel approach for learning and adapting these conditions from observation. We show that the learned conditions can even outperform the quality as conditions manually specified by workflow experts. Thus, the presented approach is very well suited for automatically adapting workflows in intelligent environments and can in that way increase the efficiency of the workflow execution. © 2011 IEEE.

Governance of open content creation:a conceptualization and analysis of control and guiding mechanisms in the open content domain

The open content creation process has proven itself to be a powerful and influential way of developing text-based content, as demonstrated by the success of Wikipedia and related sites. Distributed individuals independently edit, revise, or refine content, thereby creating knowledge artifacts of considerable breadth and quality. Our study explores the mechanisms that control and guide the content creation process and develops an understanding of open content governance. The repertory grid method is employed to systematically capture the experiences of individuals involved in the open content creation process and to determine the relative importance of the diverse control and guiding mechanisms. Our findings illustrate the important control and guiding mechanisms and highlight the multifaceted nature of open content governance. A range of governance mechanisms is discussed with regard to the varied levels of formality, the different loci of authority, and the diverse interaction environments involved. Limitations and opportunities for future research are provided.