Designing online usability strategies for multicultural Australia

The research found that multicultural societies need to acknowledge the importance of online usability as a social justice, access and equity issue. For effective usability, government public access websites need to be informed by the language and cultural needs of the diverse target groups, best realised through a user-centred design methodology. Utilising the thesis' research an accompanying website "The women of Scylla : a digital odyssey" was designed and included via the enclosed CD-ROM.

Multidimensional evaluation framework for virtual environment efficacy assessment

This research is related to the user-centred design and use of Virtual Environment (VE) training systems. A multidimensional user-centred systematic training evaluation framework that combines ideas from human-computer interaction, training, education and psychology was proposed, which contributes to better design and evaluation of VE user interfaces.

Human performance measures for interactive haptic-audio-visual interfaces

Virtual reality and simulation are becoming increasingly important in modern society and it is essential to improve our understanding of system usability and efficacy from the users’ perspective. This paper introduces a novel evaluation method designed to assess human user capability when undertaking technical and procedural training using virtual training systems. The evaluation method falls under the user-centred design and evaluation paradigm and draws on theories of cognitive, skillbased and affective learning outcomes. The method focuses on user interaction with haptic-audio-visual interfaces and the complexities related to variability in users’ performance, and the adoption and acceptance of the technologies. A large scale user study focusing on object assembly training tasks involving selecting, rotating, releasing, inserting and manipulating 3D objects was performed. The study demonstrated the advantages of the method in obtaining valuable multimodal information for accurate and comprehensive evaluation of virtual training system efficacy. The study investigated how well users learn, perform, adapt to and perceive the virtual training. The results of the study revealed valuable aspects of the design and evaluation of virtual training systems contributing to an improved understanding of more usable virtual training systems.

Optimising safety, fidelity and usability of an Intelligent Clinical Support Tool (ICST) for acute hospital care: an Australian case Study using a multi-method Delphi process

This research focuses on a major health priority for Australia by addressing existing gaps in the implementation of nursing informatics solutions in healthcare. It serves to inform the successful deployment of IT solutions designed to support patient-centered, frontline acute healthcare delivery by multidisciplinary care teams. The outcomes can guide future evaluations of the contribution of IT solutions to the efficiency, safety and quality of care delivery in acute hospital settings.

Simulatore di interfaccia uomo-macchina per i controllo di UAV

Recent statistics have demonstrated that two of the most important causes of failures of the UAVs (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle) missions are related to the low level of decisional autonomy of vehicles and to the man machine interface. Therefore, a relevant issue is to design a display/controls architecture which allows the efficient interaction between the operator and the remote vehicle and to develop a level of automation which allows the vehicle the decision about change in mission. The research presented in this paper focuses on a modular man-machine interface simulator for the UAV control, which simulates UAV missions, developed to experiment solution to this problem. The main components of the simulator are an advanced interface and a block defined automation, which comprehend an algorithm that implements the level of automation of the system. The simulator has been designed and developed following a user-centred design approach in order to take into account the operator’s needs in the communication with the vehicle. The level of automation has been developed following the supervisory control theory which says that the human became a supervisor who sends high level commands, such as part of mission, target, constraints, in then-rule, while the vehicle receives, comprehends and translates such commands into detailed action such as routes or action on the control system. In order to allow the vehicle to calculate and recalculate the safe and efficient route, in term of distance, time and fuel a 3D planning algorithm has been developed. It is based on considering UASs representative of real world systems as objects moving in a virtual environment (terrain, obstacles, and no fly zones) which replicates the airspace. Original obstacle avoidance strategies have been conceived in order to generate mission planes which are consistent with flight rules and with the vehicle performance constraints. The interface is based on a touch screen, used to send high level commands to the vehicle, and a 3D Virtual Display which provides a stereoscopic and augmented visualization of the complex scenario in which the vehicle operates. Furthermore, it is provided with an audio feedback message generator. Simulation tests have been conducted with pilot trainers to evaluate the reliability of the algorithm and the effectiveness and efficiency of the interface in supporting the operator in the supervision of an UAV mission. Results have revealed that the planning algorithm calculate very efficient routes in few seconds, an adequate level of workload is required to command the vehicle and that the 3D based interface provides the operator with a good sense of presence and enhances his awareness of the mission scenario and of the vehicle under his control.

Usability Planner: A Tool to Support the Process of Selecting Usability Methods

There is increasing pressure on developers to produce usable systems, which requires the use of appropriate methods to support user centred design during development. There is currently no consistent advice on which methods are appropriate in which circumstances, so the selection of methods relies on individual experience and expertise. Considerable effort is required to collate information from various sources and to understand the applicability of each method in a particular situation. Usability Planner is a tool aimed to support the selection of the most appropriate methods depending on project and organizational constraints. Many of the rules employed are derived from ISO standards, complemented with rules from the authors’ experience.

Usability Planner: Herramienta para la planificación de técnicas de usabilidad en el ciclo de vida del software

A pesar del creciente interés de las organizaciones por la aplicación de métodos y técnicas de usabilidad en el proceso de desarrollo de software, seleccionar y poner en práctica aquellas técnicas que más se adecuan a las características de un determinado proyecto es una tarea compleja y con un soporte bajo. La diversidad de métodos de usabilidad, su desconocimiento en el mundo profesional y la falta de unas pautas claras para su aplicación en un determinado proyecto están causando que la introducción del Diseño Centrado en el Usuario (UCD, del inglés User Centred Design o DCU en español) en las compañías sea una tarea costosa y compleja. No obstante, las empresas que apuestan por la usabilidad de sus productos se están posicionando por encima del resto al crear sistemas que los usuarios valoran notablemente y por ver incrementadas sus ventas. Jefes de proyecto y consultores, que ven atractivo el desarrollo de sistemas usables, se hallan en un escenario en el que no encuentran un mecanismo sencillo e inmediato para seleccionar y aplicar las técnicas de usabilidad en sus proyectos de forma ágil y estructurada. El criterio para la selección de técnicas y métodos que manejan se basa únicamente en su experiencia profesional y en la bibliografía de numerosos autores. Usability Planner es una aplicación web dirigida a profesionales, estudiantes e investigadores involucrados en el desarrollo de software para ayudar a cambiar este escenario. Su objetivo es dar soporte a la selección de técnicas y métodos de usabilidad en el proceso de desarrollo de software minimizando riesgos y maximizando beneficios.

Methodology for developing an advanced communications system for the Deaf in a new domain

A methodology for developing an advanced communications system for the Deaf in a new domain is presented in this paper. This methodology is a user-centred design approach consisting of four main steps: requirement analysis, parallel corpus generation, technology adaptation to the new domain, and finally, system evaluation. During the requirement analysis, both the user and technical requirements are evaluated and defined. For generating the parallel corpus, it is necessary to collect Spanish sentences in the new domain and translate them into LSE (Lengua de Signos Española: Spanish Sign Language). LSE is represented by glosses and using video recordings. This corpus is used for training the two main modules of the advanced communications system to the new domain: the spoken Spanish into the LSE translation module and the Spanish generation from the LSE module. The main aspects to be generated are the vocabularies for both languages (Spanish words and signs), and the knowledge for translating in both directions. Finally, the field evaluation is carried out with deaf people using the advanced communications system to interact with hearing people in several scenarios. In this evaluation, the paper proposes several objective and subjective measurements for evaluating the performance. In this paper, the new considered domain is about dialogues in a hotel reception. Using this methodology, the system was developed in several months, obtaining very good performance: good translation rates (10% Sign Error Rate) with small processing times, allowing face-to-face dialogues.

An ICT-based closed-loop model to improve care for heart failure patients

Durante las últimas décadas se ha producido un fenómeno global de envejecimiento en la población. Esta tendencia se puede observar prácticamente en todos los países del mundo y se debe principalmente a los avances en la medicina, y a los descensos en las tasas de fertilidad y mortalidad. El envejecimiento de la población tiene un gran impacto en la salud de los ciudadanos, y a menudo es la causa de aparición de enfermedades crónicas. Este tipo de enfermedades supone una amenaza y una carga importantes para la sociedad, especialmente en aspectos como la mortalidad o los gastos en los sistemas sanitarios. Entre las enfermedades cardiovasculares, la insuficiencia cardíaca es probablemente la condición con mayor prevalencia y afecta a 23-26 millones de personas en todo el mundo. Normalmente, la insuficiencia cardíaca presenta un mal pronóstico y una tasa de supervivencia bajas, en algunos casos peores que algún tipo de cáncer. Además, suele ser la causa de hospitalizaciones frecuentes y es una de las enfermedades más costosas para los sistemas sanitarios. La tendencia al envejecimiento de la población y la creciente incidencia de las enfermedades crónicas están llevando a una situación en la que los sistemas de salud no son capaces de hacer frente a la demanda de la sociedad. Los servicios de salud existentes tendrán que adaptarse para ser efectivos y sostenibles en el futuro. Es necesario identificar nuevos paradigmas de cuidado de pacientes, así como mecanismos para la provisión de servicios que ayuden a transformar estos sistemas sanitarios. En este contexto, esta tesis se plantea la búsqueda de soluciones, basadas en las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC), que contribuyan a realizar la transformación en los sistemas sanitarios. En concreto, la tesis se centra en abordar los problemas de una de las enfermedades con mayor impacto en estos sistemas: la insuficiencia cardíaca. Las siguientes hipótesis constituyen la base para la realización de este trabajo de investigación: 1. Es posible definir un modelo basado en el paradigma de lazo cerrado y herramientas TIC que formalice el diseño de mejores servicios para pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca. 2. El modelo de lazo cerrado definido se puede utilizar para definir un servicio real que ayude a gestionar la insuficiencia cardíaca crónica. 3. La introducción, la adopción y el uso de un servicio basado en el modelo definido se traducirá en mejoras en el estado de salud de los pacientes que sufren insuficiencia cardíaca. a. La utilización de un sistema basado en el modelo de lazo cerrado definido mejorará la experiencia del usuario de los pacientes. La definición del modelo planteado se ha basado en el estándar ISO / EN 13940- Sistema de conceptos para dar soporte a la continuidad de la asistencia. Comprende un conjunto de conceptos, procesos, flujos de trabajo, y servicios como componentes principales, y representa una formalización de los servicios para los pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca. Para evaluar el modelo definido se ha definido un servicio real basado en el mismo, además de la implementación de un sistema de apoyo a dicho servicio. El diseño e implementación de dicho sistema se realizó siguiendo la metodología de Diseño Orientado a Objetivos. El objetivo de la evaluación consistía en investigar el efecto que tiene un servicio basado en el modelo de lazo cerrado sobre el estado de salud de los pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca. La evaluación se realizó en el marco de un estudio clínico observacional. El análisis de los resultados ha comprendido métodos de análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos. El análisis cuantitativo se ha centrado en determinar el estado de salud de los pacientes en base a datos objetivos (obtenidos en pruebas de laboratorio o exámenes médicos). Para realizar este análisis se definieron dos índices específicos: el índice de estabilidad y el índice de la evolución del estado de salud. El análisis cualitativo ha evaluado la autopercepción del estado de salud de los pacientes en términos de calidad de vida, auto-cuidado, el conocimiento, la ansiedad y la depresión, así como niveles de conocimiento. Se ha basado en los datos recogidos mediante varios cuestionarios o instrumentos estándar (i.e. EQ-5D, la Escala de Ansiedad y Depresión (HADS), el Cuestionario de Cardiomiopatía de Kansas City (KCCQ), la Escala Holandesa de Conocimiento de Insuficiencia Cardíaca (DHFKS), y la Escala Europea de Autocuidado en Insuficiencia Cardíaca (EHFScBS), así como cuestionarios dedicados no estandarizados de experiencia de usuario. Los resultados obtenidos en ambos análisis, cuantitativo y cualitativo, se compararon con el fin de evaluar la correlación entre el estado de salud objetivo y subjetivo de los pacientes. Los resultados de la validación demostraron que el modelo propuesto tiene efectos positivos en el cuidado de los pacientes con insuficiencia cardíaca y contribuye a mejorar su estado de salud. Asimismo, ratificaron al modelo como instrumento válido para la definición de servicios mejorados para la gestión de esta enfermedad. ABSTRACT During the last decades we have witnessed a global aging phenomenon in the population. This can be observed in practically every country in the world, and it is mainly caused by the advances in medicine, and the decrease of mortality and fertility rates. Population aging has an important impact on citizens’ health and it is often the cause for chronic diseases, which constitute global burden and threat to the society in terms of mortality and healthcare expenditure. Among chronic diseases, Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) or Heart Failure (HF) is probably the one with highest prevalence, affecting between 23 and 26 million people worldwide. Heart failure is a chronic, long-term and serious condition with very poor prognosis and worse survival rates than some type of cancers. Additionally, it is often the cause of frequent hospitalizations and one of the most expensive conditions for the healthcare systems. The aging trends in the population and the increasing incidence of chronic diseases are leading to a situation where healthcare systems are not able to cope with the society demand. Current healthcare services will have to be adapted and redefined in order to be effective and sustainable in the future. There is a need to find new paradigms for patients’ care, and to identify new mechanisms for services’ provision that help to transform the healthcare systems. In this context, this thesis aims to explore new solutions, based on ICT, that contribute to achieve the needed transformation within the healthcare systems. In particular, it focuses on addressing the problems of one of the diseases with higher impact within these systems: Heart Failure. The following hypotheses represent the basis to the elaboration of this research: 1. It is possible to define a model based on a closed-loop paradigm and ICT tools that formalises the design of enhanced healthcare services for chronic heart failure patients. 2. The described closed-loop model can be exemplified in a real service that supports the management of chronic heart failure disease. 3. The introduction, adoption and use of a service based on the outlined model will result in improvements in the health status of patients suffering heart failure. 4. The user experience of patients when utilizing a system based on the defined closed-loop model will be enhanced. The definition of the closed-loop model for health care support of heart failure patients have been based on the standard ISO/EN 13940 System of concepts to support continuity of care. It includes a set of concept, processes and workflows, and services as main components, and it represent a formalization of services for heart failure patients. In order to be validated, the proposed closed-loop model has been instantiated into a real service and a supporting IT system. The design and implementation of the system followed the user centred design methodology Goal Oriented Design. The validation, that included an observational clinical study, aimed to investigate the effect that a service based on the closed-loop model had on heart failure patients’ health status. The analysis of results comprised quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. The quantitative analysis was focused on determining the health status of patients based on objective data (obtained in lab tests or physical examinations). Two specific indexes where defined and considered in this analysis: the stability index and the health status evolution index. The qualitative analysis assessed the self-perception of patients’ health status in terms of quality of life, self-care, knowledge, anxiety and depression, as well as knowledge levels. It was based on the data gathered through several standard instruments (i.e. EQ-5D, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, the Dutch Heart Failure Knowledge Scale, and the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale) as well as dedicated non-standardized user experience questionnaires. The results obtained in both analyses, quantitative and qualitative, were compared in order to assess the correlation between the objective and subjective health status of patients. The results of the validation showed that the proposed model contributed to improve the health status of the patients and had a positive effect on the patients’ care. It also proved that the model is a valid instrument for designing enhanced healthcare services for heart failure patients.

Visualisation of quality information for geospatial and remote sensing data:providing the GIS community with the decision support tools for geospatial dataset quality evaluation

The evaluation of geospatial data quality and trustworthiness presents a major challenge to geospatial data users when making a dataset selection decision. The research presented here therefore focused on defining and developing a GEO label – a decision support mechanism to assist data users in efficient and effective geospatial dataset selection on the basis of quality, trustworthiness and fitness for use. This thesis thus presents six phases of research and development conducted to: (a) identify the informational aspects upon which users rely when assessing geospatial dataset quality and trustworthiness; (2) elicit initial user views on the GEO label role in supporting dataset comparison and selection; (3) evaluate prototype label visualisations; (4) develop a Web service to support GEO label generation; (5) develop a prototype GEO label-based dataset discovery and intercomparison decision support tool; and (6) evaluate the prototype tool in a controlled human-subject study. The results of the studies revealed, and subsequently confirmed, eight geospatial data informational aspects that were considered important by users when evaluating geospatial dataset quality and trustworthiness, namely: producer information, producer comments, lineage information, compliance with standards, quantitative quality information, user feedback, expert reviews, and citations information. Following an iterative user-centred design (UCD) approach, it was established that the GEO label should visually summarise availability and allow interrogation of these key informational aspects. A Web service was developed to support generation of dynamic GEO label representations and integrated into a number of real-world GIS applications. The service was also utilised in the development of the GEO LINC tool – a GEO label-based dataset discovery and intercomparison decision support tool. The results of the final evaluation study indicated that (a) the GEO label effectively communicates the availability of dataset quality and trustworthiness information and (b) GEO LINC successfully facilitates ‘at a glance’ dataset intercomparison and fitness for purpose-based dataset selection.

Mobile Phones, Sensors & The Crowd: Lessons Learnt From Development of a Real-Time Travel Information System

Postprint

Käytettävyyssuunnittelun teoria ja käytäntö: Tapaustutkimus huonekalujen verkkokaupasta

Käytettävien ohjelmistojen suunnittelu tuo hyötyjä loppukäyttäjälle sekä muille sidosryhmille. Verkkokaupassa käytettävyys on elintärkeää, koska asiakkaat vaihtavat helposti seuraavalle sivustolle, mikäli he eivät löydä etsimäänsä. Tutkimusten mukaan käytettävyys vaikuttaa ostopäätöksen tekemiseen. Lisäksi käytettävyydellä on merkitystä asiakastyytyväisyyteen, joka taas vaikuttaa asiakasuskollisuuteen. Tässä tutkielmassa tutkittiin, miten käytettävyyttä suunnitellaan käytännössä verrattuna teoreettisiin suosituksiin. Tapaustutkimuksen kohteena oli huonekaluja myyvän kansainvälisen yrityksen verkkokaupan uudistamiseen tähtäävä projekti. Uudistamistarve nousi aikaisemman verkkokauppaversion puutteellisesta käytettävyydestä. Projekti toteutettiin ketterällä Scrum-menetelmällä. Empiirinen aineisto kerättiin puolistrukturoitujen haastattelujen avulla. Haastateltavat olivat käyttökokemuksen suunnitteluun osallistuvia henkilöitä. Haastattelujen teemat laadittiin teoreettisen aineiston pohjalta. Teoreettisessa osuudessa tutkittiin käytettävyyden suunnitteluun liittyviä periaatteita, prosessia ja menetelmiä. Aikaisemmasta tutkimuksesta löydettiin 12 periaatetta, jotka tukevat ja luonnehtivat käyttäjäkeskeistä suunnittelua. Käytettävyyttä suunnitellaan käyttäjäkeskeisen prosessin avulla. Eri prosessimallit pitivät keskeisinä asioina käyttökontekstin määrittelyä ja ymmärtämistä, mitattavia käytettävyysvaatimuksia, suunnitteluratkaisujen empiiristä arviointia sekä suunnitteluprosessin iteratiivisuutta. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin, mitä suunnittelumenetelmiä tutkijat ehdottavat käytettävyyden suunnitteluun ja mitä kyselytutkimusten perusteella todellisuudessa käytetään. Verkkokauppaprojektissa käytettävyyden suunnittelu erosi osittain teoreettisista suosituksista. Käyttökontekstitietoa ei ollut kaikilla projektiin osallistuvilla, eikä käytettävyysvaatimuksia ollut asetettu teorian tarkoittamalla tavalla. Yhtäläisyyksiäkin löytyi. Verkkokauppaprojektissa suunnitteluratkaisuja arvioitiin empiirisesti todellisten käyttäjien edustajien avulla. Suunnitteluprosessi oli iteratiivinen eli suunnitteluratkaisuja oltiin valmiita muuttamaan arvioinnin tuloksena. Tutkimuksen perusteella suositellaan, että verkkokauppaprojektissa parannettaisiin kommunikointia, koska käyttökontekstitieto ei saavuttanut kaikkia projektissa työskenteleviä. Teorian tulisi entisestään korostaa kommunikoinnin tärkeyttä. Tutkimuksen perusteella esitetään myös, että teoria ohjaisi paremmin vaatimusmäärittelyjen tekemiseen käytännössä. Avainsanat: Käytettävyys, käyttäjäkeskeinen suunnittelu, käytettävyyden periaatteet, käytettävyyden suunnittelumenetelmät, ketterä ohjelmistokehitys, tapaustutkimus

A methodological survey of future mobility literature: Opportunities for design research

This research establishes that the study of mobility and transportation is multi-disciplinary and highly complex, involving the diverse interplay between infrastructural and psychological factors. Coincidently, a new paradigm in personal mobility is developing. A new generation of mobility solutions is becoming widely available in the form of car and ride sharing services. These services build on the assumption that customers no longer need ownership of a product in order to benefit from it. With the emergence of this new paradigm, this paper presents a methodological review of current practises used by the wider research community. Therefore, this research piece aims to explore methodological approaches involved in the study the effect of community on an individual’s attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of future mobility solutions. The results of this review indicate that the majority of published literature uses quantitative methods as opposed to qualitative and even fewer studies have sought to understand the human factors in these new mobility solutions. This gap in knowledge is a valuable opportunity for design. Inherently qualitative and human focused, design research can fill this gap in knowledge by applying distinctly user-centred methods such as persona design, narrative storytelling, and in-depth observations to discover deeper human insights.

Influencing energy efficient occupant behavior through improved building and control design

There is growing pressure on the construction industry to deliver energy efficient, sustainable buildings but there is evidence to suggest that, in practice, designs regularly fail to achieve the anticipated levels of in-use energy consumption. One of the key factors behind this discrepancy is the behavior of the building occupants. This paper explores how insights from experimental psychology could potentially be used to reduce the gap between the predicted and actual energy performance of buildings. It demonstrates why traditional methods to engage with the occupants are not always successful and proposes a model for a more holistic approach to this issue. The paper concludes that achieving energy efficiency in buildings is not solely a technological issue and that the construction industry needs to adopt a more user-centred approach.

Towards universal accessibility : including users with a disability in the design process

While increased awareness of disability issues has resulted in the development of guidelines for developing accessible software, such guidelines do not guarantee that the end product will be optimal for users with a disability. We present an overview of a user-centred approach to the needs analysis and ultimate design of a disability aware email client (Multimail). We discuss the process we used to work with participants in developing the software and reflect on the benefits and challenges of the process.