Computer usage today is predominantly based on graphical interaction, where the visual presentation of information is essential both for input (hand-eye coordination when using a computer mouse), and output (seeing the information on a computer screen). This can create difficulties for blind computer users, both at an individual level when interacting with a computer, and also when collaborating with other computer users. The work presented in this thesis has investigated interaction for blind computer users in three stages. First investigating access to information by making studies on an interactive audio-only game, drawing conclusions about auditory direct manipulation and auditory interface design. Second studying collaboration between blind and sighted computer users in two different contexts, leading to questioning of commonly expressed design principles regarding access to collaboration. Finally studying accessibility in a working environment, finding out how technology, the assistive device used by the blind person, communication with others and professional knowledge interplayed to create an accessible work environment. Based on these empirical studies, the main conclusion from this work is a proposal of a research perspective, Assistive interfaces as cooperative interfaces. Here, the context where the interface is going to be used is in focus, and cooperative and social dimensions of interaction are acknowledged and highlighted. The design and analysis of assistive devices should be highly sensitive to the socio-interactional environment, and not just focusing on the single individual using an assistive device. / QC 20100921

In group decision support systems, understanding the roles, dynamics and relationships between participants is imperative to streamlining the decision-making process. This is especially true when decision makers have varying interests. Research has shown that decision-making processes amongst groups with varying interests will often reach bottlenecks with issues, such as unwillingness to share information, or a limited ability of the participants to share ideas at the same time. We explored this research territory of group decision-making by implementing collaboration software to support Ocean Summits, a new approach that uses real-time simulations as part of the decision-making process for stakeholders to explore fisheries management policies. The research reported in this thesis has three goals: (1) to better understand the decision-making process in fisheries management, (2) to build a prototype system to tackle the major issues in the decision-making process and (3) to determine the best way to share and display information critical to the stakeholders' decision-making process by exploring the use of shared screens and information in comparison to private displays. We discovered that the use of shared screens with shared information yielded the best results, as opposed to private screens with shared information or private screens with private information. It was observed that sharing information allowed participants to explore more alternative solutions.

This dissertation seeks to answer the research questions that arise when digital technologies are used to support distributed, artifact-centric, scientific collaboration. Scientific research is fundamentally collaborative in nature, with researchers often forming collaborations that involve colleagues from other institutions and often other countries. Modern research tools, such as high-resolution scientific instruments and sophisticated computational simulations, are providing scientists with digital data at an unprecedented rate. Thus, digital artifacts are the focus of many of today’s scientific collaborations. The understanding of scientific data is difficult because of the complexity of the scientific phenomena that the data represents. Such data is often complex in structure, dynamic in nature (e.g. changes over time), and poorly understood (little a-priori knowledge about the phenomena). These issues are exacerbated when such collaborations take place between scientists who are working together at a distance. This dissertation studies the impact of distance on artifact-centric scientific collaboration. It utilizes a multi-dimensional research approach, considering scientific collaboration at multiple points along the methodological (qualitative/quantitative research methods), cognitive (encoding/decoding), community (many/single research groups), group locality (collocated/distributed), and technological (prototype/production) dimensions. This research results in three primary contributions: 1) a new framework (CoGScience) for the study of distributed, artifact-centric collaboration; 2) new empirical evidence about the human communication channels scientists use to collaborate (utilizing both longitudinal/naturalistic and laboratory studies); and 3) a set of guidelines for the design and creation of more effective distributed, scientific collaboration tools.

In group decision support systems, understanding the roles, dynamics and relationships between participants is imperative to streamlining the decision-making process. This is especially true when decision makers have varying interests. Research has shown that decision-making processes amongst groups with varying interests will often reach bottlenecks with issues, such as unwillingness to share information, or a limited ability of the participants to share ideas at the same time. We explored this research territory of group decision-making by implementing collaboration software to support Ocean Summits, a new approach that uses real-time simulations as part of the decision-making process for stakeholders to explore fisheries management policies. The research reported in this thesis has three goals: (1) to better understand the decision-making process in fisheries management, (2) to build a prototype system to tackle the major issues in the decision-making process and (3) to determine the best way to share and display information critical to the stakeholders' decision-making process by exploring the use of shared screens and information in comparison to private displays. We discovered that the use of shared screens with shared information yielded the best results, as opposed to private screens with shared information or private screens with private information. It was observed that sharing information allowed participants to explore more alternative solutions.

This thesis sets out to investigate and understand behaviours and interactions between individuals while using a large touch screen to plan a holiday trip. By using this approach, the tool digital visual planning by Yolean is indirectly examined. The tool is examined by looking at how it is used and the environment it is used in. The research question in this research paper is “How is interaction between individuals affected by using large touch screens with a digital visual planning tool in a meeting?”. Itis answered by using a mixed method approach containing grounded theory and design research methodology applied to an observation study. The results suggest that a group working for the same goal tend to get a leader without appointing them directly. This leader is also usually the person who stands in front of the rest and dictates what goes where. If problems arise, a shift in leadership occurs naturally and fluently. The digital visual planning tool helped the participants to easier express themselves and to motivate decisions. By using their whole body, they could more easily communicate. / Denna uppsats ämnar undersöka beteenden och interaktioner mellan individer i ett mötessammanhang användandes av ett digitalt visualiserings verktyg. Verktyget används på en stor pekskärm och är skapat av Yolean. Verktyget undersöks indirekt genom att utgå från hur verktyget används och miljön runt om verktyget. Forskningsfrågan som besvaras i uppsatsen lyder: ” Hur påverkas interaktion mellan individer genom att använda stora pekskärmar med ett digitalt visuellt planeringsverktyg i ett möte?”. Frågan besvaras genom en observationsstudie som utgår från blandade metodiker från både”grounded theory” (teoribildning genom empiri) samt designforskning. Resultatet tyder på att en grupp som arbetar tillsammans för att uppnå samma mål tenderar att få en ledare utan att specifikt tilldela denne rollen. Uppstår problem tenderar ett skifte av ledarskap ske. Skiftet sker naturligt och då utan verbala tilldelningar. Det visuella planeringsverktyget hjälpte deltagarna att uttrycka sina tankar och funderingar. Deltagarna kunde kommunicera med hela kroppen och att peka på specifika objekt som de ville diskutera. Genom denna frihet kunde de mer noggrant kommunicera sina förslag och tankar till resten av gruppen.

Software development has become a cognitive and collaborative knowledge-based endeavor where developers and organizations, faced with a variety of challenges and an increased demand for extensive knowledge support, push the boundaries of existing tools and work practices. Researchers and industry professionals have spent years studying collaborative work and communication media, however, the landscape of social media is rapidly changing. Thus, instead of trying to model the use of specific technologies and communication media, I seek to model the knowledge-building process itself. Doing so will not only allow us to understand specific tool and communication media use, but whole ecosystems of technologies and their impact on software development and knowledge work, revealing aspects not only unique to specific tools, but also aspects about the combination of technologies. In this dissertation, I describe the empirical studies I conducted aimed to understand social and communication media use in software development and knowledge curation within developer communities. An important part of the thesis is an additional qualitative meta-synthesis of these studies. My meta-analysis has led to a model of software development as a knowledge building process, and a theoretical framework: I describe this newly formed framework and how it is grounded in empirical work, and demonstrate how my primary studies led to its creation. My conceptualization of knowledge building withing software development and the proposed framework provide the research community with the means to pursue a deeper understanding of software development and contemporary knowledge work. I believe that this framework can serve as a basis for a theory of knowledge building in software development, shedding light on knowledge flow, knowledge productivity, and knowledge management. / Graduate

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:33:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao de Ramon Rosa Maia Vieira Junior.pdf: 2544063 bytes, checksum: f925e0eeb5af8e1fe009589eeaebeeed (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / As lacunas tecnológicas no apoio às atividades colaborativas possibilitam a criação de novas propostas para atender a demanda por suporte tecnológico nas atividades a distância. Este trabalho apresenta uma arquitetura de software, baseado da proposta do MOrFEu, que favorece a criação e a organização flexível de espaços virtuais colaborativos. Entre as principais características desta arquitetura destacam-se a flexibilidade do apoio a colaboração pelas formas diferenciadas de coordenar as interações e organizar as produções, individuais e coletivas, tendo como referência espaços de autoria reorganizáveis e flexíveis. Por fim, foi realizado um estudo de caso, utilizando um protótipo de software, na avaliação do suporte tecnológico no atendimento aos requisitos das atividades de comunicação, cooperação e principalmente de coordenação da Arquitetura Pedagógica Debate de Teses

This report is our Master thesis. Our work has taken place at a one-stop-shop in Sölvesborg during the spring of 2002. We have conducted ethnographical studies concerning the one-stop-shops frontdesk and telephone exchange. During these studies we became aware of some differences under which the daily work was to be carried out. When operating the switchboard the staff usually work alone and perform the tasks individually. At the frontdesk there's usually two or more people from the workforce. They carry out their work in the form of a network, where the colleagues support each other in what seemed to be seamless cooperative work. We closely studied the work being carried out by the staff at the frontdesk in order to gain a deeper understanding for their handling of cases in their daily work. How do the staff achieve this seamless cooperative work, and how are the cues that trigger the cooperative work being relayed? In this report we describe aspects of cooperative work and different mechanisms that affects cooperation. With the aid of concrete examples, we highlight how the staff in this environment, design their language and their actions. We argue that cooperative work is formed and coordinated with the aid of various artefacts. In the concrete worksituation there are cues being communicated that plays an important role in the success of the work being carried out. These cues often carry an invitation to cooperative work as we mean that they function as a way to ask the colleagues for assistance in the handling of a case, or reversed, function as to show that one is available and can assist the colleague. To understand these mechanisms of cooperative work, some general and others more specific to the workplace we have studied, is of great importance to the understanding of how cooperation is established. We highlight aspects of cooperation that are important and must be considered when designing new technology intended to support cooperative work. All names on individuals have been changed, to protect their true identity.

Uppsatsen behandlar hur två organisationer samarbetar och koordinerar deras kooperativa arbete med hjälp av en artefakt. De två organisationerna är Marinmuseum och Turistbyrån där deras kooperativa arbete handlar om att skapa guidade turer tillsammans. Vi har jobbat mot målgruppernas målsättningar, behov och krav för att hitta det ultimata stödet för deras verksamhet. Syftet är att förmedla förståelse för hur organisationerna idag använder artefakten i deras gemensamma arbete, baserat på intervjuer och observationer. Huvudfrågorna i vår studie har varit: Hur kan vi som utvecklare kan stödja de två olika organisationernas samarbetsmöjligheter och förbättra koordinationen i det fall då de använder denna artefakt, deras pappersbaserade bokningslista som primär informationsplats? Hur kan denna artefakt ersättas utan att tappa dess koordinations och interaktions förmågor samt flexibilitet? Studien har visat att den pappersbaserade artefakten, deras bokningslista, innefattar många positiva egenskaper som vid digitalisering måste tas hänsyn till. Denna artefakt har vi valt att kalla för koordinationsartefakt för att belysa dess koordinationsegenskaper. Med vår studie vill vi framhäva den markanta skillnaden med ett system som är anpassat efter verksamheten istället för att verksamheten är anpassad efter systemet. / 0706-384031, 0708-682180

In this thesis work, we try to enhance an industry work simulator by developing a Free and Open source fault injecting and monitoring application. We present our experiences and ideas while participating in a work simulation. We implement some of these ideas to further enhance the simulation. We also try to connect these experiences to the fields of Human Com- puter Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Ubiquitous Computing. / This thesis is mainly about developing a Fault injecting and Monitoring (FIM) application for supporting Work simulation environment. / Mobile number: 0739225562 (Sweden) vikas.vikky@gmail.com