Software tools to be used by employees of large organizations rarely satisfy the end-user. They might be complex, difficult to use, not feasible in the actual work context or even worse adding to the workload of the users. This is however not that surprising, since designing for such complex organizational contexts can be challenging. Typically, such projects involve a large number of stakeholders and a diverse group of users, all with their own roles, backgrounds, wishes, needs and preferences. For large enterprises is is a challenge to create internal tools that fulfill their supporting role for the employees and at the same time take away few as possible resources from the core business. This paper reports on a research under the umbrella of the larger areas of CSCW and HCI. The project aimed at getting more insights into using a user-centered approach to the design and development of internal-tools within a large multinational corporation. Field observations from within the department were combined with design explorations in which new tools were prototyped. A model for thinking about the work setting is presented and recommendations for interaction designers aiming at applying a user-centered approach to design of internal tools are given.

Sharing information at a workplace is important to keep the employees inthe loop. At workplaces where employees don’t have common work hoursconventional methods for sharing information are insufficient, making itchallenging to stay in the loop. Through participation and observation thisstudy has investigated how information is shared at Systembolaget in VästraHamnen in Malmö. Based on the findings, a design proposal is suggested and tested with the employees at the store.

This thesis describes a research project that investigates the level of contextualization needed to successfully build context-driven agents that can manage a cooperative project. Many times in industry, collaborators in a large project may be located vast distances from each other. It is for this reason that management of such projects can often be difficult. The purpose of this research is to design an agent that can take on the role of a project manager (PM) to assist the human project manager. Specifically, this thesis looks to give such project management agents full situational awareness. It is hypothesized that only with situational awareness can an agent successfully act in the role of a project manager. This thesis describes the investigation into the use of Context-Based Reasoning and Contextual Graphs to create an agent with such situational awareness. This thesis shows that with enough situational awareness, an agent will have the ability to successfully take on the role of a project manager. In particular, this thesis looks at a PM-agent that can manage a simulated project to design and construct a small sounding rocket.

Organizations increasingly use work groups to perform process improvement tasks. Little research exists about groups assigned complete tasks such as process improvement which involves completing all group processes, such as: generating, selecting, negotiating, and executing. This research tested the impact of decision aids on work group processes and work group performance. Laboratory and field experiments were performed. Decision aids were shown to impact work group processes. Decision aids increased the number of ideas considered by the work group, increased the equality of participation in the work group, decreased the overall level of conversation, and reduced consensus during evaluation of sensitive issues. No significant difference was found between decision aid types and work group performance. A regression model was identified which predicts group performance. Two variables were high predictors of work group performance: the level of conversation occurring in the group and the range between high and low idea contributors. The range between high and low idea contributors was correlated with the skill level of participants in the group. / Ph. D.

No / Visinet is a trans-European 3D collaborative design project that brings together computer scientists, application developers, design specialists, and users in the context of shared environments supported by ATM networks. Experiments and trials have been conducted for the key application domains of architectural and industrial design. Different types of virtual representation and computer-supported collaborative work are applied to real-life projects between partners at different locations in Europe. Measurements of network requirements have enabled cost/benefits to be quantified. Measurements of user satisfaction and speed of completion of the design to product cycle have also been made, resulting in a greater understanding of the ways in which collaborative design environments linked by high-speed networks affect this cycle. Additional experiments are currently being conducted on the way in which an ATM backbone between principal partners in a project can be complemented with ISDN links to partners in a local area.

User-centered design processes are the first choice when new interactive systems or services are developed to address real customer needs and provide a good user experience. Common tools for collecting user research data, conducting brainstormings, or sketching ideas are whiteboards and sticky notes. They are ubiquitously available, and no technical or domain knowledge is necessary to use them. However, traditional pen and paper tools fall short when saving the content and sharing it with others unable to be in the same location. They are also missing further digital advantages such as searching or sorting content. Although research on digital whiteboard and sticky note applications has been conducted for over 20 years, these tools are not widely adopted in company contexts. While many research prototypes exist, they have not been used for an extended period of time in a real-world context. The goal of this thesis is to investigate what the enablers and obstacles for the adoption of digital whiteboard systems are. As an instrument for different studies, we developed the Tele-Board software system for collaborative creative work. Based on interviews, observations, and findings from former research, we tried to transfer the analog way of working to the digital world. Being a software system, Tele-Board can be used with a variety of hardware and does not depend on special devices. This feature became one of the main factors for adoption on a larger scale. In this thesis, I will present three studies on the use of Tele-Board with different user groups and foci. I will use a combination of research methods (laboratory case studies and data from field research) with the overall goal of finding out when a digital whiteboard system is used and in which cases not. Not surprisingly, the system is used and accepted if a user sees a main benefit that neither analog tools nor other applications can offer. However, I found that these perceived benefits are very different for each user and usage context. If a tool provides possibilities to use in different ways and with different equipment, the chances of its adoption by a larger group increase. Tele-Board has now been in use for over 1.5 years in a global IT company in at least five countries with a constantly growing user base. Its use, advantages, and disadvantages will be described based on 42 interviews and usage statistics from server logs. Through these insights and findings from laboratory case studies, I will present a detailed analysis of digital whiteboard use in different contexts with design implications for future systems. / Nutzerorientierte Gestaltungsprozesse werden angewandt, um zu gewährleisten, dass neue Software für Computer und Smartphones gebrauchstauglich ist und die tatsächlichen Bedürfnisse der Anwender adressiert. Dazu sollen potentielle Anwender befragt und beobachtet und darauf basierend Ideen und Entwürfe für die neue Software entwickelt werden. Um die Nutzerdaten und Ideen zu sammeln, sowie daraus Konzepte zu erarbeiten, werden häufig Whiteboards und Haftnotizen (Post-its) benutzt. Sie haben den Vorteil, dass sie weit verbreitet sind und keine speziellen Kenntnisse erfordern. Analoge Whiteboards sowie Stift und Papier haben allerdings auch den Nachteil, dass die Informationen nicht digital gespeichert und mit Personen an anderen Standorten geteilt werden können. Auch andere digitale Vorteile, wie z. B. Inhalte suchen und sortieren, sind nicht verfügbar. Obwohl es seit 20 Jahren Forschung zu digitalen Whiteboard-Anwendungen gibt, werden diese Systeme im Firmenumfeld kaum genutzt. Diverse Forschungsprototypen sind bisher weder im Langzeiteinsatz noch in Unternehmen ausreichend getestet worden. Ziel dieser Dissertation ist zu erforschen, welche Faktoren den Einsatz von digitalen Whiteboard-Systemen begünstigen und welche Faktoren eher hinderlich sind. Zu diesem Zweck haben wir das Tele-Board Software System für gemeinsames kreatives Arbeiten entwickelt. Basierend auf Interviews und Beobachtungen, sowie Erkenntnissen aus vorheriger Forschung, haben wir versucht, die analoge Arbeitsweise mit herkömmlichen Arbeitsmitteln in die digitale Welt zu übertragen. Tele-Board kann mit unterschiedlicher Hardware benutzt werden und ist nicht an spezielle Geräte gebunden. Diese Tatsache hat sich als Vorteil für den Einsatz der Software in größerem Umfang erwiesen. In dieser Arbeit präsentiere ich drei Studien zur Nutzung von Tele-Board von verschiedenen Anwendern in unterschiedlichen Umgebungen. Die Studien wurden sowohl unter kontrollierten Bedingungen, als auch im realen Arbeitsumfeld durchgeführt. Wie zu erwarten war, wird das System besonders dann angenommen, wenn die Anwender Vorteile sehen, die sie mit analogen Arbeitsmitteln und anderer Software nicht haben. Allerdings unterscheiden sich die empfundenen Vorteile je nach Anwender und Nutzungskontext. Daher steigen die Chancen auf eine Verbreitung der Software, wenn sie verschiedene Anwendungsfälle und unterschiedliches Equipment unterstützt. Tele-Board ist mittlerweile seit 1,5 Jahren in einer global agierenden IT-Firma in mindestens fünf Ländern mit konstant steigenden Nutzerzahlen im Einsatz. Auf der Basis von 42 Interviews und Nutzungsstatistiken vom Server wird beschrieben, auf welche Art und Weise das System angewandt wird und welche Vor- und Nachteile es hat. Aus diesen Erkenntnissen sowie anderen Studien, präsentiere ich eine detaillierte Analyse der Nutzung von digitalen Whiteboards und gebe Empfehlungen für die Entwicklung zukünftiger Systeme.

Det finns en utmaning för designers att skapa digitala miljöer som främjar aktivitet, för att skapa goda vanor och rutiner som leder till växandet av communitys. Online communitys kan ibland sakna målstyrning som leder till minskat engagemang och motivation för medlemmar att bidrag till communityt. Det kan vara svårt för deltagare i dessa digitala miljöer att se vilket värde deras egna bidragande skapar. Eftersom online communitys får en allt mer växande roll i dagens samhälle när distanskollaborationer blir allt vanligare är det relevant att undersöka dessa problem. Tidigare forskning uppmärksammar social loafing som en förklaring till minskat engagemang och motivation i samarbeten. Vad som har kunnat påvisa förebyggande faktorer för denna negativa utveckling är att om individer blir påminda om deras värde till en community kan bidragandet öka, samt att gruppmål kan ge en mer bidragande effekt än individuella mål. Vad som även påverkar motivationen hos deltagarna är arbetsmönster i form av vanor och rutiner och den gemensamma grund som etableras mellan parter som inleder samarbeten. Denna studie fördjupar sig i aktiviteter hos innehållsskapare i kreativa online communitys inom spelutveckling, musikproduktion och andra typer av distanskollaborationer som är beroende av datorstödd kollaborativt arbete (CSCW). Resultat från intervjuer och enkätundersökningar har analyserats med hjälp av Aktivitetsteorin för att förstå vilka vanor som leder till framgångsrika kreativa samarbeten i en online community. Detta har genererat riktlinjer för design av digitala plattformar avsedda som online communitys och grundar sig i de aktiviteter som etablerar gemensam grund och deltagarkultur. Ett bästa praxisexempel presenteras även, baserat på de fynd från datainsamlingen som beskriver en distansbaserad musiktävling som främjar deltagande kultur och etablering av gemensam grund. Fortsatt forskning inom online communitys för kreatörer rekommenderas eftersom det finns ett behov tillgodose användarens specifika behov som grundar sig i personliga mål men även deras specifika användande av externa verktyg. / There is a challenge when designing digital environments that promotes activities for the purpose to creates routines and habits leading to the growth of a community. Online communities could sometime lack objective management, resulting in lowered engagement and motivation amongst the members to contribute. Members in these environments sometimes struggle to see how their contribution can make an impact. The importance of online communities has a greater role in society while attitude towards distance collaborations are becoming familiar, consequently investigating these issues is relevant. Previous research has observed this behavior and defines it as social loafing, groups and communitys lack contribution even though they have many members. What has been found as a prevention to this negative development shows that individuals are more likely to contribute when their value are acknowledged. What also has a motivating and positive effect is when they are assigned group-oriented goals rather than just assigned goals individually. Establishing routines, habits, and common ground between members of a collaboration has a role in this development. This study explores activities amongst creators that are active in creative online communities oriented in game development, music production and other types of distance collaborations dependent on computer supported collaborative work (CSCW). The results gathered from interviews and user-surveys, has been analyzed through Activity theory, to better understand the habits that leads to successful creative collaborations in online communities. We propose design guidelines for development of digital platforms that serves the purpose for online communities and stems through the activities that establishes common ground and a culture for participation. We also present a best practice example based on the finding, describing a distance facilitated competition in music production that promotes participation and establishment of common ground. Taking to account the wide variety of different technical and individual needs and goals of multidisciplinary creators serves as a suggestion for further research.

IP-basierte Konferenz- und Kollaborations-Systeme entwickeln sich mehr und mehr in Richtung Rich Media Collaboration, d.h. vereinigen Audio- und Videokonferenzfunktionalität mit Instant Messaging und kollaborativen Funktionen wie Presentation Sharing und Application Sharing. Dabei müssen neben den Live-Medienströmen auch Inhaltsobjekte wie Präsentationsfolien oder Dokumentseiten in Echtzeit innerhalb einer Session verteilt werden. Im Gegensatz zum klassischen 1:n-push-Schema wird dafür in der Arbeit ein Ansatz für wahlfreien Zugriff auf durch die Teilnehmer selbst gehostete Inhaltsobjekte - also n:m-pull-Verteilung - vorgestellt. Dieser Ansatz hat in Anwendungsszenarien mit gleichberechtigten Teilnehmern, wie zum Beispiel virtuellen Meetings von Projektteams, signifikante Performance-Vorteile gegenüber den traditionellen Ansätzen. Mit dem Content Sharing Protocol (CSP) wurde eine Protokoll-Engine bestehend aus neun Mikroprotokollen entwickelt, implementiert und evaluiert. Sie beinhaltet neben der Kernfunktionalität der Inhaltsauslieferung auch Unterstützung für Caching, Prefetching und Datenadaption, sowie dynamische Priorisierung von Datentransfers und Interaktionsunterstützung.

Galerias, Bibliotecas, Arquivos e Museus (GLAMs) têm enfrentado o desafio de envolver os usuários na seleção, catalogação, contextualização e curadoria de coleções por meio de crowdsourcing. Esse novo modo de interação se estende além do acesso passivo e pode levar a um nível mais profundo de engajamento com coleções. Como a participação do usuário é a chave para o sucesso nesse contexto, GLAMs precisam criar e manter sistemas de colaboração aberta. Contudo, tais sistemas precisam fomentar um senso de comunidade em torno dos artefatos e as comunidades dependem, dentre outros fatores, do engajamento de colaboradores. O termo engajamento indica a profundidade de investimento de um ator quando interagindo com um sistema digital. Para promover o engajamento dos usuários com comunidades online, tem-se discutido o uso da gamificação. Gamificação é o uso de elementos de projeto de jogos em contextos que não são jogos e tem como meta estimular a participação e engajar pessoas. Nos estudos teóricos sobre gamificação, a motivação intrínseca e a autodeterminação do usuário são as principais bases para a construção de aplicações. No entanto, a maior parte da literatura que descreve a implementação de gamificação utiliza elementos de recompensa, como pontos, distintivos e quadros de liderança, associados à pontificação, um subconjunto da gamificação; e não apresenta o monitoramento e a análise de cada elemento de jogo inserido durante o desenvolvimento, de modo a avaliar o impacto no comportamento dos usuários. Há também a necessidade de explorar como a gamificação pode ser implementada em domínios específicos. Esta pesquisa propõe uma abordagem para integrar gamificação e avaliação de engajamento durante o desenvolvimento de comunidades online de colaboração aberta. Nesse contexto, uma pesquisa-ação foi realizada no domínio de uma GLAM sobre arquitetura e urbanismo, chamada Arquigrafia, para investigar as práticas atuais de gamificação e uma proposta de abordagem. As métricas de engajamento foram analisadas estatisticamente por meio de pesquisas quantitativas experimentais e não-experimentais sobre dados coletados em três anos de monitoramento (2015-2018). Os resultados indicam que o uso de elementos de jogos em uma comunidade online de colaboração aberta, no domínio de GLAMs, tem um efeito positivo sobre o engajamento de usuários sob certas condições, as quais são consideradas na proposta de abordagem desta tese. / Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) have faced challenges for involving users in the selection, cataloging, contextualization and curation of collections through crowdsourcing. This new mode of interaction extends beyond passive access and can lead to a deeper level of engagement with collections. Because user engagement is the key to success in this context, GLAMs need to create and maintain open collaboration systems. However, such systems need to foster a sense of community around artifacts, and communities depend, among other factors, on colaborators engagement. The term engagement indicates the depth of an actor\'s investment when interacting with a digital system. To promote the engagement of users with online communities, the use of gamification has been discussed. Gamification is the use of game design elements in contexts that are not games and aims to stimulate participation and engage people. In the theoretical studies on gamification, intrinsic motivation and self-determination of the user are the main bases for the construction of applications. However, most of the literature describing the implementation of gamification uses reward elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, associated with pontification, a subset of gamification; and does not present the monitoring and analysis of each game element inserted during the development, in order to evaluate the impact on the behavior of the users. There is also a need to explore how gamification can be implemented in specific domains. This research proposes an approach to integrate gamification and evaluation of engagement during the development of open collaboration online communities. In this context, an action research was carried out in the domain of a GLAM on architecture and urbanism, the Arquigrafia project, to investigate current practices of gamification and an approach proposal. Engagement metrics were statistically analyzed using experimental and non-experimental quantitative research of data collected over three years of monitoring (2015-2018). The results indicate that the use of game elements in an open collaboration online community in the GLAM domain has a positive effect on user engagement under certain conditions, which are considered in the approach proposal of this thesis.

Galerias, Bibliotecas, Arquivos e Museus (GLAMs) têm enfrentado o desafio de envolver os usuários na seleção, catalogação, contextualização e curadoria de coleções por meio de crowdsourcing. Esse novo modo de interação se estende além do acesso passivo e pode levar a um nível mais profundo de engajamento com coleções. Como a participação do usuário é a chave para o sucesso nesse contexto, GLAMs precisam criar e manter sistemas de colaboração aberta. Contudo, tais sistemas precisam fomentar um senso de comunidade em torno dos artefatos e as comunidades dependem, dentre outros fatores, do engajamento de colaboradores. O termo engajamento indica a profundidade de investimento de um ator quando interagindo com um sistema digital. Para promover o engajamento dos usuários com comunidades online, tem-se discutido o uso da gamificação. Gamificação é o uso de elementos de projeto de jogos em contextos que não são jogos e tem como meta estimular a participação e engajar pessoas. Nos estudos teóricos sobre gamificação, a motivação intrínseca e a autodeterminação do usuário são as principais bases para a construção de aplicações. No entanto, a maior parte da literatura que descreve a implementação de gamificação utiliza elementos de recompensa, como pontos, distintivos e quadros de liderança, associados à pontificação, um subconjunto da gamificação; e não apresenta o monitoramento e a análise de cada elemento de jogo inserido durante o desenvolvimento, de modo a avaliar o impacto no comportamento dos usuários. Há também a necessidade de explorar como a gamificação pode ser implementada em domínios específicos. Esta pesquisa propõe uma abordagem para integrar gamificação e avaliação de engajamento durante o desenvolvimento de comunidades online de colaboração aberta. Nesse contexto, uma pesquisa-ação foi realizada no domínio de uma GLAM sobre arquitetura e urbanismo, chamada Arquigrafia, para investigar as práticas atuais de gamificação e uma proposta de abordagem. As métricas de engajamento foram analisadas estatisticamente por meio de pesquisas quantitativas experimentais e não-experimentais sobre dados coletados em três anos de monitoramento (2015-2018). Os resultados indicam que o uso de elementos de jogos em uma comunidade online de colaboração aberta, no domínio de GLAMs, tem um efeito positivo sobre o engajamento de usuários sob certas condições, as quais são consideradas na proposta de abordagem desta tese. / Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) have faced challenges for involving users in the selection, cataloging, contextualization and curation of collections through crowdsourcing. This new mode of interaction extends beyond passive access and can lead to a deeper level of engagement with collections. Because user engagement is the key to success in this context, GLAMs need to create and maintain open collaboration systems. However, such systems need to foster a sense of community around artifacts, and communities depend, among other factors, on colaborators engagement. The term engagement indicates the depth of an actor\'s investment when interacting with a digital system. To promote the engagement of users with online communities, the use of gamification has been discussed. Gamification is the use of game design elements in contexts that are not games and aims to stimulate participation and engage people. In the theoretical studies on gamification, intrinsic motivation and self-determination of the user are the main bases for the construction of applications. However, most of the literature describing the implementation of gamification uses reward elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, associated with pontification, a subset of gamification; and does not present the monitoring and analysis of each game element inserted during the development, in order to evaluate the impact on the behavior of the users. There is also a need to explore how gamification can be implemented in specific domains. This research proposes an approach to integrate gamification and evaluation of engagement during the development of open collaboration online communities. In this context, an action research was carried out in the domain of a GLAM on architecture and urbanism, the Arquigrafia project, to investigate current practices of gamification and an approach proposal. Engagement metrics were statistically analyzed using experimental and non-experimental quantitative research of data collected over three years of monitoring (2015-2018). The results indicate that the use of game elements in an open collaboration online community in the GLAM domain has a positive effect on user engagement under certain conditions, which are considered in the approach proposal of this thesis.