This dissertation work considers communication between people. I look at coordinating dyads (couples in relationships) and people in working relationships to develop an understanding of how people engage in high-stakes, or emotional communication via various communicative media. The approach for this research is to observe and measure people's behavior during interaction and subsequent reporting of that behavior and associated internal experiences. Qualitative and quantitative methods are employed. Quantitative data are analyzed using a range of statistical analyses, including correlations matrices, ANOVAs, and multivariate statistics. Two controlled laboratory experiments were conducted for this research. These experiments involved couples in relationships. Couples were brought into the lab and argued with each other across one of three technological media: face-to-face, telephone, and instant messaging (IM). In one set of couples' experiments, the couples argued for twenty minutes; in the subsequent couples' experiment, couples were encouraged to take as much time as they needed for their arguments. One of the main results from the first experiment is that couples did, indeed, argue when brought into a laboratory setting. One of the important findings for the second experiment is that time did not affect couples' tendency to reach closure during their arguments. This research is a contribution in that it examines how people engage in highly emotional communication using various technological media. In a society with ever-increasing communication needs that require technology, it becomes necessary to study its communicative affordances. Understanding the context of highly emotional interactions between members of couples gives insight into how technology meets (or fails to meet) these communication needs. / Ph. D.

En modernisering av Air Traffic Management pågår för att hållbart hantera den förutsedda ökningen av flygtrafik fram till år 2035. Som en del av denna modernisering har Saab AB utvecklat en produkt, “Digital Tower”, som möjliggör att flygtorn kan fjärrstyras genom ett system av kameror. I syfte om att öka kunskap kring flygledarnas behov och flygsäkerhet i takt med ökad mängd flygtrafik, har denna studie undersökt den kognitiva belastningen inom den operativa miljön av en Digital Tower som är i bruk. I dess nuvarande form har interaktiva gränssnitt inom arbetsmiljön begränsad flexibilitet och anpassningsmöjligheter. Frågeställningen har därför ställts kring hur dessa begränsade anpassningsmöjligheter påverkar flygledares arbete och samarbete. Studien har utgått ifrån en kvalitativ metodik, en contextual inquiry med observationer och intervjuer i kontext där arbetet skedde. Analysen gjordes utifrån Distributed Cognition som teoretiskt ramverk, vilket möjliggjorde en analys av den distribuerade kognitionen mellan aktörer och hur de brukar artefakter inom kontexten. Studiens slutsats är att gränssnittets begränsade anpassningsmöjligheter påverkar den kognitiva belastningen negativt, men anses inte som ett hinder för flygledarnas arbete. Eftersom den centraliserade arbetsmiljön har en stark närvaro av kollegor, har resultatet blivit att kollegorna kan kompensera för gränssnittets brister och avlasta i situationer av hög arbetsbelastning. / An ongoing modernization of Air Traffic Management is in effect to keep up with the forecasted increase in air traffic by 2035. As a part of this modernization a product was developed by Saab AB to control air traffic from remote control towers with a system of cameras, called “Digital Tower”. With the purpose of increasing the knowledge about the needs of Air Traffic Controllers and general flight safety with increased amount of flight traffic, this study researched the cognitive load within the operative Digital Tower environment in service. Currently the interactive interface within the work environment has limited flexibility and possibilities for adaptation. The study has therefore answered the question about how these limited adaptations affect the Air Traffic Controllers work and collaboration between them. The study has used qualitative methods in order to answer the question, by using a contextual inquiry which includes observations and interviews of the Air Traffic Controllers in their context. The result was analyzed by using Distributed Cognition theory, which made it possible to analyze the distributed cognition between people and artifacts within the context. The conclusion of the study is that the limited adaptations of the interface negatively affects the cognitive load, but has not been identified as a crucial interference for the Air Traffic Controllers. The centralized work environment has a strong presence of colleagues, which has led to the colleagues compensating for the limited interface by physically unburden the workload in critical situations.

Estudos atuais na área de Interação Humano-Computador evidenciam a importância de se considerar aspectos emocionais na interação com sistemas computacionais. Acredita-se que ao permitir agentes artificiais identificar emoções de usuários, em uma interação humano-computador, torna-se possível induzir e despertar emoções a fim de estimulá-los em suas atividades. Um dos grandes desafios dos pesquisadores em Interação humano-computador é prover sistemas capazes de reconhecer, interpretar e reagir de modo inteligente e sensível às emoções do usuário, para atender aos requisitos do maior número possível de indivíduos; um dos caminhos que se apresenta é o desenvolvimento de sistemas flexíveis. O principal objetivo de se promover essa interação emotiva é contribuir para o aumento da coerência, consistência e credibilidade das reações e respostas computacionais providas durante a interação humana via interface humano-computador. Nesse contexto, surge a oportunidade de explorar sistemas computacionais capazes de identificar e inferir o estado emocional do usuário em tempo de execução. Este projeto tem como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar um modelo que possa: i.) identificar o estado emocional do usuário; ii.) prover um mecanismo de persuasão com vistas a mudar o estado emocional do usuário (com um estudo de caso em player de música) e; iii.) explorar a abordagem flexível na persuasão (de acordo com o estado emocional particular de cada usuário) através de mecanismos persuasivos que poderão variar entre um player de música, jogos e/ou vídeos. Assim, ao longo do estudo, o modelo baseado em Comitê de Classificação se mostrou eficiente na identificação das emoções básicas (alegria, aversão, medo, neutro, raiva, surpresa e tristeza) com média de acurácia superior a 80% e, ainda, observou-se a satisfação dos usuários mediante a aplicação do modelo com o player de música. / Current studies in the field of Human-Computer Interaction highlight the relevance of emotional aspects while interacting with computers systems. It is believed that allowing intelligent agents to identify users emotions, they can induce and awaken emotions in order to stimulate them while interacting with computers. A major challenge for researchers in human-computer interaction is to provide systems capable of recognizing, interpreting and reacting intelligently and sensitively to the emotions of the user, to meet the requirements of the largest possible number of individuals. One of the ways presented in this project is the development of flexible systems to meet a large number of emotions/behaviors. The main objective of promoting this emotional interaction is to contribute to increasing the coherence, consistency and credibility of reactions and computational responses provided during human interaction via human-computer interface. In this context, the opportunity arises to explore computational systems able to identify and infer the emotional state of the user at runtime. This project aims to develop and evaluate a model that can: i.) identify the emotional state of the user/developer; ii.) provide a mechanism of persuasion in order to change the emotional state of the user (with a case study in music player) and; iii.) explore the flexible approach in persuasion (according to the particular emotional state of each user) through persuasive mechanisms that may vary from a music player, games and/or videos. Thus, throughout the study, the Rating Committee based model is efficient for identification of basic emotions (happiness, disgust, fear, neutral, anger, surprise and sadness) with average accuracy higher than 80% and also noted himself to user satisfaction by applying the model to the music player.

The purpose of this research is to critically inquire into the appropriateness of the current human computer interaction (HCI) practices in Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) system design given the contextual constraints and challenges found in developing country contexts. Despite user participation in system design being a buzzword of HCI the form of this participation varies with the different disciplinary perspectives and paradigms and their different methods for engaging users and identifying users' needs. Moreover, a majority of these dominant HCI perspectives are not only rooted in the developed countries context they also mainly focus on organisational management information systems (MIS) and less on information systems (IS) that place emphasis on the socio-economic context of developing countries. Literature review reveal that limited studies focus on the differences brought about by the western influenced methodologies and principles when applied in different contexts and how they affect the user participation process as well as the outcome. Building on past research, this research argues that HCI for ICTD needs to develop new contextualised participatory methods and strategies that consider the broader and complex contexts of the ICTD users. However, shifting the focus to localised forms of HCI in ICTD system design requires a better appreciation of the challenges and constraints encountered when applying the traditional HCI methods and strategies. Based on this argument the research conceptually explores and reflects on the underlying contextual factors and mechanisms present in participatory ICTD system design and the presumed relationships among them. Drawing on this conceptual framework, the research conducts semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations with three mobile money system design projects in Kenya that engaged the users during the design process to highlight how current HCI practices respond to the multifaceted nature of ICTD system design which present challenges that include social, technical, cultural and infrastructural issues. Findings from this qualitative study provide significant new insights that support the call for contextualised participatory methods and strategies. The findings suggest that there is tension between the underlying assumptions inherent in western HCI methods and strategies and the local context thus justifying the call for the appropriation of the design process. Drawing on the conceptual framework it was found that bias formed from factors such as power relations, diversity in interests for participation and cross-cultural differences moderate the design process and ultimately the participatory outcome. From the knowledge perspective, this research provides an in-depth understanding of the developing country contextual factors that mediate user participation process in ICTD system design. Furthermore, the research extends the knowledge with regards to participatory interventions in the development of IS in Africa. The research also presents a theoretical framework that makes explicit the contextual assumptions and constraints embedded in participatory ICTD system design interventions and how they shape the design process and the participatory outcome. Finally, the recommendations formulated from this research provide HCI designers and practitioners actionable knowledge in regards to reflecting on their current traditional HCI tools and techniques to ensure better localised design processes.

Existing Human Computer Interaction (HCI) strategies are seriously limited by current technologies. These are neither sensitive nor accurate enough to respond to users' emotional states, the fundamental basis for effective communication in real time. This offered the challenge of investigating factors that would impact on the designing of effective and more emotionally intelligent interaction strategies for Companions. These were applied to a conceptual tool, the Affective Channel (AC), to endow Companions with emotional capabilities. This was implemented in the Wizard of Oz (WoZ) platform to evaluate Companions in real time. The WoZ is an experimental setup where existing immature technologies and a human operator combine to simulate Companion interaction with end users. In these aspects of my work is my original contribution to the HCI knowledge base. Experiments, focus groups and face to face interviews were carried out to ascertain users' perception and expectations of virtual agents. ‘Descriptors' thus identified formed the bases for the designing of user friendly Companions. Verbal and facial expressions data and other affective elements of effective human-companion interactionwere collected for use in the AC and the WoZ as stated above. Companion evaluations yielded the subsidiary contribution that Companions are perceived as empathetic, useful and trustworthy entities. Further, that they arouse positive emotions in children and also that they promote their learning improvement. These findings were the result of two experiments, one within subjects and one between subjects, conducted with thirty grade four pupils in a rural school in the poor Oaxaca region of Mexico.

MENDES, Marília Soares. MALTU – um modelo para avaliação da interação em sistemas sociais a partir da linguagem textual do usuário. 2015. 199 f. Tese (Doutorado em Ciência da Computação)-Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2015. / Submitted by Vitor Campos (vitband@gmail.com) on 2016-09-27T23:24:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_msmendes.pdf: 9165504 bytes, checksum: 35e2398a141e078cdbae6331e1173c8a (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jairo Viana (jairo@ufc.br) on 2016-09-27T23:40:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_msmendes.pdf: 9165504 bytes, checksum: 35e2398a141e078cdbae6331e1173c8a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-27T23:40:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_msmendes.pdf: 9165504 bytes, checksum: 35e2398a141e078cdbae6331e1173c8a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / The field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has suggested various methods for evaluating systems in order to improve their usability and User eXperience (UX). The advent of Web 2.0 has allowed the development of applications marked by collaboration, communication and interaction among their users in a way and on a scale never seen before. Social Systems (SS) (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc.) are examples of such applications and have features such as: frequent exchange of messages, spontaneity and expression of feelings. The opportunities and challenges posed by these types of applications require the traditional evaluation methods to be reassessed, taking into consideration these new characteristics. For instance, the postings of users on SS reveal their opinions on various issues, including on what they think of the system. This work aims to test the hypothesis that the postings of users in SS provide relevant data for evaluation of the usability and of UX in SS. While researching through literature, we have not identified any evaluation model intending to collect and interpret texts from users in order to assess the user experience and system usability. Thus, this thesis proposes MALTU - Model for evaluation of interaction in social systems from the Users Textual Language. In order to provide a basis for the development of the proposed model, we conducted a study of how users express their opinions on the system in natural language. We extracted postings of users from four SS of different contexts. HCI experts classified, studied and processed such postings by using Natural Language Processing (PLN) techniques and data mining, and then analyzed them in order to obtain a generic model. The MALTU was applied in two SS: an entertainment and an educational SS. The results show that is possible to evaluate a system from the postings of users in SS. Such assessments are aided by extraction patterns related to the use, to the types of postings and to HCI factors used in system. / A área de Interação Humano-Computador (IHC) tem sugerido muitas formas para avaliar sistemas a fim de melhorar sua usabilidade e a eXperiência do Usuário (UX). O surgimento da web 2.0 permitiu o desenvolvimento de aplicações marcadas pela colaboração, comunicação e interatividade entre seus usuários de uma forma e em uma escala nunca antes observadas. Sistemas Sociais (SS) (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc.) são exemplos dessas aplicações e possuem características como: frequente troca de mensagens e expressão de sentimentos de forma espontânea. As oportunidades e os desafios trazidos por esses tipos de aplicações exigem que os métodos tradicionais de avaliação sejam repensados, considerando essas novas características. Por exemplo, as postagens dos usuários em SS revelam suas opiniões sobre diversos assuntos, inclusive sobre o que eles pensam do sistema em uso. Esta tese procura testar a hipótese de que as postagens dos usuários em SS fornecem dados relevantes para avaliação da Usabilidade e da UX (UUX) em SS. Durante as pesquisas realizadas na literatura, não foi identificado nenhum modelo de avaliação que tenha direcionado seu foco na coleta e análise das postagens dos usuários a fim de avaliar a UUX de um sistema em uso. Sendo assim, este estudo propõe o MALTU – Modelo para Avaliação da interação em sistemas sociais a partir da Linguagem Textual do Usuário. A fim de fornecer bases para o desenvolvimento do modelo proposto, foram realizados estudos de como os usuários expressam suas opiniões sobre o sistema em língua natural. Foram extraídas postagens de usuários de quatro SS de contextos distintos. Tais postagens foram classificadas por especialistas de IHC, estudadas e processadas utilizando técnicas de Processamento da Linguagem Natural (PLN) e mineração de dados e, analisadas a fim da obtenção de um modelo genérico. O MALTU foi aplicado em dois SS: um de entretenimento e um SS educativo. Os resultados mostram que é possível avaliar um sistema a partir das postagens dos usuários em SS. Tais avaliações são auxiliadas por padrões de extração relacionados ao uso, aos tipos de postagens e às metas de IHC utilizadas na avaliação do sistema.

Notifications are known to effectively improve the access to information and draw the users attention. Social media seems to be a popular domain for mobile users. The users seem to receive a lot of different notifications of social media. This is the reason why the data gathering source of this study is Instagram. The user experiences related to notifications are divided, as some people experience them as stressful and others seem to experience them as affirmative. The user experience depends on the context, content and what the notifications are triggered from. This study is done to identify the problems with the notification design. As a result, the study showed that the most common problems concern how the notification are shown to the users and its content. Suggestions of guidelines are created for future designers to improve the user experience of notifications.

Estudos atuais na área de Interação Humano-Computador evidenciam a importância de se considerar aspectos emocionais na interação com sistemas computacionais. Acredita-se que ao permitir agentes artificiais identificar emoções de usuários, em uma interação humano-computador, torna-se possível induzir e despertar emoções a fim de estimulá-los em suas atividades. Um dos grandes desafios dos pesquisadores em Interação humano-computador é prover sistemas capazes de reconhecer, interpretar e reagir de modo inteligente e sensível às emoções do usuário, para atender aos requisitos do maior número possível de indivíduos; um dos caminhos que se apresenta é o desenvolvimento de sistemas flexíveis. O principal objetivo de se promover essa interação emotiva é contribuir para o aumento da coerência, consistência e credibilidade das reações e respostas computacionais providas durante a interação humana via interface humano-computador. Nesse contexto, surge a oportunidade de explorar sistemas computacionais capazes de identificar e inferir o estado emocional do usuário em tempo de execução. Este projeto tem como objetivo desenvolver e avaliar um modelo que possa: i.) identificar o estado emocional do usuário; ii.) prover um mecanismo de persuasão com vistas a mudar o estado emocional do usuário (com um estudo de caso em player de música) e; iii.) explorar a abordagem flexível na persuasão (de acordo com o estado emocional particular de cada usuário) através de mecanismos persuasivos que poderão variar entre um player de música, jogos e/ou vídeos. Assim, ao longo do estudo, o modelo baseado em Comitê de Classificação se mostrou eficiente na identificação das emoções básicas (alegria, aversão, medo, neutro, raiva, surpresa e tristeza) com média de acurácia superior a 80% e, ainda, observou-se a satisfação dos usuários mediante a aplicação do modelo com o player de música. / Current studies in the field of Human-Computer Interaction highlight the relevance of emotional aspects while interacting with computers systems. It is believed that allowing intelligent agents to identify users emotions, they can induce and awaken emotions in order to stimulate them while interacting with computers. A major challenge for researchers in human-computer interaction is to provide systems capable of recognizing, interpreting and reacting intelligently and sensitively to the emotions of the user, to meet the requirements of the largest possible number of individuals. One of the ways presented in this project is the development of flexible systems to meet a large number of emotions/behaviors. The main objective of promoting this emotional interaction is to contribute to increasing the coherence, consistency and credibility of reactions and computational responses provided during human interaction via human-computer interface. In this context, the opportunity arises to explore computational systems able to identify and infer the emotional state of the user at runtime. This project aims to develop and evaluate a model that can: i.) identify the emotional state of the user/developer; ii.) provide a mechanism of persuasion in order to change the emotional state of the user (with a case study in music player) and; iii.) explore the flexible approach in persuasion (according to the particular emotional state of each user) through persuasive mechanisms that may vary from a music player, games and/or videos. Thus, throughout the study, the Rating Committee based model is efficient for identification of basic emotions (happiness, disgust, fear, neutral, anger, surprise and sadness) with average accuracy higher than 80% and also noted himself to user satisfaction by applying the model to the music player.

Les modèles d’aptitude et maturité de processus logiciel (AMPL) sont actuellement largement utilisés dans l’industrie. Pour exécuter les pratiques définies dans ces modèles, des approches d’ingénierie logicielle sont appliquées. On constate également une grande définition en termes de méthodes, techniques, patrons et normes pour l’analyse, la conception, la mise en œuvre et l’évaluation de systèmes interactifs, axés sur les questions d’Interaction Homme-Machine (IHM). Néanmoins, il est bien connu que les approches d’IHM ne sont pas largement utilisées dans l’industrie. Afin de profiter de l’utilisation des modèles AMPL, cette thèse propose d’intégrer les questions d’IHM (concepts de conception, mise en œuvre et évaluation de systèmes interactifs) dans le modèle international le plus connu (CMMI-DEV – Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) et dans le modèle brésilien (MR-MPS-SW – MPS for Software reference model). À cette fin, nous avons travaillé sur (i) l’identification des approches de l’IHM appropriées pour chaque pratique de l’ingénierie préconisée par ces modèles, (ii) l’évaluation et l’amélioration des approches de l’IHM identifiées avec des experts en IHM, (iii) la validation de la proposition dans un environnement académique, et (iv) la réalisation de deux études empiriques sur la perception de la connaissance et l’utilisation des approches de l’IHM dans l’industrie. En conséquence, nous avons obtenu 14 catégories d’approches de l’IHM avec des exemples de méthodes, techniques, patrons et normes propres à réaliser chaque pratique des activités d’ingénierie des deux modèles lors du développement de systèmes interactifs. De plus, l’étude empirique avec l’industrie brésilienne a confirmé statistiquement que les consultants de ces modèles AMPL ne connaissent et n’utilisent pas ou peu les approches de l’IHM, comme ils connaissent et utilisent des approches d’ingénierie logicielle. / Software process capability maturity (SPCM) models are currently widely used in industry. To perform the practices defined in these models, software engineering approaches are applied. We also have experienced a large definition of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards for the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive systems focusing on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) issues. Nevertheless, it is well known that HCI approaches are not largely used in industry. In order to take advantage of the widespread use of SPCM models, this thesis proposes to integrate HCI issues (concepts of design, implementation, and evaluation of interactive systems) in the most known international SPCM model (CMMI-DEV – Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development) and in the Brazilian SPCM model (MR-MPS-SW – MPS for Software reference model). To that end, we have worked on (i) the identification of appropriate HCI approaches for each practice of the engineering advocated by these models, (ii) the evaluation and improvement of the identified HCI approaches with HCI experts, (iii) the validation of the proposition in an academic environment, and (iv) the conduction of two empirical studies about the perception of knowledge and use of HCI approaches in the industry. As a result, we got 14 categories of HCI approaches with examples of methods, techniques, patterns, and standards adequate to perform each practice of engineering activities of the both models when developing interactive systems. Moreover, the empirical study, in Brazilian industry, confirmed statistically that consultants of those SPCM models do not know and do not use HCI approaches as well as they know and use software engineering approaches.

Les entrées et sorties unimodales dans les systèmes actuels ont atteint une maturité reconnue, avec les applications tactiles ou par les services distribués pour la géo-localisation ou la reconnaissance de la parole, du son ou l’'image. Cependant, l'intégration et l’instanciation de toutes ces modalités, manque d’une gestion intelligente du contexte d’acquisition et de restitution basée sur des notions fortement formalisées mais reflétant le sens commun. Ceci demande un comportement plus dynamique du système avec une approche plus adéquate pour gérer l'environnement de l'utilisateur. Cependant,la technologie nécessaire pour atteindre un tel objectif n’est pas encore disponible de façon standardisée, tant au niveau des descriptions fonctionnelles des services unimodaux que de leur description sémantique. Ceci est aussi le cas pour les architectures multimodales, où la composante sémantique est produite par chaque projet sans un accord commun pour assurer l’interoperabilité et est souvent limitée au traitement des entrées et sorties ou aux processus de fusion/fission strictement nécessaires au projet.Pour combler cette lacune, nous proposons une approche sémantique orientée services pour une architecture multimodale générique qui vise à améliorer la description et la découverte des composants de modalité pour les services d'assistance: l'architecture SOA2m. Cette architecture se veut entièrement focalisée sur la multimodalité et enrichie avec des technologies sémantiques car nous croyons que cette orientation permettra d'enrichir le comportement autonome des applications multimodales, avoir une perception robuste des échanges, et contrôler l'intégration sémantique. / Unimodal inputs and outputs in current systems have become very mature with touch applications or distributed services for geo-localization or speech, audio and image recognition. However, the integration and instantiation of all these modalities, lack of an intelligent management of the acquisition and restitution context, based on highly formalized notions reflecting common sense. This requires a more dynamic behavior of the system with a more appropriate approach to manage the user environment.However, the technology required to achieve such a goal is not yet available in a standardized manner, both in terms of the functional description of unimodal services and in terms of their semantic description. This is also the case for multimodal architectures, where the semantic management is produced by each project without a common agreement in the field to ensure inter-operability, and it is often limited to the processing of inputs and outputs or fusion / fission mechanisms. To fill this gap, we propose a semantic service-oriented generic architecture for multimodal systems. This proposal aims to improve the description and the discovery of modality components for assistance services: this is the architecture SOA2m. This architecture is fully focused on multimodality and it is enriched with semantic technologies because we believe that this approach will enhance the autonomous behavior of multimodal applications, provide a robust perception of the user-system exchanges, and help in the control of the semantic integration of the human-computer interaction.As a result, the challenge of discovery is addressed using the tools provided by the field of the semantic web services