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This project aims to investigate the impact of culture on the results of established methods of usability testing. The production and use of technologically advanced information and communication applications are no longer restricted to the Western world, and there are indications that usability testing procedures developed for use in, e.g., Europe or the US do not give reliable results in countries such as India, China or Malaysia. This project is an in-depth investigation of the cultural specifics that go into usability test situations in three countries: Denmark, India and China. In a second phase we want to explore possible developments of the testing methods in order to avoid cultural bias and produce comparable results across countries of the world / <p>This research is a part of project of Culturalusability. http://culturalusability.cbs.dk/</p>

The overall theme of this thesis is the study of incorporating gamification design approaches in the creation of mobile educational software. The research presented in this thesis focuses on the design and testing of software created to teach introductory computer science and literacy concepts to postsecondary and adult learners. A study testing the relative effectiveness and subjective user enjoyment of different interfaces for a mobile game is also included in this thesis, as the results of the study led to the primary research objectives investigated in further studies. Our primary research objective was to investigate whether using gamification design approaches to mobile educational software could result in student engagement and learning. Our central hypothesis is that gamification design approaches can be used to create engaging and educationally effective mobile educational software. Our secondary research objective is to determine how mobile educational software can be made more or less engaging and educationally effective through gamification design approaches, by trying different approaches, testing the resulting applications, and reporting the findings. Three studies were conducted based on these objectives, one study to teach various computer science concepts to students in a first year computer science course with iPad applications, and two studies which used iPad applications to teach punctuation and homonyms, and improve reading comprehension. The studies document the design of the applications, and provide analysis and conclusions based on the results of testing. Through the results of these studies we affirm our hypothesis. We make design suggestions for software creators, such as providing corrective feedback to the user. We discuss common themes that emerged across the studies, including how to best use educational software. Finally, as avenues for future work, we suggest investigating the impromptu social effects of using tablet software in a classroom, and the development of a usability testing platform. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The overall theme of this thesis is the study of how gamification can be used to make mobile educational software engaging and effective as a learning tool. The research presented in this thesis focuses on the design and testing of software intended to teach introductory computer science and literacy concepts. The hypothesis guiding this work is that mobile educational software can be made engaging and educationally effective by incorporating game design elements. Through four studies we affirm our hypothesis, and document the relative success of various gamification techniques in different contexts. We make design suggestions for software creators, such as providing corrective feedback to the user. We discuss common themes that emerged across the studies, including how to best use educational software. Finally, as avenues for future work, we suggest investigating the impromptu social effects of using tablet software in a classroom, and the development of a usability testing platform.

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Electronic surveillance operators are a vital part of electronic warfare. Included in their field of responsibility is the analysis of, the assessment of, and the actions on potential threats. A vital component of these is an operator’s situation awareness. It governs to what degree of confidence and accuracy these aspects can be determined. An interface of an electronic surveillance operator must therefor be designed to provide and improve situation awareness. A technology that is hypothesized to improve situation awareness is virtual reality. Through its head-mounted display and handheld controllers it is aimed to create immersion and generate natural interactions. Information can be closely explored through new perspectives and the entire body can be used to interact with interfaces. These aspects and the additional dimension provided by virtual reality are the factors expected to improve situation awareness. The aim of this study is to explore the effects for situation awareness with a 3D interface in virtual reality compared to a traditional 2D interface for electronic surveillance operators. A user-centric approach was selected to evaluate how an existing 2D interface for electronic surveillance operators compares to a novel 3D interface in virtual reality. The existing interface is provided by Saab AB, and the 3D interface is developed for this particular case. Furthermore, a wrist-mounted menu and a stationary dashboard menu were implemented in virtual reality to support minimal implementation bias and for further discussion on interactions in virtual reality. The results indicate improved situation awareness in the virtual reality 3D interface. This is complemented by users’ reflections to generate a discussion for design guidelines, whether traditional interfaces may be replaced by virtual reality interfaces, and what effects virtual reality has on situation awareness. / Operatörer för elektronisk övervakning är en viktig del av elektronisk krigföring. Inkluderat i deras ansvarsområde är analysen av, bedömningen av, och åtgärderna mot potentiella hot. En viktig komponent i dessa är en operatörs lägesuppfattning. Den styr i vilken grad av tillförlitlighet och noggrannhet dessa aspekter kan fastställas. Ett gränssnitt för dessa operatörer måste därför utformas för att ge och förbättra lägesuppfattning. En teknik som antas förbättra lägesuppfattningen är virtuell verklighet. Genom bildskärmar som bärs på huvudet och handhållna kontroller syftar den till att skapa immersion och naturliga interaktioner. Information kan utforskas på nära håll genom nya perspektiv och hela kroppen kan användas för att interagera med gränssnittet. Dessa aspekter och den ytterligare dimension som virtuell verklighet ger är de faktorer som förväntas förbättra lägesuppfattning. Syftet med denna studie är att utforska effekterna för lägesuppfattning med ett 3D-gränssnitt i virtuell verklighet jämfört med ett traditionellt 2D-gränssnitt för elektroniska övervakningsoperatörer. Ett användarcentrerat tillvägagångssätt valdes för att utvärdera hur ett befintligt 2D-gränssnitt för elektroniska övervakningsoperatörer kan jämföras med ett nytt 3D-gränssnitt i virtuell verklighet. Det befintliga gränssnittet tillhandahålls av Saab AB och 3D-gränssnittet är utvecklat för just detta fall. Dessutom implementerades en handledsmonterad meny och en stationär instrumentpanelmeny i virtuell verklighet för att stödja minimal implementeringsbias och för ytterligare diskussion om interaktioner i virtuell verklighet. Resultaten indikerar förbättrad situationsmedvetenhet i 3D-gränssnittet för virtuell verklighet. Detta kompletteras med användarnas reflektioner för att generera en diskussion för designriktlinjer, om traditionella gränssnitt kan ersättas med virtuella verklighetsgränssnitt och vilka effekter virtuell verklighet har på lägesuppfattning.

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This thesis firstly presents the exploration of an engaging user interface and navigation design for local community mobile applications. Furthermore, it seeks for the best suitable tool for both rapid prototyping and production development. The research and content is structured based on design and creation research methodology which is a user-centric and iterative process. To evaluate the suggested interface design and the selected tool, an interactive prototype was developed in this thesis. The results argues that card-based user interface and navigation design has the potential to enhance user engagement. In addition, AngularJS as the selected tool is a suitable framework for rapid prototyping as well as production development.

This thesis argues for a new theory of medical humanities practice and research, known as Mind Interface Theory. It begins with the claim that Sigmund Freud expanded medical metaphysics considerably in "A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis," and that this expansion affords the possibility of thinking of the mind as a user interface. Capitalizing on this affordance, the work then introduces mind interface theory as one possible imagining of Freud's metaphysical system, separate from his well-known theory, psychoanalysis. More specifically, it uses his discussion of dreamwork to reveal reprocessing as mind interface's mechanism of healing, before utilizing this reprocessing principle to orient the medical humanities' research, providing a theoretical framework for increased collaboration between humanists and physicians and a foundation for two distinct modes of activist scholarship: product-based and process-based. / Master of Arts / This thesis participates in medical humanities scholarship by advocating for a specific theory of the field that stems from a reading of Sigmund Freud’s Introduction to Psychoanalysis, a brief series of lectures which were written down for public consumption. Instead of using psychoanalysis itself to form a theory of the medical humanities, my work abstracts the broader suppositions on which psychoanalytic interpretation is rooted. This broader framework I call Freud’s medical metaphysics and define as the assumptions about causation and disease which form the basis for his philosophy of medical treatment. In making this distinction, I can more ably build my own theory of a mind interface on the fact that the basic structure of the metaphysics advocated in the lectures implies a vision of the mind that can be likened to a modern user interface. Through conceiving of the mind in terms of a user interface, I use mind interface theory to frame treatment in such a way as to promote a humanist theory of healing. The purport of the method is that humanists can assist patients through helping them utilize signs, language, and symbols to reprocess their experience. The advocation of this method is then applied to current threads in medical humanities scholarship to suggest that efforts in the field would be best served if they were directed towards studying the artifacts of patient populations for narrative and rhetorical strategies which were effective with coping with a specific illness and fostering an environment where patients are encouraged to produce such artifacts.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore and study the usability issues within Technical Data Management Systems (TDMS). The research has been conducted as a single case study at the gardening and landscape maintenance company Husqvarna. The inductive research led to conducting 10 interviews, 2 expert focus groups and a observational study. An artefact was produced during the research to emulate a potential system. During the research, the researchers identified ten heuristic usability issues within TDMS. Fur- thermore the functional and non-functional needs of Husqvarna have been identified. The artefact was created, based on existing usability guidelines, addressing the usability issues and the needs of Husqvarna. The artefact was used to answer if the applied guidelines have solved the identified usability issues. The conclusion was set, that the applied guidelines had solved the identified issues. With the research being conducted with a single case study, the result may lack generalisability. Future researchers are encouraged to conduct a multiple case study to further identify issues within the research area.

This thesis investigates embedded databases and graphical interfaces for the MicroBaseJ project. The project aim is the development of an integrated database and GUI user interface for a typical 3G, or 2.5G, mobile phone with Java MIDP2 capability. This includes methods for data acquisition, mobile data and information communication, data management, and remote user interface. Support of phone delivered informatics will require integrated server and networking infrastructure research and development to support effective and timely delivery of data for incorporation in mobile device-based informatics applications. A key research and development (R&D) challenge is to support effective and timely delivery of data for incorporation in mobile device-based informatics applications. Another important aspect of the project is determining how to develop efficient graphics for the small mobile screen. The research investigates and analyses the architecture of a mobile monitoring system. The project developed a generic solution that can be implemented in a number of commercial sectors, such as horticulture, building management and pollution/water management. The developed concept is tested using data relevant to the horticultural area of application. The system also addresses the main issues related to mobile monitoring, including real-time response, data integrity, solution cost, graphical presentation, and persistent storage capabilities of modern mobile devices. Four embedded databases based on J2ME have been investigated. Two of the four have been evaluated and analysed. The Insert function, Sequence Search, and Random Search of Perst List and RMS (Record Management System) databases have been tested. The size of the processed data was limited to 20,000 records when using the wireless toolkit simulator, and 11,000 records when using a mobile phone. Perst Lite reflects good performance and has out-performed RMS in all tests. User interface software such as J2ME Polish for mobile phones has been investigated. Custom J2ME class for graphical interface is developed. This provides the graphical presentation of the data collected from the sensors; including temperature, wind speed, wind direction, moisture, and leaf wetness. The graphical interface, bar charts, and line charts with trace ball for collected data have been designed and implemented. The embedded database performance and project performance have been investigated and analysed. The performances of Perst Lite and RMS are evaluated in terms of the insert, sequence search, and random search functions based on simulation and real devices. The record numbers vary from 1,000 to 20,000. The project performance contains data receiving and storage, and data presentation and configuration. The performance of data storage and configuration can be negated due to the running mode and the response time. Thus, data presenting performance is the key focus in this project. This performance was divided into the categories of initial, data search, data selection, and charting. The initial performance includes the initialisation of the project parameters, and the reaching of the welcome interface. Data search performance refers to the retrieval of the specified data from the embedded database, measured on 48 data points, which only can be presented on the mobile screen from the retrieved data. These four performance types are measured in thousands of record numbers, varying from 1,000 to 18,000 record numbers, with the retrieved data range varying from 1 day to 30 days.