A grande quantidade de informações eletrônicas disponíveis, e a crescente modificação do público da Computação, devido, principalmente, à redução dos custos de equipamentos de informática e ao surgimento da rede Internet, acentuaram a necessidade do uso de ferramentas de consulta com acesso rápido e adaptado às características dos usuários. Adicionalmente, como conseqüência do surgimento da rede Internet e da crescente expansão das redes de computadores, estão sendo desenvolvidos, cada vez mais, sistemas de suporte ao trabalho em grupo, os quais são atualmente muito encontrados em ambientes de ensino, a fim de facilitar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Um exemplo de ambiente de ensino onde podemos perceber todos os fatores acima citados é o Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da PUCRS (MCT). Este Museu possui um amplo conjunto de informações armazenadas em bases de dados, e o interesse do público pela consulta a tais bases vem crescendo de forma acentuada. Neste sentido, SAGRES - um sistema com apresentação adaptável de informações e suporte à interação em grupo é um ambiente construído sobre a Internet, o qual possibilita a apresentação das bases de dados do MCT de forma adaptada às características de um ou mais visitantes. De acordo com o nível de experiência, as preferências e as atividades apresentadas pelos visitantes, o sistema determina o conjunto de links apropriados e apresenta-os em uma página HTML (HyperText Markup Language) resultante. Além da adaptação da apresentação das informações, o sistema SAGRES também apóia o aprendizado, explorando aspectos relevantes para a interação entre o visitante e o computador, e, também, entre um conjunto de visitantes, pois a interação pode ocorrer de forma individual ou através de turmas de alunos. Deste modo, é possibilitada a comunicação entre os participantes da turma que, ao compartilharem experiências, duvidas e soluções, podem obter um aprendizado mais consciente e permanente. 0 objetivo final desta pesquisa é a implementação do sistema SAGRES, o qual permite que grupos de visitantes interajam ao mesmo tempo em locais geograficamente distantes. Tal interação é realizada de forma adaptada aos objetivos, ao nível de experiência e às preferências de um visitante e/ou grupo de visitantes, os quais podem assumir três papéis distintos: gerente de turma (responsável em especificar as características de uma turma de alunos), aluno de turma (executa o conjunto de ações especificadas anteriormente pelo gerente) e visitante individual (responsável em definir suas características particulares e, com elas, interagir com o sistema). Por sua vez, o processo de cooperação pode ocorrer entre os componentes de uma turma ou entre todos os usuários do Sistema, os quais podem editar documentos e trocar mensagens, a fim de possibilitar o compartilhamento de experiências. / The great amount of electronical information available today, and the growing and changing users of Computer Science mainly due to cost cuts on computer equipment and the emergence of Internet reinforced the need of tools providing fast access to information and adapted to user's characteristics. As a consequence of the emergence of Internet and the growing expansion of computer networks, systems for Computer Supported Cooperative Work in learning environments have been developed in order to facilitate the teaching-learning process. An example of learning environment where all aspects below can be observed is the Museum of Science and Technology (MCT) at PUCRS. In this museum there is a comprehensive amount of information stored on databases and visitor's interest in querying these bases has been growing. SAGRES - an adaptable information presentation and work group support interaction system is a tool built on top of the Internet which enables the presentation of MCT databases concerning visitor's traits. According to visitors experience levels and preferences and intended activities the system determines the group of appropriate links and presents it on a resulting HTML page (HyperText Markup Language). Besides the adaptation in presenting the information, the system supports the learning process by exploring important aspects for interaction between visitor and computer and also among visitors since interaction can occur individually or in groups of students. Thus, communication is enabled among students and as a result they may share experiences, doubts and solutions, and consequently achieve a more effective and conscious learning process. Therefore, the final aim of this research is the development of SAGRES, a system which allows groups of visitors to interact at the same time in different places all over the world. Such interaction is accomplished according to objectives, experience level and preferences of visitors that can have three different roles: group manager (responsible for specifying characteristics of group of students), student group (perform group of actions predetermined by the group manager) and individual visitor (in charge of defining particular traits and interacting with the system). Furthermore, Cooperative Processes may occur among all system users who can edit documents and exchange messages in order to share experiences.

Abstract In this thesis we aim to extend the current theories about a concept called persona. A persona is a model of a user, mostly based on qualitative research and made with such accuracy that it to some extent can be used as a replacement of a real user in a development process and as a communicative tool. We will present a way of constructing this persona without meeting the actual users and follow up with interviews from the organization using them. This will lead to a model over the process of introducing personas as a concept in an organization,previously not familiar with the concept. The model is adapted to also work for projects and organizations where the concept is already known. / Executive summary When developing and designing systems or products to be used directly by end users,it is important that these are developed with people in mind. One way to do this is to have close contact between the end user and the developer as can be seen in for example agile development methods. This is however not applicable at all times and therefore the developer need to get the information about the end user some other way. Often this is done by a spokesman or project manager for the ordering company who delivers the information to a project manager or spokesman for the systems development company who in turn make sure the developer get the relevant information. Of course this means that sometimes information that could be relevant is missed and sometimes even altered due to misunderstandings or even personal interest. One way to deal with this is to have a written description or model of the primary end user that is so correct and accurate that it to some extent could be used as a replacement of the real user. Especially effective is this when making design decisions and as a communicative tool to ensure a common and shared picture of the different needs of the users. Even if a description of the end user has been made, the view of the user is not always shared. This thesis will address the problem of creating this description of a user by using the concept of persona, first presented by Alan Cooper 1999 in his book “The Inmates are running the Asylum – Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity”. In our research we show that under certain circumstances, this can be done without actually meeting the real end users by interviewing and observing other people with very similar roles. Using this persona as a development tool requires introduction of the concept in the organization as well as introduction of the personas for the actual project. This research is summarized in a model that includes the different steps of creating a persona using several methods and also how to implement this tool in an organization or project. For each general step in the model there is a short description which includes the construction of personas and which activities to include in the introduction, either if personas is previously known or not. Appendix 10 in this thesis consists of a brief and more hands on guide of the process of creating personas and introducing the concept in an organization. This guide could serve as a quick introduction to the subject and could also be used at a later time to refresh some of the highlights in the process. / Sammanfattning Denna uppsats avser utöka befintliga teorier runt konceptet persona. En persona är en modell av en användare, baserad främst på kvalitativa studier, och utvecklad med sådan precision att den till vissa delar kan ersätta en riktig slutanvändare i en utvecklingsprocess samt som ett kommunikationsverktyg. Vi kommer att presentera ett sätt att utveckla denna persona utan att träffa den riktiga slutanvändaren och följa upp med intervjuer från organisationen som använder dem. Detta leder fram till en modell över processen med att utveckla personas samt införandet i en utvecklingsorganisation som tidigare inte har använt sig av konceptet. Modellen är anpassad för att fungera vid införande av persona även i projekt och organisationer där konceptet är känt sedan tidigare.

Many of the technological and social systems our society has come to depend on can be classified as complex adaptive systems (CAS). These systems are made of many individual parts that self-organize to respond and adapt to changing outside and inside influences affecting the system and its actors. These CAS can be placed on a spectrum ranging from loosely- to tightly-coupled, depending on the degree of interrelatedness and interdependence between system components. This research has explored how the process of collaboration occurs in both a loosely- and tightly-coupled setting using one exemplar of each system. The loosely-coupled exemplar related to disaster risk reduction in two Canadian communities while the tightly-coupled one involved the implementation of a surgical information management system in a Canadian hospital. A list of core elements of collaboration that should be considered essential to the success of all collaborative endeavours was developed as a result: Engagement, Communication, Leadership, Role Clarity, Awareness, Time, and Technical Skills and Knowledge. Based on observing how the core elements of collaboration interacted with one another within each of these example systems, two models were created to represent their relationships. A list of considerations that collaborative tool designers should consider was also developed and the implications of these considerations were discussed. As businesses and other organizations increasingly incorporate team-based work models, they will come to depend more heavily on technology-based solutions to support collaboration. By incorporating collaborative technologies that properly support the activity of these teams—based on the specific type of complex adaptive system in which their organization exists—organizations can avoid wasting time and resources developing tools that hinder collaboration.

Innerhalb der Fachdomäne Logistik ist ein ausgeprägter Bedarf zur Unterstützung von immer komplexer werdenden und dynamischen Dienstleistungsprozessen durch mobile Informationssysteme festzustellen. Besonders neue Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglichen die Neugestaltung zugehöriger logistischer Wertschöpfungssysteme durch die Vernetzung von produzierenden Unternehmen, Dienstleistern und Endkunden entlang der Supply Chain. Für die Logistik wird die Technologie Augmented Reality (AR) als nutzenstiftendes Werkzeug zur Prozessunterstützung und Realisierung von zwischenmenschlichen Kollaborationen als auch Mensch-Maschine-Kollaborationen bewertet. Hierzu zählen besonders Datenbrillen, sogenannte „Smart Glasses“, die als Trägersystem für die augmentierte Prozessunterstützung zum Einsatz kommen. Zielsetzung dieser Forschungsarbeit ist die Gestaltung von logistischen Wertschöpfungssystemen mittels augmentierter Prozessunterstützung auf Basis Smart-Glasses-basierter Assistenzsysteme. Dazu werden zunächst (1) domänenspezifische als auch branchenübergreifende nutzenstiftende Anwendungsfälle identifiziert und aggregiert, (2) ein Vorgehensmodell zur Konzeption, Integration und Implementierung von entsprechen mobilen Informationssystemen erstellt und (3) Gestaltungsrichtlinien für mensch-zentrierte Assistenzsysteme und zugehörige Kollaborationsfunktionen mit Fokus auf die Gebrauchstauglichkeit (engl. Usability) etabliert. Mittels eines gestaltungsorientierten Vorgehens (Design Science Research) wird der identifizierte Forschungsbedarf mit Erkenntnissen aus einem in der Dienstleistungslogistik verorteten Konsortialforschungsprojekt als auch mehreren prototypischen Instanziierungen praktisch fundiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit erweitert durch die Gestaltung von gebrauchstauglichen Smart-Glasses-basierten Assistenzsystemen und die Schaffung entsprechender Kollaborationsfunktionen das Forschungsgebiet der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion und hier speziell den Forschungsbereich der Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Zusätzlich wird der Bereich des Service Systems Engineering als Teildisziplin der Wirtschaftsinformatik mit Gestaltungswissen ergänzt. Zugleich wird die Wissensbasis der Fachdomäne Logistik (und hier speziell der Dienstleistungslogistik) um konkrete Anwendungsfälle für eine augmentierte Prozessunterstützung erweitert.

Das Internet ist ein riesiger Experimentierkasten für neue Anwendungssysteme. Potenziell enthält insbesondere das sogenannte Web 2.0 Ideen und Mechanismen, die auch im Organisationsumfeld die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Mitarbeitern unterstützen können. Ein jüngstes Beispiel hierfür sind die von Facebook bekannten Activity Streams. Fraglich ist nun, wie eine Adaption dieses Web 2.0-Vorbilds in Organisationen auszugestalten ist. Hierfür ist zu klären, welcher Anwendungsfall von Activity Streams abgedeckt werden kann, welche Anforderungen hieraus sowie aus dem allgemeinen organisationalen Kontext entstehen und wie schließlich ein entsprechendes Anwendungssystem zu konzipieren ist. Die Arbeit zielt auf die Beantwortung dieser Fragestellungen in Form eines Fachkonzepts, welches anschließend durch eine prototypische Implementierung sowie die Durchführung von Fallstudien in realen Einsatzszenarien Anwendung findet.

Both companies and individuals have observed positive effects after implementing working from home (WFH) practices as digital technology expands collaborative possibilities. As a result, the hybrid workplace has emerged as a sustainable possibility for future workplace solutions. In a hybrid workplace, the workforce is distributed between a co-located office and WFH to different extents, naturally inferring an intense use of collaborative technology in daily operations. However, despite reports of aforementioned positive effects, research show that the feeling of professional isolation (PI) is a reoccurring issue for knowledge workers WFH. And although the spread of the issue appears to be severe in literature, little is known about the effects that the collaborative technology actually has on the level of experienced PI.  Within the interdisciplinary research field of CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work), collaborative information technology systems are studied from both technological and social perspectives. Thus, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of professional isolation in relation to the use of collaborative information technology systems, this study aims to explore how knowledge workers currently WFH experience and perceive the support of CSCW systems for communication in relation to PI.  Based on a qualitative, focused ethnographic approach, nine knowledge workers from different companies and positions currently WFH were interviewed about their perceptions of CSCW systems for communication support in relation to PI. The empirical data that the interviews generated was subjected to a thematic analysis, from which five themes emerged and constituted the empirical findings. These themes were then analyzed in the light of the research questions and discussed with the concepts in the literature review as well as with a symbolic interactionist perspective.  The results of this master’s thesis research show that most of the participants do not experience professional isolation as defined in literature, however, they display a loss of connectedness to co-workers when using the CSCW systems for communication support when working from home. The connectedness in question is achieved with ‘social interaction’, however, the research findings of this master’s thesis illustrate that ‘social interaction’ is not symbolically connected to any of the CSCW systems for communication support for the participants. Based on these research findings, it is proposed that ‘social interaction’ is not included in the concept of ‘communication’ within the field of CSCW. Furthermore, it is suggested that organizations aspiring to implement working from home (WFH), or hybrid workplace practices may want to re-evaluate current and future social activities within the CSCW systems for communication support based on the insights provided by the master’s thesis research study.

In the domain of access control, the notion of zone is still ambiguous. The zone demands clearer contextualization that resonates with the security operators in their workplace. Through interpretive research, this project aims to investigate intuitive ways to monitor the overview of security through visualisation and propose a groundwork that can facilitate discussion around future possibilities of zones in physical access control. Based on the sense making process, this project presents three visualisation models: textual, physical, and abstract. Each model explores various representations of zones to communicate zone-to-zone relationships to improve usability. Also, the design work demonstrates diverse expressive qualities interacting with spaces that are physical, conceptual, and logical. In the most practical sense, the zone means groups of doors, however, the zone also embodies an abstract layer of interpretation that is not strictly connected to a physical space.

Requirements Engineering (RE) plays a vital role in Information Systems (IS) development. The collaboration of requirements engineers is at the core of RE activities and is typically supported by technology tools, with Jira being an example of such a tool. Since these technology tools, like Jira, are focused on the execution of traditional duties, the collaboration functionalities of these technology tools are unseen. Moreover, little research has been carried out to explore how requirements engineers’ collaboration is supported and the challenges are created by the technology tools. Interpretive qualitative research was conducted to understand the nature of requirements engineers’ collaboration in three IS development organisations in Sweden to better support it with technology tools. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations and was analysed thematically to generate seven themes.  The findings revealed that the technology tools facilitate requirements engineers’ cooperation, communication among multiple collaborating parties in one platform, coordination of work activities and information sharing among other collaborating parties. Additionally, it discovered that the inability to support real-time communication, high configurability, limited sharing possibilities, compatibility, technicality and complexity challenge and interrupt the requirement engineers’ collaboration.  Moreover, the theoretical frame findings are discussed with the help of the theoretical framework, including the activity theory. Requirements engineers’ collaboration is presented as a purposeful interaction among them and other people with the support of technology tools to complete the process of RE in information systems development. Their interactions and the importance of the technology tools are underlined. Hence, the outcome of the master’s thesis research shows that the collaborative technology tools enable the requirement engineers’ collaboration through supporting and facilitating their effective communication, cooperation, coordination, information sharing, and through facilitating their awareness, allowing them in this way to drive the information systems projects and/or products development into successful completion. The extended collaboration model presented in this research in combination with activity theory is used to understand the transformation of the enabling collaboration of requirements engineers.

The purpose of the research is to propose and evaluate a methodology for implementing EDI to assist organisations in reaping the anticipated benefits. The research involved the systematic analysis of the state of the art of EDI and paradigms of methodologies, to define a model for the EDI implementation methodology, and to define criteria for evaluating such a model. The methodology was developed and modelled utilising the software process model, as adopted by Boehm (1988) and later duPlessis and van der Walt (1992), as a framework. Next a synthesis of the assimilated knowledge and brainstorming of project teams involved in EDI pilot projects, was used to systematically develop an EDI implementation methodology. The methodology was evaluated by utilising it in the implementation of EDI between two organisations, Computer Equipment Brokers (PTY) and Marksec (PTY). It was concluded that the methodology was efficient for implementing EDI. / Computing / M. Sc. (Information Systems)

The social web has emerged concurrent with a decline in Americans' community involvement and number of close friendships. Hundreds of millions of people connect online, but they appear to have fewer confidants and trust each other less. However, contrasting research finds that web users have better social integration and stronger relationships than their offline counterparts. This thesis resolves these contradictory views through a detailed examination of social network site (SNS) use and changes in relationships and individual well-being. The research is conducted at multiple levels looking at how different types of SNS use—direct interaction with others and more “passive consumption” of social news—influence the number and quality of individuals’ social ties and their aggregate social capital and well-being, including perceived social support, happiness, and physical health. The studies combine objective measures of SNS use (communication activity from the server logs of a popular social networking site) with self-reports of tie strength and well-being to accurately differentiate types of use with different partners. Longitudinal methods reveal how well-being changes over time with SNS use and are moderated by personal characteristics such as social communication skill and recent job loss.