The field of social network analysis has expanded from the field of social science to the fields of human factors and ergonomics. There is a theory that suggest that one can use the social network methods and create an information network which describes the network from an information sharing perspective and and there are also theories which describes how social network analysis can be used study cognitive maps (mental models). This thesis touches both of these subjects in an attempt to investigate how social network analysis can be used together with real-time information as a data source to investigate the cognitive maps of individuals and comparing these maps with an organisations expected structure based on protocols. The study conducted showed that it was indeed possible to change the social network analysis method into an information based network which explains the origin of a mental model and to study information be- haviour, in a network, but there are still variables which needs to be studied further (e.g. failed information sharing and temporal aspects of information sharing).

La présente thèse rentre dans le cadre de la gouvernance des entreprises familiales malgaches. Il s’agit d’identifier, dans le cadre malgache, les relations entre l’incertitude et le degré d’ouverture des entreprises familiales. Nous avons procédé à l’analyse des cartes cognitives idiosyncratiques de cinq dirigeants-propriétaires d’entreprises familiales.Les résultats révèlent que la prise en compte des différentes dimensions de l’incertitude en tant qu’attribut des transactions, apporte une meilleure compréhension du degré d’ouverture de ces firmes en tant que mode de gouvernance. Par ailleurs, des variables exogènes qui relèvent de l’Institution influencent le choix des modes de gouvernance. De plus, le profil de l’entrepreneur ainsi que les caractéristiques de l’entreprise ont montré leurs capacités explicatives dans la détermination des limites de la firme.En somme, le travail a débouché sur un modèle intégré de la gouvernance sur une base cognitive. Ce modèle prend en compte la perception des attributs des transactions, les institutions mises en place pour encadrer ces transactions, tout ceci dans un contexte bien déterminé. / This thesis is part of the global issue of malagasy family business’ governance. Our goal is to identify, in the malagasy context, the relationship between uncertainty and the degree of openness of those companies. We proceed through the analysis of the idiosyncratic cognitive cards of five owner-directors of family owned companies.The results show that by taking into account the different dimensions of uncertainty as an attribute of the transactions, bring a better understanding of the degree of openness as a choice of governance. Moreover, exogenous variable, part of Institution, influence the governance model. In addition of that, the entrepreneurs’ profile or the characteristics of the companies have shown their explaining abilities while determining the firms’ limits.In summ, we arrive to an integrated model of governance in a cognitive basis. This model consider the attributes of transaction, the institution and the particular context of the study.

This dissertation describes a research aimed at finding text-optimization techniques which would increase the comprehension and better the attitudes of the readers towards the text. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques considering the possibility of implementation into the text-production process of state and commercial institutions. The theoretical basis for text comprehension is the construction of mental representations of the text. Many factors, internal and external, can influence the construction of a correct mental representation of the text. This thesis researches the factors of text quality and attitudes towards the text. Effects of the same text manipulations of Slovak and Dutch texts were observed in three language groups. These were: a group of Slovak native speakers, Dutch native speakers and people who learned Dutch as a foreign language. For this research two texts were selected, namely the instructions provided with the tax declaration form and an instruction manual provided with a digital camera. Parts of the texts were optimized and rewritten into two variants. The first variant is based on the principle of rewriting the text into a dialogue. The instructions for such transformation can be summarized into three points. This approach should be usable for not...

La cognition incarnée est un courant théorique qui considère que l'esprit doit être compris dans le contexte de son corps, et de l'interaction de ce dernier avec l'environnement. Elle s'est construite en réaction à l'approche cognitiviste classique qui voit la cognition dite « centrale » (mémoire, raisonnement, compréhension...) comme un système de traitement de l'information de symboles amodaux, indépendant des systèmes sensorimoteurs. S'opposant à cette vision, la cognition incarnée soutient notamment que 1/ la cognition aurait pour fonction de guider l'action 2/ elle serait ancrée dans les systèmes sensorimoteurs, c'est-à-dire qu'elle aurait des ressources de traitement en commun avec eux plutôt que d'en être indépendante. Depuis les années 80, les travaux s'inscrivant dans cette approche sont chaque année plus nombreux. Pourtant, la cognition spatiale envisagée selon cette perspective reste encore un domaine peu exploré. L'objectif de la revue de littérature présentée dans cette thèse est de montrer que différentes sources d'informations des représentations spatiales, la perception, la mémoire, et le langage, sont incarnées. Si leurs sources sont incarnées, alors il y a de bonnes raisons de penser que les représentations spatiales le sont aussi. Nous rapportons ensuite quelques éléments suggérant que les représentations spatiales pourraient être incarnées. Notre travail expérimental a eu pour objectif de montrer que la mémoire d'objets pouvant constituer une base à la formation d'une représentation spatiale est incarnée, dans le sens où elle aurait pour fonction de guider l'action, et qu'elle est ancrée dans les systèmes sensorimoteurs. A cette fin, nous avons réalisé plusieurs études explorant, au travers de postures réduisant les possibilités d'action, le rôle du système moteur dans la mémoire (Expériences 1 à 11), le langage (Expériences 9a à 10), et les représentations spatiales (Expériences 10 et 11). Les Expériences 1 à 8 ont montré dans l'ensemble qu'une posture contraignante a un effet négatif sur la mémoire d'images ou de noms d'objets manipulables, mais pas sur la mémoire des objets-non-manipulables (effet PI). Les Expériences 9a et 9b ont utilisé des phrases et ont montré que l'effet de la posture sur la mémoire de noms d'objets manipulables est présent lorsqu'il est associé à un verbe impliquant une action, mais pas lorsqu'il est associé à un verbe n'impliquant pas d'action. Les Expériences 10 et 11 ont utilisé respectivement des descriptions spatiales et des environnements virtuels, et ont montré nouvellement que des objets décrits ou présentés à une distance ne permettant par leur atteinte manuelle sont moins bien mémorisés que ceux situés à une distance proche. Après avoir discuté de ces résultats, nous proposerons notre conception des modèles de situations spatiaux incarnés. / The embodied cognition framework claims that the mind must be understood in the context of its relationship to a physical body that interacts with the world. It has been developed in response to the classical cognitivist approach, which regards the so-called « central » cognition (memory, reasoning, comprehension...) as an amodal symbols processing system, independent from the sensorimotor systems. Contrary to this idea, embodied cognition claims in particular that 1/ cognition is for action 2/ cognition is grounded on sensorimotor systems, that is, it shares processing resources with sensorimotor systems, rather than being independent from them. Since the 1980s, the amount of work within this framework is growing each year. Yet, there are still few researches on spatial cognition with this approach. The aim of the state of art of this thesis is to show that several sources of information of spatial representations, such as perception, memory, and language, are embodied. If their sources are embodied, then it is likely that spatial representations are also embodied. We will report then some direct elements in favor of the embodiment of spatial representations. The aim of our empirical work was to show that the memory of objects, which can potentially be part of a spatial representation, is embodied in the sense that it is for action, and that it is grounded on sensorimotor systems. To fulfill this aim, a body of studies has been run in order to explore, by the mean of postures decreasing the possibilities for action, the role of the motor system in memory (Experiment 1 to 11), language (Experiment 9a to 10), and spatial representations (Experiment 10 and 11). Experiments 1 to 8 showed as a whole that a constraining posture has a negative effect on the memory of manipulable objects, but not on non-manipulable objects (PI effect). Experiments 9a and 9b used sentences. They showed an effect of posture on the memory of manipulable objects only when their name is associated with a verb which involves an action, but not when it is associated with a verb which does not involve an action. Experiments 10 and 11 used respectively spatial descriptions and virtual environments, and newly showed that the objects described or presented out of reach are less recalled than those located at a close distance. After a discussion of these results, we will propose our conception of embodied spatial situation models.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This research project, inspired by the nationwide crisis following Hurricane Katrina, identifies mega-collaboration as an emergent social phenomenon enabled by the Internet. The substantial, original contribution of this research is a mega-collaboration tool (MCT) to enable grassroots individuals and organizations to rapidly form teams, negotiate problem definitions, allocate resources, organize interventions, and mediate their efforts with those of official response organizations. The project demonstrated that a tool that facilitates the exploration of a team’s problem space can support online collaboration. It also determined the basic building blocks required to construct a mega-collaboration tool. In addition, the project demonstrated that it is possible to dynamically build the team data structure through use of the proposed interface, a finding that validates the database design at the core of the MCT. This project has made a unique contribution by proposing a new operational vision of how disaster response, and potentially many other problems, should be managed in the future.

Audio ist einer der wichtigsten Aspekte bei mediengestützten Produktionen. Allerdings sind die Oberflächen zur Suche, Erstellung und Manipulation von Audio häufig getrieben durch die zugrundeliegenden technischen Parameter. Diese Parameter beschreiben in der Regel weder deren Bedeutung für den Sound noch welche Qualitäten im Sound zum Ausdruck kommen. Dadurch bieten solche Oberflächen selten eine intuitive, noch expressive Handhabe, da zuerst ein Übersetzungsprozess von der künstlerischen Idee hin zu den technischen Parametern erfolgen muss. Um die Oberflächen nahbarer und nachvollziehbar zu gestalten, wird daher die Verbildlichung der Strukturen von Sound auf verschiedenen Ebenen betrachtet. Insbesondere wie visuelle Momente zur Interaktion mit Audio genutzt werden können, wird herausgestellt. Auf diese Weise wird die grafische Erweiterung von technischer spektraler Editierung als Beispiel für die direkte Signalverarbeitung diskutiert. Auch werden metaphorische Visualisierungen für Audioeffekte thematisiert. Zudem wird das mentale Modell von Audio analysiert, welches hier assoziativ durch Skizzen als abstrakte visuelle Repräsentationen erhoben wird. Daher wurden Studien zur Erhebung und Bewertung von Skizzen durchgeführt, die je einen Sound abbilden. Aus den resultierenden Skizzenassoziationen ist ein Vorgehen zur Ableitung einer Klassifikation des skizzenbasierten mentalen Modells entstanden. Diese Klassifikation ist ein möglicher Ausgangspunkt für die Entwicklung von Werkzeugen und bietet ein Bewusstsein der Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten beim Einsatz grafischer Assoziationen bis hin zu Affordanzen im Design von Datensätzen für maschinelles Lernen. Denn es wurden auch statistische Zusammenhänge der Kenntnisse der zeichnenden Personen und den verwendeten Skizzenklassen untersucht. Dadurch kann die Art der Abbildung in Bezug zur gewünschten Zielgruppe gewählt werden. / Audio is one of the most important aspects of media-based productions. However, the interfaces for searching, creating, and manipulating audio are often driven by the underlying technical parameters. These parameters usually do not describe their meanings for the sound, nor what qualities are expressed in the sound. As a result, such surfaces rarely offer an intuitive, nor expressive way of interacting, since a translation process from the artistic idea to the technical parameters must take place first. In order to make the interfaces more approachable and comprehensible, the visualization of the structures of sound is therefore considered on different levels. In particular, how visualizations can be used to interact with audio will be highlighted. In this way, the graphical extension of technical spectral editing is discussed as an example of direct signal processing. Also, metaphorical visualizations for audio effects are addressed. In addition, the mental model of audio is analyzed, which is here elicited associatively through sketches as abstract visual representations. Therefore, studies were conducted to collect and evaluate sketches, each depicting one sound. From the resulting sketch associations, a procedure for deriving a classification of the sketch-based mental model has been developed. This classification is a possible starting point for tool development and provides an awareness of the expressive possibilities when using graphical associations up to affordances in the design of datasets for machine learning. In fact, statistical correlations of the knowledge of the people drawing and the classes of sketches used were also investigated. This allows to choose the type of illustration in relation to the desired target group.

<p>The Ericsson R380 is a so-called smartphone, combining an advanced mobile phone with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). To evaluate the usability of the Ericsson R380 and benchmark it against the Nokia 9110 Communicator and the Motorola A6188 Accompli, a repeated measurements experiment was performed. 18 subjects (10 men and 8 women) with no previous experience of any of the interfaces participated. Half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Ericsson mobile phones and half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Nokia mobile phones. A set of 9 tasks to be solved on each interface was presented to the subjects. The order in which the subjects used the interfaces was balanced with a Latin square design while the tasks were presented in consecutive order and were identical for all interfaces. Level of completeness, completion time and number of actions were assessed for each task and interface. Subjects also rated the perceived usability and aesthetics of the interfaces. Overall, subjects were most successful using the Motorola A6188 Accompli, using fewer keystrokes and less time as well as needing fewer hints compared to the Ericsson R380 and Nokia 9110 Communicator. However, the Ericsson R380 was rated significantly higher than the other interfaces on perceived usability. Previous experience with Ericsson or Nokia mobile phones did not have a major impact on how well subjects succeeded with using the interfaces in the test. Certain mistakes made by each group of subjects could be explained in terms of mental models, Einstellung effects and the use of so- called Function-Object interaction style where Object-Function interaction was appropriate. Contrary to earlier findings, aesthetics and perceived usability did not correspond to a great extent. Finally, the results are discussed and some suggestions for improvements are put forward.</p>

The Ericsson R380 is a so-called smartphone, combining an advanced mobile phone with a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). To evaluate the usability of the Ericsson R380 and benchmark it against the Nokia 9110 Communicator and the Motorola A6188 Accompli, a repeated measurements experiment was performed. 18 subjects (10 men and 8 women) with no previous experience of any of the interfaces participated. Half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Ericsson mobile phones and half of the subjects had extensive experience from using Nokia mobile phones. A set of 9 tasks to be solved on each interface was presented to the subjects. The order in which the subjects used the interfaces was balanced with a Latin square design while the tasks were presented in consecutive order and were identical for all interfaces. Level of completeness, completion time and number of actions were assessed for each task and interface. Subjects also rated the perceived usability and aesthetics of the interfaces. Overall, subjects were most successful using the Motorola A6188 Accompli, using fewer keystrokes and less time as well as needing fewer hints compared to the Ericsson R380 and Nokia 9110 Communicator. However, the Ericsson R380 was rated significantly higher than the other interfaces on perceived usability. Previous experience with Ericsson or Nokia mobile phones did not have a major impact on how well subjects succeeded with using the interfaces in the test. Certain mistakes made by each group of subjects could be explained in terms of mental models, Einstellung effects and the use of so- called Function-Object interaction style where Object-Function interaction was appropriate. Contrary to earlier findings, aesthetics and perceived usability did not correspond to a great extent. Finally, the results are discussed and some suggestions for improvements are put forward.

籃球場上背後妙傳常是得分的關鍵，那種流暢的默契也是所有團隊協作者夢寐以求的境界。這種默契絕非一蹴可幾，而是有賴團隊成員透過持續互動而共同培養出來的；有默契的成員以類似的方式解讀任務環境且彼此了解，基於這種共通理解，團隊成員不須外顯的溝通就能精準預測夥伴下一步的行動，藉此做出相容互補的行為。如此透過成員互動培養出來的共通理解即團隊共享心智模式(team mental model, TMM)。 TMM過往在球隊、飛航、航管、作戰等行動團隊方面有紮實的研究，卻鮮少成功應用在以整合不同知識為目標的團隊上，這在跨領域協作越來越重要的趨勢下是很可惜的。本研究即在延伸TMM對話田野的呼籲下，探索跨領域團隊形成TMM的歷程。 研究採單一個案研究法，透過半開放式訪談，和專案成員共同回溯專案二十二個月過程中的事件，以及互動過程中的心境。彙整訪談逐字稿以重建專案歷程後，本研究得到以下結論： 一、跨領域專案團隊有一先行者，先行者心中的初始構想形成團隊發展TMM的基本方向。 二、一構想成為TMM成分，是該構想從「出現為議題」，轉變成「隱藏為前提」的過程。 三、成為TMM成分的構想以專案團隊特有的術語呈現在日常討論或行動中。 四、被團隊捨棄的和被接受的構想都是TMM的成分，影響團隊後續的討論和行動。 五、TMM是以核心/中介/周邊順序疊層起來的共形結構，核心TMM相對穩定，並透過中介TMM界定各成員/次團隊的介接規則，各成員/次團隊據以發展周邊TMM。 六、在核心/中介/周邊結構TMM下，成員共享的知識有些相同，有些重疊，也有些互補分布在不同成員間，卻不致彼此衝突或背離整體任務目標。 七、跨領域專案團隊是先就任務模式培養共通理解，然後據以發展協調模式。 在理論方面，本研究放鬆了過往TMM研究的外部預設最佳解、任務目標明確、單一線性收斂、成員均質等研究預設，重新檢視TMM跨越個人和團隊層次動態循環發展的歷程，並且提出從團隊互動層次掌握TMM的方法，促進TMM研究與跨領域團隊之間的相互滋養。 在實務方面，本研究指出跨領域專案團隊形成TMM的關鍵角色之功能和管理重點，也提供管理者根據「議題、前提、術語」的表徵，診斷跨領域專案團隊之TMM發展狀態，以及導引團隊朝向收斂效率還是發散創意的方法。 / This dissertation explored the developmental process of team mental model (TMM) in an interdisciplinary project team. TMM has been recognized as one of the most relevant constructs in collective cognitive and team learning. Prior researches acknowledged the contribution of TMM to team performance; teams with better TMM perform better. Limited empirical TMM researches were focused on action teams working on structured tasks like PC-based command and control simulations, cockpits, air traffic control towers, or military missions. Disagreed results emerged in teams dealing with knowledge integration however. This student attributed said discrpancy to some presumptions due to traditonal TMM researches. The objective of this research was to investigate how TMM is developed with those presumptions lifted. This study used a single case approach. In this interdisciplinary project, artists and engineers alien to each other were recruited to build a mechanical flower in twenty two months. Team members were interviewed to rebuild the process from which following findings were inferred in a team that requires knowledge integration: 1. A project initiator inherent to an interdisciplinary team substantially defines the initializing vector of the TMM. 2. The process by which a proposal becomes part of the TMM can be operationalized as a role transition of that proposal from a theme to a premise in the team. Each TMM ingredient is characterized as a team-specific jargon. 3. Proposals accepted and rejected by the team both constitute the TMM and influence the following development. 4. The TMM is developed as a layered conformal structure. More stable and shared by all members, the core TMM is interfaced by the intermediary TMM to the peripheral TMM. The peripheral TMM is shared only by subgroup members. With such a structure, decisions and actions are locally performed without departing from the core TMM. This research contributed to the TMM community by explicating the complex process and contents of the TMM developed in a cocreating team. The goal as well as the strategy was negotiated and cocreated by team members along their way to the end. Thus, both the research method and the findings of this study paved a way to facilitate cross fertilizing between TMM researchers and interdisciplinary fields. This research also provided interdisciplinary team leaders with tools to deploy key members, to diagnose the TMM development, and to balance the team between inertia and momentum. Finally, research limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Efficiency as a   part of usability is a much researched topic. How we design user interfaces   though, is often a matter of convention rather than scientifically validated   patterns. There is however a reason for this; research has shown that users   form clear mental models, or expectations of how an interface should look and   work. Designing with these models in mind should therefore yield efficient   results according to some researchers. This study aimed to test the extent to   which these models affect efficiency through a quantitative quasi-experiment. The experiment   was designed to measure click cost while designing for, or contrary to, the   mental models. This was achieved by adding or subtracting the variables:   placement conventions, saliency, clutter, appearance conventions and help   text to an experimental group and a control group respectively. To ascertain   the impact of these independent variables the click cost in milliseconds has   been recorded in a web questionnaire environment, aggregated and   comparatively analyzed between the groups. The result is a clearer picture of   each variables independent effect on click costs and efficiency. The main   result show a tendency towards higher click costs for badly handled placement   conventions, saliency and appearance conventions, however the differences are   small. In the case of clutter no increase in click cost could be recoded. The   single largest increase in click cost is incurred when help texts are   omitted. / Effektivitet,som en del av användbarhet, är ett väl undersökt område. Hur gränssnittutformas grundar sig oftast i allmänt accepterade normer snarare än påvetenskapliga validerade mönster. Det finns dock en anledning till detta:forskningEffektivitet,som en del av användbarhet, är ett väl undersökt område. Hur gränssnittutformas grundar sig oftast i allmänt accepterade normer snarare än påvetenskapliga validerade mönster. Det finns dock en anledning till detta:forskning visar att användare skapar mentala modeller eller förväntningar på hur ett gränssnitt bör se ut och fungera vid interaktion. Att utforma gränssnitt med dessa modeller i åtanke bör därför, enligt vissa forskare, ge effektiva resultat. Syftet med denna studie var att testa i vilken utsträckning dessa mentala modeller har en inverkan på effektiviteten i gränssnitt genom ett kvantitativt kvasiexperiment. Experimentet utformades för att mäta klickkostnaden i gränssnitt som överensstämmer med, eller strider mot, de mentala modellerna. Detta uppnåddes genom att tillföra eller ta bort variablerna: placeringspraxis, visuellt framträdande, brus, utseendepraxis och hjälptext till en testgrupp och en kontrollgrupp. För att fastställa till vilken grad dessa oberoende variabler påverkar har klickkostnaden i millisekunder uppmätts i ett webenkätsgränssnitt, aggregerats och jämförts mellan grupperna. Resultatet är en tydligare bild av varje variabels grad av påverkan på klickkostnad och effektivitet. Det huvudsakliga resultatet visar på en tendens till högre klickkostnad när placeringspraxis, visuellt framträdande och utseendepraxis frångår normerna. Differenserna är dock små. Vad gäller brus har ingen ökning i klickkostnad kunnat uppmätas. Den enskilt största ökningen i klickkostand sker när hjälptext utelämnas.