This study focuses on how and why people become ready to interact with certain information systems (IS) based on their previous experiences with the same and/or similar systems. User-system interaction can be regarded as a mediated and collaborative human activity between a user and a system with the motive of transforming raw information into useful outcome. Using Activity Theory as a paradigm, this study conceptualizes a user-system interaction model that specifies the mediating relationships involved. Based on the user-system interaction model, this study proposes a psychological construct, Information System Interaction Readiness (ISIR), that indicates how an individual is prepared and willing to interact with a system within a user context. This construct advances a developmental view of how previous IS experiences may affect user future behavior. Compared with other constructs as predictors of user behavior, such as computer self-efficacy and intention to use, ISIR takes how IS user behavior is mediated into account. To operationalize and measure the ISIR construct, this study develops a measurement instrument for ISIR using the technique of facet analysis and the semantic differential scale type. To explore how user experiences with a system lead to the formation of ISIR, this study identifies the psychological antecedents of ISIR. This enables the discussion of how general IS capabilities, including interactivity, personalization and context-awareness, may affect ISIR through these antecedents. Because ISIR is a user-, system- and context-specific construct, this study also identifies and discusses the personal and situational factors that may affect ISIR. Putting all these relationships together results in a research framework of ISIR. To validate the ISIR measurement instrument and test the ISIR research framework, several laboratory studies were conducted. The results indicated that the ISIR instrument was valid and the ISIR framework was sound. Finally, the contributions and limitations of this study are discussed.

<p>Background: Information technology (IT) has drastically changed the traditional way to do business. In theory, coordinating information sharing among organisational partners offers notable advantages through cost savings, productivity, improved decision making, and better customer service. Supported by modern information technology, business processes can change and be developed into new more effective forms, both internally and externally. However, as IT facilitates new business opportunities, it requires a steady flow of information and information exchange, both within intra- and inter-organisational contexts where a consensus on terms and definitions coordinating the uniform communication is vital.</p><p>Purpose: With the focal point on inter-organisational information exchange, the purpose of the thesis is to define a set of guidelines for AI that can be used and adjusted according to the needs of a specific situation or context.</p><p>Method: The thesis was carried out with a Multi Grounded Theory approach. Interviews were conducted at a local IT-company and with an associate professor of Informatics at Jönköping International Business School.</p><p>Results: Five categories were discovered which impact AI: integration governance, project management, context, integration content, and testing. The result also implied the importance to distinguish between an operational and strategic level when working with Application Integration.</p>

Background: Information technology (IT) has drastically changed the traditional way to do business. In theory, coordinating information sharing among organisational partners offers notable advantages through cost savings, productivity, improved decision making, and better customer service. Supported by modern information technology, business processes can change and be developed into new more effective forms, both internally and externally. However, as IT facilitates new business opportunities, it requires a steady flow of information and information exchange, both within intra- and inter-organisational contexts where a consensus on terms and definitions coordinating the uniform communication is vital. Purpose: With the focal point on inter-organisational information exchange, the purpose of the thesis is to define a set of guidelines for AI that can be used and adjusted according to the needs of a specific situation or context. Method: The thesis was carried out with a Multi Grounded Theory approach. Interviews were conducted at a local IT-company and with an associate professor of Informatics at Jönköping International Business School. Results: Five categories were discovered which impact AI: integration governance, project management, context, integration content, and testing. The result also implied the importance to distinguish between an operational and strategic level when working with Application Integration.

This thesis studies the phenomenon of human-system interaction in smart homes as a practice of Internet of Things. The research was conducted through interviews, workshops and observations and followed an interpretive research paradigm of phenomenologically-situated paradigm of HCI and a qualitative research approach. The theories of Phenomenology and Postphenomenology were used to interpret the experiences, beliefs and views of the participants. The empirical findings were processed and a thematic analysis was followed in order to identify the main themes that emerged out of the interviews, workshops and observations. The discussion of the findings showed that the research questions were answered to the grade that the participants of the research design, use and interact with smart homes in a multiple and complex way.

The current research is directed at providing validated guidelines to direct the integration of audio into human-system interfaces. This work first discusses the utility of integrating audio to support multimodal human-information processing. Next, an auditory interactive computing paradigm utilizing Speech, Earcons, Auditory icons, and Spatial audio (SEAS) cues is proposed and guidelines for the integration of SEAS cues into multimodal systems are presented. Finally, the results of two studies are presented that evaluate the utility of using SEAS cues, developed following the proposed guidelines, in relieving perceptual and attention processing bottlenecks when conducting Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) control tasks. The results demonstrate that SEAS cues significantly enhance human performance on UAV control tasks, particularly response accuracy and reaction time on a secondary monitoring task. The results suggest that SEAS cues may be effective in overcoming perceptual and attentional bottlenecks, with the advantages being most revealing during high workload conditions. The theories and principles provided in this paper should be of interest to audio system designers and anyone involved in the design of multimodal human-computer systems.

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is currently challenged by low productivity trends and labor shortages. Efforts in academia and industry alike invested in developing solutions to this pressing issue. The majority of such efforts moved towards modernization of the industry, making use of digitalization approaches such as cyber-physical systems (CPS). In this direction, various research works have developed methods to capture information from construction environments and elements and provide monitoring capabilities to measure construction productivity at multiple levels. At the root of construction productivity, the productivity at the worker level is deemed critical. As a result, previous works explored monitoring the productivity of construction workers and resources to address the industry's productivity problems. However, productivity trends are not promising and show a need to more rigorously address productivity issues. Labor shortages also exacerbated the need for increasing the productivity of the current labor workers. Active means to address productivity have been explored as a solution in recent years. As a result, previous research took advantage of CPS and developed systems that sense construction workers' actions and environment and enable interaction with workers to render productivity improvements. One viable solution to this problem is providing on-demand activity-related information to the workers while at work, to decrease the need for manually seeking information from different sources, including supervisors, thereby improving their productivity. Especially, construction workers whose activities involve visual and manual limitations need to receive more attention, as seeking information can jeopardize their safety. Multiple labor trades such as plumbing, steel work, or carpenters are considered within this worker classification. These workers rely on knowledge gathered from the construction project documentation and databases, but have difficulties accessing this information while doing their work. Research works have explored the use of knowledge retrieval systems to give access to construction project data sources to construction workers through multiple methods, including information booths, mobile devices, and augmented reality (AR). However, these solutions do not address the need of this category of workers in receiving on-demand activity related information during their work, without negatively impacting their safety. This research focuses on voice, as an effective modality most appropriate for construction workers whose activities impose visual and manual limit actions. to this end, first, a voice-based solution is developed that supports workers' productivity through providing access to project knowledge available in Building Information Modeling (BIM) data sources. The effect of the selected modality on these workers' productivity is then evaluated using multiple user studies. The work presented in this dissertation is structured as follows: First, in chapter 2, a literature review was conducted to identify means to support construction workers and how integration with BIM has been done in previous research. This chapter identified challenges in incorporating human factors in previous systems and opportunities for seamless integration of workers into BIM practices. In chapter 3, voice-based assistance was explored as the most appropriate means to provide knowledge to workers while performing their activities. As such, Chapter 3 presents the first prototype of a voice-based intelligent virtual agent, aka VIVA, and focuses on evaluating the human factors and testing performance of voice as a modality for worker support. VIVA was tested using a user study involving a simulated construction scenario and the results of the performance achieved through VIVA were compared with the baseline currently used in construction projects for receiving activity-related information, i.e., blueprints. Results from this assessment evidenced productivity performance improvements of users using VIVA over the baseline. Finally, chapter 4 presents an updated version of VIVA that provides automatic real-time link to BIM project data and provides knowledge to the workers through voice. This system was developed based on web platforms, allowing easier development and deployment and access to more devices for future deployment. This study contributes to the productivity improvements in the AEC industry by empowering construction workers through providing on-demand access to project information. This is done through voice as a method that does not jeopardize workers' safety or interrupt their activities. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by developing an in-depth study of the effect of voice-based support systems on worker productivity, enabling real-time BIM-worker integration, and developing a working worker-level productivity support solution for construction workers whose activities limit them in manually accessing project knowledge. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is currently challenged by low productivity trends and labor shortages. At the root of productivity, the improving productivity of construction workers is of critical essence. Therefore, academia and industry alike have shown great interest in research to develop solutions addressing construction worker productivity. For this purpose, monitoring systems for construction worker support have been developed, but productivity trends do not seem to improve, while labor shortages have increased productivity concerns. Other approaches to address productivity improvements have explored active means for productivity support. These include monitoring systems that also interact with the user. Construction workers performing activities that require allocating immense attention while using both hands, e.g. plumbers, steel workers, carpenters, have not been the focus of previous research because of the challenges of their conditions and needs. The activities performed by these workers require access to construction project data and documentation. Still, it is difficult for these workers to access information from the documents while doing their work. Therefore, previous researchers have explored methodologies to bring project data and documentation to the field but providing workers on-demand access to this data and documents have not been thoroughly studied. This research focuses on identifying the most appropriate method to provide workers access to information during activities that require more visual and manual attention. Worker support is provided by developing a solution that provides workers access to knowledge during their activities without being disruptive. The study then evaluated the effect of providing non-disruptive access to information sources enabled through the developed solution on the productivity for workers. First, in chapter 2, this study reviews the literature on approaches to connect construction project databases, a.k.a. Building Information Modeling (BIM), and workers. This review identified system types, integration approaches, and future research trends for linking BIM sources and with workers. In addition, this chapter's outcomes highlight system interoperability challenges and challenges in developing interactive systems involving humans. In chapter 3, a voice-based support system was developed as the most appropriate method for worker support during work activities that limit visual and manual worker capabilities. Then, the performance benefits of using a voice-based support system for construction workers was evaluated through a user study involving simulated construction activities. Finally, in chapter 4, this study provided a new integration method to connect BIM and workers in real-time. This system allows workers to interact with information from BIM through voice. The system was developed based on web platforms, allowing easier development and deployment and access to more devices for future deployment. This study contributes to the productivity improvements in the AEC industry by empowering construction workers through providing on-demand access to project information. This is done through voice as a method that does not jeopardize workers' attention or interrupt their activities.

The integration of devices within cars is continuously evolving, enabling us to interact with them to an increasingly greater extent. This has transformed the way we drive, communicate and access information on the go. Despite this, there is a lack of research on how to guarantee driver safety while interacting with these systems, especially when looking at in-car systems used in professional settings as a work tool. This master's thesis was conducted in collaboration with NIRA Dynamics and aimed to investigate how the interface of in-car touch screen work tools can be designed to ensure usability and safety for the driver. The study included development of a prototype in the form of a new touch screen interface for a data acquisition system which was used by NIRAs test drivers for the purpose of testing their products. The prototype design was developed iteratively based on the test drivers' opinions as well as theory about important design aspects related to designing in-vehicle systems for high safety and usability. The resulting prototype was evaluated using the System Usability Scale in order to compare the prototype to the original system design and asses to what extent the new interface contributed to increased safety for the driver. The study revealed that some of the main issues that needed to be taken into account in the prototype design were prioritization of information, placement and gathering of elements and reduced amount clicks and scrolling. The final usability evaluation was conducted through user tests and the results indicated that the usability of the prototype was higher than for the original system design, thereby indicating an increased safety for the driver. Overall, this thesis contributes to the research on mitigating the risks of drivers related to interaction with in-car software systems.

As complex systems become more available, the possibility to leverage human intelligence to continuously train these systems is becoming increasingly valuable. Collecting and incorporating feedback from end-users into the system development processes could hold great potential for future development of autonomous systems, but it is not without difficulties A literature review was conducted with the aim to review and help categorize the different dynamics relevant to the act of collecting and implementing user feedback in system development processes. Practical examples of such system are commonly found in active and interactive learning systems, which were studied with a particular interest towards possible novel applications in the industrial sector. This review was complimented by an exploratory experiment, aimed at testing how system accuracy affected the feedback provided by users for a simulated people recognition system. The findings from these studies indicate that when and how feedback is given along with the context of use is of importance for the interplay between system and user. The findings are discussed in relation to current directions in machine learning and interactive learning systems. The study concludes that factors such as system criticality, the phase in which feedback is given, how feedback is given, and the user’s understanding of the learning process all have a large impact on the interactions and outcomes of the user-automation interplay. Suggestions of how to design feedback collection for increased user engagement and increased data assimilation are given.

A framework was developed called the Extended Hedonomic Hierarchy (EHH) that provides a basis for evaluating pleasurable human-system experience. Results from a number of experiments within this framework that evaluated specific dimensions of the framework are reported. The 'Exposure' component of the EHH framework and hedonics of the system were investigated to see how changes would affect other dimensions, such as the occurrence of flow, the mode of interaction, and the needs of the user. Simulations and video games were used to investigate how repeated exposure affects flow, interaction mode, and the user needs. The Kansei Engineering method was used to measure user needs and investigate the effect of different hedonic properties of the system on user needs and flow. Findings reveal that: (a) pleasurable human-system experience increases linearly with repeated exposure to the technology of interest; (b) an habituation effect of flow mediated by day; (c) motivation to satisfy human need for technology is hierarchically structured and contributes to pleasurable human-system experience; (d) interactivity is hierarchically structured and seamless mode of interaction is a behavioral outcome of pleasurable human-system experience; (e) there are individual differences among users that affect the likelihood of experiencing pleasurable human-system interaction; (f) performance is positively correlated to flow and (g) the method of kansei engineering provides data from which informed decisions about design can be made and empirical research can be conducted. Suggestions for (a) making Hedonomics a reality in industry, the workplace, and in the field of Human Factors, (b) future research directions for Hedonomics, and (c) principles and guidelines for the practice of Hedonomics are discussed.

Steigende Anforderungen an die Leistungsfähigkeit und Effizienz von Triebwerken lassen sich durch den Einsatz von Metall-Faserverbund-Bauweisen erfüllen. Faser-Kunststoff-Verbunde (FKV) mit ihren herausragenden und einstellbaren mechanischen Eigenschaften bieten das Potential, die Masse strukturell hochbelasteter Komponenten zu reduzieren. Durch die richtungsabhängigen Eigenschaften kann der FKV zielgerichtet für die Anwendung angepasst werden. Die Vielzahl der einstellbaren Parameter in Kombination mit der Entwicklung von komplexen Triebwerkstrukturen führt zu einem interaktiven und interagierenden Entwicklungsprozess. Im Rahmen dieses Beitrages wird ein Ansatz zur kombiniert virtuell-reellen Entwicklung eines Triebwerk-Subsystems am Beispiel des Zwischengehäuses vorgestellt. Ein systematischer Prozess in Kombination mit virtuellen Methoden ermöglicht die effiziente Erarbeitung und modellhafte Abbildung des Gesamtsystems, bestehend aus relevanten Triebwerkselementen (System), dem darin integrierten Zwischengehäuse (Subsystem) und lastübertragenden Faserverbund-Leitschaufeln (Komponente). Durch Detaillierung im Entwicklungsprozess steigt kontinuierlich die Aussagegenauigkeit, wobei gleichzeitig auch der Aufwand erheblich zunimmt. Ein experimenteller Funktions- und Festigkeitsnachweis der Leitschaufel kann zur Reduktion des Entwicklungsrisikos beitragen. Die dafür benötigten Funktionsmuster lassen sich in einem kombinierten Verfahren, bestehend aus Additiver Fertigung und Resin Transfer Moulding, herstellen, wobei der 3D-Druck die Anpassung der realen Funktionsmuster an die Geometrie- und Werkstoffmodifikationen im Rahmen der virtuellen Entwicklung ermöglicht.