abstract: The International Standards Organization (ISO) documentation utilizes Fitts’ law to determine the usability of traditional input devices like mouse and touchscreens for one- or two-dimensional operations. To test the hypothesis that Fitts’ Law can be applied to hand/air gesture based computing inputs, Fitts’ multi-directional target acquisition task is applied to three gesture based input devices that utilize different technologies and two baseline devices, mouse and touchscreen. Three target distances and three target sizes were tested six times in a randomized order with a randomized order of the five input technologies. A total of 81 participants’ data were collected for the within subjects design study. Participants were instructed to perform the task as quickly and accurately as possible according to traditional Fitts’ testing procedures. Movement time, error rate, and throughput for each input technology were calculated. Additionally, no standards exist for equating user experience with Fitts’ measures such as movement time, throughput, and error count. To test the hypothesis that a user’s experience can be predicted using Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput and error count, an ease of use rating using a 5-point scale for each input type was collected from each participant. The calculated Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) were regressed on Fitts’ measures of movement time, throughput, and error count to understand the extent to which they can predict a user’s subjective rating. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Psychology 2015

This thesis sets out to examine the scope for integrated knowledge based planning systems. Five planning departments in the South East Midlands of the UK have been investigated through environmental appraisal, conceptual modelling and empirical evidence gathering. The results of analyses suggest a number of configurations, which could provide reformation instruments in the context of technological innovation, social coordination and knowledge management for sustainable development. This research study provided the insights and learning into how to successfully develop and implement an integrated knowledge based planning system. The primary aspiration of this research was to develop a robust pragmatic framework to support an efficient and effective delivery of the planning system in the UK local government towards sustainable development. A mixed research methodology was employed for the research fieldwork. Firstly, an extensive review of literature took place to summarise and synthesise the arguments of the key research propositions contributing to the development of an integrated knowledge based planning system. Secondly, exploratory fieldwork took place as an appropriate methodology in this study, applying the semi-structured interview and questionnaire techniques to gather data from senior level planning officials who were directly involved in the planning system transformation. This study was initiated by examining the previous planning environment in the UK local government and its transformation from its conventional state to a contemporary emergent state. The fieldwork was carried out to identify the key supportive and preventive knowledge factors for both explicit and tacit knowledge domains. As a result, the nature of successful technology based initiatives was determined and solutions to the possible emerging challenges were appraised.

The use of visual aesthetics has been found to contribute to feelings of a positive Web experience. Accordingly, studies report strong correlations between aesthetics and facets of user experience like usability and credibility, but does this hold for accessibility also? Some believe that Web aesthetics impedes accessibility, while most Web designers perceive that the accessibility initiative is restrictive design-wise. These misconceptions have slowed down the advancement of an inclusive Web. Firstly, it is clear that the relationship between Web aesthetics and accessibility is still poorly understood. Secondly, tools capable of analysing the aesthetic quality of Web pages and relaying associated accessibility status information are lacking. This thesis addresses these two problems. In order to investigate this relationship, the aesthetic judgements of 180 users were elicited to help classify Web pages based on their visual quality using Lavie and Tractinsky's framework. The classified Web pages were then technically and manually audited for accessibility compliance using 4 automated tools, and 11 experts who used a heuristic evaluation technique known as the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method to check for barriers which could affect people with visual impairments. Our results consistently showed that Web pages judged on Lavie and Tractinsky's classical aesthetic dimension as being `clean' had significant correlations with accessibility, suggesting `cleanness' to be a suitable proxy measure for accessibility. Expressive dimensions showed no such correlations. This insight was used to develop the EIVAA tool aimed at predicting the aesthetic quality of Web pages and using the information to provide accessibility ratings for the pages. Quantitative evaluations show that the tool is able to predict aesthetic quality in a way that mimics gold standards, especially along the design dimension `clean' where we observed tool-human correlations as strong as 0.703, thus making the associated accessibility predictions also acceptable. We envision that our findings will give the Web community a more holistic understanding of the interactions between the use of aesthetics and accessibility, and that our tool would inform Web developers of the implications of their designs.

User onboarding is a concept to convince and introduce users to use an application and a way for users to understand the application and what it can be used for. This research aimed to explore whether user onboarding could increase the usage of an audiobook application, and help users to find a suitable book. To examine the research question a human-center-design method was applied. It consisted of an extensive literature study, interviews, journey mapping and iterative prototyping, which resulted in an implemented user onboarding prototype for an audiobook application. The prototype was evaluated with an A/B-test, where the user onboarding prototype was compared to another prototype without user onboarding.  Interesting results have emerged through A/B-testing. Findings in this research did not provide any significant correlation between user onboarding and increased usage of an audiobook application. However, the user onboarding motivated users to listen to books, compared to one not being exposed to a user onboarding.  Furthermore, results also revealed that the prototype with user onboarding was helping the users to find a book they were interested in. The results also showed that women who were introduced to the prototype with user onboarding were more positive to use the application again. There was a significant correlation between user onboarding and the perceived simplicity of finding an interesting book in the group of participants aged between 26 and 30. Regarding the perceived usability, findings showed that the users who were introduced to the user onboarding experienced that it was easier to find a book, felt more motivated to listen to a book, felt that the application helped them to find a book that suited them and felt that the application introduced them to the audiobook format to a greater extent than those who were not exposed to user onboarding. However, it could not be proven that there was a statistically significant difference between the group that was introduced to the user onboarding and the group that was not exposed to the user onboarding.  In this research a total of 66 people participated in the A/B-test. For future research a larger number of participants could provide interesting results, since an A/B-test benefits from a high number of participants. Some of the results were bordering to prove that there were a significant correlation between being exposed to user onboarding and greater usage of an application.

This manuscript provides an understanding of water conservation related innovations in green buildings, both in terms of what is being selected in design phase and how professionals perceive their experiences with these innovations. The innovations examined include toilets, showers, sinks, plumbing, water heating, appliances, alternative water sources, landscaping, performance monitoring, and user education. It contains a literature review of unanticipated consequences associated with these innovations, and creates a framework for categorizing these based on a synthesis of the literature of unanticipated consequences. A review of certification documents from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system identifies what landscaping, toilet, and shower innovations are most commonly designed for in LEED certified buildings. These data are also used to identify differences in innovation selection across climate regimes. An internet survey of green building professionals provides a picture of satisfaction with these innovations in practice. It also gives examples of these experiences so that future users can take advantage or take caution as necessary. / Master of Science

Hlávková Barbora. User experience focused on credibility in e-commerce. Brno: Mendel University in Brno, 2017. The thesis deals with User experience focused on credibility in e-commerce survey of the Y generation. To determine the perception of the credibility on e-shops was used eye tracking (n = 30) with in-depth interviews (n = 30) and questionnaire survey (n = 155). The aim of the thesis is to suggest general recommendations for e-commerce in terms of consumer trust.

This research introduces the concept of transferability into the usability construct and creates the Usability Paradigm for Multiple Device System (UPMDS) to conceptualize and quantify the usability in multiple device scenarios. This study fills the literature gap that no effective method exists in measuring transferability and in quantifying usability in a multiple device context. This study also answers the research questions regarding the impact of task complexity, user experience, and device order on the total usability of the system. Study one follows a systematic approach to develop, validate, and apply a new questionnaire tailored specifically to measure the transferability within a multiple device system. The System Transferability Questionnaire (STQ) is obtained after validation with 15 question items. In a software usability study, the STQ demonstrated excellent internal reliability and validity. Results show that the STQ is effective in capturing four factors regarding transferability, which are transfer experience (TE), overall experience (OE), consistency perception (CP) and functionality perception (FP). Validation results show good convergent, discriminant, criterion and nomonlogical validity. Study two adopts a systematic tool to consolidate usability constructs into a total usability score. The study utilizes principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the weight of the four usability components (satisfaction, transferability, effectiveness, and efficiency), which is used when obtaining the total usability score. Results show slightly different weights for the four components. This quantitative tool can be applied in different usability context in which multiple devices are involved. Usability specialists are encouraged to adjust the tool based on different usability scenarios. Study three investigates the impact of task complexity, user experience, and device order on the total system usability. Results show that the total usability score is not affected by task complexity, user experience or device order. However, lower physical task complexity leads to longer performance time and lower errors from the users. High experienced users have significantly lower errors made in tasks. The machine order also has divergent results. When the mini-lathe machine was used first, users had better transferability results but poorer performance outcomes as compared to when the drill press was used first.

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There are many different details to consider for developers when creating a new product. Many believe that the functions is the most important. However the question about how the products User Experience should be handled gets more and more important. Because of that there are lots of tests before every launch to ensure that the product gets a better welcoming with the customers. The purpose with this study was to create a overview for how to create a better User Experience. We have created a guideline in this topical subject through creating a methodology to follow. This was done because of the difficulty to follow the current guidelines, and especially from those who really don´t know the subject. This study was based on previous research with a qualitative data collection method. We did our study from the eyes of a case business where we had interviews to get their opinions about User Experience and methodologies that already exists. The information that were used as method for the selection of informants because it was important for us that the informants knew what they were talking about. The purpose of the empirical data was to conclude which parts that were necessary to include in a methodology to get a more advanced User Experience but also why it is important. With this information we could give our version of a methodology to create a User Experience that fit in different projects. The results of the study contain the parts that we thought was important for creating a methodology that the developers could use. These were Design, UX-design, User Behavior, Usability and Human Computer Interaction that we later compiled to different phases in our methodology for User Experience. Furthermore when we concluded the phases for our methodology and these were Understanding where the developers shall create an understanding about what the user really wants. Research where you research what techniques that should be a part of a modern product. Sketch where you work from what the customer wants to get prototypes and test them to get their opinion. Design where you confirms which of the prototypes you will use in a completed design. Implementation where you create the product. The last phase is Evaluate where you do usability testings continuously to know that it is really working.

A cultura da participação abre no mundo digital um leque de novos e remodelados comportamentos do mundo clássico. Tanto os formatos de participação, quanto a colaboração e cooperação se ressignificam dentro da cibercultura. O que é fundamental para entender o consumo colaborativo. Este trabalho delineia um posicionamento conceitual do consumo colaborativo entre outros conceitos semelhantes como compartilhamento, cooperação e dilemas sociais, com o objetivo de diferenciar gradientes de colaboração dentro dos modelos de consumo colaborativo. Na investigação teórica, o que se encontrou foi uma linha tênue que distingue os graus de colaboração e cooperação pelo nível de envolvimento pró-social e a interação entre consumidores. Do ponto de vista da comunicação e do design de user experience, esse trabalho realizar um estudo de recepção que compara os elementos informativos gráficos mais recorrentes nos sites de consumo colaborativo com a percepção de importância desses elementos pelos usuários. Além de contribuir com uma escala de colaboração que pode ser aplicada em iniciativas desse tipo para classificá-las desde altamente cooperativas a altamente colaborativas. Os achados auxiliarão futuras pesquisas acadêmicas nessa área. / The participatory culture in the digital world opens a range of new and refurbished behaviors of the classical world. The shades of sharing, collaboration and cooperation are resignify within cyberculture. This is critical to understand the collaborative consumption. This paper outlines a conceptual positioning of the collaborative consumption and other similar concepts such as sharing, cooperation and social dilemmas, in order to differentiate collaboration gradients inside collaborative consumption models. In theoretical research, we found a fine line that distinguishes the degrees of collaboration and cooperation by the level of prosocial involvement and interaction among consumers. From the point of view of communication and user experience design, this work conduct a study of reception that compares the most frequent graphic pieces of information on collaborative consumption websites with the perceived importance of these elements by the users. Besides contributing with a collaborative scale that can be applied in such initiatives to rank them from highly cooperative to highly collaborative. The findings will help future academic research in this area.