Speech technologies, or technologies that recognize and respond to human speech, have recently emerged as a ubiquitous and cost-effective form of customer self-service (e-service). Although customer satisfaction is regarded as an important outcome of e-service interactions, little is known about users affective responses to conversational interactions with technology. Using a theoretical foundation derived from research in social cognition, interpersonal communication, psycholinguistics, human factors, and services marketing, two studies develop items for a speech interface usability scale, which is then used to examine interrelationships among individual differences (e.g., self-monitoring, need for interaction with a service provider, inherent novelty seeking), usability, comfort, and customer satisfaction. In the first study, speech and language experts' ratings of sixteen speech interfaces are used to identify six stimuli for the second study that represent high, average, and low quality. In the second study, participants listen to the six interfaces and provide ratings for the primary variables of interest. Results indicated that speech interface usability consists of four factors (User Goal Orientation, Customer Service Behavior, Verbosity, and Speech Characteristics). Usability items and individual differences predict affective responses to speech-based e-service. Implications of these findings for psychological and communication research and applied speech technology are described.

With increasing pressure to better manage the environment many government and private organisations are studying the relationships between social, economic and environmental factors to determine how they can best be optimised for increased sustainability. The analysis of such relationships are undertaken using computer-based Integrated Catchment Models (ICM). These models are capable of generating multiple scenarios depicting alternative land use alternatives at a variety of temporal and spatial scales, which present (potentially) better Triple-Bottom Line (TBL) outcomes than the prevailing situation. Dissemination of this data is (for the most part) reliant on traditional, static map products however, the ability of such products to display the complexity and temporal aspects is limited and ultimately undervalues both the knowledge incorporated in the models and the capacity of stakeholders to disseminate the complexities through other means. Geovisualization provides tools and methods for disseminating large volumes of spatial (and associated non-spatial) data. Virtual Environments (VE) have been utilised for various aspects of landscape planning for more than a decade. While such systems are capable of visualizing large volumes of data at ever-increasing levels of realism, they restrict the users ability to accurately perceive the (virtual) space. Augmented Reality (AR) is a visualization technique which allows users freedom to explore a physical space and have that space augmented with additional, spatially referenced information. A review of existing mobile AR systems forms the basis of this research. A theoretical mobile outdoor AR system using Common-Of-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware and open-source software is developed. The specific requirements for visualizing land use scenarios in a mobile AR system were derived using a usability engineering approach known as Scenario-Based Design (SBD). This determined the elements required in the user interfaces resulting in the development of a low-fidelity, computer-based prototype. The prototype user interfaces were evaluated using participants from two targeted stakeholder groups undertaking hypothetical use scenarios. Feedback from participants was collected using the cognitive walk-through technique and supplemented by evaluator observations of participants physical actions. Results from this research suggest that the prototype user interfaces did provide the necessary functionality for interacting with land use scenarios. While there were some concerns about the potential implementation of

<p>Usability is an important aspect of product development that deals with the quality of interaction between the user and the product. Capturing requirements is aimed at understanding what the users expect the system to do. This report attempts to apply principles from both the Usability Engineering and the Requirements Engineering methodologies in the development of a subsystem for managing an e-commerce solution. The main focus is on the user interface design, which is developed by iterating the three phases of design, usability testing and evaluation, until the desired level of usability is achieved. Prototyping was central to the rapid development, but the use of software prototyping tools instead of paper-mockups would reasonably have improved the usefulness of the evaluations. The desired usability level was set to reach a specified fix point, instead of attempting to achieve some absolute usability metrics as is typically practiced. The former approach was apparently simpler to use without the broader experience otherwise needed to write reasonable requirements. The transition from the throw-away prototype to the implemented evolutionary prototype in ASP.NET posed some interesting problems that are further discussed.</p>

<p>Boverket har huvudansvar för att skapa en portal för samhällsplanering som ska kunna förse kommuner, landsting, företag och privatpersoner med olika typer av kartinformation. Denna portal kallas Planeringsportalen och som ett led i dess utveckling hölls ett designmöte i april 2007. Inför mötet gjordes en analys av diverse förebilder för att beskriva de goda designlösningar som finns i genren WebGIS, enligt förlaga från Lundberg, Holmlid och Arvolas (2007) arbete. Uppsatsen beskriver hur dessa designlösningar kan användas i designen av Planeringsportalen tillsammans med en redogörelse för hur förebilder kan bidra till en bättre designprocess. Genren representeras i arbetet av webbplatserna Eniro, Norge digitalt, RATP samt Mapquest som alla studerats enligt ett formaliserat förfarande. Analysen identifierade ett stort antal goda designlösningar varav en del ansågs passa in i Planeringsportalens designsituation.</p>

The RSS protocol allows, among other uses, for portable media player devices to download files automatically from the internet. Although text RSS feed on portable media devices is currently limited, it is possible that text feeds will become a ubiquitous feature on future PDA/media crossover devices. With the increasing usage of video-enabled portable media players, video content on these devices will also gain strength in the consumer market. Through qualitative interviews this pilot study hopes to investigate usage of new media streams on portable devices, with additional focus on RSS feeds, content categorization and interface category customization. Do users prefer to display their content and RSS feeds by a descriptive category, or by the website from which the feed was retrieved? In this study we hope to gain insight into which style users prefer, if any.

This paper documents the planning, design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of the Multimedia Story Builder and Multimedia Story Player – two applications that together are used to create, edit, manage, and deliver web-based multimedia presentations. These applications incorporate simple and intuitive interfaces, extensive functionality, multiple presentation methods, and support for multiple media types, all of which represent improvements over similar systems. The results of a preliminary usability test and suggestions for future testing and development are also described.

This paper describes the design and initial implementation of a web-based financial information system, intended to replace a Microsoft Access financial database in support of a federally funded, international health project. This system is being reimplemented for the web in order to provide stakeholders across the country (and potentially around the world) access to the project's financial information.

Digital Immortality or Not?The aim of this thesis was to explore how we might be stewards for our post-life digital self after physical death, and to provide a new interaction experience in the form of a tangible, digital, or service design solution. Prior to the project kick-off secondary research, including academic research papers, analogous services, and existing projects, was distilled to form topical questions. These questions were then presented in many casual topical conversations and revealed that although post-life digital asset management awareness is increasing, little consideration exists on how to reflect legacies into the future long after death. A second stage of primary research included multiple on-site investigations, paired with in-person interviews and a quantitative online survey. Insights and understandings then lead to initial concepts that were tested to address distinctive qualities between tangible and digital design solutions. The main findings included that although people want to be remembered long after they die, current methods of tangible and digital content management can not sufficiently support the reflection of legacies long into the future. In conclusion, this thesis argues that to become part of an everlasting legacy, the interaction experience can leverage commonalities and shared moments from life events captured in digital media. These points of connections rely on associated metadata (i.e. keyword tags, date stamps, geolocation) to align relevant moments that transcend time and generations. The solution proposed here harnesses the benefits that both digital and tangible media afford and are presented as a tablet interface with an associated tangible token used as a connection key.

In the world today, the portion of aging people grows continuously. Due to successfulof healthcare services, people are living longer and the number of newborn isdecreasing. This can imply that the population of young and working people isdecreasing in many countries. This leads to the mean value incrementing of the meanworld population’s age value in the whole world. It has become more and moreimportant to consideration human factors of elderly people in many businesses.Software companies have to consider design of software concerning of usability forageing people. Currently, most of the software is designed to support younger users.To support elderly users, we have to consider more on age-related differences. Thisthesis presents a literature survey, and related theories used in designing graphic userinterface for ageing people. Besides, criteria for designing software for older users arealso discussed and suggested as guidelines for future studies and development. Thepurpose is to improve older users’ potential in using information technologies, and topotentially allow older users to gain more benefit from using of computer software.A case study for software design for elderly users was implemented to verifysuggested guideline and gain deeper design understanding. The elderly volunteerswere involved in design evaluation process. The results from case study have showneffectiveness of the design guideline approach.

<p>The inability of standard cognitive science, the information-processing approach, to provide theoretical underpinnings for designing usable computer-based systems has already been noted in the literature. It has further been noted, with varying degrees of clarity, that the breakdown of standard cognitive science in this respect is not an independent event, but that it rather is coupled with the spreading of computer use, that is, the appearance of personal computers, which brought into plain view the incommensurability of humans and present-day computers, and the difficulty in "interfacing" them to each other. In this work, the insufficiency of standard cognitive science is investigated towards demonstrating that it lies in the fallacious assumption and reliance on mental representations as formally defined physical entities on which mental operations are performed. It is further argued that, if the formal approach within cognitive science is seriously taken, then cognitive science cannot account for some important cognitive processes, namely abstraction and interpretation.</p><p>In its empirical part, this study is related to a concrete development project. With respect to a possible application within it, some newer cognitive theories are reviewed and discussed, namely those that take into account environment, society, situation, and artefacts. Based on these considerations and the theoretical findings regarding standard cognitive science, a method for designing user interface is proposed and applied. Inspired by phenomenology and bearing similarities with nondirective counselling, it is referred to as "user-directed" method. Possible approaches to assessment of its validity are discussed.</p>