<p>Traditional models of usability are not sufficient for software in the home, since they are built with office software in mind. Previous research suggest that social issues among other things, separate software in homes from software in offices. In order to explore that further, the use qualities to design for, in software for use in face-to-face meetings at home were contrasted to such systems at offices. They were studied using a pluralistic model of <em>use quality</em> with roots in socio-cultural theory, cognitive systems engineering, and architecture. The research approach was interpretative design cases. Observations, situated interviews, and workshops were conducted at a Swedish bank, and three interactive television appliances were designed and studied in simulated home environments. It is concluded that the use qualities to design for in infotainment services on interactive television are <em>laidback interaction, togetherness</em> among users, and <em>entertainment</em>. This is quite different from bank office software that usually is characterised by not only traditional usability criteria such as learnability, flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, but also professional <em>face management</em> and <em>ante-use</em>. Ante-use is the events and activities that precedes the actual use that will set the ground for whether the software will have quality in use or not. Furthermore, practices for how to work with <em>use quality values, use quality objectives</em>, and <em>use quality criteria</em> in the interaction design process are suggested. Finally, future research in design of software for several co-present users is proposed.</p> / Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic-2002:61.

Traditional models of usability are not sufficient for software in the home, since they are built with office software in mind. Previous research suggest that social issues among other things, separate software in homes from software in offices. In order to explore that further, the use qualities to design for, in software for use in face-to-face meetings at home were contrasted to such systems at offices. They were studied using a pluralistic model of use quality with roots in socio-cultural theory, cognitive systems engineering, and architecture. The research approach was interpretative design cases. Observations, situated interviews, and workshops were conducted at a Swedish bank, and three interactive television appliances were designed and studied in simulated home environments. It is concluded that the use qualities to design for in infotainment services on interactive television are laidback interaction, togetherness among users, and entertainment. This is quite different from bank office software that usually is characterised by not only traditional usability criteria such as learnability, flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, but also professional face management and ante-use. Ante-use is the events and activities that precedes the actual use that will set the ground for whether the software will have quality in use or not. Furthermore, practices for how to work with use quality values, use quality objectives, and use quality criteria in the interaction design process are suggested. Finally, future research in design of software for several co-present users is proposed. / <p>Report code: LiU-Tek-Lic-2002:61.</p>

i Abstract The MA thesis examines the politeness strategies which native speakers and non-native speakers of English employ in written English requests addressed to the faculty. The requests represent by nature the category of Face threatening acts and require a certain level of politeness. The account of politeness is based on the Face management theoretical framework by Brown and Levinson (1987). The empirical part compares on-record (positive and negative) and o↵-record politeness strategies and the level of directness (Blum-Kulka, 1987) comprised in two hundred email messages sent by students of British and Irish, German, and French nationality. The analysis discovered that the nationality/native language is to some extent a determinative feature in the choice of politeness strategies, while the gender of the student influences the level of directness of the request. The Appendix contains the full sample of examined emails. Keywords politeness theory, face management, request, on- record politeness (negative and positive), o↵-record politeness, directness of request