This thesis explores the relationship between usability and persuasion in the design of the interface for a smart-phone application. Using a usability study of an I-phone app combined with interviews with users and the designers, the roles of usability and persuasion in the design of the app and their influence on each other as design goals is discussed from both the users’ and designers’ perspectives. The application’s purpose is to support behavior change in users by giving them feedback on their electricity use in order to encourage them to switch their pattern of usage to reduce CO² emissions. This thesis should be of interest to interaction designers faced with the challenge of designing interfaces that are simultaneously both user-friendly and persuasive. While it is generally accepted that usability has a positive effect on the potential of a design to be persuasive little is known about the effects, if any, of persuasion on usability. This thesis proposes that the relationship between these two design principles is more complex than is generally assumed and that in certain situations they may even be traded off against one another.  This trade-off could be useful for designers framing design challenges involving usability and persuasion.

Företaget Attendit utvecklar sedan 2006 systemprodukten NetAlert™ för Android, Win 32, och iOS. Produkten är ett larmsystem för personsäkerhet som använder sig av en serverbackend med vilken samtliga klienter kommunicerar via en krypterad socket i realtid. Målet med detta projekt har varit att utveckla NetAlert™ vidare, för att få ett responsivt och användarvänligt gränssnitt som alla kan använda, oavsett teknisk kompetens. Undersökningen har gjorts med hjälp av en enkät som användarna har svarat på. Under utvecklingsfasen av applikationen har enkätsvaren beaktats, detta för att få en applikation som användarna upplever enkel att använda. Tyvärr hann jag inte riktigt klart med applikationen pga. det blev många timmars felsökning, buggfixar och liknande, så tiden räckte inte riktigt till, men jag kommer fram till att mitt användargränssnitt är enkelt att använda, visuellt tilltalande och det passar för alla åldersgrupper. / The company Attendit have been developing the system product NetAlert™ since 2006.  NetAlert™ has clients for Android, Win 32, and iOS. The product is an alarm system for personal safety which uses a serverbackend with which all clients communicate through an encrypted socket in real-time. The goal of this project was to develop NetAlert™ further, to get a responsive and user-friendly interface that anyone can use, regardless of technical competence. The poll was conducted by means of a questionnaire that users answered. During the development stage, the survey has been in mind, to obtain an application that users find easy to use. Unfortunately, I did not have time to finish the application due there were many hours of troubleshooting, bug fixes and the such, so the time was not quite enough, but I conclude that my user interface is easy to use, visually appealing, and it is suitable for all age groups.

The World Wide Web (WWW) has become an important medium for communicating between people all over the world. It is regarded as a global system and is associated with a wide user and social system diversity. The effects of differing user-groups and their associated cultures on user acceptance of web sites can be significant, and as a result understanding the behaviour of web users in various cultures is becoming a significant concern. The eCulture research project is based on previous classical theories and research in culture. It applies a factorial experimental design strategy (the Taguchi method) in crosscultural usability / acceptability, together with other approaches such as semiotic analysis and card sorting. Two types of analysis, both top-down and bottom-up have been implemented to investigate differences in web site usability and acceptability between users from Mainland China and the United Kingdom. Based on experiments on web sites investigating the relationship between cultural issues and usability lacceptability aspects between Chinese and British web users, several issues, such as cultural factors, cognitive abilities, social semiotic differences and other issues have emerged. One of the goals has been to develop 'cultural fingerprints' for both web sites and users in different cultures. By comparing cultural and site fingerprints, usability and acceptability of web sites can be diagrammatically matched to the target culture. Experiments investigating qualitative factors and quantitative data collection and analysis based on the Taguchi method has led to the successful development of two versions of 'cultural fingerprint' for both web sites and target cultures in the UK and China. It has been possible to relate these studies to a wider body of knowledge, and to suggest ways in which the work may be extended in the future.

There is a huge need for information when you arrive as an immigrant in a new country. The purpose of the study is to find out recommendations for an information portal for newly arrived immigrants in Sweden. First, a survey was conducted to the webmasters of relevant authorities online resources regarding their ways of considering the needs of immigrant users. The answers showed that the webmasters of the official websites showed interest in considering the needs of immigrants in their websites by including pages in different languages, but most of them considered this to be difficult, expensive and problematic. To know more about a particular user group, a survey, interviews and observations have been done. A survey to newly arrived immigrants showed that their ICT skills are comparable to the average of Swedish citizens. In spite of differences within the immigrant group, like age, gender and cultural factors, they also shared common characteristics. Most of the immigrants trusted Swedish websites and Swedish authorities websites as reliable information resources more than websites in their mother-tongue. Test-persons were faced with the task of finding information about the possibility to borrow money for furniture for the first home in Sweden, our observations showed that very few of the test-persons managed to find their way to the correct authority webpage (Studiemedels-nämnden). Most test-persons tried by using many ways to search for the information, but all except two gave up. None of the test-persons managed to find the pages that were translated to their mother-tongue. The study points out the need for a systematical approach to web information for newly arrived immigrants to help them with their integration process and benefit from Swedish e-government services. A central multilingual portal website should be the heart of this program. This approach can be introduced in SFI schools given that all SFI schools are supplied with computers.

This thesis describes a research study in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), specifically usability evaluation. The research investigated ways to optimise the usability of Web sites. It specifically compared Flash and HTML versions of several different types of Web sites. The study commenced with a literature review regarding the process of usability evaluation of Web sites. Various usability evaluation methods and techniques were explored, and two emerging techniques were chosen for further investigation: (1) a contingent heuristic approach; and (2) eye gaze tracking. In order to confirm that these two techniques can be used effectively for Web site usability evaluations, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the usability of Web sites. The first experiment utilised an online questionnaire derived from the Website Usability Contingent Evaluation Tool (WUCET), which was based on the contingent heuristic approach. The second experiment involved eye gaze tracking with the faceLAB system, while participants interacted with Web sites of different types. Both experiments utilised Flash and HTML versions of the same set of Web sites. By analysing data collected from the experiments, comparisons between the usability of Flash and HTML versions were made. The results from quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey responses suggested that Flash version of Web sites, in general, provided higher usability than HTML version of Web sites, but eye gaze tracking data analyses showed no significant difference between the two versions. However, analyses of the eye tracking data were useful for improving understanding of the ways in which users interact with different versions of the Web sites. In addition, other influential factors that could affect the perceived usability of the Web sites, such as user’s gender and previous experience with computers and the Web, were also considered. The results of the experiments showed that in regard to Flash and HTML implementations of Web sites, there was a difference in Web site usability perception patterns between male and female users, and also between users with long-term computer/Web experience and users with short-term experience. In addition, a range of different types (purposes) of Web sites were utilised. In this study, selected Web sites fall into three broad categories according to their main purpose: (1) information; (2) entertainment; and (3) e-commerce. It was discovered that the type of Web sites also influenced the usability of Flash and HTML versions of Web sites, as perceived by users.

<p>För att identifiera och klassificera problem relaterade till användbarhet i mjukvarubaserade produkter används metoder speciellt utformade för detta ändamål. En av dessa metoder är Heuristisk utvärdering, men kritik har framförts mot denna metod och dess förmåga att klassificera användbarhetsproblem. I detta arbete jämförs Heuristisk utvärdering med en annan metod, i ett försök att utreda om kritiken är korrekt. Denna metod är Usability Problem Taxonomy, en metod skapad för att klassificera samt analysera användbarhetsproblem. Syftet med denna jämförelse är att ta fasta på vilken av metoderna som är lämpligast att använda vid klassificering av användbarhetsproblem, något som bedöms genom att undersöka metoderna och deras förmåga att noggrant klassificera användbarhetsproblem. Resultatet av arbetet indikerar att Usability Problem Taxonomy stödjer en mer noggrann klassificering jämfört med Heuristisk utvärdering. Det är inte möjligt att på ett enkelt sätt uppskatta noggrannheten i den klassificering som utförs med Heuristisk utvärdering</p>

A presente pesquisa Design de jornal impresso: a relação entre formato e usabilidade tem como principal objetivo reforçar a importância do envolvimento do usuário no design de produtos, através da compreensão da influência que o formato definido pelo tamanho das páginas e organização dos cadernos exerce sobre a usabilidade do jornal impresso. São apresentados os aspectos tecnológicos e econômicos relacionados a esse produto e verificado a influência exercida por eles sobre o formato. É feito um mapeamento sobre os principais aspectos do design de jornais e sobre os diferentes formatos de jornais, suas origens e sua relevância para o design de jornais. Busca-se mapear o formato dos jornais em diferentes mercados e os possíveis impactos das mudanças de formato na circulação, no conteúdo e na publicidade dos jornais impressos. Faz-se uma revisão do panorama atual dos jornais eletrônicos e suas possíveis interferências nos hábitos de leitura. Revisa-se a bibliografia referente à usabilidade, concentrando-se na metodologia de design de documentos e sua aplicabilidade para testes de usabilidade em jornais impressos. Por fim, descreve-se a pesquisa de campo através de entrevistas com especialistas em design de jornais, de observações sistemáticas em gráficas de jornal e sobre o mercado de jornais impressos da cidade do Rio de Janeiro e de testes de usabilidade aplicados a jornais. Conclui-se que, considerando o público participante dos testes profissionais que trabalham com impressão de jornais , apenas o aspecto do formato relacionado à organização dos cadernos parece exercer influência sobre a usabilidade dos jornais. / This research Newspapers design: the relationship between format and usability - has a main objective to reinforce the importance of user involvement in product design, by understanding the influence that the format defined here by the size of the pages and sections organization has on the usability of the printed newspaper. Presents the technological and economic aspects related to this product and verifies the influence exerted by them on the format. Maps the main aspects of newspaper design and the different formats of newspapers, its origins and its relevance to its design. It attempts to map the format of the newspapers in different markets and the possible impact of format changes in the circulation, content and advertising of printed newspapers. Reviews of the current landscape of electronic journals and their possible interference in reading habits. Reviews also the literature on usability, focusing on documents design methodology and its application in usability tests for newspapers. Finally, describes the field research through interviews with newspaper design experts, systematic observations in newspaper printing facilities and on the newspaper market in the city of Rio de Janeiro and application of usability testing for newspapers. It concludes that, considering the public participating in trials professionals who work printing newspapers only aspect of the format related to the sections organizations seems to exert influence on the usability of the newspapers.

There are currently a great deal of available health applications available on various app-stores around the globe and more is being added each day. With that vast amount of available options, which health applications are trustworthy and offers the functionality that the users are looking for? With the current regulations and classification processes, it is difficult to know if mHealth services offers the high standards that it should. This thesis investigates the need for mHealth services tobe subject of an evaluation process, by a health organization or a government agency, to ensure that quality standards are high. We discover the current “state-of-the-art” of mHealth and the privacy-and usability aspects of mHealth, we find outif evaluated and approved mHealth applications are believed to be more attractive to use than the non-evaluated counterparts, and lastly, we identify what aspects is important to evaluate of mHealth applications. To provide answers to the thesis, we perform a literature review and distribute a survey to a small group of potential users of mHealth services. The literature review provides information about the current state of mHealth around the globe. Moreover, the literature review also reveals that both usability, but especially privacy, is of major importance when creating mHealth services. We also discover that there are voices from field experts that suggests mHealth services to be subject of an evaluation process, similar to what we suggest in this thesis. With the survey, we identify the respondents’ current utilization of mHealth services. We also find out what aspects they believe is important and if their trust and utilization of an evaluated and approved mHealth service would be affected compared to a non-evaluated counterpart. The respondents of the survey is parents of young children, a group that is likely in need of medical attention in one way or another and still has the technical experience that is required to answer the survey.

abstract: As pointed out in the keynote speech by H. V. Jagadish in SIGMOD'07, and also commonly agreed in the database community, the usability of structured data by casual users is as important as the data management systems' functionalities. A major hardness of using structured data is the problem of easily retrieving information from them given a user's information needs. Learning and using a structured query language (e.g., SQL and XQuery) is overwhelmingly burdensome for most users, as not only are these languages sophisticated, but the users need to know the data schema. Keyword search provides us with opportunities to conveniently access structured data and potentially significantly enhances the usability of structured data. However, processing keyword search on structured data is challenging due to various types of ambiguities such as structural ambiguity (keyword queries have no structure), keyword ambiguity (the keywords may not be accurate), user preference ambiguity (the user may have implicit preferences that are not indicated in the query), as well as the efficiency challenges due to large search space. This dissertation performs an expansive study on keyword search processing techniques as a gateway for users to access structured data and retrieve desired information. The key issues addressed include: (1) Resolving structural ambiguities in keyword queries by generating meaningful query results, which involves identifying relevant keyword matches, identifying return information, composing query results based on relevant matches and return information. (2) Resolving structural, keyword and user preference ambiguities through result analysis, including snippet generation, result differentiation, result clustering, result summarization/query expansion, etc. (3) Resolving the efficiency challenge in processing keyword search on structured data by utilizing and efficiently maintaining materialized views. These works deliver significant technical contributions towards building a full-fledged search engine for structured data. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Computer Science 2011

Com o crescente aumento do número de dispositivos móveis no mercado, surge a possibilidade dos usuários carregarem consigo diversos livros em formato digital. Estes livros, originalmente desenvolvidos para outros formatos, apresentam vícios, e em alguns casos falhas, que prejudicam e confundem o usuário. Por este motivo surgem os livros digitais interativos, que nada mais são do que livros projetados especificamente para estes dispositivos móveis. Mas junto com estes produtos surgem dúvidas a respeito de quais embasamentos devem ser utilizados. Neste contexto, a presente pesquisa analisa se os conhecimentos relacionados a experiência do usuário, ao design de interação, ao design de informação, e ao design de interface, vinculados as bases teóricas utilizadas para o desenvolvimento de livros impressos, jornais/revistas digitais e aplicativos, podem orientar o processo de projeto e desenvolvimento de livros digitais interativos. O resultado desta analise permite realizar um levantamento, e consequentemente criar um guia de diretrizes que servirá como embasamento para o futuros desenvolvimento de livros digitais interativos. / The increasing number of mobile devices on the market, arises the possibility for users to carry several books in a digital format. These books, originally developed for other formats, have addictions, and in some cases failures, that hinder and confuse the user. In this scenario arise the interactive digital books, which are nothing more than books designed specifically for these mobile devices. But along with these products new doubts show up. In this context, the present study examines whether the knowledge related to the user experience, the interaction design, the information design, and interface design, tied the theoretical bases used for the development of printed books, newspapers / magazines and digital applications can guide the process of design and development of interactive digital books. The result of this analysis allows to conduct this work, and thus create guidelines that will serve as basis for the future development of interactive digital books.