Medical researchers today often work in a highly collaborative environment. The methods used to collaborate often include face to face meetings, unnecessary e-mail discussions, and huge amounts of documents sent and received in order to cooperate, share and contribute to each others work. The collaboration gets even more challenging as researchers today often do not work from the same location. For this study, the purpose has been to explore if there are ways in which the everyday work of dementia researchers can be supported and made more efficient by the use of web-based collaborative tools. A case study including four researchers related to dementia research has been conducted. A series of interviews with the researchers were done, and based on the findings from these, a prototype has been suggested and evaluated by the participants. The main findings shows that there is a need for further support during collaborative and coordinating activities in order to make the research process more effective. A web-based collaborative tool made with the medicine 2.0 approach in mind is suggested, which includes social networking, supporting collaboration between different actors, and openness and sharing between these actors. The main finding from this study is that there is a need for improved methods to support the collaboration and coordination between dementia researchers. Allowing the researchers to create social networks including sharing and collaboration related to files was seen as effective. It had potential of reducing the time spent revising documents as a result of tagging and notification functionality, in addition to improve coordination between colleagues because the awareness of what other project members were doing increased. The study also shows that there is a potential in using patient-produces sources such as blogs and illness communities in research, specially within qualitative research and social welfare studies. A need to improve the visualization of available data during the examination phase was discovered, however the need was not so strong as for improving collaborative activities.

I dette studiet ser vi på hvordan man kan praktisere brukersentrert utvikling i de tidlige fasene av systemutviklingsløpet for applikasjoner til Microsoft Surface.Vi har sett på to temaer knyttet til dette; introduksjon av ny teknologi for brukere, og metoder for low-fi prototyping og wizard-of-Oz brukbarhetstesting. Ved praktisering av brukersentrert utvikling er det ikke uvanlig at brukerne som involveres har en lav teknisk innsikt. Dette gjelder spesielt for nye teknologier som multi-touchbord, som fremdeles er lite utbredt. Viktigheten av å formidle mulighetene og begrensningene ved Surface til brukerne er derfor stor. I denne oppgaven blir det sett på hvilken merverdi domenespesifikke demonstrasjoner gir fremfor abstrakte når man skal formidle egenskapene ved Surface. Dette blir besvart gjennom to workshops med uavhengige grupper. Den ene gruppen får presentert abstrakte demonstrasjoner, mens den andre får presentert domenespesifikke. Ved å måle og sammenligne idérikdommen på de to workshopene blir det undersøkt hvilken av de to formidlingsmetodene som fungerer best. Resultatene viste imidlertid ingen signifikant forskjell i antall ideer som kom opp i de to workshopene, men typene av ideer hadde et merkbart skille. Det viser seg at domenespesifikke demonstrasjonseksempler ikke har merverdi overfor abstrakte, men at de to metodene snarere utfyller hverandre. I de tidlige fasene av systemutviklingsløpet til en applikasjon for Surface er det hensiktsmessig å utvikle en prototype som kan brukes i wizard-of-Oz brukbarhetstester, slik at brukerne kan evaluere designet og komme med forslag til endringer, nye krav eller bekrefte designløsninger. Vi ser i denne oppgaven på hvilke metoder, verktøy og materialer som bør benyttes ved prototyping, og hvordan disse kan brukbarhetstestes ved bruk av wizard-of-Oz på flere testbrukere samtidig. Ulike teknikker blir utprøvd og disse resulterer i en prototype som blir brukbarhetstestet for en aktuell brukergruppe. Resultatene fra brukbarhetstestene viser at papirprototyping og wizard-of-Oz flerbrukertesting av Surface-applikasjoner lar seg gjennomføre, men at det krever god planlegging. Blant viktige utfordringer som avdekkes er testpersonenes påvirkning av hverandre og viktigheten av å skille mellom fysiske og virtuelle GUI-elementer i prototypen.

The difference between Partition Testing and Random Testing has been thoroughlyinvestigated theoretically. In this thesis we present a practical study ofthe differences between random testing and partition testing. Thestudy is performed on the open-source project Buddi with JUnit and Randoop as test tools. The comparisonis made with respect to coverage rate and fault rate. The resultsare discussed and analyzed. The observed differences are statisticallysignificant at the 10% level with respect to coverage rate, in favour ofpartition testing, and not statistically significant at the 10% level withrespect to the fault rate.

In this thesis we have investigated how collaborative learning experiencescollected with mobile devices and represented in a timeline can help reflection.We have developed a prototype application on the Android platform in order tolook deeper into what kind of data that should be collected and how the data shouldbe visualized and interacted with. Today's mobile devices are powerful devices capable of capturing a variety ofinformation. Our investigation of related work and existing applications showedthat there are many applications developed for information collection. Todifferentiate from these applications, and support a central aspect of ourresearch question, reflection, we wanted the users to collaborate andperform actions on the collected data in order to promote reflection andenhancing learning experiences. We identified 5 high level requirements thatwe wanted the application to support; collection of experiences, being in theenvironment, representation in a timeline, collaborating on experiences andre-visiting experiences. All these requirements were achieved in the Timelineapplication. The functionality implemented was a result of taking advantage of the theoretical background, related work, evaluation and discussions with an expertin the area of reflection as well as co-operation with a EU project(MIRROR) thatare conducting research in the area of reflection.The resulting prototype was evaluated over 3 days in a real user setting duringa general assembly in MIRROR.From this evaluation, together with the work done in background theory andrelated work, we have analyzed our results and identified some characteristicsthat should be considered when developing a tool for enhancing reflection onlearning experiences in a collaborative environment.

In later years, the health care work in hospitals has become increasingly fragmented, in a sense where different people and professions are required for the treatment of every single patient. As a consequence, personnel should be assisted to greater awareness of what is happening, so that they can better plan where to put in their efforts. Making information about ongoing activities more accessible to its users is hence important, but this will in turn require increased distribution of sensitive data inside the hospital. The concept of flexible de-identification has been proposed as a solution for the privacy issues raised by this, but then again new issues emerge when it comes to how useful the de-identified data are to its authorized end users, in practice.A series of six rapid field tests was executed along with a literature review on de-identification. The purpose was to explore some ideas to how de-identification could be implemented for information screens located in public and semi-public hospital environments, such as hallways, where personnel are likely to see them. The appropriateness of several techniques for de-identification was hence evaluated for being used in real-time visualizations, in contrast to previous known applications of the concept. This input was in turn used to design a high-fidelity prototype for use in a series of four experiments in a usability laboratory. The experiments involved role-play sessions, where nurses from a university hospital used the prototype in a simulation of realistic ward work. In a focused interview directly afterwards, they each assessed the usefulness of having a system available in such locations, considering that the information was de-identified. Moreover, the nurses evaluated six alternative approaches to de-identification of the sensitive information, and ranked them with respect to which, if any, would be best suited for use in their regular work environment.The experiments indicate that users appreciate being notified via large screens when new information is available, but disagree on what is the preferred level of de-identification. Some would emphasize the legislative requirements and privacy issues raised, while others would put their own utility needs first. As a response to this, an interactive prototype was designed to demonstrate how users can be given interactive control over how identifiable the displayed information is. This idea of giving users flexible control over what is seen on a screen, depending on how they assess the context for access, is grounded in a framework for evaluation that considers the quality requirements of identification utility, legislation and usability.Useful applications of non-interactive de-identification to screens in public environments, are effectively disqualified by the legislative requirements regulating how personal health information can be disclosed. The de-identification can however be useful for enabling an intermediate security level, which can be accessed as long as there is a authorized user present. Appropriate techniques for achieving such de-identification, are found to be suppression of variables, coding, masking and generalization. With this overall approach, users may gradually authorize themselves until the required utility is reached, and hence be able to access useful information in public places. The information depth available must also be accordingly limited, so that the increased risk of abuse is mitigated. The result is possibly a security mechanism that is both legal to implement, it serves the utility needs of personnel, and it is more usable in practice than existing time-demanding login routines. Finally, these ideas have been included in the design of an interactive prototype, which still remains to see tested in practice.

The use of third party software components is increasing. By looking at developers at a Norwegian IT consultancy firm I find that developers are using components at an individual level and there is no leading agenda that promotes reuse. Developers that are used to finding and using components do so often and with few problems this practice is aiding and improving software development. However the frequency of use is not as high as it could be, either because of limitations of reuse or lack of knowledge and skill on how to find components. By encouraging the use of small software components and proposing simple guidelines on how to do so companies could increase both reuse and the benefits of them.

Denne oppgaven tar for seg småa- og mellomstore bedrifters (SMB) behov forBusiness Intelligence (BI), og utfordringer for slike bedrifter. Det diskutereshvordan disse bedriftene burde gåa fram, for å lykkes med BI. Det gjøresogsåa en vurdering på hvilke bedrifter som er egnet for å benytte seg avOpen Source BI-programvare.

I de siste årene har utviklinga innen IKT bidratt til at elektronisk samhandling mellom ulike aktører i samfunnet blir en stadig viktigere del av hverdagen. Denne trenden ser vi også i helsesektoren der store deler av arbeidshverdagen nå fokuseres rundt tett integrerte informasjonssystemer, slik som elektronisk pasientjournal. Disse journalsystemene utvikler seg fra å være et dokumentasjonsverktøy over til å inkludere stadig flere arbeidsprosesser. De blir dermed til et klinisk arbeidsverktøy som støtter de kliniske prosessene ved helseinstitusjonene.For å få til elektronisk samhandling er man avhengig av integrering, standardisering og tilpasning av informasjonsystemer hos de ulike aktørene. Denne oppgava diskuterer ulike strategier for standardisering ved utvikling av informasjonsystemer som skal skape en regional standard, samt hvilke arenaer og aktører som er viktige i denne prosessen. Oppgava er basert på et case studie av KMF-prosjektet (Kurve, Medisinering og Forordning) i Helse Midt-Norge, samt litteratur- og dokumentstudier. Det empiriske materialet er samlet gjennom observasjoner og intervjuer av ansatte ved pilotavdelinga, i tillegg til møter, telefonsamtaler og e-postkorrespondanse med ulike prosjektrepresentanter. Målet med denne oppgava er å synliggjøre hvordan ulike strategier, og det arbeidet som ulike aktører gjør underveis i stor grad påvirker utviklingsprosessen. Med tanke på at stadig flere kritiske og svært komplekse informasjonssystemer på tvers av ulike sektorer i samfunnet digitaliseres og samhandler, blir det enda viktigere å få en god forståelse av disse systemene og infrastrukturen de bygger opp. Denne oppgava forsøker derfor å dra fram noen utfordringer og aspekter som er viktige å tenke på ved utvikling av robuste systemer for samhandling.

Digitale læringsplattformer, eller Learning Management System (LMS), brukes i utstrakt grad i Norge og i verden for øvrig. Dette er systemer som brukes for å planlegge, gjennomføre og vurdere konkrete læringsprosesser og brukes av flere tusen i Norge hver dag, alt fra barn på barneskolen til lærere i 60-årsalderen. En viktig suksessfaktor for disse systemene er at de må være lette å bruke, og det er store forbedringsmuligheter når det gjelder brukbarheten til systemene. For å forbedre brukbarheten er det naturlig å teste den og forbedre systemet basert på dataen og tilbakemeldingene fra testene. Brukbarhetstesting er én av flere metoder for å teste brukbarheten til et system.Itslearning er et LMS som brukes ved NTNU og som har gått fra å være et støttesystem til en kritisk del av infrastrukturen. I fag som bruker itslearning er elevene og lærerne fullstendig avhengig av det og bruker mye tid på det, som har ført til at det er kritisk om det ikke fungerer som planlagt.Det er ønskelig å forbedre brukbarheten til itslearning, og på grunn av manglende forskning og testing av itslearning ble det bestemt at det skulle gjennomføres en brukbarhetstest av itslearning, som er grunnmuren i denne oppgaven, for å finne metodiske utfordringer med brukbarhetstesting av LMS. Brukbarhetstesten var utgangspunktet for å belyse utfordringer i et bredere spekter og brukbarhetstesting av LMS generelt. Målet til oppgaven var å finne ut hva de metodiske utfordringene er for brukbarhetstesting av LMS.Erfaringene fra brukbarhetstesten fant utfordringer knyttet til fire faser av brukbarhetstesting: Planlegging, gjennomføring, analyse og formidling. Utfordringene med planlegging er knyttet til oppgavene, testmiljøet, deltakere og et spørreskjema om vaner på internett. I gjennomføringen er utfordringene knyttet til testens realisme og endringer underveis, mens ufordringene i analysen handler om kategorisering av problemer, testpersonenes erfaringer og forventninger, oppgavene som ble gitt og kort om eye-tracker. Utfordringene med formidling er basert på presentasjon av resultatene for itslearning AS, og er knyttet til hvem som har ansvaret for å løse problemene som ble funnet, og hvor stor effekt en slik presentasjon har.

In this thesis we evaluate the use of Wii, Kinect and Move for use in physical rehabilitation. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the feasibility of these low-cost commercially available motion-sensing devices for rehabilitation and to explore what strengths, weaknesses and challenges exist in that use. This is guided by two perspectives, the technical feasibility and the feasibility as viewed by physical therapists, on this basis we construct some high level guidelines for the implementation of games for physical rehabilitation.This thesis uses the interpretive approach and qualitative methods, this is instantiated with the use of Research Through Design. Some qualitative methods applied were a focus group, interviews, questionnaire and prototyping. The prototype artifacts are used to provide concrete embodiments of theory and technical opportunities, these artifacts also serve as a conduit for transfer of the research. The prototypes are used to evaluate the technical feasibility of the Wii, Kinect and Move based upon specified requirements in physical rehabilitation. The author presents a set of high level quality attributes for evaluating the capabilities of the various sensors and libraries in the context of two games developed for physical rehabilitation. The Wii, Kinect and Move all have different strengths and weaknesses for the usage scenarios specified.Next, the prototypes are used as starting point for evaluation by the expert panel in a focus group, the focus group consisted of three physiotherapists. The physiotherapists found the motion-sensing technology very promising but could not determine on a general basis which device is the most suitable since each patient have very different individual requirements to his therapy depending on the level of injury. The experts also stated some of the most promising areas of this augmented rehabilitation was the motivational, social and tactile facets. The experts found some of the typical commercial games to be too focused on the fun aspect, lacking in concise direction of exercises, and, lacks the needed adjust-ability to the difficulty.Based upon the technical evaluation and the expert panels feedback, the author suggest a list of guidelines for aiding construction of serious games for rehabilitation.