Crises are spontaneous and highly variable events that lead to life threatening and urgent situations. As such, crisis and emergency notification systems need to be both flexible and highly optimized to quickly communicate to users. Implementing the fastest methods, however, is only half of the battle. The use of geospatial location is missing from alert systems utilized at university campuses across the United States. Our research included the design and implementation of a mobile application addition to our campus notification system. This addition is complete with optimizations including an increase in the speed of delivery, message differentiation to enhance message relevance to the user, and usability studies to enhance user trust and understanding. Another advantage is that our application performs all location data computations on the user device with no external storage to protect user location privacy. However, ensuring the adoption of a mobile application that requests location data permissions and relating privacy measures to users is not a trivial matter. We conducted a campus-wide survey and interviews to understand mobile device usage patterns and obtain opinions of a representative portion of the campus population. These findings guided the development of this mobile application and can provide valuable insights which may be helpful for future application releases. Our addition of a mobile application with geospatial location awareness will send users relevant alerts at speeds faster than those of the current campus notification system while still guarding user location privacy, increasing message relevance, and enhancing the probability of adoption and use. / Master of Science

The use and application of 4 Dimensional Computer Aided Design (4D CAD) is growing within the construction industry. 4D approaches have been the focus of many research efforts within the last decade and several commercial tools now exist for the creation of construction simulations using 4D approaches. However, there are several key limitations to the current approaches. For example, 4D models are normally developed after the initial planning of a project has taken place using more traditional techniques such as Critical Path Method (CPM). Furthermore, mainstream methodologies for planning are based on individual facets of the construction process developed by discrete contractors or sub-contractors. Any 4D models generated from these data are often used to verify work flows and identify problems that may arise, either in terms of work methods or sequencing issues. Subsequently, it is perceived that current 4D CAD approaches provide a planning review mechanism rather than a platform for a novel integrated approach to construction planning. The work undertaken in this study seeks to address these issues through the application of a distributed virtual reality (VR) environment for collaborative 4D based construction planning. The key advances lie in catering for geographically dispersed planning by discrete construction teams. By leveraging networked 4D-VR based technologies, multidisciplinary planners, in different places, can be connected to collaboratively perform planning and create an integrated and robust construction schedule leading to a complete 4D CAD simulation. Establishing such a complex environment faces both technological and social challenges. Technological challenges arise from the integration of traditional and recent 4D approaches for construction planning with an ad hoc application platform of VR linked through networked computing. Social challenges arise from social dynamics and human behaviours when utilizing VR-based applications for collaborative work. An appropriate 4D-based planning method in a networked VR based environment is the key to gaining a technical advancement and this approach to distributed collaborative planning tends to promote computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW). Subsequently, probing suitable CSCW design and user interface/interaction (UI) design are imperative for solutions to achieve successful applicability. Based on the foregoing, this study developed a novel robust 4D planning approach for networked construction planning. The new method of interactive definition was devised through theoretical analysis of human-computer interaction (HCI) studies, a comparison of existing 4D CAD creation, and 3D model based construction planning. It was created to support not only individual planners’ work but multidisciplinary planners’ collaboration, and lead to interactive and dynamic development of a 4D simulation. From a social perspective, the method clarified and highlighted relevant CSCW design to enhance collaboration. Applying this rationale, the study specified and implemented a distributed groupware solution for collaborative 4D construction planning. Based on a developed system architecture, application mode and dataflow, as well as a real-time data exchange protocol, a prototype system entitled ‘4DX’ was implemented which provides a platform for distributed multidisciplinary planners to perform real-time collaborative 4D construction planning. The implemented toolkit targeted a semi-immersive VR platform for enhanced usability with compatibility of desktop VR. For the purpose of obtaining optimal UI design of this kind of VR solution, the research implemented a new user-centred design (UCD) framework of Taguchi-Compliant User-Centred Design (TC-UCD) by adapting and adopting the Taguchi philosophy and current UCD framework. As a result, a series of UIs of the VR-based solution for multifactor usability evaluation and optimization were developed leading to a VR-based solution with optimal UIs. The final distributed VR solution was validated in a truly geographically dispersed condition. Findings from the verification testing, the validation, and the feedback from construction professionals proved positive in addition to providing constructive suggestions to further reinforce the applicability of the approach in the future.

During the last decades, newly developed medical devices often came along with unappropriate designs, increasing the likelihood of misuse through the operator. Part of the root cause was that no sufficient measures were applied to assimilate user needs. Consequently, usability engineering approaches are now stronger emphasized to ensure that new devices are not only safe to use but are also designed for users’ needs. Besides, testing processes in clinical microbiology laboratories are currently reshaped due to new generations of rapid testing methods. Hence, it is particularly important to apply usability engineering frameworks during the development phase to make sure devices address users’ needs and also fit into the new work- and communication flows. Based on that, this research project applies a usability engineering approach to the design process of a new rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing system of Astrego Diagnostic AB that is supposed to be used in clinical microbiology laboratories in the near future. The research questions focus on how this device can be designed to enable integration into clinical laboratories. -       How can a rapid AST testing system be integrated into the workflow of clinical microbiology laboratories? -       What are the remaining uncertainties for integrating a rapid AST system into the workflow of a clinical microbiology laboratory on the example of Astrego’s AST system? Several methods were used to address these questions, which include literature research, a competitive audit, subject matter interviews and semi-structured interviews, and observations of targeted users. The findings show that a rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing system may be used in several different ways, which also impacts its design. Process-wise, it could be used after Gram staining and bacterial identification has been conducted and, more realistically, simultaneously bacterial identification to pave the way for additional time savings further. However, uncertainties remain regarding the design of the new testing system. Depending on the number of devices that targeted laboratories need to implement to accommodate their testing volume, it makes sense to design a built-in user interface or an external one that can be accessed through a tablet or desktop. Thus, it is uncertain to what extent manual input of bacteria ID is relevant as the dRAST system fully enables manual input of Gram type and bacteria IDs while it might also be possible to avoid manual interaction by receiving this information through software interfaces.

This study aimed to utilize usability engineering methods in order to identify facilitators and barriers to electronic referral system adoption by radiation oncologists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and provide recommendations for electronic referral system design. Analyses included workflow analysis of radiation oncologists reviewing referrals, belief elicitation interviews with radiation oncologists, a heuristic evaluation of an existing electronic referral system interface, and cognitive walkthrough of that interface with radiation oncologists. Based on these findings, the system interface was redesigned using mock-up software to address identified usability issues. The existing and redesigned interfaces were compared using observational usability testing with radiation oncologists. The redesigned system interface yielded reduced task times and enhanced user satisfaction as compared to the existing interface. Thus, user-centred design was useful in determining facilitators and barriers to e-referral adoption.

This study aimed to utilize usability engineering methods in order to identify facilitators and barriers to electronic referral system adoption by radiation oncologists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and provide recommendations for electronic referral system design. Analyses included workflow analysis of radiation oncologists reviewing referrals, belief elicitation interviews with radiation oncologists, a heuristic evaluation of an existing electronic referral system interface, and cognitive walkthrough of that interface with radiation oncologists. Based on these findings, the system interface was redesigned using mock-up software to address identified usability issues. The existing and redesigned interfaces were compared using observational usability testing with radiation oncologists. The redesigned system interface yielded reduced task times and enhanced user satisfaction as compared to the existing interface. Thus, user-centred design was useful in determining facilitators and barriers to e-referral adoption.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has introduced e-learning for health professionals to expand their existing training, offer flexible web-based learning opportunities, and reduce training time and cost. This study is designed to evaluate the usability and usefulness of an e-learning module for a patient clinical information system scheduling application. A cost-effective framework for usability evaluation has been developed and conceptualized as part of this research. Low-Cost Rapid Usability Engineering (LCRUE), Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), and Heuristic Evaluation (HE) criteria for web-based learning were adapted and combined with the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) questionnaire. To evaluate the introduction of the e-learning application, usability was assessed in two groups of users: frontline users and informatics consultant users. The effectiveness of the LCRUE, CTA, and HE when combined with the SUMI was also investigated. Results showed that the frontline users are satisfied with the usability of the e-learning platform. Overall, the informatics consultant users are satisfied with the application, although they rated the application as poor in terms of efficiency and control. The results showed that many areas where usability was problematic are related to general interface usability (GIU), and instructional design and content, some of which might account for the poorly rated aspects of usability. The findings should be of interest to developers, designers, researchers, and usability practitioners involved in development of e-learning systems. / Graduate / 0769 / 0984 / 0541 / tdafalla@uvic.ca; tdafalla@gmail.com

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:17:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 113748.pdf: 2660537 bytes, checksum: 70252b40f7c42af6beaf42d3d776e4b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Due to computerization expansion for many sectors of the economy (thus, for different types of non-programmer users), usability problems of computerized systems have arised. Interaction Design is a course that searches for the best way to build interactive systems, focused on helping people achieve their goals and accomplish their daily activities. Usability and user experience are among the interests of Interaction Design. Several funding agencies of the Brazilian economy disclose the importance and benefits of design. However, very few publications have explored the role of the designer within companies and the perception of entrepreneurs related to this type of investment. This qualitative research aims to investigate the effects of the presence of the designer and its relation to product usability in the software development area. It is based upon the Grounded Theory (STRAUSS; CORBIN, 2008) to explain the phenomenon of design within software development companies, in order to discover what perceptions the responsible for those companies have on the professional of Design, as well as their contributions. For data collection, a script based on a research carried out in recent decades by Programa Brasileiro da Qualidade e Produtividade em Software (PBQP-Software), the Brazilian government program aimed to encourage the development of software in the country, was used. Interviews for data collection were conducted in six companies located in the greater Florianopolis area, in the State of Santa Catarina. The interviews were transcribed and coded, enabling categories to emerge from statements of the participants. Six categories were found and included: processes related to the user interface project, satisfaction measurement by the companies, benefits of design observed by the participants, professional relationship in the area, role of design and of the designer within the industry and the challenges presented to professionals to improve the labor market. / Com a expansão da informatização para diversos setores da economia (e, assim, para diversos tipos de usuário não programadores) vieram à tona os problemas de usabilidade dos sistemas informatizados. Design de Interação é uma disciplina que busca compreender a melhor forma de projetar sistemas interativos, possuindo como foco ajudar as pessoas a atingirem suas metas e realizarem suas atividades cotidianas. Entre os interesses dos Designers de Interação, estão a usabilidade e a experiência do usuário. Diversas instituições de fomento da economia brasileira divulgam a importância e os benefícios do design. No entanto, poucas publicações exploraram o papel do Designer dentro das empresas e qual a percepção dos empresários em relação a esse investimento. A presente pesquisa, então, tem por objetivo investigar os efeitos da presença do Designer e a sua relação com a usabilidade dos produtos na área de desenvolvimento de software em Florianópolis/SC. Esta pesquisa qualitativa utiliza a Teoria Fundamentada em Dados (STRAUSS; CORBIN, 2008) para explicar o fenômeno do Design dentro das empresas de desenvolvimento de software, com o intuito de descobrir as percepções dos responsáveis pelas empresas sobre o profissional de Design e suas contribuições. Para coleta de dados, foi utilizado um roteiro baseado na pesquisa realizada nas últimas décadas pelo Programa Brasileiro da Qualidade e Produtividade em Software (PBQP-Software), programa do governo brasileiro que visa fomentar o desenvolvimento de software no país. Participaram desta pesquisa seis empresas localizadas na Grande Florianópolis, nas quais foram realizadas entrevistas para coleta de dados. As entrevistas foram transcritas e codificadas para que as categorias emergissem das falas dos participantes. Foram encontradas 6 categorias, que englobam os processos do projeto da interface com o usuário, a mensuração de satisfação pelas empresas, os benefícios do design percebidos pelos participantes, o relacionamento profissional existente na área, a função do Design e do Designer dentro da indústria e os desafios apresentados aos profissionais para a melhoria do campo de trabalho.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1909532 bytes, checksum: 448993fd6ad6c3ba5d469243d8845541 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The Carta de Serviços ao Cidadão of the Universidade Federal da Paraíba aims at inform the citizens the services provided by this university. The Portal of the Centro de Ciências Humanas Letras e Artes (CCHLA) is part of the web information source indicated by such document. Thus, the present research intends to collaborate to the increasing of the quality in use of this source of information through the Study of Users in the Information Science area based on the Usability Engineering, mainly the concept of usability by Jakob Nielsen, associated to the attributes of: learning facility, use efficiency, memorizing facility, error occurrences and subject satisfaction. Besides, this research discusses the history of the Study of Users and its traditional, alternative and hybrid approaches, conceptualizes both the corporative websites and the Architecture of Information and characterizes the Usability. This descriptive quantitative qualitative research was developed with 471 students of the Social Science undergraduate course, and of the Sociology and Anthropology postgraduate courses, its sample was of 59 users. The data collection procedure was through online questionnaire put over the classrooms and other places in the CCHLA, including its homepage, in the websites of the given courses and of the Departamento de Ciências Sociais. The analysis of Usability of the CCHLA portal was done considering as reference the general and specific categories which evaluation resulted from the Likert scale related to the questionnaire response agreement criteria. The research revealed that the portal users were predominantly undergraduate students in their first year course in Social Science and experienced internet users who monthly access the portal to get information about the Departamento de Ciências Sociais. All the attributes have reached a good level average, which resulted in a good level of the users´ performance and satisfaction in the interaction with the portal. Therefore, the portal quality proved to be good facing the overall usability average being classified as good usability - 3.2 average in an interval of 0,0 to 5,0 points. / A Carta de Serviços ao Cidadão da Universidade Federal da Paraíba tem como objetivo o de informar o cidadão sobre os serviços prestados por esta universidade. O portal do Centro de Ciências Humanas, Letras e Artes (CCHLA) compõe o conjunto de fontes de informação web indicadas pela referida carta. Sendo assim, esta pesquisa procura colaborar para o incremento da qualidade do uso dessa fonte de informação por meio dos Estudos de Usuários, no campo da Ciência da Informação, com base na Engenharia da Usabilidade, mais precisamente, no conceito de usabilidade, definido por Jakob Nielsen, associado aos atributos: facilidade de aprendizado, eficiência de uso, facilidade de memorização, incidência de erros e satisfação subjetiva. A pesquisa discorre sobre a história dos Estudos de Usuários e suas abordagens tradicionais, alternativas e híbridas; conceitua os portais corporativos e a Arquitetura da Informação; caracteriza a Usabilidade; é de natureza descritiva fundamentada em um método quantitativo e qualitativo. Seu universo é formado por 471 discentes dos cursos de graduação em Ciências Sociais, pós-graduação em Sociologia e pós-graduação em Antropologia, tendo por amostra 59 sujeitos. Procedemos à coleta de dados mediante a divulgação do questionário online nas salas de aula e noutros ambientes do CCHLA, nos websites dos cursos citados, do Departamento de Ciências Sociais e na própria homepage do portal do CCHLA. A análise da usabilidade deste portal foi realizada com referência a categorias gerais e específicas, cujas avaliações resultaram de atribuições de pesos da escala de Likert relativas a critérios de concordância das respostas ao questionário. A pesquisa revela que os usuários do portal são, predominantemente, discentes de graduação em seu primeiro ano no curso de Ciências Sociais, internautas experientes, que mensalmente acessam-no para consultar informações sobre o Departamento de Ciências Sociais. Todos os atributos atingiram uma média de bom nível, o que resultou em um bom nível de desempenho e satisfação dos usuários na interação com o portal. Consequentemente, sua qualidade foi comprovada em vista da média da usabilidade geral obtida ser classificada como de boa usabilidade média 3,2 num intervalo de 0,0 a 5,0 pontos.

Usability studies are conducted as a part of the usability engineering process, ensuring the usability of a developing product. Such usability studies can be conducted in a usability laboratory, or at the anticipated context of use. At the School of Computing & Informatics Technology (CIT) at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, plans for usability facilities are being evolved.This study maps what facilities are beneficial for CIT at Makerere University to adapt in order to fulfil the potential stakeholders’ needs, as well as enabling the stakeholders to conduct wanted usability studies. Furthermore, the study presents various usability engineering methods, to be compared with the needs of the stakeholders.26 potential stakeholders of the usability facilities answered two different surveys. The result shows that the stakeholders’ conceptions about usability studies in some cases are misconceptions, why educational activities about usability and usability studies should be planned alongside the development of the facilities. Further the study shows that the facilities must support usability studies conducted in field as well as studies conducted in a controlled laboratory environment. Moreover, the facilities need to provide facilities for testing mobile services, web applications, user interfaces, and provide for stress and load testing.

隨著數位相機、智慧型手機等影像記錄產品的普及，人們可以隨時隨地按下快門，使得個人相片的數量不斷的增長。倘若照片中缺少了註釋，進行搜尋檢索大量的個人照片是困難的。雖然如此，人們卻會因為繁瑣累人的照片註釋工作而缺乏意願。 本研究藉由Kuo所發展出的PARIS (Personal Archiving and Retrieving Image System)作為來源系統架構，其系統解決了大部分個人數位影像語義標註的困難，也利用半自動註記方法減少使用者註釋負擔。但由於過去缺乏行動載具，PARIS並未開發一個現代化的行動註釋系統，來協助一般使用者進行個人影像註釋。 為了解決此問題，本研究利用使用性工程進行系統的建構，以設計及開發出一套現代化的行動影像註釋系統iPARIS (Integrated Personal Archiving and Retrieving Image System)。iPARIS擴展了PARIS設計出符合行動載具的後設資料結構與本體，包含將PARIS所定義的DDDC後設資料標準擴充為得以群眾註記之社群媒體地理標籤的iDDDC (Integrated Dozen Dimensional Digital Content)，以及在既有的STO (Spatial and Temporal Based Ontology)的空間架構中加入更具彈性的地理標籤關聯方法GRO (Geotag Related Ontology)。iPARIS並利用工作流程設計、介面線稿設計、視覺設計、系統實作、使用者參與設計等步驟來設計及開發系統，再以迭代設計方法不斷地改善系統的使用者介面及使用者體驗。iPARIS在建置完成後利用參與啟發式評估量表、手勢次數、操作時間、操作路徑、錯誤次數進行使用性測試，而其測試結果也達預期的使用性目標。更進一步，透過分析使用者操作系統的實際行為來找出系統存在的使用性問題，並提出未來系統的改進方式。 透過完整的規劃與適切的設計系統介面，讓使用者在拍照、註釋、組織及管理照片都可以在行動應用程式上完成，並使此系統能滿足具有效率、具學習性、具記憶性、低錯誤率及高滿意度等Nielsen所提出的使用性標準，以降低個人影像註釋時的負擔，並增加使用者註釋個人照片的意願，以應付日益增長地個人數位影像資料的管理需求。 / With the widespread use of photograph recording products, such as digital camera and smartphone, people take photographs easily so that the number of personal photographs increases unceasingly. If photographs are lacking of annotation, searching and retrieving the large number of personal photographs become difficult. However, people are usually reluctant to the cumbersome and exhausted annotation work. In 2004, Kuo et al. developed PARIS (Personal Archiving and Retrieving Image System) to solve these problems. Based on MPEG-7, PARIS resolved most difficulties of personal digital image semantic annotation and lightened users’ annotation burdens by semi-automatic annotation methods. However, because of the lack of mobile device at that time, PARIS did not develop a modern mobile annotation system to help ordinary people annotate personal photographs. Therefore, this thesis builds a system with usability engineering as well as designs and develops a modern mobile image annotation system iPARIS (Integrated Personal Archiving and Retrieving Image System). iPARIS expands PARIS architecture to add the support for mobile. It expands PARIS DDDC metadata standard to iDDDC (Integrated Dozen Dimensional Digital Content) which is a crowdsourcing annotation enabled by third party social networking services, and provides STO’s spatial ontology a more flexible geo-information description methodology GRO (Geotag Related Ontology). iPARIS also takes the steps of workflow design, wireframe design, visual design, system implementation, participatory design to build the system; moreover, it keeps improving the user interface and user experience by iterative design. After implementing iPARIS, we conduct usability testing including participatory heuristic evaluation, gesture times, operation time, gesture path, error times, and interview. The test results reach the expected usability goals. Furthermore, the thesis finds some usability problems by analyzing users’ behaviors when they are using the application and brings future improvement for the system. By integral planning and appropriate interface design, this system lets user take, annotate, organize, and mange personal photos in a mobile application. We hope that iPARIS can meet the usability index to lighten the burdens of personal photograph annotation, arousing users’ desire to annotate personal photographs, and meet the growing needs for the management of personal digital photograph information.