User development of applications provides end users with an alternative to the traditional process of systems development by allowing them to solve job related problems by developing their own software applications. User developed applications (UDAs) support decision making and organisational processes in the majority of organisations, and the ability to develop small applications forms part of the job requirements for many positions. Despite its pervasiveness, there are many risks associated with user development of applications. These risks result primarily from decreases in application quality that arise when end users have had little training and do not follow system development methodologies. The primary aim of the research described in this thesis is to gain a better understanding of UDA success. In particular, the thesis considers the role of system quality in UDA success and the ability of end user developers to judge whether the applications they develop will have a positive impact on their performance of tasks. The research also investigates factors that might impact upon this ability. The research objectives were addressed through two empirical studies. Two possible models of UDA success provided the starting point for Study 1. The first model is DeLone and McLean’s (1992) model of IS success, and the second model is a version of this model that was modified to address concerns about the DeLone and McLean model and to reflect current research about UDA success. The models were tested using data from a field study involving business people participating in a business policy simulation, where they developed spreadsheet applications to assist in decision making. Structural equation modelling was used to test the models. Neither of the models was well supported by the data. However, the analysis provided strong support for relationships between perceived system quality and user satisfaction, information quality and user satisfaction, user satisfaction and intended use, and user satisfaction and individual impact. It is notable that the model paths that were supported in Study 1 were primarily those that reflect user perceptions rather than objective measures. This study highlighted that user perceptions of information systems success play a significant role in the UDA domain. The results did, however, suggest that there might be a direct relationship between system quality and individual impact. Study 2 was a laboratory experiment and the participants were end users from a range of organisations. A revised research model was developed based on the findings of Study 1, and structural equation modelling was again used to test the model. The model paths that were supported suggest that for small to moderate applications, increases in spreadsheet development knowledge lead to increases in system quality and consequently the development of better quality spreadsheets. They also suggest that for these kinds of applications, end users have realistic perceptions of system quality and hence that user satisfaction may be an appropriate measure of UDA success. The results of Study 2 also provided insight into the role of user involvement in end user development, clarifying the process by which benefits are obtained. The study also provided insight into the importance of spreadsheet development knowledge for successful use (as well as development) of a spreadsheet application. The results described in this thesis have practical implications for the management of user development of applications. They highlight the need either to increase end user levels of development knowledge via training so that end users can cope with applications of greater complexity, or to provide other forms of support for development. The role of organisational standards and guidelines is also be considered in the thesis and it is suggested that there is a particular need for guidelines on what kinds of applications are suitable for end user development.

The thesis addresses three main problems in the area of user modeling and adaptation in the context of online communities:<p> 1) Dealing with unique and changing user modeling needs of online communities. <p> 2) Involving users in design of the user modeling process.<p> 3) Interoperability of user models across different communities.<p> A new policy based-approach for user modeling is proposed, that allows explicit declarative representation of the user modeling and adaptation process in terms of policies, which can be viewed and edited by users. This policy-based user model framework is implemented in the MCComtella community framework, developed as part of this thesis work, which allows hosting multiple communities, creating new communities by users, and which supports users in setting explicit user modeling policies defining participation rewards, roles and movement of users across communities.

The thesis addresses three main problems in the area of user modeling and adaptation in the context of online communities:<p> 1) Dealing with unique and changing user modeling needs of online communities. <p> 2) Involving users in design of the user modeling process.<p> 3) Interoperability of user models across different communities.<p> A new policy based-approach for user modeling is proposed, that allows explicit declarative representation of the user modeling and adaptation process in terms of policies, which can be viewed and edited by users. This policy-based user model framework is implemented in the MCComtella community framework, developed as part of this thesis work, which allows hosting multiple communities, creating new communities by users, and which supports users in setting explicit user modeling policies defining participation rewards, roles and movement of users across communities.

This thesis explores participatory design methods and presents the process and the outcomes of a related case study, carried out in collaboration with Vestel Electronics, a Turkish consumer electronics manufacturer, on TV remote controls. The thesis comprises a literature review on participatory design, including its historical background and evolution, the motivations behind its contemporary utilization and the methods, techniques and tools utilized within the approach. The case study comprises two phases. In the first phase, a participatory user workshop was realized with eight middle-aged Turkish housewives. In the second phase, an interactive, computer based design resource was developed by the author, which aims to present the workshop outcomes to designers. The resource was evaluated by the designers of Vestel Electronics and the outcomes are presented in the thesis. Through such a case study the approach of a Turkish in-house design team towards participatory design methods was reached. Moreover, insights about how such a design resource can be developed were gained through designers&amp / #8217 / evaluations.

Abstract As the widespread use and company dependency on Intranet increase, so does the need to assess their value and to ensure implementation success. As a new technology, Intranet success may be affected by the general level of awareness and experience of IT networking in the user population. This study examines the factors which have been proposed in the literature to account for new IT systems and apply them to Intranet. This study identifies and empirically tests five major variables as determinants of Intranet success, in this case measured in terms of user satisfaction. This result clearly supports the hypothesized relationships and suggests the need for Intranet project managers and top management to pay special attention to these determinants of Intranet success. According to the result, Intranet success is directly positive to the quality of Intranet, degree of management support, degree of user participation in Intranet development, computer self-efficacy of users, service provided by the IT center, as each has been defined in this study. Among those five variables, the quality of Intranet and computer self-efficacy of users are the most critical factors affecting user satisfaction on Intranet. In addition, degree of user participation in Intranet development is also a moderating variable between degree of management support and user satisfaction. A set of those five factors is found to account for 61.4¢Mof the variance in user satisfaction on Intranet. As for users¡¦ attributes, such as age, seniority and computer experience influence the perception of Intranet as well. Based on the results, some recommendations are proposed for Intranet project managers and top management to enhance user satisfaction on Intranet and to shape an advantageous environment for Intranet development, including: improving the five factors mentioned above and increasing users¡¦ ability to use Intranet according to users¡¦ attributes, such as age, seniority and computer experience.

This study focuses on how and why people become ready to interact with certain information systems (IS) based on their previous experiences with the same and/or similar systems. User-system interaction can be regarded as a mediated and collaborative human activity between a user and a system with the motive of transforming raw information into useful outcome. Using Activity Theory as a paradigm, this study conceptualizes a user-system interaction model that specifies the mediating relationships involved. Based on the user-system interaction model, this study proposes a psychological construct, Information System Interaction Readiness (ISIR), that indicates how an individual is prepared and willing to interact with a system within a user context. This construct advances a developmental view of how previous IS experiences may affect user future behavior. Compared with other constructs as predictors of user behavior, such as computer self-efficacy and intention to use, ISIR takes how IS user behavior is mediated into account. To operationalize and measure the ISIR construct, this study develops a measurement instrument for ISIR using the technique of facet analysis and the semantic differential scale type. To explore how user experiences with a system lead to the formation of ISIR, this study identifies the psychological antecedents of ISIR. This enables the discussion of how general IS capabilities, including interactivity, personalization and context-awareness, may affect ISIR through these antecedents. Because ISIR is a user-, system- and context-specific construct, this study also identifies and discusses the personal and situational factors that may affect ISIR. Putting all these relationships together results in a research framework of ISIR. To validate the ISIR measurement instrument and test the ISIR research framework, several laboratory studies were conducted. The results indicated that the ISIR instrument was valid and the ISIR framework was sound. Finally, the contributions and limitations of this study are discussed.

User onboarding is a concept to convince and introduce users to use an application and a way for users to understand the application and what it can be used for. This research aimed to explore whether user onboarding could increase the usage of an audiobook application, and help users to find a suitable book. To examine the research question a human-center-design method was applied. It consisted of an extensive literature study, interviews, journey mapping and iterative prototyping, which resulted in an implemented user onboarding prototype for an audiobook application. The prototype was evaluated with an A/B-test, where the user onboarding prototype was compared to another prototype without user onboarding.  Interesting results have emerged through A/B-testing. Findings in this research did not provide any significant correlation between user onboarding and increased usage of an audiobook application. However, the user onboarding motivated users to listen to books, compared to one not being exposed to a user onboarding.  Furthermore, results also revealed that the prototype with user onboarding was helping the users to find a book they were interested in. The results also showed that women who were introduced to the prototype with user onboarding were more positive to use the application again. There was a significant correlation between user onboarding and the perceived simplicity of finding an interesting book in the group of participants aged between 26 and 30. Regarding the perceived usability, findings showed that the users who were introduced to the user onboarding experienced that it was easier to find a book, felt more motivated to listen to a book, felt that the application helped them to find a book that suited them and felt that the application introduced them to the audiobook format to a greater extent than those who were not exposed to user onboarding. However, it could not be proven that there was a statistically significant difference between the group that was introduced to the user onboarding and the group that was not exposed to the user onboarding.  In this research a total of 66 people participated in the A/B-test. For future research a larger number of participants could provide interesting results, since an A/B-test benefits from a high number of participants. Some of the results were bordering to prove that there were a significant correlation between being exposed to user onboarding and greater usage of an application.

No / It is becoming increasingly popular to expose government and citywide sensor data as linked data. Linked data appears to offer a great potential for exploratory search in supporting smart city goals of helping users to learn and make sense of complex and heterogeneous data. However, there are no systematic user studies to provide an insight of how browsing through linked data can support exploratory search. This paper presents a user study that draws on methodological and empirical underpinning from relevant exploratory search studies. The authors have developed a linked data browser that provides an interface for user browsing through several datasets linked via domain ontologies. In a systematic study that is qualitative and exploratory in nature, they have been able to get an insight on central issues related to exploratory search and browsing through linked data. The study identifies obstacles and challenges related to exploratory search using linked data and draws heuristics for future improvements. The authors also report main problems experienced by users while conducting exploratory search tasks, based on which requirements for algorithmic support to address the observed issues are elicited. The approach and lessons learnt can facilitate future work in browsing of linked data, and points at further issues that have to be addressed.

It is often assumed that more realism is always desirable. In particular, many techniques for locomotion in Virtual Reality (VR) attempt to approximate real-world walking. However, it is not yet fully understood how the design of more realistic locomotion techniques influences effectiveness and user experience. In the previous VR studies, the effects of interaction fidelity have been coarse-grained, considering interaction fidelity as a single construct. We argue that interaction fidelity consists of various independent components, and each component can have a different effect on the effectiveness of the interface. Moreover, the designer's intent can influence the effectiveness of an interface and needs to be considered in the design. Semi-natural locomotion interfaces can be difficult to use at first, due to a lack of interaction fidelity, and effective training would help users understand the forces they were feeling and better control their movements. Another method to improve locomotion interaction is to develop a more effective interface or improve the existing techniques. A detailed taxonomy of walking-based locomotion techniques would be beneficial to better understand, analyze, and design walking techniques for VR. We conducted four user studies and performed a meta-analysis on the literature to have a more in-depth understanding of the effects of interaction fidelity on effectiveness. We found that for the measures dependent on proprioceptive sensory information, such as orientation estimation, cognitive load, and sense of presence, the level of effectiveness increases with increasing levels of interaction fidelity. Other measures which depend more on the ease of learning and ease of use, such as completion time, movement accuracy, and subjective evaluation, form a u-shape uncanny valley. For such measures, moderate-fidelity interfaces are often outperformed by low- and high-fidelity interfaces. In our third user study, we further investigated the effects of components of interaction fidelity, biomechanics and transfer function, as well as designers' intent. We learned that the biomechanics of walking are more sensitive to changes and that the effects of these changes were mostly negative for hyper-natural techniques. Changes in the transfer function component were easier for the user to learn and to adapt to. Suitable transfer functions were able to improve some locomotion features but at the cost of accuracy. To improve the level of effectiveness in moderate-fidelity locomotion interfaces we employed an effective training method. We learned that providing a visual cue during the acclimation phase can help users better understand their walking in moderate-fidelity interfaces and improve their effectiveness. To develop a design space and classification of locomotion techniques, we designed a taxonomy for walking- based locomotion techniques. With this taxonomy, we extract and discuss various characteristics of locomotion interaction. Researchers can create novel locomotion techniques by making choices from the components of this taxonomy, they can analyze and improve existing techniques, or perform experiments to evaluate locomotion techniques in detail using the presented organization. As an example of using this taxonomy, we developed a novel locomotion interface by choosing a new combination of characteristics from the taxonomy. / Ph. D.

The goal for this thesis is to create a second screen application that will enhance the experience while watching a first screen. In order to create that type of application research within the subject and reviews of existing application is conducted. The reviews resulted in functionality and content that a second screen application should have. One of the big challenges for working with a second screen balance the focus between the screens and to make sure that the application creates value, rather than taking time and being frustrating. A concept of an application based on findings and iterations that will en- hance the experience were created. The concept were realised in wireframes and design mockups. The main functionality for the application is implemented with the native language objective-c as a working prototype on iPad. The biggest finding during this thesis is to remember to focus on solving one specific problem for the user.