<p>How can we develop usable and work process-oriented ICT systems for shared homecare?</p><p>Shared homecare involves different professionals, consists of mobile work and requires immediate and ubiquitous access to patient-oriented information, supporting an integrated view on the care process.</p><p>This thesis presents a new collaborative design method for user needs analysis and requirements specification in the context of health information systems development; the Multi-disciplinary Thematic Seminar (MdTS) method. The thesis also describes the MdTS method’s application and two different usability evaluations of the developed system.</p><p>The MdTS addresses a significant problem with health information technologies; they tend to support collaborative work of healthcare professionals poorly, sometimes leading to a fragmentation of workflow and disruption of healthcare processes. Based on human-computer interaction methods, MdTS implies a multiple-user needs analysis by thorough investigation of the entire interdisciplinary cooperative work and its transformation into technical specifications in order to develop appropriate information and communication technology (ICT) for the users’ differing work situations.</p><p>Application of the MdTS resulted in a prototype, the OLD@HOME Virtual Health Record (VHR), adapted to the specific demands in shared homecare. Through mobile devices each care professional accessed patient information in profession-specific views from an integrated platform.</p><p>This thesis provides an interesting case, illustrating how mobile ICT can support shared homecare, thereby bridging health and social care activities and improving knowledge about joint work processes.</p><p>Results from the usability evaluations were overall positive. Information needed at point of care was available on mobile devices and presented in an understandable manner. However, the evaluations also indicated that it is difficult to transfer results from one homecare setting to another due to differences in operational routines.</p><p>In conclusion, application of the MdTS method, in this study, succeeded in elicitation of correct user needs and in transferring correct requirements specifications to system developers for implementation.</p>

Wireless applications have become a common part of daily life. Whether it is mobile phones, the Wi-Fi router at home, the keycard which has replaced the car key, a radio frequency identification access system to a building or a Bluetooth headset for your computer or phone, the means of modern wireless data exchange is an omnipresent technology. In sports, the market is in its infancy for wireless, technical applications or gadgets. Only heart rate monitors and GPS watches are currently used by recreational athletes. Even though most of the larger sports equipment companies regularly launch new products related to sports performance monitoring and mobile phone technology, product innovation leaps are rare.In this work the design of a wireless sports performance measurement platform is presented. Using the example of kayaking, this platform is configured as a paddle performance measuring system, the Kayak XL System, which can monitor propulsive paddle force, paddle kinematics and boat velocity, interalia. A common mobile phone platform has been chosen as the user interface for this system. The design approach focussing on user requests, demands and expectations in combination with the process of iterative technical development are unveiled in this thesis. An evaluation of the system is presented and the work is finalised with an overview of further systems which have been designed based on the developed measurement platform. The Kayak XL System is a flexible system designed to be mounted onto any standard kayak paddle and installed in any competition kayak. Versatility, unobtrusiveness and usability were major design concerns. The developed system consists of four modules plus a software which has been designed for Android mobile phones. The phone communicates with each of the four modules trough Bluetooth radio. These four modules are also referred to as nodes and have specific measurement purposes. Two nodes have been designed to measure paddle force and kinematics, one node has the purpose to measure foot stretcher force and boat motion data, and the fourth node enables a more convenient method of calibrating paddle force measurement. The fourth node is therefore only needed prior to performance data acquisition. Results show that paddle and foot stretcher force can be measured with a resolution below 1N after calibration. Installing the paddle nodes on a previously configured paddle without repeated calibration is facilitated with the compromise of a doubled error margin. The default sampling frequency is set to 100 Hz and can, like all system parameters, be configured on the mobile phone. Real-time computation of complex performance parameters is only limited by the phone CPU. The system adds twice 109 g to the paddle and approximately 850 g to the kayak, excluding the mass of the mobile phone / <p>QC 20120827</p>

How can we develop usable and work process-oriented ICT systems for shared homecare? Shared homecare involves different professionals, consists of mobile work and requires immediate and ubiquitous access to patient-oriented information, supporting an integrated view on the care process. This thesis presents a new collaborative design method for user needs analysis and requirements specification in the context of health information systems development; the Multi-disciplinary Thematic Seminar (MdTS) method. The thesis also describes the MdTS method’s application and two different usability evaluations of the developed system. The MdTS addresses a significant problem with health information technologies; they tend to support collaborative work of healthcare professionals poorly, sometimes leading to a fragmentation of workflow and disruption of healthcare processes. Based on human-computer interaction methods, MdTS implies a multiple-user needs analysis by thorough investigation of the entire interdisciplinary cooperative work and its transformation into technical specifications in order to develop appropriate information and communication technology (ICT) for the users’ differing work situations. Application of the MdTS resulted in a prototype, the OLD@HOME Virtual Health Record (VHR), adapted to the specific demands in shared homecare. Through mobile devices each care professional accessed patient information in profession-specific views from an integrated platform. This thesis provides an interesting case, illustrating how mobile ICT can support shared homecare, thereby bridging health and social care activities and improving knowledge about joint work processes. Results from the usability evaluations were overall positive. Information needed at point of care was available on mobile devices and presented in an understandable manner. However, the evaluations also indicated that it is difficult to transfer results from one homecare setting to another due to differences in operational routines. In conclusion, application of the MdTS method, in this study, succeeded in elicitation of correct user needs and in transferring correct requirements specifications to system developers for implementation.

Heuristic Evaluation (HE) is a popular usability inspection method. Yet little is known about the effect the evaluators have on the outcome of HE. One potentially important feature of evaluators is their end-user status, that is, whether or not they are end-users for whom the interface is designed. I completed a detailed review of the HE literature, combined sources, developed an explicit method for conducting an HE and trained HE novices from different work domains using it. Using these methods I conducted a preliminary randomized crossover study (n=6) of the effect of end-user status during the inspection and merging stages of HE. I estimate a larger study of approximately 148 end-users would be needed to test hypotheses regarding end-user status. I demonstrated a novel measure of the effect of end-user status for the merging stage of HE, which I called the measure of matching similarity (MMS).

Heuristic Evaluation (HE) is a popular usability inspection method. Yet little is known about the effect the evaluators have on the outcome of HE. One potentially important feature of evaluators is their end-user status, that is, whether or not they are end-users for whom the interface is designed. I completed a detailed review of the HE literature, combined sources, developed an explicit method for conducting an HE and trained HE novices from different work domains using it. Using these methods I conducted a preliminary randomized crossover study (n=6) of the effect of end-user status during the inspection and merging stages of HE. I estimate a larger study of approximately 148 end-users would be needed to test hypotheses regarding end-user status. I demonstrated a novel measure of the effect of end-user status for the merging stage of HE, which I called the measure of matching similarity (MMS).

Examensarbetet har gått ut på att genom kvalitativa undersökningar ta reda på hur grafisk form ochinformationsstruktur samverkar för att skapa användarcentrerade webbplatser. Målet var att ta fram en grund för huranvändarcentrerade webbplatser bör byggas. Denna grund är tänkt att fungera som riktlinjer för formgivare som villskapa användarcentrerad webbdesign. Studien visar att det viktigaste för att skapa användarcentrerad webbdesign är att involvera användarna kontinuerligti utvecklingsprocessen. Detta sker genom användartester och intervjuer med representanter för målgruppen. Vi harkommit fram till att graden av användbarhet spelar stor roll för hur målgruppen uppfattar webbplatsen som sådan,men också vilken uppfattning de får om företaget bakom. / This thesis considers a qualitative study in how info structure and graphical design collaborate to form a usercentredweb site. The aim was to produce guidelines for how to build user-centred web sites. The results from thestudy are built on qualitative interviews, user tests with the target group and expert evaluation. The study has shown that the most important thing for creating user-centred web sites is to continuously involve thetarget group in the development process. This should be done through interviews and user tests. The level ofusability determines how the target group experience both the company and their web site.

In this master thesis project carried out on Scania’s interaction design department in Södertälje an evaluation of the technology gaze interaction has been done. The aim was to see if the technology was suitable for implementation in a truck environment and what potential it had. The work started by doing a context analysis to get a deeper knowledge of the research done on within the area related to the subject. Following the context analysis a comprehensive need finding process was done. In this process, data from interviews, observations, ride along with truck drivers, benchmarking and more was analysed. The analysis of this was used to identify the user needs. Based on the user needs the concept development phase was conducted. The whole development phase was done in different stages and started off by an idea generation process. The work flow was made in small iterations with the idea to continuously improve the concepts. All concepts were evaluated in a concept scoring chart to see which of the concepts that best fulfilled the concept specifications. The concepts that best could highlight the techniques strengths and weaknesses were chosen and these are Head Up Display Interaction and Gaze Support System.. These concepts focused on the interaction part of the technique rather than a specific function. Test of the two concepts were conducted in a simulator to get data and see how they performed compared to today´s Scania trucks. The result overall was good and the test subjects were impressed with the systems. However there was no significance in most of the cases of driving except for some conditions where the concepts prove to be better than the systems used today. Gaze interaction is a technology that is suitable for a truck driving environment given that a few slight improvements are made. Implementation of the concepts have a good potential of reducing road accidents caused by human errors.

The Internet and related Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been proposed as a way to vitalise (western) political democracy, currently marked by a decline in traditional forms of participation. Even if the Internet has established itself as a potential source of power and social change, the lack of clear results for democracy has left the initially mainly optimistic research community disappointed. Recognising the general lack of innovative ideas and successful examples of how to use technology for democratic purposes in the public sector, this thesis frames the notion of a ‘democratic Internet’ as a design endeavour that involves users of technological applications. The purpose of the thesis is two-fold: 1) to explore the possibility of engaging end-users, citizens and others, in the construction of public sector ICTs; 2) to identify a set of design recommendations for such applications, where promoting democratic participation is a central objective. It employs a qualitative methodology, and theories of participatory democracy, republican citizenship, critical theory, and Human-Computer Interaction, applied in a three-part study dealing with the production and usage of public sector ICTs. Three applications are investigated: a decision support system, a municipality’s external web site, and a central government web portal. Results show that there is a high level of awareness and concern for users and their needs among producers, which is for example reflected in the regular application of user tests. However, user-oriented design work is not always prioritised in terms of resources, formal knowledge, and expertise. Initiatives to promote usability and user-centred development are typically driven by civil servants rather than political directives. Motives for involving users in design have more to do with gaining acceptance for and improving existing solutions than innovation or democratic participation. The kinds of applications citizens participating in the study request to enhance political engagement partly coincide with what is offered by the examined public organisations. Still, it is clear that more remains to be done in terms of providing information, and even more so making public institutions open and receptive to the citizenry. Citizens, among other things, ask for accessible information on political institutions and actors, and dialogic uses of technology. Design considerations include the need to account for the fact that citizens-as-users represent diverse needs, recognise that levels of political and technological knowledge vary, enhance opportunities for exchange and mutual learning between citizens and public representatives, and aim for flexible solutions that can incorporate additional and changing needs over time. In general, participants gave proof of a critical distance to technology as well as an ability to contribute as both innovators and evaluators in a design process. A broad contextual approach to shed light on everyday political and technological practices, as applied in this study, is useful for exploring the needs users have regarding ICTs. However, future research has the task of investigating methods to facilitate creativity as well as citizen representation in public sector design work. Civil servants and representatives, using a decision support system in municipal planning and decision-making, are largely satisfied in terms of operation and structure of the application. However, timelier data delivery and other types of contents, for example opinion data on citizens, are requested. Wishes of this kind may not be easy to satisfy because of prevailing institutional and organisational priorities. The same is true when it comes to the employment of statistical data in municipal decision-making, which is not always well received by political actors. Design recommendations include taking closer heed of local municipal needs and non-expert users. It is also recommended that initiators and producers of decision support technology promote a pragmatic view of statistical data to increase its acceptance.

This thesis analyses the difficulties encountered in the promotion of usability, especially in relation to occupation health issues, when developing IT systems in a public authority. It examines what happens when User-Centred Systems Design (UCSD) approaches are introduced to organisations with in-house systems development for their employees. It studies how stakeholder values affect the outcomes in terms of usability, occupational health, and institutional acceptance. Moreover, new methods are examined and evaluated as potential tools for assisting the adoption of UCSD. These methods are for example Field studies for system developers, Usability coaching for stakeholders and Management views of usability. A stated aim is to influence systems development in practice. Hence an action research paradigm has been employed, carrying out research and change in real life settings, gathering and analysing data using qualitative techniques. This thesis is based on a constructivist perspective, where theories in the areas of learning and organisational change have been used in order to better understand the research questions. The research demonstrates that most people are enthusiastic to, and interested in, UCSD with a focus on the computerised work environment. Many of the stakeholder groups, such as managers, users, project managers and system developers, changed their construct of identity as well as practice when UCSD was introduced. However, this research shows that there are several values that affect systems development and hinder usability work. These include for example value of rationality and objectivity, and differing values and perspectives underpinning descriptions and discourse on work and systems development. Values such as automation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction shape the development of new technology, and ultimately the tasks, work practices integrated in IT systems. Moreover, the results demonstrate that even though many consider usability as important, few take active responsibility for it, as the title of this thesis suggests.

The transformation of a manual paper-based moderation process into an electronic moderation (eModeration) process poses unique challenges. These challenges concern academic processes, people and the user experience of interactive systems. eModeration can improve the user experience of assessment processes while lowering the risk of delaying the process or losing scripts. Despite the benefits associated with optimising assessment procedures, particularly examination procedures, the use of eModeration in South Africa is limited. There are several possible reasons for a lack of eModeration adoption ranging from infrastructure and technical issues through to organisational and human factors. The focus of this study is on the human factors involved in eModeration. Since no User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration existed at the time of this research, an in-depth study was conducted based on the experiences of eModeration users in the context of private higher education institutions. The study focused on identifying the most important user experience constructs for the evaluation of an eModerate system within the context of private higher education institutions in South Africa towards proposing a framework. The study was based in the fields of Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction with eModeration being the application domain. The research used a Design Science Research methodology, which involved the development and testing of a User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration. The data generation methods included interviews with deans, eModerators and management, as well as a survey that included responses from both moderators and deans. The research was conducted at Midrand Graduate Institute and evaluated at Monash University. The study makes a validated contribution towards identifying the most important user experience constructs. The identified constructs were utilised in the design and development of the User Experience Evaluation Framework for eModeration, which can be used along with the evaluation criteria tool to evaluate eModerate systems. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Systems)