Visual search is an important component of many human-computer interactions and a critical task in a variety of domains. These include screening for prohibited items in x-ray imagery of luggage in airports, identifying anomalies in medical imagery, and looking for unusual activity and changes over time in satellite imagery. Unlike many other human-machine interface tasks where a small error rate is quite acceptable, a crucial element of visual search tasks in these application areas is that a single mistake can have catastrophic consequences. Thus, any improvements in technology, interfaces, or human processes that can be made to aid visual search would be invaluable in these safety critical areas. Furthermore, even when one does not consider consequential activities such as cancer screening and airport security, most human-computer interactions involve some search component, and the impact of even small improvements is magnified by a high frequency of use. This thesis explores how some of these issues affect individuals' and teams' ability to perform visual searching tasks. Considerations such as group size and display configuration are examined, as are novel interfaces that aid search on tabletop and wall displays. The overarching goal of this work is to provide system designers with immediately implementable advice and guidelines on how to improve their systems in respect to visual search and to outline further research in this critical area.

Background: Electronic prescribing systems are designed to aid in the complex process of prescribing by providing patient information and decision support at the point of care. Successful implementation and effectiveness depend on a variety of factors, including usability and user interface design, which influence how the information and decision support are relayed to users. Poorly designed systems have been found to be associated with medication errors. Methods: We conducted a factorial design study to investigate the impact of screen density, highlighting, and placement of information, on the accuracy of prescribing when using an e-prescribing system. Study sessions were held during clinical pharmacology educational rounds, where residents and medical students answered simulated prescribing scenarios presented on various e-prescribing system interface configurations. Assignment of prescribing scenarios to interface configurations and presentation order were randomized between study sessions. Participants were also asked about their preferences for specific user interface configurations. Results: A total of 66 participants completed 844 prescribing cases, with 583 (69%) cases answered correctly. The presence of highlighting was associated with correct prescribing decisions (p-value = 0.001), with 181 out of 250 (72.4%) prescribing scenarios answered correctly on interfaces with highlighting of key clinical information, as opposed to 156 out of 242 (64.5%) on interface configurations without. Low screen density and central placement of information were not found to be statistically significant predictors of prescribing accuracy. The presence of highlighting was the only factor that the majority of participants (80.3%) preferred, but no effect was found when comparing prescribing accuracy on preferred versus non-preferred interface configurations. Conclusions: The factorial design methodology developed is a novel approach for efficient and objective evaluation of multiple user interface design factors in one study. Evidence-based design and usability principles are needed to enhance the design and appropriate use of e-prescribing systems as usability problems continue to be one of the primary reasons for dissatisfaction and poor levels of adoption. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

No / A mobile language learning system is implemented using an adventure game. The primary emphasis is upon graphical design and rich interaction with the user. A wide range of functionalities are described, and an efficient navigation system is proposed that uses contextual information, allowing the players to move seamlessly between mobile real and virtual worlds. The game environment is designed to have consistent graphics, dialogue, screens, and sequences of actions. Quick Response (QR) codes provide the necessary shortcuts for the players and Bluetooth connections automatically send and receive scores between teams. A response for every action is produced depending on the screen type, while keeping the file size manageable. Similar user tasks were kept spatially close together with a clearly designated beginning, middle and end. The main sources of error such as entering and extracting contextual data are predicted and simple error handling is provided. Unexpected events in mobile environments are tolerated and allowed. Internal locus of control is provided by ‘automatic pause’, ‘manual pause’ and ‘save’ commands to help players preserve their data and cognitive progress. The game environment is configurable for novice or expert players. This game is also suitable for students with auditory problems and female students are also specifically addressed.

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The goal of this research was to compare the learning outcomes of three methods of instruction: a text-based instructional system and two multimedia systems. The two multimedia systems used different interface designs. The first multimedia system used a topic-oriented interface which is somewhat standard in multimedia design. The second multimedia system presented a problem solving context and simulated an industrial setting where the user played the role of an industrial engineer. All three methods presented analogous information about Time Study Analysis, a work measurement technique used by industrial engineers. A between subjects experimental design with two independent measures examined two domains of learning: verbal information and intellectual skills. This design was used for two sessions to examine original learning and retention components of learning. Original learning was measured immediately following the instructional treatment. Retention was measured two weeks after treatment. Thirty subjects of similar backgrounds (undergraduates in Industrial and Systems Engineering) participated in the experiment’s two sessions. Post-tests were used to measure verbal information and intellectual skills domains of learning during each session. A combined score for both domains was calculated. The scores were analyzed using ANOVA (analysis of variance). No significant differences were found between the three instructional methods for the two domains or the combined score during either the original learning session or the retention session of the experiment. / Master of Science

Jag kommer i denna uppsats beskriva den designprocess som pågått vid skapandet av en webbaserad informationsplattform från koncept till slutprodukt. Mitt uppdrag har varit att effektivisera en webbyrås nuvarande sätt att hantera och sprida information på, som bestod av en blandning mellan digital och analog information, och skapa en ny webbaserad informationsplattform. Den nya webbaserade informationsplattformen ska kunna samla all information på en plats och skapa ett effektivare informationsutbyte mellan de anställda på företaget. Jag har använt mig av två teoretiska ramverk; Nielsens tio heuristics samt Krugs visuella design hierarki. Jag har arbetat nära beställaren för att kunna skräddarsy webbplatsen till deras behov. Resultatet efter ett omfattande arbete med designmallar och front-end kodning blev grunden för webbyråns webbaserade informationsplattform, utvecklad för att effektivisera spridningen av information på företaget. / In this essay I will describe the design process during the creation of a web-based information platform, from concept to final product. My assignment has been to take a web agency’s current way of managing and distributing information, which consisted of a mix between digital and analog information, and create a new web-based information platform. The new web-based information-platforms purpose is to gather all information in one place for easier exchange of information between employees at the company and make it more efficient. I used two theoretical frameworks as a theoretical base working on the project; Nielsen's ten heuristics and Krugs visual design hierarchy. I have worked closely with the client to customize the platform to their needs. The result after extensive work with design templates and front-end coding became the foundation for the web agency’s web-based platform, developed to distribute information more efficiently within the agency.

The aim of this project was to develop and evaluate an interactive Augmented Reality interface for teaching children aged 8 to 15 about biological systems present in the human body. The interface was de- signed as one component of a “human body scanner” exhibit, which is to be featured at the ScienceAlive! Science Centre. In the exhibit, the interface allows visualization and interaction with the body systems while being moved across a human male mannequin named BRET. Prior research has shown that Augmented Reality, Visualization applications, and games are viable methods to teach biology to university aged users, and Augmented Reality and interactive systems have been used with children and learning biology as well. BRET went through three iteration phases, in the first phase, prototypes were evaluated by ScienceAlive! and designs and interactions were implemented, while the use of Augmented Reality through a transparent display was rejected. Iteration two included integration of the non-transparent touch display screen and observational evaluation of six children from 9 to 15 years old. This evaluation resulted in design and interaction changes. Iteration three was the last iteration where final interface and interaction modifications were made and re- search was conducted with 48 children from the ages 8 to 15. This was to determine whether learning, fun, and retention rates were higher for children who interacted with BRET versus those who watched video clips, or read text. Each child used one learning method to learn the three different body systems: skeletal, circulatory, and digestion. The results of the final evaluation showed that overall there was no significant difference in the children’s rating of fun or the amount of information they retained between the different learning methods. There was a positive significant difference between some of the expected fun scores and the actual fun scores. It was also found that learning with text was higher than the interactive condition but there was no differences between learning with video and interaction, or with text and video.

The evolution of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs), has made an essential impact on patient-centered symptom management. PROs enable us to measure the patient‘s feels about their symptoms during treatment. ePROs (electronic PROs) are interfaces that allow a patient or health care provider to manage symptoms using an application such as mobile computing applications. The growth of mobile technologies in the healthcare sector has enabled us to take advantage of features like data manipulation, portability and standardization enable a better patient-driven symptom management. The Pan-Canadian Oncology Symptom Triage and Remote Support (COSTaRS) is a paper-based symptom management guideline designated for nurses. The objective of COSTaRS is to help and improve the decision-making process and create a consistent symptom management reporting system. Although this tool introduces numerous advantages in cancer symptom management, it also induces a number of issues for patients due to being overwhelming. Moreover, a noticeable portion of drawbacks originates from the paper-based nature of COSTaRS. In addition, cancer care symptom management mobile applications do not offer proper evidence-based centered symptom management system to the users. The purpose of this study is to design and developed the mobile version of COSTaRS for patients and caregivers. We identify problems with the current paper-based structure and related academic and non-academic works and then, we design and evaluate a mobile version of COSTaRS that takes advantage of advances in mobile technology. We leverage COSTaRS knowledge to create a mobile application for symptom management. We create an evidence-based platform for cancer treatment-related symptom management. A usability testing has been conducted for evaluation of the COSTaRS mobile application. The results of this study verify the usability of COSTaRS mobile application.

Speech technologies, or technologies that recognize and respond to human speech, have recently emerged as a ubiquitous and cost-effective form of customer self-service (e-service). Although customer satisfaction is regarded as an important outcome of e-service interactions, little is known about users affective responses to conversational interactions with technology. Using a theoretical foundation derived from research in social cognition, interpersonal communication, psycholinguistics, human factors, and services marketing, two studies develop items for a speech interface usability scale, which is then used to examine interrelationships among individual differences (e.g., self-monitoring, need for interaction with a service provider, inherent novelty seeking), usability, comfort, and customer satisfaction. In the first study, speech and language experts' ratings of sixteen speech interfaces are used to identify six stimuli for the second study that represent high, average, and low quality. In the second study, participants listen to the six interfaces and provide ratings for the primary variables of interest. Results indicated that speech interface usability consists of four factors (User Goal Orientation, Customer Service Behavior, Verbosity, and Speech Characteristics). Usability items and individual differences predict affective responses to speech-based e-service. Implications of these findings for psychological and communication research and applied speech technology are described.