Increasingly, technology impacts how we communicate and behave following the death of a loved one. However, little is known about technology use by the bereaved. This thesis contributes to understanding this phenomenon through three linked studies. These studies establish an appreciation of how technology engages with human mortality, and proposes "thanatosensitive design" (TSD) as an approach for developing such systems. An exploratory study fi rst examines technology use by the bereaved through a survey with follow-up interviews. Findings show that systems for inheriting data and devices are lacking, despite widespread use of technology for remembrance and communication. Using digital assets in social support is selected as a domain for further inquiry. The second study consists of focus groups with bereaved parents at two community organizations complemented by the perspectives of professional bereavement workers. Based on this fieldwork, 6 considerations concerning interpersonal communication, new ways of being, and materiality are presented. These considerations suggest that systems should permit connections with peers, support storytelling activities, and avoid tendencies to "fix" grief, among others. In the final study, I present Besupp - a website that permits bereaved users to engage in online peer-support groups. Besupp applied these design considerations and was deployed in a 10-week study. Nineteen bereaved individuals met in 3 support groups for bereaved parents, partners/spouses, and young adults. Based on system logs/data, questionnaires, and interviews, the study identified barriers to using digital mementos, preferences for online support systems, and issues concerning timing of use. In the discussion, I reflect on the three studies through four thematic lenses: temporality, materiality, identity, and research ethics/methods. I remark on how systems should consider the varying emotional needs of the bereaved over time. In the conclusion, I summarize and reflect on the status of TSD and identify areas for future work concerning social support for the bereaved, and computing's role at the end of life more broadly.

The aim of this thesis is to explore design directions to minimize a food wastage problem in western domestic kitchens. Central to the thesis is an understanding of people&rsquo / s behavior towards the food waste phenomenon. Three interconnected studies and one design project are included. In Study I, 18 participants were interviewed to explore their perceptions and attitudes towards food waste, revealing the most wasted food types and reasons for food wastage. The findings of Study I are clustered under four phases of food handling: acquisition, preparation, consumption and storage. Study II comprised a generative session with three users and two designers, devised to explore latent and tacit knowledge regarding food wastage. Study II resulted in user-generated ideas for minimizing food waste, which were analyzed so as to reveal possible design directions. From these results, a set of criteria for a &lsquo / perfect&rsquo / kitchen appliance, which could minimize food waste, was drawn-up. The design project took the research findings of Study I and II and devised a collection of design concepts as possible ways to help reduce domestic food waste. Two concepts &ndash / Philips Dispense and Canvas - are taken further because they relate to the most wasted food types: &lsquo / bread&rsquo / and &lsquo / vegetables and fruits&rsquo / . In Study III, Philips Dispense and Canvas were evaluated with a questionnaire. According to the results, in households containing busy couples without children, Philips Dispense is valued highest (it takes the food waste responsibility away from users) whereas Philips Canvas was valued lower (it gives feedback on current stocks and persuades homeowners not to waste food).

<p>The purpose with this thesis was to study user activities in a business system, MediusFlow. The overall objective was to identify user related problems and to analyse which of the usability data gathering methods to use in the future development process of the company Medius.</p><p>The outcome of this study indicated that a cognitive related user problem was the most important problem to solve. A Star Life Cycle method was preferred. Two low-fidelity prototypes were developed to exemplify an alternative design solution to the identified cognitive user problem. Furthermore, the two best methods to use when gathering user related requirements were heuristic evaluation and expert review.</p><p>In addition a company specific Style Guide was created with generic guidelines as a foundation for development of future applications within Medius.</p>

Computer users often suffer from poorly designed support systems that hinder them from performing their work efficiently and with satisfaction. The evidence is found in observations of users at work, interviews, evaluations of systems, and numerous reports of systems with poor usability that fail from start. Those who use the systems are proficient in their work, and those who develop systems are proficient in software engineering. These two groups have often little knowledge and understanding of each other’s worlds and their vocabularies are quite different. In systems development projects, users are often confronted with representations of their work that they hardly recognize. Systems designers compose these representations in an attempt to reduce the complexity of the work practices in a way that is appropriate for systems development. It is very difficult for users to appreciate the consequences fully on their future work situation from such representations, since they are removed from the social setting and often describe work in a fragmentized way. The unfamiliar view of their work may make the users less inclined to participate in the forthcoming design process. This thesis presents research performed to increase the usability of systems in working life and to explore conditions that facilitate the design of systems that really support the users work. The research comprises field studies in different work contexts, e.g. health care, dentistry, public service, and transportation. Information on the essentials of work has been gathered and analyzed to learn how such findings can be translated into systems design. Another goal has been to explore how to make the most of users’ experiences and skills to assure systems that better fit their work. Along with a growing awareness of the importance of user involvement in design, a participatory design process including the analysis and design of work has evolved.

Since the use of computers and IT systems has become an essential part of many people’s daily work, the quality of IT systems’ is becoming more important for efficient, healthy and sustainable work. It has often been argued that the full potential of a new, supportive IT system seldom is achieved, because – despite implementation of the new system - outdated work procedures are still being preserved. We can also see an increase in occupational health problems that are related to the use of poorly designed IT systems. This thesis addresses the questions of how to create a process for developing a sustainable, IT- supported work for the future and how to provide a solid foundation for the development of IT systems. What underlying perspectives should be applied and how can such a process be carried out in practice? Utilizing an action research approach inspired by participatory design methods, a user-centred seminar process called the Vision Seminar Process (VSP) has been developed to address these questions. Observations are presented from three cases in which the VSP has contributed to the organizations’ development and during which the Vision Seminar Process itself continued to evolve. The process provides a framework where practitioners and designers cooperate in the design of both sustainable work and usable IT systems. It is of central importance that a reflective in-depth analysis of users’ work practices is carried out, that their entire work situation and organization is questioned and discussed, and that the design process is carried out with a focus on healthy and sustainable work. Underlying perspectives that advocate a focus on a future work are essential for the successful implementation of the process, in that IT should be the engine that drives the development of work and creates the conditions for a healthy, sustainable work.

The purpose of this research is twofold: 1) to apply a user-centred approach to examine the usability and acceptability of an on-body ergonomic aid called the Personal Lift Assistive Device (PLAD) in a variety of industrial work environments and 2) to utilize subjective user acceptability data on discomfort, pain and overall PLAD assessment by participants to identify design features that need improvement in the next PLAD iteration. Case studies took place in four different industrial work environments: two distribution centre environments, one retail store environment and one automotive assembly plant environment. These environments were selected to represent different industrial work environments. In total, 20 industrial workers were selected to wear the PLAD and provide their feedback. Results were obtained using subjective questionnaires through verbal and written comments as well as through direct observation of the participants. Three major design changes occurred to the original PLAD iteration tested at the first industrial location. These included: 1) using different stiffness levels of springs for different sizes of individuals in an attempt to decrease discomfort and optimize the effectiveness of the PLAD, 2) an increase in pelvic spacer size and surface area contacting the user’s body to reduce discomfort and 3) modification to the shoulder harness including; shape, dimensions and amount of cushioning to reduce discomfort. Currently, three major design changes were identified and still need to be addressed. These include: 1) reduction of thermal discomfort caused by wearing the PLAD, 2) validation of selecting the appropriate spring stiffness for small, medium and large users of the PLAD (male and female) under various working postures and 3) simplification of the donning and doffing process. Additionally, a simple PLAD spring stiffness sizing chart was created to aid potential manufacturers of the PLAD to select the appropriate spring stiffness for various users of the PLAD. This sizing chart was designed to maintain an average lumbar moment reduction of 15%, while taking discomfort of the shoulders caused by the spring stiffness and overall cost into consideration. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-28 09:03:01.463

This study began with questions about of the impact of co-design on my professional identity as a designer and researcher as well as the impact of this dual role on the research and its implications for innovations in design practice and education. My study conceptualized a new approach to participatory research, by combining design, participation and research in a co-design based methodology aimed to assist the members of the Street Transformation Group to collectively develop a visual communication strategy for their facilitation of co-design, providing a space for reflection about group process and project development as well as the impact The Street Transformation Group was formed in 2011 by three Vancouverites: Maya McDonald, Adam Kebede and Julien Thomas. Inspired by the City of Vancouver’s Neighbourhood’s Greenway initiative (City of Vancouver, 2011), a city policy that looks to turn streets into parks, the group created an educational and planning tool: The Green Streets Game, a board game that allows participants to discuss their ideas for a preferred community design in a collaborative, role-play scenario, leading them through a process of reflection, dialogue, and design, in order to produce a shared vision for the future of their neighbourhood. My study conceptualized a new approach to participatory research, by combining design, participation and research in a co-design based methodology aimed to assist the members of the Street Transformation Group to collectively develop a visual communication strategy for their facilitation of co-design, providing a space for reflection about group process and project development, as well as the impact of these findings on my professional identity as a designer and researcher and the implications of this dual role design practice, research and education. My conclusions focus on collaboration as a classroom strategy and the importance of personality balance and conflict management, as well as the role of designers as reflective researchers. I introduce a new model for co-design that combines elements from action research and other participatory practices with traditional design stages and conceptualizes design as a complex, multi-layered process in a state of constant transformation. The model emphasizes flexibility, allowing the process to develop and change over time and looks to provide a deeper understanding and appreciation for elements like intuition, improvisation, emotion and tacit knowledge within the design process. / Graduate

Electronic mail (e-mail) is an under-utilised resource of information and knowledge. It could be an important part of the larger so-called organisational memory (OM)—if it were not so disorganised and fragmented. The OM contains the knowledge of the organisation’s employees, written records, and data. This thesis is about organising and managing information in, and about, e-mail so as to make it retrievable and usable for task management purposes. The approach is user-centred and based on a conceptual model for task management. The model is designed to handle tasks that occur in the communications in an open distributed system, such as Internet e-mail. Both structured and unstructured tasks can be supported. Furthermore, the model includes management of desktop source information, which comprises the different electronically available sources in a user’s computer environment. The information from these is used in the model to sort information and thereby handle tasks and related information. Tasks are managed as conversations, that is, exchanges of messages. We present a language called Formal Language for Conversations (FLC), based on speech act theory, which is used to organise messages and relevant information for tasks. FLC provides the container for task-related information, as well as the context for managing tasks. The use of FLC is exemplified in two scenarios: scheduling a meeting and making conference arrangements. We describe a prototype based on the conceptual model. The prototype explicitly refines and supports the notion of threads, which are employed so as to give tasks a context. It integrates the use of FLC into the traditional threading mechanism of e-mail, in addition to matching on text in the body. An agent architecture is also described, which is used to harmonise the information in the heterogeneous desktop sources. Finally, human-readable filtering rules created by a machine learning algorithm are employed in the prototype. The prototype is evaluated with regard to its thread-matching capability, as well as the creation of usable and readable filtering rules. Both are deemed satisfactory.

The research reported in this thesis had two aims. To investigate how the variability and complexity of the mobile context of use should be addressed when capturing user needs for mobile products and to explore the role of indirect methods of data capture as tools for eliciting user needs in a form appropriate for informing the scenario based design of mobile products during the. earliest stages of product development. This research presents a novel scenario-based approach to eliciting and representing user needs in a form suitable for informing the earliest exploratory stages of mobile product design. Within this approach scenarios are used to provide snapshots of actual or envisaged product use that can be used to find a starting point for design when there is no clearly defined focus for innovation. Scenarios are organized into sets using scenario tables to structure consideration of key variables within the mobile context of use. These key variables are identified as: mobility, emotion, social relationship and communication purpose. Three user studies were conducted using UK undergraduate students as the study population. Study One explored use of schematic representations ('maps') of each participant's social communications and mobility as tools for eliciting user needs, both in relation to existing mobile product use and in relation to projected use of future mobile product concepts. Study Two used a diary study method to explore existing mobile communications use. Ways of structuring consideration of the mobile context of use were explored and the effectiveness of the diary as a tool for eliciting user needs and for scenario generation was assessed. Study Three extended the diary study approach to include consideration ofthe emotional context of product use and to include pictorial feedback of diary entries to study participants. These personal representations of product use were used to further explore user needs and to prompt participants to generate narratives describing motivations for product use suitable for presentation in scenario form.

Ubiquitous computing aims to make human-computer interaction as naturalistic and functionally invisible as possible through embedding computing potential within a particular context to support human activity. However, much of ubiquitous computing research is focussed on technical innovation due to the challenges involved with deploying embedded computing, thereby reducing the commitment to the philosophical ideals of ubiquitous computing in research. This dissertation describes the investigation of a participatory approach to technically-complex research in order to understand how our view of the engineering and human challenges changes when the two are approached hand-in-hand. The domain chosen for this system was a dental surgery. Dentistry involves a complex workspace with computer interaction constrained by surgery hygiene. Ubiquitous computing offers a compelling interaction alternative to the keyboard and mouse paradigm in such an environment. A multi-method approach that employed ethnographic research and design prototyping was undertaken with dentists from several different private practices. A series of field studies used ethnographic methods such as observation and interview. Design events explored prototypes with activities such as design games, contextual interviews, role-playing and contextual prototyping. Activities were devised with the aim of providing a level playing field, whereby both designers and participants feel they can contribute equally, with their respective disciplinary knowledge. It was found that methods needed to be carefully chosen, devised and managed, in order to communicate complex concepts with participants and to constrain the design to technically feasible options. The thesis examines the design problem from the perspectives of a variety of different stakeholders within a participatory design framework, reflected upon by means of human-centred action research. Data was gathered through design speculations and observation, and explored using methods such as the Video Card Game and Video Interaction Analysis. Fieldwork was analysed using a multi-stage qualitative analysis process which informed further design collaboration with participants. The analysis of data gathered during design studies with dentists also contributed to the development of a prototype system to validate methodological contributions. The resulting prototype utilised off-the-shelf hardware and software which allowed for innovative customisation and development. In-situ prototyping (defined by the author as “participatory bootstrapping”) and a comprehensive knowledge of the domain afforded the creative application of technology. In addition to contributing to the prototype design, the interpretive understandings drawn from analysis identified how technical ideas were presented and utilised by participants of the studies, and how best to engage busy professionals. The final outcomes of the research were a multimodal ubiquitous computing system for interacting within a dental surgery; the development and implementation of a variety of methods aimed at communicating technical concepts and eliciting user motivations, practices and concerns; and a set of design principles for engineers engaging in design of systems for human use. The research presented within this thesis is primarily part of the field of human-computer interaction, but provides evidence of how engineering development can be influenced by a user-centred participatory approach. The benefits that derive from inclusive methods of design are demonstrated by the evaluation of a prototype that employed such methods. The contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate and delineate methods for developing ubiquitous computing technologies for the context of human use. This led to a set of design principles for the engineering of systems for human use: 1. Technology needs to be robust and simple to appropriate. This allows users to give insights on technology developments and also to allow users to discover for themselves how they would use the technology. 2. An evolving and carefully considered set of methods are needed to elicit communication between practitioners and across disciplines. The gaps in understandings and the different representations that arise across the disciplines provide essential clues to next steps in design. These gaps and differences form tensions that can be exploited productively. 3. Context is important for determining which design steps to take. Rather than abstracting a problem in order to solve it, as is usual in engineering design, the problem should remain grounded in the context of use. It reveals what the real problems are that need to be solved rather than the imagined ones. This requires an appreciation of the situated nature of action and of the variability of work. In turn it also requires an appreciation of what the human can and does do and what the machine should support. 4. Accountability in design is required. There is a fundamental tension between trying to make something work and seeing what really does work; specifically it is necessary to understand when automation is worth it in human machine systems. While engaged in the design process, engineers should ask how much technology should reconfigure human practices because of a useful outcome, rather than attempting to automate and converge devices for its own sake. A clear understanding of the constraints and workings of the work space needs to be balanced with the understandings of the limitations of the technology in order to design a system that improves work practice and empowers the practitioner.