Abstract The thesis critically examines discursive construction of ‘organizational culture’ and ‘user involvement’ in academia and in the information technology (IT) artifact product development industry. IT artifacts are perceived as texts that are written by the writer-designers and afterwards read by the reader-users. User involvement explored is indirect; ‘user surrogates’ labeled as usability specialists ‘represent the users’ in the development. Their work is labeled as ‘usability work.’ However, this work has proven to be challenging, especially in the product development context. Culture is an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. However, there is a clear lack of culture studies carried out in relation to user involvement, especially in the challenging product development context. Both ‘organizational culture’ and ‘user involvement’ are versatile concepts, and there are controversies in defining them. Therefore, this thesis first analyzes discourses on ‘organizational culture’ and ‘user involvement’ in academia. The thesis examines within what kind of discourses organizational culture has been studied, and suggested discourses within which it could be studied. Five discourses are identified. Furthermore, the thesis analyzes discursive construction of user involvement in academia. First, literature advocating indirect user involvement is reviewed. Afterwards, alternative notions of user involvement are introduced. Three academic discourses on user involvement are identified and contrasted with the discourses on organizational culture to highlight their similarities and to identify unexplored paths for future work. Finally, user involvement and its cultural context are empirically analyzed in IT artifact product development organizations by utilizing a discourse selected based on previous analysis. First, four ‘cultures of usability work’ are identified. Then, two ways usability work has been encultured in two product development organizations are outlined. In addition, five discourses on usability work are identified, and contrasted with the academic discourses on user involvement. Finally, the construction of the notions of ‘we’ and ‘the other’ is explored in the case organizations, concentrating specifically on the discourses of the ‘usability specialists’ and ‘the other.’ Some of the discourses are criticized for ‘silencing the users’ instead of ‘giving them a voice,’ and even representing ‘misuses of user involvement.’

This paper is a literature study with an additional empirical approach to research how to improve user experience in data visualization web applications. This research has been conducted in collaboration with Caretia AB to improve their current data visualization tool. The research studies previous research on the topics of UI design, user experience, visual complexity and user interaction in the attempt to discover what areas of design and intuitivity that improves the user experiences in these kinds of tools. The findings were then tested together with Caretia through a proof-of-concept prototype application which was implemented with said findings. The conclusion of the results is that mapping ontology groups and prior experience as well as reducing visual overload are effective ways of improving intuitivity and user experience.

This paper explores the appeal of customizable user interfaces (UI) in video games, and the choices players make when this option is available to them. In the video game industry at present, players aren't given much choice in regards to the UI, even though it is usually a vital element that will support them throughout their whole experience. To determine the value of customizable UIs, players were provided a testing environment with tools that allowed them to modify their UI, and quantitative data was collected during this test. A qualitative study has also been conducted with a focus on the players attitude towards the subject. The results of the study show a high favor for UI customization among the players. It does however show that players are split on several aspects within the topic and further research is required. This can hopefully lead to developers adapting more uses of user experience (UX) and implementing UI customization within their games.

As digital interactions become increasingly integral to our daily routines, ensuring web accessibility for all users is crucial. User experience designers play a big role in creating online environments that are not only usable, but also informative and enjoyable. The European Accessibility Act is a new directive from the European Union, stating that certain products and services must be accessible by 2025, benefiting an estimated 87 million Europeans who have disabilities or temporary impairments. Previous research on Swedish websites has found that requirements are often not fulfilled when it comes to accessibility. This thesis investigated current accessibility practices among Swedish user experience (UX) designers and evaluated their preparedness for compliance with the European Accessibility Act. The results of the interviews show that the Act provides several motivating factors for improving accessibility measures in organizations. Through expert evaluations of the design practices, a set of guidelines is presented, aimed at providing guidance for companies and designers in creating an inclusive design culture while complying with the Act.

ITC/USA 2010 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Sixth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 25-28, 2010 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper describes a telemetry system used in the Missouri S&T solar car, which competed in the American Solar Challenge. The system monitors parameters of a number of the on-board electronic and mechanical systems, and also the activities of the vehicle driver. This data is transmitted to a lead vehicle, where the support team analyzes the performance in real-time to optimize the vehicle's performance. In previous vehicles the data was displayed using a LabVIEW based user interface. In this work we will describe a custom software solution, which provides the team with additional flexibility to display and analyze the data.

The new possibilities offered by information & communication technologies (ICTs) within the work-place and elsewhere have attracted wide attention by economic and social actors. One outcome is the institutional ‘push’ for all businesses to embrace these technologies and ‘get online’. However, it is evident that take-up amongst businesses has been highly uneven with some cautious in their adoption and, thus, many have not fully exploited the possibilities offered. To understand this variety in the adoption and use of online technologies (which in some cases includes their nonadoption and non-use) it is necessary to examine practices and establish underlying dynamics surrounding new forms of ICTs. This thesis will investigate the practices associated with the adoption and use of ICTs in the hotel industry. Three basic questions are addressed. The first relates the online practices of hoteliers, including the use of online intermediary services, the nature of uptake and the implications for both practices and relations with customers. The second relates to any externalities which condition a hotelier’s practices. The third is concerned with how to conceptual explain observations – findings. Investigation of these questions has resulted in an empirically rich study. This has involved a multi-method approach that allows online practices to be viewed through different lenses and from an adapted Social Shaping of Technology perspective. The population of Scottish serviced accommodation providers was compiled and used to determine the uptake of online practice. Interviews revealed specific practices. Published material provided insight into contextual issues, particularly those relating to institutional developments. The research shows that there were three principle strategies for the adoption of the new technologies. First, they were embedded by the users themselves (‘internalisation’) – often through much effort and processes of configuration – into their ‘busy day’. The process of ‘learning’ (or learning by trying) was found to be an integral feature of uptake. Secondly, some users opted for an alternative solution where, rather than design their own website, they adopted the offerings of online intermediaries (such as online booking facilities) (‘intermediation’). However, the appropriation of online intermediation was found to be both costly and fraught with new kinds of risks (e.g. double bookings) and uncertainty (e.g. no guarantees of bookings). Thirdly, a further option (‘localisation’) was for local groups of hoteliers to collectively produce an online presence that promotes the locality and thereby indirectly provides benefits to their businesses. The analysis was performed using a modified version of Silverstone’s (1992) ‘domestication’ framework. However, ‘localisation’ questioned the assumptions underpinning ‘domestication’, suggesting the need for a more sophisticated analytical device, such as offered by the metaphor of ‘tailoring’. It is concluded that the apparently deterministic institutional view of the benefit of online technologies and the imperative that they are fully exploited to give competitive advantage, can be at odds with the locally contingent and diverse nature of online practices. The research found that the new online practices did not entirely replace traditional ones, but emerged as complementary to them.

The modern mobile device has become an everyday tool for users and business. Technological advancements in the device itself and the networks that connect them have enabled a range of services and data access which have introduced a subsequent increased security risk. Given the latter, the security requirements need to be re-evaluated and authentication is a key countermeasure in this regard. However, it has traditionally been poorly served and would benefit from research to better understand how authentication can be provided to establish sufficient trust. This thesis investigates the security requirements of mobile devices through literature as well as acquiring the user’s perspectives. Given the findings it proposes biometric authentication as a means to establish a more trustworthy approach to user authentication and considers the applicability and topology considerations. Given the different risk and requirements, an authentication framework that offers transparent and continuous is developed. A thorough end-user evaluation of the model demonstrates many positive aspects of transparent authentication. The technical evaluation however, does raise a number of operational challenges that are difficult to achieve in a practical deployment. The research continues to model and simulate the operation of the framework in an controlled environment seeking to identify and correlate the key attributes of the system. Based upon these results and a number of novel adaptations are proposed to overcome the operational challenges and improve upon the impostor detection rate. The new approach to the framework simplifies the approach significantly and improves upon the security of the system, whilst maintaining an acceptable level of usability.

Goals of this study are to set up the frame-work for analyzing residential buildings using the functional scenarios method and to tests the applicability of the method on large scale projects. The metrics for the analysis are based on guidelines for designing spaces that promote healthy aging. In addition, the study was providing an opportunity to developing and refined the method. The result of the analysis determines that the functional scenarios method is applicable to large scale buildings as effectively as smalls scale buildings; design configurations can be extracted from the results of the analysis to inform future designs. The limitations of the analysis are due to the available resources. Opportunities for continued work include 1) developing standard ways of representing the results of the analysis; and 2) developing a systematic approach for extracting design configurations based on the research questions asked.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Telemetry Test Station has been developed at the Digital Systems Division, ISRO Satellite Centre, to test the housekeeping telemetry packages which will be flown onboard satellites. The heart of the test procedure is the decommutation, display and processing of the telemetry output format. The decommutation has been achieved by designing a simple plug in card to an IBM PC/XT compatible computer and writing the related assembly language software. The card and the software have been extensively tested and found to work satisfactorily upto 60 Kbps PCM data rate. To make the hardware and software flexible and truly general purpose, the acquisition should be independent of the modes of operation and data formats. All the parameters which define acquisition display and processing are therefore programmable and can be changed at any time. The parameters which influence acquisition are bit rate, word rate, frame rate, length of word, length of frame and frame synchronous code. The bit rate is transparent, i.e., need not be set by the user. The word length is assumed to be 8 bits or multiples of 8 bits. The other parameters are programmable at any time during the test session. Similarly, the parameters which affect display are the display rate, and positioning of the format including highlighting, alarm signals, related information etc. This gives a user the facility to tailor the display to his liking. The storage is also flexible and independent of display. All these modes are in real time and have therefore been coded in assembly. It has been found that a large part of the software is needed for user interface alone and user requirement is far more changeable than expected. The software is therefore designed for change. The problems and solutions in achieving these features are discussed in this paper.

The main theme in this thesis is potentials for increased user participation in the development of ecological sanitation technologies. The argument is that ecological sanitary engineering can be regarded as a heterogeneous practice that needs to incorporate environmental considerations as well as users’ knowledges and aspirations. To be a heterogeneous engineer therefore means to acquire skills for advanced dialogue with the users and other stakeholders, rather than providing finished technical solutions. In a case study in rural South Africa, I found that much of the responsibility for taking initiatives for the transformation of the water supply and sanitation systems lies with the community. By contrast, a case study of ecological sanitation in urban Sweden revealed that there was generally very little room for user involvement; instead, sanitation specialists presented a picture of the users as recipients of technical systems and information. These two different cases form the basis for a discussion about the relationship between users and specialists and pose the question of how we can encourage participatory technology development practices that users, specialists and ecosystems can endure. On the basis of feminist theory, technoscience and participatory methodologies, I have identified some criteria for feminist sanitary engineering. These include recognition of diversity, feminism beyond gender/deep feminism, reflectivity and heterogeneous engineering, and action research and user participation. The transformation of sanitary engineering towards the inclusion of these criteria is a long-term process, which needs to begin with reflection among sanitation specialists. / Temat i avhandlingen är möjligheten till ökad brukardeltagande i utvecklingen av ekologiska avloppsalternativ. Två studier ligger till grund; en i Sydafrika, där det lokala samhället har stort ansvar för vatten och avlopp, och en i Sverige, där ingenjörer inom kommunen har ansvar för systemen. Några kriterier för en utveckling av feministisk VA-teknik har identifierats, nämligen erkännande av mångfald, feminism bortom könstänkande, reflektivitet och heterogen ingenjörskonst, aktionsforskning och brukardeltagande.