Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'User-centred design'
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Eriksson, Elina. "Situated Reflexive Change : User-Centred Design in(to) Practice." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Medieteknik och interaktionsdesign, MID, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-116403.
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Technology used in the Swedish workplace is perceived to be controlling, gener- ally still difficult to use, and with a low degree of usability. Even though the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has been concerned with researching different ways of developing usable systems for at least half a century, there seem to be problems with the diffusion of the results into practice. One of the possible approaches to developing usable systems is user-centred design, and in this thesis I am concerned with the issue of introducing user-centred design and usability work in public authorities and institutions. I will present work done in two different research projects with a focus on change, where the aim has been to introduce or enhance usability work. Through a lens of social construction- ism and reflexivity I will explore the outcome of the projects and the implica- tions for the introduction of user-centred design in practice. Furthermore, I will explore whether the focus on the introduction of usability work might hinder the formation of a sustainable change in the organizations interested in devel- oping usable systems. The research question then becomes; can we introduce usability work in organizations? The answer to this question is no. Instead, we need to change our perspective from introduction to situated reflexive change: focusing on sensemaking and a situated process of ongoing change, where the stakeholders in the organization themselves must play an active and responsible part. This entails a shift from dualism to duality and a reconsideration of what our usability methods can con- tribute with. Furthermore, I will explore possible approaches to working with situated reflexive change with tools that are familiar in the field of HCI, but with an expanded scope. In particular I will discuss field studies conducted by system developers as a tool for making sense of usability issues, personas as a tool for inducing reflexivity in and on practice, and usability coaching as a sensemaking tool for both organizational stakeholders and researchers in order to understand and reflect upon change.QC 20130118
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Axelsson, Daniel. "Graphical User Interface Design of a Maintenance Support System : Using Prototyping and User-Centred Design." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Interaktiva och kognitiva system, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-149779.
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The interest in the complex relationship between the behaviour of users and the design of interactive system has been significantly increased as the digital technology has advanced. This has led to usability becoming one of the key elements in user-centred interaction design. Systems need to be designed in a usable way; efficient, use-enhancing, flexible and learnable and the design should also meet the user’s needs and aspirations. This thesis aimed to develop a more usable prototype of the Maintenance Ground Support System (MGSS), using prototyping and a user-centred design approach. The prototype was developed using an adaptation on the evolutionary software development process that consisted of four iterative steps. The prototypes were created, tested and evaluated with surrogate and end-users. The design of the prototype is based on a customizable and simple dashboard application that supports multiple user needs and requirements, in a familiar environment where the user can feel confident and be in control. Based on usability testing, the prototype was concluded to be more efficient, understandable as well as easier to use than the existing system.
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Blomkvist, Stefan. "User-centred design and agile development of IT systems." Licentiate thesis, Uppsala : Deptartment of Information Technology, Uppsala University, 2006. http://www.it.uu.se/research/publications/lic/2006-012/2006-012.pdf.
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Bradley, Nicholas Andrew. "A user-centred design framework for context-aware computing." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2005. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=21561.
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Many exciting and promising application areas of mobile context-aware computing have emerged in recent years, such as tourist guides and navigation systems for visually impaired people. However, many researchers express grave concerns about the limited appreciation of human and social issues in design: usability issues remain unresolved particularly relating to mobile computer settings, and existing user-centred design approaches/frameworks are still in their infancy. This thesis proposes a framework to advance user-centred approaches to designing context-aware systems in order to help application developers (i) build richer descriptions or scenarios of mobile computer settings, and (ii) identify key human and social issues affecting the usability of their context-aware system. After a critical review of literature, a multidisciplinary model of context was developed in order to bring together theories, and proposed models, of context in Psychology, Linguistics, and Computer Science. This invaluable exercise illustrated the implications those theories have for context-aware computing. Three key perspectives of the multidisciplinary model were then used to investigate the issue of personalisation of context-aware services, focusing mainly on navigation services for visually impaired people. Firstly, the 'user's context' was investigated, where significant differences were found in the use of landmarks to navigate by people with a central vision loss, people with a peripheral vision loss, and registered blind people. Secondly, the 'application's context' involved designing context-aware services for transmission to participants within indoor and outdoor routes. Thirdly, the 'user-application's context', which brought together the first two perspectives, was investigated where it was found that certain groups were more effective at reaching landmarks when being given information that derived from people in the same visual impairment category. The multidisciplinary model, and the studies investigating its three key perspectives, were combined to form a user-centred framework for contextaware design. Key contributions included (i) richer modelling of user-interface interaction in mobile settings, and (ii) an augmentation to existing user-centred design approaches which includes not just meaningful activities of the user but also incidental and unpredictable activities that occur frequently in mobile settings.
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Miao, Mei. "Blindenspezifische Methoden für das User-Centred Design multimodaler Anwendungen." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2014. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-155392.
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Multimodale Anwendungen bieten den blinden Benutzern neue Möglichkeiten und Chancen, die durch Verlust des Sehsinnes entstandenen Defizite über andere Sinneskanäle auszugleichen. Die benutzerorientierte Gestaltung ist der sicherste Weg, um interaktive Systeme gebrauchstauglich zu gestalten. Dabei sind die Benutzer hauptsächlich an zwei Aktivitäten beteiligt. Dies sind die Nutzungsanforderungsanalyse und die Evaluation. Hinsichtlich dieser zwei Aktivitäten wurden in der vorliegenden Arbeit Usability-Methoden untersucht bzw. neu entwickelt, um die nutzerzentrierte Gestaltung multimodaler Anwendungen für blinde Benutzer zu unterstützen.
Bezogen auf die Aktivität Nutzungsanforderungsanalyse wurde ein Verfahren entwickelt, welches speziell die Besonderheiten blinder Benutzer und multimodaler Anwendungen bei der Nutzungsanforderungsanalyse berücksichtigt. Zusätzlich wurden zwei Schritte des Verfahrens, die Erstellung mentaler Modelle und die Modalitätsauswahl, die speziell auf den Kontext multimodaler Anwendungen für blinde Benutzer ausgerichtet sind, weiter vertiefend untersucht. Für den Schritt Erstellung mentaler Modelle wurden zwei Erstellungsmethoden, Teaching-Back und Retrospective Think-Aloud, mit blinden Benutzern untersucht. Dabei sind sowohl die Gestaltung vom Teaching-Back als auch der Vergleich beider Methoden von Interesse. Für den Schritt Modalitätsauswahl stand die Analyse des multimodalen Nutzerverhaltens blinder Benutzer im Mittelpunkt. Vier Eingabemodalitäten, Sprache, Touchscreen-Gesten, Touchscreen-Tastatur und Touchscreen-Braille bzw. deren Kombinationen wurden unter Einfluss von acht Aufgabentypen bei der Bedienung einer mobilen multimodalen Navigationsanwendung untersucht.
In Hinblick auf die Usability-Evaluationsmethoden wurde zuerst das Augenmerk auf die Auswertung und die Erhebung mentaler Karten von blinden Benutzern gerichtet, da sie eine wichtige Rolle bei der Entwicklung von Navigationssystemen spielen. Zwei Auswertungsmethoden für mentale Karten hinsichtlich des Überblicks- und Routenwissens wurden entwickelt. Beide Methoden ermöglichen es, die mentalen Karten anhand speziell entwickelter Bewertungskriterien, wie Anzahl der Elemente und Eigenschaften der Straßen, quantitativ zu bewerten. Bezüglich der Erhebung mentaler Karten wurden zwei Erhebungsmethoden – Rekonstruktion mit Magnetstreifen und verbale Beschreibung – mit blinden Probanden hinsichtlich unterschiedlicher Aspekten untersucht.
In zwei weiteren Untersuchungen wurden taktiles Paper-Prototyping und computerbasiertes Prototyping für die frühen Entwicklungsphasen bzw. Labor- und synchroner Remote-Test für die späteren Entwicklungsphasen mit blinden Benutzern verglichen. Dabei wurden die Effektivität der Evaluation, die Erkenntnisse und Erfahrungen der Probanden sowie des Testleiters als Vergleichskriterien in beiden Untersuchungen eingesetzt.
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Obioha, Chinonye Leuna. "User-centred design to engender trust in e-commerce." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2414.
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Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.Consumer trust is a core element for any e-commerce website. This study aimed to explore attributes of business-to-consumers (B2C) e-commerce websites that can communicate and engender trust from the users’ perspective using user-centred design. E-commerce websites are known to have features such as security certificates and encryption methods to ensure trust, but this requires technical knowhow to understand. The technologies used to develop websites have improved so far, but it has little effect on improving the trust of the users of e-commerce mostly in developing countries (Africa in particular). E-commerce users do not realise that these features have been put in place for the trustworthiness of the websites which contributes to their reluctance to conduct business transactions online, thus reducing their buying intentions. There is a need to design e-commerce websites to communicate/ convey trust from the users’ perspective. The study explored various sources of data to obtain insight and understanding of the research problem—user-centred design (UCD) group activity with users, interviews with developers, and secondary prior literature. Using UCD as the main methodology, an intensive UCD workshop activity with a group of eight e-commerce users was carried out. Furthermore, to obtain the view of experts (developers) on what is currently done to engender trust in B2C e-commerce websites, interviews with four respondents were also carried out. These interviews were intended to reduce any prejudice or bias and to obtain a clearer understanding of the phenomenon being studied. The findings from the study revealed six main attributes to engender trust, namely aesthetics design, security and information privacy, functionality design, trustworthiness based on content, development process, and vendor attributes. Proposed guidelines for each of the attributes were outlined. The findings from the users showed that those who were acquainted with the e-commerce technologies were those whose backgrounds are computer and technology related. Most users focused on aesthetics design, functionality, and security of their privacy and private details. Less emphasis was placed on the technology behind the e-commerce websites. Users use their aesthetic and cognitive value in their judgement for trust. The findings from the research were further validated using the Domestication of Technology Theory (DTT), which resulted in the development of a user-centred e-commerce trust model.
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Göransson, Bengt. "User-Centred Systems Design : Designing Usable Interactive Systems in Practice." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Information Technology, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-4273.
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Have you ever been frustrated with that IT system at work that does not behave the way you expect it to? Or had problems with using the features on your new mobile phone? When systems and appliances do not support us in what we are doing, and do not behave the way we expect them to, then usability is neglected. Poor usability may be frustrating and irritating when trying out your mobile phone, but in a critical work situation poor usability may be disastrous.
In this thesis, user-centred systems design (UCSD) is advocated as an approach for facilitating the development of usable interactive systems. Systems that suit their intended use and users do not just “emerge”. They are the result of a UCSD process and a user-centred attitude during the development. This means in short that the real users and their needs, goals, context of use, abilities and limitations, drive the development – in contrast to technology-driven development. We define UCSD as: a process focusing on usability throughout the entire development process and further throughout the system life cycle. I argue that this definition along with a set of key principles do help organisations and individual projects in the process of developing usable interactive systems. The key principles include the necessity of having an explicit focus on users and making sure that users are actively involved in the process.
The thesis provides knowledge and insights gained from real-life situations about what UCSD is and how it can be put into practice. The most significant results are: the proposal of a clear definition of UCSD and a set of key principles encompassing UCSD; a process for usability design and the usability designer role. Furthermore, design cases from different domains are provided as examples and illustrations.
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Göransson, Bengt. "User-centred systems design : designing usable interactive systems in practice /." Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-4273.
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Frascina, Anthony Cosimo. "The integration of hospital information systems through user centred design." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 1994. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3185/.
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The development of computer systems in UK hospitals has in recent years been focused on the provision of hospital-wide information systems, known as Hospital Information Support Systems (HISS). This development has been motivated by National Health Service reforms and a realisation that earlier fragmented systems were not meeting the requirements of clinical and nursing staff in the most effective way. Such systems were often developed by external, centralised agencies using systems analysis techniques appropriate to the development of information systems in product orientated organisations. However, the hospital ward, an environment existing at the 'sharp end' of health care, in which many diverse and non-computer related activities take place, presents the system designer with many of the classic problems with which the discipline of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is concerned. Although a HISS has the potential to improve both the work conditions of clinical staff and the delivery of health care, this may be impeded by many of the common obstacles associated with the introduction of a large and complex computer system into a work environment where tasks are ill defined. This thesis reports on a project that is based upon the application of HCI methods to the health care environment and their contribution to the solution of the problems that such an environment presents. Requirements for the users' interface to the potential HISS are derived using a task analytic approach, involving Task Analysis for Knowledge Descriptions (TAKD). A prototype system has been designed and subsequently evaluated in a hospital ward. The contribution of TAKD to the design and its further applicability to the environment are assessed. The research represents an original application of a formal task analysis method to the design of ward based computer systems, and as such makes a valuable contribution to the areas of medical informatics and HCI. It shows that TAKD has real but limited applicability in this sphere, in that its use can lead to the design of more usable interfaces, while there is a need to combine it with methods aimed at broader systems design if these benefits are to accrue in the development of a HISS. The potential for the integration of task analysis with Design Rationale methods is also demonstrated.
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Ashton, Kate. "Usability and user centred design in hybrid intelligent information systems." Thesis, University of Sunderland, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.401335.
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Ollyn, Matthews G. "Investigation of user-centred approaches to design practice in Botswana." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2015. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/18090.
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Increased competition of product offering has led to the need to better understand the end-user, in order to create a more appropriate product. Furthermore, the ever increasing individualistic culture has led to the need for more customised products; where a New Product Development (NPD) team has to balance user needs and wants. Initial study assumptions were that the more the user involvement the better the product outcome. The aim was to investigate design awareness and use of User-centred Design (UCD) practices in full in the design industry in Botswana; and the training needs of the design industry in relation to UCD. Literature review determined the study focus areas; design awareness (DA), design practices (DP) and UCD. Best global practices were identified since there was little to no literature on UCD practice in Botswana and the researcher investigated products developed for the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). This study has been carried out from the NPD team s perspective. Data collection began with the scoping study, which provided an early overview of UCD practice utilisation in NPD; it also provided a guideline to data collection in Botswana. The survey study provided a broader overview of the use of design and UCD practices within the design industry. The interviews provided a follow-up to questions arising from the survey study and are focused on the Graphic and Advertising (GA) and Furniture and Interior (FI) industries for more in-depth analysis. The case studies were conducted to better understand how specific projects were conducted in relation to UCD practices; they also provided an evaluation mechanism for findings from previous studies. The results show case study findings correlating with findings from previous studies; the lack of documentation, heavy user involvement at the start stage of the PDP followed by the end stage. The vast majority of the participants failed to obtain product needs directly from the end-user and instead used the client as a proxy for the user. Design is viewed as an act of planning; user reaction was also viewed as the most important measure of design effectiveness. The majority of participants reported educational institutions not offering the needed skills. Two thirds of the participants did little market research; but the majority agreed user involvement in the PDP was important and that the user can effectively share ideas with the NPD team. The data was not clear as to whether, user involvement helped or hindered NPD team s creativity. The researcher s views on the user involvement in NPD have evolved to the need of an organised way for obtaining and documenting user and product needs, instead of treating the user like a co-operation partner. More case studies are expected to evolve case study questionnaire to, a tool for facilitating UCD practice use in Botswana s design industry.
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Uma, Ketaki. "User Centred design of Conversational UI for Wealth Management Customers." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-264540.
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Conversational UI (CUI) like voice assistant and chatbot are being introduced to provide 24x7 enquiry response, advice and technical support. This study aims at assessing User Experience related factors, which reinforce Trust between Wealth Management customer and the CUI in tasks normally performed by Relationship Managers. Given the financial and resource constraints of the thesis, semi structured interviews and Wizard of Oz experiments were chosen as the methods of study. These methods helped in delving deep into user issues within limited time period. The study finds that investors were happy to get response in text and graphics mode but not in voice since the information was considered confindential. There were apprehensions in using chatbot for getting investment advice. Findings of this study may be helpful to wealth management organisations in designing conversation UI strategy. However, the study was conducted with clients in India, hence the findings are more relevant to countries with similar socio-cultural conditions.Konversationsgränssnitt (Conversational UI, CUI) som röstassistent och chatbot tas i bruk för att ge 24x7 svar, råd och teknisk support. Denna studie syftar till att bedöma användarupplevelse-relaterade faktorer som förstärker förtroendet mellan förmögenhetsförvaltningskunder och CUI i uppgifter som normalt utförs av kundansvariga. Med tanke på de finansiella och resursbegränsningarna i avhandlingen, valdes halvstrukturerade intervjuer och Wizard of Oz-experiment som studiemetoder. Dessa metoder bidrog till att gräva djupt in i användarproblem inom en begränsad tidsperiod. Studien konstaterar att investerare var nöjda att få svar i text och grafik, men inte i röst eftersom informationen ansågs konfidentiell. Det fanns en oro för att använda chatbot för att få investeringsrådgivning.
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Rondahl, Robert, and Filip Larsson. "Slag Hauler User Interface Design : Using human-centred design to create a user interface for heavy machinery." Thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik och samhälle, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-63939.
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Within the field of heavy machinery, the driver environment and its user interface (UI) has not always been a high priority during product development. This is about to change since the user experience, especially of the driver, becomes more of a selling point. Kiruna Utility Vehicles (Kiruna UV), who manufactures slag haulers for the steel industry, has developed a new driver cabin to meet these future demands. The development has been conducted in collaboration with students at Luleå University of Technology. This master thesis aims to create a basis for the digital user interface of the Kiruna UV SH60 slag hauler. The needs of the users are very important in order to ensure a good user experience. This is why a human-centred design process was chosen for this project. Extensive research has been conducted with the drivers, mechanics, managers and manufacturer of the SH60 slag hauler. Research was conducted through field studies, where interviews, observations and eye tracking were used as the main tools.The slag hauler driver operates the vehicle in two positions, where the need for information differs. When the slag hauler is driven the driver is facing forward and in this position the slag hauler is similar to any other heavy machinery. The UI needs to display for example speed, gear and RPM. When loading or emptying slag pots, the driver turns around to manoeuvre the tipping system. In this position, information about the lockings, support legs and tipping system is the most important.Through brainstorming sessions and ideation workshops with the manufacturer and participants without connection to the slag hauler, ideas on how different types of information can be shown were generated. Ideas regarding layout of the UI were also produced. These ideas were then mapped onto four different concepts that were developed through several iterations. These were then evaluated through a survey study, a usability test and feedback sessions with slag hauler drivers, mechanics and the manufacturer.A final concept was created that accommodates all the information that is needed in order to operate and maintain the slag hauler in a safe and efficient way. That is for example speed, RPM, information about the tipping system and data from the engine, transmission and hydraulic system. The final concept contains the parts of the four previous concepts that proved to work the best in the concept evaluation. The user interface has a modern look that fits into the new driver cabin design. We have shown that the user experience of the driver and service personnel can be improved through the user interface, by adapting it to user needs. We have also shown what benefits can be achieved by using a human-centred design approach within the field of heavy machinery.I tunga fordon har förarmiljön och dess användargränssnitt ofta varit lågt prioriterad under produktutvecklingen. Detta håller på att förändras då användarupplevelsen, i synnerhet för föraren, blir ett allt viktigare försäljningsargument. Kiruna Utility Vehicles (Kiruna UV), som tillverkar slaggtruckar för stålindustrin, har tagit fram en ny förarhytt för att möta dessa nya krav. Utvecklingen av förarhytten har skett i samarbete med studenter vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet. Detta examensarbete på masternivå har haft som syfte att skapa ett digitalt användargränssnitt för Kiruna UV:s slaggtruck modell SH60.Användarnas behov är viktiga för att kunna säkerställa en bra användarupplevelse. Därför valdes en människocentrerad designprocess för detta projekt. Omfattande användarstudier har genomförts tillsammans med förare, mekaniker, beslutsfattare och tillverkaren av slaggtrucken. Efterforskningarna har utförts i form av en fältstudier där intervjuer, observationer och eye-tracking användes som huvudsakliga verktyg.Slaggtrucksföraren manövrerar slaggtrucken i två olika positioner, där informationsbehovet skiljer sig åt. Vid körning av slaggtrucken är föraren vänd framåt och i detta läge är den ganska lik andra tunga maskiner. Användargränssnittet måste förmedla information om varvtal, hastighet, växel och bränslenivå.Vid lastning eller tömning av slaggdeglar vänder sig föraren om för att manövrera tippsystemet. I detta läge måste gränssnittet förmedla information om lyftarmarnas position, låsningar och stödben.Genom brainstorming och idéskapande workshops med intressenter och deltagare utan erfarenhet av slaggtruckar, skapades idéer om hur information kan presenteras. Även idéer för gränssnittets layout togs fram. Idéerna kopplades sedan till fyra olika koncept som utvecklades i flera iterationer. Dessa utvärderades genom en enkätundersökning, ett användartest samt återkopplingsmöten med slaggtrucksförare, mekaniker och tillverkare. Ett slutligt koncept skapades, som innehåller den information som behövs för att manövrera och underhålla slaggtrucken på ett säkert och effektivt sätt. Exempel på detta är varvtal, hastighet och information om tippsystemet. Konceptet innehåller de delar av de fyra koncepten som visade sig fungera bäst under konceptutvärderingen. Användargränssnittet har ett modernt utseende som passar in i den nya förarhytten. Vi har visat att användarupplevelsen för förare och servicepersonal kan förbättras genom att anpassa gränssnittet efter deras behov. Vi har också visat vilka fördelar som finns med att använda en människocentrerad designprocess för produktutveckling av tunga maskiner.
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Bolton, Simon Mark. "Improving product design and development performances in SMEs with user centred design activities." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2013. http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/324984/.
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The study is framed within the context and knowledge that companies that continually achieve product design and development success, habitually work more closely with customers and users. They do this to discover needs and wants in order that these might be translated into new or improved product or service offerings. It is widely recognised that many companies achieve success by reaching-out to customers and users directly in order to tap into what matters most to the people that will purchase and use their products and services: such engagement enables the development of a healthy pipeline of breakthrough products and services. The importance of connecting with customers and users is not a new phenomenon: building-in the voice of the customer is a critical element of well-established tools such as Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) in large organisations. Awareness of this sparked the simple question, ‘why, with so much support and clear evidence of the benefits of customer- and user-involvement in identifying and fulfilling needs has the practice not become universally embedded within product design and development activities?’ The main aim of this study is to build upon the work of organisations such as the Design Council and NESTA, and authors such as Herstatt and von Hippell, Cooper and Kleinschmidt and Ulrich and Eppinger. These agencies and researchers have indicated - in numerous studies and publications - that direct contact with customers and end-users is one of the best means of generating information about new product ideas. They also assert that ‘experiencing’ the use environment of a particular product or function is a prerequisite for generating high quality information. Many studies provide useful insights into generic best practices and offer evidence to support the assertion that direct contact with customers and end-users is important for large organisations. The research reported below continues in this vein but extends the analysis to examine specifically: (i) the importance (to business success) of fulfilling customer needs, (ii) the extent of customer and user involvement in identifying and fulfilling needs, (iii) the range of activities in which stakeholders and users are typically involved, (iv) the classes of issues discussed in engagement practices, and (v) the issues that contribute to success and failure in product development in SMEs. The study is important in two key respects. First, because even though organisations such as the Design Council and NESTA have highlighted the positive impact that fulfilling user needs can have on business growth, there remains a mismatch between perceived wisdom and practice. Second, from a research perspective, it builds upon existing theory and provides a level of granularity that both extends understanding and provides novel insights with respect to how the gap between theory (known value) and practice (adoption and use) might be bridged. The research was undertaken in three key phases. The first involved a series of scoping and context-setting interviews with respondents in selected, innovating SMEs. The second phase involved the development of a sector-based sample of SMEs and the distribution of a comprehensive qualitative-quantitative survey questionnaire. Following data analysis, a third phase witnessed the validation and nuancing of initial results via further engagement with selected innovating SMEs in the safety, general products, and healthcare sectors. Key findings from the study include the following: users and customers are an excellent source of ideas and intelligence in the product development process, however, many companies fail to exploit customers optimally (or at all) as a development resource; identifying user needs is an integral component in the product design process, but many companies lack the skills and knowledge to undertake this work adequately; where customer/user engagement is witnessed, it is frequently at non-optimal phases in the development process and limited in ambit (or undertaken by functions that are poorly-equipped to reap full benefits); and, whilst theory relating to user-involvement is widely recognised in the SME community, this is rarely translated effectively into cutting-edge practice. The study provides a contribution to new knowledge by focusing on the improvement of front-end product design and development performance via the deployment of user-centred design activities. It unpacks and details the factors that impact on identifying and fulfilling customer needs in front-end product development in UK SME manufacturing companies, and develops a framework that aids in reducing uncertainty and maximising effective practice in the development process. Further, the work maps and analyses state-of-the-art research in the domain and presents an agenda for future investigation designed to stimulate and support improved user-engagement activity and thus improved product development outcomes.
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Mallaband, Becky. "Integrating User Centred Design into the development of energy saving technologies." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2013. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14823.
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Legally binding targets set by the UK government to reduce carbon emissions by 2050 mean it is imperative that the efficiency of the UK housing stock is improved. Housing currently contributes over 30% of the UK s total carbon emissions and a large proportion of the current stock will still exist in 2050. There is therefore a need to retrofit this existing stock with energy saving measures, as the savings from new builds will not be adequate to meet the stringent carbon reduction targets. Whilst technologies to facilitate energy saving retrofit are available, there has been a low uptake from householders in the UK, in part due to the lack of consideration of user requirements within the design of these technologies. To investigate this issue further, this thesis considers two main questions: How can the design of energy saving measures and the process of retrofit of the existing UK housing stock be improved through the use of user centred design (UCD) and How can UCD methods be applied to the research and development process for energy saving measures in order to improve the outcome? Through the research, it became clear that in order to answer these questions, it would be necessary to work across disciplines and therefore a third Research Question was posed; How can UCD facilitate working across disciplines in the context of an energy research project? The results provide evidence of how UCD can effectively improve the design and development process of energy saving technologies, the process of retrofit and the practice of cross-disciplinary working within a research environment. The research is novel in several ways: firstly, the UCD process has been applied in the area of domestic retrofit, giving new insights into the barriers and opportunities to retrofit; secondly, home improvement has been investigated by viewing the home as a complete, interacting system, using novel methods; thirdly, a set of UCD specifications have been created to inform the design of heat pumps, a specific domestic energy saving technology, and finally, enhancements to the UCD process are made for use within an energy technology project, together with the development of six principles for effective cross-disciplinary working and conceptualisation of the bridge building role which the UCD practitioner fulfills.
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Lindell, Patrick, and Daniel Nilsson. "Providing visualisation of wood industry data with a user centred design." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Programvara och system, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-130963.
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When developing a new system, it is a good idea to involve the end users from the start to prevent usability issues. This thesis has evaluated how one can develop a data visualisation system for the sawmill industry with a focus on user experience. Semi-structured interviews with a snowball sample approach were used to acquire the demands of the end users. From these demands, paper prototypes were developed and then evaluated. Data on these prototypes were collected iteratively with the help of usability tests. This was done to understand how pleased users were when using the product but also to evaluate how efficiently they used it. Metrics have been used to measure the user experience of the product with both the paper prototypes and a hi-fi prototype, also described as the alpha prototype. The conclusion answers the two research questions asked in this thesis. It concludes that the interview technique used in this thesis gave a good understanding of what information the users were interested in. Regarding measuring user experience, usability issues have been detected and reduced for each iteration, which indirectly results in a higher efficiency since the number of confusions are reduced. Something that can be seen from the system usability scale tests is that the high scores (about 89) they generated indicate that the users are pleased. With the different metrics used in this thesis, the conclusions are that the fewer the obstacles are for the user, the less annoyed they are when using the product and in turn perform their goals faster.
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Walker, Guy Harrison. "User-centred car design and the role of feedback in driving." Thesis, Brunel University, 2002. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/6273.
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A survey of car manufacturers reveals an impressive list of upcoming technologies, the combined effect of which is likely to have a profound impact upon feedback to the driver. Feedback is information that the situation provides back to the driver and is specified with reference to content, source, and timing. Feedback quality is achieved when the information requirements of the task, derived from a new task analysis of driving, are matched to the sources, content, and timing of feedback provided by the environment and the vehicle. An exploratory on-road study begins by observing that better quality feedback is implicated in increasing driver's situational awareness (even though drivers have little self awareness of this fact), and optimising mental workload. The exploratory level of analysis builds into the experimental, whereby a highly controlled simulator study replicates and builds upon these findings. Feedback is again seen to positively influence situational awareness, where changes in driver's confidence ratings as to the presence or absence of feedback information in the simulation were observed, according to the modality of feedback presented. This was achieved with a probe recall paradigm, and using psychophysical techniques as a useful extension to the Situational awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAI). Similarly, an analysis of mental workload via the NASA TLX self report questionnaire demonstrates that a combination of visual, steering force feedback and auditory feedback gives rise to lower mental workload, lower driver frustration, and lower, though possibly more realistic self ratings of performance. This knowledge can be discussed with reference to a feedback framework of driving that provides the theoretical backdrop to the key psychological variables implicated in driving task performance. Overall, the findings contribute to knowledge in terms of new and imaginative ways of designing future vehicle technologies in order to maximise safety, efficiency, and enjoyment.
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Shin, Jae-Eun. "User-centred methodology for the design of hypermedia-based CALL systems." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.488160.
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This thesis aims to develop a rigorous user-centred methodological framework for the design of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) systems which make use of hypermedia technology. The quality of CALL systems has been called into question in terms of both technical and pedagogical effectiveness. Many of the deficiencies of current systems can be attributed to an insufficient consideration of the needs of users in their development and to the lack of an explicit educational philosophy guiding their design. Accordingly, the current research has built a user-centred and theory-based prototyping (UTP) framework, which focused on the development of a practical usercentred methodology to achieve both technical and pedagogical quality. In this research, a case study has been carried out to develop a CALL system for teaching English listening skills. The role of the case study is to demonstrate that the UTP approach can produce high quality systems. The present case study consisted of three cycles of the prototyping process including three formative user workshops. The first cycle of the prototyping process mainly investigated user control and user satisfaction. The second cycle was performed to see whether mixed user-control is more effective, and to explore a sub-system for linguistic help. Then, the key issue of the effectiveness of a more proactive help system was investigated as the final prototyping step. The prototypes were evaluated through a series of user workshops. The results from the user workshops showed how important it is not to base the design of CALL simply on intuitive or theoretical principles, but that a blend of theory plus rigorous user-centered empiricism is essential. The workshops confirmed the benefits of taking such an approach, and have shown the contribution that tools and methods from HCI can make designing hypermedia-based CALL systems that will be optimal in terms of usability and educational effectiveness.
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Yovcheva, Zornitza. "User-centred design of smartphone augmented reality in urban tourism context." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2015. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/22501/.
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Exposure to new and unfamiliar environments is a necessary part of nearly everyone’s life. Effective communication of location-based information through various locationbased service interfaces (LBSIs) became a key concern for cartographers, geographers, human-computer interaction (HCI) and professional designers alike. Much attention is directed towards Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces. Smartphone AR browsers deliver information about physical objects through spatially registered virtual annotations and can function as an interface to (geo)spatial and attribute data. Such applications have considerable potential for tourism. Recently, the number of studies discussing the optimal placement and layout of AR content increased. Results, however, do not scale well to the domain of urban tourism, because: 1) in any urban destination, many objects can be augmented with information; 2) each object can be a source of a substantial amount of information; 3) the incoming video feed is visually heterogeneous and complex; 4) the target user group is in an unfamiliar environment; 5) tourists have different information needs from urban residents. Adopting a User-Centred Design (UCD) approach, the main aim of this research project was to make a theoretical contribution to design knowledge relevant to effective support for (geo)spatial knowledge acquisition in unfamiliar urban environments. The research activities were divided in four (iterative) stages: (1) theoretical, (2) requirements analysis, (3) design and (4) evaluation. After critical analysis of existing literature on design of AR, the theoretical stage involved development of a theoretical user-centred design framework, capturing current knowledge in several relevant disciplines. In the second stage, user requirements gathering was carried out through a field quasi experiment where tourists were asked to use AR browsers in an unfamiliar for them environment. Qualitative and quantitative data were used to identify key relationships, extend the user-centred design framework and generate hypotheses about effective and efficient design. In the third stage, several design alternatives were developed and used to test the hypotheses through a laboratory-based quantitative study with 90 users. The results indicate that information acquisition through AR browsers is more effective and efficient if at least one element within the AR annotation matches the perceived visual characteristics or inferred non-visual attributes of target physical objects. Finally, in order to ensure that all major constructs and relationships are identified, qualitative evaluation of AR annotations was carried out by HCI and GIS domain-expert users in an unfamiliar urban tourism context. The results show that effective information acquisition in urban tourism context will depend on the visual design and delivered content through AR annotations for both visible and non-visible points of interest. All results were later positioned within existing theory in order to develop a final conceptual user-centred design framework that shifts the perspective towards a more thorough understanding of the overall design space for mobile AR interfaces. The dissertation has theoretical, methodological and practical implications. The main theoretical contribution of this thesis is to Information Systems Design Theory. The developed framework provides knowledge regarding the design of mobile AR. It can be used for hypotheses generation and further empirical evaluations of AR interfaces that facilitate knowledge acquisition in different types of environments and for different user groups. From a methodological point of view, the described userbased studies showcase how a UCD approach could be applied to design and evaluation of novel smartphone interfaces within the travel and tourism domain. Within industry the proposed framework could be used as a frame of reference by designers and developers who are not familiar with knowledge acquisition in urban environments and/or mobile AR interfaces.
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Hadiwijaya, Aditya Gianto. "User-centred Design for Input Interface of a Machine Learning Platform." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-285888.
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Although its applications have spread beyond computer science field, the process of machine learning still has some challenges for both expert and novice users. Machine learning platform aims to automate and accelerate the delivery cycle of using machine learning techniques. The objective of this degree project is to generate a user-centred design for an input interface of a machine-learning platform. To answer the research question, there are three methods conducted sequentially: 1) interviews; 2) prototyping; and 3) design evaluation. From the initial interview, we concluded users’ problems and expectations into 11 initial design requirements that should be incorporated into our future platform. The prototype testing focused on checking and improving the functionalities, rather than the visual appearance of the product. Finally, in the design evaluation method, the research delivered design recommendations consisting of five implications: 1) start with a clear definition of the specific machine learning goal; 2) present states of machine learning with a straight-forward flow that promotes learning-opportunity; 3) enable two-way transitions between all states; 4) accommodate different users’ goals with multiple scenarios; and 5) provide expert users with more control to customize the models.Trots att dess tillämpningar har spridit sig utöver datavetenskapliga fält, behöver utvecklingen av framgångsrik användning av maskininlärning fortfarande anspråkiga komplexa metoder. Maskininlärningsplattform syftar till att automatisera och påskynda leveranscykeln för att använda maskininlärningstekniker. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att generera en användarcentrerad design för ett ingångsgränssnitt för en maskininlärningsplattform. För att besvara forskningsfrågan finns det tre metoder som genomförs i följd: 1) intervjuer; 2) prototypning; och 3) designutvärdering. Från den första intervjun avslutade vi användarnas problem och förväntningar i 11 ursprungliga designkrav som bör integreras av vår framtida plattform. Prototyptesten fokuserade på att kontrollera och förbättra funktionaliteterna snarare än det visuella utseendet på produkten. Avslutningsvis, i designbedömningsmetoden, levererade forskningen designrekommendationer bestående av fem implikationer: 1) börja med en tydlig definition av maskininlärningsmålet; 2) nuvarande stater med ett rakt framåtflöde som främjar inlärningsmöjligheter; 3) möjliggöra tvåvägsövergångar mellan tillstånd; 4) Rymma olika användares mål med flera scenarier; och 5) ge experter användare mer kontroll.
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Haines, Victoria. "The role of user centred design in domestic energy demand reduction." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/16288.
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The domestic sector currently accounts for approximately a third of the UK s energy use and so energy demand reduction in the domestic sector is a key part of the UK s strategy for carbon reduction. However, energy demand reduction has typically been addressed from an engineering perspective, with little consideration of the requirements of users. This PhD submission aims to identify how qualitative information about users experiences, values and practices relating to UK domestic energy demand reduction can be collected and presented effectively to an engineering audience and incorporated into engineering-focused energy research. User centred design is presented as a viable approach to understanding the context of energy use in UK homes and specifying requirements of the householders; as a way of ensuring user needs are included in this socio-technical problem space. This requires presentation of information about human behaviour in a form that is timely and appropriate to the engineering audience, who take a positivist view, preferring facts and figures to descriptions and anecdotes. A collection of nine publications, mostly peer-reviewed journal papers, by the thesis author and her co-authors is presented. Publications spanning from 2006 to 2014 illustrate a range of approaches to providing user centred information, from literature review to complex householder studies, which can provide information to enhance the engineering data and so provide additional insight and understanding. The research findings within the individual papers add to the body of knowledge on domestic energy use. In addition, the research identifies a number of roles where user centred design contributes to understanding of home energy use. From providing background and raising awareness of the presence of users within a system, to contextual understanding and the specification of user requirements, through to more sophisticated user characterisation, it is argued that user centred design can offer a significant contribution to the field. Future application of user information into engineering models, together with large scale, longitudinal studies of home energy use are proposed, building on the contributions of this thesis.
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Bryant, Scott T. "User centred engineering in automotive design: A shift from technology-driven product development." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2015. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/84793/1/Scott_Bryant_Thesis.pdf.
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The research assessed how best to transition engineering-based automotive firms towards more customer-orientated design and development approaches, whilst identifying the main barriers and concerns facing such a shift. The research investigates the ability of a firm to empower individual engineers with user centred design tools traditionally used by designers, whilst understanding the company-wide needs to facilitate their implementation.
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Seland, Gry. "Role-Play Workshops as a User-Centred Design Method for Mobile IT." Doctoral thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for datateknikk og informasjonsvitenskap, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-11444.
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This thesis focuses on the different aspects of role-play as an approach for user-centred design of mobile information technology (IT). This is done through development of a sequence of workshops and reflecting on the outcome. The motivation for the thesis has been to develop an understanding of the important conditions for involving end-users in the process of understanding user needs and exploring requirements for mobile IT. The need for new methods to understand mobile IT and the focus on user involvement in the traditions of participatory design and user-centred design established the background for the work. Most of the workshops were carried out in a hospital context. The overall research approach has been to work iteratively by carrying out a set of smaller studies, so-called workshops. The research design was flexible, characterized by a design that evolves, develops and unfolds, as the research proceeds. The current state of the knowledge on role-play called for a qualitative approach with a focus on understanding important issues concerning user role-plays. The overall research subject of this thesis is: Develop understanding of key premises for using role-play with low-fidelity prototyping to involve end-users in exploring user needs and requirements for mobile IT. This research subject was further divided into three specific research questions: What are the important issues related to planning and running of role-play design workshops with end-users? What do system developers perceive as the strengths and limitations of such role-play workshops as a system development method? What is the role of the workshop facilitators in such role-play workshops? Five categories of issues of importance for planning and running of role-play workshops with end-users were identified: practicalities, user role-playing, idea generation, workshop resources and roles in the workshop. The system developers regarded the approach as useful for several reasons including enhancing user involvement, helping developers understand the context of use, and creating a focus in a project. The developers also called attentions to limitations of using role-play; such as a narrow user view on the system that does not take system development premises into account. One of the issues that emerged as a particularly important factor in the workshops was the role-play facilitator’s skills in leading the role-play part and the idea generation process. A framework developed by Yardley-Matwiejcsuk proved useful for understanding how to develop and rehearse these kinds of role-play. The thesis contributes with an understanding of different aspects regarding role-play workshops with end users in the field of Human-Computer Interaction.
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Cajander, Åsa. "Usability – Who Cares? : The Introduction of User-Centred Systems Design in Organisations." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Avdelningen för människa-datorinteraktion, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-122387.
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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.
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Chen, Chun-Hsing. "Web commerce usability : a user centred design method for web commerce systems." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/4099.
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Waddington, Raymond. "User-centred design of software development environments : an example from program debugging." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.236047.
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Wardlaw, Jessica. "Introducing user-centred design : a longitudinal study of a healthcare informatics organisation." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2016. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1475062/.
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Information System designers report increasing difficulties applying User-Centred Design (UCD) techniques effectively due to the growing complexity of the domains in which they work and the techniques’ prescriptive nature. The rapid growth of “Big Data” and associated analytical tools thus demands closer investigation of UCD activities and processes within the complex and rapidly-changing work domains in which they are designed, developed and used. This thesis reports a longitudinal case study from inside a commercial organisation, through a six-year Action Research collaboration to introduce and embed UCD techniques in the design of health informatics tools in the UK. An assessment of the initial modus operandi is followed by the development of personas with data from interviews, user-generated screen captures and database server log files; these informed the redesign, evaluation and testing of the organisation’s flagship product. Finally, stakeholder interviews explore the wider impact of UCD techniques. In so doing, this thesis shows the value of auto-ethnographic documentation, based on being embedded in a design team and collaborative reflection, for practice-led research; it found the organisation’s culture around UCD was dynamic and design practices can change this culture through, for example, training opportunities and fostering customer relations. Individuals and extrinsic factors played strikingly key roles in reshaping the organisation’s culture; the commitment and resilience of individuals was important for sustaining UCD activities across several reorganisations and changes in business strategy. Finally, this thesis comprehensively presents and evaluates an innovative approach for grounding personas in database server and user-generated content. These findings concern both research and practice by informing the scope of the designer’s role, educational programmes and Action Research collaborations. They call for further attention on the compatibility of design and development processes and suggest that design practice can not only be tailored to organisations, but organisations can be fitted to design practice with the reassessment of the value of some UCD activities. Finally, this thesis can inform approaches to practice-led research, and more effective and efficient strategies for the introduction of UCD techniques to other organisations from the base of their hierarchy.
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Kiunsi, Domina. "Serious gaming as a tool to describe a user-centred design process." Thesis, Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Datateknik och informatik, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-40066.
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The design of software products or services with good user experience (UX) requires a good understanding of the people the product is intended for. One of the design processes that places emphasis on the needs of the people is the user-centered design process. This study creates a serious game as a tool to learn the user-centered design process in order to create awareness of user-centered design practices among UX and non-UX practitioners. To accomplish this, design science research methodology is adopted to allow creation of the game by describing the problem, defining the game requirements, designing and developing the game and finally demonstrating and evaluating it. The evaluation of the game was conducted in three main areas, one to assess the content of the game, the second to assess the functionality of the game and the third to assess the learning potential of the game. Based on the results of the evaluation conducted it is revealed that the content presented is adequate and the participants are able gain concepts about the user-centered design activities, the roles involved in such a process and the various UX techniques employed.
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Keane, David James. "User centred approach to the design, development and implementation of patient information." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2015. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29734/.
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Clinical pathways define patient journeys with medical devices often utilised to diagnose and treat patients. In the contexts of screening and diagnosis, devices are utilised in the form of investigations and tests. They are utilised to detect preventable medical conditions in otherwise healthy individuals and to determine the cause of symptoms in patients presenting symptoms. Patient experiences of investigations and tests vary depending on the healthcare situation, investigation or test, and requirements, expectations and physical experiences of patients before, during and after investigations and tests. Information can be a valuable resource to inform, support and guide patients, and to contribute to quality patient experiences. However, this can only be achieved if information meets patient needs and preferences. This was the basis of the thesis, which took a user centred approach to the design, development and implementation of patient information. Two studies were conducted focussing on understanding attitudes towards investigations and tests, and informational needs and preferences. The first study examined attitudes towards different types of diagnostic procedure and the second examined attitudes towards screening for a vascular condition. Information was valuable in the former to inform about diagnostic procedures and patients’ physical involvement with them, and in the latter to inform about the medical condition, screening for the condition, the screening procedure, the benefits of being screened, and the risks of being or not being screened. Both studies also established factors affecting attitudes, providing a constructive understanding of attitudes. Ten factors were established that affected attitudes towards diagnostic procedures of which physical involvement, trust, familiarity and purpose were the most influential factors. Fifteen factors were established that affected attitudes towards screening of which benefits and risks, referring to personal benefits and risks, were the most influential factors. The established factors inspired a user centred design concept for patient information – a ‘factors based approach’ to the design of patient information. The factors based approach to the design of patient information is theoretical and consists of including and organising information based on factors. This approach was examined in two studies, which involved re-designing a patient information resource for an invasive investigation by applying appropriate factors established in the first two studies to it and examining and comparing it with the original information resource. The original resource was based on a standardised presentation of information for the investigation. The factors based resource was quantitatively no better nor worse than the standard resource; however, qualitative data found it had features that were important for its usability, which seemed to make it easier to understand compared to the standard resource. These findings demonstrated the potential of the factors based approach to the design of patient information, which led to the development of patient information guidelines. Patient information guidelines are provided for diagnostic procedures and screening. The guidelines represent the essence of the thesis and its work, and the contribution it has made to knowledge. They combine substantial data from four studies and it is hoped the guidelines assist information designers and others involved in patient information. The guidelines also aim to contribute to quality patient experiences through better meeting patient informational needs and preferences. Since the factors based approach to the design of patient information is a novel concept and the patient information guidelines are a draft, further research is recommended to better understand the potential of the factors based approach and to further develop and refine the guidelines. The guidelines have been made publicly available to use as a separate document and for further dissemination, and can be accessed and downloaded from the following link: https://db.tt/e6BQeJuu
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Bowen, Judith Alyson. "Formal Models and Refinement for Graphical User Interface Design." The University of Waikato, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2613.
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Formal approaches to software development require that we correctly describe (or specify) systems in order to prove properties about our proposed solution prior to building it. We must then follow a rigorous process to transform our specification into an implementation to ensure that the properties we have proved are retained. When we design and build the user interfaces of our systems we are similarly keen to ensure that they have certain properties before we build them. For example, do they satisfy the requirements of the user? Are they designed with known good design principles and usability considerations in mind? User-centred design approaches, which incorporate many different techniques which we may consider as informal, seek to consider these issues so that the UIs we build are designed around the needs and capabilities of real users. Both formal methods and user-centred design are important and beneficial in the development of underlying system functionality and user interfaces respectively. Given this we would like to be able to use both approaches in one integrated software development process. Their differences, however, make this a challenging objective. In this thesis we present a solution this problem by describing models and techniques which provide a bridge between the existing work of user-centred design practitioners and formal methods practitioners enabling us to incorporate (representations of) informal design artefacts into a formal software development process. We then use these models as the basis for a refinement theory for user interfaces which allows interface designers to retain their informal design methods whilst providing an underlying theory grounded in the trace refinement theory of the Microcharts language.
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Anderberg, Pierre. "Analyzing and Re-designing Legacy Systems for Enhanced Usability : A Case Study on the CATS TCT." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-65527.
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The CATS TCT is a military wargaming simulator used by the Swedish Armed Forces for education of position holders within battalion or company staffs. The CATS TCT was developed during the nineties and one of the challenges today is how the system can be modernized in order to meet the increased demands on usability. This master thesis is part of the work with modernizing the CATS TCT and a usability study has been conducted in order to identify issues and problems of the current system related to usability. This thesis is conducted at BAE Systems C-ITS in Linköping and the main focus of this study has been how to analyze and re-design the CATS TCT in order to enhance the usability of the system. Empirical data in this study has been collected through six semi-structured interviews, one observation and two focus group interviews and the result of this study has elicit several problem areas related to any of following usability aspects: effectiveness, efficiency or satisfaction. The conclusions from this investigation is that the CATS TCT simulator is an valuable and appreciated educational tool – especially from an effectiveness point of view. When it comes to efficiency, however, several problems areas has been identified and these areas are: information architecture, interface interaction, how orders are issued to units and how the simulation rules are implemented. When it comes to the users satisfaction of the system no unequivocal conclusion has been possible to present. As a complement to the identified issues and problems of the simulator this study has also presented examples on how prototypes could be used to solve some of the identified problems. More specifically, in this report re-design solutions related to how the users interact with the map, how orders are issued and how status overview is displayed has been presented.
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Bowerman, Julian. "Understanding users in context : an investigation into designers' requirements." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/14327.
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In the future, as world markets become more diverse, designers will be increasingly asked to create products for people dissimilar to themselves. Human issues, such as product pleasure, will also become more important as advances in manufacturing (enabling companies to produce high quality goods more cheaply) will mean companies will look elsewhere to achieve a competitive edge. These changes will affect designers who presently work with little or no user information. This thesis investigates the attributes designers need in resources that offer them an immediate yet broad understanding of users. The research presented in the thesis has a philosophical strand and a design strand. In the design strand, two mock up resources and a prototype resource are developed. These creations are used in the philosophical strand: the mock ups are used to provide focus while collecting opinions from participants and the prototype is evaluated at the end of the research as if it were a real resource. The thesis starts with a literature review; this review reveals that designers need to understand users' physical, psychological and social needs as well as their environments if they are to design appropriate products for them. It explains that designers find much ergonomics information too technical and not visual enough and reveals that no tools or methods exist that offer a broad and instant understanding of users at the start of the design process. Following this, the results from a set of interviews and a focus group are presented. These studies reveal that designers want both personal and general user information that is reliable, video based, contextual and authentic. The results also show that designers want a fast, online resource that allows information to be easily tagged, compared and shared. Next, the thesis describes the development of the prototype resource and its examination using a heuristic inspection. This resource is then evaluated by designers. The evaluation reveals that designers perceived that the resource would be of value to the design process and thought that the videos showing people going about their everyday lives and the virtual tours around people's homes would be particularly useful. The thesis concludes that designers want contextual user information presented as easily navigable video in an Internet based resource. In doing so, it provides an original contribution to knowledge.
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Ahlström, Martin. "User-centred redesign of a business systemusing the Star Life Cycle method." Thesis, Linköping University, Department of Computer and Information Science, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-14942.
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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.
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.
In addition a company specific Style Guide was created with generic guidelines as a foundation for development of future applications within Medius.
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Nilsson, Joel. "Compressible Waste Bin System for Public Environment : Design with a User-Centred Approach." Thesis, Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för ekonomi, teknik och samhälle, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-68684.
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We consume more and more which also have led to an increase in the waste we most handle. In public environment, common solution have been to increase the size of the waste bin, but that’s not always an option. To big and it may interfere with the environment it placed in. Another approach is to compress the disposed waste and so increase the waste bins capacity without increasing the volume of the wastebin itself. BigBelly is one product which have embraced this apprach. It is a solar driven compressing waste bin commonly seen in big cities around the world. The problem is that some miner municipalities and private companies still are in need of a solution but don’t have the resources to obtain BigBellys or other similar solutions. One way to approach this market is to develop a waste bin without the electric usually expensive components and develop a less expensive compressible waste bin that’s still an effective choice. To understand the needs, both of those who dispose of waste publicly but also those who manage the waste bins, have interviews, observations, questionaries and focus groups been used to gather valuable data. This data have then been remade in terms of user needs and ranked according to importance by the users themselves and the project manager. Some highly ranked needs are: the waste bin is steady and robust, the waste bin can only be opened by those who handle/empty the waste bins, a manual compression can be performed by those who throw the waste, and a manual compression can be performed without any major effort. By the method Design by analogies and a workshop held at Luleå University of Technology was ideas created. The three concepts with the highest potential were selected via Pugh’s selection matrix and tested according to efficiency and effectivity. The concept with the highest result was developed in Simens NX a CAD-program and then used as a template for the construction of a functional prototype. By testing and analyzing the prototype a product specification could be created. The final result, which is based on the prototype and the specification, consist of two rendered waste bins, developed towards compression in public environment. The compactor is based on a scissor-lift design modified to expand and so compress waste by gravity and contract by the energy of the users. Both models are estimated to enhance the capacity of 170-200% compared with a waste bin none-compressing waste bin of the same size. Model 1 requires a force of 196N from the user during use while model 2 requires force of 123N.
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McIntosh, Paul Malcolm, and paul mcintosh@internetscooter com. "X3D-UML: User-Centred Design, Implementation and Evaluation of 3D UML Using X3D." RMIT University. Computer Science and Information Technology, 2010. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20100128.161156.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents an in-depth investigation into the practical use of 3D for software visualisation. This work presents the first comprehensive user-centred study which examines the software engineering tasks users undertake currently, the issues that 3D addresses and a measure of benefit of the 3D solution compared to traditional approaches. This thesis also presents a mechanism for creating 3D software visualisations, a refined evaluation methodology and visualisation heuristics that together provide a valuable resource for further research into this area. The research results have been structured so they are directly applicable to industry and as such are already undergoing industrial adoption. This has been achieved through the following: Firstly the research augments current and accepted software visualisation approaches by basing the visual notation on the Unified Modelling Language (UML). This has enabled the current visual software engineering tasks to be studied and for representative user tasks to be captured and quantified. The 3D visualisations then complement the current working practices by solving
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Speake, Helen. "Exploring the user-centred design of a physical activity pathway in NHS care." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2018. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/22412/.
Full textAbstract:
Background The UK National Health Service (NHS) has been identified as a key domain for tackling non-communicable diseases through reducing population physical inactivity. Research demonstrates that health professionals struggle to deliver existing physical activity (PA) interventions due to a perceived lack of time and confidence in behaviour change. Evidence also suggests that programmes are being delivered inconsistently. Existing interventions are failing to engage a sufficient range of patients and have not demonstrated a long term impact on patients' PA. As end users, patients and health professionals are fundamental to the success of PA interventions and must be actively involved in their design and evaluation. Method This study adopted a Research through Design methodology using the UK Design Council's Double Diamond framework (Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver; Design Council, 2007) to explore the user-centred design of a physical activity pathway in NHS care. Semi-structured interviews with 'users' (patients and health professionals) were undertaken. This was followed by a series of co-design workshops to identify specific problems and solutions. Users and other stakeholders were consulted via a survey, interviews and face-to-face consultations to test and refine solutions. A case study using one NHS service (Physioworks) was carried out to develop and evaluate implementation recommendations. Data was analysed throughout the process using inductive thematic analysis. Findings Popular solutions focused on making it easier for health professionals to initiate conversations about PA and ensuring that referral options were appropriate for patients. Novel elements of the pathway included priming patients prior to their appointment to normalise PA within the consultation, and feedback from PA providers to inform and positively reinforce health professionals' referral behaviours. Health professionals suggested that the co-designed pathway reflected a model of best practice but that traditional organisational constraints such as time pressures remained a barrier to its consistent use with patients. Further work is needed to refine and test the pathway and to ensure that it is helpful for a broad range of patients and professionals. Conclusions This research extends knowledge about the promotion of PA and the application of user-centred design in this context. Early impact of the research includes improvements within the clinical settings such as environmental prompts, establishment of graded introductory PA groups and streamlined appointment booking with PA providers. Further collaboration is planned with Physioworks NHS service to integrate the pathway into existing caseloads.
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Anderfelt, Victor. "From Mob Programming to Mob Development : User-Centred Design in Collaborative Software Development." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-414221.
Full textAbstract:
Mob programming is a collaborative software development method that has gained increasing attention in both industry and research. While the focus of mob programming is on the benefits of teams programming together, there are also potential benefits for other aspects of the software development process. However, there is a lack of research on the use of the method outside the domain of programming. This study explores user-centred design (UCD) in mob programming through a case study of three software development teams at Sveriges Television, a Swedish public broadcasting company. Results show that the teams use the method for a variety of tasks in their daily work, calling for a rebranding of the method to mob development to encompass the broader scope. The integration of UCD is analysed through the principles of user-centred agile software development. The results indicate that a revision of these principles is needed to include the cross-functional and social factors that mob development adds to the software development process.
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Golby, Christopher. "User-centred design of a task-oriented upper-limb assessment system for stroke." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/72926/.
Full textAbstract:
During rehabilitation from Stroke, patients require assessment of their upper-limb motor control. Outcome measures can often be subjective and objective data is required to supplement therapist/patient opinion on progress. This can be performed through goniometry; however, goniometry can be time-consuming, have inaccuracies of ±23º, and is therefore, often not used. Motion tracking technology is a possible answer to this problem, but can also be costly, time-consuming and not suitable for the clinical environment. This thesis aims to provide an objective, digital intervention method for assessing range of motion to supplement current outcome measures which is suitable for the clinical environment. This was performed by creating a low-cost technology through a user-centred design approach. Requirements elicitation demonstrated that a motivational, portable, cost-effective, non-invasive, time saving system for assessing functional activities was needed. Therefore, a system which utilised a Microsoft Kinect and EZ430 chronos wrist watch to track patient’s movements during and/or outside of therapy sessions was created. Measurements can be taken in a matter of minutes and provide a high quantity of objective data regarding patient movement. The system was verified, using healthy volunteers, by showing similar error rates in the system across 3 weeks in 10 able-bodied individuals, with error rates produced by a physiotherapist using goniometry. The system was also validated in the clinical setting with 6 stroke patients, over 15 weeks, as selected by 6 occupational therapists and 3 physiotherapists in 2 NHS stroke wards. The approach which has been created in this thesis is objective, repeatable, low-cost, portable, and non-invasive; allowing it to be the first tool for the objective assessment of upper-limb ROM which is efficiently designed and suitable for everyday use in stroke rehabilitation.
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Bordin, Silvia. "A framework for integrating user-centred Design and agile Development in small Companies." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2017. https://hdl.handle.net/11572/367923.
Full textAbstract:
The integration of user-centred design (UCD) and Agile development is gaining increasing momentum in industry: the two approaches show promising complementarities and their convergence can lead to a more holistic software engineering approach relative to the application of just one of them. However, the practicalities of this integration are not trivial and the topic is currently of interest to a variety of research communities. This thesis aims at understanding the integration of user-centred design and Agile development and at supporting its adoption in small companies. Based on a qualitative approach, it is positioned at the intersection of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and software engineering, and is grounded on several empirical studies performed in industry. The work is organised in three stages inspired by the action research approach. The first stage was dedicated to understanding software development practice: through literature review and two ethnographically-informed studies, it resulted in the first contribution of this thesis, that is a set of communication breakdowns that may hinder the integration of user-centred design and Agile development.
The second stage was dedicated to deliberating improvements of practice: the set of communication breakdowns was elaborated into the second contribution of this thesis, that is a framework of focal points meant to help the organisation diagnose and assess communication breakdowns in its work practice.
The third stage of the thesis was dedicated to implementing and evaluating improvements. The framework was further elaborated into a training on the adoption of the framework itself. Such training was instantiated in two iterations of action research performed in small development organisations, with the aim of establishing a supportive organisational environment and mitigating communication breakdowns. Once validated through these cases, the training constituted the third contribution of this thesis. Results show that the intervention has benefited companies at several levels, enriching work practice with fresh techniques, favouring team collaboration and cooperation, and resulting in a shift from a technology-centred mindset to a more user-centred one.
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Bordin, Silvia. "A framework for integrating user-centred Design and agile Development in small Companies." Doctoral thesis, University of Trento, 2017. http://eprints-phd.biblio.unitn.it/2694/1/Silvia_Bordin_-_dissertation.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The integration of user-centred design (UCD) and Agile development is gaining increasing momentum in industry: the two approaches show promising complementarities and their convergence can lead to a more holistic software engineering approach relative to the application of just one of them. However, the practicalities of this integration are not trivial and the topic is currently of interest to a variety of research communities. This thesis aims at understanding the integration of user-centred design and Agile development and at supporting its adoption in small companies. Based on a qualitative approach, it is positioned at the intersection of Computer Supported Cooperative Work and software engineering, and is grounded on several empirical studies performed in industry. The work is organised in three stages inspired by the action research approach. The first stage was dedicated to understanding software development practice: through literature review and two ethnographically-informed studies, it resulted in the first contribution of this thesis, that is a set of communication breakdowns that may hinder the integration of user-centred design and Agile development.
The second stage was dedicated to deliberating improvements of practice: the set of communication breakdowns was elaborated into the second contribution of this thesis, that is a framework of focal points meant to help the organisation diagnose and assess communication breakdowns in its work practice.
The third stage of the thesis was dedicated to implementing and evaluating improvements. The framework was further elaborated into a training on the adoption of the framework itself. Such training was instantiated in two iterations of action research performed in small development organisations, with the aim of establishing a supportive organisational environment and mitigating communication breakdowns. Once validated through these cases, the training constituted the third contribution of this thesis. Results show that the intervention has benefited companies at several levels, enriching work practice with fresh techniques, favouring team collaboration and cooperation, and resulting in a shift from a technology-centred mindset to a more user-centred one.
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Jokela, T. (Timo). "Assessment of user-centred design processes as a basis for improvement action:an experimental study in industrial settings." Doctoral thesis, University of Oulu, 2001. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9514265513.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract
Many software-intensive products and systems on the market today reveal a poor
level of usability despite the availability of knowledge about how to develop
good usability, namely user-centred design. Improving the status of user-centred
design has proved to be a challenge in product development. An effective step to
start out on the road to such improvements is to carry out a current state
analysis. Our research problem was to learn how to perform an effective current
state analysis, i.e. an assessment, of user-centred design processes to provide a
basis for improvement action. As the main part of our research, we carried out
five experimental assessments in industrial settings during the years 2000 and
2001.
The main result of the research is a novel assessment approach. The objective of
the approach is to provide a basis for improvement of the performance of
user-centred design in individual product development projects. The particular
features of the approach are a new user-centred design process model, a
three-dimensional process performance model and implementation of the assessment
in the form of a workshop with extensive participation by the project members.
The user-centred design process model is method-independent, and consists of six
processes that are defined through outcomes. The performance of processes is
assessed from the viewpoints of quantity, quality, and integration.
Our theoretical examinations show that different assessment categories can be
identified depending on the different foci and purposes of an assessment.
Moreover, it may even be appropriate to have different assessment approaches for
different categories. In the category of our focus and purpose, i.e. 'assessment
of user-centred design processes for performance improvement', the focus of an
assessment should be in the substance rather than in the management of UCD
processes. An assessment approach should be regarded as an artefact and it should
be subject to ongoing refinement. An assessment should be an intervention that
provides both an effective training session and a meaningful experience to the
participants. Clarity in both the concepts and the results seems to take
precedence over having standard reference models.
In addition, we created a preliminary theory of usability capability. It
identifies three dimensions of usability capability: user-centred design
infrastructure, performance of user-centred design in product development
projects and usability in business strategy. We also propose some new assessment
artefacts for other assessment categories and contrast our research experience
with established research frameworks.
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Nivala, Wen Cing-Yan. "Developing a persona-based user-centred design model in relation to idea generation that will both manage the product design processes and solve design problems." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/9704.
Full textAbstract:
User-Centred Design (UCD) was proposed in the 1980s and, since then, its philosophy has helped to solve design problems, regardless of the advances in technology over time. The standard ISO 9241:210 (2010), formerly ISO 13407, provides guidance in human-centred design principles and activities undertaken throughout the design lifecycle to further support UCD. In addition, since it was mentioned in ISO 9241:210, UCD has also utilised User Experience Design (UXD) in recent years. There are many approaches that support UCD to ensure it is more attainable when designing. In addition, large firms, such as HP, IBM and Microsoft, use anthropologists in their user research in order to make products more user-centred. However, the concept of UCD should, theoretically, be more widely used in all product design and it is intriguing as to why it is not as popular as it should be. As noticed in the real world, imperfect designs still frustrate us everywhere. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the difficulties of practicing a UCD approach in idea generation and to design solutions for idea generation that would encourage further practice of UCD/UXD. In the first part of the thesis, there is an exploration of the problems encountered when practicing UCD idea generation. When examining the process, a multitude of problems were found, with most blamed as being costly, time consuming and requiring complex skills. In addition, it was suggested that a systematic solution was required to overcome such difficulties. Therefore, later in this research, a systematic model is proposed and evaluated using participants (both designers and target users). Due to the fact that design practitioners are not usually researchers, further help to implement the model in the form of persona application software is needed. Hence, the concept of service design was employed to further assist with the use of the model. In the end, computer-aided development was introduced, together with the integration of the systematic UCD model. The UCD model and the software have been evaluated as effective from both the responses of product design practitioners and end-users. Future recommendations and the research limitations are also discussed in each chapter and the overall results are given in the last chapter. This thesis successfully provided the complete process during the exploration of the low usage problems of UCD, and solutions were presented to assist designers with their UCD/UXD in the future.
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Adikari, Sisira, and n/a. "Usability Modelling For Requirements Engineering." University of Canberra. Information Sciences & Engineering, 2008. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20081204.145827.
Full textAbstract:
For over two decades user-centric methods and techniques have been proposed to assist the
production of usable, useful, and desirable software products. Despite these approaches,
usability problems are still identified in finished software products creating problems at
systems acceptance, rework and impacting end user experience. Part of the reason for these
continuing problems is that user-centric approaches are not part of the traditional software
engineering process. The literature review shows that software engineering and human-computer
interaction are largely different communities.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the incorporation of user modelling and
usability modelling into software requirements specifications would improve design quality
and usability of software products. This research study used a Design Science dominant
mixed research methodology consisting of case study and action research for creating,
analysing and evaluating artefacts for improving the effectiveness of user-centred design and
usability of software artefacts. Using the functional specification of an existing system in a
government agency, ten designers created screen and interaction designs. The specification
was then enhanced with usability specifications and the designers redeveloped their designs
in the light of the enhanced specification. Both designs were subject to pre-defined usability
tests and designers described their design experience as they worked.
The results of the research demonstrated that enhancing traditional software requirements
specifications with additional specifications of user modelling and usability modelling made
a positive difference to both designer perception as well as design quality of user interface
artefacts. The theoretical and practical values of these findings are explored.
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Mullane, Sarah. "Development of a user-centred design methodology to accommodate changing hardware and software user requirements in the sports domain." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2012. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10191.
Full textAbstract:
The research presented in this thesis focuses on the development of wireless, real time performance monitoring technology within the resistance training domain using a user-centred design methodology. The functionality of current performance monitoring technology and differences in monitoring ability is investigated through comparative force platform, video and accelerometer testing and analysis. Determining the complexity of resistance training exercises and whether performance variable profiles such as acceleration, velocity and power can be used to characterise lifts is also investigated. A structured user-centred design process suitable for the sporting domain is proposed and followed throughout the research to consider the collection, analysis and communication of performance data. Identifying the user requirements and developing both hardware and software to meet the requirements also forms a major part of the research. The results indicate that as the exercise complexity increases, the requirement for sophisticated technology increases. A simple tri-axial accelerometer can be used to monitor simple linear exercises at the recreational level. Gyroscope technology is required to monitor complex exercises in which rotation of the bar occurs. Force platform technology is required at the elite level to monitor the distribution of force and resultant balance throughout a lift (bilateral difference). An integrated system consisting of an Inertial Measurement Unit (both accelerometer and gyroscope technology) and a double plate force platform is required to accurately monitor performance in the resistance training domain at the elite level.
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Markensten, Erik. "Mind the gap : a procurement approac to integrating user-centred design in contract development." Licentiate thesis, KTH, Numerical Analysis and Computer Science, NADA, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-326.
Full textAbstract:
Usability professionals seldom get a chance to actually do their job. Instead, they have to argue that usability is something important that should be attended to. This was the initial problem that motivated this thesis. In spite decenniums of evolution within HCI this problem is still highly relevant, and existing approaches to solve it yet have to prove their effectiveness. When approaches to integrate HCI into systems development have been discussed, there has seldom been a discussion about how a given approach may be more or less useful in different development contexts. Nor has there been much discussion about how HCI activities relates to the overall procurement-development process. One reason for this may be that existing approaches to HCI integration are suited primarily for product development and, to some extent, to in-house development. At least these contexts are most common in existing case studies.
In this thesis, I focus on the problem of HCI integration in contract development. This context poses particular challenges, mainly because two parties with different goals are involved – the procurer and the supplier. They regulate business relations and responsibilities via the contract. In both existing practice and in research the user-centred design (UCD) process has, at least implicitly, been assumed to belong to the supplier side. It is the suppliers, i.e. consultancy firms, that have employed usability professionals and that have tried to integrate HCI into their development processes. By taking a procurement perspective instead, I question this assumption.
I present three case studies that start with a survey of common problems in current procurement practice and end with trying out an approach to work with UCD in systems acquisition. While my interest initially concerned successful HCI integration, I also discuss how the suggested approach deals with several existing problems that procurers face. In particular, the approach links abstract business goals that any systems acquisition starts of with, to detailed systems requirements that it aims at defining. This facilitates for procurers to focus on the goals that the future system should help enable and linking these goals to the requirement specification that the contract is based on.
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Markensten, Erik. "Mind the gap : a procurement approach to integrating user-centred design in contract development." Licentiate thesis, Stockholm : KTH, Numerical Analysis and Computer Science, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-326.
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May, Andrew. "Enhancing the user-centred design of mobile location servies through the application of value." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2008. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/8064.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis is concerned with the problem of designing Mobile Location Services (MLS) - also commonly termed Location-Based Services - that meet user needs. MLS are applications that users access via a portable device such as a mobile phone. They provide services (i.e. information or other functionality) to end-users based on knowledge of the location of individuals and other entities within the environment. The market failure of many mobile services, including MLS, has been attributed in part to failing to provide `value' to the end user. This thesis reviews different theoretical approaches to help understand the notion of `value', and how value may be used to inform design (Chapter 2). Research methods are also discussed, including the particular challenges with doing `mobile' research (Chapter 3). A survey of UK consumers( Chapter4 ) demonstratesa current lack of use, and lack of awarenesso f most forms of MLS in the UK. llowever, overall positive attitudes,a nd a range of behavioural and demographic data, suggest that MLS have the potential to be successful if they can be designed to meet user needs. A qualitative study of users' travelling behaviour (Chapter 5) then demonstrates how effective mobile information delivery can provide considerable value within a dynamic, uncertain and location-varying environment. This added value is highly dependent on contextual and situated factors, including existing information sources, variances in possible outcomes and the intrinsic qualities of information provision. The thesis then focuses on a particular application domain for MLS - drivers navigating in an unfamiliar environment. A literature review (Chapter 6) investigates how drivers navigate, and what their information needs are. Three experimental studies (Chapters 7 to 9) then investigate what information adds value within a navigation context, the impact of contextual influences on driving and navigation performance, and the impact of the quality of the navigation cue on task performance. Good landmarks (such as traffic lights) are shown to add value for drivers navigating an unfamiliar route, depending on the context at particular manoeuvres. This thesis discusses( Chapter 10) how a multi-disciplinary perspectivec an help maximise the acceptance and effectiveness of MLS. 'Value' can be used to design specific services for users, based on offering new freedoms to the individual within a mobile context, employing time and location sensitivity to maximise relevance, taking into account user knowledge, existing information sources and contextual factors, and ensuring impact on real-world outcomes. In conclusion (Chapter 11), specific contributions and avenues for future work are highlighted.
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Al, Jarallah Khulud. "Cognitive user-centred design approach to improve accessibility for blind people during online interaction." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/9737.
Full textAbstract:
The use of internet and other communication technology has become predominantly common in the life of normal sighted users. In order to have a fair level of equality in the society, blind people must also be able to use these facilities with equal ease and effectiveness Many governments decided to implement e-Government applications to enhance the delivery of information and services to its citizens, residents and businesses. These e-Government applications were carefully designed with the help of international standards to serve the whole group of population and especially people with disabilities. However, recent studies showed that the acceptance rate of these e Government applications among the community, especially between people with disability, is not up to the expectations. The aim of this research is to investigate the accessibility issues faced by blind people while interacting with online services like e-Government portals Owing to the nature of content and the importance of information which is to be delivered to the whole country, the accessibility standards of such portals are of paramount importance. It is this idea of evaluation of such websites for special category of blind people that has been the main focus of this thesis. The main aim of this doctoral research is to discover any accessibility problems that could be faced by people with blind users during online interaction and not covered in accessibility standards. A real example of online interaction is the e-Government portals. This research followed a rigours tri-staged evaluation process for a selected e-Government portal (Saudi Arabian portal) to analyse the accessibility issues faced by blind people. The aim of this evaluation process is to understand the cognition and perception of a blind user while interacting with a web-based environment. The first step of the evaluation process was to verify the level of adherence of the selected portal to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The second stage includes a detailed experimental exercise with a number of blind people following the task- oriented approach. The third step of the evaluation process was a detailed interview with web designers to analyse the problems faced by blind participants in the experimental exercise. Thereafter, cognitive-based solutions were proposed to improve the accessibility of online interaction for blind users and fill the gap in the accessibility standards. The introduction of navigational landmarks and the insertion of virtual map description improve the navigation and hence the performance of blind users. The proposed solution has been tested with a separate group of blind users to validate the research findings and to ensure the desired level of accessibility of the e-Government portals is achieved.
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Mostafa, Dina. "Maturity models in the context of integrating agile development processes and user centred design." Thesis, University of York, 2013. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6295/.
Full textAbstract:
Integrating Agile development processes and User Centred Design (UCD) gained increased interest arguably due to three reasons: first, the reported advantages of UCD in enabling developers to understand the users needs, and how the software can support their goals. Second, the deficiency of Agile methods in: providing guidance for developing usable software; and discussing usability, user requirements elicitation and usability evaluation methods. Third, differences between Agile methods and UCD that can make their integration challenging. Agile and User Centred Design Integration (AUCDI) research did not exploit Usability Maturity Models (UMMs) potential. Organizations aspiring to achieve AUCDI can utilize UMMs in assessing its UCD capability, identifying organization's UCD weaknesses and strengths, and planning for improvement. This thesis aims to investigate the suitability of utilizing UMMs in the context of Agile processes. In order to achieve this aim, this thesis conducted: first, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) that identified and classified AUCDI challenges and explored the proposed practices to deal with them. Second, an interview study of industrial AUCDI attempts that identified the AUCDI difficulties and integration methods. Third, an interview study that evaluated the suitability of two UMMs; Nielsen model and Usability Maturity Model-Human Centrdness Scale (UMM-HCS) for utilization in assessing usability maturity levels in the context of Agile projects. The results of these studies revealed that both models are deficient in their theoretical maturation foundations and scoring scheme and in addressing the activities and challenges associated with AUCDI. As a result of these deficiencies we utilized the results of the SLR and the empirical studies in developing a set of dimensions that represent fundamental elements that affect the AUCDI process. These dimensions were utilized in the development of a descriptive AUCDI Maturity Model that addresses the activities, success factors, and challenges identified within the AUCDI domain.
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CAPITANELLI, ANDREA. "A User-Centred Methodology to Design and Simulate Smart Home Environments and Related Services." Doctoral thesis, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11566/245273.
Full textAbstract:
I progressi nelle tecnologie di automazione e comunicazione all'interno degli edifici residenziali offrono molti interessanti vantaggi per lo sviluppo delle Smart Home, come l'aumento di efficienza energetica, il miglioramento il comfort per gli abitanti e la riduzione dei costi operativi per il proprietario.
L'aggregazione e la condivisione dei dati all'interno delle reti possono essere garantite dal moderno approccio denominato Internet delle cose (IoT) e supportati dalle nuove tecnologie dell'informazione e della comunicazione (ICT). Tali tecnologie si stanno evolvendo e le abitazioni stanno diventando luoghi tecnologici popolati da una moltitudine di dispositivi in grado di raccogliere una grande quantità di dati e di cooperare in modo intelligente per controllare tutti i dispositivi connessi, come gli elettrodomestici, l'illuminazione, i sistemi di riscaldamento, ecc.
Da un lato, l’intelligenza crescente dei dispositivi connessi produce una grande quantità di dati; dall'altro lato, la complessità di tali dati crea difficoltà di classificazione, trasmissione ed interpretazione delle informazioni utili. Entrambi gli aspetti possono ridurre drasticamente i potenziali vantaggi e limitare la diffusione dei cosiddetti dispositivi “smart”. Mentre a livello aziendale già esistono soluzioni di automazione affermate ed ampiamente utilizzate, le applicazioni per le abitazioni private sono ancora di difficile diffusione a causa della mancanza di standard di comunicazione e della presenza di dispositivi e sistemi altamente eterogenei e quindi di difficile integrazione. Inoltre, anche quando la connessione tra due dispositivi viene stabilita, renderli interoperabili è un’altra grande sfida a causa delle differenze nelle modalità di funzionamento e della difficoltà di integrazione dell'interfaccia. Infatti, le Smart Home non consentono ancora una elevata interoperabilità e gli studi fatti sono spesso fortemente orientati alla tecnologia e concentrati sulle potenzialità dei singoli sottosistemi, trascurando i benefici per gli utenti finali.
A tale scopo, questo lavoro definisce un modello di gestione delle informazioni per ambienti domestici intelligenti con lo scopo di supportare la progettazione e la simulazione dei dispositivi “smart” nonché dei servizi sviluppati. Tale modello considera diverse tipologie di dispositivi, le relazioni esistenti tra loro, i flussi informativi e le modalità di interazione dell’utente per modellare correttamente l'ambiente e definirne il comportamento. Il modello sviluppato supporta la progettazione della Smart Home ed è in grado di simulare le funzionalità dei dispositivi con lo scopo finale di valutare i benefici dei servizi forniti.The advances in home automation and communication technologies offer several attractive benefits for the modern smart home, such as increased energy efficiency, improved residential comfort and reduced operative costs for the homeowner. Data aggregation and sharing within the networks can be guaranteed by modern Internet of Things (IoT) approaches and supported by available Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools. Such technologies are evolving and the private houses are becoming technological places populated by a multitude of devices able to collect a huge quantity of data and to cooperate in an intelligent way to control different domains, from household appliances to lighting or heating and ventilation. On one hand, the rising intelligence of smart devices makes a large amount of data available; on the other hand, data complexity creates difficulties in classifying, transmitting and interpreting essential data. Both aspects may drastically reduce the potential advantages and limit the diffusion smart devices. While in building automation proven solutions already exist, tailored applications for private houses and integration among heterogeneous devices and systems are still challenging due to the lack of standards and the variety of adopted communication protocols and data model schemas. Furthermore, even when the device connection and consolidation are achieved, making them cooperate in an interoperable way is another big challenge due to differences in usage paradigms, operation modes and interface integration. In fact, Smart Homes still lack of high interoperability and researches are often strongly technology-oriented and focused on single sub-system potentialities neglecting the expected benefits for the final users. For this purpose, the presented research defines an information management model for the smart home environment to support design and simulation of its devices as well as the enabled services. Such a model considers different device typologies, their mutual relationships, the information flows and the user interaction modalities in order to properly model the environment and define its behavior. It supports the design of the smart home by simulating the devices’ functionalities and estimating the expected performances.