Evaluate children’s User eXperience with AttrakDiff method: USiena experience

The objective of this paper is to share the results of a pilot study conducted by the University of Siena in collaboration with the “Renato Fucini” Comprehensive Institute. The aim has been to evaluate the User eXperience of 96 children using two different educational formats, the Frontal Teaching and the Multimedia Teaching. Six between subjects experiments have been carried out. At the end of each experiment a multiple-choice questionnaire (learning level evaluation) and the AttrakDiff questionnaire (UX evaluation) have been used. On the values obtained from multiple-choice questionnaire the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test has been applied. The study results highlighted two aspects: the learning level of Multimedia Teaching format has been slightly better than Frontal Teaching format, the UX related to Multimedia Teaching format has been basically similar for all children while the own teacher presence has influenced the Frontal Teaching format UX

iPhone App: Lecturer's Room Finder, UUM-CAS

The Information Technology building at the College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia has a complex design. The numbering of the lecturers’ rooms is very confusing and finding the required room is very difficult and taking a long time not just for students but also for lecturers. The purpose of this study is to develop a mobile indoor navigation prototype for lecturers’ room search based on iPhone. This report discusses about indoor navigation and the development of the prototype based on iPhone. This study utilized the research methodology in Information System (IS) which was adapted from Vaishnavi and Kuechler (2004). The use of mobile indoor navigation prototype could help students to find the required room faster while saving energy and increasing productivity. The mobile indoor navigation prototype was developed using web tools such as PHP, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and SQLite as database. The prototype can be used as an alternative way in finding lecturers’ room at IT building. The results from the evaluation indicated that mobile indoor navigation application for searching lecturers' room at IT building, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia based on iPhone devices has achieved all the objectives. The users agreed in terms of Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use towards the use of the prototype

Menettelyprosessi käytettävyys‐ ja loppukäyttäjänäkökulman integroimiseksi tietojärjestelmähankintaan: Tapaus Apotti

Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon tietojärjestelmähankinnoissa käytettävyys- ja loppukäyttäjänäkökulmaa ei ole juurikaan huomioitu. Näiden yhdistämistä hankintaprosessiin on ajateltu jopa mahdottomaksi. Tässä artikkelissa kuvataan menettelyprosessi näiden näkökulmien integroimiseksi tietojärjestelmähankintaan. Kuvattava menettelyprosessi on kehitetty osana Apotti-hanketta, jossa hankinnan kohteena on sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon yhteinen tietojärjestelmä.Menettelyprosessi sisältää viisi kokonaisuutta: (1) käytettävyystavoitteiden määrittely, (2) toiminnallisten vaatimusten ja käyttäjätarinoiden tuottaminen, (3) käytettävyysarvioinnin suunnittelu tuotevertailun tarpeisiin, (4) käytettävyysarvioinnin toteutus osana tuotevertailua, sekä (5) käytettävyyteen liittyvien vaatimusten määrittely. Menettelyprosessin kehittäminen pohjautui käyttäjäkeskeisen suunnittelun tutkimuskirjallisuuteen sekä vahvaan käytettävyysasiantuntemukseen ja terveydenhuollon tietojärjestelmäosaamiseen.Apotti-hankkeesta saatujen kokemusten perusteella kuvatun menettelyprosessin toteuttaminen vaatii tiivistä yhteistyötä käytettävyysasiantuntijoiden ja tietojärjestelmien kehittämiseen suuntautuneiden substanssiasiantuntijoiden kesken, sekä motivoituneiden loppukäyttäjien osallistumista

Messenger Visual, a pictogram-based instant messaging service for individuals with cognitive disability

Along history disabled individuals have suffered from social exclusion due to the limitations posed by their condition. For instance, deaf people are not able to watch television programs because of their sensory limitation. Despite this situation has improved thanks to the efforts in adapting the different services —today the majority of television programs offer subtitles or simultaneous translation to sign language—, the arrival of the Internet, as well as the rest of the information and communication technologies, poses new risks to the inclusion of disabled individuals. Taking into account the present digital exclusion situation of disabled individuals this project presents Messenger Visual, an Instant Messaging service based on pictograms for individuals with cognitive disability. Messenger Visual is composed of two different parts. On the one hand, the Instant Messaging service has been designed considering the requirements of communication based on pictograms. On the other hand, the Instant Messaging client has been designed taking into account the user interface usability requirements of individuals with cognitive disability. Finally, the project presents the methodology that we have used to evaluate Messenger Visual with a group of individuals with cognitive disability, as well as the results we have obtained. The evaluation process has lasted for six months and one-hour fortnightly sessions have been held with two groups of individuals from Fundació El Maresme with different cognitive disability profiles. These sessions have allowed us to gain better understanding of the user interface accessibility requirements, as well as to know how individuals with cognitive disability communicate using pictograms

Wattsup? Motivating reductions in domestic energy consumption using social networks

This paper reports on the design, deployment and evaluation of “Wattsup”, an innovative application which displays live autonomously logged data from the Wattson energy monitor, allowing users to compare domestic energy consumption on Facebook. Discussions and sketches from a workshop with Facebook users were used to develop a final design implemented using the Facebook API. Wattson energy monitors and the Wattsup app were deployed and trialled in eight homes over an eighteen day period in two conditions. In the first condition participants could only access their personal energy data, whilst in the second they could access each others’ data to make comparisons. A significant reduction in energy was observed in the socially enabled condition. Comments on discussion boards and semi-structured interviews with the participants indicated that the element of competition helped motivate energy savings. The paper argues that socially-mediated banter and competition made for a more enjoyable user experience

On Computational Notebooks to Empower Physical Computing Novices

The ever-increasing availability and variety of resources to create physical computing systems keep attracting electronics hobbyists and do-it-yourself enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the prototyping and development of these systems are still challenging to the novices. In this paper, we propose a tool (built on top of the Jupyter computational notebook) as a way for supporting step-by-step assisted learning and knowledge sharing. We extended the Jupyter notebook functionalities and implemented a custom-tailored kernel to seamlessly enable the interaction between the end-user web interface and the Arduino boards. We consider that this approach can effectively support physical computing novices in understanding, writing, and executing the code while empowering them to document and share the development steps they followed

General characteristics of anticipated user experience (AUX) with interactive products

Providing a positive user experience (UX) has become the key differentiator for products to win a competition in mature markets. To ensure that a product will support enjoyable experiences for its users, assessment of UX should be conducted early during the design and development process. However, most UX frameworks and evaluation techniques focus on understanding and assessing user’s experience with functional prototypes or existing products. This situation delays UX assessment until the late phases of product development which may result in costly design modifications and less desirable products. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate anticipated user experience (AUX) to address this issue. Twenty pairs of participants were asked to imagine an interactive product, draw their product concept, and anticipate their interactions and experiences with it. The data was analyzed to identify general characteristics of AUX. We found that while positive AUX was mostly related to an imagined/desired product, negative AUX was mainly associated with existing products. It was evident that the pragmatic quality of product was fundamental, and significantly influenced user’s anticipated experiences. Furthermore, the hedonic quality of product received more focus in positive than negative AUX. The results also showed that context, user profile, experiential knowledge, and anticipated emotion could be reflected in AUX. The understanding of AUX will help product designers to better foresee the users’ underlying needs and to focus on the most important aspects of their positive experiences, which in turn facilitates the designers to ensure pleasurable UX from the start of the design process

Proceedings of Therapeutic Strategies A Challenge for User Involvement in Design Workshop in conjunction with NORDICHI 2010 17. October 2010, Reykjavik, Iceland

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‘Making’ as a Catalyst for Engaging Young Female Adolescents in STEM Learning

STEM enrichment programs have demonstrated positive impacts on young female adolescents’ interest and aptitude in STEM, personal/social-psychological well-being, and educational aspirations. Introducing STEM knowledge and skills in an environment of ‘making,’ that is, in a setting of hands-on activities, may further enhance adolescent girls’ engagement in STEM learning. The maker movement, defined as the convergence of technology and traditional artistry, has generated interest among educators for its potential to nurture STEM learning, including its capacity to engage diverse populations of youths in the making of creative objects through experimentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (i.e., STEM-based making). STEM-based making is a way to support young girls, who often approach making from an esthetic or personal expression perspective, to more fully integrate systems and technologies that advance critical thinking, innovative prototyping, and problem-solving into the making process. Insights are presented as to how STEM-based making designed for young female adolescents—a group that has traditionally had limited access to extracurricular STEM experiences as well as to makerspaces—may foster greater access to, and equity in, STEM learning. The role of universities in facilitating access to and equity in STEM-based making also is addressed