150 research outputs found

    The CSCW paradigm for software development

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    People work together to solve a wide variety of problems using different forms of cooperation for each class of problem. Modern technology is complex, and therefore it is unusual for an individual to attempt the development of a major project single-handedly. In an attempt to provide computer-based support for the problems that arise when two or more people attempt to cooperate to perform a task or solve a problem, the area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) becomes relevant. The software development process almost invariably involves cooperation that crosses group, professional, and subcultural boundaries. The complexity of software development demands that highly integrated groups of analysts, designers, and users are involved in the process. Many development activities may occur concurrently. The area of CSCW and advanced information technology, with its enormous capabilities for transmitting and storing information, holds considerable promise for the software development process.ComputingM. Sc. (Information Systems

    An analysis framework for CSCW systems

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    Software toolkits are under development to help construct applications that support group-working. Toolkit developers adopt different approaches to group-work support in order to tackle different issues and a toolkit is commonly characterised by the approach adopted. It is difficult to compare toolkits because of this lack of apparent commonality and it is difficult to decide which toolkits meet specific application requirements. [Continues.

    Evaluating groupware usability at the cognitive level of human action

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    Tese de doutoramento, InformĂĄtica (Engenharia InformĂĄtica), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiĂȘncias, 2010This dissertation explores the importance of the cognitive level of human action in the evaluation and improvement of groupware usability. This research is motivated by the problem that current methods focus on the rational and social levels of human action and yet an increasing number of users relies on computers to fulfil collaborative tasks dominated by perceptual, cognitive, and motor skill. The first contribution of this research is a groupware interface model that leverages existing knowledge on cognitive-level behaviour with single-user interfaces by expanding its application to multi-user interfaces. To do this, I show that the key differences between users interacting with the computer and interacting with other users through the computer can be supported by specialised groupware information flows and input/output devices. The second contribution of this dissertation is a pair of methods for predicting groupware usability at the cognitive level of human action. The first method applies to scenarios of collaboration occurring routinely in shared workspaces. The second aims at capturing the intertwined nature of mixed-focus collaboration, encompassing shared and private workspaces. I use the methods to evaluate and compare the usability of competing designs in four scenarios of collaboration. The methods do not require user testing or functioning prototypes, so they can be integrated into the iterative process of interactive systems design. The third contribution of this research is the evaluation of an attentive electronic brainstorming tool, which implements a novel attentive device that adjusts the delivery of group awareness information according to users’ natural task switching between doing individual work and attending to the group. I present results from a laboratory experiment, which indicate that groups produced 9.6% more ideas when compared to the immediate broadcast of ideas and provide evidence suggesting that the usability improvement was due to the mitigation of information overload.Esta dissertação explora a importĂąncia do nĂ­vel cognitivo da actividade humana, no qual as tarefas demoram segundos a realizar e sĂŁo tipicamente repetitivas, na avaliação e melhoria da usabilidade de sistemas de trabalho cooperativo suportado por computador, tambĂ©m designados por groupware. Estes sistemas de computadores permitem que grupos de interesse, como amigos e colegas, possam partilhar e organizar actividades de forma flexĂ­vel e econĂłmica, onde o tempo e a distĂąncia deixam de ser obstĂĄculos Ă  colaboração. Alguns exemplos de groupware incluem os mensageiros instantĂąneos, usados por centenas de milhĂ”es de pessoas no mundo inteiro, os jogos multi-utilizador, que jĂĄ atingiram cerca de dezasseis milhĂ”es de jogadores, bem como uma gama cada vez mais alargada de aplicaçÔes de escritĂłrio que estĂŁo a ser disponibilizadas na Internet. Com base nesta evidĂȘncia, uma assumpção desta dissertação Ă© que os sistemas de groupware estĂŁo a ficar cada vez mais ubĂ­quos. O problema abordado nesta investigação Ă© que os mĂ©todos actuais de avaliação da usabilidade de groupware omitem o nĂ­vel cognitivo da actividade humana, e, no entanto, as nossas caracterĂ­sticas psicolĂłgicas, como a percepção, cognição, e capacidade motora, dominam a execução de tarefas de colaboração rĂĄpidas, mas normalmente muito repetitivas. Uma consequĂȘncia desta situação Ă© que faltam instrumentos aos designers e investigadores de groupware que lhes permitam fazer optimizaçÔes de usabilidade de granularidade fina. Isto acontece porque os mĂ©todos actuais de avaliação da usabilidade visam tarefas colaborativas de relativa longa duração (que demoram minutos, horas, ou mais, a completar) e, portanto, baseiam-se em abstracçÔes para conter o grau de complexidade da avaliação. Desta forma, as optimizaçÔes tendem a abranger vĂĄrios passos de colaboração de granularidade fina de uma sĂł vez, o que causa problemas porque a usabilidade de sistemas de groupware, como na maioria dos sistemas computacionais, estĂĄ inerentemente ligada aos detalhes da interface com o utilizador. Estas optimizaçÔes, mesmo que de pequena expressĂŁo individual, podem acarretar um efeito multiplicador significativo dado o crescente nĂșmero de utilizadores de groupware, especialmente na Internet. Outra consequĂȘncia do nĂ­vel cognitivo da acção humana ser negligenciado das avaliaçÔes de usabilidade de groupware Ă© que o design da interface com o utilizador pode estar indevidamente alinhado com as caracterĂ­sticas psicolĂłgicas humanas, o que pode fazer com que as tarefas colaborativas exijam uma carga de trabalho que excede as nossas capacidades limitadas de processamento de informação. AliĂĄs, os utilizadores que realizam trabalho em grupo estĂŁo particularmente expostos a uma sobrecarga de informação porque tĂȘm de acompanhar o que se passa no grupo para alĂ©m de realizarem trabalho individual, isto Ă©, tĂȘm de dividir a atenção entre mĂșltiplos fluxos de informação. Esta carga de trabalho pode penalizar a usabilidade dos sistemas de groupware devido ao aumento da probabilidade dos utilizadores nĂŁo serem capazes de colaborar adequadamente. Dada esta situação, a minha questĂŁo de investigação Ă©: como fazer avaliaçÔes ao nĂ­vel cognitivo da actividade humana para melhorar a usabilidade de tarefas colaborativas realizadas atravĂ©s de sistemas de groupware? As avaliaçÔes de usabilidade ao nĂ­vel cognitivo sĂŁo bastante conhecidas no contexto das aplicaçÔes mono-utilizador, ao ponto de um conjunto de conhecimentos da psicologia aplicada ter sido reunido em modelos de engenharia de desempenho humano que predizem tempos de execução numa gama variada de tarefas de interacção pessoa-mĂĄquina. Estes modelos foram jĂĄ, inclusivamente, aplicados no contexto de trabalho de grupo, mas sempre com a limitação de os utilizadores estarem restringidos a papĂ©is individualistas e de a colaboração ficar de fora dos limites do sistema ou entĂŁo ser abstraĂ­da. Em contraste, nesta dissertação estou interessado em avaliar as tarefas de colaboração realizadas atravĂ©s do sistema de groupware. A primeira contribuição desta investigação Ă© um modelo da interface do groupware, o qual alavanca o conhecimento existente sobre o comportamento humano com interfaces mono-utilizador, baseado em modelos de engenharia que predizem o desempenho humano, atravĂ©s da expansĂŁo da sua aplicação a interfaces multi-utilizador. Para fazer isto mostro que as diferenças fundamentais entre os utilizadores interagirem com o computador (para trabalharem individualmente) e interagirem com outros utilizadores atravĂ©s do computador (para colaborar) podem ser suportadas por fluxos de informação e dispositivos de input/output especializados. Este modelo tem como propĂłsito ajudar o designer a organizar o espaço de soluçÔes numa gama alargada de sistemas de groupware. A segunda contribuição desta dissertação Ă© um par de mĂ©todos para avaliar a usabilidade de sistemas de groupware ao nĂ­vel cognitivo da actividade humana. O primeiro mĂ©todo Ă© aplicĂĄvel a cenĂĄrios crĂ­ticos de colaboração que ocorram rotineiramente em espaços de trabalho partilhados e define usabilidade em termos do tempo necessĂĄrio para executar tarefas colaborativas, tal como estimado pelos modelos de engenharia de desempenho humano. Na dissertação aplico este mĂ©todo para avaliar e comparar a usabilidade de alternativas de design em trĂȘs casos de colaboração em espaços partilhados. O segundo mĂ©todo visa capturar a natureza complexa e entrecruzada da colaboração que abrange tanto espaços partilhados como privados, bem como capturar os objectivos frequentemente conflituosos dos utilizadores enquanto estĂŁo a trabalhar individualmente ou quando estĂŁo a interagir com o grupo. Para fazer isto, combino estimativas de tempos de execução de tarefas com contribuiçÔes dessas tarefas para a progressĂŁo do grupo em direcção a um objectivo comum, em termos de produtividade individual, oportunidades criadas para os outros, e restriçÔes para o trabalho de outros utilizadores. Na dissertação aplico este mĂ©todo a um jogo colaborativo, e mostro que, se para alguma outra coisa mais, este mĂ©todo serve para forçar o designer de groupware a pensar sobre as contrapartidas entre uma interface que permite aos utilizadores enquanto indivĂ­duos serem mais produtivos e outra que permite um melhor desempenho do grupo enquanto um todo. Os dois mĂ©todos de avaliação nĂŁo requerem testes com utilizadores ou a construção de protĂłtipos de groupware para produzirem resultados de usabilidade, o que atesta a sua natureza formativa, e permite a sua integração no processo iterativo de design de sistemas interactivos. A terceira contribuição desta investigação Ă© a avaliação da usabilidade de um sistema de groupware atentivo, que implementa um novo dispositivo de gestĂŁo da atenção humana, chamado opportunity seeker , o qual tem como propĂłsito mitigar a sobrecarga de informação em cenĂĄrios de colaboração sĂ­ncrona, isto Ă©, em que todos os elementos do grupo estĂŁo a trabalhar em simultĂąneo. O opportunity seeker intercepta e guarda numa memĂłria tampĂŁo a informação de estado sobre o grupo e ajusta automaticamente a entrega dessa informação a cada utilizador em função da alternĂąncia natural entre este estar a realizar trabalho individual e estar a prestar atenção ao grupo. Na dissertação mostro como este dispositivo pode ser adaptado e instalado numa ferramenta electrĂłnica para geração de ideias, chamada ABTool, e como a fronteira entre os dois estados de atenção pode ser detectada atravĂ©s de actividade no teclado. Para avaliar os efeitos do opportunity seeker na usabilidade da ferramenta ABTool, realizei uma experiĂȘncia de laboratĂłrio em que pedi a grupos de voluntĂĄrios para submeterem ideias em paralelo o mais rapidamente possĂ­vel, e recolhi evidĂȘncia de que quando os grupos estiveram sob a influĂȘncia do opportunity seeker o nĂșmero de ideias geradas aumentou em 9.6% em comparação com a condição em que todas as ideias eram imediatamente difundidas por todos os utilizadores. Adicionalmente, levei a cabo uma anĂĄlise post-hoc que mostra que o opportunity seeker reduziu o nĂșmero de entregas de ideias em 44.1%, pois combinou as ideias em pequenos lotes, e que isso se traduziu em 54.7% mais tempo para os utilizadores escreverem ideias sem serem interrompidos pela recepção de ideias de outros utilizadores. Nestas condiçÔes, os utilizadores foram 18.8% mais rĂĄpidos a alternar entre a escrita de uma ideia, o que fizeram em 16.3% menos tempo, e ler novas ideias de outros utilizadores. Estes resultados evidenciam que o opportunity seeker criou condiçÔes para mitigar a sobrecarga de informação e mostram que a usabilidade de sistemas de groupware pode ser melhorada atravĂ©s de avaliaçÔes focadas nas limitaçÔes da capacidade de processamento de informação humana. Com este conjunto de contribuiçÔes, mostrei que o nĂ­vel cognitivo da actividade humana tem um papel determinante na avaliação da usabilidade de sistemas de groupware, complementando os nĂ­veis racional e social que tĂȘm sido tradicionalmente considerados por outros mĂ©todos de avaliação.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(Fundação para a CiĂȘncia e Tecnologia), through project PTDC/EIA/67589/2006 and the Multiannual Funding Programme

    COMPUTER MEDIATED COLLABORATIVE DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE: THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS ON COLLABORATIVE DESIGN COMMUNIATION

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    Up till now, architects collaborating with other colleagues did so mostly face-to-face (FTF). They had to be in the same space (co-located) at the same time. Communi-cation was ‘spontaneous’ and ideas were represented, whether verbal or non-verbal, by talking and using ‘traditional drawing tools’. If they were geographically displaced, the interaction was then space affected as well as the probability of being time affected. In this case communication was usually mediated through the tele-phone, and graphically represented ideas were sent by Fax or posted documents. Recently, some architectural firms started using modems and Internet connections to exchange information, by transferring CAD drawings as well as design informa-tion, through e-mail and file transfer protocol (FTP). Discussing ideas in architecture, as a more abstract notion, is different from discuss-ing other more concrete arguments using video conferencing. It is more important to ‘see’ what is being discussed at hand than ‘watch’ the other person(s) involved in the discussion. In other words the data being conveyed might be of more impor-tance than the mode of communication. Taking into consideration recent developments in computer and communication technologies this thesis investigates different communication channels utilised in architectural collaboration through Computer Mediated Collaborative Design (CMCD) sessions as opposed to FTF sessions. This thesis investigates the possi-ble effects these different channels have on collaborative design in general and col-laborative design communication in particular. We argue that successful CMCD does not necessarily mean emulating close prox-imity environments. Excluding certain communication channels in a CMCD envi-ronment might affect the flow and quantity of synchronous collaborative communica-tion, but not necessarily the quality and content of mutually communicated and rep-resented design ideas. Therefore different communication channels might affect the type of communication and not necessarily the content of the communication. We propose that audio and video are not essential communication channels in CMCD environments. We posit that architects will collaborate and communicate design representations effectively although with some differences, since those two chan-nels might cause interruptions and successful collaborative sessions can take place without them. For this purpose we conducted twenty-four one-hour experiments involving final year architecture students all working to the same design brief. The experiments were divided into three categories, FTF, full computer mediated collaborative design sessions (CMCD-a; audio-video conferencing plus whiteboard as a shared drawing space) and limited computer mediated collaborative design sessions (CMCD-b; with Lambda MOO used as a chat medium plus whiteboard as a shared drawing space). The experiments were video and audio taped, transcribed and coded into a custom developed coding scheme. The results of the analysed coded data and observations of the videotapes provided evidence that there were noticeable differences between the three categories. There was more design communication and less communication control in the CMCD-b category compared to the FTF and CMCD-a categories. Verbal communi-cation became shorter and straight to the point in CMCD-b as opposed to spontane-ous non-stop chat in the other two categories. Moreover in CMCD-b the subjects were observed to be more reflective as well as choosing and re-examining their words to explain ideas to their partners. At times they were seen scrolling back through the text of the conversation in order to re-analyse or interpret the design ideas at hand. This was impossible in FTF and CMCD-a sessions, since the sub-jects were more spontaneous and audio representations were lost as soon as they were uttered. Also the video channel in the CMCD-a category was ignored and hardly used except for the first few minutes of the experiments, for a brief exchange of light humour on the appearance of each subject. The results obtained from analysing the experiments helped us conclude that differ-ent communication channels produce different collaborative environments. The three categories of communication for architectural collaboration explored in our ex-periments are indicative of the alternatives available to architects now. What is not clear to architects is why they would choose one category over another. We pro-pose that each category has its own strengths and difficulties for architectural col-laboration, and therefore should be selected on the basis of the type of communica-tion considered to be most effective for the stage and tasks of the design project

    SID 04, Social Intelligence Design:Proceedings Third Workshop on Social Intelligence Design

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    Artful Systems: Investigating everyday practices of family life to inform the design of information technology for the home

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    This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The research in this thesis was motivated by an interest in understanding the work and effort that goes into organising family homes, with the aim of informing the design of novel information technology for the home. It was undertaken to address a notable absence of in-depth research into domestic information and communication technology in the fields of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). To that end, this thesis presents an ethnographic study of everyday routines in thirteen family homes. Following an established tradition within HCI and CSCW, the study applies qualitative fieldwork methods as a means to investigate and interpret the empirical materials. Periods of extended observation and semi-structured interviews with the thirteen families over a three-year period form the basis of the empirical material. The materials are analysed using a hybrid perspective composed of a combination of influences from the study of material culture, to interaction analysis and ethnography. The hybrid analytical perspective draws out insights regarding the families’ mundane practices and the artfully devised solutions they use to organise daily life. Four household activities and artefacts are given specific focus: (i) household list making, (ii) the display qualities of refrigerator doors, (iii) the organisation of household clutter, and (iv) the devising of bespoke solutions in organising home life. Broader findings include the observations that people tailor solutions to meet their needs, that optimum efficiency is not the pre-eminent determinant in what method or artefact people choose to organise themselves and their homes, and that homes determine their individual characters in part by how everyday tasks and organisation are accomplished. In short, the personal qualities of these mundane practices are part of what makes a home a home. These findings are used to elicit implications for information technology design, with the aim of encouraging designers of domestic technology to be aware of and respectful towards the idiosyncratic nature of the home, and, wherever possible, to design in such a way as to allow the technology to be appropriated for families’ bespoke tailoring. To evaluate and address this point, two design projects, one on augmented magnets and another on a “media bowl”, are used to develop and test out this approach. Both projects are critically examined to reflect on the efficacy of the design approach and what lessons might be learnt for future studies and design exercises. The combination of detailed ethnographic fieldwork on family homes combined with the development of experimental design projects is intended to deepen the understanding of the mundane behaviours and everyday routines of family homes, in order to better inform the design of information technology for the home

    A virtual-community-centric model for coordination in the South African public sector

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    Organizations face challenges constantly owing to limited resources. As such, to take advantage of new opportunities and to mitigate possible risks they look for new ways to collaborate, by sharing knowledge and competencies. Coordination among partners is critical in order to achieve success. The segmented South African public sector is no different. Driven by the desire to ensure proper service delivery in this sector, various government bodies and service providers play different roles towards the attainment of common goals. This is easier said than done, given the complexity of the distributed nature of the environment. Heterogeneity, autonomy, and the increasing need to collaborate provoke the need to develop an integrative and dynamic coordination support service system in the SA public sector. Thus, the research looks to theories/concepts and existing coordination practices to ground the process of development. To inform the design of the proposed artefact the research employs an interdisciplinary approach championed by coordination theory to review coordination-related theories and concepts. The effort accounts for coordination constructs that characterize and transform the problem and solution spaces. Thus, requirements are explicit towards identifying coordination breakdowns and their resolution. Furthermore, how coordination in a distributed environment is supported in practice is considered from a socio-technical perspective in an effort to account holistically for coordination support. Examining existing solutions identified shortcomings that, if addressed, can help to improve the solutions for coordination, which are often rigidly and narrowly defined. The research argues that introducing a mediating technological artefact conceived from a virtual community and service lenses can serve as a solution to the problem. By adopting a design-science research paradigm, the research develops a model as a primary artefact to support coordination from a collaboration standpoint. The suggestions from theory and practice and the unique case requirement identified through a novel case analysis framework form the basis of the model design. The proposed model support operation calls for an architecture which employs a design pattern that divides a complex whole into smaller, simpler parts, with the aim of reducing the system complexity. Four fundamental functions of the supporting architecture are introduced and discussed as they would support the operation and activities of the proposed collaboration lifecycle model geared towards streamlining coordination in a distributed environment. As part of the model development knowledge contributions are made in several ways. Firstly, an analytical instrument is presented that can be used by an enterprise architect or business analyst to study the coordination status quo of a collaborative activity in a distributed environment. Secondly, a lifecycle model is presented as meta-process model with activities that are geared towards streamlining the coordination of dynamic collaborative activities or projects. Thirdly, an architecture that will enable the technical virtual community-centric, context-aware environment that hosts the process-based operations is offered. Finally, the validation tool that represents the applied contribution to the research that promises possible adaptation for similar circumstances is presented. The artefacts contribute towards a design theory in IS research for the development and improvement of coordination support services in a distributed environment such as the South African public sector

    An interaction abstraction toolkit for public display applications

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    Tese de doutoramento em Tecnologias e Sistemas de InformaçãoPublic digital displays have become increasingly ubiquitous in our technological landscape. Considering their flexibility and communication potential, public displays can become an important communication channel and even reach the attention, usage, and relevance that smartphones have today. Interaction with public displays is recognised as a key element in making them more engaging and valuable, but most public display systems still do not support any interactive feature. A key reason behind this apparent paradox is the lack of efficient and clear abstractions for incorporating interactivity into public display applications. While interaction can be achieved for a specific display system with a particular interaction modality, the lack of proper interaction abstractions means that there is too much specific work that needs to be done outside the core application functionality to support even basic forms of interaction. In this work, we investigate and develop interaction abstractions for public displays. We start by analysing public displays from the point of view of the information that results from the various interactions and that can be used to drive several types of content adaptation behaviour on public displays. We call this information digital footprints, and the result is a framework that maps digital footprints to adaptation strategies and to interaction mechanisms. This framework can be used by display designers to help them choose the interaction mechanisms that a display should support in order to be able to collect a given set of footprints, creating more relevant displays that are able to automatically adapt to their environment. We then identify and characterise interaction tasks and controls that are appropriate for public display interaction. This analysis results in a design space that can form the foundation of interaction toolkits, giving system developers with a reference for the types of high-level tasks and controls that can be incorporated into a toolkit. Finally, we design, implement, and evaluate a software toolkit of interaction abstractions for public display applications – the PuReWidgets toolkit. Programmers can use this toolkit to easily incorporate interactive features into their web-based public display applications. PuReWidgets provides high-level abstractions that shield programmers from the low-level details of the interaction mechanisms. We evaluate this toolkit along various dimensions. First, we evaluate the system’s performance. We then evaluate the API’s flexibility and capabilities using our own experience in developing interactive applications with it. We also evaluate the API’s usability from the perspective of independent programmers. Finally, we provide an evaluation of the resulting system’s usability from the perspective of an end-user interacting with a real-world deployment of a public display. The evaluation results indicate that PuReWidgets is an efficient, usable, and flexible toolkit for web-based interactive public display applications. By making this toolkit publicly available, we hope to promote the development of more and newer kinds of interactive public display applications inside and, more importantly, outside the research community.Os ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos digitais estĂŁo cada vez mais presentes na nossa paisagem tecnolĂłgica. Considerando a sua flexibilidade e capacidade de ligação em rede, os ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos tĂȘm o potencial para se tornarem num importante canal de comunicação e talvez atĂ© atingir a atenção, utilização e relevĂąncia que os smartphones tĂȘm hoje em dia. A interactividade dos ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos ÂŽe reconhecida como um elemento chave para os tornar mais atractivos e valiosos, mas a maioria dos sistemas de ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos actuais ainda nĂŁo suporta nenhuma forma de interação. Uma razĂŁo por detrĂĄs deste aparente paradoxo Ă© a falta de abstraçÔes claras e eficientes para incorporar interactividade nas aplicaçÔes para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. Apesar de a interação poder ser conseguida para sistemas especĂ­ficos, com uma modalidade de interação especĂ­fica, a falta de abstraçÔes de interação apropriadas significa que ÂŽe necessĂĄrio demasiado trabalho especĂ­fico fora das funcionalidades nucleares da aplicação para suportar ate as formas mais bĂĄsicas de interação. Neste trabalho, investigamos e desenvolvemos abstraçÔes de interação para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. Começamos por analisar os ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos do ponto de vista da informação que resulta das interaçÔes e de que forma pode ser utilizada em procedimentos de adaptação de conteĂșdo para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. Chamamos a esta informação digital footprints, e o resultado Ă© uma estrutura conceptual que mapeia as digital footprints em estratĂ©gias de adaptação e em mecanismos de interação. Esta estrutura pode ser utilizada por designers de ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos para ajudar a escolher os mecanismos de interação que um determinado ecrĂŁ deve suportar de forma a poder recolher um determinado conjunto de digital footprints, criando assim ecrĂŁs com conteĂșdos mais relevantes e que sĂŁo capazes de se adaptar ao seu ambiente social. De seguida, identificamos e caracterizamos tarefas de interação e controlos apropriados para interação com ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. Esta anĂĄlise resulta num espaço de desenho que pode servir de base para toolkits de interação, dando uma referĂȘncia aos designers do sistema para os tipos de controlos que podem ser incorporados no toolkit. Finalmente, projectamos, implementamos e avaliamos um toolkit de abstraçÔes de interação para aplicaçÔes para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos – o toolkit PuReWidgets. Os programadores podem utilizar este toolkit para incorporar facilmente funcionalidades interactivas nas suas aplicaçÔes, baseadas na web, para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. O PuReWidgets fornece abstraçÔes de alto nĂ­vel que protegem os programadores dos detalhes de baixo nĂ­vel associados aos mecanismos de interação. O toolkit Ă© avaliado segundo vĂĄrias dimensĂ”es. Primeiro, avaliamos o desempenho do sistema. De seguida, avaliamos a flexibilidade e capacidades da API, usando a nossa prĂłpria experiencia no desenvolvimento de aplicaçÔes interactivas. Avaliamos tambĂ©m a usabilidade da API da perspectiva de programadores independentes. Finalmente, avaliamos o toolkit da perspectiva dos utilizadores que interagem com um ecrĂŁ pĂșblico num ambiente real. Os resultados da avaliação indicam que o PuReWidgets Ă© um toolkit eficiente, flexĂ­vel e usĂĄvel para aplicaçÔes interactivas para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos. Ao tornar este toolkit disponĂ­vel publicamente, esperamos promover o desenvolvimento de mais aplicaçÔes interactivas para ecrĂŁs pĂșblicos dentro e, mais importante, fora da comunidade de investigação.This research was supported by the Fundažc˜ao para a Ciˆencia e Tecnologia (FCT) PhD training grant SFRH/BD/47354/2008. This research has also received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 244011 (PD-Net)
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