Trails of experiences: Navigating personal memories

Systems to augment personal information aim to support people in remembering both past experiences and specific information associated with past experiences. These types of information go beyond those supported in systems for Personal Information Management, making it necessary to develop new user interface and interaction techniques. Our approach is based on characteristics of human memory. Its major contribution is the combination of a graph-based data model with navigation mechanisms based on various types of context and on associations

A multi-formalism approach for model-based dynamic distribution of user interfaces of critical interactive systems.

International audienceEvolution in the context of use requires evolutions in the user interfaces even when they are currently used by operators. User Centered Development promotes reactive answers to this kind of evolutions either by software evolutions through iterative development approaches or at runtime by providing additional information to the operators such as contextual help for instance. This paper proposes a model-based approach to support proactive management of context of use evolutions. By proactive management we mean mechanisms in place to plan and implement evolutions and adaptations of the entire user interface (including behaviour) in a generic way. The approach proposed handles both concentration and distribution of user interfaces requiring both fusion of information into a single UI or fission of information into several ones. This generic model-based approach is exemplified on a safety critical system from space domain. It presents how the new user interfaces can be generated at runtime to provide a new user interface gathering in a single place all the information required to perform the task. These user interfaces have to be generated at runtime as new procedures (i.e. sequences of operations to be executed in a semi-autonomous way) can be defined by operators at any time in order to react to adverse events and to keep the space system in operation. Such contextual, activity-related user interfaces complement the original user interfaces designed for operating the command and control system. The resulting user interface thus corresponds to a distribution of user interfaces in a focus+context way improving usability by increasing both efficiency and effectiveness

The Impact of User Interface Design on Idea Integration in Electronic Brainstorming: An Attention-Based View

This paper introduces an attention-based view of idea integration that underscores the importance of IS user interface design. The assumption is that presenting ideas via user interface plays a key role in enabling and motivating idea integration in electronic brainstorming (EBS), and thus advances productivity. Building upon Cognitive Network Model of Creativity and ability-motivation framework, our attention-based theory focuses on two major attributes of user interface: visibility and prioritization. While visibility enables idea integration via directing attention to a limited set of ideas, prioritization enhances the motivation for idea integration by providing individuals with a relevant and legitimate proxy for value of the shared ideas. The theory developed in this paper is distinct from previous research on EBS in at least two ways: (1) this theory exclusively focuses on idea integration as the desired outcome and studies it in the context of IS user interface; and (2) rather than debating whether or not EBS universally outperforms verbal brainstorming, the proposed theory revisits the links between user interface and idea integration as an attention-intensive process that contributes to EBS productivity. Idea integration by individuals within a group is an essential process for organizational creativity and thus for establishing knowledge-based capabilities. Lack of such integration significantly reduces the value of idea sharing, which has been a predominant focus of the EBS literature in the past. The current theory posits that the ability of electronic brain-storming to outperform nominal or verbal brainstorming depends on its ability to leverage information system (IS) artifact capabilities for enhancing idea integration to create a key pattern of productivity. The developed theory provides a foundation for new approaches to EBS research and design, which use visibility and prioritization, and also identify new user interface features for fostering idea integration. By emphasizing idea integration, designers and managers are provided with practical, cognition-based criteria for choosing interface features, which can improve EBS productivity. This theory also has implications for both the practice and research of knowledge management, especially for the attention-based view of the organization.

User interface design for mobile-based sexual health interventions for young people: Design recommendations from a qualitative study on an online Chlamydia clinical care pathway

Background: The increasing pervasiveness of mobile technologies has given potential to transform healthcare by facilitating clinical management using software applications. These technologies may provide valuable tools in sexual health care and potentially overcome existing practical and cultural barriers to routine testing for sexually transmitted infections. In order to inform the design of a mobile health application for STIs that supports self-testing and self-management by linking diagnosis with online care pathways, we aimed to identify the dimensions and range of preferences for user interface design features among young people. Methods: Nine focus group discussions were conducted (n=49) with two age-stratified samples (16 to 18 and 19 to 24 year olds) of young people from Further Education colleges and Higher Education establishments. Discussions explored young people's views with regard to: the software interface; the presentation of information; and the ordering of interaction steps. Discussions were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four over-arching themes emerged: privacy and security; credibility; user journey support; and the task-technology-context fit. From these themes, 20 user interface design recommendations for mobile health applications are proposed. For participants, although privacy was a major concern, security was not perceived as a major potential barrier as participants were generally unaware of potential security threats and inherently trusted new technology. Customisation also emerged as a key design preference to increase attractiveness and acceptability. Conclusions: Considerable effort should be focused on designing healthcare applications from the patient's perspective to maximise acceptability. The design recommendations proposed in this paper provide a valuable point of reference for the health design community to inform development of mobile-based health interventions for the diagnosis and treatment of a number of other conditions for this target group, while stimulating conversation across multidisciplinary communities

The Design of B2B System User Interface for Mobile Systems

AbstractMobility is playing an ever-increasing role in the life of contemporary business, providing the mobile workforce with a new level of communications freedom. The mobile revolution happening right now affects almost every manager or employee. Business people use mobile devices like smartphones and tablets as complementary services to their computers that are equipped with business applications as a new and productive user interface to their desktop management systems. Users need to access key data wherever they are, enabling them to act on information through simple, easy-to-use authorizations and acknowledgments, and to provide input and updates in real time from remote locations. In this context, the user interface on a mobile device must be easy to use and easily accessible. This is vital for the advanced management B2B systems, which meet the demands of modern business solutions.The main objective of this article is to present the design of B2B system user interface for mobile systems based on technological and technical design recommendations that were developed based on the results of a study made on B2B user interface modelling to work on mobile devices. The study was conducted as part of research and development works for the development of a modern and advanced B2B systems based on Internet technologies

Seamless Online Distribution of Amundsen Multibeam Data

Since 2003, all underway multibeam and sub-bottom data from the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen has been posted online within approximately six months of the end of each cruise. A custom interface allowing the user to access 15\u27 latitude by 30\u27 longitude mapsheets was implemented in 2006, allowing the user to download the bathymetric and backscatter data at 10 metre resolution. While this interface matched the underlying data management scheme implemented at the University of New Brunswick, the zoom and pan capability was at a fixed scale with limited contextual data. In the past few years, with the introduction of web-based geographic information systems (GIS) (e.g. Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps), there have been thousands of maps published online. These online GIS programs are a suitable platform to display the seven years of Amundsen coverage within the context of the GIS-served satellite imagery and allow the user to freely browse all data in a familiar interface. The challenge, however, for serving up third party data through these map engines is to efficiently cope with the multiple zoom levels and changing resolutions. Custom tiling software was developed to take all the raw data from the seven years of Amundsen (and others\u27) multibeam coverage and convert it into multiple scale resolution images suitable for interpretation by Google Maps. The images were stored in a pyramid structure utilizing Google\u27s map projection and uniquely named to reflect their georeferencing and resolution. This image pyramid is then accessed by Google Maps according to the user\u27s current zoom level to optimize visualization. This multi-resolution data is served up on demand from the University of New Brunswick for dynamic overlay on Google\u27s satellite data. This web interface allows any interested parties to easily view multibeam and sub-bottom data from the Pacific Ocean through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and into the Atlantic Ocean. The broad overview helps to understand regional trends and then focus on areas of interest at high resolutions to see particular features. The web interface also provides a link to the 15\u27 by 30\u27 mapsheet model with full source traceability

Highly focused document retrieval in aerospace engineering : user interaction design and evaluation

Purpose – This paper seeks to describe the preliminary studies (on both users and data), the design and evaluation of the K-Search system for searching legacy documents in aerospace engineering. Real-world reports of jet engine maintenance challenge the current indexing practice, while real users’ tasks require retrieving the information in the proper context. K-Search is currently in use in Rolls-Royce plc and has evolved to include other tools for knowledge capture and management. Design/methodology/approach – Semantic Web techniques have been used to automatically extract information from the reports while maintaining the original context, allowing a more focused retrieval than with more traditional techniques. The paper combines semantic search with classical information retrieval to increase search effectiveness. An innovative user interface has been designed to take advantage of this hybrid search technique. The interface is designed to allow a flexible and personal approach to searching legacy data. Findings – The user evaluation showed that the system is effective and well received by users. It also shows that different people look at the same data in different ways and make different use of the same system depending on their individual needs, influenced by their job profile and personal attitude. Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on a specific case of an enterprise working in aerospace engineering. Although the findings are likely to be shared with other engineering domains (e.g. mechanical, electronic), the study does not expand the evaluation to different settings. Originality/value – The study shows how real context of use can provide new and unexpected challenges to researchers and how effective solutions can then be adopted and used in organizations.</p

Mixing the reactive with the personal: Opportunities for end-user programming in personal information management

The transition of personal information management (PIM) tools off the desktop to the Web presents an opportunity to augment these tools with capabilities provided by the wealth of real-time information readily available. In this chapter, we describe a personal information assistance engine that lets end-users delegate to it various simple context- and activity-reactive tasks and reminders. Our system, Atomate, treats RSS/ATOM feeds from social networking and life-tracking sites as sensor streams, integrating information from such feeds into a simple unified RDF world model representing people, places and things and their time-varying states and activities. Combined with other information sources on the web, including the user's online calendar, web-based e-mail client, news feeds and messaging services, Atomate can be made to automatically carry out a variety of simple tasks for the user, ranging from context-aware filtering and messaging, to sharing and social coordination actions. Atomate's open architecture and world model easily accommodate new information sources and actions via the addition of feeds and web services. To make routine use of the system easy for non-programmers, Atomate provides a constrained-input natural language interface (CNLI) for behavior specification, and a direct-manipulation interface for inspecting and updating its world model

User Applications Driven by the Community Contribution Framework MPContribs in the Materials Project

This work discusses how the MPContribs framework in the Materials Project (MP) allows user-contributed data to be shown and analyzed alongside the core MP database. The Materials Project is a searchable database of electronic structure properties of over 65,000 bulk solid materials that is accessible through a web-based science-gateway. We describe the motivation for enabling user contributions to the materials data and present the framework's features and challenges in the context of two real applications. These use-cases illustrate how scientific collaborations can build applications with their own "user-contributed" data using MPContribs. The Nanoporous Materials Explorer application provides a unique search interface to a novel dataset of hundreds of thousands of materials, each with tables of user-contributed values related to material adsorption and density at varying temperature and pressure. The Unified Theoretical and Experimental x-ray Spectroscopy application discusses a full workflow for the association, dissemination and combined analyses of experimental data from the Advanced Light Source with MP's theoretical core data, using MPContribs tools for data formatting, management and exploration. The capabilities being developed for these collaborations are serving as the model for how new materials data can be incorporated into the Materials Project website with minimal staff overhead while giving powerful tools for data search and display to the user community.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of 10th Gateway Computing Environments Workshop (2015), to be published in "Concurrency in Computation: Practice and Experience