Effect of Icon Styles on Cognitive Absorption and Behavioral Intention of Low Literate Users

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being considered as one of the most potential medium for bringing more efficient and sustainable solution for many problems faced by different communities belong to the middle of economic pyramid of developing countries. Mobile phone based applications can offer many potential solutions for such problems. Existing solutions which are quite successful at the top of the pyramid user population often prove itself ineffective at the middle of the pyramid naïve low-literate users. In this context interface designers also face considerable challenges due to lack of consolidate icon design methodology which can be adapted for the target user sections. Therefore we propose an empirical study to address the requirement of concrete icon design methodology. Grounded in ‘Cognitive Absorption’ and ‘Theory of Metaphor’ we propose a concrete design guidelines specifically for designing icons to ensure instant learning, usage and adaptation of the system for daily usage. A mobile pest management system is developed to bring the real context on which design methodologies and the role of cognitive absorption and metaphor can be examined to identify the most appropriate one. Our preliminary study suggests a comprehensive icon design methodology and its effect on cognitive absorption as well as behavioral intention for low literate novice users

Visual-Related Factors in Mobile Iconic Communication

The purpose of this exploratory, sequential, mixed methods design research was to explore current design trends and patterns in mobile application icons by analyzing existing icon elements and principles of design. The process of data collection and data analyses went through three main phases: (a) identify current characteristics and pattern design of existing icons, (b) compare mobile icons across selected application categories to underline how each category was different from the other regarding elements and principles of design used, and (c) explore users’ perceptions about the elements and principles of design and account for how these elements and principles influenced the mobile application user’s interaction. The results of the three phases concluded that in mobile iconic communication, the most impactful elements of design were color and graphics. It was also concluded that the icon’s visual design had a significant impact on mobile usability, interaction, and communication whereby mobile developers were encouraged to design attractive, appealing and easy to recognize icons. The outcomes of this study emphasized the importance of graphic visual-design as a visual representative of the content and category of the application. Further studies are needed to explore the impact of other senses involved in mobile communication

IMPROVING REVISITATION IN LONG DOCUMENTS WITH TWO-LEVEL ARTIFICIAL-LANDMARK SCROLLBARS

Revisitation – returning to previously-visited locations in a document – is commonly done in the digital world. While linear navigation controls provide a spatial representation of the document and allow effective navigation in short documents, they are not effective in long documents, particularly for revisitation. Bookmarks, search and history dialogs, and “read wear” (visual marks left as the user interacts with the document) can all assist revisitation; however, for long documents all of these tools are limited in terms of effort, clutter, and interpretability. Inspired by visual cues such as coloured edges and “thumb indents” in hardcopy books, recent work has proposed artificial landmarks to help users build up natural spatial memory for the locations in a document; in long documents, however, this technique is also limited because of the number of pages each landmark represents. To address this problem, this thesis proposes a Double-Scrollbar design that uses two columns of artificial landmarks that can provide greater specificity for spatial memory and revisitation in long documents. We developed three versions of landmark-augmented Double-Scrollbar, using icons, letters, and digits as landmarks. To assess the performance and usability of the Double-Scrollbar design, two studies were conducted with 21 participants, each visiting and revisiting pages of a long document using each of the new designs, as well as a single-column design and a standard scrollbar. Results showed that two levels of icon landmarks were significantly better for assisting revisitation, and were preferred by participants. The two-level artificial-landmark scrollbar is a new way of improving revisitation in long documents by assisting the formation of more precise spatial memories about document locations

Improving the design and presentation of point symbols and pop-up windows in municipalities web maps

Tänä päivänä web-karttojen tekoon tarvittavat työkalut ja aineistot ovat aiempaa helpommin saatavilla, mikä on mahdollistanut monille web-karttojen tuottamisen. Web-karttojen teossa jätetään kuitenkin usein kartografiset seikat huomioimatta tai niistä ei ole edes tietoa, jolloin tarkoin suunnitellun, selkeän ja tärkeitä kohtia korostavan visualisaation sijaan kartoilla vallitsee kaaos. Symbolien suunnittelu, ruuhkautumisen hallinta ja tietosisällön esittäminen jäävät usein toissijaisiksi, kun web-karttojen tekijöiden päätarkoituksena on vain saada esitettyä tietoa kartalla mahdollisimman helposti. Ajankohtaisen ongelman innoittamana tässä työssä tutkittiin, esiintyykö kuntien ja kaupunkien tuottamissa web-palvelukartoissa ongelmia pistemäisten kohteiden symbolien suunnittelun, ruuhkautumisen hallinnan ja tietosisällön esittämisen osalta. Asian selvittämiseksi työssä suoritettiin ensin kirjallisuustutkimus edellä mainituista aiheista, joiden perusteella muodostettiin asiantuntija-analyysissa käytetty arviointikriteeristö. Tämän jälkeen suoritettiin kuuden asukasmäärältään erikokoisen kunnan tai kaupungin eri menetelmin toteutettujen palvelukarttojen arviointi aihealue kerrallaan. Tuloksien perusteella palvelukartoissa käytetään pääasiassa yksinkertaisia symboleja tehokkaampien piktogrammien sijaan, ruuhkautumista hallitaan useimmiten vain valinnan avulla ja tietosisältö esitetään ponnahdusikkunoissa tavanomaisimmin taulukkomuodossa paremmin käyttökohteeseen sopivan mukautetun esitysmuodon sijaan. Varsinaisia syitä web-palvelukarttojen yleensä heikkoihin toteutuksiin ei selvitetty, mutta voidaan pohtia, ovatko syinä huono tietämys karttojen suunnittelusta, taloudelliset rajoitteet tai karttatoteutuksiin käytettävissä olevan työajan määrä.Tools and data required to create web maps are today more accessible than before, which has made possible for anyone with a computer and a web browser to create web maps. The principles of cartography are though sometimes forgotten or people do not even know about those while creating web maps. The results are therefore more or less chaotic than carefully planned, clear and efficient. The goal for many new map makers is to display information on a map as easily as possible instead of focusing to details such as symbol design, clutter reduction and information content display in pop-up windows. The trend acted as an inspiration for this work with a goal to find out if the same trend is apparent in the web maps of Finnish municipalities. To understand how point symbols can be designed, clutter reduced and information displayed in pop-up windows a literature review was conducted. Based on the literature review analysis criteria were created for the expert review which included web maps of six municipalities varying by the size of population. Based on the results simple symbols are preferred instead of more effective pictograms, clutter is mainly controlled with simple selection and information content is displayed in table form instead of more effective customized layout, which is more suitable for web maps containing information about public services that municipalities have. The reasons why certain design choices were used in service maps were not considered, but one can ponder are the choices results of insufficient knowledge of map design, financial limitations or the time available for the design process

Playing Video Games in Japanese: Motivation, Language Learning, and Navigation

This qualitative study explores the phenomenon of people who play Japanese video games but neither read, speak, nor understand Japanese. The research questions include: What motivates people to play a video game in a language they do not understand? What do people learn from playing games in a language they do not understand? How do they navigate the game without being able to understand the language? In the study, three participants were observed playing the Japanese action role-playing game Tales of Rebirth first released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and then interviewed about their experiences. Data was summarized and then analyzed using a three-level approach based on grounded theory. The study showed that the participants played Japanese games due to the lack of comparable games in their native language. They were motivated by in-game rewards and may have been conditioned to succeed in the games through years of playing video games at home in their native languages. The participants learned little if any Japanese from playing these games; they could play the game and succeed at it without knowledge of the language. Participants leveraged prior experience with games to navigate through games in the absence of language because the gameplay was linear. Participants used trial and error as well as icon and character recognition to navigate the game. Although participants did not learn Japanese vocabulary, the evidence suggests they learned other skills, such as computer literacy and Japanese character recognition

An inclusive design perspective on communication barriers in healthcare for ethnic minority consumers

This thesis contributes original knowledge through an inclusive design approach to lowering language and communication barriers in healthcare and suggests shifting the discussion from culture to context to lower intra-cultural hindrances towards learning English amongst some ethnic minorities. It offers an adaptable, scalable concept for gathering data on ethnic minorities (considering both different generations and religions) and employs a framework based analysis in design. Over the course of three studies grounded on theoretical insights from literature, primary research lead to the development and testing of innovative aids for communication, including educative and motivational elements. This research began by seeking to understand ethnic minority consumers (EMCs) perceptions of any barriers hindering their take-up of products or services in the UK, and their preferences. This is particularly significant as the UK s EMC population is predicted to double by 2051 and to diversify further, presenting challenges for social cohesion and planning future community goals. EMCs also represent a significant market for service and product providers. The research focussed on EMCs from the Indian Subcontinent based on religions and generations. It highlighted that first generation females lacking English and/or literacy (across religions and age groups) faced problems with services and issues around empowerment . The importance of improved access to healthcare was a strong theme. On investigating NHS staffs perceptions, five barriers were identified (Language barriers; Low-literacy; a Lack of understanding; Attitudes, gender and health beliefs; and Information retention) and that a female subgroup was particularly affected. This study sets out staffs perceptions of the aids currently employed and suggestions of what would help. It identified a (currently) low use of visual communication aids in adult-patient care and that pharmacist-patient communication in pharmacies was low. Ideally, staff would like patients to learn English and to use more low-cost visual communication aids. These findings lead to the development of innovative visual communication aids through inclusive and user-centred approaches and participatory design and brainstorming methods. This enabled the development of aids by considering the needs of NHS staff, EMCs lacking English and/or literacy and indigenous elderly people to promote better patient-staff communication including a take-away educational element for learning English at home

Designing Culturally Sensitive Icons for User Interfaces: An approach for the Interaction Design of smartphones in developing countries

A adesão a dispositivos móveis nos países em desenvolvimento, particularmente na África subsaariana, tem crescido de forma acelerada e constante. Os países em desenvolvimento são caracterizados por um número distinto de utilizadores culturalmente distintos e de diferentes segmentos socioeconómicos. Por consequência, a diversidade cultural deve ser reconhecida de forma a facilitar o processo de interação dos utilizadores com o sistema, mas também de modo a promover o uso de dispositivos móveis entre novos utilizadores, analfabetos e indivíduos provenientes de diferentes culturas. Além disso, soluções de Information and Communications Technologies direcionados para países em desenvolvimento são importantes, e é essencial facilitar o reconhecimento e a interação dos utilizadores com as interfaces gráficas.O estudo teve como objectivo avaliar o nível de conhecimento dos utilizadores da África subsaariana e tentar melhorar o seu reconhecimento através de culturally sensitive icons, sendo estes definidos através das preferências de um grupo cultural. Adicionalmente, um repositório para material cultural foi criado de forma a auxiliar profissionais no desenvolvimento de soluções centradas no utilizador. Além do beneficio de poupar espaço no ecrã, ícones não requerem leitura e são imediatamente reconhecidos uma vez que o utilizador se familiariza com a sua representação, fazendo destes um factor importante na usabilidade de aplicações móveis.Os resultados demonstram que a cultura tem um impacto importante no reconhecimento e interpretação de ícones, e profissionais necessitam de estar familiarizados com as representações e ações comuns para o público alvo. Além disso, o estudo demonstra as vantagens e desvantagens deste processo, menciona as limitações que os profissionais encontram na criação de soluções para regiões em desenvolvimento, e o trabalho futuro na área é discutido.The adhesion to smartphones in developing regions, mainly in the Sub-Saharan region, has been steadily growing. Developing countries are characterized by an array of culturally diverse users from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Therefore, cultural diversity must be contemplated in order to ease the interaction process of the users with the system, but also to promote the usage of smartphones among novice users, illiterates and individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, solutions of Information and Communication Technologies aimed at supporting development in these regions are important, therefore making it essential to ease users' recognition of and interaction with graphical user interfaces.This study aims to assess the level of icon recognition from users from the Sub-Saharan region and attempt to improve it through culturally sensitive icons, defined as icons based upon the preferences of the cultural group. In addition, a repository for cultural material is conceived in order to assist professionals to promote user-centered design techniques for culturally different groups. Besides having the ability to save space in the screen, icons often do not require reading and are immediately recognized once the user is familiarized with their representation, thus constituting an important factor on mobile application usability.The results demonstrate that culture has a substantial impact in icon recognition and interpretation, and professionals must become familiarized with the representations and actions that are deemed common by the target audience. Furthermore, the study reveals the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, mentions the limitations professionals encounter in the development of solutions for developing regions, and discusses future work in the area