Visual Management in Brazilian Construction Companies: Taxonomy and Guidelines for Implementation

Visual management (VM) is the managerial strategy of consciously integrating visual tools in workspaces with the aim of increasing transparency on construction sites. Several VM tools and approaches that had been originally developed in the manufacturing context were implemented in construction. However, research on the application of VM in construction as a managerial strategy is scarce. This paper aims to investigate and classify the types of visual devices that can be used in construction sites through multiple case studies carried out in nine construction companies actively implementing VM. It also discusses strategies for the implementation of VM in construction. The main contributions of this investigation are: (1) a VM tools taxonomy that can be used to identify VM application opportunities, providing a basis for evaluating the level of VM implementation in construction; and (2) identification of critical factors for the implementation and various features of the VM strategy in construction

Simplicity, consistency, universality, flexibility and familiarity: the SCUFF principles for developing user interfaces for ambient computer systems

This paper describes the user interface design, and subsequent usability evaluation of the EU FP6 funded Easyline+ project, which involved the development of ambient assistive technology to support elderly and disabled people in their interaction with kitchen appliances. During this process, established usability design guidelines and principles were considered. The authors’ analysis of the applicability of these has led to the development of a new set of principles, specifically for the design of ambient computer systems. This set of principles is referred to as SCUFF, an acronym for simplicity, consistency, universality, flexibility and familiarity. These evaluations suggest that adoption of the SCUFF principles was successful for the Easyline+ project, and that they can be used for other ambient technology projects, either as complementary to, or as an alternative to more generic and partially relevant principles

Encouraging Sustainable Energy Use in the Office with Persuasive Mobile Information Systems

Faced with growing pressures to be more environmentally sustainable, many companies are increasingly exploring innovative ways to incorporate “green” practices into their business processes. We focus on employees and their potential contributions to organization-wide sustainability goals through their pro-environmental behaviours. This article reports on current progress with a multi-year study targeting the use of mobile media to encourage pro-environmental behaviours. To do so, we provide employees with feedback on their computer-based energy usage. We discuss our combined design science and experimental approach to developing and studying a mobile application with embedded persuasive characteristics. Our future interventions will use this persuasive media platform to examine the impact of social-psychological theories on encouraging more sustainable energy use by employees

Energy Information Systems: From the Basement to the Boardroom

A significant buildings energy reduction opportunity exists in the office sector, given that this market segment typically is an early adopter of new technology. There is a rising trend towards smart and connected offices through the internet of things (IoT) that provides new opportunities for operational efficiency and environmental sustainability practices. Leading commercial real estate companies have begun to shift from individual building automation systems (BAS) to partially integrated and automated systems such as energy information systems (EIS). In both the United States and India, organizations are seeking operational excellence, enhanced tenant relationships, and topline growth. Hence it is imperative to engage the executives with decision-making power, by tapping into their interest in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and innovation. This expansion of interest can enable data-driven decisions, strong energy investments, and deeper energy benefits, and would drive innovation in this field. However, none of this would be possible without robust, consistent building energy information to provide visibility across all the levels of decision making, i.e. from the basement where the facilities staff take operational action to the boardroom where the executives make investment decisions. Price, security, and ease of use remain barriers to the adoption and pervasive use of promising EIS technologies in commercial office buildings. We believe that these barriers can be addressed through the development of ready, simplified, consistent, commercially available, low-cost EIS-in-a-box packages, that have a pre-defined set of hardware components and software features and functionality that are pertinent to a particular building sector. These simplified, sector-specific EIS packages can help to obviate the need for customization, and enhance ease of use, thereby enabling scale-up, in order to facilitate building energy savings. The EIS-in-a-box are adaptable in both U.S. and Indian office buildings, and potentially beyond these two countries

Smart workplaces: a system proposal for stress management

Over the past last decades of contemporary society, workplaces have become the primary source of many health issues, leading to mental problems such as stress, depression, and anxiety. Among the others, environmental aspects have shown to be the causes of stress, illness, and lack of productivity. With the arrival of new technologies, especially in the smart workplaces field, most studies have focused on investigating the building energy efficiency models and human thermal comfort. However, little has been applied to occupants’ stress recognition and well-being overall. Due to this fact, this present study aims to propose a stress management solution for an interactive design system that allows the adapting of comfortable environmental conditions according to the user preferences by measuring in real-time the environmental and biological characteristics, thereby helping to prevent stress, as well as to enable users to cope stress when being stressed. The secondary objective will focus on evaluating one part of the system: the mobile application. The proposed system uses several usability methods to identify users’ needs, behavior, and expectations from the user-centered design approach. Applied methods, such as User Research, Card Sorting, and Expert Review, allowed us to evaluate the design system according to Heuristics Analysis, resulting in improved usability of interfaces and experience. The study presents the research results, the design interface, and usability tests. According to the User Research results, temperature and noise are the most common environmental stressors among the users causing stress and uncomfortable conditions to work in, and the preference for physical activities over the digital solutions for coping with stress. Additionally, the System Usability Scale (SUS) results identified that the system’s usability was measured as “excellent” and “acceptable” with a final score of 88 points out of the 100. It is expected that these conclusions can contribute to future investigations in the smart workplaces study field and their interaction with the people placed there.Nas últimas décadas da sociedade contemporânea, o local de trabalho tem se tornado principal fonte de muitos problemas de saúde mental, como o stress, depressão e ansiedade. Os aspetos ambientais têm se revelado como as causas de stress, doenças, falta de produtividade, entre outros. Atualmente, com a chegada de novas tecnologias, principalmente na área de locais de trabalho inteligentes, a maioria dos estudos tem se concentrado na investigação de modelos de eficiência energética de edifícios e conforto térmico humano. No entanto, pouco foi aplicado ao reconhecimento do stress dos ocupantes e ao bem-estar geral das pessoas. Diante disso, o objetivo principal é propor um sistema de design de gestão do stress para um sistema de design interativo que permita adaptar as condições ambientais de acordo com as preferências de utilizador, medindo em tempo real as características ambientais e biológicas, auxiliando assim na prevenção de stress, bem como ajuda os utilizadores a lidar com o stress quando estão sob o mesmo. O segundo objetivo é desenhar e avaliar uma parte do projeto — o protótipo da aplicação móvel através da realização de testes de usabilidade. O sistema proposto resulta da abordagem de design centrado no utilizador, utilizando diversos métodos de usabilidade para identificar as necessidades, comportamentos e as expectativas dos utilizadores. Métodos aplicados, como Pesquisa de Usuário, Card Sorting e Revisão de Especialistas, permitiram avaliar o sistema de design de acordo com a análise heurística, resultando numa melhoria na usabilidade das interfaces e experiência. O estudo apresenta os resultados da pesquisa, a interface do design e os testes de usabilidade. De acordo com os resultados de User Research, a temperatura e o ruído são os stressores ambientais mais comuns entre os utilizadores, causando stresse e condições menos favoráveis para trabalhar, igualmente existe uma preferência por atividades físicas sobre as soluções digitais na gestão do stresse. Adicionalmente, os resultados de System Usability Scale (SUS) identificaram a usabilidade do sistema de design como “excelente” e “aceitável” com pontuação final de 88 pontos em 100. É esperado que essas conclusões possam contribuir para futuras investigações no campo de estudo dos smart workplaces e sua interação com os utilizadores

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

AI UNCERTAINTY IN EXPERT DECISION-MAKING: A QUALITATIVE EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming more prevalent in everyday work settings, the Information Systems (IS) discipline is perfectly poised to study the sociotechnical repercussions of algorithmic decision-making part of expert’s knowledge work. As expert know-how is tacit and socially situated, there are difficulties in capturing the nuances of the emerging human-machine collaborations. In this article, we review how epistemic uncertainty is evident in experts’ decision-making practices when using AI tools. Building on rich primary studies, a qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) approach was used to bring together and analyze relevant literature on this topic. Our findings unravel sources of expert uncertainty, point to strategies experts use to cope with uncertainty, and what attitudes experts have towards uncertainty when making complex decisions with AI