A Model-Driven Framework for Enabling Flexible and Robust Mobile Data Collection Applications

In the light of the ubiquitous digital transformation, smart mobile technology has become a salient factor for enabling large-scale data collection scenarios. Structured instruments (e.g., questionnaires) are frequently used to collect data in various application domains, like healthcare, psychology, and social sciences. In current practice, instruments are usually distributed and filled out in a paper-based fashion (e.g., paper-and-pencil questionnaires). The widespread use of smart mobile devices, like smartphones or tablets, offers promising perspectives for the controlled collection of accurate data in high quality. The design, implementation and deployment of mobile data collection applications, however, is a challenging endeavor. First, various mobile operating systems need to be properly supported, taking their short release cycles into account. Second, domain-specific peculiarities need to be flexibly aligned with mobile application development. Third, domain-specific usability guidelines need to be obeyed. Altogether, these challenges turn both programming and maintaining of mobile data collection applications into a costly, time-consuming, and error-prone endeavor. The Ph.D. thesis at hand presents an advanced framework that shall enable domain experts to transform paper-based instruments to mobile data collection applications. The latter, in turn, can then be deployed to and executed on heterogeneous smart mobile devices. In particular, the framework shall empower domain experts (i.e., end-users) to flexibly design and create robust mobile data collection applications on their own; i.e., without need to involve IT experts or mobile application developers. As major benefit, the framework enables the development of sophisticated mobile data collection applications by orders of magnitude faster compared to current approaches, and relieves domain experts from manual tasks like, for example, digitizing and analyzing the collected data

A collaborative design process for educational digital resources in African higher education

Within Africa, access to digital library systems is critical in supporting higher level teaching, learning and research. Currently there is a high demand with inadequate resources which often produces poorly supported learning outcomes. The effectiveness of current resources is further limited by poor design processes, which is worsened by stakeholders (academics, e-learning technologists and digital librarians and designers) often working in isolation. Ultimately, designed resources become less user-centred and sustainable. This thesis sought to provide empirically developed collaborative design process guidance for design stakeholders developing educational digital resources within African higher education. Following a Human Computer Interaction research approach, eleven best practice digital library projects identified from three case studies of African universities (in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa) were investigated. Data was drawn from interviews, observations and an examination of documents. This investigation identified three interrelated factors that impacted on the design process (i. e. human relationships, innovative technologies and policies). The human relationships factor comprised multidisciplinary design stakeholders and included a subset i. e. design champions (multidisciplinary and domain champions) whose role changed the facilitation and eventual output of the other stakeholders in the design process. The multidisciplinary champions took on a participatory approach to engagement while the domain champions assumed an approach that was less engaging. The innovative technologies factor comprised universal technologies and `flexible' technologies (i. e. Web 2.0 applications and the Open Source Software) which supported the design process and enhanced user-centeredness and sustainability of the projects. Existing institutional and national policies supported stakeholder collaboration and application of the innovative technologies. The absence of any of these factors in the digital library projects weakened the design process and reduced effectiveness of digital resources. These three factors have been used to develop the Collaborative Educational Resources Design (CERD) process model as a guidance tool to support multidisciplinary design stakeholders indesigning effective digital resources

Using Smart Mobile Devices for Collecting Structured Data in Clinical Trials: Results From a Large-Scale Case Study

In future, more and more clinical trials will rely on smart mobile devices for collecting structured data from subjects during trial execution. Although there have been many projects demonstrating the benefits of mobile digital questionnaires, the scenarios considered in literature have been rather limited so far. In particular, the number of subjects is rather low in respective studies and a well controllable infrastructure is usually presumed, which not always applies in practice. This paper gives insights into the lessons learned in a clinical psychology trial when using tablets for mobile data collection. In particular, more than 1.700 subjects have participated so far, providing us with valuable feedback on collecting trial data with smart mobile devices in the large scale. Furthermore, issues related to an insufficient infrastructure (e.g., unstable Internet connections) have been addressed as well. Overall, the paper provides valuable insights gained during trial execution. In future, electronic questionnaires executable on smart mobile devices will replace paper-based ones

Mobile Design For Adverse Event Reporting And Pharmacovigilance

Patient safety is concerned with protecting patients from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. It is also concerned with capturing adverse events and understanding their severity. Reporting of adverse events help prevent poor patient outcomes in their acute phase. Another way of dealing with adverse events is by preventing them through the practice of monitoring the effects of drugs, medical devices including the detection, assessment, and understanding of an adverse event; this approach is called pharmacovigilance. Design Science framework was used for creating two mobile design solutions in the field of arthroplasty: one for the adverse event reporting and the other one for the pharmacovigilance. User centered design was utilized to understand requirements, context, and possibilities of managing and retrieving information of relevance for patient safety. Firstly, a mobile design for reporting of adverse events has proposed user interface to enable entry of data specific for knee and hip implants. Besides that, the system supports entry of the adverse event, its classification (serious, non-serious), its follow-up. Safety reports can be initiated and retrieved on request and depending on the adjudication of the event. Suspected severe events should be followed up and reported internally as well as to the national regulatory authorities until they are resolved and concluded. Expert evaluation of the first design solution was performed using low fidelity prototype. It has shown that design was relevant, straightforward, done in a way that official reporting would commence. Some users were positive to the reporting; some felt it would demand more work. The second design was focused on pharmacovigilance which seemed to be more appealing to the target group. It deals with the safety of medical devices (implants) by understanding the risks and dangers already reported by other clinicians or researchers. Internet resources such as the Manufacturer And User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) web-site are often retrieved due to the lack of internal, local safety databases. The designed mobile solution for pharmacovigilance was based on the web system called WebBISS (Web-based implant search system) using HCI approach. The goal was not only to improve usability, but also to stimulate physicians to enter their safety data and become contributors, and not only users of information. The expert evaluation has been positive and encouraged developing stronger help and error reporting functions regarding the mobile application.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-INF

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Articulating Problems and Markets: A Translation Analysis of Entrepreneurs’ Emergent Value Propositions

In this qualitative study, the authors apply Callon’s sociology of translation to examine how new technology entrepreneurs enact material arguments that involve the first two moments of translation—problematization (defining a market problem) and interessement (defining a market and the firm’s relationship to it) - which in turn are represented in a claim, the value proposition. That emergent claim can then be represented and further changed during pitches. If accepted, it can then lead to the second two moments of translation: enrollment and mobilization. Drawing on written materials, observations, and interviews, we trace how these value propositions were iterated along three paths to better problematize and interesse, articulating a problem and market on which a business could plausibly be built. We conclude by discussing implications for understanding value propositions in entrepreneurship and, more broadly, using the sociology of translation to analyze emergent, material, consequential arguments. The study is based on data collected at the Austin Technology Incubator’s Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch program (ATI SEAL) at The University of Texas at Austin.IC2 Institut