SPAM – A Process Model for Developing Smart Personal Assistants

Information technology capabilities are growing at an impressive pace and increasingly overstrain the cognitive abilities of users. User assistance systems such as online manuals try to help the user in handling these systems. However, there is strong evidence that traditional user assistance systems are not as effective as intended. With the rise of smart personal assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa, user assistance systems are becoming more sophisticated by offering a higher degree of interaction and intelligence. This study proposes a process model to develop Smart Personal Assistants. Using a design science research approach, we first gather requirements from Smart Personal Assistant designers and theory, and later evaluate the process model with developing an Amazon Alexa Skill for a Smart Home system. This paper contributes to the existing user assistance literature by offering a new process model on how to design Smart Personal Assistants for intelligent systems

Artificial Intelligence is a Character? Exploring design scenarios to build interface behaviours

The paper aims to illustrate the qualitative results of the first phase of the scenario research about voice interfaces, examining whether it is possible to design them as if they were a theatrical or cinematographic character. The research field intersects interaction design with character design, intended as the narrative construction of a character, and theatrical performances. The experimentation takes advantage of theatre workshops that aims to show, and understand, which are the main characteristics of a vocal interface and how to design them according to a performance approach. The paper ends illustrating how design can address actual opportunities and criticalities about emerging technologies, following a relations-based approach

Autonomia, serenità e tecnologia. Il consumo di Smart Object da parte di consumatori anziani e il ruolo dei figli adulti

Questa tesi di dottorato, dal titolo “Autonomia, serenità e tecnologia. Il consumo di Smart Object da parte di consumatori anziani e il ruolo dei figli adulti.” ha l’obiettivo di studiare il consumo di tecnologie intelligenti (Smart Object) da parte di consumatori anziani. Questo elaborato, costruito su un paper di revisione della letteratura e due paper empirici, attraverso una analisi qualitativa di recensioni online, un modello di regressione ed un esperimento, mette in luce i benefit che i consumatori anziani e i loro figli adulti traggono quando i primi usano uno Smart Object. In particolare, i genitori anziani possono godere di una maggiore autonomia, mentre i figli adulti godono di una maggiore serenità. Questa tesi offre, oltre che implicazioni teoriche, anche molti spunti per aziende Tech sia per il design che per la comunicazione e promozione di Smart Object