Using Computational Agents to Design Participatory Social Simulations

In social science, the role of stakeholders is increasing in the development and use of simulation models. Their participation in the design of agent-based models (ABMs) has widely been considered as an efficient solution to the validation of this particular type of model. Traditionally, "agents" (as basic model elements) have not been concerned with stakeholders directly but via designers or role-playing games (RPGs). In this paper, we intend to bridge this gap by introducing computational or software agents, implemented from an initial ABM, into a new kind of RPG, mediated by computers, so that these agents can interact with stakeholders. This interaction can help not only to elicit stakeholders' informal knowledge or unpredicted behaviours, but also to control stakeholders' focus during the games. We therefore formalize a general participatory design method using software agents, and illustrate it by describing our experience in a project aimed at developing agent-based social simulations in the field of air traffic management.Participatory Social Simulations, Agent-Based Social Simulations, Computational Agents, Role-Playing Games, Artificial Maieutics, User-Centered Design

Influencing interaction: Development of the design with intent method

Persuasive Technology has the potential to influence user behavior for social benefit, e.g. to reduce environmental impact, but designers are lacking guidance choosing among design techniques for influencing interaction. The Design with Intent Method, a ‘suggestion tool’ addressing this problem, is introduced in this paper, and applied to the briefs of reducing unnecessary household lighting use, and improving the efficiency of printing, primarily to evaluate the method’s usability and guide the direction of its development. The trial demonstrates that the DwI Method is quick to apply and leads to a range of relevant design concepts. With development, the DwI Method could be a useful tool for designers working on influencing user behavior

User Interface Challenges of Banking ATM Systems in Nigeria

The use of banking automated teller machine (ATM) technological innovations have significant importance and benefits in Nigeria, but numerous investigations have shown that illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians do not perceive them as useful or easy-to-use. Developing easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces is essential to accommodate over 40% illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians, who are potential users of banking ATM systems. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies software developers of banking ATM systems in Nigeria use to create easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels. The technology acceptance model was adopted as the conceptual framework. The study\u27s population consisted of qualified and experienced developers of banking ATM system interfaces chosen from 1 organization in Enugu, Nigeria. The data collection process included semistructured, in-depth face-to-face interviews with 9 banking ATM system interface developers and the analysis of 11 documents: 5 from participant case organizations and 6 from nonparticipant case organizations. Member checking was used to increase the validity of the findings from the participants. Through methodological triangulation, 4 major themes emerged from the study: importance of user-centered design strategies, importance of user feedback as essential interface design, value of pictorial images and voice prompts, and importance of well-defined interface development process. The findings in this study may be beneficial for the future development of strategies to create easy-to-use ATM system interfaces for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels and for other information technology systems that are user interface technology dependent

ATMSeer: Increasing Transparency and Controllability in Automated Machine Learning

To relieve the pain of manually selecting machine learning algorithms and tuning hyperparameters, automated machine learning (AutoML) methods have been developed to automatically search for good models. Due to the huge model search space, it is impossible to try all models. Users tend to distrust automatic results and increase the search budget as much as they can, thereby undermining the efficiency of AutoML. To address these issues, we design and implement ATMSeer, an interactive visualization tool that supports users in refining the search space of AutoML and analyzing the results. To guide the design of ATMSeer, we derive a workflow of using AutoML based on interviews with machine learning experts. A multi-granularity visualization is proposed to enable users to monitor the AutoML process, analyze the searched models, and refine the search space in real time. We demonstrate the utility and usability of ATMSeer through two case studies, expert interviews, and a user study with 13 end users.Comment: Published in the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2019, Glasgow, Scotland U

Lyceum: internet voice groupware for distance learning

This paper describes the design, implementation and deployment of Lyceum, a groupware system providing students and tutors with real time voice conferencing and visual workspace tools, over the standard internet. Lyceum uses a Java client/server architecture to tackle a formidable set of networking requirements: multi-way voice communication with synchronous shared displays, scalable to hundreds of simultaneous users, running over normal modem connections via unknown internet service providers, on home PCs. Additionally, the design had to support multiple courses with different requirements. We describe the interdisciplinary requirements analysis, and iterative design process, by which an academic course team was able to specify and evaluate prototypes. We present the systemís architecture, describe the technical successes and failures from Lyceumís first large scale deployment, and summarise its affordances for interaction and learning

Engaging Pictorial Images and Voice Prompts Interface Design Strategy to Create Easy to use banking ATM System Interfaces in Nigeria

The existing banking ATMs in Nigeria do not adequately cater for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels despite the significant importance of ATM technological innovations in Nigeria, especially in the banking sectors. Illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians, representing about 40.33%, do not perceive the ATMs as useful or easy-to-use. The purpose of this case study was to identify strategies used by software developers of banking ATM systems in Nigeria to create easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces in Nigeria. The technology acceptance model was adopted as the conceptual framework. One organization in Enugu, Nigeria was used for this study’s population. Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews with nine banking ATM system interface developers and the analysis of 11 documents. Findings from the participants were validated through member checking. One major theme that emerged from data analysis was value of pictorial images and voice prompts in interface design, that encompass the use of: (a) pictorial images, and enhanced voice prompts with short transaction cycle, (b) voice feedback in users’ own language, (c) text-free user interface and extensive use of hand-drawn, and (d) graphics /imagery and voice as inputs. Strategies illustrated by the findings from this study may serve as a basis for positive economic development and social change in this area and may advance the use of other technology outlets that require easy-to-use system interfaces. Keywords: Banking ATM, pictorial images, Voice prompt, interface design, easy-to-use, ease of use, literacy levels. DOI: 10.7176/JIEA/8-1-0

Usable Security: Why Do We Need It? How Do We Get It?

Security experts frequently refer to people as “the weakest link in the chain” of system security. Famed hacker Kevin Mitnick revealed that he hardly ever cracked a password, because it “was easier to dupe people into revealing it” by employing a range of social engineering techniques. Often, such failures are attributed to users’ carelessness and ignorance. However, more enlightened researchers have pointed out that current security tools are simply too complex for many users, and they have made efforts to improve user interfaces to security tools. In this chapter, we aim to broaden the current perspective, focusing on the usability of security tools (or products) and the process of designing secure systems for the real-world context (the panorama) in which they have to operate. Here we demonstrate how current human factors knowledge and user-centered design principles can help security designers produce security solutions that are effective in practice

Lessons learned from the design of a mobile multimedia system in the Moby Dick project

Recent advances in wireless networking technology and the exponential development of semiconductor technology have engendered a new paradigm of computing, called personal mobile computing or ubiquitous computing. This offers a vision of the future with a much richer and more exciting set of architecture research challenges than extrapolations of the current desktop architectures. In particular, these devices will have limited battery resources, will handle diverse data types, and will operate in environments that are insecure, dynamic and which vary significantly in time and location. The research performed in the MOBY DICK project is about designing such a mobile multimedia system. This paper discusses the approach made in the MOBY DICK project to solve some of these problems, discusses its contributions, and accesses what was learned from the project

Applications of satellite technology to broadband ISDN networks

Two satellite architectures for delivering broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) service are evaluated. The first is assumed integral to an existing terrestrial network, and provides complementary services such as interconnects to remote nodes as well as high-rate multicast and broadcast service. The interconnects are at a 155 Mbs rate and are shown as being met with a nonregenerative multibeam satellite having 10-1.5 degree spots. The second satellite architecture focuses on providing private B-ISDN networks as well as acting as a gateway to the public network. This is conceived as being provided by a regenerative multibeam satellite with on-board ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) processing payload. With up to 800 Mbs offered, higher satellite EIRP is required. This is accomplished with 12-0.4 degree hopping beams, covering a total of 110 dwell positions. It is estimated the space segment capital cost for architecture one would be about $190M whereas the second architecture would be about$250M. The net user cost is given for a variety of scenarios, but the cost for 155 Mbs services is shown to be about $15-22/minute for 25 percent system utilization