A case study using a methodological approach to developing user interfaces for elderly and disabled people

In this paper, we present a case study on the development of interfaces for elderly and disabled users. The domain of the case study was situated in the home environment, where we focused on producing affordable technologies to enable users to interact with and to control home appliances. We have developed ambient user interfaces that are integrated in familiar home artefacts, such as televisions and digital picture frames. These interfaces are connected remotely to a home network and are adaptive to users’ expected increasing physical and cognitive needs. To support the development of the project, we created a novel methodology that is grounded in the ethical issues associated with a project of this nature. Our success with it has led to us presenting it here as a practical approach to developing user interfaces for a range of interactive applications, especially where there may be diverse user populations. This paper describes our journey through this project, how the methodology has been used throughout and the development of our user interfaces and their evaluation

Analysis of Usability Cost-Benefit Models

There are few development organizations that have fully integrated usability activities as an integral part of their product development projects. One reason for this is that the benefits of better usability are not visible for the management. In this paper, the characteristics of selected published usability cost-benefit models are analyzed. These models have different approaches for identifying, approaching and categorizing the costs and benefits of usability. The analyzed models provide general guidelines for estimating the costs and benefits of usability but in most cases provide only little details. It is proposed that the business type of development organization and the type of the developed product as variables could be taken into account when analyzing the benefits of better usability

Building public–private partnerships for agricultural innovation in Latin America: Lessons from capacity strengthening

"The International Service for National Agricultural Research�on its own from 2002 until 2003, and as a division of the International Food Policy Research Institute thereafter has studied 124 public–private partnerships in agriculture in nine Latin American countries through its initiative on public–private partnerships for Agro-Industrial Research in Latin America...This paper examines...seven cases of public–private partnership building in which private- sector companies, producer associations, and research organizations engage in collaboration for the purpose of developing innovations in agricultural production and value chains. The paper considers different points of entry to partnership building, emulating best practices. The paper describes (a) how common interests among multiple stakeholders have been identified; (b) how partners have been motivated to participate in partnerships; (c) how the roles of different brokers within or outside the partnerships have fostered partnership development; and (d) how the contributions of partners have been negotiated to ensure that partnership arrangements are in alignment with the interests of the partners, their capacities, and the prevailing technological and market opportunities. The paper targets policymakers and administrators in agricultural development, and collaborators in research and innovation projects who are interested in issues of how best to build partnerships among public and private agents." from Authors' AbstractPublic-private partnerships, Agricultural innovations, Capacity strengthening, Agricultural research,

Policies to promote cereal intensification in Ethiopia: A review of evidence and experience

Dawit Alemu: DCA, EthiopiaCereal crops, Agricultural development, Agricultural extension work, Fertilizers, Seed industry and trade Developing countries, Public investment, Food policy,

Extending OpenUP to Conform with the ISO Usability Maturity Model

Integrating practices and methods of Interaction Design and Usability into Software Engineering processes has posed some challenges. In this paper we extend a SE process to enable its instantiation as user centered in order to improve the usability level reachable by the final system. Also, we suggest a kind of a road map that enables software organizations to instantiate cumulative versions of this process to grow in their capability regarding the usability practices. The paper is organized in two parts. First, we describe de open source version of the Unified Process OpenUP and the ISO Usability Maturity Model UMM-ISO and present the results of an assessment made on the first to determine its conformity with the latter. In the second part we present an extension to OpenUP to fill the gaps discovered and report the highlights of an implementation of these contributions in a real project and the lessons learned.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, vol. 8742).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

OpenUP/MMU-ISO : Soporte para un proceso de desarrollo de software conforme al modelo ISO de Madurez en Usabilidad

La tesis está organizada en tres partes. La primera (Capítulos 2 y 3) plantea las definiciones básicas que utilizaremos en el resto del trabajo (usabilidad, diseño de interacción, capacidad en usabilidad, etc.) y revisa los métodos de desarrollo de software que proponen la inclusión del diseño centrado en usuario generadas desde el campo de HCI y desde la Ingeniería del Software. La segunda parte se compone de tres capítulos. En el primero, presentamos la versión open source del Proceso Unificado, denominada OpenUP, que es una instanciación del framework de buenas prácticas conocido como EPL (Eclipse Practice Library). En el segundo, presentamos el MMU-ISO. Cerramos esta segunda parte con un assessment de la conformidad al MMU-ISO de OpenUP con el objetivo de determinar las oportunidades de integración de usabilidad en el Proceso Unificado. Finalmente, en la tercera parte presentamos la contribución de la tesis, una nueva Práctica para agregar a la EPL, el Desarrollo Centrado en Usuario (DesCU), y ties in- stanciaciones del framework basadas en OpenUP que permitirán alcanzar los niveles 1,2 o 3 de Capacidad en Usabilidad en el marco del MMU-ISO. En el último capítulo mostramos la implementación de la Práctica DesCU y de las tres configuraciones como extensiones o plugins para el Eclipse Process Framework Composer.Tesis digitalizada en SEDICI gracias a la colaboración de la Biblioteca de la Facultad de Informática.Facultad de Informátic

Sharing science, building bridges, and enhancing impact: Public-Private Partnerships in the CGIAR

"This study, which examines the role of public–private partnerships in international agricultural research, is intended to provide policymakers, research managers, and business decisionmakers with an understanding of how such partnerships operate and how they potentially contribute to food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. The study examines public–private partnerships in light of persistent market failure, institutional constraints, and systemic weaknesses, which impede the exchange of potentially pro-poor knowledge and technology. The study focuses on three key issues: whether public–private partnerships contribute to reducing the cost of research, whether they add value to research by facilitating innovation, and whether they enhance the impact of research on smallholders and other marginalized groups in developing-country agriculture. The study examines 75 projects undertaken by the research centers and programs of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in partnership with various types of private firms. Data and information were obtained through document analysis, semi-structured interviews with key informants, and an email survey of CGIAR centers. The resulting analysis provides a characterization of public–private partnerships in the CGIAR and describes the factors that contribute to their success. These finding are important to improving both public policy and organizational practices in the international agricultural research system." - from authors' abstract.Agricultural R&D, CGIAR, Innovation, Public-private partnerships,

OpenUP/MMU-ISO : Soporte para un proceso de desarrollo de software conforme al modelo ISO de Madurez en Usabilidad

La tesis está organizada en tres partes. La primera (Capítulos 2 y 3) plantea las definiciones básicas que utilizaremos en el resto del trabajo (usabilidad, diseño de interacción, capacidad en usabilidad, etc.) y revisa los métodos de desarrollo de software que proponen la inclusión del diseño centrado en usuario generadas desde el campo de HCI y desde la Ingeniería del Software. La segunda parte se compone de tres capítulos. En el primero, presentamos la versión open source del Proceso Unificado, denominada OpenUP, que es una instanciación del framework de buenas prácticas conocido como EPL (Eclipse Practice Library). En el segundo, presentamos el MMU-ISO. Cerramos esta segunda parte con un assessment de la conformidad al MMU-ISO de OpenUP con el objetivo de determinar las oportunidades de integración de usabilidad en el Proceso Unificado. Finalmente, en la tercera parte presentamos la contribución de la tesis, una nueva Práctica para agregar a la EPL, el Desarrollo Centrado en Usuario (DesCU), y ties in- stanciaciones del framework basadas en OpenUP que permitirán alcanzar los niveles 1,2 o 3 de Capacidad en Usabilidad en el marco del MMU-ISO. En el último capítulo mostramos la implementación de la Práctica DesCU y de las tres configuraciones como extensiones o plugins para el Eclipse Process Framework Composer.Tesis digitalizada en SEDICI gracias a la colaboración de la Biblioteca de la Facultad de Informática.Facultad de Informátic

The bang for the birr: Public expenditures and rural welfare in Ethiopia

Gezahegn Ayele: DCA, EthiopiaPublic investments, Public spending, Rural welfare,

Improving usability outcomes in IS projects: the views of usability practitioners

What are the key aspects to achieving acceptable usability outcomes for information systems being developed? The changing technologies and increased usage across the general population, the impacts of this in our everyday lives, at work and at leisure are exponentially increasing. The interfaces and interaction styles presented as part of these technologies have been challenged to be more intuitive, contextually sensitive, location aware, human centred and aimed at a larger community of stakeholders. Performing usability activities is an increasingly important part of the development of new technologies, applications and websites. This study examined, for Information System projects, what were the key aspects that impacted on the usability outcome of developing Information Systems. This study presents a theory that describes how projects can improve their usability outcomes. This has emerged from interviews with experienced usability practitioners currently working in the usability industry. The transcripts from the qualitative interviews were analysed using a grounded theory methodology, which was an inductive and interpretive process in nature. The result of this analysis produced twenty-seven key concepts. These concepts were compared and contrasted against the literature. The theory that emerged consists of four major themes that included: usability mindset, collaborative approach, project constraints and usability practice. The key contribution to knowledge is the relationship concept between these themes. This is the nurturing of the usability mindset for the project stakeholders through involvement in usability activities throughout the project lifecycle. This engagement provides opportunities to elicit, understand and concord the usability goals, project constraints and the technological limitations with project stakeholders. The involvement of all project stakeholders promotes usability value and acceptance, which ideally progresses to a shared usability vision for the project and ultimately a usability mindset that can be utilised beyond a specific project and across an organisation