Understanding Effects and Determinants of Mobile Support Tools: A Usability-Centered Field Study on IT Service Technicians

The integration of mobile workplaces is a major challenge for companies. First-wave mobile solutions mostly support existing business processes through adding value in terms of increased efficiency. Second-wave mobile solutions comprise a re-engineering of the mobile business processes, add value through increased effectiveness and may even enable new forms of mobility. In order to achieve a systematic approach to mobile integrated business processes it is important to analyze existing processes, focusing on the effects and determinants of mobile solutions that might be used to support those processes. For this purpose we examined a typical example, the field technician support process of an IT service providing company. Our research approach combines usability and process performance issues. The results show which tasks are suitable for mobile application support, which personnel is most likely to benefit from mobile technology and what improvements on business metrics such as labor time, back office capacity, and invoice cycle are to be expected.

THE IMPACT OF USER EXPERIENCE ON HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION - RESULTS FROM A USABILITY STUDY

For a large number of applications, mobile devices offer a manifold variety of potentials to improve business processes. However, most projects still fail to be successful with regard to key performance indicators (KPI). There is a growing understanding that human computer interaction is a key factor for the successful use of mobile devices in practice. However, it is still unclear how interfaces can be designed according to the specific needs of a user applying mobile devices in a business context. In this study we show that user experience has a strong impact on efficient human computer interaction. We present the results of a usability study on a mobile tool for IT-Service technicians. The results show that (a) even low experienced users can achieve sufficient task performance with a usable tool and (b) that participants of all experience groups perform better in the field setting compared to the lab

Designing Quick & Dirty Applications for Mobiles: Making the Case for the Utility of HCI Principles

Many applications are currently being built for mobile phones that are intended as throwaway gimmicks that people download from places like Apple istore. Users can download small throwaway applications for their mobile phone for as little as ninety nine cents. We were interested in what affect these two components e.g. throwaway and cheapness has on the use of HCI guidelines by the designers of these applications and whether or not it was worth their while incorporating them into their design given the temporary nature of use. In this paper we describe how we tested two designs of the same concept. The first design brief was company led and did not explicitly adhere to any HCI principles and the second was designed according to HCI principles. We tested both applications with users in the field to see which was the simplest and most intuitive to use.</span

Bringing the High Seas into the Lab to Evaluate Speech Input Feasibility: A Case Study:SiMPE – 5th Workshop on Speech in Mobile and Pervasive Environments (part of ACM MobileHCI’2010)

As mobile technologies continue to penetrate increasingly diverse domains of use, we accordingly need to understand the feasibility of different interaction technologies across such varied domains. This case study describes an investigation into whether speechbased input is a feasible interaction option for use in a complex, and arguably extreme, environment of use – that is, lobster fishing vessels. We reflect on our approaches to bringing the “high seas” into lab environments for this purpose, comparing the results obtained via our lab and our field studies. Our hope is that the work presented here will go some way to enhancing the literature in terms of approaches to bringing complex real-world contexts into lab environments for the purpose of evaluating the feasibility of specific interaction technologies

Evaluation des systèmes mobiles et ubiquitaires: proposition de méthodologie et retours d'expérience

International audienceThe evaluation of mobile and/or ubiquitous interactive systems via user testing seems a priori more relevant in the field than in a usability laboratory. However, the results of the literature are contradictory. In this article, we aim at explaining the reasons why, and we propose a methodology that could minimize biases. The experiments described in the literature and our own experiments lead us to define the interactive environment concept and three possible experimental approaches: laboratory, field and reality testing. Then, we propose a methodology and a technique -the Trojan horse- adapted to the evaluation in reality testing. At last, we illustrate the theoretical approach by three experiments and give experience feedbacks on them. We conclude on the limits of our approach.L'évaluation des systèmes interactifs mobiles et/ou ubiquitaires par l'intermédiaire des tests utilisateurs semble a priori plus pertinente sur le terrain qu'en laboratoire d'utilisabilité. Pourtant, les résultats de la littérature apparaissent comme contradictoires. Notre objectif dans cet article est d'en expliciter les raisons et de proposer une méthodologie minimisant les biais. Les expérimentations décrites dans la littérature et nos propres travaux nous ont amenés à définir le concept d'environnement interactif et trois approches expérimentales possibles : laboratoire, terrain et situation réelle. Nous proposons ensuite une méthodologie et une technique (le cheval de Troie) adaptées à l'évaluation en situation réelle. Enfin, nous illustrons notre approche théorique par trois expérimentations et en donnons des retours d'expérience. Nous concluons ensuite sur les limites de notre approche

Understanding Effects and Determinants of Mobile Support Tools: A Usability-Centered Field Study on IT Service Technicians

The integration of mobile workplaces is a major challenge for companies. First-wave mobile solutions mostly support existing business processes through adding value in terms of increased efficiency. Second-wave mobile solutions comprise a re-engineering of the mobile business processes, add value through increased effectiveness and may even enable new forms of mobility. In order to achieve a systematic approach to mobile integrated business processes it is important to analyze existing processes, focusing on the effects and determinants of mobile solutions that might be used to support those processes. For this purpose we examined a typical example, the field technician support process of an IT service providing company. Our research approach combines usability and process performance issues. The results show which tasks are suitable for mobile application support, which personnel is most likely to benefit from mobile technology and what improvements on business metrics such as labor time, back office capacity, and invoice cycle are to be expected

My Crohn’s disease on real-time information - User experience improvement through cross-platform applications

Reducing hospital institutionalization of citizen with chronic diseases is a major priority of western countries priorities. The more complex the health condition, the harder it is to coordinate clinical care. To improve the disease management and control, most patients need to use mobile applications that are available in online stores or web services because of the difficulty that a personal mobile phone has to get real time access to clinical data outside of a hospital. In terms of IBD - Inflammatory Bowel Disease - existing mobile phone solutions are very complex, because visually the interfaces communicates with the user through inadequate use of symbols in clinical features, which are inconsistent and have poor legibility. They also presents a lack of visual optimization between multiplatform systems. This increases the user's learning curve in terms of how to interpret and interact with these systems, generating an opportunity for these patients with abilities to innovate through the creation and development of solutions that solve their own problems related to the management and coordination of the disease. This thesis aims to analysis IBD patients behaviour related to disease management, identify the type of problems, both functional and communication, which occur in existing IBD m-Health and e-Health systems, and introduces two topics – communication and design studies – in the "User Innovator" model of Von Hippel (1976) which consists of users, that are, for example, patients with chronic diseases, and who innovate by creating solutions to solve personal problems because of unfavourable healthcare conditions. To validate in the design process the three perspectives – design, innovation and patient – were considered, and the framework “Human-social Interaction Model for e-Health Interfaces” was created, enabling a sustainable approach to research, with inputs from personal experience being used, introducing relevant feedback for the final goal of the preliminary studies, when creating the interface for mobile phone application particularly for Crohn’s disease, one of the IBD, with a new healthcare user experience. To reach the objective, a set of studies were conducted that were divided into two stages. The first, a literature review of the relationship between semiotics and interactive communication; the meaning of symbolic representation in interactive projects; new design research guidelines that define interfaces and features and that are more approachable for users; user perspectives towards technology for health supporting and controlling; the design and communication space on technological projects; the challenge for users/ patients who try to create systems to solve personal problems. The second part, presents the practical research that includes a survey of 279 participants with IBD; the empirical analysis of six case studies – mobile applications and multiplatform: context, features, design principles lifting, and usability testing A/B with the design features and principles of design on two of the six systems being compared. The results from the thesis challenge the concepts of mobile interface usability in health, providing users with a structured interpretation of medical information design and a guideline for designers with chronic diseases that would like to create solutions to monitor health problems.Reduzir a institucionalização hospitalar de cidadãos com doenças crónicas é uma das prioridades para os países ocidentais. Quanto maior for a complexidade das condições de saúde, mais difícil se torna a coordenação dos cuidados clínicos. Para melhorar o controle e a gestão da doença, a maioria destes pacientes recorre às aplicações para telemóvel disponíveis em lojas online e aos serviços na web pois, é difícil obter permissão para aceder a dados clínicos em tempo real no telemóvel pessoal a partir do hospital. No contexto da DII – Doença Inflamatória do Intestino – as soluções existentes apresentam níveis de complexidade visual elevados pois, a interface comunica com o utilizador através de símbolos clínicos inadequados em funcionalidades convencionais – fraca legibilidade e inconsistência; Apresenta também, fraca coerência visual entre sistemas multiplataforma. Estes cenários promovem no utilizador, um aumento da curva de aprendizagem relativamente à forma como estes interagem com os sistemas criando assim, uma abertura para o desenvolvimento de soluções pelos que têm habilidade para inovar através da criação e desenvolvimento de sistemas que resolvem os seus problemas com a gestão e coordenação da doença. Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar o comportamento dos pacientes com DII relativamente à gestão da sua doença. Identificar que tipo de problemas – funcionais e de comunicação – existem nas soluções atuais para telemóvel e web no contexto da DII, introduzindo novos temas – estudos em comunicação e design – no modelo "User Innovator" de Von Hippel (1976) que consiste em, utilizadores, como por exemplo, pacientes com doenças crónicas, que inovam ao criarem soluções para resolver os problemas pessoais, tais como, condições de saúde adversas. Para validar no processo de design a integração das três áreas – design, inovação e paciente – criamos a framework “Human-social Interaction Model for e-Health Interfaces” que nos permitiu uma abordagem sustentável à investigação, quando foram aplicados inputs provenientes de experiência pessoal das três perspectivas introduzindo feedback relevante para o objetivo final dos estudos preliminares, também quando criada a interface para dispositivos móveis focada na doença de Crohn, uma das DII, com uma nova experiência de utilizador na área da saúde. Para atingir o objectivo, realizou-se um conjunto de estudos que se encontram divididos em dois momentos: o primeiro, com revisão de literatura sobre a relação da semiótica com a comunicação interativa; o significado da representação simbólica em projetos interativos; as novas linhas de reflexão do Design que definem interfaces e funcionalidades mais próximas do utilizador; a perspectiva dos utilizadores perante a tecnologia como meio de suporte e controle da saúde; o espaço do design e da comunicação em projetos tecnológicos; o desafio para utilizadores/ pacientes que tentam criar sistemas para solucionar problemas pessoais. A segunda parte apresenta a investigação de campo com, um inquérito a 279 participantes com DII; análise empírica de seis casos de estudo – aplicações para telemóvel e multiplataforma: contexto, funcionalidades, levantamento de princípios do design, e testes de usabilidade A/B onde comparamos em dois dos seis sistemas, a articulação entre as funcionalidades e os princípios do design. Os resultados obtidos desafiam a usabilidade das interfaces para telemóvel no contexto da saúde, proporcionando aos utilizadores uma interpretação mais coerente do ponto de vista formal do design de informação médica e um caminho para designers com doenças crónicas que pretendem criar soluções para resolver problemas de monotorização da saúde

Exploring Multimodality in the Laboratory and the Field ABSTRACT

There are new challenges to us, as researchers, on how to design and evaluate new mobile applications because they give users access to powerful computing devices through small interfaces, which typically have limited input facilities. One way of overcoming these shortcomings is to utilize the possibilities of multimodality. We report in this paper how we designed, developed, and evaluated a multimodal mobile application through a combination of laboratory and field studies. This is the first time, as far as we know, that a multimodal application has been developed in such a way. We did this so that we would understand more about where and when users envisioned using different modes of interaction and what problems they may encounter when using an application in context