Interplay between User Experience (UX) evaluation and system development

User Experience (UX) is a maturing research area pertaining to as well as extending beyond the traditional usability. Issues in the realm of usability may be amplified in UX because of its larger scope. Four key non-orthogonal issues are definition, modeling, method selection, and interplay between evaluation and development. Leveraging the legacy of a series of related research activities, this Special Issue (SI) aims to develop a deeper understanding of how evaluation feedback shapes software development, especially when experiential qualities such as fun, trust, esthetic values are concerned. Three articles addressing this specific topic from different perspectives and with different approaches are included in this SI.Law, EL.; Abrahao Gonzales, SM. (2014). Interplay between User Experience (UX) evaluation and system development. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 72(6):523-525. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.03.003S52352572

The usefulness of Usability and User Experience evaluation methods on an e-Learning platform development from a developer's perspective: A case study

The development of a web platform is a complex and interdisciplinary task, where people with different roles such as project manager, designer or developer participate. Different usability and User Experience evaluation methods can be used in each stage of the development life cycle, but not all of them have the same influence in the software development and in the final product or system. This article presents the study of the impact of these methods applied in the context of an e-Learning platform development. The results show that the impact has been strong from a developer's perspective. Developer team members considered that usability and User Experience evaluation allowed them mainly to identify design mistakes, improve the platform's usability and understand the end users and their needs in a better way. Interviews with potential users, clickmaps and scrollmaps were rated as the most useful methods. Finally, these methods were considered unanimously very useful in the context of the entire software development, only comparable to SCRUM meetings and overcoming the rest of involved factors

A Machine Learning Approach for Classifying Textual Data in Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing represents an innovative approach that allows companies to engage a diverse network of people over the internet and use their collective creativity, expertise, or workforce for completing tasks that have previously been performed by dedicated employees or contractors. However, the process of reviewing and filtering the large amount of solutions, ideas, or feedback submitted by a crowd is a latent challenge. Identifying valuable inputs and separating them from low quality contributions that cannot be used by the companies is time-consuming and cost-intensive. In this study, we build upon the principles of text mining and machine learning to partially automatize this process. Our results show that it is possible to explain and predict the quality of crowdsourced contributions based on a set of textual features. We use these textual features to train and evaluate a classification algorithm capable of automatically filtering textual contributions in crowdsourcing

Information and interaction requirements for software tools supporting analogical design

AbstractOne mode of creative design is for designers to draw analogies that connect the design domain (e.g., a mechanical device) to some other domain from which inspiration is drawn (e.g., a biological system). The identification and application of analogies can be supported by software tools that store, structure, present, or propose source domain stimuli from which such analogies might be constructed. For these tools to be effective and not impact the design process in negative ways, they must fit well with the information and interaction needs of their users. However, the user requirements for these tools are seldom explicitly discussed. Furthermore, the literature that supports the identification of such requirements is distributed across a number of different domains, including those that address analogical design (especially biomimetics), creativity support tools, and human–computer interaction. The requirements that these literatures propose can be divided into those that relate to the information content that the tools provide (e.g., level of abstraction or mode of representation) and those that relate to the interaction qualities that the tools support (e.g., accessibility or shareability). Examining the relationships between these requirements suggests that tool developers should focus on satisfying the key requirements of open-endedness and accessibility while managing the conflicts between the other requirements. Attention to these requirements and the relationships between them promises to yield analogical design support tools that better permit designers to identify and apply source information in their creative work.Dr Gülşen Töre Yargın' s work was supported by the International Post Doctoral Research Fellowship Programme [BİDEB-2219] from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Dr Nathan Crilly' s work was supported by an Early Career Fellowship [EP/K008196/1] from the UK s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).This is the accepted manuscript. It will be embargoed until 27/10/2015. The final version is available from CUP at http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9673077&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S089006041500007

Exploring organisational competences in Human Factors and UX project work: Managing careers, project tactics and organisational strategy

Organisational competence in Human Factors and UX (user experience) has not been looked at before despite its relevance to project success. We define organisational competence as the collective competence of the individuals, bringing together their complementary abilities to deliver an outcome that is typically more than the sum of its parts. Twenty-two UX and Human Factors practitioners were interviewed about their project work in two contrasting domains: web design and safety-critical systems to explore organisational competences. Through doing a FRAM analysis 29 functions and six main areas of competences were identified: the central project process; the process of learning about the problem; maintaining and developing client relations; staff development; evolving practices; and the management of documentation for audit and quality control. These dynamic and situated competences form a web of interactions. Managing competences is essential for project success. Implications for managing careers, project tactics and organisational strategy are discussed

An Empirical Study of Website Quality in the Public Sector

In the public sector, we find that traditional face-to-face interaction has, in many cases, been replaced by online communication and transactions during the last decade. The quality of public sector websites is, therefore, of particular importance in order to ensure quality participation in an increasingly digital society by all the citizens. In view of the fact that Norway and Denmark aim to be world leaders of the Web, with regard to innovations, technical standards and user-centred development, easily accessible facilitation for high quality interactions assumes considerable significance. With reference to this particular aspect, the following Ph.D. thesis focusses on perceptions and measurement of website quality and success, by emphasising and highlighting the performance of public sector websites in the Scandinavian countries (respectively Norway and Denmark). This thesis draws on both qualitative and quantitative data collected during the research process. A grounded theory approach is applied in order to investigate explanations of website quality and statistical analysis is performed to examine perceptions of quality and success in websites. In this regard, the webmasters’ perspectives are emphasised, as they are found to be pivotal figures and key contributors in website quality improvements. Website quality criteria, obligated by the central governments are also discussed. These criteria aim to minimise a gap between the governments and the citizens for provision of online information and digital services. The findings and explanations of website quality cover a variety of features and range from technical standards to a broad definition of usability. Pertaining to this fact, added emphasis is placed on actual usage and subjective issues concerning user-friendliness and ease of use, compared to the criteria implemented by the governments, which focus more on objective technical measures. This may explain why users are not actually satisfied with high quality websites, when compared to low quality websites, in an annual assessment of hundreds of public websites based on these criteria. Accordingly, explanations and measurements of quality within the public sector are perceived differently, when taking into account the citizens’ (users’) needs and requirements from websites. Based on the use of quality criteria and evaluation methods applied to such evaluations, there exists a potential argument for adopting an additional user-centred focus. Furthermore, user satisfaction is emphasised as a measure of success in websites and user-centred development is found to be a key contributor. In view of this fact, the findings also prove that the public sector in general should improve and extend their feedback channels, by extending frequency and methods applied in user testing and continuous quality improvements. The fact that government bodies perform testing to a minimal extent and that more sophisticated methods should be included, demonstrates a potential for advances in facilitation for improved and refined user experiences in online communication between citizens and the public sector. In this regard, organisations which perform user testing tend to see a stronger correlation between website quality, user satisfaction and net (user) benefits. The concluding observations in the thesis, suggest that further research can decrease a gap between the governments’ perceptions of quality, and the citizens’ needs and requirements from public websites. Future investments and quality improvements should devote increased attention to testing and issues concerning inclusion of real users, and the benefits of such actions. Implications for practice are also provided in order to move the sector forward and facilitation for improved and refined user experiences and success on the Web

An Investigation of the Impact of Task-Types on the Reactivity of the Concurrent Think-Aloud in Usability Testing

The Concurrent think-aloud (CTA) is primarily used to understand users’ task based cognitive processes. However, is not without limitations. CTA procedures varies widely among practitioners. Also, it has been known to cause reactivity: an artificial change in task performance. This is problematic because it may alter the accuracy of task performance. Also, research on reactivity within usability testing have shown mixed findings. Thus, conclusions cannot be drawn to attest to whether reactivity occurs due to varying administration procedures and therefore we must now consider its relationship to other test-based factors. This research will be the first to systematically investigate the impact of task-type on reactivity of the CTA and the first to systematically investigates practitioners working habit in terms of their views on reactivity when using CTA in practice. Three studies were conducted, the first study investigates the Impact of task-types on the Reactivity of CTA and uses a mixed design. The results suggest that, thinking aloud during usability testing does not cause reactivity, and task type does not impact concurrent think-aloud. However, sensemaking tasks increase mental demand. The second study investigates the impact of task-type on two different think-aloud protocols and uses a mixed design. The result indicates that, the classic think-aloud method led to more successful task completion and no reactivity, while the explicit instruction produced fewer successful task completions and a higher mental workload. The explicit instruction produced less verbalisation, resulting in fewer relevant explanatory utterances, contradicting expectations. The third study uses an interview method to explores practitioners' experiences, views on reactivity and challenges when using the think-aloud method within usability testing. These studies demonstrates unequivocally that CTA should not be abandoned in usability studies as it provided valuable think-aloud data and helped identify usability issues. Additionally, practitioners should not replace the traditional think- aloud approach with explicit instruction, as explicit instruction had a greater influence on participants' behaviour. Ericsson and Simon's recommendations should be used for concurrent data collection, as it ensures data validity and generates the same type of data as explicit instruction while reducing reactivity