Software asset management processes and model

The industry must now focus on software assets in order to improve the management of purchased software and their associated licenses: over the years, organizations have indeed purchased a significant amount of commercial software and they now have to manage their related costs while ensuring that the license's terms and conditions are respected. Until now, the industry has been offering incomplete solutions to the management of software assets while using different approaches, terminologies and tools with varying functional scopes. The industry recognizes the need to improve Software Asset Management (SAM) but does not agree on the means to do so. This thesis proposes to start with a common industry SAM definition. To help organizations use the processes that constitute the SAM definition, a descriptive analysis of the processes, an assessment method and a graphical representation are provided to facilitate its use in the industry. Furthermore, to ensure the set of processes reflect the view and needs of the industry; the author actively participated in the writing of the ISO standard on SAM: the panel of experts contributing to ISO also provided a mean to validate several of the SAM topics discussed in this thesis. The research objectives are to: 1. Actively contribute to the development and to the content of the ISO international standard on SAM (ISO/IEC 19770-1). 2. Capture, idenfify and analyze elements that are relevant to SAM, including those that would not make it into the final version of the international standard. 3. Provide an analysis of the international SAM standard with respect to the 27 processes within ISO/IEC 19770-1. 4. Develop an exploratory assessment method to allow organizations to determine their gaps against ISO/IEC 19770-1. The approach selected was to align the research work of this thesis with the then new ISO working group created in 2002 to address issues related to the management of software assets and to contribute actively to the development of an international standard on SAM processes, that is: ISO/IEC 19770-1. The results of this thesis are: 1. A common set of processes to describe the scope and content of SAM. This allows the industry to have a common point of reference and vocabulary when referring to SAM. 2. Through a literature review covering both the industry and the research community it was possible to highlights the divergence of scope and terminology with software manufacturer and the lack of agreement of what is a SAM manager. This thesis addresses these issues by identifying the full set of SAM processes. 3. The thesis analyses the standard used as the basis of reference for the assessment, that is: the ISO/IEC 19770-1 standard on SAM. The description and analysis of this standard allows for a better understanding of the purpose of each process and the interactions across existing standards such as ISO/IEC 20000 on Service Management. 4. The thesis also proposes a method to assess and assign a maturity level to each of the processes of the ISO/IEC 19770-1 standard; the ISO/IEC 15504 standard is used to perform the assessment. 5. Organizations recognize that poor management of software assets puts the organization at risk. However, organizations did not have any common way of assessing these risks. With the use of the ISO/IEC 19770-1 standard and the assessment method, organization can now identify the maturity levels of control points and assess their impact on the organization

Website accessibility in Australia and the national transition strategy: Outcomes and findings

In the most recent statistics, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2012, it was reported that slightly under one in five people stated they had a disability. A further twenty-one percent of the population (4.7 million people) reported that they had a long-term health condition that did not restrict their everyday activities. This total group of people who suffer either a disability or a long-term health condition numbers 8.9 million people, or over thirty-nine percent of the Australian population. Of the people reporting a disability, 3.7 million or eighty-eight percent of that group experienced limitations in the activities of self-care, mobility or communication, or were restricted in their education or employment. (W3C, 2013c) In 2010, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) reported that an estimated one in five Australians or 3.95 million people experienced long term impairment. Of this figure, 2.6 million, or roughly fifteen percent of the population, of people with long term impairments are under the age of 65. At that time it was stated that eighty-six percent report that they experience a core limitation, which involves their mobility or communication and may restrict either their schooling or employment. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010; Begbie, 2010) According to these figures, it would appear that the number of people with disabilities that restrict their daily lives has grown in line with population growth. In June 2010,the Australian Government released the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy (NTS) (Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), 2010a). This document outlines the plan for the adoption and implementation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.0 (W3C, 2008d). This plan provides a strategy for all government websites to conform to WCAG 2.0 Priority Level A by December 2012 and Australian Government sites to WCAG 2.0 Priority Level AA by December 2014. In Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is responsible for administering the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 (DDA) (Australian Government, 2013a) In order to assist organisations in complying with the DDA, the AHRC has produced the World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes Version 4.0 (Advisory Notes). (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2010). These Advisory Notes reinforce the NTS, but also advise all non-government website holders to ensure their websites are compliant to WCAG 2.0 (W3C, 2008d). New non-government websites must adhere to WCAG 2.0 AA, and existing website owners have until December 31, 2013 to comply with this same level. (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2010) Australians have clearly embraced using the Web as their preferred method of dealing with the various levels of government. It is estimated that there are over 4600 registered domains in the gov.au space, with more than 4.2 million documents. Australians enter the federal government web space through ‘www.australia.gov.au’ which has led the transition to WCAG 2.0 by declaring their site compliant to WCAG 2.0 AA, with some elements complying with the AAA level. (Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), 2009). The purpose of this research was to determine whether such a mandated approach by way of a federal government strategy would accomplish the goal of achieving compliance with WCAG 2.0. In order to accomplish this research goal, a selection of websites from government websites was assessed on a regular basis to observe their accessibility changes during the period of the NTS. In addition, this study included websites from non-government sites in order to observe their accessibility changes and also to compare these results with the government website results. The websites were selected in a targeted sample approach in an attempt to choose websites that would enable comparison of the accessibility results. For instance, the same category of websites from each state was selected including the state library, health, disability services, job search, emergency services and business development. Federal government websites were chosen to reflect these same categories plus additional websites with which it was considered Australians had the most contact, including but not limited to broadcasting, tax, health, and information services. The not-for-profit websites chosen represented those considered most well-known, while those selected for the government-affiliated category included a university from each state plus two utilities. The corporate website category included representatives from large corporations such as banks, airlines, mining companies and major shopping as well as representatives selected from organisations such as telecommunications, travel, public transportation, telecommunications and multimedia. In the local government category, the capital city and next largest city in terms of population was chosen from each state. The selection of websites was done in consultation with academic supervisors, members of the W3C as well as in consultation with staff at the Australian Government Information Management Office. Barriers in achieving compliance with WCAG 2.0 and critical success factors for those organisations which achieved the greatest level of compliance were identified both through the evaluation data and also through the surveys conducted throughout the research. The lack of a unified methodology for testing the websites for accessibility was highlighted as an area which needs to be addressed if the Government is to be able to conduct checks on agencies to monitor their progress toward achieving compliance with these accepted standards. The results of this research demonstrate that very few organisations succeeded in meeting even Level A of WCAG by the deadline of December 31, 2012. It is clear however that the government websites achieved greater compliance scores than non-government. In particular, the federal government websites both started as the most accessible and retained that position to the end of the data collection period. While very few websites in this research were successful in achieving compliance with WCAG 2.0 to even Level A, the NTS was successful in the raising of awareness of the issues and requirements of website accessibility, particularly for government agencies. Conversely, this means that the gap between the accessibility of government and non-government websites has widened which is clearly demonstrated by the results of this research

A conceptual framework for generating insights from log analysis in support of mHealth App evaluations

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As the digital health domain, particularly mobile health apps (mHealth), continues to grow, considerable benefits exist for addressing resource-constrained healthcare challenges. Evidence supporting the use, implementation, and sustainability of the Apps are required to realise these benefits. Unfortunately, traditional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) methods are not suited to Apps’ fast-paced agile developments, resulting in a lack of the required evidence base. However, these Apps generate a plethora of log data that provide evidence of the user-technology interactions. Consequently, the log data could be used to support the needed M&E practices for mHealth Apps. Currently, there is a lack of structure and standards required for log analysis to contribute to M&E practices and move beyond descriptive statistics. This research project addresses this need by implementing a Design Science Research (DSR) approach to develop a conceptual framework. The VILA (Valuable Insights from Log Analysis) Framework, developed in this study, structures how insights can be generated from log analysis to support the M&E practices of mHealth Apps. It thereby contributes to the increased use of log data towards building the required evidence base for the support and sustainability of mHealth initiatives. The research design implemented is divided into two phases and five stages. Phase 1 (Theoretical component) incorporates two rigour cycles to inform the first design cycle. A preliminary review, two narrative overviews, an umbrella review, and a scoping review identify the necessary M&E, Digital Health, and Data Science concepts and categories to inform the conceptual framework. The existing M&E frameworks for mHealth Apps are identified and used to develop domain concepts where log analysis would be able to contribute. Thereby, the preliminary VILA Framework is developed based on the existing knowledge base. Next, the research design’s Phase 2 (Evaluation component) uses three stages to evaluate and refine the VILA Framework, thereby ensuring the practical value of the artefact. The VILA Framework is evaluated using two relevance cycles and one change and impact cycle according to the DSR approach. The first relevance cycle evaluates the efficacy, quality, and generalisability of the preliminary VILA Framework using expert reviews. The expert reviews consist of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire with eight South African subject matter experts. The expert reviews confirm the quality and efficacy of the VILA Framework and highlight findings such as the need for a structured process, the challenges of log data, and the generalisability of the VILA Framework. During the second design cycle, the findings are translated into conceptual and structural improvements to develop the refined VILA Framework. The second relevance cycle applies the refined VILA Framework to a real-world case study to structure the log analysis of a South African App. The case study incorporates quantitative and qualitative data analysis, interviews, and four focus groups to evaluate the validity, utility, applicability, and sustainability of the VILA Framework. The case study outcomes include improvement suggestions and future recommendations for the VILA Framework and the company’s M&E practices. Thereby, the case study benefits the participating company and the researcher, establishing the value of the DSR approach and the VILA Framework. Finally, the case study findings are implemented to develop the final VILA Framework (design cycle 3). This research project contributes Level 1 and Level 2 knowledge contributions by providing the developed artefact (i.e., VILA Framework) and documenting its development and evaluation processes. Therefore, adhering to the pragmatic paradigm and DSR principles, the VILA Framework suffices the problem statement. It benefits researchers and practitioners who aim to standardise log analyses or improve the M&E of mHealth Apps. In addition, the project also highlights valuable research topics for future recommendations to improve or optimise the VILA Framework or research within this scope.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aangesien die digitale gesondheidsdomein, veral mobiele gesondheidstoepassings (mGesondheidstoeps), aanhou groei, is daar aansienlike voordele om hulpbronbeperkte gesondheidsorguitdagings aan te spreek. Bewyse wat die gebruik, implementering en volhoubaarheid van die toepassings ondersteun, word vereis om hierdie voordele te verwesenlik. Ongelukkig is tradisionele Monitering en Evaluasie (M&E) metodes nie geskik vir Toeps se vinnige behendige ontwikkelings nie, wat lei tot 'n gebrek aan die vereiste bewysebasis. Hierdie toepassings genereer egter 'n oorvloed logdata wat bewys lewer van die gebruiker-tegnologie interaksies. Gevolglik kan die logdata gebruik word om die nodige M&E-praktyke vir mGesondheidstoeps te ondersteun. Tans is daar 'n gebrek aan struktuur en standaarde wat vereis word vir log-analise om by te dra tot M&E praktyke en verby beskrywende statistiek te beweeg. Hierdie navorsingsprojek spreek hierdie behoefte aan deur 'n “Design Science Research” (DSR)-benadering te implementeer om 'n konseptuele raamwerk te ontwikkel. Die VILA (“Valuable Insights from Log Analysis”) Raamwerk, soos ontwikkel in die studie, struktureer hoe insigte uit log-analise gegenereer kan word om die M&E-praktyke van mGesondheidstoeps te ondersteun. Dit dra daardeur by tot die verhoogde gebruik van logdata om die vereiste bewysebasis vir die ondersteuning en volhoubaarheid van mGesondheids-inisiatiewe te bou. Die navorsingsontwerp wat geïmplementeer is, word in twee fases en vyf subfases verdeel. In Fase 1 (Teoretiese komponent) word twee deeglikheidsiklusse bygewerk om die eerste ontwerpsiklus in te lig. 'n Voorlopige oorsig, twee narratiewe oorsigte, 'n sambreeloorsig en 'n omvangsoorsig lei tot die identifisering van die nodige M&E, Digitale Gesondheid en Datawetenskap konsepte en kategorieë om die konseptuele raamwerk te ontwikkel. Die bestaande M&E-raamwerke vir mGesondheidstoeps word geïdentifiseer en gebruik om domeinkonsepte te ontwikkel waar log-analise ‘n bydra sou kon maak. Daardeur word die voorlopige VILA Raamwerk ontwikkel op grond van die bestaande kennisbasis. Vervolgens word die navorsingsontwerp se Fase 2 (Evalueringskomponent), wat bestaan uit drie subfases, gebruik om die VILA Raamwerk te evalueer en verfyn, daardeur word die praktiese waarde van die artefak verseker. Die VILA Raamwerk word geëvalueer deur twee relevansiesiklusse en een verandering- en impaksiklus volgens die DSR-benadering te gebruik. Die eerste relevansiesiklus evalueer die doeltreffendheid, kwaliteit en veralgemeenbaarheid van die voorlopige VILA Raamwerk deur deskundige resensies te gebruik. Die deskundige resensies bestaan uit semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude en 'n vraelys met agt Suid-Afrikaanse vakkundiges. Die deskundige resensies bevestig die kwaliteit en doeltreffendheid van die VILA Raamwerk en beklemtoon bevindinge soos die behoefte aan 'n gestruktureerde proses, die uitdagings van logdata en die veralgemeenbaarheid van die VILA Raamwerk. Tydens die tweede ontwerpsiklus word die bevindinge in konseptuele en strukturele verbeterings omgesit om die verfynde VILA Raamwerk te ontwikkel. Die tweede relevansiesiklus pas die verfynde VILA Raamwerk toe op 'n werklike gevallestudie om die log analise van 'n Suid-Afrikaanse Toep te struktureer. Die gevallestudie inkorporeer kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe data-analise, onderhoude en vier besprekingsgroepe om die geldigheid, bruikbaarheid, toepaslikheid en volhoubaarheid van die VILA Raamwerk te evalueer. Die gevallestudie-uitkomste sluit verbeteringsvoorstelle en toekomstige aanbevelings vir die VILA Raamwerk en die maatskappy se M&E praktyke in. Daardeur bevoordeel die gevallestudie die deelnemende maatskappy en die navorser, wat die waarde van die DSR-benadering en die VILA Raamwerk vasstel. Laastens word die bevindinge van die gevallestudie geïmplementeer om die finale VILA Raamwerk (ontwerpsiklus 3) te ontwikkel. Hierdie navorsingsprojek dra Vlak 1- en Vlak 2-kennisbydraes by deur die ontwikkelde artefak (VILA Raamwerk) te verskaf en die ontwikkelings- en evalueringsprosesse daarvan te dokumenteer. Daarom, met die nakoming van die pragmatiese paradigma en DSR-beginsels, is die VILA Raamwerk voldoende om die probleemstelling aan te spreek. Dit bevoordeel navorsers en praktisyns wie daarop mik om log-ontledings te standaardiseer of die M&E van mGesondheidstoeps te verbeter. Daarbenewens beklemtoon die projek ook waardevolle navorsingsonderwerpe vir toekomstige werk om die VILA-raamwerk of toekomstige navorsing binne hierdie navorsingsomvang te verbeter of te optimaliseer.Master

INTERACT 2015 Adjunct Proceedings. 15th IFIP TC.13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 14-18 September 2015, Bamberg, Germany

INTERACT is among the world’s top conferences in Human-Computer Interaction. Starting with the first INTERACT conference in 1990, this conference series has been organised under the aegis of the Technical Committee 13 on Human-Computer Interaction of the UNESCO International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). This committee aims at developing the science and technology of the interaction between humans and computing devices. The 15th IFIP TC.13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2015 took place from 14 to 18 September 2015 in Bamberg, Germany. The theme of INTERACT 2015 was "Connection.Tradition.Innovation". This volume presents the Adjunct Proceedings - it contains the position papers for the students of the Doctoral Consortium as well as the position papers of the participants of the various workshops

Aportaciones para la mejora de la usabilidad en aplicaciones móviles de comunicación social

La presente Tesis Doctoral se enmarca en el auge en el uso de las aplicaciones de mensajería instantánea móvil (denominadas MIM) para dispositivos móviles inteligentes (o smartphones) y motivado por los diferentes estudios científicos que señalan los problemas de usabilidad que este tipo de aplicaciones presentan. Para ello, se ha realizado una evaluación sistemática de la usabilidad (con la aplicación de métodos de inspección de la usabilidad: análisis de tareas y evaluación heurística) de las aplicaciones MIM que actualmente se pueden encontrar en el mercado de las dos principales plataformas móviles (iOS y Android). Con los problemas de usabilidad detectados en ambas plataformas se ha propuesto un conjunto de recomendaciones de usabilidad para su aplicación en el diseño de aplicaciones MIM. Tras esta fase de evaluación y propuesta, se ha creado un prototipo de aplicación MIM para la plataforma Android que incorpora dicho conjunto de recomendaciones de usabilidad. El prototipo ha sido evaluado con métodos de inspección de la usabilidad para, tras una valoración satisfactoria, proceder a un experimento controlado con usuarios reales (en este experimento, los participantes han realizado una serie de actividades con el prototipo y un grupo de aplicaciones MIM existentes con buenos resultados de usabilidad derivados de las evaluaciones iniciales), que ha dado como resultado la validación de las recomendaciones de usabilidad para su uso en este tipo de aplicaciones. Como conclusiones, además de (1) la propuesta y validación de las recomendaciones de usabilidad para su aplicación en el contexto de la mensajería instantánea, se pueden extraer algunas conclusiones de la realización de esta investigación: (2) definición formal de las actividades que definen a una aplicación de mensajería instantánea, (3) ratificación de la existencia de problemas de usabilidad en las aplicaciones MIM actuales, (4) confirmación de que los buenos diseños de UI tienen un efecto positivo en el rendimiento de los usuarios de estas aplicaciones y (5) revelación de que son los propios contactos cercanos del usuario los que actúan como el ancla para que el usuario permanezca en la aplicación MIM (pese a tener disconformidades con la aplicación)

Usability-Ergebnisse als Wissensressource in Organisationen

Durch den Prozess der nutzerzentrierten Softwareentwicklung sammeln Organisationen wichtige Erkenntnisse über die Nutzer ihre Produkte, deren Arbeitsaufgaben und über die Nutzungskontexte, in dem diese sie anwenden. Diese Arbeit untersucht, wie derartige Usability-Ergebnisse in einer Organisation langfristig als Durch den Prozess der nutzerzentrierten Softwareentwicklung sammeln Organisationen wichtige Erkenntnisse über die Nutzer ihrer Produkte, deren Arbeitsaufgaben und über die Nutzungskontexte, in denen sie angewendet werden. Diese Arbeit untersucht, wie derartige Usability-Ergebnisse in einer Organisation langfristig als Wissensressource eingesetzt werden können, um die Usability zukünftiger Produkte zu verbessern und die Effizienz des nutzerzentrierten Entwicklungsprozesses zu optimieren. Im Fokus stehen dabei interne Usability-Beauftragte als Anwender dieser Wissensressource: Da diese innerhalb ihrer Organisation für die dort entwickelten Produkte verantwortlich sind, haben sie ein besonders hohes Interesse an der nachhaltigen Nutzung der erhobenen Usability-Ergebnisse. Zu einer organisationsinternen Nutzung von Usability-Ergebnissen existieren bereits Ansätze aus der Forschung zu nutzerzentrierten Entwicklungsprozessen im Bereich der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion, die unterschiedliche Ziele verfolgen. (Hughes, 2006; Douglas, 2007; Vilbergsdottir et al., 2014). Einen frühen Ansatz stellt Andre et al. (2001) mit dem User Action Framework vor, dessen Anwendung jedoch aufwendig sein kann (Hornbæk et al., 2008). Vorschläge für die Klassifizierung von empirischen Usability-Ergebnissen werden bislang vor allem im Kontext der Forschung zu Usability-Methoden eingesetzt (etwa Lavery et al., 1997; Hornbæk et al., 2008). In anderen Bereichen finden sie jedoch keine breite Anwendung, da sie nicht auf die Anwendungsfälle für Usability-Information in Organisationen abgestimmt sind. Als eine zentrale Fragestellung dieser Arbeit wird daher untersucht, für welche Anwendungsfälle eine Sammlung von Usability-Ergebnissen eingesetzt werden kann (Forschungsfrage RQ1). Dafür werden qualitativ ausgerichtete Interviews (n=8) mit internen Usability-Beauftragten sowie Fokusgruppen in zwei Organisationen durchgeführt. Im Rahmen dieser Studien können außerdem die Anforderungen an die Wissensorganisation und an die Informationsinteraktion für die Nutzung von Usability-Ergebnissen als Wissensressource analysiert werden (RQ2). Die Anforderungen werden als ein prototypisches Usability-Informationssystem umgesetzt, welches den Zugang zu einer Sammlung von Usability-Ergebnissen bereitstellt. In einer Studie mit Usability-Beauftragten (n=11) wird dieses System evaluiert, um Rückschlüsse auf die zugrunde liegenden Anforderungen zu ermöglichen. Im Rahmen der Studie werden zudem die Entscheidungsprozesse diskutiert, die angewendet werden, wenn Usability-Ergebnisse auf andere Kontexte übertragen oder verallgemeinert werden sollen (RQ3). Weiterhin werden die Faktoren und Barrieren untersucht, welche die Akzeptanz von Usability-Ergebnissen als Wissensressource in einer Organisation beeinflussen (RQ4). Die Untersuchungen zeigen, dass Usability-Ergebnisse bereits in vielen Organisationen gesammelt und gezielt eingesetzt werden. Die erhobenen Anwendungsfälle (RQ1) umfassen die Übertragung von vorhandenen Ergebnissen auf aktuelle Gestaltungsentscheidungen, Lernprozesse, analytische Fragestellungen und die Verallgemeinerung zu internen Richtlinien. Zu den identifizierten Anforderungen für die Organisation von Usability-Wissen (RQ2) gehört die Kombination von produktübergreifenden und produktbezogenen Metadaten. Die empirischen Evaluierungsergebnisse aus Nutzertests sollten mit den zugrunde liegenden Daten, vor allem aber mit den resultierenden Lösungsvorschlägen verknüpft werden. Bei der Gestaltung der Informationsinteraktion sollten die gezielte Suche, der Umgang mit potenziell unbekannter oder wechselnder Terminologie, aber auch explorative Such- und Lernprozesse unterstützen werden. Wenn Usability-Ergebnisse in einer Organisation mit dem Ziel der Vollständigkeit erhoben werden, können darauf auch Funktionen für die quantitative Analyse und für die Prozessbewertung aufbauen. Für die Bewertung der Übertragbarkeit von Usability-Ergebnissen (RQ3) sind eine Reihe von Entscheidungskriterien und Hinweisen relevant, anhand derer ihre Zuverlässigkeit überprüft und der Erhebungskontext hinsichtlich der Relevanz für eine aktuelle Fragestellung bewertet werden kann. Die Akzeptanz der Anwendung von Usability-Wissen (RQ4) erscheint primär von dem Aufwand abhängig, der für die Erschließung der Ergebnisse erforderlich ist. Die meisten der Teilnehmer bewerten den Aufwand im Verhältnis zu den erwarteten Vorteilen jedoch als angemessen. Mögliche Barrieren für die Wissensteilung können aus der Befürchtung entstehen, die Kontrolle über die Interpretation der Ergebnisse zu verlieren, sowie aus der Wahrnehmung als öffentliche Kritik an den jeweiligen Produktverantwortlichen. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit können dabei helfen, die Unterstützung für die Nutzung von Usability-Ergebnissen als Wissensressource auf die erhobenen Anwendungsfälle auszurichten. Dafür werden Empfehlungen zu möglichen Ausrichtungen eines Usability-Informationssystems in Organisationen gegeben. Die Ergebnisse verweisen außerdem auf das große Potenzial für weitere Forschungsvorhaben in diesem Bereich, sowohl in Hinblick auf eine bessere Unterstützung des Wissensmanagements von Usability-Ergebnissen als auch in Bezug auf die Übertragung der grundlegenden Erkenntnisse dieser Arbeit auf andere Anwendungsdomänen, etwa im Bereich des Managements von Forschungsdaten.User centered software development provides organizations with valuable insights about the users of their software, about their work tasks and the various contexts in which a product is used. This dissertation explores how organizations can profit even more from such results in the long term by using them as an internal knowledge resource for improving the usability of future products and for increasing the efficiency of user centered processes. This topic will be investigated for in-house usability consultants as the primary target group of such a resource. In-house consultants are responsible for the quality of the products developed in their company, and the sustainable management of internal usability results therefore is of particular interest to them. In the research field of human computer interaction and user centered design, several approaches have already been proposed which can be used to systematize usability results in order to pursue a variety of goals (e.g. Hughes 2006; Douglas 2007; Vilbergsdottir et al. 2014). The User Action Framework (Andre et al. 2001) is an important contribution in this area. Its implementation, however, may prove to be difficult for many organizations because applying it was found to be resource intensive (Hornbæk et al., 2008). Other classification systems for usability problems have predominantly been in use in scientific studies on the evaluation of usability methods (e. g. Lavery et al. 1997; Hornbæk & Frøkjær 2008). These approaches have not been widely adopted because of the efforts involved in applying them, and because they do not take into account relevant use cases for usability information in organizations. The identification of use cases for the internal application of usability results therefore constitutes an important research question of this dissertation (research question RQ1). Qualitative interviews with in-house usability consultants (n=8) as well as focus groups in two organizations are conducted in order to investigate this question and to elicit usage requirements of an usability information system (research question RQ2). A prototypical usability information system implements these requirements based on a set of realistic usability results. The system and the proposed requirements are evaluated in an additional study with usability consultants (n=11). In the context of this study, criteria for reusing and generalizing usability results can be examined from the point of view of the participants (research question RQ3). In addition, the factors and barriers influencing the process of sharing and using usability knowledge have been investigated (research question RQ4). Results demonstrate that usability results have already been collected and applied to different use cases in many organizations (RQ1), including their direct application to current design decisions, learning and exploration, analytic questions, and the creation of internal usability standards. The organization of usability results (RQ2) requires a combination of product-specific characteristics with more general attributes as metadata for search and analysis. Results from user studies should be linked to the underlying empirical data and to the resulting design recommendations. Requirements for information interaction include support for the targeted search for usability results, dealing with potentially unknown or changing terminology, as well as possibilities for exploratory search and learning. If results are collected comprehensively in an organization, features for information analysis can be used to support the improvement of development processes. A number of different criteria are used to assess the reliability of usability results and the fit between the context in which a result was elicited and the context to which the result is to be applied. These aspects together provide the basis for deciding about the transferability of results (RQ3). Acceptance of the application of usability results as an information resource (RQ4) primarily depends on the amount of effort which is required for documenting these results. However, most participants expect the benefits to outweigh these efforts. Possible barriers for sharing usability results also include concerns about the loss of control over their interpretation as well as the perception of published results as criticism by those who are responsible for a product. In addition to describing existing practices, the results of this dissertation are intended to offer assistance for the application of usability results as an information resource in different use cases. Accordingly, recommendations about different categories of usability information systems are presented. The findings indicate further possibilities for research with the goal of improving knowledge management for usability results and may also be applied to other domains such as research data management

XXV Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación - CACIC 2019: libro de actas

Trabajos presentados en el XXV Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación (CACIC), celebrado en la ciudad de Río Cuarto los días 14 al 18 de octubre de 2019 organizado por la Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI) y Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales - Universidad Nacional de Río CuartoRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

XXV Congreso Argentino de Ciencias de la Computación - CACIC 2019: libro de actas

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