Lessons Learned from Applying Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Techniques to the Redesign of a User Interface

This research details the finding on web page design principles focusing on the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) aspect. The focus was derived from the Top Ten (10) Web Page Design Mistakes (2003) by Jakob Nielsen, a well-known guru of HCI and usability. In this technological era, there are thousands and millions of web sites and pages but how many of these pages are properly designed? Web page designers nowadays focus too much on the functionality of a system instead interface design which actually projects an application's uniqueness and key messages that creates the desired emotional response from the users involved The objectives of this research includes investigation of principles applied in HCI for web page interface design, redefinition of the erroneous web pages and formulation of domain-specific rules to ensure the effectiveness, practicality and acceptance of these techniques. Usability lab testing, questionnaires, prototype screens are done to focus on evaluation, based on the usability criteria of web pages identified from many credible sources. This research was done based on the fact that Internet users' preference and ease of browsing plays a vital role in deciding the acceptance of a web page. A powerful system would be left behind by users if it is not user friendly or designed according to the standards, principles and guidelines of HCI. The methodology used concentrates on a problem-specified framework which was developed by the author. There were six (6) processes involved namely Identification of target users, User consultation, Task analysis, Usability and accessibility assurance, Consideration of web design issues and Formulation of user interface design specification. The final result of this study is a domain specific guideline of HCI for web page design customized for profit making organizations and individuals. In conclusion, HCI principles is inseparable when it comes to web designing issues and this will continue to be vital as long as web page exist and is used by many

Digital Collections Service for the ROSSIO Infrastructure

Nowadays, especially during these challenging pandemic times, the need to have valuable cultural assets preserved online and available for current and future generations has grown exponentially. Cultural and educational sectors faced unprecedented obstacles as a result of the pandemic’s containment measures since many physical places such as schools, libraries, and museums had little choice but to close temporarily. Digital media has played a vital role in people’s daily interactions and was essential for the affected sectors to continue their work remotely. The pandemic has given an opportunity for cultural heritage organizations to show the benefits of digital collections and resources. By increasing access to a multitude of resources, spotlighting "hidden gems", preserving content, giving students digital materials to learn from, and providing users a different view on cultural heritage, the digital libraries and their digital collections have demonstrated how much they can enable a rich and diverse public domain. This Master’s dissertation was developed in collaboration with the ROSSIO infrastruc- ture, intending to create a service for their platform that allows the creation of digital collections made up of cultural heritage resources gathered by ROSSIO and its partner institutions. The developed service aims to give authenticated users access to an intuitive interface that includes the tools they need to create, edit, and share collections with the public, showcasing the best of Portugal’s cultural heritage in thematic collections that anyone can explore, enjoy and share.Hoje em dia, especialmente durante estes tempos difíceis de pandemia, a necessidade de ter artigos culturais valiosos preservados online e disponíveis, tanto para gerações atuais como futuras, tem aumentado exponencialmente. Devido às medidas de confinamento impostas durante a pandemia, tanto o sector cultural como o educacional teve de enfrentar desafios sem precedentes, uma vez que muitos locais físicos como escolas, bibliotecas e museus não tiveram outra opção que não fosse fechar temporariamente. Os meios digitais têm sido sem dúvida importantes para as interacções diárias entre as pessoas e foram essenciais para que os sectores afectados pudessem continuar o seu trabalho remotamente. A pandemia deu uma oportunidade para as organizações de património cultural mostrarem os benefícios de coleções e recursos digitais. Ao aumentar o acesso a uma infinidade de recursos, destacando "gemas escondidas", preservando o conteúdo, dando aos alunos materiais digitais para estudar e fornecendo aos utilizadores uma visão diferente sobre o património cultural, as bibliotecas digitais e suas coleções digitais demonstraram o quanto podem contribuir para um domínio público rico e diversificado. Esta dissertação de Mestrado foi desenvolvida em colaboração com a infraestrutura ROSSIO, com o objetivo de desenvolver um serviço na sua plataforma que permita a criação de coleções digitais, compostas por recursos patrimoniais culturais recolhidos pela ROSSIO e suas instituições parceiras. O serviço destina-se a ser usado por utilizadores autenticados, oferecendo-lhes um serviço com interface intuitiva que contém as ferramentas necessárias para criar, editar e partilhar coleções com o público, trazendo ao de cima o melhor que o património cultural português tem para oferecer, em coleções temáticas que qualquer um pode explorar, desfrutar e compartilhar com outras pessoas

Beyond the Makerspace

Makerspaces—local workshops that offer access to and training on fabrication technologies, often with a focus on creativity, education, and entrepreneurship—proliferated in the 2010s, popping up in cities across the world. Beyond the Makerspace is a longitudinal, ethnographically informed study of a particular Seattle makerspace that begins in 2015 and ends with the closing of the space in 2018. Examining acts of making with objects, tools, words, and relationships, Beyond the Makerspace reads making as a kind of rhetoric, or meaning-making work, and argues that acts of making things are rhetorical in the sense that they are culturally situated and that they mark boundaries of what counts as making and who counts as maker. By focusing on a particular makerspace over time, Shivers-McNair attends to a changing cohort of makerspace regulars as they face challenges of bringing their vision of inclusivity and diversity to fruition, and offers an examination of how makers are made (and unmade, and remade) in a makerspace. Beyond the Makerspace contributes not only to our understanding of making and makerspaces, but also to our understanding of how to study making—and meaning making, more broadly—in ways that examine and intervene in the marking of difference. Thus, the book examines what (and whose) values and practices we are taking up when we identify as makers or when we turn a writing classroom or a library space into a makerspace

The Southeastern Librarian v. 57, no. 3 (Fall 2009) Complete Issue

Complete issue of The Southeastern Librarian, volume 57, No. 3 (Fall 2009)

Where is the goldmine? Finding promising business locations through Facebook data analytics

Singapore National Research Foundation under International Research Centre @ Singapore Funding Initiativ

Lessons Learned from Applying Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Techniques to the Redesign of a User Interface

This research details the finding on web page design principles focusing on the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) aspect. The focus was derived from the Top Ten (10) Web Page Design Mistakes (2003) by Jakob Nielsen, a well-known guru of HCI and usability. In this technological era, there are thousands and millions of web sites and pages but how many of these pages are properly designed? Web page designers nowadays focus too much on the functionality of a system instead interface design which actually projects an application's uniqueness and key messages that creates the desired emotional response from the users involved The objectives of this research includes investigation of principles applied in HCI for web page interface design, redefinition of the erroneous web pages and formulation of domain-specific rules to ensure the effectiveness, practicality and acceptance of these techniques. Usability lab testing, questionnaires, prototype screens are done to focus on evaluation, based on the usability criteria of web pages identified from many credible sources. This research was done based on the fact that Internet users' preference and ease of browsing plays a vital role in deciding the acceptance of a web page. A powerful system would be left behind by users if it is not user friendly or designed according to the standards, principles and guidelines of HCI. The methodology used concentrates on a problem-specified framework which was developed by the author. There were six (6) processes involved namely Identification of target users, User consultation, Task analysis, Usability and accessibility assurance, Consideration of web design issues and Formulation of user interface design specification. The final result of this study is a domain specific guideline of HCI for web page design customized for profit making organizations and individuals. In conclusion, HCI principles is inseparable when it comes to web designing issues and this will continue to be vital as long as web page exist and is used by many

Footstep: An Approach to Track Web Usage in Real Time

Compreender o comportamento do usuário é primordial para o sucesso de um website. As abordagens existentes que exploram análise do comportamento dos usuários utilizam os logs de servidor. Esses logs possuem detalhes sobre o que cada usuário acessou, como, por exemplo, uma loja online. Embora os logs sejam úteis ao fornecer uma boa percepção a respeito do comportamento dos usuários, eles não fornecem informações detalhadas sobre as ações realizadas pelos mesmos nas páginas acessadas. A fim de atacar este problema, este trabalho propõe o Footstep, um sistema completo que fornece coleta, processamento e análise dos eventos disparados pelos usuários, no nível dos elementos das páginas. Footstep fornece rastreamento dos usuários à medida em que navegam pelas páginas, coletando informações sobre a estrutura DOM dos elementos associados a cada evento. Footstep fornece também um modelo de dados baseado em grafos que facilita a extração de informação útil dos eventos coletados. Finalmente, uma ferramenta analítica é fornecida para visualizar as informações a respeito das interações sobre as páginas e elementos, como audiência, fluxos de navegação e taxas de conversão das páginas e elementos

Virtual Learning Environment For C Programming

The use of computers and communication technologies in learning has a history going back at least 30 years. Recent development in Information Technology establishes a new education paradigm, for which self-directed learning is foundation strategy. Nowadays, web-based learning, which has the potential to affect fundamental changes in the design of learning process and the education system, has been gainingmomentum with an irreversible trend. A Virtual Learning Environment is one of the examples of web-based learning methods. It is an area of computing and intelligent systems which is becoming increasingly important in both research and industry. These technologies have been adopted by many educational institutions to explore better interaction and dynamics changing on teaching-learning environment. The virtual learning system act as virtual tutors and learning companions that help learners in learning. This report is a final year project involving a research and a mini-version of prototypical Virtual Learning Environment, teaching C Programming. A software development methodology has been created and proposed, namely "Water-Spiral" model, combining the Waterfall model and the Spiral model. The main goal of developing the Virtual Learning Environment ofC Programming is to utilize the solid foundation of intelligent system as a platform for a more sophisticated control of multimedia objects in a learning environment. The desirability of new instructional media which allows students to interact with course materials in more exploratory manner has become a dominant theme in current educational technology development. However, computerbased lecture already has a relatively long history and has been shown to positively influence the amount of material learned, the time taken to learn it, and the enjoyment of the learning experience. This system will provide attractive lecture notes, interactive problem-solving situations appropriate to the level of the student and track the student's performance