Integrating internationalization in the user-centered software development process

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39143-9_27Proceedings of 5th International Conference, CCD 2013, Held as Part of HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, NV, USA, July 21-26, 2013Internationalization is a common practice today in software development. In the most basic sense, internationalization is carried out by applying localization design guidelines to face language translation, icon representation, character sets and so on. However, this practice is mostly intended for design purposes, which results insufficient when applying internationalization in huge projects and, specifically, through a concrete development process. In this paper, a broader framework is provided in order to ensure internationalization through a software development process. To this end, a set of activities and sub-activities will be presented involving not only design but pre-development, analysis, implementation and evaluation issues that need to be considered for a right internationalization assurance in international software development. The idea behind is to bridge the gap between simple and usual localization activities and the user-centered software development process as internationalization assurance also helps increase the quality and usability of the software overall.This work has been supported by the founded projects TIN2011-24139, S2009/TIC-1650 and TIN2011-15009-

Culture in the design of mHealth UI:An effort to increase acceptance among culturally specific groups

Purpose: Designers of mobile applications have long understood the importance of users’ preferences in making the user experience easier, convenient and therefore valuable. The cultural aspects of groups of users are among the key features of users’ design preferences, because each group’s preferences depend on various features that are culturally compatible. The process of integrating culture into the design of a system has always been an important ingredient for effective and interactive human computer interface. This study aims to investigate the design of a mobile health (mHealth) application user interface (UI) based on Arabic culture. It was argued that integrating certain cultural values of specific groups of users into the design of UI would increase their acceptance of the technology. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 135 users responded to an online survey about their acceptance of a culturally designed mHealth. Findings: The findings showed that culturally based language, colours, layout and images had a significant relationship with users’ behavioural intention to use the culturally based mHealth UI. Research limitations/implications: First, the sample and the data collected of this study were restricted to Arab users and Arab culture; therefore, the results cannot be generalized to other cultures and users. Second, the adapted unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model was used in this study instead of the new version, which may expose new perceptions. Third, the cultural aspects of UI design in this study were limited to the images, colours, language and layout. Practical implications: It encourages UI designers to implement the relevant cultural aspects while developing mobile applications. Originality/value: Embedding Arab cultural aspects in designing UI for mobile applications to satisfy Arab users and enhance their acceptance toward using mobile applications, which will reflect positively on their lives.</p

A survey of cultural aspects in Human Computer Interaction Research

Considering culture in human computer interaction research is an important issue since culture has a strong impact on many cognitive and affective processes, closed related to the design and evaluation of interactive systems. Also, people with different cultural backgrounds develop alternative interpretations and strategies and do not value their environment in the same way, and this reflects in their interactions and satisfaction with interactive technologies. In this survey we summarize some concepts of the cultural aspects related to human computer interaction research. After we discuss how HCI practices could address these cultural issues. Our intention is to establish background and some basic concepts for helping researchers incorporating cultural issues in their design and evaluation processes

Designing a gamified social platform for people living with dementia and their live-in family caregivers

In the current paper, a social gamified platform for people living with dementia and their live-in family caregivers, integrating a broader diagnostic approach and interactive interventions is presented. The CAREGIVERSPRO-MMD (C-MMD) platform constitutes a support tool for the patient and the informal caregiver - also referred to as the dyad - that strengthens self-care, and builds community capacity and engagement at the point of care. The platform is implemented to improve social collaboration, adherence to treatment guidelines through gamification, recognition of progress indicators and measures to guide management of patients with dementia, and strategies and tools to improve treatment interventions and medication adherence. Moreover, particular attention was provided on guidelines, considerations and user requirements for the design of a User-Centered Design (UCD) platform. The design of the platform has been based on a deep understanding of users, tasks and contexts in order to improve platform usability, and provide adaptive and intuitive User Interfaces with high accessibility. In this paper, the architecture and services of the C-MMD platform are presented, and specifically the gamification aspects. © 2018 Association for Computing Machinery.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Incorporating marketing strategies to improve usability assurance in user-centered design processes

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20901-2_14Proceedings of 17th International Conference, HCI International 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, August 2-7, 2015Nowadays, international companies have been using different strategies in order to obtain more attractive products and get a higher impact on the market. But when referring to software products, it is necessary to keep in mind that such strategies are affected by specific quality criteria as usability. Usability and marketing can be combined to offer more attractive products. In fact, specific instances of marketing technics have been gradually adopted by software engineers to improve usability. All in all, there is a lack of systematic approaches dealing with the integration of both marketing and usability through activities in a user-centered development process. To face such challenge, in this paper we have selected the most important marketing strategies to be integrated as activities in a user-centered process model. Activities were classified into Pre-Development, Development and Post-Development, and they have been sorted out depending on the marketing processes taking place before, during and after the development of a software product, respectively.This work has been supported by the funding project S2013/ICE-2715 granted by the Madrid Research Counci

A Cybersecurity Model for a Roblox-based Metaverse Architecture Framework

The adoption of virtual reality VR and augmented reality AR headsets in futuristic and science fiction has made it possible for the Metaverse to exist as a single universal immersive virtual universe By extending technology outside of our physical reality the Metaverse alters the human experience The four categories we use to categorize metaverse definitions are environment interface interaction and social value Currently it is unclear what the metaverse s structure and elements are A cybersecurity framework for these devices is necessary as the world grows more interconnected and immersive technologies are increasingly widely used in business government and consumer markets Used was a literature revie

Frotcom : the strategy behind internationalization

The thesis hereby presented in the form of a case study aims to discuss the expansion challenges that came across to both Valério Marques and Renato Ferreira as CEO and CTO of Frotcom International. Throughout the case study it is explained how a company that came from a very fragile financial position was able to expand internationally. Frotcom International is a fleet manager developer based in Lisbon, Portugal that resulted as a spinoff of a R&D company called Quadriga. After the Dotcom bubble this company had a critical downsize which forced Valério and Renato to focus on only one of their ongoing projects, from their wide portfolio they chose Frotcom (a fleet management system). Frotcom International’s main challenge was the lack of financial resources to enter new markets. However, using their website as a bridge between them and interested partners they built the company infrastructure to support the autonomy of each partner in their exclusive territory. This strategy allowed not only Frotcom to expand internationally but also enabled them to solely focus on their product – Frotcom. The internationalization strategy created by Valério and Renato is an excellent example of innovation which should be interesting to approach in strategy courses. The theory applied in this case-study is well structured in the Literature Review. Moreover, in the sense to offer an extent look of the thesis, the Teaching Notes focus on the critical issues debated throughout the case.A tese aqui apresentada sobre a forma de um estudo de caso tem como objetivo a discussão dos desafios que a expansão da empresa Frotcom Internacional trouxe ao seu CEO, Valério Marques e ao seu CTO, Renato Ferreira. No decorrer deste caso, é explicado como é a Frotcom perante uma situação financeira bastante frágil conseguiu expandir-se internacionalmente. Quando a empresa de R&D – Quadriga, sofre uma recessão no seguimento da Dotcom bubble, Valério e Renato vêm-se obrigados a focar todos os seus recursos em apenas um projeto, dando-se assim a criação da Frotcom International. Esta empresa é sedeada em Lisboa, sendo o seu “core” o desenvolvimento de um sistema de gestão de frotas. O maior desafio da Frotcom International foi a falta de recursos financeiros tradicionalmente utilizados na entrada em novos mercados. No entanto, com o intuído de contrariar esta situação, desenvolveram o seu website como ponte entre a Frotcom e parceiros interessados. Para além disso, desenvolveram a infraestrutura da empresa para que pudesse suportar a autonomia destes potenciais parceiros nos seus mercados exclusivos. Esta estratégia não só permitiu a expansão exponencial da empresa como a libertou para se focar no desenvolvimento do seu produto – Frotcom. A estratégia de internacionalização apresentada neste caso é um excelente exemplo de inovação, que deveria ser estudado em cadeiras de estratégia