Conveying User Experience in Business-to-Business Environment

Tässä työssä käsittelen käyttäjäkokemuslähtöisen tuotesuunnittelun mahdollisuuksia vaikuttaa erottautumistekijöihin teollisissa yrityksissä, jotka toimivat B2B ympäristössä. Työn tavoitteena on tarkastella kokemuspohjaisen suunnittelun teoreettisia lähtökohtia, ottaen huomioon muotoilun, kognitiotieteiden ja kauppatieteiden alojen tutkimuspohja. B2B ympäristön tarkastelu on tämän työn yksi painopisteistä, koska siinä tuotteen omistus ja käyttö jakautuvat asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien kesken. Tämä toisaalta vaikuttaa tuotteen suunnittelun lähtökohtiin, sen markkinointiin, myyntiin ja vastaavasti asiakas- ja käyttäjäkokemukseen. Työ on tehty FIMECC:in aloittaman UXUS projektin yhteydessä. Projektin tarkoitus on tutkia ja soveltaa käyttäjäkokemuksen lähtökohtia teollisessa ympäristössä. Työssäni pyrin kehittämään teoreettisen ajatusmallin, jolla asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien kokemuksia voidaan tarkastella eri tasoilla ja ottaa huomioon suunnitteluprosessin varhaisissa vaiheissa. Tämä malli pohjautuu osittain psykologisiin teorioihin, jotka tulevat esille aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa mm. Carver ja Scheier (1998); Sheldon, K.M., Elliot, A.J., Kim, Y. ja Kasser, T. (2001). Ajatusmallin ensisijainen tarkoitus on toimia tukityökaluna tuottajayrityksen tuotekehityksen ja markkinoinnin yksiköille kun halutaan soveltaa kokemuslähtöisen suunnittelun periaatteita yrityksen toiminnassa. Mallin toinen tarkoitus on toimia perustana teolliseen ympäristöön soveltuvien kokemusmittareiden kehitykselle. Työn toinen osio keskittyy yheden UXUS projektin yrityskumppanin toiminnan tutkimiseen (Rocla). Tässä osiossa pyrin kehittämään kokemusmittariston, jonka tarkoituksena on huomioida tuottajayrityksen, tuotevälittäjien, asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien näkemyksiä tuotteiden ominaisuuksista ja kokemuksista sekä mahdollistaa vertailu näiden osapuolten välillä. Kerätyn aineiston ja vertailun tarkoitus on auttaa tuotekehitys- ja markkinointitiimien työtä kun määritetään uusien tuotteiden kehityskriteerit ja myyntiargumentit. Kokemusmittariston sunnittelussa käytän sekä teoreettisia lähtökohtia, jotka käydään läpi työn alussa, että kymmentä johtajatason henkilön haastattelutulosta Roclan tuotekehityksen, markkinoinnin ja myynnin yksiköistä. Tämän lisäksi sovellan ajatuksia keskusteluista, joita käytiin läpi lukuisissa tutkijatapaamisissa, kenttä- ja yritysvierailuilla. Ehdotetun kokemusmittariston avulla kerään aineistoa 57:ltä kokeneelta varastotuotevälittäjältä. Välittäjät vertasivat kahta erityyppistä varastokonetta heidän kokemuksiensa perusteella ja myös osoittivat näkemyksensä psykologisten tarpeiden tärkeydestä asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien näkökulmasta. Aineiston analyysi osoittaa, että vaikka välittäjät kokivat selkeitä eroja tuotteiden visuaalisen ulkonön viehättävyydessä, tämä tekijän tärkeys oli yleisesti vähäinen (mm. osittain linjassa Diefenbach, S. ja Hassenzahl, M. (2011) tulosten kanssa). Tämä tulos tukee ajatusta siitä, jos kokemuspohjaisia lähtökohtia halutaan soveltaa erottautumistekijöinä B2B ympäristössä, niiden pitää olla vahvasti ja selkeästi yhdistettynä taloudellisiin mittareihin.The main goal of this study is to investigate theoretical background behind user experience (UX) paradigm and its possible implementation in industrial product development within business-to-business (B-to-B) environment. This work is conducted in the realm of UXUS project (User Experience and Usability in complex Systems), which was initiated by FIMECC (Finnish Metals and Engineering Competence Cluster) in 2010. In contrast to business-to-consumer environment, B-to-B setting separates ownership and actual use of the product. My aim lies in elaborating on various impacts of this separation on user and customer experiences and possible ways to communicate benefits of better UX to customers and equipment distributors. In the content of this paper, I introduce a theoretical thinking model for approaching experiences in industrial product development and an experimental questionnaire set, which is meant to capture different aspects of product and operating environment experiences. I test the proposed questionnaire set with 57 experienced warehouse equipment distributors who evaluate two separate industrial products. Results indicate that distributors are able to appreciate differences in hedonic qualities of industrial equipment and that visual appearance is a major factor in indicated product perceptions. However, overall hedonic qualities were perceived as less important compared to utilitarian qualities, which is partially in line with consumer product findings by DIEFENBACH, et al. (2011). I also find that distributors were unable to appreciate the importance of three major psychological needs (relatedness, autonomy and competence as indicated by SHELDON, et al., 2001) in industrial product development. I also analyze interviews of ten managers from warehouse equipment manufacturing company Rocla to investigate whether individuals working in separate departments perceive implications of UX paradigm differently. Findings indicate that individuals dealing with R&D activities stress the importance of end-users in deriving criteria for product development whereas individuals dealing with marketing and sales activities emphasize the role of personal relationships with customers. The longrun aim of this research direction is to assess strategic potential of UX paradigm for industrial product manufacturers

A framework to evaluate user experience of end user application security features

The use of technology in society moved from satisfying the technical needs of users to giving a lasting user experience while interacting with the technology. The continuous technological advancements have led to a diversity of emerging security concerns. It is necessary to balance security issues with user interaction. As such, designers have adapted to this reality by practising user centred design during product development to cater for the experiential needs of user - product interaction. These User Centred Design best practices and standards ensure that security features are incorporated within End User Programs (EUP). The primary function of EUP is not security, and interaction with security features while performing a program related task does present the end user with an extra burden. Evaluation mechanisms exist to enumerate the performance of the EUP and the user’s experience of the product interaction. Security evaluation standards focus on the program code security as well as on security functionalities of programs designed for security. However, little attention has been paid to evaluating user experience of functionalities offered by embedded security features. A qualitative case study research using problem based and design science research approaches was used to address the lack of criteria to evaluate user experience with embedded security features. User study findings reflect poor user experience with EUP security features, mainly as a result of low awareness of their existence, their location and sometimes even of their importance. From the literature review of the information security and user experience domains and the user study survey findings, four components of the framework were identified, namely: end user characteristics, information security, user experience and end user program security features characteristics. This thesis focuses on developing a framework that can be used to evaluate the user experience of interacting with end user program security features. The framework was designed following the design science research method and was reviewed by peers and experts for its suitability to address the problem. Subject experts in the fields of information security and human computer interaction were engaged, as the research is multidisciplinary. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge on information security and on user experience elements of human computer interaction security regarding how to evaluate user experience of embedded InfoSec features. The research adds uniquely to the literature in the area of Human Computer Interaction Security evaluation and measurement in general, and is specific to end user program security features. The proposed metrics for evaluating UX of interacting with EUP security features were used to propose intervention to influence UX in an academic setup. The framework, besides presenting UX evaluation strategies for EUP security features, also presents a platform for further academic research on human factors of information security. The impact can be evaluated by assessing security behaviour, and successful security breaches, as well as user experience of interaction with end user programs

User experience in cross-cultural contexts

This dissertation discusses how interdisciplinary UX teams can consider culturally sensitive design elements during the UX design process. It contributes a state-of-the-art meta review on UX evaluation methods, two software tool artifacts for cross-functional UX teams, and empirical insights in the differing usage behaviors of a website plug-in of French, German and Italian users, website design preferences of Vietnamese and German users, as well as learnings from a field trip that focused on studying privacy and personalization in Mumbai, India. Finally, based on these empirical insights, this work introduces the concept culturally sensitive design that goes beyond traditional cross-cultural design considerations in HCI that do not compare different approaches to consider culturally sensitive product aspects in user research

The Integrated User Experience Evaluation Model: A Systematic Approach To Integrating User Experience Data Sources

Evaluating the user experience (UX) associated with product interaction is a challenge for current human-systems developers. This is largely due to a lack of theoretical guidance for directing how best to assess the UX and a paucity of tools to support such evaluation. This dissertation provided a framework and tools for guiding and supporting evaluation of the user experience. This doctoral research involved reviewing the literature on UX, using this knowledge to build first build a theoretical model of the UX construct and later develop a theoretical model to for the evaluation of UX in order to aid evaluators – the integrated User eXperience EValuation (iUXEV), and empirically validating select components of the model through three case studies. The developed evaluation model was subjected to a three phase validation process that included the development and application of different components of the model separately. The first case study focused on developing a tool and method for assessing the affective component of UX which resulted in lessons learned for the integration of the tool and method into the iUXEV model. The second case study focused on integrating several tools that target different components of UX and resulted in a better understanding of how the data could be utilized as well as identify the need for an integration method to bring the data together. The third case study focused on the application of the results of an usability evaluation on an organizational setting which resulted in the identification of challenges and needs faced by practitioners. Taken together, this body of research, from the theoretically-driven iUXEV model to the newly developed emotional assessment tool, extends the user experience / usability body of knowledge and state-of-practice for interaction design practitioners who are challenged with holistic user experience evaluations, thereby advancing the state-of-the-art in UX design and evaluation

A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO SUPPORTING USERS’ ADAPTATION TO SMART IN-VEHICLE SYSTEMS

The utilization of data to understand user behavior and support user needs began to develop in areas such as internet services, smartphone apps development, and the gaming industry. This bloom of data-driven services and applications forced OEMs to consider possible solutions for better in-vehicle connectivity. However, digital transformation in the automotive sector presents numerous challenges. One of those challenges is identifying and establishing the relevant user-related data that will cover current and future needs to help the automotive industry cope with the digital transformation pace. At the same time, this development should not be sporadic, without a clear purpose or vision of how newly-generated data can support engineers to create better systems for drivers. The important issue is to learn how to extract the knowledge from the immense data we possess, and to understand the extent to which this data can be used.Another challenge is the lack of established approaches towards vehicle data utilization for user-related studies. This area is relatively new to the automotive industry. Despite the positive examples from other fields that demonstrate the potential for data-driven context-aware applications, automotive practices still have gaps in capturing the driving context and driver behavior. This lack of user-related data can partially be explained by the multitasking activities that the driver performs while driving the car and the higher complexity of the automotive context compared to other domains. Thus, more research is needed to explore the capacity of vehicle data to support users in different tasks.Considering all the interrelations between the driver and in-vehicle system in the defined context of use helps to obtain more comprehensive information and better understand how the system under evaluation can be improved to meet driver needs. Tracking driver behavior with the help of vehicle data may provide developers with quick and reliable user feedback on how drivers are using the system. Compared to vehicle data, the driver’s feedback is often incomplete and perception-based since the driver cannot always correlate his behavior to complex processes of vehicle performance or clearly remember the context conditions. Thus, this research aims to demonstrate the ability of vehicle data to support product design and evaluation processes with data-driven automated user insights. This research does not disregard the driver’s qualitative input as unimportant but provides insights into how to better combine quantitative and qualitative methods for more effective results.According to the aim, the research focuses on three main aspects:•\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Identifying the extent to which vehicle data can contribute to driver behavior understanding.\ua0 •\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Expanding the concepts for vehicle data utilization to support drivers.•\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0\ua0 Developing the methodology for a more effective combination of quantitative (vehicle data-based) and qualitative (based on users’ feedback) studies. Additionally, special consideration is given to describing the drawbacks and limitations, to enhance future data-driven applications

Shape It Better than Skip It: Mapping the Territory of Quantum Computing and Its Transformative Potential

Quantum Computing (QC) is an emerging and fast-growing research field that combines computer science with quantum mechanics such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. In order to contribute to a clarification of this field, the objective of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it aims to map the territory in which most relevant QC researches, scientific communities and related domains are stated and its relationship with classical computing. Secondly, it aims to examine the future research agenda according to different perspectives. We will do so by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR) based on the most important databases from 2010 to 2022. Our findings demonstrate that there is still room for understanding QC and how it transforms business, society and learning

Web Data Extraction, Applications and Techniques: A Survey

Web Data Extraction is an important problem that has been studied by means of different scientific tools and in a broad range of applications. Many approaches to extracting data from the Web have been designed to solve specific problems and operate in ad-hoc domains. Other approaches, instead, heavily reuse techniques and algorithms developed in the field of Information Extraction. This survey aims at providing a structured and comprehensive overview of the literature in the field of Web Data Extraction. We provided a simple classification framework in which existing Web Data Extraction applications are grouped into two main classes, namely applications at the Enterprise level and at the Social Web level. At the Enterprise level, Web Data Extraction techniques emerge as a key tool to perform data analysis in Business and Competitive Intelligence systems as well as for business process re-engineering. At the Social Web level, Web Data Extraction techniques allow to gather a large amount of structured data continuously generated and disseminated by Web 2.0, Social Media and Online Social Network users and this offers unprecedented opportunities to analyze human behavior at a very large scale. We discuss also the potential of cross-fertilization, i.e., on the possibility of re-using Web Data Extraction techniques originally designed to work in a given domain, in other domains.Comment: Knowledge-based System

User Experience as Organizational Ethos Focused on Quality: a Case Study of UX-Receptive and UX-Reluctant Workplace Cultures

User experience (UX) research is a workplace approach to improving the quality of texts and technologies an organization produces to advance its business goals. Across the industry, UX roles, job titles, and responsibilities are widely varied, and the inconsistency is also reflected in the quality of outcomes; successful, effective research depends on complex, interrelated factors, and the influence of workplace culture and context are largely unacknowledged and unexamined across the technical communication (TC) field. Such examination is warranted because UX professionals face unique workplace challenges that impede their ability to conduct effective research that will improve the quality of outcomes that meet user needs. These challenges arise from 1) limited access to necessary resources for research, 2) limited agency over the goals and direction of research, 3) resistance to research findings that challenge or conflict with organizational identity. I conducted an exploratory, qualitative study to investigate the perceptions of UX professionals in working within and against workplace constraints. The study includes four case studies, each focused on a UX professional in an organization that incorporates UX research as a quality-assurance practice. To analyze the data, I used a combination of theoretical lenses, including rhetorical analysis and the cultural approach to organizations. The resulting data indicated that some organizational preferences and norms do not align well with UX methods and practices and may impede UX professionals from fully executing their research, applying findings, and delivering high-quality outcomes. A wide variety of professional relationships also influence the UX research context and shape the conditions for research activities, and responses to research initiatives. This study highlights key implications for Technical Communication (TC) theory, including a need to deepen and broaden the field’s understanding of the rhetorical situation for UX work within organizations, and the intersections of UX and quality. I offer recommendations for UX professionals, including closely observing the workplace with its key relationships and power structures, networking within the organization to build alliances, and framing the goals of UX research to align with strategic organizational and departmental goals. I advocate for TC academic programs to help students understand the complexities of the rhetorical situations within and across organizational boundaries in workplaces, and to help students develop a sense of “organizational literacy.” The TC field benefits from a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between UX research, perceptions of quality and the role of rhetorical context in workplace settings

The effects of individual differences on mobile phone users’ operational behaviour

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Mobile handset technology has improved greatly in recent decades. Improvements in hardware and software conduce the importance of the handset as a computer. Whilst the mobile phone industry and researchers emphasise understanding users from sociological aspects, such as services, usage habits, functionalities and so forth; this research aims to seek the variables that impact upon users’ interactions with the phone from the root-individual differences. For the purpose of placing mobile phone users at the core of the interface design process, the individual differences of gender, cognitive style and user experience were applied as the main variables in this research. Accordingly, to examine individuals’ differences and their operational behaviour with phone interfaces, the effects of cognitive style and user experience present stronger impact on the user performance than gender. The two factors were then investigated with regard to individuals’ operational behaviour with phone interfaces. This research then developed categories to link the theoretical attributes of cognitive style and phone users’ practical operational behaviour. Furthermore, the impact of cognitive style on the users’ operational behaviour was also connected to individuals’ problem solving ability. Meanwhile, the effect of user experience was investigated with a novel methodology-Taxonomy of Experience. The results revealed necessary elements that the users cared about the most, and these differed from the interface design guidelines of phone industry. This PhD thesis presents the application of the triangulation method to explore the variables that impact upon individuals’ interaction with mobile phone interfaces, specially concerned with mobile phone interface design from a psychological perspective, and provides a deeper understanding of users for future design events. More importantly, this research delivered the concept of understanding users before conducting design

Evaluating mobile health applications as digital therapeutical products

The emergence of new technological advancements and the unprecedented expansion of mobile phone usage has led to the exponential growth of Mobile Health Applications (mHealth apps) development and implementation in the global markets. mHealth apps have created innovative channels to diagnose, treat, monitor, and engage with patients in various healthcare settings, and therefore, it is an important exploration in the fields of information technology, healthcare, and cognitive behavioural sciences. However, a significant portion of mHealth apps has been identified to be developed without scientific or clinical evidence. The objective of implementing the proposed “mHealth App Evaluation Tool” and its validation of the perceived usefulness of the tool from clinicians, mHealth app developers and end-users is to provide a solution for addressing the current gap in evaluating the efficacy of unregulated mHealth apps. An extensive review of the literature from 2010 to 2022 was conducted in three separate phases, gathering and synthesising the core concepts of the mHealth app landscape, proposed frameworks and parameters, the evolution and construction of unidimensional and multidimensional scales and the use of multi-stakeholder participation for a holistic evaluation process. The proposed mHealth app evaluation tool was developed on the foundation of six design drivers: modifiability, scalability, multi-stakeholder involvement, simultaneous management of multiple evaluation projects, ease of use and accessibility. The development of the tool utilised the RestFul API pattern, leveraging Laravel PHP and Vue.js frameworks. The data collection process was completed in two separate phases. The first phase involved the data obtained from the participant’s evaluation of the WYSA app using the proposed mHealth App Evaluation Tool. The system auto-generated an associated average score out of 5 against each evaluation. The second phase involved the data collection during the 30 minutes interview session. Due to the ever-changing nature of software applications, it is inevitable that the elements of mHealth app evaluation will continue to evolve and change over time. What is deemed to be necessary and critical in evaluating mHealth apps today may not be so in years to come. The mHealth App Evaluation tool addresses the need for future criteria modifications, scalability, and the necessity to obtain expert knowledge from multiple stakeholders for a holistic mHealth app evaluation