What Diagrams Say About Technology

By examining the diagrams of technology users, we can gain insight into their perceptions. In this study, we collected diagrams from 41 participants. We found that these participants make use of both shape and position to differentiate themselves from the technology they use. Shape and position also differentiate hardware devices from software applications. Most users also draw direct connections between themselves and their applications, bypassing in their diagrams the devices that mediate this communication. Thus, devices may recede from awareness as we focus on applications and the information they make available

context aware retrieval going social

In this paper we present the Social Context-Aware Browser, a general purpose solution to Web content perusal by means of mobile devices. This is not just a new kind of application, but it is a novel approach for the information access based on the users' context. With the aim of overtaking the limits in current approaches to context-awareness, our solution exploits the collaborative efforts of the whole community of users to control and manage contextual knowledge, related both to situations and resources. This paper presents a general survey of our solution, describing the idea and some scenarios, presenting the model to information access, open problems and future challenges

Cognitive Activity Support Tools: Design of the Visual Interface

This dissertation is broadly concerned with interactive computational tools that support the performance of complex cognitive activities, examples of which are analytical reasoning, decision making, problem solving, sense making, forecasting, and learning. Examples of tools that support such activities are visualization-based tools in the areas of: education, information visualization, personal information management, statistics, and health informatics. Such tools enable access to information and data and, through interaction, enable a human-information discourse. In a more specific sense, this dissertation is concerned with the design of the visual interface of these tools. This dissertation presents a large and comprehensive theoretical framework to support research and design. Issues treated herein include interaction design and patterns of interaction for cognitive and epistemic support; analysis of the essential properties of interactive visual representations and their influences on cognitive and perceptual processes; an analysis of the structural components of interaction and how different operational forms of interaction components affect the performance of cognitive activities; an examination of how the information-processing load should be distributed between humans and tools during the performance of complex cognitive activities; and a categorization of common visualizations according to their structure and function, and a discussion of the cognitive utility of each category. This dissertation also includes a chapter that describes the design of a cognitive activity support tool, as guided by the theoretical contributions that comprise the rest of the dissertation. Those that may find this dissertation useful include researchers and practitioners in the areas of data and information visualization, visual analytics, medical and health informatics, data science, journalism, educational technology, and digital games

An investigation into user interface factors impacting on user experience: Pastel accounting case study

The purpose of this research is to propose metrics to evaluate the user interface factors that impact on the user experience of Software Accounting Applications (SAAs) used to support the accounting business activities in Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) operating in developing countries. The research commences by outlining the conceptual background that introduces the study. In the introductory chapter, the problems together with the objectives that motivate the significance of the study are presented. In the same chapter, the overall research focus and how each of the research questions are treated to accomplish the intended goals are defined. In Chapter 2, the typical accounting business activities for SMMEs operating in developing countries are investigated. Findings from the preliminary survey revealed that Pastel accounting is the commonly used SMME accounting application used in developing countries. Inventory management, cash book processing, preparation of financial statements, customer and supplier documents processing are revealed as the most prevalent SMME accounting activities. This chapter highlights the problems that inhibit the implementation and the delivery of full benefits of using these SAAs. After indentifying the SAA problems, user experience aspects of the SAA are addressed in Chapter 3. User experience (UX) is defined and existing UX evaluation criteria are discussed. The findings form the basis for choosing the applicable criteria for evaluating the User Interface (UI) factors impacting on the UX of Pastel accounting. The proposed user experience evaluation metrics are described in Chapter 4. A discussion on how the metrics are implemented and what UI aspect they measure is presented. The research design and methodology followed is discussed in Chapter 5. The chapter outlines the possible research philosophy, strategy, methods and data collecting methods. A choice is made about the appropriate approach to answer the stated research questions to satisfy the intended overall research objective. A phenomenologist, qualitative inductive approach is adopted in the study. A contextual inquiry case-study strategy is chosen as applicable to this research. Data is collected using expert reviews, user observation and subjective questionnaires. After the choice of the research techniques, the case study results are presented and analysed in Chapter 6. It is found that Pastel UI is attractive and the users are happy with the visual design of the application. The major factors that impact on Pastel accounting are its lack of 4 feedback and its complexity which makes it difficult for first time users to use the application and the paucity of the help function. After the observed findings, the conclusions and recommendations of the research are presented in Chapter 7. It has been concluded that Pastel accounting UI fails to captivate a positive user experience for first-time users; the users do not find the expected help from the Help function and are often left wondering about the status of the system and the outcome of their actions on a task. Recommendations on how designers would make Pastel user interface more helpful, easy to use, and provide adequate feedback are presented in Chapter 7

User experience requirements for the integration of blended learning technologies into anatomy and physiology

Blended learning is currently the recommended mode of teaching at Nelson Mandela University and typically refers to a mix of traditional methods of teaching and learning integrated with technology, in particular, online delivery methods. In this blended learning study, a web-based learning programme, WileyPLUSLS, in combination with the assessment functions of the learning management system, Moodle, introduced the technology component into the teaching and learning of Anatomy and Physiology. User experience (UX) studies investigate the experiences of a user when using a product or system. Because very little is currently known about the UX when WileyPLUSLS and Moodle are integrated into the teaching and learning of Anatomy and Physiology, this study aims to determine the participants’ UX to compile a set of UX requirements. The purpose of these UX requirements is to inform designers if the programmes WileyPLUS and Moodle function as they should and to modify them, if needed, to improve their usability. These UX requirements also aim to support and guide the integration of blended learning technologies into the curriculum of Anatomy and Physiology and other disciplines alike. The research design selected for this study was in the form of a case study conducted on the 2016 first-year BHSc: MLS (Bachelor of Health Sciences in Medical Laboratory Science) class at Nelson Mandela University. Pre-study investigations on infrastructure, connectivity and e-readiness were conducted to lay the groundwork for the case study and to inform its rationale. Data was collected from literature studies, online UX questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and researcher observations. A mixed methods approach to data analysis was adopted. Quantitative data from the UX questionnaire were analysed by means of descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, open-ended questions from UX questionnaire and researcher observations were analysed via content analysis. Subsequently the analysis and triangulation of the data culminated into UX requirements, which were categorised into the following classifications, namely infrastructure, human resources, educational content and online learning systems. This case study illuminated many major issues regarding connectivity, e-readiness, unequal access to online learning, the importance of security features for online summative assessments, the usefulness of commercial web-based learning programmes and the confounding effect of the #FeesMustFall (FMF) protest movement. Finally, the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on online learning and the workplace was addressed. This research was successful in compiling the UX requirements to inform designers regarding the usability of their systems and to guide the integration of online programmes into the curriculum, especially in the South African context of limited and slow connectivity

Practice-centred e-health system design for cross-boundary clinical decision support

The idea of cross-boundary clinical decision support has the potential to transform the design of future work environments for e-health through a connected healthcare system that allows for harnessing of information and peer opinion across geographical boundaries for better decision-making. The trouble, however, is that the use of healthcare information in decision-making usually occurs within the context of a complex structure of clinical work practices that is often shaped by a wide range of factors, including organisational culture, local work contexts, socially constructed traditions of actions, experiences and patients’ circumstances. They vary across geographical boundaries, and have remained largely unaccounted for in the design of current e-health systems. As a result, achieving the visions of e-health, particularly in relation to cross-boundary clinical decision support, requires a rethinking of key clinical and organisational processes in a manner that accommodates work practice as a fundamental part of how clinicians work and make decisions in the real-world. This thesis investigates the concept of work practice as a design requirement for cross-boundary clinical decision support systems in e-health. It is argued that the task of enabling informed decision support across geographical boundaries in e-health can be enhanced through an understanding, and a formal characterisation, of work practices in various healthcare work contexts, and a specification of how practice can be used, managed and transformed to suit various clinical problem situations and patients’ needs. This research takes a clinical practice-centred approach to inform e-health system design, and draws on the concept of work practice and cultural-historical theory in social science as well as situation awareness in order to describe the local traditions of actions that guide clinicians’ work in the real world. It contributes a coherent conceptual architecture comprising a practice-centred awareness model for cross-boundary awareness, a frame-based technique, named PracticeFrame, for formalising and representing work practice for system design, and ContextMorph, for adaptively transforming a suggestion across work boundaries to suit a user’s local work context and practices. An in-depth user-informed requirements capture was used to gain an understanding of clinical work practices for designing e-health system for cross-boundary decision support. A proof of concept prototype, named CaDHealth, which is based on the Brahms work practice modelling tool and includes a work practice visualisation model, named the practice display, was developed and used to conduct user-based evaluation. The evaluation revealed that incorporating practice-centred awareness enhances usefulness, acceptance and user adoption of e-health systems for cross-boundary clinical decision support