Smartphones: A Platform For Disaster Management

Bal, H.E. [Promotor]Kielmann, T. [Copromotor

Design Principles of Mobile Information Systems in the Digital Transformation of the Workplace - Utilization of Smartwatch-based Information Systems in the Corporate Context

During the last decades, smartwatches emerged as an innovative and promising technology and hit the consumer market due to the accessibility of affordable devices and predominant acceptance caused by the considerable similarity to common wristwatches. With the unique characteristics of permanent availability, unobtrusiveness, and hands-free operation, they can provide additional value in the corporate context. Thus, this thesis analyzes use cases for smartwatches in companies, elaborates on the design of smartwatch-based information systems, and covers the usability of smartwatch applications during the development of smartwatch-based information systems. It is composed of three research complexes. The first research complex focuses on the digital assistance of (mobile) employees who have to execute manual work and have been excluded so far from the benefits of the digitalization since they cannot operate hand-held devices. The objective is to design smartwatch-based information systems to support workflows in the corporate context, facilitate the daily work of numerous employees, and make processes more efficient for companies. During a design science research approach, smartwatch-based software artifacts are designed and evaluated in use cases of production, support, security service, as well as logistics, and a nascent design theory is proposed to complement theory according to mobile information system research. The evaluation shows that, on the one hand, smartwatches have enormous potential to assist employees with a fast and ubiquitous exchange of information, instant notifications, collaboration, and workflow guidance while they can be operated incidentally during manual work. On the other hand, the design of smartwatch-based information systems is a crucial factor for successful long-term deployment in companies, and especially limitations according to the small form-factor, general conditions, acceptance of the employees, and legal regulations have to be addressed appropriately. The second research complex addresses smartwatch-based information systems at the office workplace. This broadens and complements the view on the utilization of smartwatches in the corporate context in addition to the mobile context described in the first research complex. Though smartwatches are devices constructed for mobile use, the utilization in low mobile or stationary scenarios also has benefits due they exhibit the characteristic of a wearable computer and are directly connected to the employee’s body. Various sensors can perceive employee-, environment- and therefore context-related information and demand the employees’ attention with proactive notifications that are accompanied by a vibration. Thus, a smartwatch-based and gamified information system for health promotion at the office workplace is designed and evaluated. Research complex three provides a closer look at the topic of usability concerning applications running on smartwatches since it is a crucial factor during the development cycle. As a supporting element for the studies within the first and second research complex, a framework for the usability analysis of smartwatch applications is developed. For research, this thesis contributes a systemization of the state-of-the-art of smartwatch utilization in the corporate context, enabling and inhibiting influence factors of the smartwatch adoption in companies, and design principles as well as a nascent design theory for smartwatch-based information systems to support mobile employees executing manual work. For practice, this thesis contributes possible use cases for smartwatches in companies, assistance in decision-making for the introduction of smartwatch-based information systems in the corporate context with the Smartwatch Applicability Framework, situated implementations of a smartwatch-based information system for typical use cases, design recommendations for smartwatch-based information systems, an implementation of a smartwatch-based information system for the support of mobile employees executing manual work, and a usability-framework for smartwatches to automatically access usability of existing applications providing suggestions for usability improvement

Composants multiplateformes pour la prise en compte de l'hétérogénéité des terminaux mobiles

In this thesis, we aim to decrease the development cost of applications for smartphones running Android, iOS, etc. Mobile applications are more and more complex. A few year ago, a mobile application was only design to display web content. Today, in addition, they are connected with the external world. For example, some applications are connected with watches, TVs, etc. Mobile applications became real softwares. However, in order to be visible by all smartphones users, mobile applications are designed, developed and deployed on every kind of smartphone. With the increase of the multiplicity of hardware configurations and the diversity of mobile operating systems, this task is becoming more and more laborious. Indeed, a mobile application is often implemented one time for each target platform (Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, etc.). Therefore, the time and the cost for a mobile application implementation is multiplied by the number of target platforms. In this thesis, we propose to combine native development with the advantages of component-based software engineering. To do that, we have introduced the concept of multiplatform components. Those components are capable to be executed on any mobile platform. In order to describe components, we have introduced interfaces that are independent of any mobile platform. Thus, component integration and assembly are common on Android, iOS and others systems. To achieve that, we have specified a new programming language based on Annotations. We have validated this approach with the implementation of a real mobile application for Android and iOS. We have compared this application with the same application developed natively. Results show that with our solution, developers implement a multiplatform application 30% faster than native development. Moreover, our solution does not show any limitation for developers (same user experience, same performances). Finally, we have compared our solution with real products available on the software market: Phonegap, Titanium mobile and Xamarin. This comparison illustrates that our solution provides the best features and does not limit developers possibilities.Ces travaux de thèse visent à diminuer le coût de développement des applications mobilespour smartphones Android, iOS, etc. Les applications mobiles sont de plus en plus complexes. Auparavant, une application mobile se contentait d’afficher des données provenant du web. Maintenant, en plus de cela, elles communiquent avec le monde extérieur. Par exemple, certaines applications communiquent avec des montres, avec des écrans de télévision etc. D’autres permettent le scan de codes barres ou encore l’interaction avec des objets réels à travers la réalité augmentée. Les serveurs peuvent envoyer des notifications aux applications, etc. Une application mobile est devenue un logiciel à part entière. Cependant, pour toucher un maximum d’utilisateurs de smartphones, les applications mobiles doivent être conçues, implémentées et déployées sur tous les smartphones possibles. Avec la multiplication des configurations matérielles différentes ainsi que la multiplication des systèmes d’exploitation mobiles, cette tâche devient de plus en plus ardue. En effet, une application mobile doit souvent être réalisée une fois pour chaque plate-forme cible (Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, etc.). Le temps et le coût de réalisation d’applications mobiles est donc multiplié par le nombre de plates-formes ciblées. Dans ces travaux, nous proposons de combiner le développement natif avec la programmation par composants. Pour ce faire, nous introduisons la notion de composants multiplateformes. Ce sont des composants qui peuvent être exécutés sur plusieurs plates-formes mobiles. Pour la représentation des composants, nous avons introduit la notion d’interface indépendante à n’importe quelle plate-forme mobile. Ainsi, l’intégration et l’assemblage se font d’une façon unique, que l’on soit dans un environnement de développement Android, iOS ou autre. Pour ce faire, nous avons spécifié un nouveau langage de programmation basé sur les annotations. Cette approche a été validée à travers le développement d’une application mobile pour Android et iOS avec notre solution. L’application implémentée a été réalisée en concordance avec les problématiques que rencontrent les entreprises de développement mobile et plus particulièrement Keyneosoft. Ensuite, nous avons comparé ces versions de l’application avec les versions développées nativement. Nous avons montré qu’avec notre solution nous diminuons le temps de développement d’au moins 30% sans aucune limitation pour les développeurs d’applications (même expérience utilisateur, même performance). Nous avons aussi comparé notre solution avec des produits disponibles sur le marché Phonegap, Titanium mobile et Xamarin. Nous en avons conclu que notre solutiton offrait le plus de possibilités sans aucune limitation

Varieties of interaction: from User Experience to Neuroergonomics:On the occasion of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe Chapter Annual Meeting in Rome, Italy 2017

Proceedings of the HFES European Chapter conferenc

Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data

Varieties of interaction: from User Experience to Neuroergonomics:On the occasion of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe Chapter Annual Meeting in Rome, Italy 2017

Proceedings of the HFES European Chapter conferenc