Interplay between User Experience (UX) evaluation and system development

User Experience (UX) is a maturing research area pertaining to as well as extending beyond the traditional usability. Issues in the realm of usability may be amplified in UX because of its larger scope. Four key non-orthogonal issues are definition, modeling, method selection, and interplay between evaluation and development. Leveraging the legacy of a series of related research activities, this Special Issue (SI) aims to develop a deeper understanding of how evaluation feedback shapes software development, especially when experiential qualities such as fun, trust, esthetic values are concerned. Three articles addressing this specific topic from different perspectives and with different approaches are included in this SI.Law, EL.; Abrahao Gonzales, SM. (2014). Interplay between User Experience (UX) evaluation and system development. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. 72(6):523-525. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.03.003S52352572

Analysing the Role of Interactivity in User Experience

An experimental investigation into the role of interaction in user experience (UX) with a controlled manipulation of interactivity features (e.g. avatars, interactive video) in a university information website is reported. The more interactive version had better affect and hedonic ratings, even though its perceived usability was worse. Analysis of qualitative data showed users were attracted to the interactive features, although they complained about poor usability. The results of the experiments are discussed to consider the role of interactivity in user experience and the differences between users’ quantitative judgements of UX and their comments on interactive features which reveal different perspectives

Introduction to the special section:Designing a better user experience for self-service systems

June 2013 issue of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication features a special section on 'Designing a Better User Experience for Self-Service Systems'. Self-service systems offers the users the benefit of 24/7 access to an ever-growing range of services and perhaps also a strong sense of autonomy and fulfillment. Three papers in this section approach the design of the user experience of self-service systems in an integrated way and show the readership of this journal what methods and techniques can be used in this type of design process. These are, 'Identifying User Experience Factors for Mobile Incident Reporting in Urban Contexts,' by Bach, Bernhaupt, and Winckler, 'Improving User Experience for Passenger Information Systems. Prototypes and Reference Objects,' by Wirtz and Jakobs, and in 'A User-Centered Design Approach to Self-Service Ticket Vending Machines,' by Siebenhandl, Schreder, Smuc, Mayr, and Nagl

QoE Modelling, Measurement and Prediction: A Review

In mobile computing systems, users can access network services anywhere and anytime using mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. These devices connect to the Internet via network or telecommunications operators. Users usually have some expectations about the services provided to them by different operators. Users' expectations along with additional factors such as cognitive and behavioural states, cost, and network quality of service (QoS) may determine their quality of experience (QoE). If users are not satisfied with their QoE, they may switch to different providers or may stop using a particular application or service. Thus, QoE measurement and prediction techniques may benefit users in availing personalized services from service providers. On the other hand, it can help service providers to achieve lower user-operator switchover. This paper presents a review of the state-the-art research in the area of QoE modelling, measurement and prediction. In particular, we investigate and discuss the strengths and shortcomings of existing techniques. Finally, we present future research directions for developing novel QoE measurement and prediction technique

Reorganizing the relationship of digital library resources and physical learning environments

Introduction. This preliminary study examines the application of contemporary practice-based approaches to generate data for guiding the design of information literacy learning environments. Method. This study was conducted by interviewing three engineering students who were participating at the Tools for master’s thesis course arranged by Aalto University Library’s Otaniemi Campus Library. The interview’s structure was two-fold, as it first sketched out the participant’s master’s thesis practices through Schatzki’s site ontology and secondly examined the perceived value of different information literacy learning tasks on the latter. Results. The master’s thesis practices of the interviewees were networked in complex ways with e.g. economic life and the interviewees invested much in them. Two of the interviewees worked with their thesis full-time with surroundings and tools provided by their employer. The interviewees valued most the lecture, which comprised of narratives of completed master’s thesis projects and the lecture of scientific writing. From the asynchronous online learning tasks, the interviewees valued most the information retrieval task and the concept map exercise. Conclusion. Spatial library spaces could be provided with asynchronous content such as descriptions of the library services through the tasks of the central user groups and e.g. introductory videos to information retrieval techniques. These contents could be spatially located so that they would serve as facile entrance points to the mobile digital library. The practice-based approaches seem to provide a fertile way of examining student learning and insights gained through them may prove to be valuable in designing new information literacy learning environments.Peer reviewe

Toward an Evaluation Model of User Experiences on Virtual Reality Indoor Bikes

This paper deals with deriving a model or framework to evaluate user experiences (UX) of virtual reality (VR) systems, especially, VR indoor bikes which are under construction. Recently, VR is one of the most appealing areas attracting people’s interests around the world. Many products armed with it increasingly emerge on the market, and it is expected that the use of VR systems will continue to increase sharply in the future. However, UX of such products cannot be evaluated appropriately at the moment due to a lack of proper evaluation models. In a broad sense, UX that may stem from human machine interface in ergonomics covers affect, usability, and user value in spite of some differences in definition among the researchers. While evaluations of UX on the products without VR have been overall justifiably performed, UX has been evaluated neither systematically nor strictly on the products with VR. Through the analyses of expert reviews, we newly identify an additional component and its elements, and modify some elements of the three existing components for evaluating UX on the VR systems. As a result, we propose a comprehensive evaluation model of UX, which consists of four factors: usability, affect, user value, and presence feeling. In addition, we determine the components and their elements for specific VR indoor bikes similarly through the analyses of expert surveys and focus-group discussions, which results in developing a questionnaire for users. Finally, along with the questionnaire, we propose a specific evaluation model for VR indoor bikes

FROM THE DEFINITION OF USER EXPERIENCE TO A FRAMEWORK TO CLASSIFY ITS APPLICATIONS IN DESIGN

AbstractThe concept of User Experience (UX) dates back to the 1990s, but a shared definition of UX is not available. As design integrates UX, different interpretations thereof can complicate the possibility to build upon previous literature and develop the field autonomously. Indeed, by analysing the literature, UX emerges as a cauldron of related and closely linked concepts. However, it is possible to find recurring attributes that emerge from those definitions, which are ascribable to two foci: the fundamental elements of the interaction (user, system, context) and typologies of experience (ergonomic, cognitive, and emotional). Those are used to build a framework. We have preliminarily investigated how UX is dealt with in design by mapping a sample of UX-related experimental articles published in design journals. We classified UX case studies based on the framework to individuate the UXs that emerge most frequently and the most studied ones in the design field. The two-focus framework allows the mapping of experiments involving UX in design, without highlighting specific favorable combinations. However, comprehensive studies dealing with all elements and UX typologies have not been found

Modelling Users Feedback in Crowd-Based Requirements Engineering: An Empirical Study

Most enterprises operate within a complex and ever-changing context. To ensure that requirements keep pace with changing context, users’ feedback is advocated to ensure that the requirements knowledge is refreshed and reflects the degree to which the system meets its design objectives. The traditional approach to users’ feedback, which is based on data mining and text analysis, is often limited, partly due to the ad-hoc nature of users’ feedback and, also, the methods used to acquire it. To maximize the expressiveness of users’ feedback and still be able to efficiently analyse it, we propose that feedback acquisition should be designed with that goal in mind. This paper contributes to that aim by presenting an empirical study that investigates users’ perspectives on feedback constituents and how they could be structured. This will provide a baseline for modelling and customizing feedback for enterprise systems in order to maintain and evolve their requirements

Relation in UX Models

This paper argues that the conceptualization of the human, the computer and the domain of use in competing lines of UX research have problematic similarities and superficial differences. The paper qualitatively analyses concepts and models in five research papers that together represent two influential lines of UX research: aesthetics and temporal UX, and two use situations: using a website and starting to use a smartphone. The results suggest that the two lines of UX research share a focus on users’ evaluative judgments of technology, both focuses on product qualities rather than activity domains, give little details about users, and treat human-computer interaction as perception. The conclusion gives similarities and differences between the approaches to UX. The implications for theory building are indicated