Visualization of Guidelines on Computer Networks to Support Processes of Design and Quality Control

Industrial companies supply products intended to satisfy customers’ needs and requirements. To be competitive and to maintain good economic performance, efficient systems are needed to communicate information and exchange knowledge. Such systems are often referred to as quality systems as they intend to support development as well as standardized work regarding the quality of the product and increase satisfaction of the company’s customers and other stakeholders (employees, owners, sub-suppliers, society). Many companies try to structure and improve their quality systems by applying the international quality standard ISO 9000, which can result in extensive documentation. The guidelines and instructions of quality management systems are traditionally documented and presented as paper documents, alternatively on an intranet (a company’s internal computer network) suitable for printouts. These however, do not correspond to some company’s requirements for usability in daily work and as support to interest and engage the personnel in development work. An assumption was that visualizing guidelines using different kinds of multimedia technologies such as hyperlinked and animated pictorial illustrations might be relevant to support quality control and design processes in industrial companies. Two objectives were set up: The first was to explore how the usability of guidelines could be improved by changing the interface design of the guidelines; The second was to explore how the visualization process of guidelines could support participative design by applying evaluations and interpretations in a dialogue form between two individuals or among a group of individuals. The methodology that has been used to generate research questions as well as methods is based on theories of action research and experiential learning. Various methods have been used and combined in order to collect information and to ensure the reliability of the findings based on it. Three industrial companies participated in a first case study. They had conventional quality systems, which they wanted to replace or improve. The companies set up design teams to establish principles for visualizations of their quality systems on their intranets. Cooperating with the author, the design teams created and evaluated computer supported prototypes. These prototypes were made available via the Internet and discussed within each design team. The teams exchanged ideas and comments to enhance their prototypes. The results showed that a quality system should be visualized by an overview of the physical production plant. Information about different processes and instructions are represented by hyperlinked symbols within or next to the plant layout. A second field study aimed to clarify how industrial companies with certified quality systems according to ISO 9001 visualized their guidelines and instructions of construction, production, and installation. The quality manager at each company evaluated the existing system and explained their needs of developing the system by means of computer supported visualization on their intranet. The information was collected through telephone interviews and on site visits. The results showed that the companies would like to improve the visualization of information by decreasing text and increasing pictorial descriptions, such as flowcharts and animations. They also experienced that a quality system on the companies’ intranets was or should be an enhancement in order to disseminate and update the information. A third case study performed in collaboration with Saab Automobile showed results that corresponded with the other studies. The company wanted to replace their conventional information system of ergonomic design guidelines for cars, and design a new system based on interactivity and multimedia. The results showed that a pictorial overview of the car with different areas hyperlinked to further information was preferred. The specific information in the ergonomic guidelines was illustrated with icons, pictures, animations, and some text. In a comparison with the conventional system, subjects performed working tasks faster and with a more positive attitude in the new system. A fourth case study was performed within the GM company group, which showed the need of a formalized working process throughout work with human simulation tools as well as possibilities to document the information generated. A human simulation system prototype was modeled in collaboration with the companies and was presented on an intranet. The results indicated a great potential to enhance the communication within and between the companies, increased accessibility to knowledge, and increased quality on performed work. To summarize, the studies in this thesis show a need among industrial companies to visualize guidelines in information and quality systems by means of multimedia and an interactive design process. Such an approach supports knowledge acquisition and communication, and has a potential to ensure high quality in a company’s processes and products. Furthermore, the users’ attitudes tend to become more positive to the information presented compared to a conventional system

Language Learning Activity Paradigm

In this study, I investigate the application of active learning approaches, with the help of call and mall frameworks. These interactive learning solutions emphasize learner-created content, with the goal of improving the vocabulary development of grade 7 students. It is assumed that the use of computer and mobile technologies can increase the capacity for learning vocabulary. With a concept prototype, that demonstrates the translation of a textually based Language Arts lesson plan into a visual paradigm for active learning, I create a more porous and malleable language learning model for the Google Generation. My hypothesis is that this prototype will benefit the learning of Language Arts for 7th grade students. Such an instrument could ultimately provide students with the opportunity to engage in knowledge creation and sharing across formal and informal learning environments. The methodology used for this thesis essay begins with defining a problem by utilising both academic and qualitative studies. This is followed by the collecting of evidence from alternative learning approaches, which are defined by their various strengths and deficiencies through product analysis, case studies and theoretical grounds. The essay concludes with a proposed design and concept prototype testing, which I have called The Language Learning Activity Paradigm (llap)

Community Design of a Knowledge Graph to Support Interdisciplinary PhD Students

This is the submitted version of the paper, pre-revision.How do PhD students discover the resources and relationships conducive to satisfaction and success in their degree programs? This study proposes a community-grounded, extensible knowledge graph to make explicit and tacit information intuitively discoverable, by capturing and visualizing relationships between people based on their activities and relations to information resources in a particular domain. Students in an interdisciplinary PhD program were engaged through three workshops to provide insights into the dynamics of interactions with others and relevant data categories to be included in the graph data model. Based on these insights we propose a model, serving as a testbed for exploring multiplex graph visualizations and a potential basis of the information system to facilitate information discovery and decision-making. We discovered that some of the tacit knowledge can be explicitly encoded, while the rest of it must stay within the community. The graph-based visualization of the social and knowledge networks can serve as a pointer toward the people having the relevant information, one can reach out to, online or in person

Remembering today tomorrow: exploring the human-centred design of digital mementos

This paper describes two-part research exploring the context for and human-centred design of ‘digital mementos’, as an example of technology for reflection on personal experience(in this case, autobiographical memories). Field studies into families’ use of physical and digital objects for remembering provided a rich understanding of associated user needs and human values, and suggested properties for ‘digital mementos’ such as being ‘not like work’, discoverable and fun. In a subsequent design study, artefacts were devised to express these features and develop the understanding of needs and values further via discussion with groups of potential ‘users’. ‘Critical artefacts’(the products of Critical Design)were used to enable participants to envisage broader possibilities for social practices and applications of technology in the context of personal remembering, and thus to engage in the design of novel devices and systems relevant to their lives. Reflection was a common theme in the work, being what the digital mementos were designed to afford and the mechanism by which the design activity progressed. Ideas for digital mementos formed the output of this research and expressed the designer’s and researcher’s understanding of participants’ practices and needs, and the human values that underlie them and, in doing so, suggest devices and systems that go beyond usability to support a broader conception of human activity

Comparison of two approaches for web-based 3D visualization of smart building sensor data

Abstract. This thesis presents a comparative study on two different approaches for visualizing sensor data collected from smart buildings on the web using 3D virtual environments. The sensor data is provided by sensors that are deployed in real buildings to measure several environmental parameters including temperature, humidity, air quality and air pressure. The first approach uses the three.js WebGL framework to create the 3D model of a smart apartment where sensor data is illustrated with point and wall visualizations. Point visualizations show sensor values at the real locations of the sensors using text, icons or a mixture of the two. Wall visualizations display sensor values inside panels placed on the interior walls of the apartment. The second approach uses the Unity game engine to create the 3D model of a 4-floored hospice where sensor data is illustrated with aforementioned point visualizations and floor visualizations, where the sensor values are shown on the floor around the location of the sensors in form of color or other effects. The two approaches are compared with respect to their technical performance in terms of rendering speed, model size and request size, and with respect to the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two development environments as experienced in this thesis

The User Experience of Participation: Tracing the Intersection of Sociotechnical Design and Cultural Practice in Digital Ecosystems

In this dissertation, I combine methods from Technical Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, and User Experience Design to trace the social and creative practices of social web participants. Using actor network theory, I explore the concept of participation as social and creative practice that demands coordinative knowledge work enacted within a cultural space. Leveraging the insight gained from this research, I develop the user experience of participation as a research and design methodology that privileges the movement of people and information in order to structure and re-structure social connections. I explore this methodology through three intersections between people and technology. The first is between the practices of digital participants within online cultures and the policies aimed at regulating their social and creative work. Second, participation is defined in the ways that local exigency of participants intersects with the implementation of regulations and policies through technological design. Finally, a third intersection appears when participants work to restructure their relationships to policies and technologies through coordinative knowledge work that uncovers and links information within digital ecosystems