Modelling information usage and decision processes in new product introductions : an information-processing perspective.

The objective of this study is to understand the problem solving process used in new product introductions, and other unstructured business problems. I hope this understanding will contribute to improved decision support systems. Based on Cognitive psychology theories (in particular, Anderson, 1983, 1987), a set of propositions were outlined and investigated by using a computer model. One application of the expert system shell, used here, is to try to model the expert\u27s knowledge. The shell is used to develop a system that simulates the expert\u27s approach to problem solving. The differences between this application and expert system development, are: (i) the focus is on trying to understand the mind of the expert, instead of trying to replace him; and (ii) the problem area is ill-structured, instead of narrow and well-defined. The introduction of new products into markets is an example of an ill-structured problem, in a business setting. In particular, identifying opportunities is to create new products--their future growth and competitiveness often depends on this. The method adopted, computer simulation, has both advantages and limitations. The advantages include: (i) in-depth analysis of the problem-solving process; (ii) operationalizing the theory; and (iii) producing a program that can act as a research vehicle for future projects. The limitations are: (i) small sample size; (ii) lack of clear-cut validation procedures; and (iii) dependence on shell features. The findings, for the most part, supported the propositions (i) The expert model clearly had more procedural knowledge than the textbook model. This supports the proceduralization theory of skill acquisition. (ii) Reasoning by analogy was used by both expert and novices. The use of weak methods by the expert does not support the theory. (iii) The expert adopted a forward reasoning strategy within a task agenda. This supports the hierarchical goal structure theory of Anderson. (iv) The use of soft information was also observed

The Impact of variable data print on usability in design

In a world where people see, process and remember information differently, the question arises: Is technology being used in a manner that acknowledges and addresses user differences to the fullest extent? Currently, new print technologies like Variable Data Printing (VDP) are only being used to create customized direct mailing pieces and personalized products for the purpose of marketing, sales and promotion. However, VDP introduces the ability to change data and design elements in printed documents on an individual basis, making it possible to address differences in visual and cognitive abilities, language and culture, and situational considerations. Applying this concept of customization to educational or informational documents would allow a small amount of input from a user to influence unique output (different sequences or layouts, typographic decisions and appropriate content choices) that are more relevant, usable and engaging. While using VDP as a means to explore and achieve this customization, the focus of this thesis study is not the technology, but the development of a graphic design strategy that also accommodates this customization goal to make information more accessible and usable on an individual basis

Assessment of an enterprise employee portal using dashboard monitoring system: a case study

A portal is a browser-based application that provides a web platform for users to improve inter-department collaboration and customer service. Portals are classified either as internal facing portals or external public facing portals. This study addresses the problems facing an internal portal related to its contents, functions and usability and provides a list of essential contents and functions that it should include through integrating theories and industry best practices. The theory framework is based on literature review and the industry best practices are based on the analysis of a number of internal portals of companies used as case studies. These two were compared to develop an information mapping grid to identify gaps between theories and practices. A case company was used to uncover additional insights on employee portal content and functionalities through the analysis of actual and perceived user portal usage. The results were then compared using an information mapping grid to derive a set of content and functionalities to improve usability of an internal employee portal. Results of this study indicate that customization and personalization is an important feature of an employee portal, however, features pertaining to communication and collaboration support, search support, help system and employee self-services appear to be more important in practice. The information mapping grid derived, the data warehouse architecture developed and the Dashboard Monitoring systems created to assess usability of an employee portal are applicable to similar enterprises --Abstract, page iii

Current Practices for Product Usability Testing in Web and Mobile Applications

Software usability testing is a key methodology that ensures applications are intuitive and easy to use for the target audience. Usability testing has direct benefits for companies as usability improvements often are fundamental to the success of a product. A standard usability test study includes the following five steps: obtain suitable participants, design test scripts, conduct usability sessions, interpret test outcomes, and produce recommendations. Due to the increasing importance for more usable applications, effective techniques to develop usable products, as well as technologies to improve usability testing, have been widely utilized. However, as companies are developing more cross-platform web and mobile apps, traditional single-platform usability testing has shortcomings with respect to ensuring a uniform user experience. In this report, a new strategy is proposed to promote a consistent user experience across all application versions and platforms. This method integrates the testing of different application versions, e.g., the website, mobile app, mobile website. Participants are recruited with a better-defined criterion according to their preferred devices. The usability session is conducted iteratively on several different devices, and the test results of individual application versions are compared on a per-device basis to improve the test outcomes. This strategy is expected to extend on current practices for usability testing by incorporating cross-platform consistency of software versions on most devices

SwipeLauncher:Fast Application Switch for Mobile Multitask Optimization

Smart phones are becoming more powerful today, which brings the need of handling multitasking on mobile. Handling multitask operation nowadays takes quite some steps switching between tasks, especially while looking for a less frequently used app. Hence, there is a need of optimizing multitasking behavior on mobile. More specifically, to make it smoother and faster. Previous work either focused on interface design of reaching certain applications quickly, or algorithm prediction of which apps will be used next. In this paper, I looked into the possibility about how interface design and algorithm prediction work together for the optimization of mobile multitasking. My work mainly includes two aspects: new gesture control method to reduce the operation steps of switching between multiple applications; new application recommendation decision to reduce the time and effort of reaching target application. The goal is to provide a better mobile multitasking solution which is easy to control and fast to use. I applied my findings to a mobile application launcher, SlideLauncher, which defined a new gesture control method with fast access to certain applications. To validate my design, I first used model-based method for making design decisions, includes the menu layout design and number of applications in the launcher. The model-based methods include KLM analysis, prediction of each operation step, accuracy prediction and sum up the expectation operation time for each solution. Afterwards, I conducted an experiment with SlideLauncher and Android home screen’s performance for opening designated applications. The evaluation indicators include operation speed, accuracy, system complexity and user comfort. SlideLauncher gets better performance in most dimensions: using SlideLauncher is 34.2% faster than Android home screen, with lower error rate and ignore rate as well. SlideLauncher can be used as an alternative of Android home screen in the future, to make mobile multitasking easier

Webpage design optimization using genetic algorithm driven CSS

In the rapid emergence of globalization, e-commerce, and internet accessibility in remote parts of the world, ongoing feedback and participation from site visitors are essential for attaining clear and effective communication on a web site. This thesis presents a computational experiment for optimizing design of a webpage in an evolutionary manner. Webpage personalization is viewed as a configuration problem whose goal is to determine the optimal presentation of a webpage while taking into account the preference of the web author (designer), layout constraints (web design/editing language: HTML, CSS), and viewer interaction with the browser. The study proposes use of genetic algorithm-driven Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to assist the process of webpage design optimization. This method will engage visitors to remotely modify and enhance the style (type, layout and color) of web site to fit their aesthetic and functional representation of well-received design. The preference feedback from user will be stored in an application server for automated evolutionary selection process and reinitialized for the next generation of users. Through the experimentation of web prototype and user evaluation test, the implementation of this method is examined and the derived design solutions are analyzed based on web aesthetics, standards, and accessibility

Data Processing and the Envision

Data is being generated very rapidly due to increase in information in everyday life. Huge amount of data gets accumulated from various organizations that is difficult to analyze and exploit. Data created by an expanding number of sensors in the environment such as traffic cameras and satellites, internet activities on social networking sites, healthcare database, government database, sales data etc., are example of huge data. Processing, analyzing and communicating this data are a challenge. Online shopping websites get flooded with voluminous amount of sales data every day. Analyzing and visualizing this data for information retrieval is a difficult task. There are large number of information visualization techniques which have been developed over the last decade to support the exploration of large data sets. With today’s data management systems, it is only possible to view quite small portions of the data. If the data is presented textually, the amount of data which can be displayed is in the range of some 100 data items, but this is like a drop in the ocean when dealing with data sets containing millions of data items. Data is being generated very rapidly due to increase in information in everyday life. Huge amount of data gets accumulated from various organizations that is difficult to analyze and exploit. Data created by an expanding number of sensors in the environment such as traffic cameras and satellites, internet activities on social networking sites, healthcare database, government database, sales data etc., are example of huge data. Processing, analyzing and communicating this data are a challenge. Online shopping websites get flooded with voluminous amount of sales data every day. Analyzing and visualizing this data for information retrieval is a difficult task. Therefore, a system is required which will effectively analyze and visualize data. This paper focuses on a system which will visualize sales data which will help users in applying intelligence in business, revenue generation, and decision making, managing business operation and tracking progress of tasks. Effective and efficient data visualization is the key part of the discovery process. It is the intermediate between the human intuition and quantitative context of the data, thus an essential component of the scientific path from data into knowledge and understanding. Therefore, a system is required which will effectively analyze and visualize data. This paper focuses on a system which will visualize data which will help users in interactive data visualization applying in business, revenue generation, and decision making, managing business operation and tracking progress of tasks

Designing a user configurable online community framework

Content Management Systems (CMSs) are widely used to create online communities supporting organizations, classes, and groups. These communities provide various functionalities, e.g. discussion forums, shared repositories for documents and links, collaborative spaces, and different communication channels, like chat or instant messaging. Often the range of functionalities offered is unnecessarily rich, and some remain unused, leading to cluttered users’ workspaces and difficulties in finding information. Currently, communities that are developed with CMS do not allow user customization. Even for the community owner (e.g. a teacher, a group manager), it is hard to customize the functionality and interface of a community, because this requires some programming skills. I have designed new CMS allowing users of an online community (both owners and regular users) to design and configure their personal view of the community’s dashboard by adding the functionalities that are present in the community’s homepage and arranging them on the screen according to their preferences

Contributions to the cornerstones of interaction in visualization: strengthening the interaction of visualization

Visualization has become an accepted means for data exploration and analysis. Although interaction is an important component of visualization approaches, current visualization research pays less attention to interaction than to aspects of the graphical representation. Therefore, the goal of this work is to strengthen the interaction side of visualization. To this end, we establish a unified view on interaction in visualization. This unified view covers four cornerstones: the data, the tasks, the technology, and the human.Visualisierung hat sich zu einem unverzichtbaren Werkzeug für die Exploration und Analyse von Daten entwickelt. Obwohl Interaktion ein wichtiger Bestandteil solcher Werkzeuge ist, wird der Interaktion in der aktuellen Visualisierungsforschung weniger Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet als Aspekten der graphischen Repräsentation. Daher ist es das Ziel dieser Arbeit, die Interaktion im Bereich der Visualisierung zu stärken. Hierzu wird eine einheitliche Sicht auf Interaktion in der Visualisierung entwickelt