Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2000)

The proceedings of the conferenc

The influence of visual feedback and gender dynamics on performance, perception and communication strategies in CSCW

The effects of gender in human communication and human-computer interaction are well-known, yet little is understood about how it influences performance in the complex, collaborative tasks in computer-mediated settings – referred to as Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) – that are increasingly fundamental to the way in which people work. In such tasks, visual feedback about objects and events is particularly valuable because it facilitates joint reference and attention, and enables the monitoring of people’s actions and task progress. As such, software to support CSCW frequently provides shared visual workspace. While numerous studies describe and explain the impact of visual feedback in CSCW, research has not considered whether there are differences in how females and males use it, are aided by it, or are affected by its absence. To address these knowledge gaps, this study explores the effect of gender – and its interactions within pairs – in CSCW, with and without visual feedback. An experimental study is reported in which mixed-gender and same-gender pairs communicate to complete a collaborative navigation task, with one of the participants being under the impression that s/he is interacting with a robot (to avoid gender-related social preconceptions). The study analyses performance, perceptions and communication strategies. As predicted, there was a significant benefit associated with visual feedback in terms of language economy and efficiency. However, it was also found that visual feedback may be disruptive to task performance, because it relaxes the users’ precision criteria and inflates their assumptions of shared perspective. While no actual performance difference was found between males and females in the navigation task, females rated their own performance less positively than did males. In terms of communication strategies, males had a strong tendency to introduce novel vocabulary when communication problems occurred, while females exhibited more conservative behaviour. When visual feedback was removed, females adapted their strategies drastically and effectively, increasing the quality and specificity of the verbal interaction, repeating and re-using vocabulary, while the behaviour of males remained consistent. These results are used to produce design recommendations for CSCW systems that will suit users of both genders and enable effective collaboration

Place Experience of Nursing Home Courtyards: a Holistic Approach to Understanding Institutional Outdoor Environments

This dissertation research investigates place experience of three nursing home courtyards. Based on systemic place theories, each nursing home courtyard is conceptualized as place or a system consisting of three major subsystems: physical settings, people and rules of place uses. Place experience as the center of conceptualization is the result of interactions between them. Place experience is thus characterized by objective, subjective and consensual qualities of people-environment relationships. The research design follows the premises of pragmatic case study methodology; a mixed research method is employed that includes archival research of floor plans, photo documentation, a physical setting checklist and instrumented measures for physical environments; staff interviews, surveys and auditing evaluations for organizational and staff contexts; and resident interviews and behavior mapping for individual contexts and place rules. Through synthesizing different sources of data into experiential descriptions, this study suggests that each courtyard is a compound of nine desired experiential attributes including 1) privacy, 2) social interactions, 3) accessible space and built features, 4) safety & security, 5) sensory stimulation, 6) information awareness and spatial orientation, 7) familiarity, 8) sense of ownership and 9) participation in meaningful activities. Each courtyard is unique in its distinct composition of these attributes and arrangements of the three subsystems. Experience of social interactions is the shared experiential quality across the cases. The three courtyards are programmed as a social space but are not meant to be a place to mark ownership, show identities and create meaningful engagement. The shared nature is incongruent with residents’ experience of home gardens and gardening collected from the interviews. A relatively successful case is selected; it is a place with more equal emphases on the nine attributes. Its patterns of the three subsystems may guide a less effective case to make future improvement. Implications of the findings are considered at three levels. First, this study applied a pragmatic approach, which offers a means to generate a holistic understanding of institutional outdoor environments; this study may complement the current research dominated by a positivist approach. Second, the approach recognizes and acknowledges the multifaceted phenomenon of the courtyards; it describes sets of variables or quality indicators that may help further theoretical construction or the development of quality measure. Third, this comparative research highlights the importance of establishing a database of cases reports. The accumulation of successful cases would help identify effective patterns of the three subsystems. Shared features emerging from successful cases may represent findings with high generalizability

Assessing transport accessibility for healthcare facility reconfiguration using GIS and multilevel modelling

Transport accessibility to healthcare facilities is a major issue in the United Kingdom, as recently demonstrated by the shift away from providing healthcare in acute hospitals to care closer to home . Common measures of accessibility focus on the creation of distance or travel time contours around a destination and devote less attention to individual differences such as user perceptions, their transport usage, and area-wide factors including income deprivation, safety and security. Failure to account for such factors may result in imperfect decision making in terms of healthcare relocation and reconfiguration. This thesis therefore aims to develop a user-based accessibility model by focusing on both individual socio-economic (e.g. age, gender, access to transport modes) and area-wide characteristics (e.g. income deprivation, public transport provision, safety and security). In order to identify important factors that affect accessibility and to develop the user-based accessibility model, two revealed preference questionnaire surveys were undertaken at Loughborough and Hinckley. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to understand underlying factors affecting accessibility to a healthcare facility. The results revealed that both individual and area-wide factors affect transport accessibility to a healthcare facility. The purpose of the second questionnaire was conducted to capture data relating to users perception of accessibility and their socio-economic factors so as to develop a user-perception based accessibility model. Network-based travel time and travel distance as well as public transport provision data from a respondent home to a healthcare facility were generated using a GIS technique. Individual-level questionnaire data were then integrated with the other secondary datasets (e.g. Census, Index of Multiple Deprivation, Accidents) using postcodes of survey respondents. Both single-level and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models were employed to develop a relationship between user-perceptions relating to accessibility and the factors influencing accessibility. Multilevel models that can control data from the two levels (i.e. individuals nested within local areas) provided better goodness-of-fit statistics compared with those of single-level regression models. The results indicate that travel distance by car, number of available direct bus services, age, and destination choices affect user-perceptions of accessibility to a healthcare facility. For instance, if travel distance by car increases by one mile then the perception of accessibility to a healthcare facility decreases by four units (on a scale of 0-100). Surprisingly, many area-wide factors such as security and safety, income deprivation were found to be statistically insignificant. In order to see which healthcare facility is more accessible, calibrated multilevel models along with number of people within the catchment area were then employed to predict the overall accessibility score related to a healthcare facility. This is important for policy makers in healthcare facility relocation and reconfiguration with respect to user perception of transport accessibility. Also it would be valuable to organisations that need to make decisions based on their users perceptions who are the real decision makers as to whether to use a facility or not

A Sustainable Alzheimer\u27s Garden - Creating Outdoor Spaces at Long-Term Alzheimer Care Facilities

Gardens built specifically for those with Alzheimer\u27s disease are designed with the intention to improve the quality of life for the patient, caregivers and family. The focus on human health is built into Alzheimer\u27s garden design. This project summarizes recent literature and establishes ten elements necessary in the design of an Alzheimer\u27s garden and seeks to relate those ten elements to sustainability by focusing on relatable sections from the Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009. The Alzheimer\u27s garden design elements and principles on sustainability are then applied to a design for a Sustainable Alzheimer\u27s Garden at a long-term care facility, specifically Western Massachusetts Hospital located in Westfield, MA

Proceedings of the 4th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2002)

The proceedings of the conferenc

Exploring Practices and Understandings of Designing Inclusively

The concept of inclusion in design is increasingly well known. It raises awareness and supports how a greater diversity of people can bring value to the creation of new buildings, spaces, services, and products. Yet, uptake is said to be limited in practice. Although well-researched, the numerous ways to describe and understand inclusion are unsettled, and often paradoxical. To learn more about the real-world practices and conceptualisations of inclusion, this research explores (i) how practitioners advocate for and navigate inclusion in design projects, (ii) their driving motivations and mindsets, (iii) inclusion’s prevalence during project negotiations and trade-offs, and (iv) the opportunities to improve inclusive practice. A review of existing literature helped formulate preliminary notions to guide discussions conducted with practitioners recruited across different domains. These semi-structured interviews helped evolve the notions further to better bridge inclusive practice and theory. Further analyses and inquiries conducted with practitioners also led to discover relationships between notions and uncovered other underlying themes – or aspects – to designing inclusively. Findings revealed concerns raised by participants about governing project development processes and the influence of team dynamics. Regarding inclusion, practitioners provided further insights into the types of user involvement and details about recruitment, compensation, and facilitating their participation in the process. Testimonials also helped capture cautionary tales and best practices that can be used to iteratively improve inclusive practice from one project to the next, resolve some of the paradoxical tensions reported in theory, and argue the positive and negative ripple effects of enabling or omitting inclusion. Findings were further analysed using different frameworks that continued to bring theoretical findings closer to practical application. Ultimately, results were transformed into an Overlay for Designing Inclusively. It was evaluated by practitioners who reported on the clarity, relevance, and value of this practical contribution. Findings suggest that the overlay provides insights that can support uptake across different disciplines of design practice, roles, responsibilities, and levels of experience with designing inclusively. In sum, this research was designed to help untangle the issues surrounding inclusion that matter to practitioners. It revealed key concerns and strategies to designing inclusively across different phases of the project development process and proposes a practical contribution that supports uptake of inclusive practice