What is Usability? A Characterization based on ISO 9241-11 and ISO/IEC 25010

According to Brooke* "Usability does not exist in any absolute sense; it can only be defined with reference to particular contexts." That is, one cannot speak of usability without specifying what that particular usability is characterized by. Driven by the feedback of a reviewer at an international conference, I explore in which way one can precisely specify the kind of usability they are investigating in a given setting. Finally, I come up with a formalism that defines usability as a quintuple comprising the elements level of usability metrics, product, users, goals and context of use. Providing concrete values for these elements then constitutes the investigated type of usability. The use of this formalism is demonstrated in two case studies. * J. Brooke. SUS: A "quick and dirty" usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, and A. L. McClelland, editors, Usability Evaluation in Industry. Taylor and Francis, 1996.Comment: Technical Report; Department of Computer Science, Technische Universit\"at Chemnitz; also available from https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/service/ib/2015.php.e

The financial crimes management of account takeover fraud

Account takeover can be a damaging and personally intrusive type of fraud occurring when an unauthorized individual obtains and uses another individual’s personally identifiable (PII) information to gain unauthorized access to an existing account. Account takeover fraud continued to be a serious fraud threat in 2016 that affected millions of consumers resulting in billions in fraud losses. This research clearly defines account takeover fraud, investigates how account takeover incidents occur, describes the impact for both consumers and the financial industry, and offers mitigating tactics to combat and recover from account takeover incidents.Informatio

Research Recap: Can information improve the functioning of courts?

Countries where courts are weak, and rights are poorly enforced, tend to be countries with worse economic outcomes. To better understand the relationship between the functioning of judicial systems and economic growth, Dal Bó and Finan (2020) reviewed available evidence and constructed a framework for understanding the role of institutions in economic development. They note that despite the importance of the courts in resolving disputes, facilitating a healthy business climate, and protecting citizen rights, we have seen very little empirical evidence to show what makes courts function more fairly and quickly. Dal Bó and Finan systematically outlined open questions to encourage researchers to address these gaps. This helped launch the EDI programme as part of a Path-Finding Paper series. The goal of the Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) programme, an investment generously funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), is to build a body of evidence and insights into the impact of institutional changes on economic growth

New Conglomerates and the Ecosystem Advantage

It is the purpose of this paper to explore the emergence of a new form of web-based company and how the new organisational form is able to access multiple-markets and industries by exploiting the benefits of a platform ecosystem business model. Internet-based companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple were referred to as the “Gang of Four” in May, 2011, by Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google. These twenty first century companies are leading an Internet-based consumer revolution which is having a disruptive impact on a broad range of industries and markets. Using their platform-based ecosystems (Gawar, 2009), the Internet-based corporations are able to leverage these core competencies and enter industries that appear unrelated to their core businesses. This has given rise to a new form of conglomerate business model that contrasts with the Western industrial conglomerates of the 1960s and early 1970s. Most of these corporations were broken-up in the early 1980s and the remaining core businesses resorted to focused strategies. The paper also analyses why the new Internet-based firms do not follow the positioning school of strategy and seek monopolistic rents – profits arising from market power - (Porter, 1979) by locating in attractive industries. Instead, these firms leverage core competencies and achieve Ricardian economic rents (Grant, 2008) – profits arising from superior resources - through strategies of stretch and leverage (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990). By adopting a core `competency tree` configuration (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990), a core competency platform is leveraged which allows the Internet-based firms to enter multiple markets using asset-light business models. This new form of competitive advantage is based on having a superior ecosystem that uses data as the key resource instead of capital; capital being the main resource underpinning the success of the traditional Western conglomerates of the 1960s and early 1970s

How to design browser security and privacy alerts

Browser security and privacy alerts must be designed to ensure they are of value to the end-user, and communicate risks efficiently. We performed a systematic literature review, producing a list of guidelines from the research. Papers were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to formulate a comprehensive set of guidelines. Our findings seek to provide developers and designers with guidance as to how to construct security and privacy alerts. We conclude by providing an alert template, highlighting its adherence to the derived guidelines