Improve human resources management via UX/UI

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Informatics EngineeringResource allocation is critical to optimize billable allocation and avoid allocation conflicts. Tools are needed to correctly book and share allocations during the normal operation of a company. Zeus is an intranet built in-house by VILT, a digital solutions company, which is used to connect every employee in the company, containing important personal and shared information, as well as useful services. Starting from scratch, it was developed according to the needs of VILT’s staff, making it a fully customized intranet. One of the many features in Zeus that was requested by VILT’s Professional Services Managers is the allocation map page. This feature allows managers to manage multiple human resources and their projects. Each manager has their own team to manage, and they currently face some limitations related to the resource allocation management process. These limitations are noticeable to the managers, resulting in a lack of adherence from some of them, which resulted in a divergence of the methods used in resource allocation management inside the company. There is a need to create an improved solution that takes into account: the managers’ insights and ideas, inspiration from existing software, and inspiration from the managers’ alternative solutions. The main goal for the new solution is having an easy view of who is available and when, as well as the option to easily manage that information. With this dissertation, we want to study the UX/UI Design process and different resource allocation solution, and use it to design a resource allocation solution for VILT.A alocação de recursos é fundamental para otimizar a alocação faturável e evitar conflitos de alocação. São necessárias ferramentas para registar e partilhar corretamente alocações no funcionamento normal de uma empresa. O Zeus é uma intranet construída internamente pela VILT, uma empresa de soluções digitais, e é usado para conectar todos os funcionários da empresa, contendo informações importantes pessoais e partilhadas, bem como serviços. Foi desenvolvido de acordo com as necessidades da equipa da VILT, tornando-se uma intranet totalmente personalizada. Uma das características do Zeus que foi solicitada pelos Professional Services Managers da VILT foi a página do mapa de alocação. Este recurso permite aos Managers gerir múltiplos recursos humanos e os seus projetos. Cada Manager tem sua própria equipa para gerir, e estes atualmente enfrentam algumas limitações relacionadas ao processo de gestão de alocação de recursos. Estas limitações são visíveis para os Managers, resultando na falta de adesão de alguns deles, o que resultou numa divergência dos métodos utilizados na gestão de alocação de recursos dentro da empresa. É necessário criar uma solução melhorada que tenha em conta: as visões e ideias dos Managers, tendo inspiração no software existente e nas soluções alternativas usadas pelos Managers. O objetivo principal para a nova solução é ter uma visão fácil de quem está disponível e quando, bem como a opção de gerir facilmente essa informação. Com esta dissertação, queremos estudar o processo de Design UX/UI e a gestão de alocação de múltiplos recursos, e usá-la para criar o design de uma solução de alocação de recursos para a VILT

Andando pela estrada da memória: uma abordagem de realidade virtual para suporte ao estudo do ajuste mnemónico para a contaminação

Biologically, humans have evolved to adapt against pathogens but, since fighting them can have negative implication to the body, a set of mechanisms have evolved towards avoiding contamination, called the Behavioral Immune System (BIS). To better understand the BIS, Experimental Psychology studies its impact by conducting experiments where a participant is exposed to several objects some of which are presented as having been in contact with a source of contamination (e.g., a sick person).To ensure the safety of the participants, these experiments typically rely on photographs of the objects and individuals and on background stories establishing the connection between both, which requires some imagination effort, from the participant, and affects the realism of the experiment. To move the research on BIS and memory into a potentially more ecologically-valid setting, the current work proposes a Virtual Reality (VR) based approach where 360º videos are used as stimuli, during the experiments. To this end, a set of tools were devised to support creating and cataloging videos, and to configure and control their presentation to the participant, in the virtual environment. At an early stage, a partial version of the platform served as grounds for a pilot study aiming to assess the overall adequateness of the proposal and validate acquisition parameters for the stimuli. The positive outcomes of this study informed the development of the complete Experiment Support System and, at its current stage, results from an evaluation with ten users show a good level of usability. Considering that the proposed system already supports the implementation of the designed experimental protocol, it establishes a promising ground for further evolving the research regarding the Mnemonic Tuning for Contamination.Biologicamente, os seres humanos evoluíram para se adaptarem contra os agentes patogénicos, mas, uma vez que combatê-los pode ter implicações negativas no corpo, um conjunto de mecanismos evoluiu para evitar a contaminação, chamado Sistema Imunológico Comportamental (BIS). Para melhor compreender o BIS, a Psicologia Experimental estuda o seu impacto através da realização de experiências em que um participante é exposto a vários objetos, alguns dos quais são apresentados como tendo estado em contacto com uma fonte de contaminação (por exemplo, uma pessoa doente). Para garantir a segurança dos participantes, estas experiências normalmente contam com fotografias dos objetos e indivíduos e em histórias de fundo que estabelecem a ligação entre ambos, o que requer algum esforço de imaginação, do participante, e afeta o realismo da experiência. Para mover a pesquisa sobre o BIS e a memória para um cenário potencialmente mais válido ecologicamente, o trabalho atual propõe uma abordagem baseada em Realidade Virtual (VR) onde vídeos de 360º são usados como estímulos, durante as experiências. Para tal, foi concebido um conjunto de ferramentas para apoiar a criação e catalogação de vídeos, e para configurar e controlar a sua apresentação ao participante, no ambiente virtual. Numa fase inicial, uma versão parcial da plataforma serviu de base a um estudo piloto com o objetivo de avaliar a adequação global da proposta e validar os parâmetros de aquisição para os estímulos. Os resultados positivos deste estudo informaram o desenvolvimento do sistema completo de suporte a experiências e, na sua fase atual, uma avaliação com dez utilizadores mostrou um bom nível de usabilidade. Tendo em conta que o sistema proposto já apoia a implementação do protocolo experimental concebido, estabelece um terreno promissor para uma maior evolução da investigação do ajuste mnemónico para a contaminação.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

Analysing usability and security issues in design and development of information systems

Recent technological advancements and the global economic challenges have meant that, individuals and businesses are constantly seeking new ways to exploit Information Systems (IS) and in manners that not only enhance user experiences and/or improve business processes and productivity, but also protect the individual‟s privacy and business assets for competitive advantage. Therefore, Information Systems need to be designed and developed to meet these challenges and/or other objectives. This thesis will delve primarily into the history of IS as a basis for establishing where the problem(s) lie or emanate from. It will focus on critically analysing existing Information Systems, and investigating the conflicting issues of usability and security, from an Information Systems Design and Development perspective by analysing various approaches. An in-depth review of literature and critical analysis of requirements necessary for the design and development of a usable and secure Information System will be carried out and will form the intellectual framework for this research. The premise therefore, is to look for a balanced approach or appropriate trade-off framework for designing usable-secure systems. The research will conclude with a discussion on how an envisaged conceptual framework or model can be developed based on certain influential factors, and how the framework can be experimentally evaluated, and to suggest areas for further improvement or future research

Live Docker Containers

The use of containerization technologies for software development, such as Docker, is now widespread, with over 70000 Dockerfiles being found in projects from the GitHub platform as of October 2016. The use of these technologies has a few advantages, providing a secure, portable and efficient environment where applications can be executed. Currently, the usual workflow of a developer configuring a Docker environment consists of writing a Dockerfile, building the Dockerfile into a Docker image, instantiating that Docker image in a Docker container and verifying if the container is working as expected (using a tool or the command-line). If the container is not behaving as expected, then the developer has to make changes to the Dockerfile and repeat the process, until the desired behaviour is achieved. This process is often slow, based on trial-and-error, and therefore time consuming and frustrating for developers, as observed in a survey performed with students with some Docker experience. As such, reducing the temporal distance between editing a Dockerfile and observing the consequences of those changes on the containers that can be built from that Dockerfile (i.e. tightening the feedback loop) can reduce the debugging efforts required by the programmer. Live programming refers to the ability to obtain continuous feedback on a program while that program is being developed. Since software is usually developed on text editors/IDEs, live feedback is usually provided within these tools. The level of liveness in IDEs is related to the type and update frequency of the feedback provided. The existing tools that can help a developer working with Dockerfiles can be split into several categories: container status, performance monitoring, container management, infrastructure testing, static analysis and image build optimization. However, currently the only tools which provide live feedback are some static analysis tools. Therefore, the developer is restricted to the development workflow mentioned above, with little liveness in his environment. Providing more live dynamic feedback in the developer's environment is expected to lead to an increased efficiency of developers working on Dockerfiles. This can be achieved through the implementation of an IDE plugin which automatically builds, instantiates and extracts information from a Docker container while the developer writes the respective Dockerfile, providing continuous feedback on changes that the developer makes. In order to quantify the influence of providing more live dynamic feedback on the efficiency of developers, a user study was conducted

Website visuality and usability : How visual design can help prevent information overload on data-heavy websites

Due to technological development, the transmission of information via digital channels has increased and is constantly growing. A large amount of information reaches us every day, both in our free time and in our working life. It can be difficult to avoid the flood of information, and it may become impossible to filter the information needed at each moment from the huge information flow. This concept is known as information overload. The aim of this study was to find out how the visual elements of websites can help and guide users to find information on data-heavy websites, and to discover how the visual elements affect the users’ possible experience of information overload. In my research, I looked into the websites of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL, as well as the United Nations’ World Health Organization WHO. The data analyzed in the study was collected by means of an expert analysis, a usability study, and a questionnaire. At the beginning of the research, I conducted an expert analysis to identify which visual elements had been used on THL and WHO’s websites. By comparing these elements with the usability study results, I was able to find out how these elements affected the users’ actions on the websites. The study found that on both websites, the visual elements guid-ed the users’ navigation, and the way they looked for information on the websites. Since all participants of the usability study were able to complete their tests on both websites, it could be stated that the visual usability of both THL and WHO’s websites is at a fairly good level. Based on the participants’ questionnaire answers and the results of the usability study, I identified six symptoms referring to information overload. The main contributors behind these symptoms were visual elements that affected the appearance of the links and navigation elements used on the websites. The participants found the THL website more difficult to use, and this finding was supported by the amount of time spent on performing the usability tests. Based on the research, it can be concluded that the visual elements of websites can have both positive and negative effects on the users’ possible experience of information overload.Teknologisen kehityksen myötä tiedonvälitys digitaalisia kanavia pitkin on lisääntynyt ja kasvaa jatkuvasti. Valtava määrä informaatiota tavoittavaa meidät päivittäin niin vapaa-ajalla kuin työelämässäkin. Informaatiotulvaa voi olla vaikea välttää, ja kussakin hetkessä tarvittavan tiedon suodattaminen valtavista tietomääristä voi olla jopa ylitsepääsemättömän vaikeaa. Puhutaan niin sanotusta informaatioähkystä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten verkkosivustojen visuaaliset elementit voivat auttaa ja ohjata käyttäjiä löytämään informaatiota suuria määriä dataa sisältäviltä verkkosivustoilta, sekä miten visuaaliset elementit vaikuttavat käyttäjien mahdollisesti kokemaan informaatioähkyyn. Tutkimuksessa tarkastelin Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL:n sekä Yhdistyneiden kansakuntien eli YK:n alaisen Maailman terveysjärjestö WHO:n verkkosivuja. Tutkimuksessa analysoitava data kerättiin asiantuntija-analyysin, käytettävyystutkimuksen ja kyselylomakkeen avulla. Tutkimuksen alussa tunnistin asiantuntija-analyysin avulla mitä visuaalisia elementtejä THL:n ja WHO:n verkkosivuilla oli käytetty. Vertaamalla näitä elementtejä käytettävyystutkimusten tuloksiin pystyin selvittämään, miten nämä elementit vaikuttivat käyttäjän toimintaan verkkosivuilla. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että molemmilla verkkosivustoilla visuaaliset elementit ohjasivat käyttäjän navigointia ja tapaa, miten he etsivät informaatiota. Koska kaikki käytettävyystestien osallistujat pystyivät suorittamaan testit molemmilla verkkosivuilla, voitiin todeta, että sekä THL:n että WHO:n verkkosivustojen visuaalinen käytettävyys on melko hyvällä tasolla. Tutkimuksen osallistujien kyselylomakkeeseen antamien vastausten sekä käytettävyystestien tulosten perusteella tunnistin kuusi informaatioähkyyn viittaavaa oiretta. Näiden oireiden taustalla olivat ennen kaikkea sellaiset visuaaliset elementit, jotka vaikuttivat verkkosivuilla käytettyjen linkkien ja navigointielementtien ulkoasuun. Testien osallistujat kokivat THL:n verkkosivut vaikeammiksi käyttää, ja tätä tuki myös käytettävyystestien suorittamiseen käytetty aika. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan päätellä, että verkkosivujen visuaalisilla elementeillä voi olla sekä positiivisia että negatiivisia vaikutuksia käyttäjien mahdollisesti kokemaan informaatioähkyyn

Transforming visitor experience with museum technologies: The development and impact evaluation of a recommender system in a physical museum

Over the past few decades, many attempts have been made to develop recommender systems (RSs) that could improve visitor experience (VX) in physical museums. Nevertheless, to determine the effectiveness of a museum RS, studies often encompass system performance evaluations, e.g., user experience (UX) and accuracy level tests, and rarely extend to the VX realm that museum RSs aim to support. The reported challenges with defining and evaluating VX might explain why the evidence that the interaction with an RS during the visit can enhance the quality of VX remains limited. Without this evidence, however, the purpose of developing museum RSs and the benefits of using RSs during a museum visit are in question. This thesis interrogates whether and how museum RSs can impact VX. It first consolidates the literature about VX-related constructs into one coherent analytical framework of museum experience which delineates the scope of VX. Following this analysis, this research develops and validates a VX instrument with cognitive, introspective, restorative, and affective variables which could be used to evaluate VX with or without museum technologies. Then, through a series of UX- and VX-related studies in the physical museum, this research implements a fully working content-based RS and establishes how the interaction with the developed RS transforms VX. The findings in this thesis demonstrate that the impact of an RS on the quality of VX can depend on the level of engagement with the system during a museum visit. Additionally, the impact can be insufficient on some mental processes within VX, and it can vary following the changes in contextual variables. The findings also reinforce that system performance tests cannot replace a VX-focused analysis, because a positive UX and additional information about museum objects in an RS do not imply an improved VX. Therefore, this thesis underscores that more VX-related evaluations of museum RSs are required to identify how to strengthen and extend their influence on the quality of VX

Human Computer Interaction and Emerging Technologies

The INTERACT Conferences are an important platform for researchers and practitioners in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) to showcase their work. They are organised biennially by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Technical Committee on Human–Computer Interaction (IFIP TC13), an international committee of 30 member national societies and nine Working Groups. INTERACT is truly international in its spirit and has attracted researchers from several countries and cultures. With an emphasis on inclusiveness, it works to lower the barriers that prevent people in developing countries from participating in conferences. As a multidisciplinary field, HCI requires interaction and discussion among diverse people with different interests and backgrounds. The 17th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2019) took place during 2-6 September 2019 in Paphos, Cyprus. The conference was held at the Coral Beach Hotel Resort, and was co-sponsored by the Cyprus University of Technology and Tallinn University, in cooperation with ACM and ACM SIGCHI. This volume contains the Adjunct Proceedings to the 17th INTERACT Conference, comprising a series of selected papers from workshops, the Student Design Consortium and the Doctoral Consortium. The volume follows the INTERACT conference tradition of submitting adjunct papers after the main publication deadline, to be published by a University Press with a connection to the conference itself. In this case, both the Adjunct Proceedings Chair of the conference, Dr Usashi Chatterjee, and the lead Editor of this volume, Dr Fernando Loizides, work at Cardiff University which is the home of Cardiff University Press