Usability of IT-systems is more than interaction quality - The need of communication and business process criteria

This research builds on the literature on information technology and organizations to suggest an alternative to the current understanding of the production of computer-generated representations of work. This literature sees computer-generated representations of work as automatic outcomes of information technology that managers use to scrutinize employees. We present a ethnography of a desk-based sales unit which suggests that first-line managers can address the tension between the need to enforce prescribed goals and procedures and the need to adapt to and protect employees’ improvisation by forfeiting surveillance and instead use information technology to build a façade of compliance with prescribed goals and procedures. Our results to shed light on the hidden labours behind representations of compliance and place agency in the centre stage of the process of producing computer-generated formal representations of work

Usability of IT-systems is more than interaction quality - the need of communication and business process criteria

The design and evaluation of IT-systems are usually supported by different usability criteria. Our hypothesis is that criteria are predominantly formulated as supporting interaction between a user and an IT-system. We are claiming that there is a need for criteria formulated at higher levels such as communication and business processes. One example of a criterion formulated at the interaction level is 'Visibility of system status' and one example of a criterion formulated at the business process level is 'Quality of work'. If criteria is formulated and used on the interaction level only, the impact on design and evaluation can only take place at this level. This choice will also mean that you are only able to speculate whether the IT-system is supporting higher levels. We are not saying that criteria belonging to the interaction level are unimportant; rather we are saying that there is a need for formulating complementing criteria that resides on the communication and business process level

Shareability: novel perspective on human-media interaction

Interpersonal communication in the twenty-first century is increasingly taking place within digital media. This poses the problem of understanding the factors that may facilitate or hinder communication processes in virtual contexts. Digital media require a human-machine interface, and the analysis of human-machine interfaces traditionally focuses on the dimension of usability. However, interface usability pertains to the interaction of users with digital devices, not to the interaction of users with other users. Here we argue that there is another dimension of human-media interaction that has remained largely unexplored, but plays a key role in interpersonal communication within digital media: shareability. We define shareability as the resultant of a set of interface features that: (i) make sharing of materials with fellow users easy, efficient, and timely (sharing-related usability); (ii) include features that intuitively invite users to share materials (sharing-related affordances); and (iii) provide a sensorimotor environment that includes perceptual information about both presented materials and the behavior of other users that are experiencing these materials through the medium at hand (support to shared availability). Capitalizing on concepts from semiotics, proxemics, and perceptual and cognItive neuroscience, we explore potential criteria to asses shareability in human-machine interfaces. Finally, we show how these notions may be applied in the analysis of three prototypical cases: online gaming, visual communication on social media, and online distance teaching

Ülikooliraamatukogu e-teenuse kvaliteet ja „töötav kasutaja“: kontseptuaalne mudel

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Doktoritöös on välja pakutud kaasaegse ülikooliraamatukogu e-teenuse kvaliteedi kontseptuaalne mudel ja analüüsitud kasutaja osaluse mõju e-teenuse protsessile ja tulemusele. Töös on rakendatud nii kvalitatiivset kui kvantitatiivset meetodeid, empiiriline materjal on kogutud TÜ Raamatukogust. Väitekiri põhineb neljal omavahel seotud uuringul, mis keskenduvad nii raamatukogu teenuse kvaliteedi kui raamatukogu kommunikatsiooni ning selle transformeerumise küsimustele. Töös jõutakse järeldusele, et traditsiooniliselt põhines raamatukogu kommunikatsioon kasutajatega võimusuhetel, mis väljendusid nii teadmiste kui kasutajate distsiplineerimises, ekspertiisis ja taksonoomias. Need võimusuhted ei ole kadunud ka täna, kui nad muutuvad infoühiskonna mõjul – seda transformatsiooni nimetatakse töös kommunikatiivseks pöördeks. Koos teenuste kandumisega veebikeskkonda tõuseb iseteeninduse määr ja kasutaja roll. Seega on töö aluseks võetud teoreetiline eeldus, et ülikooliraamatukogu e-teenuste kvaliteedi kontseptualiseerimisel on oluline arvesse võtta kasutaja osalust ja mõista, kuidas see võib mõjutada teenuse tulemust. Siit tulenevalt juurutab käesolev doktoritöö raamatukogumaastikul nn „töötava kasutaja“ (working user) kontseptsiooni. Töötav kasutaja, kes eduka e-teenuse tulemuse nimel paneb tööle teatud intensiivsusega oma kognitiivse ja emotsionaalse potentsiaali, on uus fenomen ülikooliraamatukogudes. Töös rõhutatakse, et ülikooliraamatukogud on edukalt teostanud info- ja digipöörde, kuid kommunikatiivne pööre on veel kujunemas – kuigi kasutajaid kaasatakse aktiivselt iseteeninduse protsessidesse, pole raamatukogud veel valmis loobuma oma rigiidsetest taksonoomilistest süsteemidest ning delegeerima kasutajatele kontrolli süsteemi üle, pakkudes selleks vastavaid e-teenuseid. Töös tuuakse välja, et ühelt poolt tagab see teenuse kvaliteedi, kuid teiselt poolt võib siin näha raamatukogusüsteemi püüet kindlustada sellisel implitsiitsel viisil oma võimu teadmiste ja kasutajate üle.The doctoral dissertation proposes a conceptual model of the modern university library e-service and analyses the effect of user participation on the process and outcome of e-service. The author applied both qualitative and quantitative methods; empirical material was gathered at the University of Tartu Library. The dissertation is based on four interrelated studies which focus on the library service quality and the problems of library communication and its transformation. The thesis points out that traditionally, the library’s communication with its users was based on power relations, which found expression in disciplining both the knowledge and the users, and in expertise and taxonomy. These power relations exist even today, but they are changing due to the effect of information society – this transformation is in this dissertation called the communicative turn. Relocation of the services into the web environment increases the share of self-service and the role of the user. This dissertation is based on a theoretical supposition that in conceptualising the quality of the university library e-service it is essential to take into account user participation and to understand the effect it can have on the result of the service. The thesis introduces the notion of “working user” into the librarianship. The working user, who with certain intensity contributes their cognitive and emotional potential to the successful result of e-service, is a new actor in the university librarianship. The author explains that libraries have successfully passed the informational and digital turns, but the communicative turn is still under progress – although library users are actively involved in self-service processes, libraries are still not yet ready to abandon their rigid taxonomic systems and to delegate the control over the system to the users by offering them relevant e-services. The dissertation points out that one the one hand, it guarantees the quality of the service, but on the other hand, it can be seen as the implicit attempt of the library system to ensure its power over its users and over the knowledge