Can journey mapping be used to visualize information sharing in home care?

This study investigates the use of journey mapping as a tool for visualizing theflow of information in home care. Journey mapping is a design method with the purpose of visualizing the interaction of a user and a product or service. It tries to encompass the whole user experience including actions and touch points between user and product, feelings and other related information. Hence, the visualized journey in a journey map is originally from one persons’ perspective. Here we will instead emanate from the perspective of the information, and draw the journey map based on different pieces of information, using a set of concrete scenarios from home care. The aim is to get a better understanding of how information flows in the home care setting, and the journey map will be a useful tool in the process of developing home care further. This can for example be in the process of designing digital support systems, for designing the information itself, or for developing work routines around the information

Improving the Usability of Organizational Data Systems

For research data repositories, web interfaces are usually the primary, if not the only, method that data users have to interact with repository systems. Data users often search, discover, understand, access, and sometimes use data directly through repository web interfaces. Given that sub-par user interfaces can reduce the ability of users to locate, obtain, and use data, it is important to consider how repositories’ web interfaces can be evaluated and improved in order to ensure useful and successful user interactions. This paper discusses how usability assessment techniques are being applied to improve the functioning of data repository interfaces at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). At NCAR, a new suite of data system tools is being developed and collectively called the NCAR Digital Asset Services Hub (DASH). Usability evaluation techniques have been used throughout the NCAR DASH design and implementation cycles in order to ensure that the systems work well together for the intended user base. By applying user study, paper prototype, competitive analysis, journey mapping, and heuristic evaluation, the NCAR DASH Search and Repository experiences provide examples for how data systems can benefit from usability principles and techniques. Integrating usability principles and techniques into repository system design and implementation workflows helps to optimize the systems’ overall user experience

Categorisation of visualisation methods to support the design of Human-Computer Interaction systems

During the design of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems, the creation of visual artefacts forms an important part of design. On one hand producing a visual artefact has a number of advantages: it helps designers to externalise their thought and acts as a common language between different stakeholders. On the other hand, if an inappropriate visualisation method is employed it could hinder the design process. To support the design of HCI systems, this paper reviews the categorisation of visualisation methods used in HCI. A keyword search is conducted to identify a) current HCI design methods, b) approaches of selecting these methods. The resulting design methods are filtered to create a list of just visualisation methods. These are then categorised using the approaches identified in (b). As a result 23 HCI visualisation methods are identified and categorised in 5 selection approaches (The Recipient, Primary Purpose, Visual Archetype, Interaction Type, and The Design Process).Innovate UK, EPSRC, Airbus Group Innovation

Modelling the student journey using customer journey mapping: moments of truth in the educational journey

Nations widely acknowledge the potential of education in shaping both the individual and society. There is a constant effort to develop a model to understand students’ journeys which includes understanding what they go through during the whole process of education. This study creates a basic model to understand students’ experiences before, during and after study periods of formal education at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Muscat. An interactive discussion in the form of a semi-structured interview with final-year students was conducted to collect in-depth information related to the six phases of a student’s journey. It concludes with an examination of six moments of truth, each of which is defined and explained using various touchpoints. The sample was students in training who had completed all courses before receiving their Bachelor’s degree (N=156) across the Business Studies, Engineering and Applied Sciences departments, including on-the-job training students pursuing. The semi-structured interview method was used as the method of data collection. The objective of this paper was to assess the application of the concept of customer journey mapping to design a methodology to map students’ journeys from their points of view and develop a system that delivers a better experience for students. The user-centred design (UCD) was used for summarising the outcome of students’ responses. The analysis is an effort to highlight the touchpoints which need to be taken improved on and also the touchpoints which are well appreciated by the students

NoiseSPY: a real-time mobile phone platform for urban noise monitoring and mapping

In this paper we present the design, implementation, evaluation, and user experiences of the NoiseSpy application, our sound sensing system that turns the mobile phone into a low-cost data logger for monitoring environmental noise. It allows users to explore a city area while collaboratively visualizing noise levels in real-time. The software combines the sound levels with GPS data in order to generate a map of sound levels that were encountered during a journey. We report early findings from the trials which have been carried out by cycling couriers who were given Nokia mobile phones equipped with the NoiseSpy software to collect noise data around Cambridge city. Indications are that, not only is the functionality of this personal environmental sensing tool engaging for users, but aspects such as personalization of data, contextual information, and reflection upon both the data and its collection, are important factors in obtaining and retaining their interest

How was it for you? Experiences of participatory design in the UK health service

Improving co-design methods implies that we need to understand those methods, paying attention to not only the effect of method choices on design outcomes, but also how methods affect the people involved in co-design. In this article, we explore participants' experiences from a year-long participatory health service design project to develop ‘Better Outpatient Services for Older People’. The project followed a defined method called experience-based design (EBD), which represented the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service. A sample of participants in the project took part in semi-structured interviews reflecting on their involvement in and their feelings about the project. Our findings suggest that the EBD method that we employed was successful in establishing positive working relationships among the different groups of stakeholders (staff, patients, carers, advocates and design researchers), although conflicts remained throughout the project. Participants' experiences highlighted issues of wider relevance in such participatory design: cost versus benefit, sense of project momentum, locus of control, and assumptions about how change takes place in a complex environment. We propose tactics for dealing with these issues that inform the future development of techniques in user-centred healthcare design

Accessibility and urban design - Knowledge matters

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The patterning of finance/security : a designerly walkthrough of challenger banking apps

Culture is being ‘appified’. Diverse, pre-existing everyday activities are being redesigned so they happen with and through apps. While apps are often encountered as equivalent icons in apps stores or digital devices, the processes of appification – that is, the actions required to turn something into an app – vary significantly. In this article, we offer a comparative analysis of a number of ‘challenger’ banking apps in the United Kingdom. As a retail service, banking is highly regulated and banks must take steps to identify and verify their customers before entering a retail relationship. Once established, this ‘secured’ financial identity underpins a lot of everyday economic activity. Adopting the method of the walkthrough analysis, we study the specific ways these processes of identifying and verifying the identity of the customer (now the user) occur through user onboarding. We argue that banking apps provide a unique way of binding the user to an identity, one that combines the affordances of smart phones with the techniques, knowledge and patterns of user experience design. With the appification of banking, we see new processes of security folded into the everyday experience of apps. Our analysis shows how these binding identities are achieved through what we refer to as the patterning of finance/security. This patterning is significant, moreover, given its availability for wider circulation beyond the context of retail banking apps