Next Steps for Human-Computer Integration

Human-Computer Integration (HInt) is an emerging paradigm in which computational and human systems are closely interwoven. Integrating computers with the human body is not new. however, we believe that with rapid technological advancements, increasing real-world deployments, and growing ethical and societal implications, it is critical to identify an agenda for future research. We present a set of challenges for HInt research, formulated over the course of a five-day workshop consisting of 29 experts who have designed, deployed and studied HInt systems. This agenda aims to guide researchers in a structured way towards a more coordinated and conscientious future of human-computer integration

Quality of human-computer interaction - results of a national usability survey of hospital-IT in Germany

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Due to the increasing functionality of medical information systems, it is hard to imagine day to day work in hospitals without IT support. Therefore, the design of dialogues between humans and information systems is one of the most important issues to be addressed in health care. This survey presents an analysis of the current quality level of human-computer interaction of healthcare-IT in German hospitals, focused on the users' point of view.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To evaluate the usability of clinical-IT according to the design principles of EN ISO 9241-10 the IsoMetrics Inventory, an assessment tool, was used. The focus of this paper has been put on suitability for task, training effort and conformity with user expectations, differentiated by information systems. Effectiveness has been evaluated with the focus on interoperability and functionality of different IT systems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>4521 persons from 371 hospitals visited the start page of the study, while 1003 persons from 158 hospitals completed the questionnaire. The results show relevant variations between different information systems.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Specialised information systems with defined functionality received better assessments than clinical information systems in general. This could be attributed to the improved customisation of these specialised systems for specific working environments. The results can be used as reference data for evaluation and benchmarking of human computer engineering in clinical health IT context for future studies.</p

Perspectives on engineering more usable context-aware systems

The expectations of the abilities of context-aware systems (C-AS) often differ from reality. It becomes difficult to program contextual services that react adequately to the circumstantial needs of users as developers need to know, beforehand: the set of contextual states that may exist, what information could accurately determine a contextual state within that set, and what appropriate action should be taken in that particular state. Although there exist many frameworks and tools which support the design and implementation of C-AS, there is less conceptual help for developers to inform them of what contextual situations and services are appropriate (or feasible) to be implemented. This report reviews the state-of-the-art conceptualisation of context, which is more focused on the representational interpretation of the concept, to introduce a perspective that also acknowledges its interactional interpretation. A combination of revised and new definitions is introduced, which give key insights for the development of more useful C-AS. By acknowledging situations as a dynamic phenomenon that arises from action (interaction), and needs to be understood by the developers, it facilitates the analysis of these subjective interpretations into programming constructs (representation). The conceptualisation is also complemented with a set of guidelines for developers, an illustration of their usage, and a further discussion on the future directions for the engineering of more usable C-AS. The introduced conceptualisation is targeted towards the creation of an open-source tool supported framework for the engineering of C-AS