Effective teleconferencing: An international investigation of the factors influencing the effectiveness of distributed meetings

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Science Target via https://www.sciencetarget.com/Journal/index.php/IJBRD/article/view/565With businesses becoming global in their reach, the use of distributed meetings and associated conferencing technologies is at the core of their successful and efficient operation. However, the actual effectiveness of these meetings is thought to vary enormously. This paper reports on a multi-country investigation into the factors that make for an effective distributed meeting in everyday practice. The results are based on a survey conducted with 400 professionals supported by 40 interviews with experienced teleconferencing users. Ten interviews and 100 survey responses were obtained from each of the following four countries: Australia, China, the UK, and the US. The results indicate that a wide range of factors need to be optimised to ensure the most effective distributed meetings. The most influential factors were good sound quality and reliable conferencing technology, but other important aspects included having a good chairperson and attentive participants. The survey also identified some differences between countries, particularly between China and the other countries surveyed on issues such as speaker identification and the barriers to adopting new conferencing technology.We would like to thank BT/Dolby for sponsoring the project and providing help and support through the research. Thanks are also due to Natasha Dwyer and her team who conducted the Australian interviews and survey and helped with their analysis. We are also grateful to ACE FieldWorkChina for their assistance with recruitment for our studies in China. We would also like to thank the following for their very valuable insights into distributed meetings: Steve Brewster, Paul Dourish, David Good, Brian Moore, and JoAnne Yates

Effective teleconferencing: An international investigation of the factors influencing the effectiveness of distributed meetings

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Science Target via https://www.sciencetarget.com/Journal/index.php/IJBRD/article/view/565With businesses becoming global in their reach, the use of distributed meetings and associated conferencing technologies is at the core of their successful and efficient operation. However, the actual effectiveness of these meetings is thought to vary enormously. This paper reports on a multi-country investigation into the factors that make for an effective distributed meeting in everyday practice. The results are based on a survey conducted with 400 professionals supported by 40 interviews with experienced teleconferencing users. Ten interviews and 100 survey responses were obtained from each of the following four countries: Australia, China, the UK, and the US. The results indicate that a wide range of factors need to be optimised to ensure the most effective distributed meetings. The most influential factors were good sound quality and reliable conferencing technology, but other important aspects included having a good chairperson and attentive participants. The survey also identified some differences between countries, particularly between China and the other countries surveyed on issues such as speaker identification and the barriers to adopting new conferencing technology.We would like to thank BT/Dolby for sponsoring the project and providing help and support through the research. Thanks are also due to Natasha Dwyer and her team who conducted the Australian interviews and survey and helped with their analysis. We are also grateful to ACE FieldWorkChina for their assistance with recruitment for our studies in China. We would also like to thank the following for their very valuable insights into distributed meetings: Steve Brewster, Paul Dourish, David Good, Brian Moore, and JoAnne Yates

The impact of communication technologies on life and relationship satisfaction

Previous studies have shown a relationship between the use of communications technology and well-being, particularly mediated through its effect on personal relationships. However, there is some debate over whether this effect is positive or negative. The present study explored this issue further, examining whether the effect varies depending on the type of communications technology, and the nature of the personal relationship. An online survey was conducted with 3421 participants in three countries (Australia, UK and US). It examined the use of ten communication methods, overall satisfaction with life and satisfaction with four different kinds of relationships (close and extended family, and close and distant friends). Results indicate that richer communication methods, which include non-verbal cues, were positively associated with both overall satisfaction with life and satisfaction with relationships. These methods included face-to-face communication, and phone and video calls. Conversely, more restricted methods, such as text messaging and instant messaging, were negatively associated with both variables. Social networking was negatively associated with overall satisfaction, but not with satisfaction with relationships. The strength of the association between a communications method and satisfaction with a relationship varied depending on the type of relationship, but whether it was positive or negative did not change.We would like to thank BT plc (British Telecom) for funding this research. BT were involved in selecting the countries involved in the study and agreeing the main methods used in the study. They also reviewed a draft of the initial report, and suggested some stylistic changes but did not affect its content. They were not otherwise involved in study design or conduct. Many thanks are also due to Jeff Patmore, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, for his help and support with this work.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.11.053 Due to ethical concerns, supporting data from this study cannot be made openly available. Please contact the corresponding author for further information

Designer requirements for visual capability loss simulator tools: Differences between design disciplines

There is a low uptake of inclusive design tools in industry, partly due to a poor fit between design tools and the thought and work processes of designers. Simulating visual capability losses is a technique with great potential in helping designers improve inclusivity and accessibility. However, we need to understand the needs of designers from different disciplines to improve the fit of these tools and their uptake in industry. This study aims to determine designers’ needs for vision loss simulators, and how this varies between disciplines. Interviews were carried out with 15 designers from five disciplines. The results suggest that one tool is not suitable for all. The graphic and web designers interviewed required a tool to aid communication with clients, hoever, the industrial and engineering designers required two tools, depending on the stage of the design process. To increase their uptake, simulator tools should be used in education.We would like to thank the EPSRC for funding this work, and Wolfson College Cambridge for their support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07437-5_

Differences in vision performance in different scenarios and implications for design.

To design accessibly, designers need good, relevant population data on visual abilities. However, currently available data often focuses on clinical vision measures that are not entirely relevant to everyday product use. This paper presents data from a pilot survey of 362 participants in the UK, covering a range of vision measures of particular relevance to product design. The results from the different measures are compared, and recommendations are given for relative text sizes to use in different situations. The results indicate that text needs to be 17-18% larger for comfortable rather than perceived threshold viewing, and a further 20% larger when users are expected to wear their everyday vision setup rather than specific reading aids.The survey was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the i~design 3 grant (Award Number: RG45089). The survey itself was conducted by the National Centre for Social Research under the direction of the research team. As well as the authors of this paper, several others made substantial contributions to the design and analysis of this survey, including Felicia Huppert, Pat Langdon, Kai Ruggeri, Eddy Elton, Jose Liht and John Ryan. Further analysis was funded by EPSRC through the KT-EQUAL project (grant number EP/G030898/2).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2016.02.00

Effectiveness of the inclusive design wheel in practice: Lessons from five pilot projects

The Inclusive Design Wheel (IDW) is an established inclusive con-cept design process, emphasizing iteration and early-stage evaluation. However, a structured evaluation of its effectiveness in practice has not been previously conducted. This paper describes how the IDW process was adapted for use in the design of digital mobility services. It was then trialled on five pilot projects in Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Questionnaires were completed by participants (both pilot partners and end-users) and interviews were held with pilot partners at the end of the project. Initial insights from the pilot experiences and the evaluation are described. The pilot teams found the IDW helpful and particularly valued its help in structuring the design process and offering clear steps and tools. Insights for improving the IDW focus on the importance and role of co-creation, issues with recording iteration and the balance between structure and flexibility. Implications are highlighted for improving the Inclusive Design Wheel and for inclusive design processes more generally.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Developing personas to improve understanding of users’ needs in digital mobility: An experience of the DIGNITY project in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

This paper contributes to the understanding of the end users’ needs and capabilities in digital mobility by presenting a set of personas developed using data from a population-representative survey conducted among 601 Barcelona Metropolitan Area (BMA) residents. The questionnaires were carried out within the framework of the DIGNITY project. The results show that large parts of the population cannot access digital technologies or lack the skills required to use them effectively. As a result, they are not able to take advantage of many digital mobility solutions. The personas in this paper thus present important information on the diversity of potential users, in a way that designers and other stakeholders can find inspiring. This can help them to create inclusive mobility ecosystem, that fit the users’ needs better, resulting in more people being able to use the solutions.This research was done as part of the DIGNITY project, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Grant Agreement number 875542 and was also partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, project RTI2018-095518-B-C22 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Estimating exclusion: a tool to help designers

An exclusion audit assesses how inclusive a product or service is. This is useful for comparing designs and identifying points for improvement. In an exclusion audit, the designer or usability expert identifies the demands a product places on the user‟s capabilities and enters these into an exclusion calculator. This software then estimates the proportion of the adult British population who would be excluded from using the product because their capabilities do not meet these demands. This paper describes research on improving the exclusion calculator based on a recent reanalysis of the calculator‟s underlying dataset. This enabled the capabilities to be broken down into more specific sub-categories or “demand types”. An experiment investigated the use of these demand types in the context of an exclusion audit. It found that participants could determine the demand type of an action consistently, in the majority of cases. This approach was adopted in a redesign of the calculator, described in this paper