Co-Operation with Users: Challenges from (I)Literacy and Cultures

With the developments in the global market, designs focusing on the users of Information Technologies becomes a competitive factor since successful diffusion and up-take of IT lie with the users. But users have different IT competences and are culturally different. These are challenges that HCI-design methodologies need to address. User-Centred Design offers a possible approach but there are limitations that must be dealt with to strengthen user oriented and interdisciplinary approaches, and the development of techniques and tools that are suitable for handling the complexity of designing for a global world. This research-in-progress paper outlines preliminary reflections on – and contributions to – the development and qualification of techniques and tools that address user-centred design in a global context. We discuss User-Centred Design and qualify this approach by aligning with the Scandinavian IS tradition of co-operating directly with users. We suggest an approach inspired by the Scandinavian approach to IS design as a possible point of departure for targeting global users. We introduce the conceptual and experimental work in our Vision Lab, an approach based on co-operation with users and on the fundamental understanding of design methods as a relational practice that takes place between objects, contexts, users, and designers. We describe different techniques we have explored, characterized by giving the users voice throughout the design effort. In a final chapter we re-address the global perspective, and point out that virtual co-operation with the users is the next challenge. We suggest two digital techniques which may be explored for virtual cooperative design, discuss potential challenges to these methods, and conclude with propositions for further research to be carried out in the Vision Lab

from Think Aloud to Participatory Analysis

Think Aloud is cost effective, promises access to the user’s mind and is the applied usability technique. But "keep talking" is difficult, besides, the multimodal interface is visual not verbal. Eye-tracking seems to get around the verbalisation problem. It captures the visual focus of attention. However, it is expensive, obtrusive and produces huge amount of data. Besides, eye-tracking do not give access to user’s mind. Capturing interface/cursor tracking may be cost effective. It is easy to install, data collection is automatic and unobtrusive and replaying the captured recording to the user and probing about her actions and thoughts open for participatory analysis. Keywords usability test, cost effective, unobtrusive, TA, eye and cursor tracking, user experience, participatory analysi

A global perspective on ICT and illiteracy

The process of globalization is opening new windows for Danish initiatives. The requirement for innovation and development of new areas as a consequence of the globalization will lead to radical changes and the IT businesses need to take active part in the development. But in order to understand and explain the globalization process we also have to understand the limitations. One such limitation is found in the global digitalization of information- and communication processes. This global development requires, from the world citizens, literacy in use of computers. The majority of the world populations are illiterates, they are not only technical illiterates but also illiterates in the traditional sense: they cannot read and write, however, the global ICT development largely disregards the problem with illiteracy and cultural differences. It seems that a future area of growth for the Danish IT business with their specific competencies may be to strengthen the user oriented and interdisciplinary approaches to design and development of ICT applications - targeted to specific cultural groups and the illiterates - in developing countries and also to large groups of immigrants in the developed world. India is an example of the global structural changes. India has developed an impressive ICT industry and has a very high level of expertise in software engineering. India’s government has a vision for e-democracy and have implemented e-government systems, which also address the rural populations. But the Indian population is very large and the potential users are highly diverse groups of which many are illiterate. Denmark has an IT industry that supplements India’s, e.g. a strong expertise in e-government, and ICT for the agriculture. Denmark has a long tradition for cooperation between IT developers, researchers and users and is strong in interdisciplinary approaches to development and design of ICT applications. Denmark also has a tradition for a human centred design, and usability is seen as a competitive factor. In India usability is on the agenda in only few IT companies, and it is also new to the academic world (Pradeep Y. 2004). Copenhagen Business School, department of Informatics has for the last 18 months been involved in the establishment of a Euro-India Centre. The departments research group on human-computer interaction(HCI) has prioritized HCI work in the Asian world for the last 4 years (Clemmensen 2004, Nielsen Janni 2004, Nielsen, Clemmensen and Yssing 2002, Levinsen, K. 2002, Nielsen, Lene and Gregers Koch 2003). The wish for a collaborative network has come about as a result of meetings and discussions between researchers from especially India and Denmark and also from Great Britain and Sweden. The first Indian conference on HCI in December 2004 and the initiative from CBS, department of Informatics in May 2005 where an Indian – European workshop was held, created the basis for this network application

The disruptive effect of Think Aloud

Thinking Aloud Thinking Aloud is the most commonly used technique used to test users´ interaction with computers. The assumption is that Think Aloud gives access to what goes on in the users´ minds. However, interfaces are multi modal and play heavily on user´s visual perception. Reflecting upon Think Aloud (TA), we ask the question: what happens when users are required to verbalise their visual perceptions and interactions? We argue that TA may have a disruptive effect, suggesting that other techniques be considered. With a theoretical distinction between focal and subsidiary awareness and a focus on the sense making process, we develop a frame for test of user´s visual interaction which rely on the coordination between hand/mouse and eye/cursor. Author Keywords: Think Aloud, visual perception, interaction, tes

Man-machine-interface, no woman

The main thesis is that scientific paradigmes must be understood gender specific, that is within the frames of a masculine univers of understanding, and that a computerization of science may lead to a further polarization in the masculine respectively feminine univers of understanding, hence to a furtherrepression of female cognitive styles from the sciences. Masculine and feminine are to be understood as opposite poles within the individual, man or woman, but the gender specific division of labour gives the concepts some contens of reality.Through a theoretical analysis of mens respectively womens forms of production and reproduction, hence the character of their relation to the object world, the polarization is pointed out in 1) the concrete activity 2) the intuitive thinking and 3) the verbal cognition. It is argued that both the masculine and the feminine univers of understanding may be dequalified by this polarization. The masculine, through the instrumentalization, and the feminine through further demarcation from the societal system of meanings: The tendency to render them mute is reinforced, and the repression is intensified in the conscious verbal cognition, where dialectic communication and empathy may be expressed onlywith difficulty. As an externalization of instrumentel cognition, the computer science may reinforce the demarcation of the feminine styles of cognition, and cause a backlash for the critisism of the scientific paradigms which has been voiced especially by feminist scientists.Hovedtesen er at videnskabelige paradigmer må forstås kønsspecifikt, det vil sige indenfor rammerne af et maskulint tydningsunivers, og at datalogisering af videnskaberne kan føre til en yderligere polorisering i det maskuline hhv. feminine tydningsunivers, og dermed til en yderligere fortrængning af kvindelige erkendelsesformer fra videnskaberne. Maskulin og feminin forstås som polariteter i det enkelte menneske, kvinde eller mand, men den kønsspecifikke arbejdsdeling giver begreberne et vist realitetsindhold. Gennem en teoretisk analyse af mænds hhv. kvinders arbejdsformer, og dermed karakteren af deres relation til omverdenen, påvises polariseringen i 1 J det direkte handleplan 2) den intuitive tænkningog 3) den bevidste sproglige erkendelse. Det påpeges, at både de maskuline og de feminine tydninger dekvalificeresved polariseringen. De maskuline gennem instrumentafisering og de feminine gennem udgrænsning fra det samfundsmæssige betydningssystem; deres tendentielle sprogløshed forstærkes og fortrængningen skærpes i den bevidst sproglige erkendelse, hvor dialektisk kommunikation og empati kun vanskeligt kan udtrykkes. Som eksternafisering af instrumentel erkendelse kan datalogienøge marginaliseringen af de feminine erkendelsesformer og betyde tilbageslag for den kritik af de videnskabelige paradigmer, som bl.a. kvindeforskere har rejst

On concurrent usability testing

ABSTRACT Working with usability techniques, with focus on how a given technique enables data capture made us ask the question: What kind of information is it an HCI expert want from the user when conducting a usability test? We answer the question by discussing two techniques both relying on concurrent data. Think Aloud is one of the most frequently used techniques and almost an institution in itself. Eye-tracking is new in usability testing and still at an experimental level in HCI. We reflect critically upon the two obtrusive techniques. We discuss the usability of concurrent data capture, suggesting participatory analysis and retrospective verbalisation as a possible step in usability testing. Keywords Concurrent data, usability test, Think Aloud, Eye-tracking, mind, participatory analysis and retrospective verbalisatio