Designing a user interface for serious games: Observing differences in user response between gamers and non-gamers within the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

As entertainment games become an established part of our media, public and private sector companies will look to utilise the benefits of games to train, educate and assess their workforce in engaging ways. This may require a generation unfamiliar with games technology to use them for the first time. As designers we need to consider this, to make sure that the User Interfaces (UI) we create are usable and easily understood to those unfamiliar with the medium. This body of research is a study into the design and testing of a serious game for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS). Do players of video games develop an understanding of the convention, knowledge and skills over time, which could be seen as a distinct language? – A kind of ‘game literacy.’ If so, then a serious game, which may have a mixed skill group, cannot solely rely on the conventions that work in entertainment games. Therefore, can a recognised UI design process from another discipline be used to develop a serious games UI? To investigate this, Goal-Directed Design is used as a research methodology with a particular focus on the impact learning domain knowledge has on the designer’s ability to create a suitable product for the client. This includes the author undergoing introductory Incident Command training to see the benefits that had on the project. In response to learning the Fire Service’s domain, a prototype product was developed to help the creation and examination of Incident Commanders for the Fire Service. This was then tested on five Fire Officers, of varying ages, to observe how they used and interacted with software unfamiliar to them. This provided an insight into aspects of UIs gamers and non-gamers have problems with and also to see if there is a technological gap between generations. This research suggests there may be a technology generation gap but it is not as polarised as either ‘native’ or ‘immigrant’ but more gradual. Goal Directed Design appears to set out a suitable approach for serious games developers to conduct user research

FORVAL: Computer Software Package for Agricultural and Natural Resources Investment Analysis

The valuation of agricultural and natural resource investments presents challenging analysis problems that often require the use of computer software. Most of these computer packages are complex and costly. FORVAL is a free, user-friendly, menu-driven, agricultural and natural resource investment analysis package. It can accommodate any investment scenario and includes the standard financial criteria (net present value, rate of return, equal annual income, benefit/cost ratio, and land expectation value for forestry investments). FORVAL accommodates various cash flows like single sum, terminating annual and periodic series, and perpetual annual and periodic series. It also has options for payment and price projections

FORVAL: Computer Software Package for Agricultural and Natural Resources Investment Analysis

The valuation of agricultural and natural resource investments presents challenging analysis problems that often require the use of computer software. Most of these computer packages are complex and costly. FORVAL is a free, user-friendly, menu-driven, agricultural and natural resource investment analysis package. It can accommodate any investment scenario and includes the standard financial criteria (net present value, rate of return, equal annual income, benefit/cost ratio, and land expectation value for forestry investments). FORVAL accommodates various cash flows like single sum, terminating annual and periodic series, and perpetual annual and periodic series. It also has options for payment and price projections

A note on after-tax analysis where capitalized costs are depreciated

Forest management often requires relatively long-term and capital intensive investments. Economic analysis of timber management alternatives can therefore be an extremely important aspect of decision-making. Investment analysis techniques are prominent in forest management texts and have also been the subject of many articles in the forestry literature. Any forestry investment analysis involves several important aspects. Topics included in reports by Gunter and Haney (1984) and Bullard et al. (1986), for example, include the treatment of inflation, income taxes, risk, and the choice of an appropriate discount rate. In this article, we focus on a very specific aspect of after-tax investment analysis-the appropriate, after-tax discount· rate where capitalized costs are depreciated. We discuss this aspect in particular because previous forestry texts, reports, and articles have not been explicit in stating that a tax adjusted discount rate is necessary in such cases

Bullish on Forestry Careers

During the next decade, baby boomer-aged foresters, those born from 1946 to 1964, will be retiring in large numbers. This retirement trend is true for all sectors of forestry employment, from state and federal agencies to private firms and industries. Forestry employers in both public and private sectors are clamoring for more graduates, as well as for more diverse graduates, from forestry degree programs. With looming retirements and industry growth, employers can project the number of positions opening, and they are aware that U.S. forestry schools are not producing sufficient graduates to fill the positions

Structure and funding of state-level forestry cost-share programs

State cost-share programs have become a popular means of encouraging forest management activities on private nonindustrial lands. Programs have been started in 13 states most with extensive forest industries and high percentages of private nonindustrial land ownership. Cost-shares are a direct economic incentive and are used to encourage such specific practices as reforestation after harvest. Although the need for forestry cost-share programs has been questioned in the past, accomplishments have been high and programs have been effective in increasing reforestation on private lands

Forestry and natural resources investment analysis via computer software

The valuation of forestry and natural resources investments and projects often present challenging analysis problems that require the use of computer software. Obtaining useful results from such packages are often difficult due to complex user/ program interfaces, while most are also subscriber~based and not freely available

External factors shaping the 2010 forester: Continuing education from an academic point of view

Professional obsolescence is a danger facing all foresters. All too many foreste·rs consider their educational commitment to terminate when they earn their degree. The competency of the professional forester can quickly erode if the forester does not develop a personal continuing education program

FORVAL for Windows: A computer program for forestry investment analysis

FORVAL for Windows is computer software designed to help evaluate timberland and forestry investments from a financial standpoint. It is free and user-friendlyso easy to use that a manual is not required (a Windows Help file is available as part of the program). While professional foresters will find it a valuable tool, it will be equally useful to private forest landowners