A user centric approach to the development and testing of a home energy management system

The development and small scale field trial in Flanders of a home energy management system is presented. During the development, a user-centric approach was used to create interaction between developers and possible end-users in a living lab setting. This allowed actively addressing people’s needs and wants in the development process and testing the system in their homes. The preliminary results of the field trial indicate a high usage during the starting week, which gradually slows down over the weeks that follow. Usage of the different elements in the system varies over the weeks but a consistent “top 3” of elements remains. Dynamic pricing is used by a small but consistent part of the participants. They actively adapt their appliance usage to these prices

Kind mobile notifications for healthcare professionals

[EN] The inclusion of the Internet of Things in healthcare is producing numerous automatic notifications for health professionals. These notifications must be delivered in the right moment and in the right way to be appropriately attended, and at the same time, ensuring no important task is interrupted. In this work, we have applied a human-centred design method to deal with this issue. By collaborating with health professionals in Belgium, we have designed and validated DELICATE, a conceptual framework that categorizes the different attention needs for each notification, and links them with the delivery mechanisms that are more appropriate for each particular context. As an aid for designers, we also define methodological guidelines to clearly determine how DELICATE can be used to develop a notification system. Finally, as a proof-of-concept validation of the framework, we have implemented it in an Android application and tested it using real scenarios. This validation has shown that DELICATE can be used to design a notification system that delivers kind healthcare notifications.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: Pedro Valderas's work has been developed with the financial support of the Spanish State Research Agency under the project TIN2017-84094-R and co-financed with ERDF. Estefania Serral and Jan Derboven's work has been supported by IMEC funding.Serral, E.; Valderas, P.; Derboven, J. (2020). Kind mobile notifications for healthcare professionals. Health Informatics Journal. 26(3):1516-1537. https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458219884184S15161537263Sasangohar, F., Donmez, B., Trbovich, P., & Easty, A. C. (2012). Not All Interruptions are Created Equal: Positive Interruptions in Healthcare. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 56(1), 824-828. doi:10.1177/1071181312561172McFarlane DC. Interruption of people in human-computer interaction: a general unifying definition of human interruption and taxonomy. Technical report, Office of Naval Research, Arlington VA, 31 December 1997.Ross, D. T., & Schoman, K. E. (1977). Structured Analysis for Requirements Definition. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, SE-3(1), 6-15. doi:10.1109/tse.1977.229899Gulliksen, J., Göransson, B., Boivie, I., Blomkvist, S., Persson, J., & Cajander, Å. (2003). Key principles for user-centred systems design. Behaviour & Information Technology, 22(6), 397-409. doi:10.1080/01449290310001624329Beyer, H. R., & Holtzblatt, K. (1995). Apprenticing with the customer. Communications of the ACM, 38(5), 45-52. doi:10.1145/203356.203365Christel, M. G., & Kang, K. C. (1992). Issues in Requirements Elicitation. doi:10.21236/ada25893

A personal decision support system for heart failure management (HeartMan) : study protocol of the HeartMan randomized controlled trial

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a highly prevalent chronic disease, for which there is no cure available. Therefore, improving disease management is crucial, with mobile health (mHealth) being a promising technology. The aim of the HeartMan study is to evaluate the effect of a personal mHealth system on top of standard care on disease management and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in HF. Methods: HeartMan is a randomized controlled 1:2 (control: intervention) proof-of-concept trial, which will enrol 120 stable ambulatory HF patients with reduced ejection fraction across two European countries. Participants in the intervention group are equipped with a multi-monitoring health platform with the HeartMan wristband sensor as the main component. HeartMan provides guidance through a decision support system on four domains of disease management (exercise, nutrition, medication adherence and mental support), adapted to the patient's medical and psychological profile. The primary endpoint of the study is improvement in self-care and HRQoL after a six-months intervention. Secondary endpoints are the effects of HeartMan on: behavioural outcomes, illness perception, clinical outcomes and mental state. Discussion: HeartMan is technologically the most innovative HF self-management support system to date. This trial will provide evidence whether modern mHealth technology, when used to its full extent, can improve HRQoL in HF

Proof-of-concept trial results of the HeartMan mobile personal health system for self-management in congestive heart failure

This study tested the effectiveness of HeartMan—a mobile personal health system offering decisional support for management of congestive heart failure (CHF)—on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), self-management, exercise capacity, illness perception, mental and sexual health. A randomized controlled proof-of-concept trial (1:2 ratio of control:intervention) was set up with ambulatory CHF patients in stable condition in Belgium and Italy. Data were collected by means of a 6-min walking test and a number of standardized questionnaire instruments. A total of 56 (34 intervention and 22 control group) participants completed the study (77% male; mean age 63 years, sd 10.5). All depression and anxiety dimensions decreased in the intervention group (p < 0.001), while the need for sexual counselling decreased in the control group (p < 0.05). Although the group differences were not significant, self-care increased (p < 0.05), and sexual problems decreased (p < 0.05) in the intervention group only. No significant intervention effects were observed for HRQoL, self-care confidence, illness perception and exercise capacity. Overall, results of this proof-of-concept trial suggest that the HeartMan personal health system significantly improved mental and sexual health and self-care behaviour in CHF patients. These observations were in contrast to the lack of intervention effects on HRQoL, illness perception and exercise capacity

Hidden Biases in Semiotic Engineering. Introducing Communicability Evaluation to Multi-Touch Interface Design

This paper describes the use of Semiotic Engineering methods in the context of multi-touch interaction. Focusing on the a nalysis of user testing data, we describe the transferability of Semiotic Engineering methods (specifically the Communicability Evaluation Method)across two interaction paradigms. While Communicability Evaluation is traditionally used for the analysis of graphical user interfaces (GUIs), we assess its applicability in multi- touch interaction through a case study.status: publishe

Users’ Technology Interpretation and Reception – Beyond Designer Intentions

The objective of various methods and techniques in HCI is to make designs as clear as possible, and to maximize the overlap between the designers’ intentions and the users’ interpretations. Diverging user interpretations are seen as symptomatic of a lack of clarity between designer, system and user, and are therefore a central problem in HCI that needs to be solved. However, the proliferation of technology use in daily life puts this ideal of maximized overlap under increasing pressure. As technology is becoming more ubiquitous, more diverse target user groups and contexts of use make interaction broader and more personal. Acknowledging this increased variation in user interpretation, we are developing an evaluation method to identify and analyze variation and shifts in end user interpretation, helping designers to take into account the reality of diverse user interpretations, instead of imposing only one authoritative interpretation.status: publishe

Beyond Designer’s Intentions. A Semiotic Exploration of Technology Interpretation and Appropriation.

Although interactive technologies are always designed to serve specific purposes, it is well-known in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) that these technologies are not always used as their designers intended. Technology use is not a matter of passive reception: through their use, users actively construct and impose new meanings on the technologies they use. Depending on the approach, this phenomenon is referred to as domestication, appropriation, or interpretation of technology (Salovaara 2012). The “adoption process that changes the ways in which technology is used” (Salovaara, 2012) has been analyzed from a variety of angles, including cognitive science (Salovaara, 2012), design (Dix, 2007; Dourish, 1999) , Information Systems research (Carroll, 2004), and Science and Technology Studies (Akrich & Latour, 1992). Even though the theoretical perspectives above offer a wide variety of insights into e.g. social structures and relevant cognitive processes, individual users’ appropriation is often described in HCI as either fascinating – people are more creative than designers expect – or a failure – the designer has failed to account for people’s real-life practices (Salovaara et al., 2011). Within this literature, the specific role of design and user interfaces in technology appropriation has not been researched in detail. We present a method to research users’ interpretations of technology based on an analysis of the user interface on the one hand, and user interpretation on the other. With this approach, we can determine to what extent interfaces influence appropriation by determining the users’ interpretation. We frame the relationship between the user interface and the users’ interpretation as a relation between design strategies and user tactics (De Certeau, 1984). On the one hand, designers have specific intentions when designing technology: these intentions are embedded in the design as structural design strategies, such as features and affordances. These strategies aim to suggest or even impose specific interactions on the user: together, they constitute a potential for interactivity embedded in the user interface. On the other hand, the users’ interaction is an actualization of the potential embedded in the system. The user can choose to abide by the strategies embedded in the interface, or develop tactics to circumvent these strategies, and use the technology in unanticipated ways. This analysis of design strategies and user tactics is situated at the intersection of ethnography and multimodality (Kress, 2011). A multimodal approach is used to analyze the design strategies embedded in technology: we describe how the technology shapes and controls the users’ experience. In addition, ethnographic field study techniques are used to investigate how users actually use the technology, and how they interpret it from their specific point of view. The combination of ethnography and multimodality results in a detailed understanding of the way the design strategies embedded in the technology guide the users, and how users develop specific tactics to resist these design strategies. Furthermore, insight into the users’ tactics and interpretive processes can help interaction designers in designing systems, taking into account the reality of different user interpretations, instead of designing for one definitive interpretation. References Akrich, M., Latour, B. (1992) A Summary of a Convenient Vocabulary for the Semiotics of Human and Non-Human Assemblies. In: Shaping Technology/Building Society. Studies in Sociotechnical Change, Bijker, W.E., Law, J. (Eds.), pp. 259--264, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Carroll, J. (2004) Completing Design in Use: Closing the Appropriation Cycle, In: Proc. ECIS 2004. Paper 44. De Certeau, M. (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. London, UK: University of California Press. Dix, A. (2007). Designing for Appropriation. In: Proc. British HCI 2007, p. 27-30, Swindon, UK: British Computer Society. Dourish, P. (1999). Evolution in the Adoption and Use of Collaborative Technologies. In: Proc. ECSCW’99 Workshop on Evolving Use of Groupware. Kress, G. (2011). ‘Partnership in Research’: Multimodality and Ethnography. Qualitative Research 11(3): 239-260. Salovaara, A., Höök, K., Cheverst, K., Twidale, M., Chalmers, M., Sas, C. (2011) Appropriation and Creative Use: Linking User Studies and Design, In: CHI ’11 EA, pp. 37-40. New York, NY: ACM Press. Salovaara, A. (2012). Repurposive Appropriation and Creative Technology Use in Human-Computer Interaction. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Helsinki, Finland.status: publishe

Adaptivity Considered Harmful? Issues in the Interaction between Users and Adaptive Systems

In human computer interaction,‘mental models’ are wonstructs that represent the end users’ understanding of an interactive system : they are users’internal representations of a system, based on their prior experiences with it, or with similar technology [1]. Traditional’ mental models are based on the users’ evolving understanding of a stable interactive system. However, modern adaptive systems become more and more intelligent, adapting their behaviour to the end users’ behaviour . This adaptivity can make it more difficult for end users to predict the system’s behaviour, and construct an accurate mental model based on their previous experiences [3]. As understandable,transparent system behaviour is the first step towards meaningful interactions, it is important that adaptive systems help their users in understanding how they work [2]. Two case studies will be presented 1, illustrating some of the issues involved in facilitating end user understanding of adaptive systems. The ALADIN (IWT, 2011 - 2014)project aims to develop an assistive vocal interface for people with a physical impairment. This vocal interface is trained by the user : the system adapts to the end user’s vocabulary,grammar, and speech.As the ALADIN interface is trained over time to become better at understanding the user, it is an important challenge to communicate to users what the system can and cannot understand or do. In the MAPLE project (iMinds, 2009-2011), an adaptive mobile platform for language learning was designed. The platform offered language exercises, and adapted the exercise difficulty based on the learner’s score on previous exercises. Because of the adjusted exercise difficulty, learners always reach the same average score, even if their language proficiency improves. This kind of adaptivity required learners to revise the traditional link between increased proficiency and higher scores ,as a student’s score will not improve because the difficulty level increases . For designers, this presents a challenge to allow learners to keep track of their progress, and to keep them motivated.status: publishe

NewSchool: Studying the Effects of Design Fiction through Personalized Learning Scenarios

We present two design fictions about future online learning environments, inspired by future scenarios presented in the learning analytics literature. The design fictions explore specific aspects of this future technology, its adoption and social consequences. We use Symmetry Theory to analyze the design fictions in terms of the relationship between the readers of the fictions on the one hand, and the fictional characters and technology, on the other. We argue that these relationships determine to what extent a design fiction can stimulate the reader to reflect on the future technology. As such, we present Symmetry Theory as a useful tool to analyze how an existing design fiction can stimulate reflection, and to plan the writing process of design fiction.status: publishe