Return On Contribution (ROC): A Metric for Enterprise Social Software

Abstract. The value of enterprise social media applications, components, and users is difficult to quantify in formal economic terms such as Return On Investment. In this work we propose a different approach, based on human service to other humans. We describe a family of metrics, Return On Contribution (ROC), to assist in managing social software systems. ROC focuses on human collaboration, namely the creation and consumption of information and knowledge among employees. We show how ROC can be used to track the performance of several types of social media applications, and how ROC can help to understand the usage patterns of items within those applications, and the performance of employees who use those applications. Design implications include the importance of “lurkers ” in organizational knowledge exchange, and specific types of measurements that may be of value to employees, managers, and system administrators

Effects of a Multitouch Keyboard on Wrist Posture, Typing Performance and Comfort

Alan Hedge Geri GayThe design of computer keyboards is rapidly evolving as portable computing becomes increasingly ubiquitous due to wireless networking and the increased popularity of personal digital assistants and notebook computers. However, there is a balance between mobility and productivity, in terms of text-entry accuracy and speed, which needs to be maintained as computer keyboards become smaller and slimmer through the introduction of ultra low-profile designs. In addition, the ergonomic benefits, in terms of the reduction of awkward wrist postures and user comfort, of ultra-low profile designs are unclear. This study tests a new prototype ultra-low profile MultiTouch keyless keyboard (MTK) that uses a MultiTouch surface to create an extremely thin typing environment that requires no force to register a keystroke and allows mousing and gestural input on the same surface. In this study, the MTK was tested against a conventional keyboard (CK) for typing speed, accuracy, wrist postures and user comfort. It was hypothesized that the lack of key travel would increase speed and accuracy, while the ultra-thin design would reduce the amount of wrist extension, which could decrease the risk of a wrist injury or other hand and wrist musculoskeletal disorder. Finally, it was hypothesized that there would be a significant short-term learning effect on typing speed and accuracy for the MTK. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 6 males and 6 females typing using two QWERTY keyboard designs: a CK and a MTK. Subjects visited the lab for 1.5 hours for 2 non-consecutive days in the same week, for a total of 3 hours. Each visit consisted of eight randomly assigned 7.5-minute typing tasks of text passages of similar difficulty and identical length. Quantitative measures of typing speed and accuracy were collected using Typing Quick and Easy 13.0 and qualitative measures of user preference and comfort were gathered by self-report questionnaires. A wrist glove electrogoniometer system was used to record right-hand wrist positioning data, which was analyzed to assess the risk of injury. The two keyboards were evaluated in a repeated measures within-subjects factorial design. Subjects, typed slower (F1,11 = 41.86, p=0.000) and less accurately (F1,11 = 23.55, p=0.001) on the MTK during the typing tasks. Subjects preferred the CK and reported a higher level of ease (F1,11 = 49.732, p=0.00) and enjoyment (F1,11 = 51.129, p=0.00) during its use. Mean wrist extension was lower for the MTK (F1,11= 10.205, p=0.000) while radial and ulnar deviation did not differ significantly between the two keyboards. The MTK had a lower percentage of highest-risk wrist extension (F1,11= 6.437, p=0.028), and conversely, a higher percentage of neutral wrist posture (F1,11= 12.947, p=0.004). A significant positive linear trend was observed across the within-subjects scores for speed (F1,11= 9.308, p=0.011) and accuracy (F1,11= 11.903, p=0.005) across tasks in the MTK condition. Limitations to this study include practice effects, due to the naive subjects' lack of training on the MTK and the limited duration of exposure to this novel keyboard. Fatigue effects may have also been a factor, even though the experimental conditions were spread out over two non-consecutive days in the same week. Future research directions include additional testing of the unique mousing and gestural capabilities of the MTK. Other research suggests that practice and extended exposure to the MTK may raise performance to comparable levels associated with CK devices.College of Human Ecology, Cornell Universit

Expressing Territoriality In Online Collaborative Environments

Territoriality, the expression of ownership towards an object, can emerge when social actors occupy a shared social space. In this research, I extend the study of territoriality beyond previous work in physical space in two key ways: 1) the object in question is non-physical and 2) the social context is an online collaborative activity. To do this, I observe the emergence of characteristic territorial behaviors (e.g. marking, control, defense) in 3 studies of social software systems. Study 1 describes a qualitative interview study observes the behaviors of 15 Maintainers, a small group of lead users on Wikipedia. Findings suggest that The Maintainers communicate their feelings of ownership to other editors by appropriating features of the system, such as user templates and activity monitoring, to preserve control over the articles they maintain and communicate their knowledge of the article editing process to potential contributors. Study 2 describes a qualitative interview study observing the behaviors of 33 users of social tagging systems deployed within a large enterprise organization. Findings suggest that self-designated experts express territoriality regarding their knowledge and their status within the organization through their tagging strategies. Study 3 describes a field study of expert and novice users of a mobile social tagging system deployed within an art museum. Findings suggest that compared to novices, experts feel more personal ownership towards the museum and their tags and express territoriality regarding their expertise through higher levels of participation and are more likely to vote down novice-generated tags in a defensive manner. My dissertation draws from observations from these three studies to construct a theoretical framework for online territoriality to provide researchers and designers of groupware with guidelines with which to encourage ownership expression when appropriate. Topics for discussion and future work include clarifying the characteristics of non-physical territories, closer study of the possible reactions to territoriality, and describing the potential of territoriality as design resource for motivating experts to contribute

T.: Deception and Design: The Impact of Communication Technology on Lying Behavior

Social psychology has demonstrated that lying is an important, and frequent, part of everyday social interactions. As communication technologies become more ubiquitous in our daily interactions, an important question for developers is to determine how the design of these technologies affects lying behavior. The present research reports the results of a diary study, in which participants recorded all of their social interactions and lies for seven days. The data reveal that participants lied most on the telephone and least in email, and that lying rates in face-toface and instant messaging interactions were approximately the same. This pattern of results suggests that the design features of communication technologies (e.g., synchronicity, recordability, and copresence) affect lying behavior in important ways, and that these features must be considered by both designers and users when issues of deception and trust arise. The implications for designing applications that increase, decrease or detect deception are discussed

Uptake of Situationism Considered Harmful

The interplay between arts and HCI has become increasingly commonplace in the past years. In this paper, we examine Situationist art practice as an inspiration for HCI design. We argue that methods from Situationist art practice have often been picked up without regard for their underlying sensibility. We describe an experiment in incorporating Situationist sensibility in design and use it to elucidate the challenges that face HCI in truly integrating the arts

Imprints of Place: Creative Expressions of the Museum Experience

Personalization and social awareness, important aspects in the definition of a place, are traditionally overlooked in the design of technology for museums. We describe Imprints, a system to enhance the role of visitor participation beyond information receiver to active creator of sense of place. Overall response to the Imprints system is explored through interviews and log analysis of use. Despite some usability issues, response to the system was positive, and it was appropriated for both personalization and awareness of others. The results suggest an opportunity to introduce technology that plays with the dynamic between private expression and public presence in the traditional environment of the art museum. Author Keywords Place, museums, context-aware computing, personalization