Current practices and user expectations

IAISE Policy Brief No. 1 on "Impact Assessment Systems and Tools in Europe: Current Practices and User Expectations" has just been published. This policy brief presents the key findings on the most comprehensive survey yet conducted of user needs and expectations with regard to Impact Assessment (IA) systems and tools in 17 European countries. The survey was carried out by researchers from the LIAISE Network of Excellence, who collected data through documentary analysis and interviews with 130 people who steer IA at a strategic level, i.e. those people who champion, oversee, guide, audit or write guidance for IA processes. A more detailed description of the survey’s results can be found in the LIAISE Innovation Report No. 2 (January 2011)

User expectations of partial driving automation capabilities and their effect on information design preferences in the vehicle

Partially automated vehicles present interface design challenges in ensuring the driver remains alert should the vehicle need to hand back control at short notice, but without exposing the driver to cognitive overload. To date, little is known about driver expectations of partial driving automation and whether this affects the information they require inside the vehicle. Twenty-five participants were presented with five partially automated driving events in a driving simulator. After each event, a semi-structured interview was conducted. The interview data was coded and analysed using grounded theory. From the results, two groupings of driver expectations were identified: High Information Preference (HIP) and Low Information Preference (LIP) drivers; between these two groups the information preferences differed. LIP drivers did not want detailed information about the vehicle presented to them, but the definition of partial automation means that this kind of information is required for safe use. Hence, the results suggest careful thought as to how information is presented to them is required in order for LIP drivers to safely using partial driving automation. Conversely, HIP drivers wanted detailed information about the system's status and driving and were found to be more willing to work with the partial automation and its current limitations. It was evident that the drivers' expectations of the partial automation capability differed, and this affected their information preferences. Hence this study suggests that HMI designers must account for these differing expectations and preferences to create a safe, usable system that works for everyone. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Improving perceptual multimedia quality with an adaptable communication protocol

Copyrights @ 2005 University Computing Centre ZagrebInnovations and developments in networking technology have been driven by technical considerations with little analysis of the benefit to the user. In this paper we argue that network parameters that define the network Quality of Service (QoS) must be driven by user-centric parameters such as user expectations and requirements for multimedia transmitted over a network. To this end a mechanism for mapping user-oriented parameters to network QoS parameters is outlined. The paper surveys existing methods for mapping user requirements to the network. An adaptable communication system is implemented to validate the mapping. The architecture adapts to varying network conditions caused by congestion so as to maintain user expectations and requirements. The paper also surveys research in the area of adaptable communications architectures and protocols. Our results show that such a user-biased approach to networking does bring tangible benefits to the user

User Expectations of Hedonic Software Updates

Software updates have recently become a common phenomenon in software development and maintenance. This is due to the rise of ubiquitous and interconnected IT that enables developers to frequently fix bugs, enhance features, or even add new functionalities. This paper contributes to the post-adoption topic of IS research by investigating the understanding of how users perceive software updates of hedonic software. The focus is to understand how and what users perceive and expect from upcoming updates. Pokémon GO is the IT artifact that will be examined with the paper as it is a prime example of an innovative and trending game that was released relatively unfinished, but is constantly improved via updates. We use the IS continuance model to evaluates the players perception on: expectations before the initial use, confirmation or disconfirmation, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, expectations for upcoming software updates, and continuance intention

Networks of Gratitude: Structures of Thanks and User Expectations in Workplace Appreciation Systems

Appreciation systems--platforms for users to exchange thanks and praise--are becoming common in the workplace, where employees share appreciation, managers are notified, and aggregate scores are sometimes made visible. Who do people thank on these systems, and what do they expect from each other and their managers? After introducing the design affordances of 13 appreciation systems, we discuss a system we call Gratia, in use at a large multinational company for over four years. Using logs of 422,000 appreciation messages and user surveys, we explore the social dynamics of use and ask if use of the system addresses the recognition problem. We find that while thanks is mostly exchanged among employees at the same level and different parts of the company, addressing the recognition problem, managers do not always act on that recognition in ways that employees expect.Comment: in Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 201

User Expectations in Intelligent Environments

The definition of Intelligent Environments has always been focused around their users, aiming at helping them in a smart and transparent way, and avoiding bothering them or acting against their will. The complexity of IEs, whose technologies range from sensors to machine learning, from distributed architectures to tangible interfaces, from communication protocols to data analysis, challenges researchers from various fields to contribute innovative and effective solutions. In this quest for technical solutions to the myriad requirements of an intelligent environments, user expectations are often left behind, and while researchers tend to focus on niche technical aspects, they risk of losing the big picture of an IE “helping users in their daily life”. This paper analyzes the recent literature of the Intelligent Environments’ research community, aiming at highlighting to which extent users are taken into account, or are involved, into the reported research works. Evidence shows that, while most papers refer to users in their description, only a small minority actually involve them in the design, testing or experimentation phase

Energy Related Information Systems and User Expectations

AbstractThis paper explores the content of various web based information systems which presents knowledge about energy technology, energy research, energy projects best practice, energy related statistics and energy patents. As the number and complexity of issues related with energy are very broad, it is essential the use of information systems. Evaluating sources of information is an important step in any research activity. This study also shows that system design depends must more from the original objective of websites creation and target groups of users. A positive finding from user expectations is information free access and in some cases only requiring free registration. This paper discusses a new approach must be studied to diminish content dispersion and significant differences between European energy related sites

D3.1 User expectations and cross-modal interaction

This document is deliverable D3.1 “User expectations and cross-modal in-teraction” and presents user studies to understand expectations and reac-tions to content presentation methods for mobile AR applications and rec-ommendations to realize an interface and interaction design in accordance with user needs or disabilities

What Would You Ask to Your Home if It Were Intelligent? Exploring User Expectations about Next-Generation Homes

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) research is giving birth to a multitude of futuristic home scenarios and applications; however a clear discrepancy between current installations and research-level designs can be easily noticed. Whether this gap is due to the natural distance between research and engineered applications or to mismatching of needs and solutions remains to be understood. This paper discusses the results of a survey about user expectations with respect to intelligent homes. Starting from a very simple and open question about what users would ask to their intelligent homes, we derived user perceptions about what intelligent homes can do, and we analyzed to what extent current research solutions, as well as commercially available systems, address these emerging needs. Interestingly, most user concerns about smart homes involve comfort and household tasks and most of them can be currently addressed by existing commercial systems, or by suitable combinations of them. A clear trend emerges from the poll findings: the technical gap between user expectations and current solutions is actually narrower and easier to bridge than it may appear, but users perceive this gap as wide and limiting, thus requiring the AmI community to establish a more effective communication with final users, with an increased attention to real-world deploymen