Gathering User Research Articles

SAFOMETER - ASSESSING SAFETY IN PUBLIC SPACES: THE URBAN AREA OF PRISHTINA

Abstract. This paper introduces SafoMeter, a framework for assessing safety in public spaces using an index-based evaluation system that combines objective safety indicators with subjective perceptions of safety. The methodology is piloted in the urban area of Prishtina, Kosovo, and involves field data collection using the mobile application Mergin to map data for objective indicators and gather user responses on perceived safety. Analysis is conducted using QGIS software to create a map that showcases safe and unsafe areas of the city, rated from 0 to 10, with 10 indicating the safest areas. The study results demonstrate that SafoMeter effectively identifies and visualizes areas in need of urgent safety interventions. The tool enables evidence-based decision-making for policymakers by utilizing geospatial data to identify specific locations that require interventions. SafoMeter provides a practical approach to assess safety in public spaces and guide place-based policies to enhance urban safety, particularly for marginalized groups.

Developing a Business Model Canvas for Online Classified Ads Platform: A Startup Case Study

A growing culture of using the internet, aims to provide products and services that are modern and safe in the online advertising market. This study proposes a business model canvas for new startups classified online ads to gain a competitive advantage in the Indonesian market. Utilizing qualitative research, this study explores the development of an online classifieds business, with a focus on the integration of AI technology and in app payment systems. The proposed model includes product development, marketing and gathering user feedback. Likewise, the company can implement the proposed business model by developing its platform features and customer service.

A-42 Patient Perspectives and Attitudes Toward the Use of Virtual Reality in Pediatric Sports-Related Concussion

Abstract Purpose Virtual reality (VR) has garnered increased attention as a modality to evaluate sports-related concussion (SRC). The purpose of this study was to better understand patient perspectives and attitudes towards VR while in the acute phase of injury. Methods Pediatric SRC patients aged 12-18 and within 72 hours from injury to initial visit were recruited. After completion of a VR task, patients were asked to rate their attitudes and perceptions on a custom VR user experience survey, on a scale of 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Results A total of 21 patients were eligible (Age=14.9±1.7; Female 57.1%; White 61.9%). Patients reported that the VR task involved mental focus (3.14±.57), required eye movements in all directions (3.33±.97), and motivated them to “finish and win” (3.38±2.11). Patients were neutral in their evaluation of the strategic component of the VR task (2.48±.93). They denied any difficulties understanding task instructions (.67±.96). Conclusions Overall, VR may be a promising avenue of research to evaluate SRC in pediatric patients given the level of engagement, ease of administration, and rich data captured by the VR device. Future research should determine whether VR can be used to accurately diagnose SRC and gather user information about ways to amplify the game-like and strategic nature of the task.

Evaluating the efficacy of Web-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the treatment of patients with Bipolar II Disorder and residual depressive symptoms: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric condition that can significantly impact every aspect of a person's life if left untreated. A subtype of BD, Bipolar disorder II (BD-II) is characterized by long depressive episodes and residual depression symptoms, with short-lived hypomanic episodes. Medication and psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), are the main treatment options for BD-II. CBT specific for BD-II involves the recognition of warning signs, potentially triggering stimuli, and the development of coping skills to increase euthymic periods and improve global functioning. However, access to in-person CBT may be limited by several barriers including low availability, high costs and geographical limitations. Thus, online adaptations of CBT (e-CBT) have become a promising solution to address these treatment barriers Nevertheless, e-CBT for the treatment of BD-II remains understudied. The proposed study aims to establish the first e-CBT program specific for the treatment of BD-II with residual depressive symptoms. The primary objective of this study will be to determine the effect of e-CBT in managing BD symptomatology. The secondary objective will be to assess the effects of this e-CBT program on quality of life, and resilience. The tertiary objective will involve gathering user feedback using a post-treatment survey to support the continuous improvement and optimization of the proposed program. Adult participants (n = 170) with a confirmed diagnosis of BD-II experiencing residual depressive symptoms will be randomly assigned to either the e-CBT plus TAU (n = 85) group or the TAU (n = 85) control group. Participants in the control group will be able to participate in the online program after the first 13 weeks. The e-CBT program will consist of 13 weekly online modules designed following a validated CBT framework. Participants will complete module-related homework and receive asynchronous personalized feedback from a therapist. TAU will consist of standard treatment services conducted outside of the current research study. Depression and manic symptoms quality of life and resiliency will be assessed using clinically validated symptomatology questionnaires at baseline, week 6, and week 13. The study received ethics approval in March 2020 and participant recruitment is expected to begin in February 2023 through targeted advertisements and physician referrals. Data collection and analysis are expected to conclude by December 2024. Linear and binomial regression (continuous and categorical outcomes respectively) will be conducted along with qualitative interpretive methods. The findings will be the first on the effectiveness of delivering e-CBT for patients with BD-II with residual depressive symptoms. This approach can provide an innovative method to address barriers to in-person psychotherapy by increasing accessibility and decreasing costs. clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04664257); clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04664257.

Development and Evaluation of a Serious Game Application to Engage University Students in Critical Thinking About Health Claims: Mixed Methods Study.

Misleading health claims are widespread in the media, and making choices based on such claims can negatively affect health. Thus, developing effective learning resources to enable people to think critically about health claims is of great value. Serious games can become an effective learning resource in this respect, as they can affect motivation and learning. This study aims to document how user insights and input can inform the concept and development of a serious game application in critical thinking about health claims in addition to gathering user experiences with the game application. This was a mixed methods study in 4 successive phases with both qualitative and quantitative data collected in the period from 2020-2022. Qualitative data on design and development were obtained from 4 unrecorded discussions, and qualitative evaluation data were obtained from 1 recorded focus group interview and 3 open-ended questions in the game application. The quantitative data originate from user statistics. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically, and user data were analyzed using nonparametric tests. The first unrecorded discussion revealed that the students' (3 participants') assessment of whether a claim was reliable or not was limited to performing Google searches when faced with an ad for a health intervention. On the basis of the acquired knowledge of the target group, the game's prerequisites, and the technical possibilities, a pilot of the game was created and reviewed question by question in 3 unrecorded discussions (6 participants). After adjustments, the game was advertised at the Oslo Metropolitan University, and 193 students tested the game. A correlation (r=0.77; P<.001) was found between the number of replays and total points achieved in the game. There was no demonstrable difference (P=.07) between the total scores of students from different faculties. Overall, 36.3% (70/193) of the students answered the evaluation questions in the game. They used words such as "fun" and "educational" about the experiences with the game, and words such as "motivating" and "engaging" related to the learning experience. The design was described as "varied" and "user-friendly." Suggested improvements include adding references, more games and modules, more difficult questions, and an introductory text explaining the game. The results from the focus group interview (4 participants) corresponded to a large extent with the results of the open-ended questions in the game. We found that user insights and inputs can be successfully used in the concept and development of a serious game that aims to engage students to think critically about health claims. The mixed methods evaluation revealed that the users experienced the game as educational and fun. Future research may focus on assessing the effect of the serious game on learning outcomes and health choices in randomized trials.

From face detection to emotion recognition on the framework of Raspberry pi and galvanic skin response sensor for visual and physiological biosignals

The facial and physiological sensor-based emotion recognition methods are two popular methods of emotion recognition. The proposed research is the first of its kind in real-time emotion recognition that combines skin conductance signals with the visual-based facial emotion recognition (FER) method on a Raspberry Pi. This research includes stepwise documentation of method for automatic real-time face detection and FER on portable hardware. Further, the proposed work comprises experimentation related to video induction and habituation methods with FER and the galvanic skin response (GSR) method. The GSR data are recorded as skin conductance and represent the subject's behavioral changes in the form of emotional arousal and face emotion recognition on the portable device. The article provides a stepwise implementation of the following methods: (a) the skin conductance representation from the GSR sensor for arousal; (b) gathering visual inputs for identifying the human face; (c) FER from the camera module; and (d) experimentation on the proposed framework. The key feature of this article is the comprehensive documentation of stepwise implementation and experimentation, including video induction and habituation experimentation. An illuminating aspect of the proposed method is the survey of GSR trademarks and the conduct of psychological experiments. This study is useful for emotional computing systems and potential applications like lie detectors and human–machine interfaces, devices for gathering user experience input, identifying intruders, and providing portable and scalable devices for experimentation. We termed our approaches "sensovisual" (sensors + visual) and "Emosense" (emotion sensing).

Are sticky users less likely to lurk? Evidence from online reviews

ABSTRACT Although many product providers deem user contributions (e.g. online reviews) important, providers often struggle to obtain them, i.e. most users are lurkers who are reluctant to post reviews. This study is conducted to understand better how to delurk users by investigating the role of user stickiness in review posting behaviour. By employing a large-scale dataset from TapTap, a Chinese mobile game community, and conducting a multimethod investigation, this study found that sticky users with a product are more likely to engage in review posting behaviour related to the product. Also, this positive stickiness-post effect varies for some user and product features: (a) the positive relationship between user stickiness and posting behaviour will be strengthened as user expertise rises, (b) the positive stickiness-post relationship will be alleviated when products are collaborative-consuming products (vs. private-consuming products), (c) and the positive stickiness effect on review posting behaviour will be stronger when product providers are small-scale (vs. large-scale). These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of biases in lurking/posting behaviour related to user stickiness and help product providers gain insights into delurking users and gathering user intelligence.

Development of a Positive Psychology Well-Being Intervention in a Community Pharmacy Setting.

Background: Community pharmacies are well-placed to deliver well-being interventions; however, to date, nothing has been produced specifically for this setting. The aim of this study was to develop a positive psychology intervention suitable for a community pharmacy setting with the goal of increasing the well-being of community members. Methods: Intervention development consisted of three steps: Step 1-identify the evidence-base and well-being model to underpin the basis of the intervention (Version 1); Step 2-model the intervention and gather user feedback to produce Version 2, and Step 3-revisit the evidence-base and refine the intervention to produce Version 3. Results: Findings from nine studies (seven RCTs, one cross-sectional, one N-1 design plus user feedback were applied to model a 6-week 'Prescribing Happiness (P-Hap)' intervention, underpinned by the PERMA model plus four other components from the positive psychology literature (Three Good Things, Utilising Your Signature Strengths in New Ways, Best Possible Selves and Character Strengths). A PERMA-based diary was designed to be completed 3 days a week as part of the intervention. Conclusions: This work is an important development which will direct the future implementation of interventions to support well-being in this novel setting. The next stage is to gain the perspectives of external stakeholders on the feasibility of delivering the P-Hap for its adoption into community pharmacy services in the future.

Chat of the Town: Gathering User Perception About ChatGPT

Chat of the Town: Gathering User Perception About ChatGPT

Creative Exploration through Idea Sketches in the Product Design Process: A Case of the Designers Highly Skilled in Digital Technologies

For developing the creativity support system, to understand human creative activity is crucial. In the field of product design, current designers aimed at creating novel user experiences have been recently prevalent for designers to generate ideas rather than determine user needs. Therefore, dialogues between the designers and users tend to be valued in gathering user requirements. This research aims to investigate the designer's exploration by interpretation of idea sketches by reflection. Three cases are discussed: the designer tried to create awareness on how designers can understand the users' real requirements through dialogue, to find inexplicit requirements of the users, and to generate the images from the users' denial comments. To investigate idea generation processes, a designer investigated their own sketches and determined key points of detecting the users' real requirements. This paper also discusses the influence of digital design technologies from the perspective of creativity.

Human-centered design of clinical decision support for management of hypertension with chronic kidney disease

BackgroundPrimary care providers face challenges in recognizing and controlling hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Clinical decision support (CDS) has the potential to aid clinicians in identifying patients who could benefit from medication changes. This study designed an alert to control hypertension in CKD patients using an iterative human-centered design process.MethodsIn this study, we present a human-centered design process employing multiple methods for gathering user requirements and feedback on design and usability. Initially, we conducted contextual inquiry sessions to gather user requirements for the CDS. This was followed by group design sessions and one-on-one formative think-aloud sessions to validate requirements, obtain feedback on the design and layout, uncover usability issues, and validate changes.ResultsThis study included 20 participants. The contextual inquiry produced 10 user requirements which influenced the initial alert design. The group design sessions revealed issues related to several themes, including recommendations and clinical content that did not match providers' expectations and extraneous information on the alerts that did not provide value. Findings from the individual think-aloud sessions revealed that participants disagreed with some recommended clinical actions, requested additional information, and had concerns about the placement in their workflow. Following each step, iterative changes were made to the alert content and design.DiscussionThis study showed that participation from users throughout the design process can lead to a better understanding of user requirements and optimal design, even within the constraints of an EHR alerting system. While raising awareness of design needs, it also revealed concerns related to workflow, understandability, and relevance.ConclusionThe human-centered design framework using multiple methods for CDS development informed the creation of an alert to assist in the treatment and recognition of hypertension in patients with CKD.

The Surveillance of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Sleep: Protocol for the Development and Feasibility Evaluation of a Novel Measurement System.

BackgroundThere is increasing recognition of the need for more comprehensive surveillance data, including information on physical activity of all intensities, sedentary behavior, and sleep. However, meeting this need poses significant challenges for current surveillance systems, which are mainly reliant on self-report.ObjectiveThe primary objective of this project is to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a sensor-based system for use in the surveillance of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep (SurPASS) at a national level in Denmark.MethodsThe SurPASS project involves an international, multidisciplinary team of researchers collaborating with an industrial partner. The SurPASS system consists of (1) a thigh-worn accelerometer with Bluetooth connectivity, (2) a smartphone app, (3) an integrated back end, facilitating the automated upload, analysis, storage, and provision of individualized feedback in a manner compliant with European Union regulations on data privacy, and (4) an administrator web interface (web application) to monitor progress. The system development and evaluation will be performed in 3 phases. These phases will include gathering user input and specifications (phase 1), the iterative development, evaluation, and refinement of the system (phase 2), and the feasibility evaluation (phase 3).ResultsThe project started in September 2020 and completed phase 2 in February 2022. Phase 3 began in March 2022 and results will be made available in 2023.ConclusionsIf feasible, the SurPASS system could be a catalyst toward large-scale, sensor-based surveillance of physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep. It could also be adapted for cohort and interventional research, thus contributing to the generation of evidence for both interventions and public health policies and recommendations.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/35697

Understanding user Journeys in EdTech Startups: The Role of Analytics Integration

In the competitive landscape of startups, a culture of continuous innovation is pivotal for success. While adept at launching feature-rich products, many startups overlook the strategic integration of analytics, missing opportunities to comprehend and cater to user needs. This paper underscores the significance of analytics in the entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the need for startups to define metrics and gather user insights. Shifting the focus to EdTech startups, the exploration of data sources across the user journey encompasses acquisition, conversion, and feedback phases. This comprehensive analytical strategy is deemed crucial for startups to refine strategies, enhance user experiences, and iteratively improve offerings in the dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship.

A Trust-Based Experience-Aware Framework for Integrating Fuzzy Recommendations

Social rating systems are widely used for gathering user feedbacks on the quality of products, items, and services. Social rating systems accept various forms of numeric and non-numeric recommendations as input to their aggregation algorithm. Fuzzy recommendations, as one form of input recommendations, while common in areas such as stock market and educational systems, are challenging in terms of aggregation and scaling. Also, taking into account trust and experience of raters while aggregating fuzzy variables is another challenge that needs investigations. In this article, we propose a trust-based experience-aware method for aggregation of fuzzy recommendations. We propose to use trust and experience of raters along with the area under the curve of the membership of the fuzzy recommendations to compute a weight for recommendations. Then, we present an iterative algorithm to aggregate these computed weighted recommendations. We evaluate our method using a real-world dataset and compare its performance with three well-known iterative algorithms. The comparison results show the superiority of our method over other related approaches.

Similarities and Differences between EU Platforms in the AHA and AAL Domains from a Software Viewpoint.

The EU PlatformUptake project’s main goal is to investigate the usage of EU open and partly-open platforms in active and healthy aging (AHA) and ambient-assisted living (AAL) domains, from a software viewpoint. The aim of the project was to provide tools for a deeper interpretation and examination of the platforms, gather user feedback, and use it to improve the state-of-the-art approach in the AHA and AAL domains, and define instructions to enhance the platforms within the recommended order. The emphasis is on the software viewpoint for decision makers. In this paper, we present (i) the PlatformUptake methodology for AHA open platform assessments and its main objectives; (ii) clustering of the analyzed platforms; and (iii) the taxonomies generated from the text descriptions of the chosen platforms. With the use of the clustering tools, we present which platforms could be grouped together due to their similarities. Different numbers of clusters were obtained with two clustering approaches, resulting in the most informative two and four cluster groups. The platforms could be rather neatly presented in this way and, thus, potentially guide future platform structuring. Moreover, taxonomies, i.e., decision trees of platforms, were generated to easily determine each specific platform or to find platforms with the desired properties. Altogether, the computer comprehension of the platforms may be important additions to the human way of dealing with the AHA platforms, influencing future design, publications, related work, and research.

Dislike: Facbook's Anticompetitive Monopoly on Social Media and Why U.S. Antitrust Laws Must Adapt to the Technological Era

Although Facebook started as a way to connect with college classmates, it has grown into one of the largest technology companies in the world. Facebook is no longer solely a way to connect with classmates. Instead, it is the powerhouse of social networks and dominates the online advertising business. Facebook has grown at an unprecedented rate—acquiring businesses and gathering users’ privacy along the way—partially because of the failure of U.S. antitrust laws to adequately protect against anticompetitive and monopolistic behavior in the technological arena. Historically, antitrust laws have used the consumer welfare standard to determine if entities are engaging in anticompetitive and monopolistic behavior. However, as technology continues to develop in the twenty-first century, the way consumer welfare is measured must be revised. This Comment outlines the development and history of antitrust laws to illustrate how the current antitrust model fails to adequately capture anticompetitive and monopolistic behavior in the technological arena. Using Facebook as a case study, this Comment shows how Big Tech harms consumers in ways not traditionally thought of—loss of control over data and privacy, lack of innovation, and decline in business startups—and outlines ways Congress and courts must approach U.S. antitrust laws to better encapsulate Big Tech. These methods promote preserving the competitive process and market structure while giving consumers a voice in the protection of their privacy and data.

The Impact of ICT Acquisition, Online courses, and Management System on Cultural Differences and English Language as Related to the Moderator Effort Expectancy

In this paper, buyers are looking for reviews of the products before purchasing them. In view of this, online shopping platforms are encouraging their customers to provide reviews on products that would help future customers and the service provider to enhance their services. These reviews are normally in natural language mostly in the English language. These are used to analyze and provide data that is used for repairing and building new products because most services are unable to review consumers' reviews at the same time regularly, so they need mining tools to learn about those reviewers, which is what consumers need for their goods. Users review assessments for upgrading their products. Reviews are analyzed by customers to decide whether to purchase or not to purchase. The main objectives of this study are to develop a recommendation system based on customer reviews, develop a dataset of customer reviews from Amazon and eBay, analyze the reviews to create a database of products, develop an algorithm for generating positive/negative scores for a product, develop a method for gathering user requirements in natural language and to identify the main product, and also develop an algorithm to match the user request with the product and generate recommendations. The study concluded that the selected program was suitable for analyzing and managing the review data.

Zwiększenie czytelności wypowiedzi w polskim języku migowym przez animowaną wirtualną postać. Badania użytkowników z wykorzystaniem nowych technologii

Research in construction of sign language avatars, which are computer-generated representations of linguistic phenomena, can be used to arrive at solutions facilitating communication with hearing-impaired persons. The clarity of content of the sign communication is particularly important for its recipient. As part of its project “How to Increase the Comprehensibility of Utterances in the Polish Sign Language through Animated Virtual Assistant”, the research network Łukasiewicz- Instytut Technik Innowacyjnych EMAG from Katowice (Ł-EMAG)23 has undertaken research with a view to evaluating the efficacy of the Polish Sign Language (PJM) through a virtual assistant; the other objective is to single out those traits which most contribute to satisfactory reception and comprehension of communication. The present article reports on the comparative studies conducted so far, which include surveys and in-depth interviews with hearing-impaired users of sign language by means of dedicated research tools. The first (introductory) stage consisted in gathering users’ opinions on the comprehensibility of the sign language of the first created avatar, including features which either facilitate of hinder communication as well as the level of experience of hearing-impaired persons in the use of on-line translators. In the second stage, a model of a 3D virtual assistant was developed, which took into consideration all the above-mentioned features facilitating or hindering communication. This part of the research yielded data concerning the comprehensibility of the virtual avatar as well as users’ comparison of the two avatars.

Penerapan Metode Prototype Pada Sistem Informasi Pengelolaan Data Tamu Hotel

The management of guest data at Hotel Gerbera is currently still by recording books, starting from the check-in process which is done by filling out the registration sheet, then inputting guest data who has checked in in the Guest In The House data table using Microsoft Excel and writing money data. Incoming cash payments, debit / credit and receivables per shift in the Daily Cashier Sheet. This kind of data input process is less effective because it takes a lot of time to enter guest data into each different report form. The research with the title "Gerbera Hotel Guest Data Management Information System Using Prototype Method" has a problem formulation of how to manage the Gerbera Hotel guest database and how to apply the prototype method to the Gerbera Hotel Guest Data Management Information System. The purpose of this research is for the effectiveness of time in the process of managing guest data for the receptionist, storing guest data is well organized by the system, and making it easier for the receptionist to find data on guests who have checked in. This study uses the prototype method. The development of the prototype method starts from the stage of gathering user requirements and analysis, rapid design, building prototypes, evaluating prototypes, changing designs and prototypes, until customers are satisfied, then large-scale development. Based on the research conducted, it is concluded that to manage guest data so that it is stored properly in the database is to develop an information system for managing guest data at Hotel Gerbera. The test results of the Gerbera Hotel guest data management information system are in the very feasible category with a percentage value of 92%.

A Smartphone App for Supporting the Self-management of Daytime Urinary Incontinence in Adolescents: Development and Formative Evaluation Study of URApp.

BackgroundDaytime urinary incontinence (UI) is common in childhood and often persists into adolescence. UI in adolescence is associated with a range of adverse outcomes, including depressive symptoms, peer victimization, poor self-image, and problems with peer relationships. The first-line conservative treatment for UI is bladder training (standard urotherapy) that aims to establish a regular fluid intake and a timed schedule for toilet visits. The success of bladder training is strongly dependent on good concordance, which can be challenging for young people.ObjectiveThis paper aims to describe the development of a smartphone app (URApp) that aims to improve concordance with bladder training in young people aged 11 to 19 years.MethodsURApp was designed by using participatory co-design methods and was guided by the person-based approach to intervention design. The core app functions were based on clinical guidance and included setting a daily drinking goal that records fluid intake and toilet visits, setting reminders to drink fluids and go to the toilet, and recording progress toward drinking goals. The development of URApp comprised the following four stages: a review of current smartphone apps for UI, participatory co-design workshops with young people with UI for gathering user requirements and developing wireframes, the development of a URApp prototype, and the user testing of the prototype through qualitative interviews with 23 young people with UI or urgency aged 10 to 19 years and 8 clinicians. The app functions and additional functionalities for supporting concordance and behavior change were iteratively optimized throughout the app development process.ResultsYoung people who tested URApp judged it to be a helpful way of supporting their concordance with a timed schedule for toilet visits and drinking. They reported high levels of acceptability and engagement. Preliminary findings indicated that some young people experienced improvements in their bladder symptoms, including a reduction in UI. Clinicians reported that URApp was clinically appropriate and aligned with the best practice guidelines for bladder training. URApp was deemed age appropriate, with all clinicians reporting that they would use it within their own clinics. Clinicians felt URApp would be of particular benefit to patients whose symptoms were not improving or those who were not engaging with their treatment plans.ConclusionsThe next stage is to evaluate URApp in a range of settings, including pediatric continence clinics, primary care, and schools. This research is needed to test whether URApp is an effective (and cost-effective) solution for improving concordance with bladder training, reducing bladder symptoms, and improving the quality of life.