Human-centered Information Systems Research Articles

Different Levels of Information Systems Designers' Forms of Thought and Potential for Human-Centered Design

This article describes a study clarifying information systems (IS) designers’ conceptions of human users of IS by drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 designers. The designers’ lived experiences in their work build up a continuum of levels of thought from more limited conceptions to more comprehensive ones reflecting variations of the designers’ situated knowledge related to human-centred design. The resulting forms of thought indicate three different but associated levels in conceptualising users. The separatist form of thought provides designers predominantly with technical perspectives and a capability for objectifying things. The functional form of thought focuses on external task information and task productivity, nevertheless, with the help of positive emotions. The holistic form of thought provides designers with competence of human-centred information systems development (ISD). Furthermore, the author hopes that understanding the IS designers’ tendencies to conceptualise human users facilitates the mutual communication between users and designers.

Similarity-based analysis for large networks of ultra-low resolution sensors

By analyzing the similarities between bit streams coming from a network of motion detectors, we can recover the network geometry and discover structure in the human behavior being observed. This means that a low-cost network of sensors can provide powerful contextual information to building systems: improving the efficiency of elevators, lighting, heating, and cooling; enhancing safety and security; and opening up new opportunities for human-centered information systems. This paper will show how signal similarity can be used to calibrate a sensor network to accuracies below the resolution of the individual sensors. This is done by analyzing the similarity structures in the unconstrained movement of people in the observed space. We will also present our efficient behavior-learning algorithm that yields 90% correct behavior-detection in data from a sensor network comprised of motion detectors by employing similarity-based clustering to automatically decompose complex activities into detectable sub-classes.

Integrating Human-Computer Interaction Development into the Systems Development Life Cycle: A Methodology

Incorporating a human computer interaction (HCI) perspective into the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is necessary to information systems (IS) success and, in turn, to the success of businesses. However, modern SDLC models are based more on organizational needs than human needs. The human interaction aspect of an information system is usually considered far too little (only the screen interface) and far too late in the IS development process (only at the design stage). Thus, often a gap exists between satisfying organizational needs and supporting and enriching human users. This problem can be addressed by carefully integrating HCI development into the SDLC process to achieve a truly human-centered IS development approach. This paper examines the roles of HCI in systems development, justifies the importance of considering HCI through out the entire systems development life cycle, presents a methodology for human-centered IS development, and demonstrates how to apply this methodology to develop human-centered information systems.

Decision support systems: From job aids to intelligent assistants

Decision support systems (DSS) are human-centered information systems meant to help managers to make more efficient and effective decisions for problems evincing an imperfect structure. These systems are very suitable information tools to apply to various management and control problems that are complex and complicated. Several issues concerning the modern trends to build anthropocentric systems are reviewed. Then the paper surveys several widely accepted concepts in the field of decision support systems. Several artificial intelligence and their applicability to decision problems are reviewed next The possible combination of artificial intelligence technologies with traditional numerical models within advanced decision support systems is presented.

Applications of Soft Computing to Human-centered Information Systems

Applications of Soft Computing to Human-centered Information Systems

Towards the appropriate human-centred information systems: A case study of the Japanese retail industry

The industries of Japan have developed by learning from Western industries, especially the USA, and by implementing many of their concepts and technologies. However, Japanese industries have often implemented these concepts and technologies in a very different way from the USA. For example, while the USA uses information systems in retail industries as a tool by which data are collected and analysed to ‘control the market’, in Japan this same technology is considered rather as a learning device to ‘interpret the market’. While in the USA the market is seen as a natural phenomenon capable of being controlled, the Japanese see it as an ambiguous phenomenon that is ever changing and is not capable of being controlled. Rather it is important to feel the change in the market itself. This paper introduces human centredness to the information system, and argues against modern rationalism, i.e. human versus technology, taking the case of use of POS data from the POS system (point of sale: a system that collects data on both the customer and goods sold by scanning bar codes that are attached to the surface of the goods) by the eminent Japanese retailer, Ito-Yokado. It emphasises an interactive concept of interaction between human and technology of the postmodern paradigm.

Human-centered information systems (HCIS)

Human-centered information systems (HCIS)