User-centered Information Research Articles

Research for an Information Guide System of Irregular Space Based on User Route

Background This research aims to build a spatial and wayfinding information guide-line properly based on the visitor routein an irregular architectural space, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). It is essential for irregular architectural spaces to design user routes for seamless wayfinding, a clear understanding of congested points, providing suitable information and the suggestion of information signage with high visibility and easy user comprehension throughout the space. Methods The space syntax program was utilized in order to find congested areas in DDP. The wayfinding route plan was set for each user-type based on the result of the space syntax measurements. The user test was also executed by placing the prototype of signage within a hierarchy of spatial information in the DDP access area. Lastly, the overall direction and the proper wayfinding scheme were suggested with the result of this study. Results Providing high-level guidance for each major facility and suitable spatial information after segmenting access points within an irregular architectural space is crucial for easy wayfinding. In addition, offering proper and hierarchical information according to specific spatial conditions such as congested areas with static and dynamic sign media without interruption help create identity for a spatial structure to maneuver the user’s way from the start or crossroads to the destination. By installing spatial information signage, fluent user-circulation and avoidance of user wayfinding congestion were apparent. This suggests each type and amount of information focused on user-route and functional class and placement of sign media are critical in wayfinding for irregular spaces. Conclusions This study suggests a systematic process to provide guidance of spatial information in irregular architectural spaces through the research of optimal wayfinding by identifying and measuring the problems of user-centered spatial information in irregular architectural spaces.

Extending FDA guidance to include consumer medication information (CMI) delivery on mobile devices.

This paper describes the current state of consumer-focused mobile health application use and the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on the distribution of consumer medication information (CMI), and discusses recommendations and considerations for the FDA to expand CMI guidance to include CMI in mobile applications. Smartphone-based health interventions have been linked to increased medication adherence and improved health outcomes. Trends in smartphone ownership present opportunities to more effectively communicate and disseminate medication information; however, current FDA guidance for CMI does not outline how to effectively communicate CMI on a mobile platform, particularly in regards to user-centered design and information sourcing. As evidence supporting the potential effectiveness of mobile communication in health care continues to increase, CMI developers, regulating entities, and researchers should take note. Although mobile-based CMI offers an innovative mechanism to deliver medication information, caution should be exercised. Specifically, considerations for developing mobile CMI include consumers' digital literacy, user experience (e.g., usability), and the quality and accuracy of new widely used sources of information (e.g., crowd-sourced reviews and ratings). Recommended changes to FDA guidance for CMI include altering the language about scientific accuracy to address more novel methods of information gathering (e.g., anecdotal experiences and Google Consumer Surveys) and including guidance for usability testing of mobile health applications.

The Encyclopedia Gallica of Events - or Why Geographic Information Science Is Not Like Physics

GIScience 2016 Short Paper Proceedings The Encyclopedia Gallica of Events (or Why Geographic Information Science is Not Like Physics) H. Couclelis University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4060, USA Email: cook@geog.ucsb.edu Abstract As a contribution towards the further development of user-centered information systems, I present an argument for a contextual and subjective view of events and related concepts in information science that is distinct from the factual view prevalent in empirical science and everyday life. The central notion is that of ‘R-Event’, where ‘R’ stands for ‘Relevant’. Drawing on representations of process such as dynamic models or AI approaches to problem-solving and planning, R-Events would improve the precision and value of search results by foregrounding and ranking information about events of high relevance to the user. There is no suggestion here that this proposal is easily implementable. It is offered at this stage as a potentially fruitful thought experiment. 1. Introduction The title is one that Borges would have loved 1 . Had he written the story of the Encyclopedia Gallica of Events, this would have also included processes, perdurants, occurrences, and non-events. And the Encyclopedia in question would have had to be infinite in length, and self-contradictory. I will argue that in an informational (as opposed to an empirical) context, (a), the above concepts do not refer to intersubjectively definable individuals and (b), unlike most other abstract concepts, the things these refer to are not free-standing notions but binary relations connecting information source and observer, and depending on the specific interest the latter has in certain detectable state(s) or change(s) in the world. Thus the news of my birth signaled a momentous event for my family (and a very real painful process for my mother) – but for the rest of humanity the fact of my birth was a non-event, barely registering as a blip of plus-one added to some country’s population. Similarly, major flooding in south-eastern Tajikistan may be an empirical fact, but it is an event if you are in the business of importing cotton from that area, a process if you are in charge of evacuating local populations, an occurrence if you are tabulating floods in Central Asia, and noise if south-eastern Tajikistan is not among the things you care about. Similar kinds of context-dependency also hold for the endurant-perdurant distinction, and as has been argued repeatedly over the years, also in the case of fields and objects. Information systems sensitive to user-centered semantics should be able to make these determinations. 2. On Science and Metascience It may be useful to distinguish clearly between the empirical sciences that directly measure and represent phenomena in the world, and the information sciences (which are meta-sciences) that process and present information about these phenomena in ways that meet and support the interests and purposes of information users. These are really two different epistemic layers, with different See Borges (1939) The Total Library; Borges (1943) The Library of Babel; and the “certain Chinese Encyclopedia” in Borges (1952) The Analytical Language of John Wilkins.

Analysis and control of information diffusion dictated by user interest in generalized networks.

The diffusion of useful information in generalized networks, such as those consisting of wireless physical substrates and social network overlays is very important for theoretical and practical applications. Contrary to previous works, we focus on the impact of user interest and its features (e.g., interest periodicity) on the dynamics and control of diffusion of useful information within such complex wireless-social systems. By considering the impact of temporal and topical variations of users interests, e.g., seasonal periodicity of interest in summer vacation advertisements which spread more effectively during Spring–Summer months, we develop an epidemic-based mathematical framework for modeling and analyzing such information dissemination processes and use three indicative operational scenarios to demonstrate the solutions and results that can be obtained by the corresponding differential equation-based formalism. We then develop an optimal control framework subject to the above information diffusion modeling that allows controlling the trade-off between information propagation efficiency and the associated cost, by considering and leveraging on the impact that user interests have on the diffusion processes. By analysis and extensive simulations, significant outcomes are obtained on the impact of each network layer and the associated interest parameters on the dynamics of useful information diffusion. Furthermore, several behavioral properties of the optimal control of the useful information diffusion with respect to the number of infected/informed nodes and the evolving user interest are shown through analysis and verified via simulations. Specifically, a key finding is that low interest-related diffusion can be aided by utilizing proper optimal controls. Our work in this paper paves the way towards this user-centered information diffusion framework.

A user-centred collaborative framework for integrated information services in China

Purpose – The paper aims to propose a user-centred collaborative framework for providing integrated information services (IIS) to corporate users in China. The framework is conceptualized based on a literature review of IIS models and a case study. The authors provide suggestions with regard to the implementation of effective and efficient information services for corporate users based on the proposed framework. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews the efforts of investigating appropriate models for integrated information services (IIS) and proposes a user-centred collaborative framework for providing IIS for corporate users. It is organized as follows: first is an overview through a review of the related literature of the current status of information resource services in China. Then, a case study of IIS in Hubei Province is analysed. Next, a user-centred collaborative IIS framework is presented that aims to address the needs of corporate users. The paper concludes with a summary and suggestions for future study to build effective and efficient IIS systems. Findings – Through an exploratory survey conducted in 2009, it was discovered that, in general, corporate users need all kinds of information, not only scientific publications but also business and market information. Their channel to obtain needed information was mainly the Internet. Books and domain-specific databases were also used by most of the participants. The major challenges for corporate users to obtain needed information included the high cost of purchasing or leasing desired information resources, the low quality of information on the Internet, limited information workers or their skills and the quality of high-level information services. Research limitations/implications – The survey served as a tool to gather primitive information on user needs. It was an incomplete, unsystematic exploration. However, the authors could still gain some insights on the users’ information needs and directions for future IIS. The results showed that Hubei Science and Technology Information Sharing Service, which was an implementation of the agency collaboration-based IIS model, satisfied the needs of less than 30 per cent of the participants. It has much room for improvement. Practical implications – This paper proposes a user-centred collaborative integrated information services (UCIIS) framework. The UCIIS framework takes the idea of the user-centred integrated information service (IIS) model that the construction of IIS should start from understanding the users of the services, but it also takes important characteristics from the agency collaboration-based IIS model. Originality/value – The discussion in this paper is basically on the macro level, leaving a lot of interesting future work to design, develop and evaluate IIS systems based on the proposed framework. Specifically, interest is in developing user models through systematic and comprehensive investigation of corporate information users’ needs, and examining current library and information science curricula to produce qualified information professionals who can carry out user experience studies, and high-level knowledge discovery tasks using various advanced computational technologies.

Effects of data presentation and perceptual speed on speed and accuracy in table reading for inventory control

BACKGROUND: The increasing amount of available data in digital working environments raise considerable usability challenges. Beyond the trend for automation of such processes, strategic decisions still depend on humans in the loop who have to perceive, understand and process increasingly complex information and to make quick and correct decisions with considerable consequences for the effectiveness of the production process. OBJECTIVE: This work is concerned with a baseline experiment in which effects of data presentations and information complexity on speed and accuracy were studied taking table reading for inventory control as an example. METHODS: Experimentally, the information complexity (number of lines per table, number of digits, specificity of labels) as well as operators’ cognitive ability (perceptual speed) was examined in terms of decision speed and accuracy. In addition, learnability effects were assessed. RESULTS: Results show a significant effect of all factors on task performance. With increasing information complexity decision speed is considerably decreased. Operators’ perceptual speed modulates performance. Low perceptual speed in conjunction with insufficient data presentation results in significantly lower task performance. CONCLUSIONS: Usability and user-centered information displaying is of vital importance for efficient operators’ performance and to balance mental workload. The findings contribute to an understanding of the effects of single factors in combination for mental workload and may lead to better managerial decisions concerning the design of working conditions (e.g. by automating processes).

Exploring Chinese Students' Perspective on Reference Services at Chinese Academic Libraries: A Case Study Approach

Reference services have been developed in China for nearly a century; however literature shows that very little research has been done on users' perception of reference services in Chinese academic libraries. To fill the research gap, this study aims to examine how Chinese undergraduates perceive, understand and use the reference service. A survey was employed and conducted in a comprehensive Chinese university with about 19,000 undergraduate students. 433 valid questionnaires were received. ANOVA was adopted to examine overall reference service satisfaction variation among respondents in different programs. The study reveals that library resources and reference services have been improved in China during the past twenty years, especially with the great support of Project 211 and Project 985 by the Ministry of Education of China. However, there is still more to do to change libraries from book repositories to modern user-centered information services and to improve historically underdeveloped user services in Chinese libraries. Libraries and librarians in China need to more actively embrace the philosophy that library resources are to be used and librarians are there to serve, to thoroughly promote reference services and render them more visible, and to diligently learn, adopt and apply technology to provide quality reference services.

A user-centered information and communication technology (ICT) tool to improve safety inspections

Abstract Occupational safety is imperative in construction, and safety inspection is among the most common practices that help enforce job safety on site. The safety inspection process, however, suffers from several drawbacks that hinder the efficiency, effectiveness, and analytical learning capacity of the process. Dedicated tools for user-centered information and communications technology could significantly reduce such drawbacks. This paper discusses the use of an original two-step user-centered design approach to develop and evaluate an iPad application that aims to address such drawbacks and improve the day-to-day practices and management of safety inspections. Evaluation results indicate the usefulness and practicality of the application and identify innovative uses not previously envisioned. Furthermore, the developed tool allows consistent data collection that can eventually be used to aid the development of advanced safety and health data analysis techniques.

Design and Analysis of Client Control System Using DNS Control Firewall

In this paper, the client control system designed for infringement blocking system development. In order words, infected with harmful files on your computer by using a usercentered information systems development and security through the design of a control system using DNS control firewall client access to the site randomly for acts that can block the under solving techniques. Design of the client control system was classified as Dynamic intrusion prevention system module design, Embedded domain name service system module design, Interlocking DNS service module design and Cert & Analysis module design. Finally, through simulation, an average of 14% was measured by abnormal packet ratio.

Use of Social Networking Sites by Academic Librarians in Six Selected States of Nigeria

The attractiveness of social networking sites (SNSs) has extended to almost all professionals in numerous human organizations including the library. Librarians as a result of this development are now making use of these sites to connect to other libraries and librarians both within and outside their environment. However, it is observed that the use and benefits derived from social networking sites by Nigerian librarians, generally, and those in academic libraries, particularly, has not been well documented. It is against this backdrop that this study examined the use of social networking sites to both the libraries and the librarians in selected academic libraries in six Nigerian States. A survey research design approach was adopted. The simple random study drew upon 200 academic librarians from academic libraries across six selected States in Nigeria. Five research questions were raised and answered by the study. The results demonstrate that Facebook and Twitter are mostly use by academic librarians. Academic librarians are making use of SNSs on a weekly basis and partially on a daily basis. Many potential benefits of SNSs were indicated both to the librarians and their libraries such as creating opportunity to connect with people across the globe, which includes those that have never been seen and those that one is not sure of coming in contact with. It was also found that SNSs give opportunity for academic libraries to incorporate SNSs as a means of creating more interactive user centered library and information services. Examples of the defects identified associated with SNSs include sexual harassment, cybercrime, fraud, and spreading of spam. It is expected that the outcomes of this study will serve as pioneer data upon which future related studies will be anchored.

An Unexpected Discovery: One Library's Experience With Web-Scale Discovery Service (WSDS) Evaluation and Assessment

ABSTRACT “Discovery” is today's term for user-centered information searching and access. A growing number of libraries have embraced Web-scale discovery services (WSDS) featuring one-stop searching of libraries’ owned and licensed collections. Recognizing potential benefits to users of these systems, a mid-sized ARL library formed a discovery-tool committee in spring 2012 to explore selection of a WSDS in keeping with its values, vision, and institutional mission. This article explores “discovery” as it assesses WSDS performance and reports results obtained from a request to WSDS vendors to showcase the search power of their system with actual reference questions.

P4.003 The Impact of Emotional Design on the Retrieval of Information: The Case of the Brazilian Ministry of Health’s Department of STDs, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Home Page

BackgroundThe home page of the Department of STDs, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis is an important tool for guiding the public on prevention and treatment campaigns, reaching up to 595,097 visits...

A Resource Management Tool for Public Health Continuity of Operations During Disasters

We developed and validated a user-centered information system to support the local planning of public health continuity of operations for the Community Health Services Division, Public Health - Seattle & King County, Washington. The Continuity of Operations Data Analysis (CODA) system was designed as a prototype developed using requirements identified through participatory design. CODA uses open-source software that links personnel contact and licensing information with needed skills and clinic locations for 821 employees at 14 public health clinics in Seattle and King County. Using a web-based interface, CODA can visualize locations of personnel in relationship to clinics to assist clinic managers in allocating public health personnel and resources under dynamic conditions. Based on user input, the CODA prototype was designed as a low-cost, user-friendly system to inventory and manage public health resources. In emergency conditions, the system can run on a stand-alone battery-powered laptop computer. A formative evaluation by managers of multiple public health centers confirmed the prototype design's usefulness. Emergency management administrators also provided positive feedback about the system during a separate demonstration. Validation of the CODA information design prototype by public health managers and emergency management administrators demonstrates the potential usefulness of building a resource management system using open-source technologies and participatory design principles.

Research and Design of Information System for Mobile Autonomous and Open Learning Based on RIA and Integrated Framework

The fast development of mobile terminals provides good conditions for constructing function-completed autonomous learning information system. This paper researches the methods of design and developing the information system, which is based on E-learning2.0 idea, Android, RIA and Web2.0 technologies. It analyzes general system architecture and application developing frameworks and puts them into practice.Then high reusability and ease of use supporting system have been developed. In technical terms, the study strives to form a development mode of mobile autonomous learning information system.In application, it strives to construct a user-centered, independent, open and rich user experience mobile learning information system.

Multilingual Digital Libraries: A review of issues in system-centered and user-centered studies, information retrieval and user behavior

This study aims to identify, collect and critical review the research literature on Multilingual Digital Libraries in English language from 1997 to 2012.Design/methodology/approach: The present literature review has followed the rules of systematic review. In particular, the identified relevant papers were categorized based on their expressed aim on two core themes, that of system-centered and user-centered studies. The assigned papers were further analyzed and six sub-themes emerged for the system-centered studies and four for the user-centered studies. Additional categorization was also provided according to type of publication.Findings: The literature concerning Multilingual Digital Libraries is vast and mainly focuses on two aspects the “System” and the “Users”. The majority of papers tried to meet the challenges raised for enabling multilingual information retrieval in Digital Libraries. Unfortunately, these efforts undertaken by a small number of researchers or research groups apparently working in isolation and therefore resulting in the development of numerous different tools and techniques. Relatively few studies have focused on the user and aimed to explore users' behavior and expectations when interacting with Multilingual Digital Libraries. As a result, further research is needed to reach to some tangible and usable findings.Originality/value: This literature review captures the diversity of the research conducted regarding multilingual information access and retrieval in Digital Libraries. It organizes the vast literature in comprehensive themes and sub-themes enabling easy access to specific information.Limitations: This study reviews only papers in English due to language restrictions from 1997 to 2012.

Situation Awareness (SA), a Qualitative User-Centered Information Needs Assessment Approach

In order to keep the human professional in charge and to enable him/her to solve meaningful problems in a manner that is as natural as possible, new approaches that are more user-oriented should be used to augment human capabilities. Situation Awareness (SA) improves decision-making and performance in complex, dynamic environment by enhancing ambient awareness of the system-user. Situation Awareness is a qualitative user-centered information needs assessment approach that provides a better conceptual map of information requirement which have the potential to ultimately lead to the development of Information Technological (IT) tools for SA enhancement. Until now, SA has not been considered as a potential method of improving the cognitive decision-making process within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner (AECO) domain. The objective of this study is to apply the qualitative SA approach to the AECO-related practices and investigate its benefits and challenges in such a domain. Developing construction management methods and support systems that center on SA requirements can improve managers’ decision-making processes. This study applies the Goal Directed Cognitive Task Analysis (GDTA) technique in two different areas of AECO, construction safety and facility management, in order to obtain the key goals and SA requirements of performing their tasks. As the result of the GDTA methodology, a hierarchy of goals, sub-goals, decisions and information required for achieving the goals has been provided for each of the said areas. An IT tool that was built based on the SA-based outcome of the Facility Management pilot application has also been discussed in the paper. These SA requirements lay the foundation for future role-based decision support systems that can assist AECO personnel in their decision making process within dynamic and information-rich environments throughout the life cycle of a facility from the construction to the operations phase.

The role of educational information systems for survival in information society and the case of Pakistan

The study reviews the important role of information systems and their impact on educational planning and development. It also attempts to identify gaps in the provision of information needed by educational administrators who are key planners of education enterprise in Pakistan. It intended to determine their views about the development, objectives and needed services of a user centered information system for educational administrators. To achieve these objectives, a literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted. Thus, the educational administrators (i.e., registrars/deans/chairpersons in universities and principals of schools and colleges) were identified as the target population for the survey and were selected through cluster sampling. The respondents were from the Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory. In total, 297 (99%) responses were received and analyzed quantitatively. Interviews of purposively selected educational administrators were also conducted for a more in-depth understanding of respondents’ points of view. This triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods helped in understanding the phenomena under study. Recommendations and conclusions are also drawn in the light of findings of the study. The study is the first one of its type that tried to probe the gaps in the process of accurate/valid information supply to educational administrators and planners. This gap is causing serious challenges for education in Pakistan.

The role of educational information systems for survival in information society and the case of Pakistan

The study reviews the important role of information systems and their impact on educational planning and development. It also attempts to identify gaps in the provision of information needed by educational administrators who are key planners of education enterprise in Pakistan. It intended to determine their views about the development, objectives and needed services of a user centered information system for educational administrators. To achieve these objectives, a literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted. Thus, the educational administrators (i.e., registrars/deans/chairpersons in universities and principals of schools and colleges) were identified as the target population for the survey and were selected through cluster sampling. The respondents were from the Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory. In total, 297 (99%) responses were received and analyzed quantitatively. Interviews of purposively selected educational administrators were also conducted for a more in-depth understanding of respondents’ points of view. This triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods helped in understanding the phenomena under study. Recommendations and conclusions are also drawn in the light of findings of the study. The study is the first one of its type that tried to probe the gaps in the process of accurate/valid information supply to educational administrators and planners. This gap is causing serious challenges for education in Pakistan.

Travelers' Intent to Use Mobile Technologies as a Function of Effort and Performance Expectancy

Due to the nature of the tourism product (inherently experiential, intangible, and heterogeneous) and the substantial geographical distances, trial prior to the purchase decision is almost impossible. These kinds of distances could be overcome by information about the product, which is available in advance and can be gathered by the consumer. The upsurge of mobile technology is providing great flexibility for the tourism industry and travelers who have hierarchical needs for information beyond the extent or extension of alternative user-centered information channels and other support systems on the road. Current research of the use of mobile technology in tourism has focused on design and technological issues of mobile guides. Little research has been conducted to understand travelers' attitude and use patterns. This research aims to apply the key concepts of technology acceptance model (TAM) to understand how user experience, performance, and effort expectation interplay with user intention. Using structural equation modeling on online survey data, six hypotheses which describe the relationships between the variables of the model were tested. The results indicated that the proposed model could well predict the tourists' intentions toward mobile device usage for their next trip. travelers' intentions to use mobile devices primarily depended on performance expectancy rather than effort expectancy. Previous information and communication technologies (ICT) usage and trip experience were positively related to the performance expectancy and effort expectancy, respectively. The indirect effects of previous ICT usage and previous trip experience on behavioral intention were further identified.

An Emerging Theory for Evidence Based Information Literacy Instruction in School Libraries, Part 2: Building a Culture of Enquiry

Objective – The purpose of this paper is to articulate a theory for the use of action research as a tool of evidence based practice for information literacy instruction in school libraries. The emerging theory is intended to capture the complex phenomenon of information skills teaching as it is embedded in school curricula. Such a theory is needed to support research on the integrated approach to teaching information skills and knowledge construction within the framework of inquiry learning. Part 1 of this paper, in the previous issue, built a foundation for emerging theory, which established user-centric information behavior and constructivist learning theory as the substantive theory behind evidence based library instruction in schools. Part 2 continues to build on the Information Search Process and Guided Inquiry as foundational to studying the information-to-knowledge connection and the concepts of help and intervention characteristic of 21st century school library instruction. 
 
 Methods – This paper examines the purpose and methodology of action research as a tool of evidence based instruction. This is accomplished through the explication of three components of theory-building: paradigm, substantive research, and metatheory. Evidence based practice is identified as the paradigm that contributes values and assumptions about school library instruction. It establishes the role of evidence in teaching and learning, linking theory and practice. Action research, as a tool of evidence based practice is defined as the synthesis of authentic learning, or performance-based assessment practices that continuously generate evidence throughout the inquiry unit of instruction and traditional data collection methods typically used in formal research. This paper adds social psychology theory from Lewin’s work, which contributes methodology from Gestalt psychology, field theory, group dynamics, and change theory. For Lewin the purpose of action research was social reform, while action research in education targeted self through the improvement of practice. The dichotomy between purposes of self and society is resolved by the Lewin-Dewey connection, where the reiterative cycle of action and reflection is the basis for a common intent for both types of action research. Dewey’s approach comprises the metatheory for emerging theory: a philosophy of purpose and methodology that determines how the research is done.
 
 Results – The emerging theory developed in this paper postulates that evidence based information literacy instruction uses action research for two purposes. Self-oriented action research (AR(S1)) targets self-improvement on the local level of teaching and learning in school libraries; social-oriented action research (AR(S2)) targets social reform on the global level of educational improvement. Corollaries of the theory indicate a research agenda and methodologies for the research. 
 
 Conclusion – Implicit in the content of the research is methodology that evolves from the distinction between the purposes of self- and social-oriented action research. Clearly, evidence is generated in the field of teaching and learning that is situated in theory-based practices, such as user-centered information processing, constructivist learning, and a culture of inquiry that grows from social processes. Librarianship is well suited to developing practitioner-researchers who are proficient in making the information-to-knowledge connection that informs their professional performance.