User-centered System Design Research Articles

Investigations into the limited uptake of Ambient Assisted Living systems in the home and an approach for increasing acceptance

Research and development in the area of Ambient Assisted Living has been undertaken for many years. The aim of Ambient assisted Living is to manage the risks due to aging and living alone so that the older person can remain in their familiar home environment longer. Despite the many years of research and development there is apparently only limited uptake in the real world. Some researchers have suggested that insufficient focus on user needs, focus on the technology not the user, little concern for ethical issues in deployment, and lack of user-centered system design are causes for the limited uptake. These and other reasons should be understood else it is likely that when further systems are developed they too will not be accepted. Subsequently, the aim of the present research is to explore the issues that affected the uptake of the Assistive Technology and Ambient Assisted Living systems that are currently in Australian homes. Due to privacy concerns and commercial confidentiality issues, this has proven difficult, so an innovative approach is being used to obtain data. Some preliminary information has emerged from the ongoing data gathering that indicates that specific Assistive Technology is being used but little consideration has been given to Ambient Assisted Living. This appears due to differing perceptions of usefulness. To improve the perception of Ambient Assisted Living systems usefulness we are developing simple devices that target specific needs raised by potential users. Through using such devices, appreciation of the usefulness of comprehensive home Ambient Assisted Living systems may increase. The devices are specifically low-cost to encourage trial and are designed with a user-centered approach that incorporates important earlier researchers’ findings regarding older people and technology.

User centered system design and prototype for household food waste reduction

Abstract The total quantity of food waste in Europe has been estimated at around 88 million tons per year. About 42 % is thrown out by households, of which 60 % would be avoidable by increasing users’ awareness. The present paper aims to develop an integrated system to reduce household food waste and improve the end-users’ lifestyle in terms of health and well-being. A smart fridge able to track the stocks, a web application and a set of related services have been designed and prototyped to guide the user in the proper storage of food and support him/her in purchase planning and food preparation. The system was positively evaluated in terms of usability, it is use contributes to both environmental and economic benefits, leading respectively to a reduction of environmental impacts of about 21 % and a yearly savings amounting up to 285 €, in comparison with a traditional system.

Designing a Mobile Application to Assist Micro-Entrepreneurs in Understanding the Food Business Legality Process

Micro-entrepreneurs are considered crucial by the government and stakeholders in economic development. However, the coaching and development opportunities for microenterprises have been limited, leading to a lack of technological advancements and self-competence among business actors. This research aims to address this gap by presenting the design and development of a mobile-based learning application called the Food Business System App (FBS App). The FBS App serves as a valuable resource for micro-entrepreneurs to acquire business knowledge related to government policies and enhance the value of their products. Developed using the Smart Apps Creator app on the Mobile App digital platform, the FBS App includes a collection of papers and videos covering various aspects of business and product legality. The learning content is divided into five parts: licensing, product branding, product manufacturing examples, and feedback. The FBS App is designed to minimize internet data usage, provide user-friendly experience, ensure fast technology access, and offer reliable technology performance for users with limited technological proficiency. The User-Centred System Design (UCSD) approach was employed in the application's design process, and the System Usability Scale (SUS) method was used for testing, resulting in a score of 77.2. It is anticipated that the FBS App will serve as a valuable reference tool for micro-entrepreneurs, enabling them to enhance the quality and competitiveness of their products.

Smart Glasses for Supporting Distributed Care Work: Systematic Review.

Over the past 2 decades, various desktop and mobile telemedicine systems have been developed to support communication and care coordination among distributed medical teams. However, in the hands-busy care environment, such technologies could become cumbersome because they require medical professionals to manually operate them. Smart glasses have been gaining momentum because of their advantages in enabling hands-free operation and see-what-I-see video-based consultation. Previous research has tested this novel technology in different health care settings. The aim of this study was to review how smart glasses were designed, used, and evaluated as a telemedicine tool to support distributed care coordination and communication, as well as highlight the potential benefits and limitations regarding medical professionals' use of smart glasses in practice. We conducted a literature search in 6 databases that cover research within both health care and computer science domains. We used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology to review articles. A total of 5865 articles were retrieved and screened by 3 researchers, with 21 (0.36%) articles included for in-depth analysis. All of the reviewed articles (21/21, 100%) used off-the-shelf smart glass device and videoconferencing software, which had a high level of technology readiness for real-world use and deployment in care settings. The common system features used and evaluated in these studies included video and audio streaming, annotation, augmented reality, and hands-free interactions. These studies focused on evaluating the technical feasibility, effectiveness, and user experience of smart glasses. Although the smart glass technology has demonstrated numerous benefits and high levels of user acceptance, the reviewed studies noted a variety of barriers to successful adoption of this novel technology in actual care settings, including technical limitations, human factors and ergonomics, privacy and security issues, and organizational challenges. User-centered system design, improved hardware performance, and software reliability are needed to realize the potential of smart glasses. More research is needed to examine and evaluate medical professionals' needs, preferences, and perceptions, as well as elucidate how smart glasses affect the clinical workflow in complex care environments. Our findings inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of smart glasses that will improve organizational and patient outcomes.

User-Centered System Design for Communicating Clinical Laboratory Test Results: Design and Evaluation Study.

BackgroundPersonal clinical data, such as laboratory test results, are increasingly being made available to patients via patient portals. However, laboratory test results are presented in a way that is difficult for patients to interpret and use. Furthermore, the indications of laboratory test results may vary among patients with different characteristics and from different medical contexts. To date, little is known about how to design patient-centered technology to facilitate the interpretation of laboratory test results.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to explore design considerations for supporting patient-centered communication and comprehension of laboratory test results, as well as discussions between patients and health care providers.MethodsWe conducted a user-centered, multicomponent design research consisting of user studies, an iterative prototype design, and pilot user evaluations, to explore design concepts and considerations that are useful for supporting patients in not only viewing but also interpreting and acting upon laboratory test results.ResultsThe user study results informed the iterative design of a system prototype, which had several interactive features: using graphical representations and clear takeaway messages to convey the concerning nature of the results; enabling users to annotate laboratory test reports; clarifying medical jargon using nontechnical verbiage and allowing users to interact with the medical terms (eg, saving, favoriting, or sorting); and providing pertinent and reliable information to help patients comprehend test results within their medical context. The results of a pilot user evaluation with 8 patients showed that the new patient-facing system was perceived as useful in not only presenting laboratory test results to patients in a meaningful way but also facilitating in situ patient-provider interactions.ConclusionsWe draw on our findings to discuss design implications for supporting patient-centered communication of laboratory test results and how to make technology support informative, trustworthy, and empathetic.

Walking in the jungle with a machete: ICT leaders’ perspectives on user-Centred systems design

ABSTRACT Previous research has established that leaders in information and communication technology (ICT) are crucial for establishing a user-centred systems design perspective in ICT for work-related tasks. This paper therefore describes the perspectives of 18 ICT leaders in three kinds of leadership roles (managers, project leaders and specialists) in order to understand their views of user-centred systems design concerning ICT. It uses the concept of technological frames of reference to analyse three domains: technology-in-use, technology strategy and nature of technology. The results show that many specialists see user involvement as a critical factor in successfully establishing new information and communication technologies, but that these systems are currently built around the needs of management rather than end users. Looking forward, all three relevant social groups are optimistic about how ICT will become more user-centred and more strategically aligned in the future. However, changes in ICT are described as extremely energy-consuming and difficult – akin to ‘walking in the jungle with a machete’. Finally, we discuss the relevance of technological frames and present some implications for the successful establishment of user-centred system design as a perspective in organisations.

User-centered system design for assisted navigation of visually impaired individuals in outdoor cultural environments

The marginalization of people with disabilities, such as visually impaired individuals (VIIs), has driven scientists to take advantage of the fast growth of smart technologies and develop smart assistive systems (SASs) to bring VIIs back to social life, education and even to culture. Our research focuses on developing a human–computer interactive system that will guide VIIs in outdoor cultural environments by offering universal access to cultural information, social networking and safe navigation among other services. The VI users interact with computer-based SAS to control the system during its operation, while having access to remote connection with non-VIIs for external guidance and company. The development of such a system needs a user-centered design (UCD) that incorporates the elicitation of the necessary requirements for a satisfying operation for the VI users. In this paper, we present a novel SAS system for VIIs and its design considerations, which follow a UCD approach to determine a set of operational, functional, ergonomic, environmental and optional requirements of the system. Both VIIs and non-VIIs took part in a series of interviews and questionnaires, from which data were analyzed to form the requirements of the system for both the on-site and remote use. The final requirements are tested by trials and their evaluation and results are presented. The experimental investigations gave significant feedback for the development of the system, throughout the design process. The most important contribution of this study is the derivation of requirements applicable not only to the specific system under investigation, but also to other relevant SASs for VIIs.

Exploration of an user-centered system design for supporting teaching practicum

Exploration of an user-centered system design for supporting teaching practicum

Contribuições para um Framework para Avaliação de Qualidade e Eficácia de MOOCs

O objetivo do presente artigo é o de oferecer contribuições para formulação de frameworks como ferramentas de suporte ao desenvolvimento de MOOCs mais eficientes e com melhor qualidade. Dois estudos de caso foram realizados com MOOCs financiados pela Comissão Europeia, cujo principal objetivo é o de introduzir educadores presenciais junto a algumas experiências pedagógicas positivas em ambiente virtual, e que podem ser aplicadas ao ensino presencial. Os resultados levaram à observação de que, embora o MOOC em análise tenha demonstrado conformidade com relação à maioria dos principais fundamentos pedagógicos, vários outros importantes aspectos pedagógicos secundários, designs instrucionais, assim como a usabilidade da plataforma educacional, não receberam a atenção necessária. Os resultados do presente estudo conduziram à conclusão de que frameworks, concebidos como ferramentas de suporte ao desenvolvimento de MOOCs, devem incluir não apenas teorias, conceitos e princípios pedagógicos fundamentais e gerais (como a maioria deles atualmente o fazem), mas também integrar a estes - e de forma articulada - os imprescindíveis aspectos secundários práticos, como, por exemplo, o design instrucional e o projeto do sistema de aprendizagem centrada no usuário.
 
 
 Palavras-chave: Framework. Avaliação de qualidade. Mooc.

Development of a Web-based User Experience Certification System based on User-centered System Design Approach

Development of a Web-based User Experience Certification System based on User-centered System Design Approach

A learning health system for people with severe mental illness: a promise for continuous learning, patient coproduction and more effective care

A Learning Health System (LHS) promotes the patient being at the very center of his or her care. Patient coproduction of care in an LHS is enabled by a focus on improving outcomes through the use of tools and visualizations that use the harnessed knowledge obtained from every previous treatment of similar patients. Interest in the concept of LHS is growing, and there are promising results in real-world applications. Almost no research has focused on LHSs for severe mental illness (LHS4SMI). By using a user-centered system design approach, a persona and use-case scenarios were created to illustrate how schizophrenia care could be co-produced in an LHS compared to standard care in a non-LHS. The illustration highlight increased participation through decisions informed by all treatments for all similar patients through the use of user interfaces that support continuous evaluation, increased understanding, compensation for cognitive impairment and participation of next of kin in the care process. We propose that an LHS4SMIs like schizophrenia has enormous potential in enabling continuous learning, patient coproduction, and more effective care.

Institutionalizing human-computer interaction for global health

ABSTRACTDigitalization is the societal change process in which new ICT-based solutions bring forward completely new ways of doing things, new businesses and new movements in the society. Digitalization also provides completely new ways of addressing issues related to global health. This paper provides an overview of the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) and in what way the field has contributed to international development in different regions of the world. Additionally, it outlines the United Nations’ new sustainability goals from December 2015 and what these could contribute to the development of global health and its relationship to digitalization. Finally, it argues why and how HCI could be adopted and adapted to fit the contextual needs, the need for localization and for the development of new digital innovations. The research methodology is mostly qualitative following an action research paradigm in which the actual change process that the digitalization is evoking is equally important as the scientific conclusions that can be drawn. In conclusion, the paper argues that digitalization is fundamentally changing the society through the development and use of digital technologies and may have a profound effect on the digital development of every country in the world. But it needs to be developed based on local practices, it needs international support and to not be limited by any technological constraints. Particularly digitalization to support global health requires a profound understanding of the users and their context, arguing for user-centred systems design methodologies as particularly suitable.

A license to kill – Improving UCSD in Agile development

Abstract Agile development processes, such as Scrum, focus on communication, developer collaboration and delivery of working software early and continuously. User-centered systems design (UCSD) is a process emphasizing usability and the user experience throughout the system life cycle. It highlights the UCSD activities: understanding the context of use, iterative prototyping to explore the design space and active collaboration with users throughout the software development. Agile processes are by many assumed to address similar issues as UCSD, hence, by applying Agile processes the systems would become usable for the end-users and their user experience should improve. This paper discusses and interprets findings on UCSD activities in Agile projects in practice, that are analyzed according to the fundamental principles from the Agile manifesto. We show that Agile development has much to gain from integrating UCSD, and give guidance on how to integrate UCSD in Agile processes. User experience (UX) professionals need a more explicit role in the Agile projects and more authority. We recommend that they receive a “license to kill” design suggestions that are not perceived as useful by the users.

Interactive cognitive artifacts for enhancing situation awareness of incident commanders in mass casualty incidents

In mass casualty incidents, several members of Emergency Medical Services have to take actions in the field in order to cope with many injured or sick people. Incident commanders are responsible for managing operations, guiding rescue forces and applying resources appropriately under extraordinary circumstances. Data required for situation assessment, projection of developments and decision making are gathered by many different emergency physicians and paramedics. They are shared by numerous face-to-face talks, radio and phone calls as well as with the aid of paper-based forms and notepaper. While these tools and means of communication support flexible modes of operation, they often lead to deficient awareness of the situation. Due to temporal delays, poor handwriting and incomplete data, information sharing in the field is hampered, delayed and faulty. Compared to established paper-based artifacts, interactive cognitive artifacts might improve the situations by exchanging and visualizing data in real-time. However, because of users’ workload and working conditions, designing mobile computer-based tools and systems for this context of use is not only a technical but also a usability challenge. Based on the results of a two-year user-centered system design project in cooperation with German Emergency Medical Services, we discuss currently used and interactive cognitive artifacts for incident commanders. Challenges and approaches for successful user interface and interaction design are described and future work is outlined.

Supporting Information Tasks with User-Centred System Design: The Development of an Interface Supporting Bioinformatics Analysis

We present an interface to support the integration of bioinformatics analysis with scientific practice. The interface guides scientists through the co-ordinated use of a wide range of analyses and resources in order to solve a complex information task.Nous présentons une interface qui utilise l’intégration de l’analyse bio-informatique dans le domaine scientifique. Cette interface guide les scientifiques à travers l’utilisation coordonnée d’une vaste gamme d’analyses et de ressources, de manière à effectuer une tâche informationnelle complexe.

A Survey of User-Centered System Design for Supporting Online Collaborative Writing

Collaborative Writing (CW) is a new emerging issue in education that must be addressed interdisciplinary. Nowadays there are a lot soft ware that can be use to support and enhance the collaboration in group writing. This paper presents the discussion about the recent user centre system design for supporting collaborative writing. Based on the taxonomy and collaborative writing and the problems appear in collaborative writing, we will proposed the required design of the User-Centered System Design (UCSD) for CW software. The last part of this paper will be dedicated to examine the recent available CW soft wares based on the required designed proposed

Improving Patient Safety through User-Centered Healthcare Background Check System Design

The Michigan Workforce Background Check (MWBC) system is a cost-effective, usable web application for conducting employability screenings for healthcare workers in long-term care settings. This system is an exemplar for demonstrating how a user-centered design process facilitated the flow of critical information, improved applicant data accuracy, and improved patient safety by eliminating access by known abusers and criminals to vulnerable adults in long-term care settings. The redesigned system 1) increases the efficiency in the background check process, 2) collects more accurate and comprehensive applicant data, and 3) ultimately improves patient safety by quickly identifying unfit workers.

User-centred System Design Approach Applied on a Robotic Flexible Endoscope

Complex systems, like surgical robots, are designed by engineers. It is very difficult for them to determine the different needs and desires of all stakeholders. Especially when designed from scratch, end user input is essential in creating a system that has added value, is user friendly, and can be easily integrated into practice. For the development of a robotic flexible endoscope we have involved physicians, nurses, and equipment suppliers in our design approach. Seven steps are executed to convert user preferences and capabilities into concepts:•Determine focus area of development.•Create the current workflow of system application to understand (the context of) use.•Determine problem definition and design goal.•Create the future workflow, in which current problems are eliminated and major system wishes are fulfilled.•Translate the future workflow into a functional overview that contains system functions.•Select and configure the appropriate construction elements into physical overviews, being preliminary concepts.•Decompose physical overview into manageable modules.These views are evaluated by the major stakeholders and together form a system architecture. The system architecture helped us in defining the robotic modules required to fulfill all stakeholders‟ needs and desires. Demonstrators were built to evaluate critical concepts in clinical relevant experiments.

User-Centred Systems Design as Organizational Change

This paper presents a longitudinal case study in which six Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers worked extensively in an action research cooperation with a public authority over a period of four years. The purpose of the cooperation was to increase the focus on usability in the authority, and the main research question was how user centered systems design and increased awareness on work environment in relation to computer usage could promote organizational change in a public authority. The overarching research approach in this project has been action research and the data used in this paper is derived from an evaluation performed at the end of the project, as well as through our experiences from working with the project. The results involve aspects relating to organizational issues, management support, strategic documents and end-user participation. Moreover the results include methodological support for bringing users and developers closer together and individual and organizational attitudes to development. The purpose of this paper is to make some general conclusions on how to bring about change when approaching a large public authority with the purpose of introducing usability and user centered systems design.

Applying a Warfighter-Centric System Design Process to a Department of Defense Acquisition Program

This case study describes a user-centered system design process that was undertaken by a team of multidisciplinary engineers supporting the Joint Tactical Radio System Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit Program. Motivated by the need to manage the risk associated with designing a compact, software-programmable radio to meet the diverse needs of the joint forces, the team applied cognitive engineering methods at key points during the system development and demonstration phase of the acquisition process. To make sound, data-driven design decisions, the team conducted four research efforts with warfighters to understand their tactical communication needs and the impact that proposed designs would have on mission and individual performance. Key insights and lessons learned from the application of cognitive engineering methods during the process and their impact on system design are discussed.