Carl Magnus Olsson

Intelligent Computing in Personal Informatics: Key Design Considerations

An expanding range of apps supported by wearable and mobile devices are being used by people engaged in personal informatics in order to track and explore data about themselves and their everyday activities. While the aspect of data collection is easier than ever before through these technologies, more advanced forms of support from personal informatics systems are not presently available. This lack of next generation personal informatics systems presents research with an important role to fill, and this paper presents a two-step contribution to this effect. The first step is to present a new model of human cooperation with intelligent computing, which collates key issues from the literature. The second step is to apply this model to personal informatics, identifying twelve key considerations for integrating intelligent computing in the design of future personal informatics systems. These design considerations are also applied to an example system, which illustrates their use in eliciting new design directions.

Beyond a utility view of personal informatics: a postphenomenological framework

Quantified self apps and other personal informatics designs have rapidly grown in popularity through the advent of convenient Internet of Things related wearables and improved sensor technology. The rapid growth has, however, left its mark on how we study this area as the utility that could be provided has become the centerpiece of attention. This appears somewhat contradictory, as personal informatics technology becomes integrated in life in nuanced ways, contributing value beyond the instrumental data analysis role. In this paper, we propose relying on postphenomenology as a useful foundation for extending the study of personal informatics, and provide three concluding implications intended to guide the discussion of such an extension.

The Role of Extreme Programming in a Plan-Driven Organization

The difficulties and even lack of commitment to follow plans within plan-based organizations is a well known phenomenon (see tikyaCiborra et al. 2000; Suchman 1987). For software development companies, this problem has become an increasing dilemma, as typically plan-driven software development assessment standards like the capability maturity model (CMM) or ISO/IEC 15504 have not always been easy to conform processes against. Particularly, in environments where requirements are rapidly changing, more agile approaches such as Scrum and extreme programming (XP) have caught on. In this work, we are reporting from a case study of an organization looking to not move completely from their plan-based processes (as they are but a part of a larger organization operating in a plan-based way), but rather adapt their overarching processes in a way that allows them to use XP to support their everyday work precluded by their current processes. To this end, we present four perspectives that organizations may take when they desire or consider becoming more agile in their development. We use the Nerur et al. (2005) key issues for moving from plan-based to agile software development to compare and analyze our findings. In doing this, we highlight a set of likely criteria necessary to successfully create a combination of the plan-driven and agile approaches.

Characterising software platforms from an architectural perspective

With demands of speed in software development it is of interest to build on available software platforms that incorporate the necessary non-competitive functionalities and focus the development effort on adding features to a competitive product. This paper proposes that we move from an API-oriented focus and instead suggest four architectural concerns for describing software platforms as more relevant.

A case study of the Architecture Business Cycle for an in-vehicle software architecture

This paper presents the theoretical and practical benefits from a case study using a the Architecture Business Cycle to understand the management of software architecture at an automotive manufacturer. The study was done to prepare for architectural changes driven by new technology and in the automotive business environment. Our results show that the architecture business cycle worked well in defining the theoretical context for the study after some modifications; the architecture had to be precisely defined in the interview situation to gain more useful data rather than broad generalisations. Further contributions of the study were a deeper understanding of role of the architecture and its position among other artefacts in the organisation, and an increased focus on architectural issues in management meetings. The study also indirectly affected a subsequent re-organisation.

Analyzing the Design Space of Personal Informatics: A State-of-practice Based Classification of Existing Tools

9th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, held as part of HCI International 2015, Los Angeles, CA, USA, August 2-7, 2015.

Methodological Capabilities for Emergent Design

In this paper we revisit emergent design and review five design oriented methodologies; action research, design research, controlled experiments, participatory design and ethnographic based approaches. Based on this review, we outline implications for the use of these methodologies in conjunction with an emergent design stance. Adopting such a stance is in line with both the exploratory way in which users embrace technology and the strong acceptance that agile software development approaches have had. It is therefore, we argue, appropriate that our research methodologies are adapted to embrace this change.

User privacy attitudes regarding proximity sensing

User attitudes on privacy with respect to location data has been extensively studied. However, user attitudes of privacy in relation to proximity sensing is still lacking. We present the results from a survey conducted on users of a proximity sensing application we developed and diffused by handing out phones with the proximity sensing application pre-installed, with 31 respondents. The results compare this type of application to location sensing in general, as well as positions our respondents in relation to previous studies in terms of general privacy policies. Four results stand out in particular: One, our respondents are more aware of and care about privacy policies than in previous studies. Two, trust is reported as being based more on the specific data access asked for, than EULA or similar text based policies. Third, the respondents are willing to allowing having proximity data about them sensed, as long as they are in control of who can sense it. Finally, our results indicate that there is no perceived difference in sensitivity between location and proximity sensing.

Bus Runner: Using Contextual Cues for Procedural Generation of Game Content on Public Transport

With the support of the regional public transport operator, this paper explores the potential for mobile games to make journeys on public transport more enjoyable. To this end we have developed a game called Bus Runner which is a context-aware endless runner, based on open and shared data. By blending features of the physical world, such as recognisable landmarks, with the game’s virtual world, we situate and enhance passengers’ experience of travelling on public transport. We identify a set of challenges and opportunities based on the development and evaluation of Bus Runner. These are of relevance not only for game development purposes, but also impact context-driven content generation of infotainment services as a whole.

Designing, developing, and evaluating the future internet of personal health

Ubiquitous computing technologies have the potential to revolutionize the support of chronic health conditions: improving quality of life, reducing costs and optimizing health outcomes. Wearable networks of connected devices and sensors offer the prospect of personalized support and contextually aware advice, for those with specific chronic health conditions. However, there are many obstacles and concerns that need to be addressed before the full potential can be realized. This workshop aims to bring together those interested in developing ubiquitous health management and related personal decision support systems to identify how gaps in knowledge can be addressed and design practices can be improved to better support key communities and contexts of use in this rapidly growing field.