Dag Svanæs

Putting the users center stage: role playing and low-fi prototyping enable end users to design mobile systems

This paper sums up lessons learned from a sequence of cooperative design workshops where end users were enabled to design mobile systems through scenario building, role playing, and low-fidelity prototyping. We present a resulting fixed workshop structure with well-chosen constraints that allows for end users to explore and design new technology and work practices. In these workshops, the systems developers get input to design from observing how users stage and act out current and future use scenarios and improvise new technology to fit their needs. A theoretical framework is presented to explain the creative processes involved and the workshop as a user-centered design method. Our findings encourage us to recommend the presented workshop structure for design projects involving mobility and computer-mediated communication, in particular project where the future use of the resulting products and services also needs to be designed.

Usability testing of mobile ICT for clinical settings: Methodological and practical challenges

BACKGROUND While much is known about how to do usability testing of stationary Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems, less is known about how to do usability testing of mobile ICT systems intended for use in clinical settings. AIM Our aim is to provide a set of empirically based recommendations for usability testing of mobile ICT for clinical work. METHOD We have conducted usability tests of two mobile EPR systems. Both tests have been done in full-scale models of hospital settings, and with multiple users simultaneously. We report here on the methodological aspects of these tests. RESULTS We found that the usability of the mobile EPR systems to a large extent were determined by factors that went beyond that of the graphical user interface. These factors include ergonomic aspects such as the ability to have both hands free, and social aspects such as to what extent the systems disturbs the face-to-face interaction between the health worker and the patient. CONCLUSIONS To be able to measure usability issues that go beyond what can be found by a traditional stationary user interface evaluation, it is necessary to conduct usability tests of mobile EPR systems in physical environments that simulate the conditions of the work situation at a high level of realism. It is further in most cases necessary to test with a number of test subjects simultaneously.

In search of metaphors for tangible user intefaces

In this paper, we seek to identify interesting sources of metaphor for tangible user interfaces (TUIs). We begin by doing a systematic exploration of the design space that results from constructing simple TUI devices. From this we argue that a new set of metaphors are needed for this domain. From usability tests of simple tangible devices, we suggest that magic and paranormal phenomena could be a fruitful place to look for new metaphors for TUIs.

Interaction design for and with the lived body : Some implications of merleau-ponty's phenomenology

In 2001, Paul Dourish proposed the term embodied interaction to describe a new paradigm for interaction design that focuses on the physical, bodily, and social aspects of our interaction with digital technology. Dourish used Merleau-Pontys phenomenology of perception as the theoretical basis for his discussion of the bodily nature of embodied interaction. This article extends Dourishs work to introduce the human-computer interaction community to ideas related to Merleau-Pontys concept of the lived body. It also provides a detailed analysis of two related topics: (1) embodied perception: the active and embodied nature of perception, including the bodys ability to extent its sensory apparatus through digital technology; and (2) kinaesthetic creativity: the bodys ability to relate in a direct and creative fashion with the “feel” dimension of interactive products during the design process.

Fidelity Considerations for Simulation-Based Usability Assessments of Mobile ICT for Hospitals

Controlled laboratory-based usability assessments of mobile information and communications technologies (ICT) for hospitals have been conducted. As part of these assessments, clinicians have acted out mobile work scenarios and used the systems to solve related tasks. The evaluations show that relevant usability issues go beyond those of graphical user interfaces. Many of these usability issues only show up when the real-world context of use is replicated in the laboratory to a high degree of fidelity. The complexity of the context of use for mobile ICT in hospitals has motivated us to explore training simulation fidelity theories. Based on a review of the training simulation literature, a set of fidelity dimensions through which training simulations are often adjusted to meet specific goals are identified. It is argued that the same mechanisms can be used in usability assessments of mobile ICT for hospitals. Our argument is substantiated by using the identified set of fidelity dimensions in a retrospective analysis of two usability assessments. The analysis explains how the configuration of fidelity dimensions, each reflecting various degrees of realism vis-à-vis the actual performance context, contributed to the identification of relevant usability issues.

Interaction techniques for using handhelds and PCs together in a clinical setting

In the present study we compare interaction techniques for using handheld devices together with stationary displays in a hospital setting. A set of prototype implementations were developed and tested for a pre-surgery scenario with pairs of physicians and patients. The participants were asked to rank the interaction techniques in order of preference. The results show highest ranking for a distributed user interface where the GUI elements reside on the handheld and where the stationary display is used for showing media content. An analysis of the factors affecting the usability shows that in addition to GUI usability, the interaction techniques were ranked based on ergonomic and social factors specific to the use situation. The latter include the physicality of the patient bed and how computing devices potentially interrupt the face-to-face communication between physician and patient. The study illustrates how the usability of interaction techniques for ubiquitous computing is affected by the ergonomic and social factors of each specific use context.

A comparison of location and token-based interaction techniques for point-of-care access to medical information

This paper compares the usability of some location and token-based interaction techniques for systems that provide point-of-care access to medical information. The investigation is based around a scenario from clinical work—administration of medicine to patients. Four interaction techniques that match the scenario are identified. We demonstrate how these techniques can be concretized through functional prototypes. The prototypes were tested with health workers in a full-scale model of a section of a hospital ward. The usability issues emerging from the tests were related to required user attention, predictability of system behavior, and integration with the work situation. We found that the usability of the interaction techniques to a large degree depended on specific physical and social conditions of the use situation. This result is an incentive to consider a broad set of sensor-based interaction techniques and devices for such systems, and to select the best few of these for implementation.

Evaluating web site accessibility: validating the WAI guidelines through usability testing with disabled users

The purpose of the reported study has been to validate empirically the usefulness of using the WAI accessibility guidelines WCAG 1.0 as a heuristic for website accessibility. Through controlled usability tests of two websites with disabled users (N=7) and a control group (N=6) we found that only 27% of the identified website accessibility problems could have been identified through the use of WCAG. We conclude from this that in its current version, the application of WCAG alone is not sufficient to guarantee website accessibility. WCAG has a large potential for improvement, and our data point to some problem areas that we suggest should be included. We recommend that future versions of accessibility guidelines should be based on empirical data and validated empirically.

Kinaesthetic thinking: The tacit dimension of interaction design

Abstract Designers of computer-based material are currently forced by the available design tools to express interactivity with concepts derived from the logical-mathematical paradigm of computer science. For designers without special training as programmers this represents a barrier. The three psychological experiments presented here indicate that it is possible to express interactive behavior in a more direct fashion by letting the designers compose software from interaction elements with built-in behavior. The resulting “kinaesthetic thinking” of the software designers shows similarities with visual and musical thinking. To be able to support this style of design it might be necessary to rebuild from scratch parts of todays software using simple interactive building blocks. As an illustration, a design tool is presented, based on a pixel-level agent architecture.

The Impact of an eHealth Portal on Health Care Professionals’Interaction with Patients: Qualitative Study

Background People who undergo weight loss surgery require a comprehensive treatment program to achieve successful outcomes. eHealth solutions, such as secure online portals, create new opportunities for improved health care delivery and care, but depend on the organizational delivery systems and on the health care professionals providing it. So far, these have received limited attention and the overall adoption of eHealth solutions remains low. In this study, a secure eHealth portal was implemented in a bariatric surgery clinic and offered to their patients. During the study period of 6 months, 60 patients and 5 health care professionals had access. The portal included patient information, self-management tools, and communication features for online dialog with peers and health care providers at the bariatric surgery clinic. Objective The aim of this study was to characterize and assess the impact of an eHealth portal on health care professionals’ interaction with patients in bariatric surgery. Methods This qualitative case study involved a field study consisting of contextual interviews at the clinic involving observing and speaking with personnel in their actual work environment. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with health care professionals who interacted with patients through the portal. Analysis of the collected material was done inductively using thematic analysis. Results The analysis revealed two main dimensions of using an eHealth portal in bariatric surgery: the transparency it represents and the responsibility that follows by providing it. The professionals reported the eHealth portal as (1) a source of information, (2) a gateway to approach and facilitate the patients, (3) a medium for irrevocable postings, (4) a channel that exposes responsibility and competence, and (5) a tool in the clinic. Conclusions By providing an eHealth portal to patients in a bariatric surgery program, health care professionals can observe patients’ writings and revelations thereby capturing patient challenges and acting and implementing measures. Interacting with patients through the portal can prevent dropouts and deterioration of patients’ health. However, professionals report on organizational challenges and personal constraints related to communicating with patients in writing online. Further development of guidelines and education of health care professionals about how to handle, prioritize, communicate, and facilitate patients online is required in addition to increased attention to the organizational infrastructures and incentives for enabling such solutions in health care.