Hong-In Cheng

Icon and user interface design for emergency medical information systems: A case study

A usable medical information system should allow for reliable and accurate interaction between users and the system in emergencies. A participatory design approach was used to develop a medical information system in two Turkish hospitals. The process consisted of task and user analysis, an icon design survey, initial icon design, final icon design and evaluation, and installation of the iconic medical information system with the icons. We observed work sites to note working processes and tasks related to the information system and interviewed medical personnel. Emergency personnel then participated in the design process to develop a usable graphical user interface, by drawing icon sketches for 23 selected tasks. Similar sketches were requested for specific tasks such as family medical history, contact information, translation, addiction, required inspections, requests and applications, and nurse observations. The sketches were analyzed and redesigned into computer icons by professional designers and the research team. A second group of physicians and nurses then tested the understandability of the icons. The user interface layout was examined and evaluated by system users, followed by the systems installation. Medical personnel reported the participatory design process was interesting and believed the resulting designs would be more familiar and friendlier.

Factors affecting the adoption of mobile banking: Sample of Turkey

Rapid developments in communication technologies make fundamental changes in the behaviour of people while performing basic tasks. Mobile banking (m-banking) as an innovative product of mobile industry is becoming more common to reduce and manage time-intensive banking affairs. Understanding the primary determinants of m-banking adoption is significant for banks and users. This study investigates seven factors that affect implementation and adoption of m-banking by Turkish customers. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, security and privacy, compatibility, social influence, facilitating conditions and perceived cost were measured to identify their predictor roles for the use of m-banking. 128 valid data were collected in order to test our conceptual model. Seven hypotheses were tested. It was found that perceived usefulness, compatibility, and social influence have positive impact on m-banking adoption in Turkey.

The Grid Menu: Efficient and Robust Selection of Menu-Items

With the increasing use of e-business web sites, users are often asked to select a menu-item from a large numbers of options. In this research, the pull-down menu, fisheye menu and grid menu were tested to compare the performance time, error rate, user satisfaction, simplicity, user friendliness, usefulness, and overall user preference of each menu type. The grid menu was more efficient in selection speed than the pull-down and fisheye menus when the number of menu-items was 50 and 100. The time needed to choose a menu-item with a grid menu was less affected by the size of menu and the physical location of an item within a menu. The pull-down and the grid menus were considered to be more satisfactory, simple, user friendly, and useful than the fisheye menu. 42.3 percent of subjects indicated that the grid menu was their preferred selection tool among the menus. The grid menu is an efficient and robust alternative menu choice for small and middle size menu lists.

A Mobile Course Management System: Case Study

Implementation of a software tool to manage an academic course followed from successful software design and evaluation phases. This mobile phone solution and its system requirements mandated a study that determined its contents and required functionalities from an initial inspection of existing and relevant web-based and mobile systems. A user study involving twenty participants identified user preferences and investigated existing mobile interface design guidelines. With task and user analysis of the application now completed, the initial evaluation of the system followed and this was conducted by implementing a mobile usability checklist. The academic course management mobile software system was then developed with full functionality after modifications followed by final usability testing. The task completion time; perceived ease of use; and perceived usefulness were measured from experiments. These indicate that the portability of mobile devices affects the learning process positively. Pilot users showed interest in the application and there is intent to deploy it in the near future.

An Interaction Model for Long Pull-Down Menus

Previous studies have employed various models for exploring menu use, focusing mainly on short menus. In this study, long pull-down menus were examined in an item selection experiment. Our base model assumed that 1) the first eye fixation was located at the top, middle, or end of a menu depending on the search item; 2) menu scanning is ei- ther downward or upward; 3) the mouse was slowly moved downward from the top while scanning the target; 4) the user moves the mouse quickly to targets located at the edge of a menu; and 5) three items are scanned simultaneously. Addi- tional models, developed by applying various assumptions, were evaluated. Experimental data showed that selection time increased based on item position and decreased for lower-positioned items in a menu having 28 alternatives, with more time needed for a menu having 50 choices because of scrolling.