Ida Maria Haugstveit

How Should Organizations Adapt to Youth Civic Engagement in Social Media? A Lead User Approach

Organizations aiming to foster civic engagement, such as government bodies, news outlets, political parties and non-governmental organizations, struggle to purposefully use social media to engage young people. To meet this challenge and to inform future design, we interviewed 17 innovators in engaging youth, that is, frontrunners in using social media to engage young people in organizations. Also, we conducted four group interviews with 21 youth, 16–26 years, about their experiences of and barriers to online civic engagement. Our paper contributes to identifying specific factors and strategies to support young people future online civic engagement. Findings suggest how organizations should involve and collaborate with young people. Immediate feedback and dialog combined with clearly stated goals and action-oriented engagement are important. In future design, visual communication and design for use on mobile devices are an imperative, as well as concepts that connect the online and the offline world. Finally, our paper contributes to an extension of the lead user innovation approach.

Customer support as a source of usability insight: why users call support after visiting self-service websites

Though customer support is argued to be a useful source of usability insight, how to benefit from customer support in usability evaluation is hardly made the subject of scientific research. In this paper, we present an approach to gather usability insight from users when they call customer support. We also present a case implementation of this approach: an evaluation of a telecom operators customer website. We find that the proposed approach provides insight in usability problems, technical issues, and issues of strategic character. Though the majority of the website users called customer support because they were obstructed in their attempt to use available self-service support options, a substantial proportion of the users called customer support as a planned part of their task. On the basis of the study findings we present practical implications and suggest future research.

Automation in human-machine networks: how increasing machine agency affects human agency

Efficient human-machine networks require productive interaction between human and machine actors. In this study, we address how a strengthening of machine agency, for example through increasing levels of automation, affect the human actors of the networks. Findings from case studies within air traffic management, emergency management, and crowd evacuation are presented, shedding light on how automation may strengthen the agency of human actors in the network through responsibility sharing and task allocation, and serve as a needed prerequisite of innovation and change.

Design Feedback From Users Through an Online Social Platform: Benefits and Limitations

Online social platforms, such as blogs, discussion forums and social networking sites, are increasingly explored as venues for user-centred evaluations; in particular, for design feedback from users. We present a multi-case study providing needed knowledge on such evaluations. Our findings are based on analyses of the design feedback and post-factum data collections with development team representatives and users. The development team representatives reported as key benefits that the evaluations provided insight into users’ needs and competencies, input into ongoing design discussions and support for idea generation in the development team, but found the lack of direct contact and control with the users to be an important limitation. The users appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the design process, but the majority reported not to build on each other’s contributions. Involving a relatively large number of users was found to be beneficial for generating constructive design suggestions. Practical implications and future research challenges are suggested.

Evaluation of a modelling language for customer journeys

We report on an evaluation of the Customer Journey Modelling Language (CJML) for documenting and visualizing a service process from the customers perspective. The target group is employees in service organizations. We present a modelling toolkit and a scenario-based procedure that was used during the experiment with 48 target users. The purpose was to assess the applicability of CJML when introduced to new users. The participants were able to utilize CJML in a collaborative setting after a short training session. Overall, CJML was perceived as intuitive and useful by a large majority of the participants. A high precision level was obtained in more than 50% of the models produced during the experiment. Still, the analysis reveals the need for better guidance on delineation of process steps. We discuss validity of the results, and further work required to improve CJML.

Supporting Collaboration in Human-Machine Crisis Management Networks

Several parts of our modern lives are today taking place in networks where both humans and machines are key actors. With this development follows the increased need and importance of investigating related consequences and understand how we best can design technological systems to support efficient and productive human-machine networks. This paper presents the use of a human-machine network approach to nuance how we think of the interactions and collaboration that takes place in human-machine networks. Specifically, we study the complex network involved in crisis management, and show how such a network’s characteristics may have implications for, and affect collaboration. The study is based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with both system provider representatives and end-users of a collaborative tool for crisis management. Three directions in which the design and development of crisis management systems should be guided are proposed.

Sharing economy services as human-machine networks: implications for policy making

The emerging sharing economy has important policy implications. To strengthen the basis for policy making, we present an interview study involving sharing economy service owners, policy maker representatives, and research experts. Here, we analyse sharing economy services as human-machine networks, with particular attention to the networked actors and the relations between these, as well as the extent and structure of the sharing economy networks. The study illuminates key challenges and goals for sharing economy services from the perspective of service owners. Implications for policy making are discussed in terms of government regulation as well as self-imposed policies within and across sharing economy service providers.

Design and evaluation of an electronic triage system for prehospital monitoring of patients

Prehospital emergency triage involves prioritising patients and deciding who are in the most urgent need of treatment and medical intervention. Currently used triage methods do not support simple sharing of patient-related information, making it challenging for emergency personnel to monitor the number, location and medical status of patients involved in an incident. We present the design and evaluation of an electronic system that facilitates patient tracking and monitoring of vital parameters from the incident scene to place of treatment. The system comprises a patient electronic triage bracelet, which communicates with software applications for patient monitoring. We tested the system in two situations: real-life, daily operations involving real patients over 1 month and in a 1-day, large-scale, mass casualty exercise. Results are presented, along with lessons learned and suggestions for future research.

Involving Users in the Design of Sharing Economy Services

Involving users in the design of sharing economy services is important to realize the expected growth in this market. However, such involvement may be challenging due to the complexity and networked character of the service context. We present a case study showing how users’ online feedback on novel design concepts may represent a viable approach to user involvement. In particular, the feedback provides insight into the strengths and weaknesses of proposed concepts as well as suggestions of relevance to the subsequent design process. On the basis of the case study, lessons learnt are discussed, as is needed future research.