Lauri Repokari

Different modalities in assembly support system user interface

In lightweight assembly work the need for information support systems has grown greatly. In agile production the computer based information support systems are a promising, accurate and fast way to produce the needed information in the production line. Contemporary information support systems can provide assembly workers with multi-modal information. The effect of different media in the user interface has not been studied extensively in assembly work. We present a survey consisting of two approaches: a controlled laboratory study about assembly errors and assembly time, and a qualitative field study about subjective satisfaction of a computer based information support system for shop floor employees.

The important features of mobile phones: how context affects user evaluation?

The aim of this study was to find out what kind of features (functional or design aspects) real users evaluate. A secondary interest was to study how the context picture affects user evaluation of the requested features of a mobile phone. The purpose of the pictures was to create an impression of a certain context, in which the phones could be used. Two pictures were shown and the subjects were asked to mark the five features they considered important and five that they considered non-important. 36 subjects representing many different professions participated, and clear preferences were found. It seems that the idea of context was at some levels understood because the results of the two pictures were different.