Maria Ralph

An interactive surface solution to support collaborative work onboard ships

Industrial environments are notoriously known as difficult places to gain access to conduct any type of contextual inquiry work, and marine vessels are no exception. But once this initial hurdle is overcome, these environments reveal interesting research directions. Challenges faced onboard ships range from issues with communication links, to the lack of support for current work practices. Based on findings from an earlier field study, the work presented in this paper focuses on several challenges involving collaboration, communication, information sharing such as video and images, and tracking task completion of crew members. This paper therefore presents a prototype which consists of a Microsoft surface, mobile phones, and PCs to enable crew members onboard ships to effectively communicate and collaborate with their colleagues.

Challenges of using mobile devices in process industry

Almost everyone today owns some type of mobile device that is not only being used for routine tasks such as making phone calls, but also for more advanced tasks such as social networking. Advances in hardware technology have seen the cost of mobile devices reduce considerably. However, even with the advanced capabilities and relatively low cost, there is still limited use of these devices in industrial environments. In this paper we discuss observations made from several field studies conducted that examine the challenges faced by personnel working in three different process industry environments. We then present design directions for how mobile devices could be used more effectively to enhance their work practice. This paper therefore provides both a rare glimpse for other researchers into industrial working conditions which are often difficult to gain access to, and a possible way forward for how mobile devices could effectively enhance users working experiences.

Re-Introducing Physical User Interfaces into Industrial Control Rooms

Within industrial control rooms the trend has been to move away from physical towards digital interfaces. However, operators working in these control rooms have expressed feeling a loss of connection to the production process and machinery they are controlling. As such we present two prototypes Haptic Mouse and Shift Report Tool which were used to explore the re-introduction of physical user interfaces into industrial control rooms.

Supporting Maritime Remote Experts Working Over Distance

Within the maritime domain there is a shift taking place towards how troubleshooting (i.e. understanding and fixing equipment issues) is being offered to maritime customers. Instead of travelling to ships around the world, service support engineers now remotely connect and access data from equipment sensors on-board. With this game-changing approach to fixing equipment issues comes the need to effectively support this change in work-practice since engineers now need to solve complex problems from an onshore location. Based on findings from field studies, we present a prototype as a first-step towards addressing some of the key needs of these engineers which include improving situation awareness for enhanced remote troubleshooting, integrating all relevant information for easier searching, and faster access to relevant personnel for help. The prototype was validated with domain specialists, and based on the findings a set of design recommendations is also presented.

Supporting the uninitiated in user-centered design

Practicing UCD is vital to helping non-UX practitioners acquire an understanding of this new mindset.

Challenges of using information technology onboard ships

The use of technology onboard ships is not typically studied within the HCI community due mainly to the challenges researchers face in gaining access to these environments. However, there is now a higher number of technological devices being used onboard ships to assist crew members in their daily tasks. So gaining access to these environments is even more important now since this increased use of technology has impacted the work practices of crew members. This paper is therefore a first step towards researching what technologies are now being incorporated onboard ships, their impact, and proposed future HCI solutions for the maritime domain.

Untethered Workspaces: A Zones Concept Towards Supporting Operator Movements in Control Rooms

Within industrial domains there is a need for control room operators to be in constant contact with the different processes they are responsible for controlling. With this responsibility comes the need to constantly be near their workstations in order to monitor, diagnose and quickly troubleshoot issues presented. These workstations, however, restrict operators in control rooms from moving freely within the control room itself, such as between their own and their colleagues workstations since they cannot interact with the system from a distance. These systems also restrict those operators who need to continuously enter the control room from the plant/factory floor since interacting with process graphics requires them to remove all of their specialized equipment every time (e.g. large bulky safety gloves). We therefore present a concept for control room operators that supports their untethering from dedicated workstations, providing them with the ability to interact in a more flexible way.

Integrating Scrum and UCD: Insights from Two Case Studies

This paper presents two case studies that suggest how to adapt Scrum for user-centered design (UCD) focused industrial projects and how to work with UCD in Scrum software development teams. The objective of the paper is to share insights gained from running such combined projects in industry in order to help others avoid some of the pitfalls associated with this way of working. There has been much published in this area within the research community. However, our work presents both perspectives: adapting a UCD way of working towards a Scrum way of working; and adapting Scrum for running projects from a UCD perspective. We explore the impact Scrum had on team members’ work-practices during a project life-cycle and what lessons were learned from our experiences.