Nicola Marsden

Stereotypes and Politics: Reflections on Personas

Using personas in requirement analysis and software development is becoming more and more common. The potential and problems with this method of user representation are discussed controversially in HCI research. While personas might help focus on the audience, prioritize, challenge assumptions, and prevent self-referential design, the success of the method depends on how and on what basis the persona descriptions are developed, perceived, and employed. Personas run the risk of reinscribing existing stereotypes and following more of an I-methodological than a user-centered approach. This paper gives an overview of the academic discourse regarding benefits and downfalls of the persona method. A semi-structured interview study researched how usability experts perceive and navigate the controversies of this discourse. The qualitative analysis showed that conflicting paradigms are embedded in the legitimization practices of HCI in the political realities of computer science and corporate settings leading to contradictions and compromises.

Specifying computer-based counseling systems in health care

Computer-based counseling systems in health care play an important role in the toolset available for medical doctors to inform, motivate and challenge their patients according to a well-defined therapeutic goal. The design, development and implementation of such systems require close collaboration between users, i.e. patients, and developers. While this is true of any software development process, it can be particularly challenging in the health counseling field, where there are multiple specialties and extremely heterogeneous user groups. In order to facilitate a structured design approach for counseling systems in health care, we developed (a) an iterative three-staged specification process, which enables early involvement of potential users in the development process, and (b) a specification language, which enables an author to consistently describe and define user interfaces and interaction designs in a stepwise manner. Due to the formal nature of our specifications, our implementation has some unique features, like early execution of prototypes, automated system generation and verification capabilities.

Simulation Sickness Related to Virtual Reality Driving Simulation

This paper reports on a study regarding the conditions that reduce simulation sickness in virtual reality driving simulation. Simulation sickness in virtual reality applications is frequent and thus poses a major obstacle in obtaining data from participants involved in these simulations. Many solutions have been presented by various sources on how to reduce the occurrence of simulation sickness symptoms. Nevertheless, there is not enough evidence to back up an appropriate solution that works for the majority of simulated environments and individuals. Therefore, this work was meant to find appropriate solutions of simulation sickness related to virtual reality driving simulators with a focus on the effect of adding visual assets in the simulated environment. Initially, an online survey was performed with 31 participants in order to gather unbiased users’ experiences with driving simulation and virtual reality with regards to simulation sickness. Based on the information gathered from related works and suggestions of the online survey participants, the addition of motion cues and visual assets were identified as very essential when dealing with simulation sickness related to driving simulation. Therefore, new visual assets were added to enhance an already implemented simulator software in order to replicate a realistic traffic environment. An experiment with 72 participants was used to test eight hypotheses related to virtual reality driving simulation and simulations sickness. The results indicate that the addition of visual assets to the virtual reality driving simulator reduced the onset of simulation sickness and improved the driving session’s duration.

Using formal specification techniques for advanced counseling systems in health care

Computer-based counseling systems in health care play an important role in the toolset available for doctors to inform, motivate and challenge their patients according to a well-defined therapeutic goal. In order to study value, use, usability and effectiveness of counseling systems for specific use cases and purposes, highly adaptable and extensible systems are required, which are - despite their flexibility and complexity - reliable, robust and provide exhaustive logging capabilities. We developed a computer-based counseling system, which has some unique features in that respect: The actual counseling system is generated out of a formal specification. Interaction behavior, logical conception of interaction dialogs and the concrete look & feel of the application are separately specified. In addition, we have begun to base the formalism on a mathematical process calculus enabling formal reasoning. As a consequence e.g. consistency and termination of a counseling session with a patient can be verified. We can precisely record and log all system and patient generated events; they are available for advanced analysis and evaluation.

Evaluation of GenderMag Personas Based on Persona Attributes and Persona Gender

We examined personas to see if (a) gendered persona attributes and (b) the persona presentation, i.e. the randomly assigned gender, would affect the perception of the persona. As stimulus material we used the GenderMag personas that were developed to inform the design process regarding empirically validated gender differences. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, 36 participants were randomly assigned to evaluate a male or female GenderMag persona either in its original form or with the gender switched. The results indicate that the facets of gender differences were recognized and recalled by the participants. The masculine facets yielded an attribution of higher competence in the personas. The findings can serve as a basis to further discuss what gender-inclusiveness means with regards to personas.

Doing gender in input fields

The work-in-progress outlined in this paper focuses on the role input fields in webforms play in the performance of gender. Based on the premise that doing gender in HCI should be studied both on the macro- and the micro-HCI level, and highlighting the perceived necessity of knowing someones gender to interact with them, my research explores the micro aspect of input fields for titles: I have completed a search for user interface design patterns available to design input fields for titles and have sampled current practices of designing input fields in German websites. A second survey is ongoing. Afterwards I will develop alternative user interaction patterns for making choices regarding the selection of a title. The aim of these alternatives will be to trigger critical reflection on the danger of reifying the societal status quo via an input field.

Developing personas, considering gender: a case study

We present a case study of persona development, foregrounding gender as a primary axis of design. In a participatory design process, we developed personas to represent users of a learning and networking platform for female IT professionals. These personas are a means of ensuring that the female perspective is represented in the design process. We consider the phases of persona development in the light of existing concepts to confront the gendered status quo. We then show how these considerations regarding gender were implemented in our project IT&me.

How Do HCI Professionals Perceive Their Work Experience?: Insights from the Comparison with Other Job Roles in IT

Improving workforce diversity in high tech is an ongoing challenge. We are currently analyzing a survey with 403 participants from the US and found that IT processionals have different experiences based on their job role. HCI professionals evaluate the core factors regarding work experience (e.g., having a valuing team, being offered challenges and support, having local role models, and experiencing personal power) more negatively than people in other IT job roles. Based on these first results from our survey, we discuss the role that status differences between job types and the role HCI professionals perform in a product team may play in producing their more negative work experiences. Further analyses and research with product teams are needed to explore these dynamics and potential actions corporations can take.

Challenges and lessons learned by applying living labs in gender and IT contexts

Women interested in computing are still facing several problems considering equality and career chances. Companies realize the opportunities of diversity and yet for several reasons they are struggling to hire or integrate young female professionals. Although gender study research provides promising frameworks there are still issues in applying them in working environments and practices. For this purpose, we made use of the Living Lab approach in the context of gender and IT. The Living Labs methodology offers opportunities to reveal new, relevant insights and create social change in a collaborative way. We stretched the existing understanding of this concept and follow a Participatory Action Research approach. In this paper we describe the setup of the Living Lab and present first insights from our research. We found that showing patience, organizing adequate spaces for reflection as well as facilitating motivation and trust is vital in such a sensitive research context.

Digital training in tech: a matter of gender?

The project IT&me aims to provide support for female IT experts, by developing a continuously extendable knowledge and networking platform. This is designed to make available relevant learning content on digitalization and IT subjects, taking into account the individual context of each female learner. In this paper, we present the results of a quantitative survey we conducted as a supplement to the participatory design process. It was found that the interviewees were interested in personal development and networking but currently had little experience with e-learning, blended or mobile learning. As far as subject matter is concerned, the interviewees were also very interested in the subject of key competencies alongside information technology, and in depth there are differences here between women and men. Women also find it more important than men to receive a certificate for participation in a vocational training course. As regards the use of online platforms, our results confirm previous research that has shown that women avoid male-oriented culture in this area. This underlines the fact that it makes sense to set up a platform designed for women.