Vincent Koenig

Gaming concepts and incentives to change driver behaviour

In this paper we present a novel concept that deals specifically with changing driver behaviour in order to reduce traffic congestion. The project I-GEAR (incentives and gaming environments for automobile routing) aims to understand the motivations that drivers have while undertaking the daily commute and then to provide them with a range of incentives to change their behaviour. A key focus within the project is on ways in which the problem could potentially be solved without recourse to an expensive infrastructure project. Our solution to this problem was to move the problem of traffic management onto everyday mobile devices. In the following paper we outline the background to the problem, concepts relating to pervasive gaming, existing explorations of incentives and gaming approaches as well as our basic concept and project methodology.

Socio-Technical Study on the Effect of Trust and Context When Choosing WiFi Names

We study trust and context as factors influencing how people choose wireless network names. Our approach imagines the mindset of a hypothetical attacker whose goal is to ensnare unsuspecting victims into accessing dishonest WiFi access points. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey. We used two separate forms. The first form asked a random group of participants to rate a list of wireless names according to their preferences (some real and others purposely made-up) and afterwards with implied trust in mind. The second form was designed to assess the effect of context and it asked a different set of respondents to rate the same list of wireless names in relation to four different contexts. Our results provide some evidence confirming the idea that trust and context can be exploited by an attacker by purposely, or strategically, naming WiFi access points with reference to trust or within certain contexts. We suggest, in certain cases, possible defence strategies.

Using Gamification and Metaphor to Design a Mobility Platform for Commuters

In this paper the authors explain the use of gamification as a way to optimize mobility patterns within a heavily congested European City. They explore this from two perspectives, first by outlining a gaming concept and secondly by explaining how the use of a mobility game that took place in two locations can be used to explore incentives and design issues.

Concept maps: A useful and usable tool for computer-based knowledge assessment? A literature review with a focus on usability

The concept map is now widely accepted as an instrument for the assessment of conceptual knowledge and is increasingly being embedded into technology-based environments. Usability addresses how appropriate (for a particular use) or how user-friendly a computer-based assessment instrument is. As we know from human-computer interaction research, if the interface is not user-friendly, a computer-based assessment can result in decreased test performance and reduced validity. This means that the usability of the interface affects the assessment in such a way that if the test is not user-friendly, then the test taker will not be able to fully demonstrate his/her level of proficiency and will instead be scored according to his/her information and communication technology (ICT) literacy skills. The guidelines of the International Test Commission (2006) require usability testing for such instruments and suggest that design standards be implemented. However, we do not know whether computer-conducted concept map assessments fulfill these standards. The present paper addresses this aspect. We conducted a systematic research review to examine whether and how researchers have studied and considered usability when conducting computer-based concept map assessments. Only 24 out of 119 journal articles that assessed computer-based concept maps discussed the usability issue in some way. Nevertheless, our review brings to light the idea that the impact of usability on computer-based concept map assessments is an issue that has received insufficient attention. In addition, usability ensures a suitable interaction between test taker and test device; thus, the training effort required for test use can be reduced if a tests usability is straight forward. Our literature review, however, illustrates that the interplay between usability and test use training has mostly been neglected in current studies.

MaDSAV: maintaining driving skills in semi-autonomous vehicles

In the future autonomous vehicles will drive on our roads. It is unlikely that we will immediately move from manual to fully autonomous vehicles, instead the mix will change over time and include a large number of semi-autonomous vehicles. As a result human drivers will need to take over in specific situations (e.g., when sensors fail) and there will be an interplay between autonomous systems and human agents. However, human drivers will not be able to practice driving so regularly. Our assumption is, that the reliance on semi-autonomous systems will lead to a deterioration in driving skills. In this paper, we present a three year project called MaDSAV (Maintaining Driving Skills in semi-Autonomous Vehicles), which tackles this problem.

How relevant is an expert evaluation of user experience based on a psychological needs-driven approach?

Many methods and tools have been proposed to assess the User Experience (UX) of interactive systems. However, while researchers have empirically studied the relevance and validity of several UX evaluation methods, few studies only have explored expert-based evaluation methods for the assessment of UX. If experts are able to assess something as complex and inherently subjective as UX, how they conduct such an evaluation and what criteria they rely on, thus remain open questions. In the present paper we report on 33 UX experts performing a UX evaluation on 4 interactive systems. We provided the experts with UX Cards, a tool based on a psychological-needs driven approach, developed to support UX Design and Evaluation. Results are encouraging and show that UX experts encountered no major issues to conduct a UX evaluation. However, significant differences exist between individual elements that experts have reported on and the overall assessment they made of the systems.

Studies in Socio-technical Security Analysis: Authentication of Identities with TLS Certificates

Authenticating web identities with TLS certificates is a typical problem whose security depends on both technical and human aspects, and that needs, to be fully grasped, a socio-technical analysis. We performed such an analysis, and in this paper we comment on the tools and methodology we found appropriate. We first analysed the interaction ceremonies between users and the most used browsers in the market. Then we looked at users understanding of those interactions. Our tools and our methodology depend on whether the user model has a non-deterministic or a realistic behaviour. We successfully applied formal methods in the first case. In the second, we had to define a security framework consistent with research methods of experimental cognitive science.

Driving while using a smartphone-based mobility application: Evaluating the impact of three multi-choice user interfaces on visual-manual distraction

Innovative in-car applications provided on smartphones can deliver real-time alternative mobility choices and subsequently generate visual-manual demand. Prior studies have found that multi-touch gestures such as kinetic scrolling are problematic in this respect. In this study we evaluate three prototype tasks which can be found in common mobile interaction use-cases. In a repeated-measures design, 29 participants interacted with the prototypes in a car-following task within a driving simulator environment. Task completion, driving performance and eye gaze have been analysed. We found that the slider widget used in the filtering task was too demanding and led to poor performance, while kinetic scrolling generated a comparable amount of visual distraction despite it requiring a lower degree of finger pointing accuracy. We discuss how to improve continuous list browsing in a dual-task context.

Do Graphical Cues Effectively Inform Users

We study whether the padlock and the signal strength bars, two visual cues shown in network managers, convey their intended messages. Since users often choose insecure networks when they should not, finding the answer is not obvious; in our study we clarify whether the problem lies in uninformative and ambiguous cues or in the user who, despite understanding the cues, chooses otherwise. This paper describes experiments and comments the results that bring evidence to our study.

Driver diaries: a multimodal mobility behaviour logging methodology

The Driver Diaries are a mobility behaviour logging methodology, consisting of an online survey, a mobile application and focus group interviews. They are used to collect data about mobility behaviour, routines and motivations of commuters in Luxembourg. The paper focuses on design and development of the Driver Diaries and it explores the use of the application as a requirements capture and an integral element of an infotainment application that can change the standard routine driving behaviour of mobility participants in order to reduce traffic congestion.