HCI in Business, Government, and Organizations: Information Systems

An aging population and the attendant growth in the need to care for people with serious chronic illnesses has created a demand for online support systems that can assist older adults to self-manage their illnesses. This could play a role in relieving some of the load on the healthcare system. Determining user-centered requirements of older adults for such systems is different from usual requirements analysis because older adults have particular needs, depending upon their chronic illnesses, their ability to manage technology, their access to appropriate technologies, and their cognitive abilities. This paper discusses in detail the use of the persona-scenario approach to elicit these needs from outpatients, informal care givers, and physicians. It proposes several suitable interface designs, depending on outpatient ability to deal with the proposed systems.

The increasing dynamic and complexity of todays global supply chains and the growing amount and complexity of information challenge decision makers in manufacturing companies. Decision Support Systems (DSS) can be a viable solution to address these challenges and increase the overall decision efficiency and effectivity. However, a thought-through design and implementation of these systems is crucial for their efficacy.This article presents the current state-of-the-art of Decisions Support Systems and highlights their benefits and pitfalls. Also, we present an empirical study in which we compared different levels of decision support and decision automation in a simulated supply chain game environment.We identify and quantify how human factors influence the decision quality and decision performance in this supply chain scenario. We show that an adequately designed system raises the overall performance. However, insufficiently designed systems have the reverse effect and lead operators to miss severe situations, which can have fatal consequences for manufacturing companies.

This study aimed to analyze the questions asking for recommendations for doctors collected from Health category of Yahoo Answers. Questions of such implicitly describe the physician information needs in situations where choosing a new physician who fits the patients’ expectation is a top priority. 400 questions were analyzed qualitatively to induce the attributes of the articulated physician information needs of patients and caregivers of eight medical specialties. The attributes were categorized into physician-related, patient-related, illness and disease-related, and institution and procedural-related. The attributes inform practice in designing systems for context-based classification model for physician recommender service.

As ERP systems have become a part of most organizations, universities have responded by incorporating these systems into their curriculum. This research looks at how the use of a simulation game can be used to enhance student learning through student engagement and learning intentions. Drawing upon flow literature and expectation-confirmation theory, this study presents an Attitude Change Model of game-based ERP Learning. In particular, this study focuses on how student immersion influences satisfaction and attitude change in ERP learning.

In order to create equivalent educational experiences in higher education for students with disabilities, a full integration of universal design ideas needs to be implemented into the design of websites and courses. This paper discusses the theory of an Accessible Learning Experience by looking holistically at the objectives of higher education institutions, and seeks to develop and implement strategies to ensure the accessibility of content for an organization’s diverse audiences.

The study explored barriers to effective communication between doctors and patients, and to encourage patients to be more knowledgeable about their health. A survey was conducted with 128 people who commented on the effectiveness of the process of consulting their doctor and rated a number of alternatives to face-to-face consultations. A focus group explored the topics further and a range of possible solutions to address current barriers were suggested. These include: considering alternative methods for GP consultation, providing new systems to give doctors better overviews of the patient population, devising new methods for patients to record information from consultations, use of diagnostic systems in the surgery and meetings or online forums to promote better informed patients.

Smart technologies allow unprecedented visibility into activities in homes and buildings, while they enable new services that householders and workers will value. As people become increasingly aware of the magnitude and potentially sensitive nature of the data being collected through these technologies, privacy is emerging as a potential barrier to user adoption. In this paper, we apply leading privacy models to the results of qualitative research in which we solicited ideas for adding intelligence to homes and buildings, paying particular attention to information sensitivity about everyday activities that take place in those settings. We identify locations and activities that are particularly information-sharing sensitive, prioritize the salience of different types of privacy violations for householders and workers, and examine the influence of privacy attitudes on smart device ownership and desired future smart experiences.

With the advancement of technologies related to ‘Internet of Things’, we are moving towards environments characterised by full integration and semantics. Various environments are often summarized with terms such as ‘Smart City’, ‘Smart Home’, ‘Smart Buildings’ or ‘Smart Commerce’. In the meantime, technologies and standards for interoperability have been developed. However, to realise the full potential one remaining challenge is the design, integration and interoperability of many elements into a smart environment. In order to address this challenge, researchers have proposed concepts for Information Systems Design and Enterprise Architectures. By inspecting interaction challenges -in particular activities in which Humans are involved- during the design process, we endeavour in this paper to identify key challenges for designing smart environments. In order to address the challenges we propose a conversational approach that supports the main design phases and allows professionals to interact during the design phases for smart environments.

In order to develop an accurate and robust neuroadaptive model based on users’ idiosyncrasies, the interface needs to use personal information. In this article, we explore the extent to which automatic facial analysis can inform on users’ idiosyncrasies. Facial emotion from 88 university students playing an emotionally charged video game was used to explore the relationship between personality trait and facial emotion in human-computer interaction context. We observed multiple statistically significant correlations between users’ personality dimensions and their emotions. One personality dimension was mostly related to emotions: emotionality. This paper contributes to the HCI literature by underlining the importance of taking into account users’ personality traits in analyzing their emotional reactions to interfaces. Neuroadaptive interfaces using emotional reactions would perform better by also controlling for personality traits of their users and enhance user experience.

This research is aimed at understanding how colour affects users’ decision-making processes in the context of warning banner messages. So far, little research has examined this complex psychological and cognitive process wherein the psychology of colour can play an important role in the relationship between the warning message and the user’s decision-making process. We closed the existing research gap by understanding how different colour applications (black, blue, yellow, red, green, white) influence users’ decision-making processes. We built our work on the theory of psychological reversals to colour, supported by the Cognitive-Affective model of communication. We conducted an online experiment measuring actual users’ behaviour of 217 participants. We found that the colour application has different arousal effects. Overall, we advance understanding of the psychological process that precedes a decision – with a focus on the importance of colour.

This paper presents perspectives from both academia and practice on how an HCI testing is to be conducted and the deliberations that go into the testing. HCI testing can be conducted in closed-door laboratory or in a field setting. While there is an increased interest in field testing of an HCI artifact, there is always an enduring concern over how to administer a field testing given that the testers will have less control over the course of testing. In this paper, we cover HCI testing deliberation as well as the operational issues of field testing, and conclude the paper with an exemplary case of a large-scale field testing conducted in Taiwan.

For a system requirements method to specify a system as an integrated whole of that system’s multiple views, it must be able to integrate the system structure and system behavior when specifying a system.Current system requirements methods such as data-oriented, function-oriented, control-oriented and object-oriented, more or less, fail to specify a system as an integrated whole of that system’s multiple views because they are not able to integrate the system structure and system behavior when specifying a system.In this paper, we present a structure-behavior coalescence (SBC) method for human-computer interaction (HCI) system requirements specification (SyRS). Structure-behavior coalescence method includes three fundamental diagrams: (a) architecture hierarchy diagram, (b) component operation diagram and (c) interaction flow diagram. SBC method provides a sophisticated way to integrate the system structure and system behavior when used for HCI system requirements specifications.

Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary science which studies the human dimension, drawing from academic disciplines such as psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and computer modeling. Business management is controlling, leading, monitoring, organizing, and planning critical information to bring useful resources and capabilities to a viable market. Finally, the government sector has many roles, but one primary goal is to bring innovative solutions to maintain and enhance national security. There currently is a gap in the government sector between applied research and solutions applicable to the national security field. This is a deep problem since a critical element to many national security issues is the human dimension and requires cognitive science approaches. One major cause to this gap is the separation between business management and cognitive science: scientific research is either not being tailored to the mission need or deployed at a time when it can best be absorbed by national security concerns. This paper addresses three major themes: (1) how cognitive science and business management benefits the government sector, (2) the current gaps that exist between cognitive science and business management, and (3) how cognitive science and business management may work to address government sector, national security needs.

The user experience, product quality and confidence in the institution are critical success factors in the use of services in e-government. The usability evaluation and analysis of user interaction in e-government, usually occurs in a timely manner and limited to few users. One way to provide the user immediate feedback and get usage statistics of a continuously service is using the technique known as gamification. The objective of this study is to propose a method to select and apply electronic game elements as motivational factors in access to information produced by the government and then test the impact of these elements. Thus, this research focuses on scenarios where e-government services have an emphasis on providing information to citizens and enabling a two-way interaction. It is intended to identify gamification mechanisms such as points, badges, levels, rankings and others and apply them to the application’s tasks and user’s different motivations when they are immersed on a virtual environment. The purpose of this work is to develop an experiment gamification technique in the stages known as improved information services and transactional services of e-government which allow two-way interaction with citizens. This article presents ways to motivate the user and improve citizens feedback. The results demonstrate the successful use of gamification technique in e-government scenarios that provide educational services to citizens.

Open data have recently become key vectors of the implementation of open government in terms of the notion of transparency. The present study is precisely part of an EU-funded project whose aim is to develop a European platform devoted to the collective exploitation of open data. It aims to understand the processes of production and use of open data by, respectively, public administrators-(PAs) and citizen groups. On the basis of an Activity Theory analysis of focus groups involving these two sets of social actors, potential internal and external tensions are identified, with respect to objects, rules and instruments of activity. Main results showed that PAs practice a “strategically opaque transparency” policy by selecting data to open with the aim of preserving politico-economical interests, thereby limiting their reuse. We propose that interactions with citizens on the ROUTE-TA-PA platform could support PAs in publishing relevant data for users, whilst respecting these interests.

To address the need for a universal and accessible voting solution, our research team designed and created a mobile voting user interface prototype for individuals with disabilities using specifications gathered from previous research focused on mobile and/or accessible design. We evaluated the usability of our prototype with individuals with moderate dexterity impairments and with no disabilities, and the majority of participants had a positive reaction and experience using this system. Our study generally confirmed previous research, and we discovered further considerations for mobile voting interface design for users with moderate dexterity impairments, involving buttons that are repeatedly pressed, button placement options, interpretations of inputs or touches, and adjustable support that provides various angle and height options.

The successful implementation of renewable energy projects – such as deep geothermal power plants – depends on the acceptance of the local public. Therefore an adequate communication strategy is needed. We conducted three empirical studies to get an empirical basis for a communication strategy. Based on that we created a toolkit for the communication of deep geothermal energy. It consists of several hierarchical arranged tools consisting of empirical based advices for a communication strategy. Basically, to reach acceptance communication should create knowledge, trust and transparency. Cornerstones to achieve this are information and participation.

To maintain knowledgeable, well skilled employees and sustain their competitive advantage, Government agencies and the corporate sector adopt online courseware designed for education and training. The instructional design of resulting human-computer interaction (HCI), which occurs during a training session, is left as an afterthought. No attention is given to the emergent socialized work-place where on the job training often involves collaborative partnerships. There are no measurable accounts of the effectiveness of sharing such knowledge and expertise with new employees. To this end, an experimental research study was designed to investigate the interactive effect of instructional strategies augmented with either a digital instructional assistant or a traditional class-room tutor, and participants’ preference for training-mode on the acquisition of introductory ethics knowledge. Participants were given the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ) to establish their cognitive style [1]. The QUEST Interactive Test Analysis System provided the cognitive performance measuring tool [2], to define the learning analytics and to ensure there were no measurement errors in the introductory ethics knowledge testing instruments. Therefore, reliability of the testing tools was secured through the QUEST calibration techniques, thereby safeguarding the predictability of the research design. The methodology embraced by this experimental research links HCI with the disciplines of instructional science, cognitive psychology and objective measurement to authenticate valuable mechanisms for adoption by the education, training and skills development sectors.

The “core” of HCI education remains debatable because of its multidiscipline nature. This paper developed an integrated HCI classification schema of teaching topics. A content analysis with 104 HCI syllabi from 28 computer science and 23 library and information science programs in North America revealed no significant differences between two programs. The social network analysis of co-occurrence 2280 teaching topics in courses identified 9 HCI core course components and 4 topic clusters. Three teaching styles emerged in social network analysis of university co-occurrence network. In conclusion, it is suggested that HCI educators should design syllabi or curricula according to their own contexts.

The Army has begun to develop the next generation of rotary-wing aircraft, which will incorporate advanced automated systems. Military operations place a number of cognitive demands on pilots in addition to those seen in commercial aviation. This paper reviews the essential issues in the design of adaptive automation systems for military aircraft and discusses how adaptive automation can utilize psychophysiological feedback to enhance safety and performance.

Multiple stakeholders need to be taken into consideration when designing and implementing public sector services and processes. It will be asked in this article whether agent-oriented modeling could be beneficial to understand the interactions between these stakeholders and to support the design of proactive, user-friendly, and usable services of e-government. We propose a methodology for service design that can help to design better and more proactive services and hereby promote service design thinking in the public sector. For this on-going research, we take a look into how the family benefits service works in Estonia. To aid this task, structured interviews were conducted with the officials of the Social Insurance Board. The current article makes a contribution to a new way of approaching the design and development of public electronic services.

The widespread of ICTs has been transforming the physical city. This process has been definitely influencing people’s experiences within the urban environment creating new public spaces of interaction, affecting the physical and social urban structures. So, the city can be considered as an interface embedding different relational systems. In this perspective, Public Administration may benefit from the emergence of new interaction patterns for reinforcing the relationship with citizens. In effect, as the success of any public initiative appears to be strongly influenced by human aspects, Public Administrations should use the city interface to facilitate the communication and the collaboration with citizens. This paper aims to reflect on the interactive systems connecting citizens and Public Administration within the public sphere, and on the emergence of new perspectives and relations among people and urban places, in order to suppose new types of public touchpoints and interfaces supporting a sustainable city development.

System-of-systems modeling has traditionally focused on physical systems rather than humans, but recent events have proved the necessity of considering the human in the loop. As technology becomes more complex and layered security continues to increase in importance, capturing humans and their interactions with technologies within the system-of-systems will be increasingly necessary. After an extensive job-task analysis, a novel type of system-of-systems simulation model has been created to capture the human-technology interactions on an extra-small forward operating base to better understand performance, key security drivers, and the robustness of the base. In addition to the model, an innovative framework for using detection theory to calculate d’ for individual elements of the layered security system, and for the entire security system as a whole, is under development.

The relationship between fragmentation phenomenon and Tiao-kuai structure is a basic problem of Chinese crisis governance. An agent-based model is developed which has two actors, namely local government and internal bureaucracy agency. It sets capability utilization mode according to the relative bargaining power in urgent environment. After events randomly fall into their respective responsibility field, actor deals with events within ability field. Then the completion rate of utility filed events is calculated to evaluate the fragmentation degree. With exogenous capability allocation and utilization mode, Monte Carlo simulation experiments show that: (1) the fragmentation could be generated by the simplest Tiao-kuai structure; (2) the fragmentation seems inevitable in most cases; (3) local government should pay more attention on capacity allocation instead of utilization mode, but internal agency should keep eyes on both of them; (4) The best choice is equal distribution of capability no matter under which kind of utilization mode.

Increasing importance of Open government, E-Participation and Cross-organizational coherence today has clearly shifted the focus towards building and managing, integrated and coordinated government services. This shall not only satisfy citizens’ need but also improve governance issues automatically. In reality, the level of integration, openness and participatory initiatives which are fundamental characteristics of good governance are still in their early stages of development, especially in developing nations. There is much debate among scholars about what constitutes E-Governance success, what methods are best for measuring it, and which variables best describe it.This research paper presents an E-Governance Readiness Assessment Toolkit as a prototype implementation. The toolkit evaluates each procurement practice of Procuring Agencies for transparency and accountability. The solution is for an indigenous and ongoing case study dealing with the Public Procurement Management System for one of the province of Pakistan. The user bases of the system include people with strong diversity in literacy, poverty indexes, and deteriorating governance. The toolkit is acting as government and public awareness system to check the violation of government policies, rules and regulations pertaining to massive mis-procurements amounting millions of dollars.

In the past few years we have seen a shift in the use of smartphones from a social setting to a corporate setting. Smartphones have been around for the past decade and there appears to have been an increase in their use in meetings and other collocated settings. Since this is a relatively new phenomenon, there is a lack of research in this area. The current paper presents the results of an online survey that was conducted in 2012 about smartphone use in meetings and the attitudes and behaviour of meeting participants. The major findings from the survey revealed that the majority of meeting participants used their smartphones during meetings for work related emergencies and other work tasks such as communicating. Meeting participants also tend to text more often when co-workers were present compared to visitors and superiors. The survey also revealed that meeting participants were three times more likely to make a work phone call compared to a personal phone in a meeting that they were not required to participate.

In the field of logistics the interest in wearable computing devices is constantly growing. In earlier studies it has been shown that data glasses can be a powerful tool for optimising warehouse management processes. However, those studies exclusively dealt with the impact of smart glasses on the efficiency of labour whereas our approach focuses on investigating the influence of data glasses on physical workloads. For this purpose we have designed a simplified picking workplace that enables us to carry out motion analyses and the concurrent assessment of physiological parameters under lab conditions. In this article we present the key features of our picking machine and the tailor-made measurement protocols together with the adequate evaluation methods that are used to quantify the effects of smart glasses on the physical workloads imposed on the study subjects.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are designed to fluidify and secure information flows and to strengthen workforces. They have permeated companies irrespective of their business sector and the jobs performed by their workers. They evolve rapidly and are composed of hardware, applications and services. Various research studies agree on the fact that these technologies are creating changes in the world of work. INRS has conducted research on these transformations, which may affect both working conditions and operator health. Our inquiry addresses two issues: Are these changes specific to certain ICTs? Does abolition of work boundaries result in propagation of effects to other work situations? Our aim is to provide elements of an answer to these two questions and to identify therefrom possible prevention approaches.

The well-executed recruitment and retention of employees in organisations in a highly competitive global market has grown significantly in the last decade. The need for managers to be emotionally intelligent for better management and productivity to deal with employees from generation Y and Z is also in great demand. In this paper we presents a framework which embodies human computer interaction techniques like facial emotion recognition, speech recognition and synthesis in socially assistive robot with human-like communication modalities to capture, analyse, profile and benchmark verbal and non-verbal data during a real-time job interview for hiring salespersons. This research fundamentally changes how employers can leverage the data analysis to seek for the best job applicant and how they perceive the use of human computer interaction (HCI) techniques and information technology in human resource management practice. Existing approaches for recruitment primarily rely on selection criteria and/or psychometric techniques followed by face to face interviews by subjective judgements of human beings. For example, the high turnover of salespersons in the industry has shown limited success of these procedures. Additionally, existing approaches lack benchmarking analysis internally by comparing the profile of most cultural fit employees. Thus, this research incorporates behavioural psychology, data mining, image processing, HCI modelling and techniques to provide a more holistic recruitment application using emotionally aware social robot. The implications of this research not only apply into the hiring and benchmarking of employees, but also collecting big data (verbal and non-verbal) for decision-making, personalised profiling and training.

Poor operator direct sight can lead to collisions between excavators and humans, especially during reversing movements. Viewing aids, such as mirrors and camera monitor systems (CMS) are intended to compensate this. As empirical evidence on operators’ visual information acquisition is scarce, this study investigated utilization of mirrors and CMS during regular work on construction sites by using eye-tracking and task observation. Results show that, during reversing movements, especially the left mirror and the CMS monitor were used. Implications of utilization and neglect are discussed with regard to safety and machinery design, such as configuration of viewing aids.

Prevention through design (PtD) is presented as a concept for designing out risks early in design and across the life cycle. PtD is an internationally recognized initiative and it is a strategy linked to safety disciplines, to the hierarchy of controls, and to new technologies. With two research projects it has been demonstrated how to use VR as new technology for PtD modeling and simulation and as a means for improving OSH early in work systems design. Investigations of virtual reconstructions of virtual accidents supported course of events and root-cause analyses. Dynamic visualizations triggered discussions about safety and usability issues in design. Risk assessments of virtual river locks with standardized components facilitate measures for risk reduction to be fed back to machinery planning. Benefits and limitations of VR applications on PtD were discussed and suggestions for fostering endeavor of PtD were given.

Continuous technological developments are ongoing challenges in the design of safe and healthy workplaces. Concepts of human-machine interaction (HMI) are an essential part of these developments which have to be examined constantly with regard to their influence on humane work. In order to map the existing knowledge on relations and design, a scoping review on human-machine interaction in production systems was conducted. Focussing on findings concerning physical and mental health as well as performance and job satisfaction, an extensive selection- and review-process led to the inclusion of 102 studies into the scoping review. The results were split content-based into three subcategories: function allocation, interface and interaction design as well as operation and supervision of machines and systems.The results on function allocation stress the meaning of a task-oriented assignment of degrees and levels of automation, which both have an influence on workload and performance. Nevertheless, questions of trust and human involvement play an important role, too, and a global optimal balance of performance, workload and subjective feelings has not been found yet. Conclusions concerning the effects of human-machine interaction on mental health cannot be drawn from the studies of the scoping review. The studies dealing with interface and interaction design point to a confirmation of existing guidelines on ergonomic design. Yet, questions concerning mental health and work satisfaction remain broadly unanswered. A successful operation and supervision process is mainly determined by machine and system characteristics such as reliability. The concept of technological coupling may be used to describe the interaction of humans and machines. Studies using this framework indicate a tendency towards a poorer mental health and less intrinsic job satisfaction in cases of tight technological coupling.Further research should address the relation between mental health and human-machine interaction. Additionally, existing knowledge and guidelines need to be revised with regard to the demands of new technologies and new ways of interaction such as human-robot collaboration.

Recent studies show sixty percent of older adults access the internet at least once a week. However, poor website usability and design have been identified as two key factors which negatively impact internet usage among this demographic. Often the specific needs of this user group are not addressed properly by modern web application design, and this can hinder the usability and user experience of these applications and sites for older adults. To solve this issue, we have developed a universal design approach by introducing software-modeling constraints for the MVC design pattern to better address the needs of older adult users on the web.

Handicapped people have limited access to the job market. The research reported in this paper aims to remedy this deficiency for the target group of hearing-impaired workers in warehouses. We investigate the suitability of a technology called Pick-by-Vision to advance the inclusion of people with hearing disabilities. This technology visually assists an order picker at gathering relevant information to execute his working tasks through the usage of smart glasses, also known as data glasses or head-mounted displays. Apart from the goal of inclusion in working-specific processes, communication barriers between the hearing-impaired and their hearing coworkers should also be reduced to approach an inclusion in the whole working environment. The ongoing research project is application-oriented and therefore accompanied by industrial partners. One of these partners operates a warehouse and already employs several handicapped people that contribute to the research in stages of requirements analysis, system design and evaluation.

Human-robot cooperation in work environments is an upcoming, but still crucial topic in the study of human-robot interaction (HRI). Aspects of work safety are substantial. In many areas where industrial robots are used in the production process, they are separated by security spaces from the workers. Nonetheless, there is an upcoming need for robots taking part in collaborative actions with human workers. For this purpose, the interaction with the robot has to be safe, as well as intuitive and unproblematic. The construction of interactive working robots can learn from different disciplines in order to achieve this goal of successful and convenient human-robot interaction. This article presents insights from biology, biomimetic robotics and sociology regarding perceptual, constructional and interactional issues. Biological aspects help understanding how humans work and allow the transfer of these insights to the construction of robots and human-robot interaction. Abstracting biological principles and transferring them to the construction of robots is the part of biomimetic robotics. A biomimetic approach unfolds a huge potential for the safety issue in HRI. Sociological insights may help evaluating human-robot interactions behind the foil of human-human interactions and contribute important social factors.

Accessibility design on office products is essential to providing independence and equal employment for people with all abilities. In this paper, we reported findings from a usability evaluation with 12 blind users on the keyboard navigation and voice guidance designs on a Lexmark multifunctional printer. Results of this study indicated that visually impaired users were confused by a number of issues associated with the current design. They expected mature accessibility solutions such as VoiceOver and Siri on the touchscreen devices in workplaces. Design recommendations were proposed to address the usability concerns identified in this study. However, to improve accessibility designs on enterprise products, user experience designers still need to overcome challenges such as supporting users with different disabilities and to cope with constraints from development cost and schedules.

The popularity of smartphones led to a rising and still increasing amount of mobile hotel bookings through applications like Booking.com, Expedia or HRS. Usually these kind of applications allow the users to book the amount of hotel rooms, the amount of nights and amenities needed for a stay in a hotel. Compared to classical travel bureaus or bookings made on stationary desktop computers, apps offer a higher degree of flexibility and personalization as they are not primary designed for the planning stage of a trip. Mobile apps also make it possible to change initial aspects of the booking on the trip or to give the traveler personal real-time information regarding the trip. Business travelers often are obliged to use certain applications their company defined in their travel regulations. Therefore this paper aims at defining the requirements of occupational safety regulations in this kind of applications.

At professional driver’s workplaces, mobile devices are used as telematics applications for information exchange between dispatchers and drivers. In addition to the wide-ranging benefits, it nevertheless emerges potential for new risks, such as distracting drivers. The present study is based on conditions encountered in an existing company in the passenger transport sector and is part of a consultation of the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Germany to support the implementation of a risk assessment regarding the applied telematics software. In order to analyze the impact on driving performance and visual processing of the used telematics application, the study employed two driving simulation sessions (LCT, rFactor 1) and one eye-tracking session. Results indicated that the examined application may be considered tolerable in terms of the AAM criteria for In-Vehicle Information and Communication Systems.

This study explores the proposition that medical facility waiting rooms are an opportune setting to engage with and educate patients while they are waiting for care. In collaboration with emergency department (ED) personnel, we developed ER Hero, a tablet-based application for waiting rooms that introduces patients to ED professionals and operations through mini-games and story-like interaction. We evaluated this prototype with human participants to determine how well it performed when compared to paper-based information disclosure presenting the same information. Participants using the application exhibited increased ED knowledge, decreased nervousness, and increased interest. The gamified application outperformed a paper-based approach on some of these aspects. Quantitative and qualitative results of this study have helped identify key design factors necessary for effective engagement with patients in the medical facility waiting room, improved communication between patients and hospital personnel, and enhanced patient experience in the waiting room.

Although a great deal of work has been done in assessing User Experience, relatively little has been done in analyzing the course of User Experience over time. In a longitudinal study of the Apple Watch*, we tracked 90 people who had pre-purchased the watch for over four months of use. In this study, we identify three categories of user journeys for a smart watch, and describe users’ most memorable episodes. We discuss how these user journeys and the memory of specific episodes relate to the overall assessment of the Apple Watch, and why some individuals stopped using their watch.

Using public means of transport implies making travel arrangements. Passengers have to study route schedules and are required to obtain tickets. For these tasks (mobile) assistance services already enable travelers to comfortably compile their journeys online. Nevertheless, we consider these services inadequate providing complicated interfaces with proprietary handling concepts. People are supposed to operate technical systems and negotiate through a jungle of tariffs, although these tasks could be automated without requiring users’ attention. The Be-In/Be-Out (BIBO) principle implements this consideration and enables hands-free interaction for all travelers (especially handicapped people) automatically obtaining their rights to use means of transport while boarding. The infrastructure in the vehicles detects the presence of passengers and initiates invoicing in the background. We have developed a prototypical BIBO system including elaborated privacy concepts for multimodal barrier-free transport and have been evaluating user acceptance against the background of the transparent passenger. As a result, users confirm simplification of service consumption, convenience of use, efficiency and time savings in contrast to their lack of trust.

Wristbands that record patients’ details and track their location have recently been adopted by some Canadian hospitals. This new technology has the potential to save costs and enhance patient safety. However, there are risks that the data collected will be viewed by non-authorized users and that medical history will be exposed unnecessarily. Patients may therefore be reluctant to accept these wristbands. The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors associated with these patient concerns so that hospitals are able to overcome them and continue with the adoption of wearable technology. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is extended with Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and perceived privacy risk. A qualitative empirical study, based on interviews with hospital staff, is planned to identify the themes that support this theoretical framework.

With the growth of smartphones, organizations are increasingly engaging with their customers through mobile applications (apps). In the context of hotels, guests are able to receive enhanced services during their stay if they provide additional personal information. They learn about these applications through word of mouth and in order to adopt the apps, they must have a degree of trust in the hotel that their data is safe. In order to guide practitioners in their app development, this research empirically tests the influence of trust and word of mouth. The research model is based on extending the Technology Acceptance Model, focusing on guests’ use of smartphone apps during their hotel stay. Analysis of the responses from US guests indicates that consumers learn about new applications by word of mouth and are influenced by perceived usefulness, which is mediated by trust.