Contributions published at People and Computing Lab (Elaine May Huang)

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Home automation is intended to reduce recurring and annoying tasks for inhabitants of smart homes. But apparently, it is not as easy as simply taking over actions for the inhabitants. Understanding what is going on in one’s environment and why this is so is crucial to the acceptance of letting go some extent of control and still increase the perceived level of comfort and well being in one’s very own home. In this position paper, we will elaborate on one challenge that smart homes pose to inhabitants discovered in our recent study, namely “The Tension Between Comfort and Control” discussing and relating it to other findings we made and finally describing some early ideas on solutions to pose them for discussion at this workshop.

Qualitative data analysis is an important tool to get high level feedback from contextual data gathering methods. One popular method is Affinity Diagramming. While this method relies on a paper approach where data is written on notes there are disadvantages in ordering and identifying notes once their quantity rises. In this thesis we describe a prototype that will help identify these notes on an Affinity wall through highlighting with a beamer and a smartphone. We will show that this method works as an additional layer that can be switched on or off rather than a mandatory addition. Finally we test the usability of our prototype to see that there are strong tendencies to neglect the interaction either on the wall or the Smartphone Client without a proper introduction.

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Doing scientific research involves creative and complex forms of thinking. This paper examines the effect that information and computer technology (ICT) has on research practice. I present a bibliographic study that examines the role of ICT as a research tool in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI) through an analysis of 79 CHI papers, identifying five themes in their references to ICT. Among recent ICT developments, the internet is found to have had the greatest effect on research methods.

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In this paper we report on a study exploring multiple aspects of a virtual doctor’s visit as a commonly used example for telemedical services. We compare the conventional doctor’s visit with the virtual visit to identify user requirements and needs for the acceptance of such a scenario. In our survey we retrieved data from a total of 93 users between 16 and 67 years. The results of this study describe differences (and similarities) of criteria for choosing a doctor, basic requirements to accept a virtual doctor’s visit, and people’s opinions on common pro and contra arguments on this scenario. We analyzed the data for potential influences from various user characteristics, such as age, gender, social behavior, or technical competence. Interestingly, most of the reported concerns are not influenced by gender or age, while participants’ technical self-confidence is related with various acceptance aspects.

The goal of this study is to better understand how people acquire, use and dispose of interactive devices, in order to provide insights on how such devices can be made more sustainable. To achieve this, interviews were conducted concentrating on items the participants own and their attitude towards them. This was supported by exploring the participants' homes during the interviews. By initiating a conversation about objects, a better understanding of the strength of attachment to them as well as the motive for doing so was provided. The collected data was analyzed and formed into a framework, consisting of the derived attachment categories and exemplary quotes. This was preliminarily applied by providing the framework to an industrial design student to create preliminary designs for interactive devices.

Searching through a large affinity diagram for a specific sticky note is not a simple task, especially because the process of the affinity diagramming still relies mostly on non-digital media such as post-it notes made of paper. In this work, we present a new method of augmenting the affinity diagram by giving the user a device to search for post-its. This device allows the user to visualize in real time where the searched post-it notes are. Further, it allows the user to browse and to search the post-it notes database online. By making this device complementary to the actual practice, it does not force the users to use it. We created a prototype of this device and explored it in a fist evaluation phase how the users would use it during an affinity diagram process.

Programming is a very important competence in Computer Science education. However, many research studies such as in (Jenkins T. , 2002), (Kölling, 1999), (Bonnar & Soloway, 1985) and (Ala-Mutka, 2003) report from great difficulties in programming education. A focus group also exposed several difficulties of Computer Science students at the University of Zurich. Students expressed a need for more feedback and easier access for support while programming. A student reported that “learning programming is a try and error where you sometimes don’t realize the error”. This work addresses methods how students can through discussion and feedback with others. Methods were applied to web-based prototypes. Main motivation behind the prototypes is to increase collaboration among learners and their involvement into the learning process in an informal context. The creation of an informal context is given by enabling students to contribute to discussions through different information channels. Information flows from these channels together to a single information web cloud named discussIT. Contribution to these channels isn’t compulsory and has no direct connection to any programming course. Consequently, the prototypes aim to extend the learner’s social, information and neural networks.

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In this paper we describe information, communication, and acceptance issues in a telemedical workflow, taking a pre-hospital emergency medical service (EMS) as an example. EMS workflows are extremely time-critical, impose high responsibility on physicians, and crucially depend on close, well-trained cooperation amongst EMS personnel. Although information and communication technologies (ICT) are increasingly used to support this sensitive and life-critical process, shortcomings in the emergency workflow are still observed. This applies especially in countries in which EMS are not fully standardized (as e.g. in Germany). In this research, we empirically examined organization, communication and information gaps within EMS workflows. Together with emergency staff we schematically modeled a standard workflow circuit and visualized information, communication, and organization issues including ICT usage. Second, combining qualitative (interviews) and quantitative procedures (questionnaire), we evaluated the potential benefits and perceived drawbacks of the usage of telemedical technology in the rescue chain from the perspective of emergency physicians. Results revealed a high potential of ICT in emergency situations but its implementation has to be carefully designed. Beyond the obvious advantages, we identified critical communication and information pitfalls within this workflow. Based on these findings we derive recommendations regarding an optimization of the EMS workflow.

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