Software prototyping

SummaryHealth information exchange (HIE) between Poison Control Centers (PCCs) and Emergency Departments (EDs) could improve care of poisoned patients. However, PCC information systems are not designed to facilitate HIE with EDs; therefore, we are developing specialized software to support HIE within the normal workflow of the PCC using user-centered design and rapid prototyping.To describe the design of an HIE dashboard and the refinement of user requirements through rapid prototyping.Using previously elicited user requirements, we designed low-fidelity sketches of designs on paper with iterative refinement. Next, we designed an interactive high-fidelity prototype and conducted scenario-based usability tests with end users. Users were asked to think aloud while accomplishing tasks related to a case vignette. After testing, the users provided feedback and evaluated the prototype using the System Usability Scale (SUS).Survey results from three users provided useful feedback that was then incorporated into the design. After achieving a stable design, we used the prototype itself as the specification for development of the actual software. Benefits of prototyping included having 1) subject-matter experts heavily involved with the design; 2) flexibility to make rapid changes, 3) the ability to minimize software development efforts early in the design stage; 4) rapid finalization of requirements; 5) early visualization of designs; 6) and a powerful vehicle for communication of the design to the programmers. Challenges included 1) time and effort to develop the prototypes and case scenarios; 2) no simulation of system performance; 3) not having all proposed functionality available in the final product; and 4) missing needed data elements in the PCC information system.

Download Full-text

Usability and Engagement Evaluation of an Unguided Online Program for Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle and Reducing the Risk for Eating Disorders and Obesity in the School Setting

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu11040713 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 713 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Martina Nitsch ◽

Tanja Adamcik ◽

Stefanie Kuso ◽

Michael Zeiler ◽

Karin Waldherr

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

School Setting ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Think Aloud ◽

User Centered Design ◽

Usability Tests ◽

Monitoring Tools ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

Navigation Mode

Implementing integrated online prevention to reduce the risk of both obesity and eating disorders, in the school setting, is a promising approach. The challenge is to develop highly user-friendly and motivating programs, to foster adherence and effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of such a universal prevention program for students aged 14–19 years, and to address engagement issues. A mixed-methods approach was chosen, consisting of a think-aloud task, a semi-structured interview, and a questionnaire including items on sociodemographic characteristics and the System Usability Scale (SUS). Usability tests were conducted in two rounds, with five adolescents participating per round. Mean score in the SUS was 92.5 of 100 points (range 85–100), in the second round, after some adaptations from the participants’ feedback. In the course of the think-aloud tasks and interviews, five major themes emerged—visual design, navigation, mode of transfer, content, and engagement conditions. Interesting headlines, gamification, and monitoring tools are crucial for engagement. Apart from the importance of using the program during school hours, the study showed that problems currently perceived as important by the target group, need to be considered and addressed, prior to offering them prevention programs, which highlights the importance of a user-centered design.

Download Full-text

A Digital Cognitive Aid for Anesthesia to Support Intraoperative Crisis Management: Results of the User-Centered Design Process (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.13226 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Stefanie Schild ◽

Brita Sedlmayr ◽

Ann-Kathrin Schumacher ◽

Martin Sedlmayr ◽

Hans-Ulrich Prokosch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Crisis Management ◽

User Requirements ◽

Think Aloud ◽

User Centered Design ◽

The Third ◽

Think Aloud Protocol ◽

Cognitive Aids ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

Design Solutions ◽

User Centered

BACKGROUND Stressful situations during intraoperative emergencies have negative impact on human cognitive functions. Consequently, task performance may decrease and patient safety may be compromised. Cognitive aids can counteract these effects and support anesthesiologists in their crisis management. The Professional Association of German Anesthesiologists set up a project to develop a comprehensive set of digital cognitive aids for intraoperative emergencies. A parallel development for several software platforms and stationary and mobile devices will accommodate the inhomogeneity of the information technology infrastructure within German anesthesia departments. OBJECTIVE This paper aimed to provide a detailed overview of how the task of developing a digital cognitive aid for intraoperative crisis management in anesthesia was addressed that meets user requirements and is highly user-friendly. METHODS A user-centered design (UCD) process was conducted to identify, specify, and supplement the requirements for a digital cognitive aid. The study covered 4 aspects: analysis of the context of use, specification of user requirements, development of design solutions, and evaluation of design solutions. Three prototypes were developed and evaluated by end users of the application. Following each evaluation, the new requirements were prioritized and used for redesign. For the first and third prototype, the System Usability Scale (SUS) score was determined. The second prototype was evaluated with an extensive Web-based questionnaire. The evaluation of the third prototype included a think-aloud protocol. RESULTS The chosen methods enabled a comprehensive collection of requirements and helped to improve the design of the application. The first prototype achieved an average SUS score of 74 (SD 12), indicating good usability. The second prototype included the following main revisions: 2-column layout, initial selection of patient type (infant, adult, or parturient), 4 offered search options, and the option to check off completed action steps. Its evaluation identified the following major revision points: add quick selection for resuscitation checklists, design the top bar and tabs slightly larger, and add more pictograms to the text. The third prototype achieved an average SUS score of 77 (SD 15). The evaluation of the think-aloud protocol revealed a good intuitiveness of the application and identified a missing home button as the main issue. CONCLUSIONS Anesthesiology—as an acute medical field—is particularly characterized by its high demands on decision making and action in dynamic, or time-critical situations. The integration of usability aspects is essential for everyday and emergency suitability. The UCD process allowed us to develop a prototypical digital cognitive aid, exhibiting high usability and user satisfaction in the demanding environment of anesthesiological emergencies. Both aspects are essential to increase the acceptance of the application in later stages. The study approach, combining different methods for determining user requirements, may be useful for other implementation projects in a highly demanding environment.

Download Full-text

Usability, User Experience, and Acceptance Evaluation of CAPACITY: A Technological Ecosystem for Remote Follow-Up of Frailty

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21196458 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (19) ◽

pp. 6458

Author(s):

Rodrigo Pérez-Rodríguez ◽

Elena Villalba-Mora ◽

Myriam Valdés-Aragonés ◽

Xavier Ferre ◽

Cristian Moral-Martos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Adverse Events ◽

Technology Acceptance ◽

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

User Experience ◽

Older Persons ◽

Design Stage ◽

User Centered Design ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

Frail Older Persons ◽

Acceptance Model

Frailty predisposes older persons to adverse events, and information and communication technologies can play a crucial role to prevent them. CAPACITY provides a means to remotely monitor variables with high predictive power for adverse events, enabling preventative personalized early interventions. This study aims at evaluating the usability, user experience, and acceptance of a novel mobile system to prevent disability. Usability was assessed using the system usability scale (SUS); user experience using the user experience questionnaire (UEQ); and acceptance with the technology acceptance model (TAM) and a customized quantitative questionnaire. Data were collected at baseline (recruitment), and after three and six months of use. Forty-six participants used CAPACITY for six months; nine dropped out, leaving a final sample of 37 subjects. SUS reached a maximum averaged value of 83.68 after six months of use; no statistically significant values have been found to demonstrate that usability improves with use, probably because of a ceiling effect. UEQ, obtained averages scores higher or very close to 2 in all categories. TAM reached a maximum of 51.54 points, showing an improvement trend. Results indicate the success of the participatory methodology, and support user centered design as a key methodology to design technologies for frail older persons. Involving potential end users and giving them voice during the design stage maximizes usability and acceptance.

Download Full-text

In Vivo Usability Test of Vascular Intervention Robotic System Controlled by Two Types of Master Devices

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11125453 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 5453

Author(s):

Hwa-Seob Song ◽

Jae-Hong Woo ◽

Jong-Yun Won ◽

Byung-Ju Yi

Keyword(s):

Radiation Exposure ◽

Animal Experiments ◽

X Rays ◽

Physical Damage ◽

Vascular Intervention ◽

Task Load ◽

Usability Test ◽

Usability Tests ◽

System Usability Scale

Conventional vascular intervention (VI) procedures are typically performed manually under exposure to X-rays, whereby several problems are presented that need to be addressed owing to the patients and doctors being exposed to large amounts of radiation. In such cases, employing radiation protection units is not a long-term solution to avoid physical damage. Therefore, to overcome these issues, we propose a robotic VI system in this study. Moreover, we compare the extent of radiation exposure in the case of the conventional manual VI procedure with that in the case of the robotic procedure. The radiation exposure is then analyzed from the perspective of the doctor. Subsequently, the results of usability tests for two proposed master devices are presented in terms of the NASA task load index (NASA-TLX) and the system usability scale (SUS) score. To verify the effectiveness of the robotic VI system, animal experiments are conducted using a pig model. Among the two types of master devices tested with the proposed robotic VI system, the ergonomically designed 2-degree-of-freedom master device is found to be more effective than the joystick-type device in terms of the usability test scores. Hence, the proposed robotic VI procedure is shown to be advantageous in terms of reducing radiation exposure and improving usability.

Download Full-text

The VEOS Project

Presence Teleoperators & Virtual Environments ◽

10.1162/pres.1994.3.2.111 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 111-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

William Bricken ◽

Geoffrey Coco

Keyword(s):

Rapid Prototyping ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Object Oriented ◽

Organization Structure ◽

Object Oriented Programming ◽

Iterative Refinement ◽

Software Infrastructure ◽

Human Interface ◽

Heterogeneous Distributed Computing

The Virtual Environment Operating Shell (veos) was developed at University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory as software infrastructure for the lab's research in virtual environments. veos was designed from scratch to provide a comprehensive and unified management facility to support generation of, interaction with, and maintenance of virtual environments. VEOS emphasizes rapid prototyping, heterogeneous distributed computing, and portability. We discuss the design, philosophy and implementation of veos in depth. Within the Kernel, the shared database transformations are pattern-directed, communications are asynchronous, and the programmer's interface is LISP. An entity-based metaphor extends object-oriented programming to systems-oriented programming. Entities provide first-class environments and biological programming constructs such as perceive, react, and persist. The organization, structure, and programming of entities are discussed in detail. The article concludes with a description of the applications that have contributed to the iterative refinement of the VEOS software.

Download Full-text

Pengembangan Front-End Website Perpustakaan Politeknik Negeri Jakarta dengan menggunakan Metode User Centered Design

Jurnal Teknologi Terpadu ◽

10.54914/jtt.v6i2.280 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 89-95

Author(s):

Cerah Ayunda Prawastiyo ◽

Indra Hermawan

Keyword(s):

User Interface ◽

User Experience ◽

Black Box ◽

User Centered Design ◽

Front End ◽

System Usability Scale ◽

System Usability ◽

Experience Questionnaire ◽

User Centered

Penggunaan internet di Indonesia khususnya di instansi pendidikan terutama perguruan tinggi yaitu mengandalkan internet untuk mencari kumpulan informasi dan referensi terkait dengan mata kuliah. Salah satu unit di sebuah perguruan tinggi yang menggunakan internet dengan memanfaatkan sistem informasi berbasis website adalah perpustakaan Politeknik Negeri Jakarta (PNJ). Website berperan penting untuk instansi sebagai acuan website yang baik salah satunya dapat dinilai dari sisi User Interface (UI) yang memiliki tampilan menarik dan User Experience (UX) untuk meningkatkan kenyamanan pengguna website. Dalam pengembangan front end website perpustakaan menggunakan metode User Centered Design (UCD), framework bootstrap, bahasa pemrograman HTML5, CSS dan Javascript. Pada tahap evaluasi design dalam bentuk wireframe menggunakan metode System Usability Scale (SUS) mendapatkan skor 83, pengujian black box untuk mengukur fungsionalitas website mendapatkan hasil sesuai dengan skenario, pengujian User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) untuk mengukur tingkat kenyamanan pengguna website mendapatkan hasil positif.

Download Full-text

Requirements for Model Server Enabled Collaborating on Building Information Models

International Journal of 3-D Information Modeling ◽

10.4018/ij3dim.2012100102 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 8-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Muhammad T. Shafiq ◽

Jane Matthews ◽

Stephen R. Lockley

Keyword(s):

Focus Group ◽

Research And Development ◽

Information Exchange ◽

User Requirements ◽

Building Information Modelling ◽

Information Models ◽

Building Information ◽

Technical Specifications ◽

Collaboration Process ◽

Collaboration Platforms

The application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has demonstrated enormous potential to deliver consistency in the construction collaboration process. BIM can define an explicit configuration for digitized information exchange; however the technology to collaborate on models has not yet delivered the industry requirements for BIM collaboration. This research project is intended to provide a fresh review of industry requirements for BIM collaboration and will analyse how these requirements can be supported using a model server as a collaboration platform. This paper presents a review of existing collaboration platforms, with a particular focus to evaluate the research and development efforts on model servers as a collaboration platform. This paper also reports on the findings of three focus group sessions with industry practitioners to identify any problems in the available collaboration systems. The focus group findings identify a number of issues in current collaboration environments which help to understand the main domains of user requirements for BIM collaboration. These requirement domains will be further analysed to identify functional and technical specifications for a model server enabled collaboration platform.

Download Full-text

What Does the User Want to See? What do the Data Want to Be?

Information Visualization ◽

10.1057/ivs.2009.13 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 153-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

A. Johannes Pretorius ◽

Jarke J. Van Wijk

Keyword(s):

Information Visualization ◽

User Requirements ◽

User Centered Design ◽

Effective Visualization ◽

Visualization Techniques ◽

User Centered

Information visualization is a user-centered design discipline. In this article we argue, however, that designing information visualization techniques often requires more than designing for user requirements. Additionally, the data that are to be visualized must also be carefully considered. An approach based on both the user and their data is encapsulated by two questions, which we argue information visualization designers should continually ask themselves: ‘What does the user want to see?’ and ‘What do the data want to be?’ As we show by presenting cases, these two points of departure are mutually reinforcing. By focusing on the data, new insight is gained into the requirements of the user, and vice versa, resulting in more effective visualization techniques.

Download Full-text

A Digital Material Design Framework for 3D-Printed Heterogeneous Objects

Volume 1A: 36th Computers and Information in Engineering Conference ◽

10.1115/detc2016-60181 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pu Huang ◽

Yongqiang Li ◽

Yong Chen ◽

Jun Zeng

Keyword(s):

Material Property ◽

3D Model ◽

Geometric Model ◽

Material Design ◽

Design Stage ◽

User Requirements ◽

Design Framework ◽

Property Distribution ◽

Digital Material ◽

Continuous Material

In the paper a digital material design framework is presented to compute multi-material distributions in three-dimensional (3D) model based on given user requirements for additive manufacturing (AM) processes. It is challenging to directly optimize digital material composition due to extremely large design space. The presented material design framework consists of three stages. In the first stage, continuous material property distribution in the geometric model is computed to achieve the desired user requirements. In the second stage, a material dithering method is developed to convert the continuous material property distribution into 3D printable digital material distribution. A tile-based material patterning method and accordingly constructed material library are presented to efficiently perform material dithering in the given 3D model. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate the performance of the computed digital material distributions. To mimic the layer-based AM process, cubic meshes are chosen to define the geometric shape in the digital material design stage, and its resolution is set based on the capability of the selected AM process. In the third stage, slicing data is generated from the cubic mesh model and can be used in 3D printing processes. Three test cases are presented to demonstrate the capability of the digital material design framework. Both FEA-based simulation and physical experiments are performed; in addition, their results are compared to verify the tile-based material pattern library and the related material dithering method.

Download Full-text