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UCD Project News, Edition 1, April 14th, 2003
Welcome to the first edition of UCD Project News - a fortnightly
e-newsletter devoted to increasing awareness of UCD principles
and contributing towards a culture of user centred design
within the SITCRC.
You have received this e-newsletter because of your affiliation
with the SITCRC. If you do not wish to receive any further
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In this issue:
1. Supriya launches UCD Project News
2. Introducing the new faces of the group
3. Virtual Café, Disability Workshop & more
4. Sneak peek at proposed Amivox project
5. Rob Cox gets emotional in his new paper
6. Useful links and references
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1. Supriya launches UCD Project News
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Welcome to the first edition of the UCD newsletter. We see
this fortnightly publication as a way of beginning and continuing
conversations with colleagues in the SITCRC community.
The idea is to discuss the activities of the UCD Group and
talk about our people. We also want to share a working paper
with you every fortnight and focus on one of the projects
we are developing, often in collaboration with researchers
from the technology programs. We will also use the newsletter
to alert each other of new research in the UCD field, which
is important for the entire SITCRC.
I would like to recognize the role of Charlotte Scarf, one
of our newest researchers, for editing and producing the newsletter.
We have also had the benefit of consulting with Reece Lamshed
(Binary Blue:
http://www. binaryblue.com.au)
about communicating in the virtual domain.
Look out for our new website http://www.smartinternet.com.au/UCD
which is still being developed.
I look forward to a continuing dialogue,
Supriya
Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Leader, UCD project, UE program
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au
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2. Introducing the new faces in the Group
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The UCD Group would like to extend a warm welcome to its newest
members:
Charlotte Scarf, Research Fellow, RMIT
charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/scarf.html
Charlotte’s background is in communications and she
has worked as a print journalist, newspaper editor and advertising
copywriter. She has lived and worked in China and Taiwan and
has a strong interest in the potential of smart Internet technologies
to facilitate effective international collaboration and cross-cultural
communication.
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Ron van Schyndel, Research Fellow, RMIT
ron.vanschyndel@rmit.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/vanschyndel.html
Ron is a lecturer in the School of Computer Science and IT.
He has worked as a programmer in scientific research and technology
areas for over 15 years. His PhD thesis focused on Digital
Watermarking. Ron’s research interests also include
Music and Video Indexing (from the audio/video file itself),
usability and UCD (primarily from the disability-support side)
and Bio-informatics (from computer simulation).
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Steve Chau, Research Fellow, University of Tasmania
Stephen.chau@infosys.utas.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/chau.html
Stephen’s PhD explored the utilisation and uptake of
electronic commerce by a broad range of Australian SMEs. Previously,
he owned and operated a consulting company that provided information
systems consulting services to numerous Tasmanian-based organisations.
His research interests include the use of electronic commerce
by SMEs and organisational change facilitated by ICTs.
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Toan Phung, PhD Student, RMIT
Tphung@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/phung.html
Toan is a first year PhD student in the Department of Computer
Science. His doctoral thesis focuses on Agent Adaptation Mechanisms.
During the summer of 2002-2003, he gained experience in Agent
Negotiations in Adaptive Supply Networks while working at
CSIRO, Clayton.
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Michelle Morley, PhD Student, Griffith University
M.Morley@cit.gu.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/morley.html
Michelle is a first year PhD student in the School of Computing
and Information Technology. Her PhD research is on “Strategic
Information Systems Planning for Smart Internet Technology
Adoption in High-Tech Small-to-Medium Enterprises.”
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3. Recent Activities
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*RMIT Group discusses Virtual Café project
Paul Boustead and Mike Rumsewicz from the SN/IE program met
with members of the UCD Group at RMIT on April 1st to reflect
on user requirements for the Virtual Café. The meeting
is set to lead to short term testing of acceptable minimal
delay in virtual communication and a long term consideration
of literature on virtual communication by different user groups
for a variety of activities in diverse cultural contexts.
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* Links established with Melbourne University’s UE project
Christine Satchell presented the initial findings of her research
on young people's use of new digital technology to the Ideas
Lab at the University of Melbourne on March 31st. Christine
will also present a selection of her initial findings at the
AQR Conference in Sydney in July.
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* Griffith Group poised to lead E-Health project
The UCD group at Griffith engaged with SITCRC colleagues working
across the IE & SPA programs in a meeting, held March
25, to discuss the possibility of Griffith leading a project
in the area of E-health. A decision was made to formulate
a proposal for submission to the SITCRC RAC.
For further information on this project, please visit http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/projects.html
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* Disability and ICT workshop held in Hobart
Paul Turner from the University of Tasmania held a Disability
and ICT workshop in Hobart on March 7, to encourage higher
degree students to consider disability projects. The impetus
for this was the work of the UCD project's Expert Panel on
Disability, facilitated by Gunela Astbrink who also chaired
the workshop, which has had considerable impact in increasing
awareness in the CRC of the usage of the Internet and related
technologies by people with disabilities. The general response
to the workshop was extremely positive.
For further information on this activity, please visit
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/events.html
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* Tasmanian team launches SME Alliance
The UCD Group at the University of Tasmania were delighted
to launch the Smart Internet SME Alliance Program in Hobart
on March 6. The program aims to create and support revenue
earning and commercialisation opportunities in the Smart Internet
and ICT related fields. Neville Roach officially launched
the program, which was attended by more than sixty people
from a cross section of SMEs in Tasmania. Within the first
week, five SMEs agreed to become priority members and the
group is currently in discussions with several other firms
considering membership.
For further information on this activity, please visit http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/events.html
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4. A Sneak Peek at the Proposed Amivox Project
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The proposed Amivox project, which will be presented to the
RAC meeting on 16th April, is set to be an exciting collaboration
between the UE and NAUI Groups.
Building on the functionality of the InCA speech interface
prototype, the project will create a conversational, portable,
multimodal interface that provides a range of communication
and information services. The resulting technology is designed
for mainstream use but is expected to become a “killer
app” for blind people. In fact, the user testing and
evaluation will be mainly conducted with blind people who
are expert users of speech interface devices.
The project also promises to be a test-bed for multimodal
interfaces and will offer insight into people’s ability
to cope with multimodal interaction, in particular the ability
to accept keyboard and speech commands at the same time.
For information regarding the Amivox project, please contact
Gunela Astbrink (g.astbrink@gsa.com.au)
or Waleed Kadous (waleed@cse.unsw.edu.au).
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5. Rob Cox gets emotional in his new paper
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“What is the value of emotion in communication?”
is the fundamental question asked by Robert Cox in this new
paper, which examines the impact of modern technology on the
quality of human communication.
Rob argues that emotion is one of the foundations upon which
human communication is based. He points out that, despite
this, pervasive modern communications technologies, such as
email, chat, and mobile and fixed line telephony, provide
little scope for people to engage in emotionally expressive
dialogues.
He goes on to identify some of the alarming effects this may
have on the quality of human communication. He recommends
that a greater emphasis be given to user-centred design in
order to avoid the development of further emotionally repressive
communications technologies in future.
To view Robert Cox’s paper, “What is the Value
of Emotion in Communication? Implications for User Centred
Design,” please visit http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/papers.html
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6. Useful links and references
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“At Home with Computers,” by Elaine Lally (Berg,
London, 2002)
This book deals with the way computers are transformed when
they are brought into the domestic context. It also examines
how computers change the home and users’ sense of self.
It sets an interesting base for a study of intelligent technologies
designed for use in the home and raises the question: How
can the intelligent environment at home be designed so that
users’ sense of comfort and self remain unthreatened?
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“Cost-Benefit Analysis: What Can HCI Contribute?,”
by Gitte Lindgaard
http://www.carleton.ca/hotlab/hottopics/Articles/cost_benefit_analysis.html
Dr. Gitte Lindgaard, who will be visiting RMIT in late July,
looks at how the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) community
is often rightly accused of ignoring the business dimensions
of design. When the link is made between the business bottom
line and HCI, “the resulting figures are usually staggering
and very convincing for 'selling' and justifying HCI activities.”
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11th Interdisciplinary Information Management Talks (IDIMT-2003)
“Information and the Small Enterprise,” September
10-12, 2003, in Zadov, Czech Republic
http://www.sea.uni-linz.ac.at/conferences/idimt2003/idimt2003.html
This annual workshop provides an interdisciplinary forum for
exchanging ideas in the fields of Information Management,
Knowledge Management, Business Engineering, Software Engineering,
and System Theory and Design. This year's conference will
give special attention to questions of information system
development, technology trends, and technology transfer, especially
in small enterprises.
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"Scenarios of sustainable wellbeing," by Manzini,
Ezio (Design Philosophy Papers, 2003)
http://www.desphilosophy.com/dpp/dpp_journal/paper1/body.html
The paper charts the structure and characteristics of "design-orienting
scenarios" (DOS) as design tools in the implementation
of complex innovative processes. Using two series of design
workshops for sustainable ways of living, held in Europe and
China, Manzini says that DOS should be structured so as to
articulate vision, proposal and motivation. It should have
plurality, feasibility, relate to a physical and socio-cultural
space, present visual images of contexts and proposals and
facilitate the participation of different actors.
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We hope you enjoyed the first edition of UCD Project News.
Check out our website, which is still under construction,
at: http://www.smartinternet.com.au/UCD.
If you have any comments regarding this e-newsletter or the
UCD website, or would like to submit an item for publication,
please contact Charlotte Scarf at: charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au.
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