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1. Supriya: Looking Ahead
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This is the time when we are ensuring we deliver on our current projects and looking ahead at the questions we want to research. In the UCD group the third year of SITCRC poses a different kind of challenge. We have had some success in beginning to work with researchers in the technology programs and with industry partners. We want to extend that kind of collaboration to as many projects as possible. At the same time we want to ensure the UCD group remains a group with a meeting place and frequent reflections on the methodology as it develops at a more advanced phase of design.

In a sense our needs will become inverted. In the second year we wanted to establish a meeting place so that UCD and technology researchers could come together. That is beginning to happen. In the third year, we also want to ensure that UCD researchers keep their identity and their interactions with each other so that we can share our emerging insights into the collaborative process. This sense of being a group is also essential for us to gain from each other’s strengths and insights.

We want to remain a tight, cohesive group, and yet we have to become broad enough so that we can work with technology researchers in an increasing number of projects.

Supriya

Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Project Leader
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au

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2. New Paper: Putting Users First
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* Supriya Singh, John Burke, Paul Turner and Maurice Castro (2003) “The Discovery Phase of User-Centred Design: Putting Users First in the Design of Smart Internet Technologies” Paper to be presented to the ACIS 04 – the 14th Australiasian Conference on Information Systems, Perth, Western Australia, 26-28 November, 2003.

The Smart Internet Cooperative Research Centre aims to produce Internet technologies that are scaleable, intelligent and user friendly. Alongside four technology programs, a key research innovation of the SITCRC is the User Environment program aimed at ensuring technology outputs are user-centred and market focused. A challenge for researchers in this program is to ensure a user focus in the discovery phase of technical research where technologies and their functionalities are as yet poorly defined. This paper reports on the development of a methodological approach called Discovery UCD that is useful for researchers attempting UCD outside purely product focused corporate environments.

UCD Project Members may view the paper by visiting:
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/Docs/ACIS%20Discovery.pdf

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3. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
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* AUIC 2004

The Fifth Australasian User Interface Conference, which is a technology-focused forum for user interface researchers and practitioners from Australia, New Zealand, and throughout the world, will be held in Dunedin, New Zealand from January 18-22, 2004. The conference, which is one of several conferences that constitute Australasian Computer Science Week, provides an opportunity for workers in the areas of HCI, CSCW and pervasive computing to meet with colleagues and with others in the broader computer science community.

In 2004, AUIC incorporates the Workshop on Wearable, Invisible, Context-Aware, Ambient, Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing that was successful during ACSW 2003.
Original paper submissions describing research or innovative practice, as well as proposals for workshops and tutorials, are invited and due by September 5, 2003.

For further information, please visit: http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/auic/
Or email: andy@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz
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* IAWTIC’2004

The International Conference on Intelligent Agents, Web Technology and Internet Commerce, IAWTIC'2004, will be held 12-14 July 2004 on the Gold Coast. The conference will provide a medium for researchers and practitioners to exchange and explore the issues and opportunities in the area of intelligent agent, web technologies and Internet commerce.

The conference will consist of both plenary sessions and contributory sessions, focusing on theory, implementation and applications of intelligent agents, web technologies and Internet commerce. The call for papers is open and researchers are encouraged to submit papers on these topics.

For further information, please visit: http://www.ise.canberra.edu.au/conferences/iawtic04/index.htm
Or email: iawtic@ise.canberra.edu.au

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4. Useful Links and References
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* Barnes, S. and Vidgen, R. (2002) An Integrative Approach to the Assessment of E-Commerce Quality, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Special Issue: Human Factors in Web-based Interaction, 3:3.

WebQual is a method for assessing the quality of Web sites. The method has been developed iteratively through application in various domains, including Internet bookstores and Internet auction sites. In this paper the authors report on the application of a new version of WebQual to Internet bookstores: Amazon, BOL, and the Internet Bookshop. WebQual draws on previous work in three areas: website usability, information quality, and service interaction quality to provide a rounded framework for assessing e-commerce offerings. Although WebQual is grounded in the subjective impressions of website users, the data collected lends itself to quantitative analysis and the production of e-commerce metrics such as the WebQual Index. The reliability of the instrument is examined and core constructs of website quality identified using factor analysis. The role of WebQual in assessing an organization's e-commerce capability is discussed.

http://www.csulb.edu/web/journals/jecr/issues/20023/paper2.pdf
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* C. Lisetti et al (2003) “Developing multimodal intelligent affective interfaces for tele-home health care,” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 59:1-2, pp 245-255.

Accounting for a patient's emotional state is integral in medical care. Tele-health research attests to the challenge clinicians must overcome in assessing patient emotional state when modalities are limited. The extra effort involved in addressing this challenge requires attention, skill, and time. Large caseloads may not afford tele-home health-care (tele-HHC) clinicians the time and focus necessary to accurately assess emotional states and trends. Unstructured interviews with experienced tele-HHC providers support the introduction of objective indicators of patients' emotional status in a useful form to enhance patient care. The authors discuss their contribution to addressing this challenge, which involves building user models not only of the physical characteristics of users but also models of their emotions. The authors explain their research in progress on Affective Computing for tele-HHC applications, which includes: developing a system architecture for monitoring and responding to human multimodal affect and emotions via multimedia and empathetic avatars; mapping of physiological signals to emotions and synthesizing the patient's affective information for the health-care provider.
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* Gholamreza, T. and Lee, J. (2003). “Measures of perceived end-user computing skills,” Information & Management, 40:7, pp 607-615

Effective use of information technology (IT) is considered a major determinant of economic growth, competitive advantage, productivity, and even personal competency. End-user computing (EUC) skills influence how well this IT is used by the individuals within organizations. This article reports on the development of an instrument for measuring perceived end-user computing skills. Using a survey of 282 respondents, we conducted a factor analysis and propose a 12-item instrument that measures end-user computing knowledge and ability. Reliability and validity of the instrument is presented. The instrument's theoretical and practical applications are discussed.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7206(02)00090-3

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