UCD Project News Edition 20, April 19, 2004
UCD Project News is a fortnightly e-newsletter devoted to increasing
awareness of user-centred design (UCD) principles and contributing
towards a culture of UCD within the Smart Internet Technology CRC.
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In this issue:
1. Supriya: SN/IE Workshop
2. UCD Involvement in DRM Project
3. Supriya’s Simputer Article Featured in The Age
4. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
5. Useful Links & References
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1. Supriya: SN/IE Workshop
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A year is a long time in a multi-disciplinary conversation. This
year UCD researchers were part of the conversation at the Smart
Networks/Intelligent Environment workshop in Sydney, chaired by
Prof Farzad Safaei. This is because we are part of four projects
in this program, in addition to being involved in the discussions
relating to the Architecture project. The SWARM, a scenario based
on Christine Satchell’s PhD study of young people’s
use of mobile phones, frames some of the core design activity in
the program. Our involvement in the Digital Rights Management is
featured in this newsletter. Paul Boustead, head of the Smart Virtual
Networks project took some of us through the possibilities of immersive
video as we killed one avatar after another in a game. We are analysing
the qualitative user study done for the “Nymity” project.
We took stock of where we are and where we were heading. For me,
some of the most exciting directions were in the fields of privacy
rights management, to guide information storage on mobile devices.
This is particularly pertinent in health. E-health has often been
interpreted as the electronic delivery of health services. E-health
from the patient’s perspective is equally about having control
of crucial information about their health issues in an electronic
format. We look forward to being part of that conversation.
Supriya
Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Project Leader
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au
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3. UCD Involvement in DRM Project
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Members of the UCD Project are currently conducting a study on the
impact of digital rights management (DRM) systems on privacy, personal
use and fair user expectations for Smart Internet’s DRM Project.
The study examines the impact of eight DRM systems providing music,
film and articles online on users’ expectations of personal
use and fair use of copyrightable material and their expectations
about how their personal information is handled by collecting organisations.
Users of copyright information in whatever form – print, digital
material, music, films and so on – hold certain expectations
about their rights to use and copy that information and to communicate
it to others. The fact that users may have no legal right to undertake
any of these actions as they have not sought the approval of the
copyright owner does not undermine the fact that users hold these
expectations and have acted on them for many years without repercussion
in a number of circumstances. DRM systems now have the potential
to remove from users the ability to use, copy and communicate copyright
material without permission.
The UCD team is examining the privacy policy at each site and will
examine license agreements to identify rights relating to CD burning,
transfers to a portable player, downloading to personal computers,
numbers of copies allowed, ability to send to another person, sharing
of registration number, etc. They will also be testing registration,
logging-in and logging-out, downloading, service and content upgrades,
service cancellation, and content provision (including playback
on a second computer and portable CD player, copying, format conversion,
and excerpting).
The study will also monitor network transmissions by recording and
logging all incoming and outgoing packets during various stages
and processes of service use, and will then analyse data traffic
between service software and service servers. Finally, UCD researchers
will monitor how each service’s client accessed the local
file system.
The study duplicates a US project undertaken in 2003 at the University
of California, Berkeley, led by Professor Deirdre Mulligan. Her
team is looking forward to seeing additional studies examining the
relation of DRM systems to users' expectations as well as the balance
of legal rights and obligations.
For further information about the study, please contact Margaret
Jackson at: margaret.jackson@rmit.edu.au.
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4. Supriya’s Simputer Article Featured in The Age
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An article by Supriya Singh on India’s Simputer recently appeared
in The Age on April 13, 2004. The Simputer was designed to address
the growing digital divide in that country by providing poor illiterate
farmers with relatively inexpensive access to a number of simple
ICT tools bundled in a small handheld computer. Supriya’s
article examines why the Simputer has not really taken off from
the perspective of Professor Swami Manohar, a computer scientist
with the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and one of the
original designers of the Simputer. She interviewed him during her
time in India.
To view the article, “Struggles in India’s High-Tech
Revolution, please visit:
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/12/1081621879640.html
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5. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
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* AICCSA 05
The ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications
(AICCSA-05) will be held on January 3-6, 2005, in Cairo, Egypt.
It is the third in a conference series devoted to advances in computers
systems, information, and applications and is sponsored by the Arab
Computer Society (ACS) and IEEE.
The call for conference papers is now open. Authors are invited
to submit papers describing new advances in computer systems and
their applications. Papers may be theoretical, conceptual, tutorial,
or descriptive in nature. The deadline for submission is May 18,
2004.
For further information, please visit: http://engr.smu.edu/cse/AICCSA-05/
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* DIS2004
The Fourth International Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
will be held in Cambridge Massachusetts on 1-4 August 2004.
DIS2004 aims to facilitate, nurture, and encourage the growth of
the diverse community that has emerged in response to the opportunities
and challenges presented by new and future interactive systems.
The conference will cross the spectrum of contributing disciplines
including business, technology and engineering, psychology, interaction,
design, expressive media and culture.
For further information, please visit: http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/DIS2004/index.html
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6. Useful Links and References
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* Hsiao, R. L. (2003). “Technology Fears: Distrust and Cultural
Persistence in Electronic Marketplace Adoption” Journal of
Strategic Information Systems, 12(3), pp 169 199.
This paper distinguishes between reliability related and value oriented
distrust, using a case study of Singapore Small and Medium Enterprises
relating to e commerce adoption. It argues that technology may reduce
reliability related distrust, but is ineffective in dealing with
value oriented distrust. To increase trust based on cultural values,
we have to examine a society's socio cultural structure. In the
case of Singapore e commerce was seen to go against the cultural
values of personal relationships in business. To be widely adopted,
e commerce will have to present a Chinese ‘face’ and
be seen to enhance business relationships rather than impersonalise
them.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VG3-4991WSB-1/2/d93b2c42e43869e8cf762140de0282cb
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* Marcus Credé and Janet A. Sniezek (2003) “Group
judgment processes and outcomes in video-conferencing versus face-to-face
groups” International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 59
(6), December 2003, pp 875-897.
This paper presents the findings of a project comparing face-to-face
and video-conferencing interactions. Results show significant differences
across conditions with regard to the confidence attached by groups
to their decisions, the degree to which groups were able to improve
upon the best individually arrived at decision, and the self-reported
enjoyment of group members. Implications for the design and application
of advanced systems for decision-making support and research are
discussed.
doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2003.07.001
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* Len Bass and Bonnie E John, (2003) “Linking usability to
software architecture patterns through general scenarios”
The Journal of Systems and Software 66(3), Jun 15, 2003, pp 187.
Usability is an important quality attribute to be considered during
software architecture designs. It is usually pursued by separating
user interface from functionality. However, according to the authors,
this has the effect of pushing revisions to achieve usability toward
the end of the software development life cycle whereas, they say,
many usability benefits are only discovered early in the life cycle.
For 27 scenarios, the authors identified potential usability benefits
and an architectural pattern that supports achievement of those
benefits. They organized the scenarios into an emergent hierarchy
of potential benefits and architectural tactics. The authors present
techniques that permit important usability issues to be addressed
proactively at architecture design time instead of retroactively
after user testing.
http://hdcp.org/Publications/BassJohnJSSpublished.pdf
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* J Gammack and C Hodkinson (2003) “Virtual reality, involvement
and the consumer interface” Journal of End User Computing,
15(4), Oct.-Dec. 2003, pp. 78-96
This paper considers consumer purchasing, highlighting interactivity
as a critical end user issue. Aspects relating to trust, usability
and involvement are identified, and examined in a series of linked
studies focusing on hedonic and high-involvement products, particularly
surfboards. Preliminary studies across a range of businesses and
products indicated consumer willingness to purchase hedonic products
online, but many businesses imposed a high workload on online purchasers.
Despite successful web marketing of hedonic products such as CDs,
we found that no contemporary providers of customized surfboards
offered finished product e-tailing, nor used virtual reality technology
to demonstrate performance. A real case study of online swimwear
purchase demonstrated an improved purchase process. "Beachtown",
a virtual reality e-tailing environment related to a coastal tourism
economy allowed further examination of apparel, surfboard and holiday
purchase. Results indicate that an enhanced interactive virtual
environment increases end user involvement and willingness to purchase.
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