|
UCD Project News, Edition 3, May 12th, 2003
UCD Project News is a fortnightly e-newsletter devoted to increasing
awareness of UCD principles and contributing towards a culture of
user centred design within the SITCRC.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
In this issue:
1. Supriya: Cross-Linkages Between Programs
2. Introducing the Newest Member of the Group
3. Activities: Book launch; Student Workshop
4. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
5. Up Close and Personal in the Virtual cafe
6. Useful Links and References
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
*************************************
1. Supriya: Cross-Linkages Between Programs
*************************************
User-Centred Design (UCD) researchers are now working with technology
researchers and corporate partners in two new projects – Amivox
and Nymity. Participating together at the early stages of projects
will help to ensure that the user is at the centre of technology
design from the very beginning.
Amivox and Nymity we hope are a taste of other collaborative projects
in the future. As this newsletter details, we are working with the
SN/IE program on the Virtual Café. It is the beginning of
an involvement in designing virtual environments for different activities
and users in various social and cultural contexts.
The linkage process is central to encouraging a culture of UCD in
the SITCRC. We are aware that as we work together on the projects,
we will have to communicate across distance and disciplinary perspectives.
As we work together, we are reflecting on the factors that encourage
and hinder virtual interdisciplinary communication and the forging
of new virtual teams.
Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Leader, UCD project, UE program
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au
**************************************************
2. Introducing the Newest Face of the Group
**************************************************
The UCD Group would like to extend a warm welcome to its newest
member who will be working on the initial phase of our involvement
in the Virtual Café project:
Peter Burrows
peter.burrows@iii.rmit.edu.au
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/burrows.html
Peter Burrows (MBus) is currently in the final stages of a PhD.
He was a founding member of the Telstra Home Team at RMIT (1999-2001)
- an interdisciplinary-based team of PhD researchers investigating
community needs for Internet based products and services for Telstra.
Other research projects include a major study of the emerging market
for digital text for the Australian Publishing Industry (2001-2002).
This work resulted in the co-authoring of a series of book chapters
investigating the social and cultural implications of a shift to
digital text. Peter has also published research in the areas of
qualitative research methods, interdisciplinary team based research,
and design stimulus.
****************************************************
3. Activities: Book Launch; Student Workshop
****************************************************
* Digital Disability Book Launch
A significant new book is currently being launched in major cities
across Australia. It is "Digital Disability: The social construction
of disability in new media" by Gerard Goggin and Christopher
Newell. These two well-respected researchers have analysed how people
with disabilities are
represented as users, consumers, viewers or listeners of new media
by policymakers, corporations, programmers and disability communities.
The book may be considered controversial by some but is a useful
addition to the literature.
Christopher Newell is a member of the SITCRC's Expert Panel on Disability
and has contributed his knowledge and expertise on this Panel as
well as participating in the March disability workshop hosted by
Paul Turner's team at the University of Tasmania.
Gunela Astbrink was an invited speaker at the combined seminar and
book launch held in Brisbane in April.
For further information, please visit:
http://cccs.uq.edu.au/events/2003FullSemDet.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Annual CRC PhD Student Workshop
The annual SITCRC PhD student workshop will be held on 5-6 June
2003 in Sydney. Organised by Lisette Cochineas, the workshop will
provide an opportunity for PhD students within the SITCRC to meet
and discuss their research projects, as well as provide helpful
tips and advice about research.
***********************************
3. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
***********************************
* Melbourne DAC
The fifth International Digital Arts and Culture Conference will
be at RMIT Melbourne on May 19-23. Its intention is to bring together
the best new researchers and artists working in the fields of new
media, games, and interactive hypermedia to share ideas, problems,
and debates.
This year's event will include an exhibition of digital artworks
and four days of conference activities designed to foster debate
and dialogue around significant new themes in new media culture
and practice.
For further details, please visit: http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/
or email: anna.farago@rmit.edu.au
------------------------------------------------------------------
* OZCHI 2003
The Call for Papers for OZCHI 2003, the annual conference for the
Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group (CHISIG) of the
Ergonomics Society of Australia, and Australia and New Zealand's
leading forum for work in all areas of Human-Computer Interaction,
has been announced.
The event will be held at the University of Queensland from 26-28
November 2003. The due date for submission of papers is 6 June 2003
For further details, please visit: http://www.ozchi2003.itee.uq.edu.au/
or email: contact-ozchi2003@itee.uq.edu.au
------------------------------------------------------------------
* DSPCS 2003
The Call for Papers for the 7th International Symposium on Digital
Signal Processing and Communication Systems, which this year will
be combined with the 2nd Workshop on the Internet, Telecommunications
and Signal Processing, has been announced.
The event will be held on the Gold Coast from 8-11 December 2003,
and the due date for submission of papers is 30 June 2003. Papers
will be accepted on the basis of peer reviews of whole papers (not
extended abstracts). Kluwer Academic Publishers will publish the
20 best papers in an edited volume.
For further details, please visit: http://www.elec.uow.edu.au/secte/DSPCS2003/
or email: wysocki@uow.edu.au
***********************************
4. Up close and personal in the Virtual Cafe
***********************************
The SN/IE Program is developing the Virtual Cafe, in conjunction
with the UCD group.
The proposed virtual café is a virtual meeting place for
real-time group meetings of friends and family members, in which
avatars represent real-life participants. Communication will be
facilitated by voice, text and gesture. Participants may also be
able to access the history of prior communication. Other applications
of the virtual meeting place are for entertainment, research, and
collaborative work involving users of different ages, backgrounds
and cultures.
The major research problem that is being tackled by the smart networks
project is developing delivery architectures, optimal distributed
server location heuristics, and 3D audio scene creation techniques
that will scale up to many thousands of participants in distributed
and virtual environments around the Internet.
The proposed Virtual Café project is in the early stages
of development. The UCD Group is researching user requirements.
Currently, UCD researchers are surveying literature around standards
for acceptable minimal delay in communication for different user
groups and activities.
For further information about the Virtual Café, please contact
Paul Boustead at paul@titr.uow.edu.au
**********************************
5. Useful links and references
**********************************
Kaindl, H. & Jezek R. (2002) “From Usage Scenarios to
User Interface Elements in a Few Steps,” in C. Kolski &
J. Vanderdonckt (eds), “Computer-Aided Design of User Interfaces
III,” Kluwer Academic Publishers
http://www.foruse.com/articles/kaindl.pdf
In practice, designers often select user interface elements intuitively.
So, important design decisions may never become conscious or explicit,
and therefore also not traceable. In order to improve this situation,
the authors propose a systematic process for selecting user interface
elements in a few explicitly defined steps, starting from usage
scenarios. They claim that the process makes an important part of
user interface design more systematic and conscious.
------------------------------------------------------------------
S. Henninger, (2000) “A methodology and tools for applying
context-specific usability guidelines to interface design,”
Interacting with Computers, 12 (3) (2000) pp. 225-243
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0953-5438(99)00013-2
This paper presents a methodology to create context-specific usability
guidelines. The objective is to transform usability guidelines into
a proactive resource that software developers can employ early and
often in the development process. The methodology ensures conformity
with established guidelines, but has the flexibility to use design
experiences to adapt the guidelines to meet the emergent and diverse
requirements of modern user interface design.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcus, A., and Gould, E., (2001) “Cultural Dimensions and
Web Design”
http://www.amanda.com/resources/hfweb2000/AMA_CultDim.pdf
The user-interface development process focuses attention on understanding
users and acknowledging demographic diversity. But in a global economy,
these differences may reflect worldwide cultures. Companies that
want to do international business on the web should consider the
impact of culture on the understanding and use of Web-based communication,
content, and tools. This paper contributes to the study of this
complex and challenging issue by analyzing some of the needs, wants,
preferences, and expectations of different cultures through reference
to a cross-cultural theory developed by Geert Hofstede.
------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/pres
Published by MIT Press, Presence is the first journal for serious
investigators of teleoperators and virtual environments, incorporating
perspectives from physics to philosophy. Each issue covers different
topic areas that range from legal, ethical, and policy issues, computer
mediated reality and immersive projection technologies to advances
in collaborative virtual environments. Paper submissions are welcomed.
------------------------------------------------------------------
********************************************************
You have received this e-newsletter because of your affiliation
with the SITCRC. If you do not wish to receive any further editions
of UCD Project News, please click here to be removed from our mailing
list. http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=u&l=ucdnews
If you have any comments regarding this e-newsletter or the UCD
website, or you would like to submit an item for publication, please
contact Charlotte Scarf at: charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au.
Visit the UCD Project website at: http://www.smartinternet.com.au/UCD
|
