UCD Project News Edition 35, December 13, 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.
This is the final issue of UCD Project News for 2004. On behalf
of the UCD team, I would like to thank our subscribers and the greater
SITCRC community for their support, encouragement and feedback and
wish you all a merry Christmas and happy new year. We hope to continue
bringing you news of UCD-related activities from across a range
of Smart Internet projects in March 2005.
Charlotte Scarf, Editor
Charlotte.scarf@rmit.edu.au
<> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
In this issue:
1. Supriya: Final Message for 2004
2. Introducing the Newest Face of the UCD Group
3. Jenine Beekhuyzen’s QualIT Conference Wrap
4. Jo Kelder’s OZCHI Conference Wrap
5. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
6. Useful Links & References
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
**************************************
1. Supriya: Final Message for 2004
**************************************
This is our last newsletter for 2004. I would like to thank Charlotte
Scarf for her effort in putting together a readable newsletter that
is centred on the UCD people and activities in the Smart Internet
Technology CRC. As our work has extended throughout Smart Internet,
so have our interests and relationships. We now have 416 newsletter
subscribers and an average of 1,170 website visitors each month.
The newsletter has reflected the vibrant relationships we have built
across three universities – RMIT University, Griffith and
Tasmania. We have gained much from discussions that have ranged
across disciplines with our colleagues in the UCD project. We have
also developed comfortable relationships with many researchers from
the technical research programs as we realised we needed each other.
Project structures will change in the next year, but we hope these
relationships will continue. We also hope to bring you news of these
relationships and projects in 2005.
Wishing you a happy Christmas and New Year.
Supriya
Assoc Prof Supriya Singh,
Project Leader
supriya.singh@rmit.edu.au
***************************************************
2. Introducing the Newest Face of the UCD Group
***************************************************
The UCD Group would like to extend a warm welcome to its newest
member:
Jenny Waycott, Research Fellow, RMIT
Jenny.waycott@rmit.edu.au
Jenny recently completed her PhD in educational technology at the
Open University in the UK. Her research examined the use of PDAs
as learning and workplace tools in different case study settings.
The most recent publication from Jenny ’s PhD research is
a chapter to appear in a forthcoming book entitled "Wireless
World: Mobiles - Past, Present and Future" to be published
by Springer-Verlag in 2005.
Prior to undertaking her PhD, Jenny worked at the University of
Melbourne’s School of Behavioural Sciences, conducting research
into the usability of a telecommunications network. She has a BA
(Hons) degree in Psychology from the University of Melbourne. Jenny’s
research interests include mobile and educational technologies,
technology appropriation, and the use of activity theory to understand
the role that new technologies play in everyday life.
***************************************************
3. Jenine Beekhuyzen’s QualIT Conference Wrap
***************************************************
The first International Conference on Qualitative Research in IT
& IT in Qualitative Research (QualIT) was held at the tranquil
Nathan Campus of Griffith University in Brisbane late last month,
attracting 85 local and international guests from a variety of disciplines.
QualIT provided a forum for the presentation of 42 research papers,
three world-renowned keynote speakers and four topical panel sessions.
Research presented covered topics including information technology,
information systems, software engineering, business, social and
health informatics, methodological challenges in qualitative research,
innovative research studies and methods, and the use and challenges
of using software tools in qualitative research.
Keynote speakers Professor Michael Myers, Professor Eileen Trauth
and Dr Tom Richards were major contributors to the success of the
event, giving interesting presentations on the current state of
information systems research, the challenges in the use of software
tools for qualitative inquiry and understanding the impact that
qualitative software tools can have on qualitative research. Panel
sessions covered topics including: gender issues in IT – what
are we still doing wrong?; publishing in IS/IT journals; the impact
of IT on qualitative research - what has software done to methods?;
and the role of the qualitative researcher re-examined.
The conference was preceded by informative workshops on the use
of Nvivo (a software tool for qualitative research), which were
conducted by Lyn Richards, Director of QSR – a Melbourne-based
software development company and one of the major sponsors of QualIT.
Other sponsors included the Smart Internet Technology CRC, Institute
of Integrated & Intelligent Systems (GU), Nokia, ThoughtWare
and PivotSoftware.
The conference will happen again in late 2005. For more information,
please contact the Program Chair Jenine Beekhuyzen – jenine@griffith.edu.au
or visit http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/qualit2004/
------------------------------------------------------------------
Papers presented by UCD Project researchers included:
* Castro, M., and Singh, S. “Rigour at a trotting pace:
A story from the user-centred design of smart Internet technologies,”
which details the tussle between the rigour and effectiveness of
user studies for the user-centred design of technologies.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=QualIT2004-Castro.pdf
* Cox, R., and Turner, P. “Technologically Mediated Communication:
Exploring how on-line communicative practices are configured by
the tools used,” which outlines research-in-progress that
is exploring how technologically mediated communication (TMC) tools
configure on-line communicative practices.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=QualIT2004-Cox.pdf
* Greenhill, A., Esteves, J., Beekhuyzen, J. “An Analysis
of Research Methods and Diversity in IS Research in Australia: A
Gender Perspective,” which undertakes a gender analysis of
Australian IS researchers submitting to the primary Australasian
IS conference in Australia – ACIS (Australasian Conference
on Information Systems).
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=QualIT2004-Greenhill%20and%20Beekhuyzen.pdf
* Singh, S., Cassar Bartolo, K. and Satchell, C. “Grounded
Theory and User Requirements: A Challenge for Qualitative Research,”
which discusses the methodological implications of moving from grounded
theory to user requirements for the design of information and communication
technologies.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=QualIT2004-singh.pdf
***************************************************
4. Jo Kelder’s OZCHI Conference Wrap
***************************************************
OZCHI 2004 was a three day conference and quite a marathon. Paul
Turner and I did a joint presentation with the aim of highlighting
our issue for the attention of the HCI community: the problem of
translating our socio technical insights into something that systems
developers coding the software can understand and implement. The
paper was called "Capturing User Experience:
Using Distributed Cognition Theory to Inform the Sustainable Design
of Meteorological Information Systems in Australia." The conference
provided us with good exposure to the range of interests and topics
covered by the HCI community, and the opportunity to make connections
with researchers who are doing interesting things that relate to
our work with Smart Internet.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=OZCHI2004KelderTurner.pdf
------------------------------------------------------------------
Other papers presented by UCD Project researchers included
* Chatfield, C., and Hexel, R., “Privacy and Security within
Intelligent Environments” which puts forward a privacy aware
architecture that seeks to incorporate user privacy and security
design requirements for an intelligent environment.
View paper (Member’s only) http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=Chatfield%20ozchi2004-229.pdf
* Satchell, C., Singh, S., and Zic, J., “3G Multimedia Content
Production as Social Communication” which shows how innovative
design solutions where envisioned through the use of a scenario
called the Trophy Room.
This paper was named among the top 8 at the conference and will
appear in the Australian Journal of Information Systems, along with
one on mediating intimacy, which was led by fellow Smart Internet
researcher, Frank Vetere of Melbourne University.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=Satchell%20ozchi2004-203.pdf
* Singh, S. and Cassar Bartolo, K. “The Privacy of Money
and Health: A User Study,” which reports on a study of people’s
control of personal information in Australia.
View paper (Member’s only)
http://www.ucd.smartinternet.com.au/auth.php?file=Singh%20ozchi2004-156.pdf
***************************************************
5. Upcoming Conferences & Calls for Papers
***************************************************
* Doors of Perception 8
Registration is now open for Doors of Perception 8. It's on the
theme "Infra" and runs from 21 26 March in New Delhi.
What infrastructures are needed to enable bottom up, edge in social
innovation and how do we design them? The week long event features
a conference; project clinics; exhibits of Indian media artefacts;
a bazaar of social innovation; visits in and around the city; Bhang
Brunch and Holi Party in Asola. The latest list of participants,
a registration form, and the conference blog, are at:
http://doors8delhi.doorsofperception.com/
------------------------------------------------------------------
* International Student Competition
Students who are concerned with the design, development and use
of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are invited
to apply their creative talents toward developing ICT solutions
to enable the seamless integration of older persons into the fabric
of their communities including the range of social, cultural, and
economically productive activities. The presentation of finalists
will be held at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS)
in Tunisia, 2005 and are the highlight of an annual international
conference under the general title "Caring Communities for
the 21st Century: Imagining the Possible" to be held at the
United Nations in New York during the annual meeting of the UN's
Commission for Social Development.
http://www.international
iccc.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference
The 15th annual conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP2005)
will take place from April 12 -15, 2005, in Seattle, Washington.
The Program Committee is now accepting proposals for conference
sessions and speakers and the deadline for submissions is
December 31, 2004.
http://www.cfp2005.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society
The final call for papers for the International Conference on Technology,
Knowledge and Society is now open. The conference will be held at
the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco, from 18-20
February 2005, and will address a range of critically important
themes in the various fields that address the complex and subtle
relationships between technology, knowledge and society.
http://technology-conference.com/
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Human.Society@Internet Conference
The Third International Human.Society@Internet Conference will be
held July 27 29, 2005, in Tokyo, Japan. The theme of this year’s
conference is the Impact of the Internet on Humans and Society.
The call for papers is now open, with papers due February 1, 2005.
http://hsi.itrc.net/
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Cultural Change, Social Problems, & Knowledge Society
This international Symposium will be held in Zaragoza Spain from
March 7-12 next year, and will bring together researchers from a
wide range of social science specialties with whom to discuss the
implications of cultural change and the social problems inherent
in contemporary and future knowledge society. Abstracts are due
January 5.
http://www.unizar.es/sociocybernetics/symposium2005/
************************************
6. Useful Links and References
************************************
* Proceedings from ARS ELECTRONICA 2004
The theme from this year’s ARS ELECTRONICA conference, held
Sept. 2-7, was TIMESHIFT- The World in Twenty-Five Years. As with
previous conferences, videos of all sessions have been put online
and can be accessed free of charge. Possibly of interest to Smart
Internet researchers is Forum V on Digital Communities where Howard
Rheingold, the propagators of Wikipedia - the prizewinners in the
new Digital Communities category - and other experts discuss the
cultural and sociopolitical relevance of digital communities.
http://www.aec.at/en/festival/programm/webcasts_timeshift.asp
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Clay Shirky (2004) Group as User: Flaming and the Design of Social
Software In Clay Shirky’s Writings about the Internet “Networks,
Economics and Culture” mailing list.
This article discusses how most of the current literature on software
design targets the individual user, functioning in isolation. And
yet, when users are polled about what they actually do with their
computers, some form of social interaction always tops the list.
The author argues that social interactions are far more complex
and unpredictable than human computer interaction, and that unpredictability
defeats classic user-centric design. He suggests that social software
design practice needs to start treating “the group”
instead of the user as the primary entity to be designed for.
http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_user.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 21, Issue 1, pp1-158 (January
2005)
1) Yixin Zhang, Age, gender, and Internet attitudes among employees
in the business world, pp1-10
2) Nicolas Michinov and Corine Primois, Improving productivity and
creativity in online groups through social comparison process: New
evidence for asynchronous electronic brainstorming, pp11-28
3) Shu-Sheng Liaw, Developing a Web assisted knowledge construction
system based on the approach of constructivist knowledge analysis
of tasks, pp29-44
4) Shu Ching Yang and Shu Fang Liu, The study of interactions and
attitudes of third-grade students' learning information technology
via a cooperative approach, pp45-72
5) Kitty Dumont and Wolfgang Frindte, Content analysis of the homepages
of academic psychologists, pp73-83
6) Ann Frances Cameron and Jane Webster, Unintended consequences
of emerging communication technologies: Instant Messaging in the
workplace, pp85-103
7) Ye Diana Wang and Henry H. Emurian, An overview of online trust:
Concepts, elements, and implications, pp105-125
8) Eino Sierpe, Gender distinctiveness, communicative competence,
and the problem of gender judgments in computer-mediated communication,
pp127-145
9) Bijou Yang and David Lester, Sex differences in purchasing textbooks
online, pp147-152
10) Serge Sévigny, Martin Cloutier, Marie-France Pelletier
and Robert Ladouceur, Internet gambling: misleading payout rates
during the “demo” period, pp153-158.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/5979-2005-999789998-527055
------------------------------------------------------------------************************************************
You have received this e-newsletter because of your affiliation
with the Smart Internet community. 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
|
