Active Involvement of Software Developers in Usability Engineering: Two Small-Scale Case Studies (2017)
Nis Bornoe, Jan Stage.
R. Bernhaupt et al. (Eds.): INTERACT 2017, Part IV, LNCS 10516, pp. 159-168. Springer.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-68059-0_10 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
The essence of usability evaluations is to produce feedback that supports the downstream utility so the interaction design can be improved and problems can be fixed. In practice, software development organizations experience several obstacles for conducting usability engineering. One suggested approach is to train and involve developers in all phases of usability activities from evaluations, to problem reporting, and making redesign proposals. Only limited work has previously investigated the impact of actively involving developers in usability engineering. In this paper, we present two small-scale case studies in which we investigate the developers’ experience of conducting usability evaluations and participating in a redesign workshop. In both case studies developers actively engaged in both activities. Per the developers, this approach supported problem understanding, severity ratings, and problem fixing. At the organizational level, we found that the attitude towards and understanding of the role of usability engineering improved.Facilitating Redesign with Design Cards: Experiences with Novice Designers. (2016)
Nis Bornoe, Anders Bruun, Jan Stage.
Proceedings of the 28th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference: Connected Futures (OzCHI '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 452-461.
DOI: 10.1145/3010915.3010921 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
While effort has been put into developing and evaluating usability evaluation methods less attention has been paid to shifting usability feedback into improved designs. We report from a study with 44 novice designers creating redesign suggestions. Some were provided with domain specific design cards to facilitate the redesign process. Design cards are physical cards used to structure a collaborative process, and providing design cues such as keywords and questions. Afterward, three developers assessed the quality of the suggestions. We found that the cards diversified the range of system aspects that novices considered, supported ideation, and kept the discussion going. However, the cards did not compensate the limited design experience, and the participants had challenges understanding the value of the cards, and implement them in the process. Having developers assessing the subjective quality of the suggestions turned out to be challenging due to low inter-rater reliability.Teaching Software Developers to Perform UX Tasks. (2015)
Tina Øvad, Nis Bornoe, Lars Bo Larsen, Jan Stage
Proceedings of the 27th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference: Being Human (OzCHI '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 397-406.
DOI: 10.1145/2838739.2838764 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
Good UX design is becoming important within the industry when developing new products. This entails that UX skills have to be available in the development processes. This paper investigates the opportunities of using software developers as a UX work resource in the day-to-day working practice. This is done via an action research study where the developers were provided with material concerning a modified AB usability test, by training them in performing this type of work, and by using their feedback to improve the method and the material. The overall result of the study is positive and it is found that by using the developers’ feedback in the modification process, the method has truly become applicable within an agile, industrial setting. In combination with a guideline and template this has induced the developers to feel confident in independently performing this type of work.HCI research has explored mobile technologies to support social activity and to support greater feelings of connectedness. Much of this has focused on different mobile devices, individual preferences and modes of use. Yet social activity and connectedness are about ongoing enactments of relationships across technologies. We propose the relational lens as a way to include a notion of relational tension in addition to individual preferences in the design and analysis of mobile communication technologies. We discuss three strategies people use to manage tensions in their relationships: selection, segmentation and integration. Our data show that use of social technologies can at times destabilize social relations and occasion relational tensions, forcing users to renegotiate how they enact these relationships.Friendship Maintenance in the Digital Age: Applying a Relational Lens to Online Social Interaction (2015)
Irina Shklovski, Louise Barkhuus, Nis Bornoe, Joseph Kaye
Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1477-1487.
DOI: 10.1145/2675133.2675294 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
HCI research has explored mobile technologies to support social activity and to support greater feelings of connectedness. Much of this has focused on different mobile devices, individual preferences and modes of use. Yet social activity and connectedness are about ongoing enactments of relationships across technologies. We propose the relational lens as a way to include a notion of relational tension in addition to individual preferences in the design and analysis of mobile communication technologies. We discuss three strategies people use to manage tensions in their relationships: selection, segmentation and integration. Our data show that use of social technologies can at times destabilize social relations and occasion relational tensions, forcing users to renegotiate how they enact these relationships.Redesign Workshop: Involving Software Developers Actively in Usability Engineering (2014)
Nis Bornoe, Jane Billestrup, Jesper Lumbye Andersen, Jan Stage, Anders Bruun
Presented at Industry experiences. In Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational (NordiCHI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1113-1118.
DOI: 10.1145/2639189.2670288 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
In practical usability engineering feedback is only useful if it cost effectively leads to design changes. Several studies have looked into different feedback formats when passing on usability problems to software developers. Research has shown positive results both when providing developers with redesign proposals, and when actively involving software developers in the redesign process. Through facilitation and lecturing in interaction design provided by usability specialists, we wanted to further explorer potential advantages of actively involving developers in a collaborative redesign process. The leading question was: “Can software developers contribute actively to alternative redesign suggestions?” Under the guidance of usability specialists, we found that the developers were able to constructively reconsider the existing design based on a top down approach. In this paper we report a hands-on approach towards running such a redesign workshop.Usability Engineering in the Wild: How do Practitioners Integrate Usability Engineering in Software Development? (2014)
Nis Bornoe, Jan Stage
In: Sauer, S., et al. (eds.) HCSE 2014. LNCS, vol. 8742, pp. 199-216. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-44811-3_12 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
It has been argued that too much research on usability engineering is incoherent with the processes, and settings being the realities for practitioners. In this paper we want to extend the existing knowledge about usability engineering in the wild. Through 12 semi-structured interviews we wanted to get an understanding of how usability is perceived, and practiced in reality. We found that our participants primarily focus on upfront work to support the design, and implementation process. They implement usability engineering through informal evaluations, and by following a set of local de facto standards. We want to extend the existing body of knowledge about usability engineering in practice, to support the development of methods aimed at practitioners.TagPad: Supporting Field Interviews and Analysis (2013)
Nis Bornoe, Louise Barkhuus
iConference 2013 Proceedings. 316-325.
Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
The area of cyberinfrastructures has looked extensively at research within the natural sciences, however, the social sciences have been largely overlooked in terms of novel data collection and analysis systems. We developed a probe tool, TagPad, to look at the process for social science data collection through interviews and surveys. Our research participants found that TagPad facilitated structuring of interviews but we also found that the setting in which the interview takes place is essential to the success of using this particular tool. We conclude suggesting future designs of social science research tools.Supporting Usability Engineering in Small Software Development Organizations (2013)
Nis Bornoe, Jan Stage
Proceedings of the 36th Information Systems Research Conference in Scandinavia (IRIS 36), August 11-14, 2013, Gran, Norway.
TagPad for iPad – Designing a Support Tool for Interview Studies (2011)
Nis Bornoe, Louise Barkhuus, Barry Brown, Malcolm Hall
In Proceedings of The Eleventh Danish Human-Computer Interaction Research Symposium (DHRS2011), November 23, 2011, Copenhagen, Denmark. 49-52.
Full text: PDF Poster: PDF
↓ Abstract
In this paper we present the iPad app TagPad. The app is designed to support interview studies. It's been designed to fit flexibly with structured and semi-structured interviews for both small and large-scale studies. TagPad can record audio and save text entries and multiple-choice answers. The data can be uploaded to a cloud-based data repository making it simple to access and share data. To get a better understanding of how interview studies are conducted, particularly the data collection phase, we looked into 12 ongoing studies and found that the data collection often is associated with unorganized and complicated processes. We present the results and briefly discuss how TagPad can optimize and support these processes.Online Social Networks On-The-Go: An Exploration of Facebook on the Mobile Phone (2011)
Nis Bornoe, Louise Barkhuus
Presented at CSCW Horizon. In Proceedings of the 2011 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW '11). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 773-780.
Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
University students are tech-savvy and heavy users of both mobile phones and online social networks. Facebook is particularly popular and research has addressed many different questions regarding use of this specific online social network. In this Horizon paper we look into how university students use online social networks from mobile devices, a topic that has yet to receive significant attention. Through a series of semistructured interviews we specifically looked into uses and motivations for using Facebook through mobile devices. We found the main watchword to be ‘convenience’ and present three aspects that contribute to this motivation.Privacy Management in a Connected World: Students’ Perception of Facebook Privacy Settings (2011)
Nis Bornoe, Louise Barkhuus
Workshop on Collaborative Privacy Practices in Social Media. Part of the 2011 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW '11), March 19-23, 2011, Hangzhou, China.
Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
Millions of people, particular young adults, are active on online social networks. They are sharing content, communicating and passively staying aware of each other. Through a semi-structured interview study of university students we looked into their privacy practices on the online social network Facebook. We found that the students wanted to disclose information but had little awareness about their privacy settings and who can access their information. Overall privacy management was not a common activity but we found that the students considered what was appropriate to share in a public space and relevant to social sties. None of the participants reported any negative episodes caused by their use of Facebook and had no motivation to spend resources on privacy management. Privacy management is more than simply limiting access to information, but also, and more importantly, to disclose information under the right circumstances.Video Microblogging: Your 12 Seconds of Fame (2010)
Nis Bornoe, Louise Barkhuus
In proceedings of the 28th of the international conference extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (CHI EA '10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3325-3330.
DOI:10.1145/1753846.1753979 Full text: PDF Poster: PDF
↓ Abstract
Microblogging is a recently popular phenomenon and with the increasing trend for video cameras to be built into mobile phones, a new type of microblogging has entered the arena of electronic communication: video microblogging. In this study we examine video microblogging, which is the broadcasting of short videos. A series of semi-structured interviews offers an understanding of why and how video microblogging is used and what the users post and broadcast.Password Authentication from a Human Factors Perspective: Results of a Survey Among End-Users (2009)
Peter Hoonakker, Nis Bornoe, Pascale Carayon
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting Proceedings, 53 (6), 459-463.
DOI:10.1177/154193120905300605 Full text: PDF
↓ Abstract
Considering that many organizations today are extremely dependent on information technology, computer and information security (CIS) has become a critical concern from a business viewpoint. CIS is concerned with protecting the confidentiality, integrity, accessible information, when using computer systems. Much research has been conducted on CIS in the past years. However, the attention has been primarily focused on technical problems and solutions. Only recently, the role of human factors in CIS has been recognized. End-user behavior can increase the vulnerability of computer and information systems. In this study, using a large questionnaire survey among endusers, we examine password behavior of end-users.Spamming, Phishing and Spoofing. E-mail Security: A Survey Among End-Users (2009)
Peter Hoonakker, Pascale Carayon, Nis Bornoe
Presented at the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) 2009 17th World Congress on Ergonomics, August 9-14, 2009, Beijing, China.
Full text: PDF