Contextual inquiry

This paper introduces PoliCultura, a project created by Politecnico di Milano for the Italian schools, which has just completed three years of deployment. Participating classes (with pupils aged between 4 and 18 years) are required to create their own multimedia story, using an authoring-delivery environment (1001stories) provided by Politecnico di Milano. PoliCultura has offered us the opportunity to investigate the prolonged use of digital storytelling authoring tools as a whole-class educational activity in a wide number of real educational settings: approximately 7,620 pupils from 381 classes have been involved in this project since its birth in 2006. From the overall PoliCultura experience and from the wide amount of qualitative and quantitative data collected from participants though online surveys, focus groups, interviews and contextual inquiry activities, we have learned a number of lessons that we discuss in the paper.

We investigate the use of Contextual Design, and in particular the process of Contextual Inquiry, for designing complex and innovative systems. Contextual Inquiry is an emerging practice used for investigating behavioural requirements of users in their work environment. The advantage of Contextual Design over other requirements elicitation methodologies, such as Requirements Engineering and User Task Analysis, is the focus on observation and in-work interviews for extracting requirements and designing customer- ...

Field Methods are a collection of tools and techniques for conducting studies of users, their tasks, and their work environments in the actual context of those environments. The promise of such methods is that they help teams design products that are both useful and usable by providing data about what people really do. Participants in this forum will address:

The quality of user experience is intricately related to the users' cultural characteristics. However, not many studies have dealt with important cultural characteristics which are closely related to user experience. The main goals of this study are to identify important cultural dimensions that are closely related to the user experience of consumer electronic products and to measure them in different countries with different products. Contextual inquiries and online surveys were conducted in four different

Developers, like all modern knowledge workers, are frequently interrupted and blocked in their tasks. In this paper we present a contextual inquiry into developers' current strategies for resuming interrupted tasks and investigate the effect of automated cues on improving task resumption. We surveyed 371 programmers on the nature of their tasks, interruptions, task suspension and resumption strategies and found that they rely heavily on note-taking across several types of media. We then ran a controlled lab study to compare the effects of two different automated cues to note taking when resuming interrupted programming tasks. The two cues differed in (1) whether activities were summarized in aggregate or presented chronologically and (2) whether activities were presented as program symbols or as code snippets. Both cues performed well: developers using either cue completed their tasks with twice the success rate as those using note-taking alone. Despite the similar performance of the cues, developers strongly preferred the cue that presents activities chronologically as code snippets.

As travellers, we are usually aware that a map is not the territory it represents. However, as researchers, inquiring into practice, are we always aware of the domain within which that practice is situated? Descriptions of practice sometimes suggest that this is not the case. For example, do engineers actually believe that the models they develop and use are reflections of some reality? It is likely that an engineer never actually follows his models when developing an artefact or process. Similarly, we can ask ourselves whether we believe that a chef actually cooks by following a recipe. Possibly, only someone who does not know how to cook would think so. These idealised models are simply the basis for discussion/reflection and experimentation. It is sometimes the case, however, that descriptions of practice are produced based in a kind of rationality that suggests these misapprehensions are appropriate. In the context of research, can we say that postmodernism has any relevance? If, in the field of practice, only the uninitiated ever had illusions that the 'grand theories' of 'modernism' could be directly applicable, then informed research must recognize this also. To those with no illusions, such 'grand theories' were a basis for reflection and critique. Thus, to this extent we have always been 'modern' and still are. Rather than espousing a Postmodernist perspective, we might point to 'Hypermodernism' -a recognition that the 'grand theories' can only be used as metaphors, i.e. a basis for practical philosophy. By adopting such a stance, it is possible to avoid a false step of fighting 'straw men' and dismissing as worthless research that which could be useful material for reflection and learning when juxtaposed with other perspectives on practice. Models and explanatory frameworks within which research has been conducted need not be rejected as 'modernist' if there is recognition of their useful role as metaphor. At the same time, we suggest a need for a critically-informed approach to research which sheds light upon taken-for-granted assumptions and naïve rationalities, illuminating metaphor and stimulating reflection.

This paper will describe the use of a user and task analysis in the development of an interactive nursing terminal (IVT). The IVT offers digital planning and patient information to the nurse on the road. A user and task analysis is the starting point of the usability design process and helps to gain insight in the way people perform their tasks. During the user and task analysis a contextual inquiry method was used to obtain insight into the users, their tasks and their working environment. While performing contextual inquiry in a home care environment, we came across different kinds of practical barriers. In this paper, we will describe how these traditional HCI-methods can be applied to the development process of eHomeCare applications.

The quality of user experience is intricately related to the users' cultural characteristics. However, not many studies have dealt with important cultural characteristics which are closely related to user experience. The main goals of this study are to identify important cultural dimensions that are closely related to the user experience of consumer electronic products and to measure them in different countries with different products. Contextual inquiries and online surveys were conducted in four different

ABSTRACT Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is a chronic disease that requires day-to-day management. Telemedicine is one way of providing support to patients, to manage and receive care from home. Medical researchers use clinical trials to evaluate telemedicine technologies by comparing medical improvements of the patients. However, the patients’ interactions and experiences with the technology are important because unpleasant experiences may result in non-adherence to a medical program. HCI experts have contributed in user-centred evaluations for decades. This research complements a telemedicine clinical trial with human-centred evaluation to understand patients during the post- rollout phase. Findings present patients’ placement of telemedicine device in their homes, patients’ feelings of using the device and their family involvement, and our experiences of conducting a HCI research with medical researchers in a clinical trial. We conclude that though the telemedicine device is seen as life-saving, patients treat it just as a regular device. We conclude that telemedicine evaluations such as clinical trials can benefit from evaluation methods in HCI.

Currently, one of the main issues of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in the area of e-Health is the design of telemedicine services based on the study of interactions established between people and new technologies. Nevertheless, the research in HCI has been mainly focused from a cognitive point of view, and most studies don’t consider other variables related to the social

The paper seeks to explore critically specific issues relating to IS, process and organizational change. The authors suggest that IS development should be regarded as a particular case of organisational change – an emergent consequence of individual and organisational learning processes. Empowerment of individuals to express their values, goals and preferences within the political and social context of the business organization is suggested to be at the heart of the development process, and crucial to strategic thinking. The authors conclude that a systemic Hermeneutic Dialectic perspective is essential in helping analysts to recognize (and engage) the inherent ambiguities and uncertainties of socially constructed realities. Vehicles are needed to enable individuals to express and to reflect upon their views. A framework is then proposed which the authors believe to be such a vehicle.

A primary purpose of traditional systems analysis is seen as 'capture' or 'elicitation' of user requirements, in order to produce specifications as a basis for information systems design. Such a view presupposes that user requirements are pre-existing, and that the particular 'users' concerned know what they are, and can therefore articulate them. We argue that these assumptions cannot be taken for granted. If a system is to be created which is useful to particular individuals, we suggest they need to take ownership and control of the analysis themselves. By exploring their own experiences, aspirations and sense-making processes in the context of their problem space, they enable richer and more comprehensive understandings to emerge. A creative process of requirements shaping is then promoted. Our focus, therefore, moves away from problem description by an external analyst, towards contextual inquiry, which supports creative thinking and problem redefinition by those individuals most affected. We discuss contextual inquiry and requirements shaping to facilitate exploration of multiple, simultaneous and dynamic roles of the same autonomous individuals, separately and collectively. Their purpose is to enable emergence of reflective, shifting perspectives, leading to deepened understandings of problem experiences. It is then possible for resolutions to be created that address experiences, rather than descriptions, of problems.

This paper discusses a user research method the authors have refined over several years: field usability testing. Field usability testing combines techniques from traditional laboratory usability testing and condensed contextual inquiry, itself an adaptation of traditional contextual inquiry methods. The authors describe two approaches or models of field usability testing: ethnographic and structured. Three case histories illustrate the method, giving examples of the ethnographic model and the structured model.

Much research has been published which attests to desire felt by educators to improve the quality of student reflection, and engagement with learning, through processes of assessment. This paper describes how research in Systems Analysis is being transformed and applied to educational practice. Staff considered that methods were needed to stimulate students to reflect and engage in higher orders of learning in order to help them to experience 'success' in their assessments. The paper describes the background to a Systems Analysis approach and its specific adaptation for support in student learning in the field of creative technologies.

Field usability research involves observing people in their own environments-for example, workplaces, homes, and schools-to learn their normal or natural behavior. Through field research, we can gain an in-depth understanding of the goals, needs, and activities of people who use the products and documentation we design and develop. This paper introduces three field research methods-condensed contextual inquiry, ethnographic interviewing, and field usability testing-illustrated with a short case history of each method. The paper then describes when and why to use each method, that is, how to choose the appropriate method for different data-collection goals.

Much research has been published which attests to desire felt by educators to improve the quality of student reflection, and engagement with learning, through processes of assessment. This paper describes how research in Systems Analysis is being transformed and applied to educational practice. Staff considered that methods were needed to stimulate students to reflect and engage in higher orders of learning in order to help them to experience 'success' in their assessments. The paper describes the background to a Systems Analysis approach and its specific adaptation for support in student learning in the field of creative technologies.

This paper presents a method and results of an ethnographic study aimed at building an understanding of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) adoption in Mumbai, India. The study combined field observations and semi-structured interviews ðN ¼ 43Þ of early ATM adopters, bank customers who do not use ATMs, and people who used the ATM for the first time as part of our research. Data were analysed to identify specific cultural traits that may affect the adoption of ATMs in urban India. Results demonstrated the unique role of the cultural context in affecting users' expectations and behavioural possibilities, thus determining people's response to the machine. This led to the conclusion that an understanding of cultural biases and metaphors can facilitate technology diffusion and acceptance informing design localisation and supporting the development of strategies to motivate and train users.

Currently, one of the main issues of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in the area of e-Health is the design of telemedicine services based on the study of interactions established between people and new technologies. Nevertheless, the research in HCI has been mainly focused from a cognitive point of view, and most studies don't consider other variables related to the social impact of technology. This gap is extremely important in e-Health, because Information Systems (IS) changes qualitatively work processes in health organizations. In this paper we present an interdisciplinary perspective that includes the cognitive and organizational aspects to the technical design of new e-Health services in the area of telecardiology. The results obtained permit to accurately define not only technical requirements and network resources management, but also user requirements, contextual particularities of the scenarios where these services could be implemented and the IS impact in organizational processes. Moreover, the ethnographical methodology proposed has been applied to specific emergencies scenarios, obtaining conclusions that allow new user-centered designs that can be directly integrated in medical practice in an efficient way.

Our contextual inquiry into the practices of oral historians unearthed a curious incongruity. While oral historians consider interview recordings a central historical artifact, these recordings sit unused after a written transcript is produced. We hypothesized that this is largely because books are more usable than recordings. Therefore, we created Books with Voices: bar-code augmented paper transcripts enabling fast, random access to digital video interviews on a PDA. We present quantitative results of an evaluation of this tangible interface with 13 participants. They found this lightweight, structured access to original recordings to offer substantial benefits with minimal overhead. Oral historians found a level of emotion in the video not available in the printed transcript. The video also helped readers clarify the text and observe nonverbal cues.

. A primary purpose of traditional systems analysis is seen as ‘capture’ or ‘elicitation’ of user requirements, in order to produce specifications as a basis for information systems design. Such a view presupposes that user requirements are pre-existing, and that the particular ‘users’ concerned know what they are, and can therefore articulate them. We argue that these assumptions cannot be taken for granted. If a system is to be created which is useful to particular individuals, we suggest they need to take ownership and control of the analysis themselves. By exploring their own experiences, aspirations and sense-making processes in the context of their problem space, they enable richer and more comprehensive understandings to emerge. A creative process of requirements shaping is then promoted. Our focus, therefore, moves away from problem description by an external analyst, towards contextual inquiry, which supports creative thinking and problem re-definition by those individuals most affected. We discuss contextual inquiry and requirements shaping to facilitate exploration of multiple, simultaneous and dynamic roles of the same autonomous individuals, separately and collectively. Their purpose is to enable emergence of reflective, shifting perspectives, leading to deepened understandings of problem experiences. It is then possible for resolutions to be created that address experiences, rather than descriptions, of problems.

We investigated the potentials and acceptance of tangible tabletop (TT) interfaces in functional and neural rehabilitation. Our goal was to analyse whether TT systems are adequate for rehabilitation and its sub categories and whether these tools have the potential to create an added value for both patients and therapists. We further investigated conventional practices and rehabilitation tools that could be adequately adapted to TT interfaces. Based on theoretical work and on the results of two focus groups with therapists and a contextual inquiry we developed three concepts for TT tools. Finally we present the resulting paper and interactive prototypes.

In this paper we describe our experiences designing a voice interface in rural India. We outline our design process from initial contextual inquiry to a formal user evaluation, and use this discussion to motivate research guidelines for others designing voice interfaces in developing regions. Our three guidelines are to build around existing information systems, to iterate on the design through user testing, and to explore design alternatives through empirical analysis. We also share some practical lessons learned in designing, implementing, and evaluating information systems for developing regions in general.

Every now and then existing methods in the User-Centered Design (UCD) process evolve and new methods are being introduced. In this position paper we discuss our new approach for studying communities within the new media landscape. First, this new approach contains ways to improve the relations between the designers, researchers and developers on the one hand and the users on the other hand. Second, we suggest encouraging more contact between the users themselves during the research phase. Ultimately these two factors contribute to a better user involvement and participation in the study which provides better results and richer information from that study.

Field Methods are a collection of tools and techniques for conducting studies of users, their tasks, and their work environments in the actual context of those environments. The promise of such methods is that they help teams design products that are both useful and usable by providing data about what people really do. Participants in this forum will address:

Most of the prior descriptions of the important relationships in Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) projects have focused on the relationships involved in their use in classrooms, treating their presence in the classroom as a given. There has been some discussion of how intelligent tutors are developed [13] and of how an Intelligent Tutor, once developed, can be disseminated widely , but there has been considerably less discussion of the deployment of prototype ITSs. In this paper, we present a model of the relationships involved in deploying a prototype intelligent tutoring system in order to conduct formative evaluation. We show that field technical personnel play a pivotal role in this process, serving as vital conduits for information and negotiation between ITS researchers and school personnel such as teachers and principals. This model was developed using Contextual Inquiries [4] and interviews of project members.

Our group carries out research on collaborative multimedia. We design, build, and test prototype software to aid people in working together on tasks such as writing, making movies, using the Internet, and managing information. We continually face the question: How do we study real users working with real software to perform real tasks in real work contexts over real time

Prior knowledge is a critical resource for design, especially when designers are striving to generate new ideas for complex problems. Systems that improve access to relevant prior knowledge and promote reuse can improve design efficiency and outcomes. Unfortunately, such systems have not been widely adopted indicating that user needs in this area have not been adequately understood. In this paper, we report the results of a contextual inquiry into the practices of and attitudes toward knowledge management and reuse during early design. The study consisted of interviews and surveys with professional designers in the creative domains. A novel aspect of our work is the focus on early design, which differs from but complements prior works' focus on knowledge reuse during later design and implementation phases. Our study yielded new findings and implications that, if applied, will help bring the benefits of knowledge management systems and reuse into early design activity.

As travellers, we are usually aware that a map is not the territory it represents. However, as researchers, inquiring into practice, are we always aware of the domain within which that practice is situated? Descriptions of practice sometimes suggest that this is not the case. For example, do engineers actually believe that the models they develop and use are reflections of some reality? It is likely that an engineer never actually follows his models when developing an artefact or process. Similarly, we can ask ourselves whether we believe that a chef actually cooks by following a recipe. Possibly, only someone who does not know how to cook would think so. These idealised models are simply the basis for discussion/reflection and experimentation. It is sometimes the case, however, that descriptions of practice are produced based in a kind of rationality that suggests these misapprehensions are appropriate. In the context of research, can we say that postmodernism has any relevance? If, in the field of practice, only the uninitiated ever had illusions that the 'grand theories' of 'modernism' could be directly applicable, then informed research must recognize this also. To those with no illusions, such 'grand theories' were a basis for reflection and critique. Thus, to this extent we have always been 'modern' and still are. Rather than espousing a Postmodernist perspective, we might point to 'Hypermodernism' -a recognition that the 'grand theories' can only be used as metaphors, i.e. a basis for practical philosophy. By adopting such a stance, it is possible to avoid a false step of fighting 'straw men' and dismissing as worthless research that which could be useful material for reflection and learning when juxtaposed with other perspectives on practice. Models and explanatory frameworks within which research has been conducted need not be rejected as 'modernist' if there is recognition of their useful role as metaphor. At the same time, we suggest a need for a critically-informed approach to research which sheds light upon taken-for-granted assumptions and naïve rationalities, illuminating metaphor and stimulating reflection.

In this paper we present research into the development of display visualizations to support spatial-temporal reasoning in real-time air traffic control tasks. We refer to such displays as 4D displays, incorporating both visualizations of 3D space and time. This work is based on ethnographic observation studies, contextual inquiry-type studies, as well as in-depth cognitive task analyses, of air traffic controllers

This paper describes a series of user studies on how people use the Web via mobile devices. The data primarily comes from contextual inquiries with 47 participants between 2004 and 2007, and is complemented with a phone log analysis of 577 panelists in 2007. We report four key contextual factors in using the Web on mobile devices and propose mobile Web activity taxonomy. The framework contains three user activity categories identical to previous stationary Web studies: information seeking, communication, and transaction, and a new category: personal space extension. The new category refers to the practice that people put their content on the Web for personal access, therefore extending their personal information space.

Currently, one of the main issues of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in the area of e-Health is the design of telemedicine services based on the study of interactions established between people and new technologies. Nevertheless, the research in HCI has been mainly focused from a cognitive point of view, and most studies don't consider other variables related to the social impact of technology. This gap is extremely important in e-Health, because Information Systems (IS) changes qualitatively work processes in health organizations. In this paper we present an interdisciplinary perspective that includes the cognitive and organizational aspects to the technical design of new e-Health services in the area of telecardiology. The results obtained permit to accurately define not only technical requirements and network resources management, but also user requirements, contextual particularities of the scenarios where these services could be implemented and the IS impact in organizational processes. Moreover, the ethnographical methodology proposed has been applied to specific emergencies scenarios, obtaining conclusions that allow new user-centered designs that can be directly integrated in medical practice in an efficient way.

Much research has been published which attests to desire felt by educators to improve the quality of student reflection, and engagement with learning, through processes of assessment. This paper describes how research in Systems Analysis is being ...

The Variations and Variations2 digital music library projects at Indiana University provide a valuable test-bed for user studies. We have used user satisfaction questionnaires, session logging, and contextual inquiry to study digital music library usage by music students. This paper describes our approach with each method and offers a comparison of cost, advantages, and disadvantages of each methods. The comparison can help digital library practitioners choose amongst or combine field-study methods based on their objectives and constraints.

In this paper we elucidate the patterns of behavior of home movie makers through a study of 12 families and a separate focus group of 7 teenagers. Analogous to a similar study of photowork [13], the goal is to provide a deeper understanding of what people currently do with video technologies, balancing the preponderence of techno-centric work in the area with appropriate user-centric insight. From our analysis, we derive a videowork lifecycle to frame the practices users engage in when working with video technologies in the home, and uncover two broad types of video usage therein. This has implications for how we conceive of and devise tools to support these practices, as we discuss.

In this paper we give a "case story" experience from development, practice and results from a method and project course on User Oriented Interaction Design. The course is intended for last year Masters' students from different backgrounds, computer science as well as social science and design disciplines.

55, SE-111 21 Stockholm, Sweden ‡Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköpings universitet, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden §School of Communication, Technology and Design, Södertörns högskola, Campus Haninge, SE-136 40 Haninge Sweden How does information and communication technology (ICT), such as telephones and computers, create interruptions for people at work, and how can fragmentation be counteracted? Empirical material was collected during 17 observation and interview sessions, at two surgical wards and one reception. The results

In this paper we give a "case story" experience from development, practice and results from a method and project course on User Oriented Interaction Design. The course is intended for last year Masters' students from different backgrounds, computer science as well as social science and design disciplines.

This paper presents a method and results of an ethnographic study aimed at building an understanding of Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) adoption in Mumbai, India. The study combined field observations and semi-structured interviews ðN ¼ 43Þ of early ATM adopters, bank customers who do not use ATMs, and people who used the ATM for the first time as part of our research. Data were analysed to identify specific cultural traits that may affect the adoption of ATMs in urban India. Results demonstrated the unique role of the cultural context in affecting users' expectations and behavioural possibilities, thus determining people's response to the machine. This led to the conclusion that an understanding of cultural biases and metaphors can facilitate technology diffusion and acceptance informing design localisation and supporting the development of strategies to motivate and train users.

Currently, one of the main issues of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in the area of e-Health is the design of telemedicine services based on the study of interactions established between people and new technologies. Nevertheless, the research in HCI has been mainly focused from a cognitive point of view, and most studies don’t consider other variables related to the social

This paper presents a mobile handheld device, called "Ponycom", for virtual community access and communication purposes. The research approach is user centred, i.e. the needs and requirements of a specific user group, namely the members of virtual stables, are examined. Based on the results, a design concept of a dedicated mobile handheld device for active members of virtual stables is presented. Two cycles of design iterations are described; the first is based on the content and activity analysis of the virtual stables and contextual inquiry, and the second cycle utilizes user participation in the format of story-writing.