Methods for user‐centered design and evaluation of text analysis tools in a digital history project

—Thailand, as well as many other countries worldwide, is facing a shortage of medical staff. We propose a solution to improve medical services in rural areas: a robot teleoperation system that allow patients to consult with doctors from public hospitals, and for doctors to examine and make decisions about their required care. To develop such a system, we are following a user-centred design (UCD) process. Two research questions have been addressed: how should an effective robot teleoperation system be designed to support medical diagnosis and patient communication? And does the use of a social robot improve the social interaction and examination quality in a remote consultation? This paper discusses the overall UCD process, starting from requirement analysis with Thai end-users (finished), system design and development on Pepper robot (in-progress), and user-centred evaluation (future plan).

Scientific data volumes have been growing exponentially. This has resulted in the need for new tools that enable users to operate on and analyze data. Cyber infrastructure tools, including workflow tools, that have been developed in the last few years has often fallen short if user needs and suffered from lack of wider adoption. User-centered Design (UCD) process has been used as an effective approach to develop usable software with high adoption rates. However, UCD has largely been applied for user-interfaces and there has been limited work in applying UCD to application program interfaces and cyber infrastructure tools. We use an adapted version of UCD that we refer to as Scientist-Centered Design (SCD) to engage with users in the design and development of Tigres, a workflow application programming interface. Tigres provides a simple set of programming templates (e.g., sequence, parallel, split, merge) that can be can used to compose and execute computational and data transformation pipelines. In this paper, we describe Tigres and discuss our experiences with the use of UCD for the initial development of Tigres. Our experience-to-date is that the UCD process not only resulted in better requirements gathering but also heavily influenced the architecture design and implementation details. User engagement during the development of tools such as Tigres is critical to ensure usability and increase adoption.

Even though User-Centred Design (UCD) is widely accepted and employed in the design and development of interactive systems, there are limited guiding procedures on how such approaches can be translated to the development of products, systems, and services that are focusing primarily on accessibility. This paper reports on the application of UCD for such a system within an EU project CONTENT4ALL under the domain accessibility for the Deaf. Each step in the UCD process and the respective activities within each step are described in detail with a focus on the methods and techniques adopted for assisting in the development of the novel technology. The insights gained during the entirety of the user-centred design and evaluation process have led to a compilation of important factors for creating sign-translated media content. This possible guideline comprises a list of useful and necessary components pertaining to sign language delivery in media, particularly sign television. The objective of this paper is to highlight lessons learned presented in the form of recommendations for human factors researchers on key UCD procedures for the development of accessibility products, systems and services based on the performed user activities within the project. An attempt has been made to reduce the gap in literature and add to a possible UCD guiding process exclusively for accessibility.

BackgroundStressful situations during intraoperative emergencies have negative impact on human cognitive functions. Consequently, task performance may decrease and patient safety may be compromised. Cognitive aids can counteract these effects and support anesthesiologists in their crisis management. The Professional Association of German Anesthesiologists set up a project to develop a comprehensive set of digital cognitive aids for intraoperative emergencies. A parallel development for several software platforms and stationary and mobile devices will accommodate the inhomogeneity of the information technology infrastructure within German anesthesia departments.ObjectiveThis paper aimed to provide a detailed overview of how the task of developing a digital cognitive aid for intraoperative crisis management in anesthesia was addressed that meets user requirements and is highly user-friendly.MethodsA user-centered design (UCD) process was conducted to identify, specify, and supplement the requirements for a digital cognitive aid. The study covered 4 aspects: analysis of the context of use, specification of user requirements, development of design solutions, and evaluation of design solutions. Three prototypes were developed and evaluated by end users of the application. Following each evaluation, the new requirements were prioritized and used for redesign. For the first and third prototype, the System Usability Scale (SUS) score was determined. The second prototype was evaluated with an extensive Web-based questionnaire. The evaluation of the third prototype included a think-aloud protocol.ResultsThe chosen methods enabled a comprehensive collection of requirements and helped to improve the design of the application. The first prototype achieved an average SUS score of 74 (SD 12), indicating good usability. The second prototype included the following main revisions: 2-column layout, initial selection of patient type (infant, adult, or parturient), 4 offered search options, and the option to check off completed action steps. Its evaluation identified the following major revision points: add quick selection for resuscitation checklists, design the top bar and tabs slightly larger, and add more pictograms to the text. The third prototype achieved an average SUS score of 77 (SD 15). The evaluation of the think-aloud protocol revealed a good intuitiveness of the application and identified a missing home button as the main issue.ConclusionsAnesthesiology—as an acute medical field—is particularly characterized by its high demands on decision making and action in dynamic, or time-critical situations. The integration of usability aspects is essential for everyday and emergency suitability. The UCD process allowed us to develop a prototypical digital cognitive aid, exhibiting high usability and user satisfaction in the demanding environment of anesthesiological emergencies. Both aspects are essential to increase the acceptance of the application in later stages. The study approach, combining different methods for determining user requirements, may be useful for other implementation projects in a highly demanding environment.

The rapid advancement of AI technology has led to increasingly complex and opaque systems, creating a critical need for explainable AI (XAI) that enhances transparency and user trust. Despite extensive research on XAI methods and applications, the user-centered design (UCD) process for XAI remains fragmented and unclear. This systematic review analyzes 27 studies from 2020 to 2024 to develop a comprehensive framework for user-centered XAI system design (UCXAISD). We identify five key stages: contextual inquiry, explanation needs identification, XAI method selection, user interface design, and evaluation and refinement. Our framework aligns with traditional UCD processes while incorporating specialized elements for XAI, including user-centricity, transparency, and actionability. For each stage, we provide evidence-based guidelines derived from the literature. The framework serves as a blueprint for developing XAI systems that balance technical sophistication with user needs.

Forest and land fires have become a national issue every year, especially in West Kalimantan. From 2015 to 2020, around 331,268.35 hectares of forest and land were burned in West Kalimantan. As a result of forest and land fires, the haze disrupts public health, the economy, and river, land, sea, and air transportation. As anticipation and prevention, the community and government monitor forest and land fires using the Forest Fire Monitoring System Application. The purpose of this study was to the User Experience (UX) evaluation for design improvement in the Forest Fire Monitoring System Application (SIPONGI) inWest Kalimantan. The method used was User Centered Design (UCD) and Website Usability Evaluation Tool (WEBUSE) to provide new design solutions in the form of a website prototype. The research methodology included a literature study of the SIPONGI application. The study used a sample of 25 respondents with different work backgrounds to represent the population using the SIPONGI application. The results of this study showed that usability points per attribute and category are superior after making UI/UX improvements using the UCD process in prototype form. In conclusion, using the UCD method is better if it is accompanied by the WEBUSE method in improving the design of an application.

BackgroundInternet-based treatments for child anxiety may help to increase access to evidence-based therapies; however, user engagement, uptake, and adherence within routine clinical practice remain as challenges. Involving the intended end users in the development process through user-centered design and usability testing is crucial for maximizing user engagement and adoption of internet-based treatments, but so far this has been lacking for internet-based treatments for child anxiety.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to develop an internet-based treatment for child anxiety through a process of user-centered design (phase 1) and usability testing (phase 2), based on an existing evidence-based, face-to-face, therapist-supported, parent-led cognitive behavioral therapy intervention. It is intended that the internet-based version of this treatment would consist of a parent website, case management system for clinicians, and mobile game app for children.MethodsParents, children, and clinicians who were familiar with the face-to-face version of the treatment were recruited from 2 National Health Service clinics. In phase 1, participants participated in 3 workshops to gain feedback on the overall concept, explore their wants and needs for the websites and game, generate ideas on how the treatment may look, and gain feedback on initial mock-ups of the websites and game. In phase 2, participants attended 3 individual usability testing sessions where they were presented with working prototypes of the website or game and asked to perform a series of tasks on the website (parents and clinicians) or play the game (children). The frequency and details on usability errors were recorded. Participants were asked for their feedback on the website and game using a standardized usability questionnaire and semistructured interviews. The websites and game were iterated after each round of usability testing in response to this feedback.ResultsIn phase 1, participants approved the general concept and rated the initial mock-ups of the website and game positively. In phase 2, working prototypes were rated positively and usability errors declined across the iterations and were mainly cosmetic or minor issues relating to esthetic preference, with few issues regarding ability to navigate the website or technical issues affecting functionality. Feedback from the semistructured interviews further supported the positive response of participants to the website and game, and helped identify areas for improvement during the iteration process. The final iteration of the website and game are presented.ConclusionsTaking an iterative approach to development through user-centered design and usability testing has resulted in an internet-based treatment for child anxiety (Online Support and Intervention for child anxiety) that appears to meet the needs and expectations of the intended users (parents, children, and clinicians) and is easy and enjoyable to use.

BackgroundDespite the unprecedented performance of deep learning algorithms in clinical domains, full reviews of algorithmic predictions by human experts remain mandatory. Under these circumstances, artificial intelligence (AI) models are primarily designed as clinical decision support systems (CDSSs). However, from the perspective of clinical practitioners, the lack of clinical interpretability and user-centered interfaces hinders the adoption of these AI systems in practice.ObjectiveThis study aims to develop an AI-based CDSS for assisting polysomnographic technicians in reviewing AI-predicted sleep staging results. This study proposed and evaluated a CDSS that provides clinically sound explanations for AI predictions in a user-centered manner.MethodsOur study is based on a user-centered design framework for developing explanations in a CDSS that identifies why explanations are needed, what information should be contained in explanations, and how explanations can be provided in the CDSS. We conducted user interviews, user observation sessions, and an iterative design process to identify three key aspects for designing explanations in the CDSS. After constructing the CDSS, the tool was evaluated to investigate how the CDSS explanations helped technicians. We measured the accuracy of sleep staging and interrater reliability with macro-F1 and Cohen κ scores to assess quantitative improvements after our tool was adopted. We assessed qualitative improvements through participant interviews that established how participants perceived and used the tool.ResultsThe user study revealed that technicians desire explanations that are relevant to key electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns for sleep staging when assessing the correctness of AI predictions. Here, technicians wanted explanations that could be used to evaluate whether the AI models properly locate and use these patterns during prediction. On the basis of this, information that is closely related to sleep EEG patterns was formulated for the AI models. In the iterative design phase, we developed a different visualization strategy for each pattern based on how technicians interpreted the EEG recordings with these patterns during their workflows. Our evaluation study on 9 polysomnographic technicians quantitatively and qualitatively investigated the helpfulness of the tool. For technicians with <5 years of work experience, their quantitative sleep staging performance improved significantly from 56.75 to 60.59 with a P value of .05. Qualitatively, participants reported that the information provided effectively supported them, and they could develop notable adoption strategies for the tool.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that formulating clinical explanations for automated predictions using the information in the AI with a user-centered design process is an effective strategy for developing a CDSS for sleep staging.

BackgroundThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal nutrition program that provides nutritious food, education, and health care referrals to low-income women, infants, and children up to the age of 5 years. Although WIC is associated with positive health outcomes for each participant category, modernization and efficiency are needed at the clinic and shopping levels to increase program satisfaction and participation rates. New technologies, such as electronic benefits transfer (EBT), online nutrition education, and mobile apps, can provide opportunities to improve the WIC experience for participants.ObjectiveThis formative study applies user-centered design principles to inform the layout and prioritization of features in mobile apps for low-income families participating in the WIC program.MethodsTo identify and prioritize desirable app features, caregivers (N=22) of the children enrolled in WIC participated in individual semistructured interviews with a card sorting activity. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using constant comparative analysis for themes. App features were ranked and placed into natural groupings by each participant. The sum and average of the rankings were calculated to understand which features were prioritized by the users. Natural groupings of features were labeled according to participant descriptions.ResultsNatural groupings focused on the following categories: clinics/appointments, shopping/stores, education/assessments, location, and recipes/food. Themes from the interviews triangulated the results from the ranking activity. The priority app features were balance checking, an item scanner, and appointment scheduling. Other app features discussed and ranked included appointment reminders, nutrition training and quizzes, shopping lists, clinic and store locators, recipe gallery, produce calculator, and dietary preferences/allergies.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates how a user-centered design process can aid the development of an app for low-income families participating in WIC to inform the effective design of the app features and user interface.

In some circumstances, immersion in virtual environments with the aid of virtual reality (VR) equipment can create feelings of anxiety in users and be experienced as something “frightening”, “oppressive”, “alienating”, “dehumanizing”, or “dystopian”. Sometimes (e.g., in exposure therapy or VR gaming), a virtual environment is intended to have such psychological impacts on users; however, such effects can also arise unintentionally due to the environment’s poor architectural design. Designers of virtual environments may employ user-centered design (UCD) to incrementally improve a design and generate a user experience more closely resembling the type desired; however, UCD can yield suboptimal results if an initial design relied on an inappropriate architectural approach. This study developed a framework that can facilitate the purposeful selection of the most appropriate architectural approach by drawing on Norberg-Schulz’s established phenomenological account of real-world architectural modes. By considering the unique possibilities for structuring and experiencing space within virtual environments and reinterpreting Norberg-Schulz’s schemas in the context of virtual environment design, a novel framework was formulated that explicates six fundamental “architectural paradigms” available to designers of virtual environments. It was shown that the application of this framework could easily be incorporated as an additional step within the UCD process.

A user interface (UI) is one of the most significant parts of an information system (IS). A user-friendly UI helps users to carry out their tasks with efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. UI consists of five elements: metaphor, mental model, navigation, interaction, and appearance. Based on these, the designer must carefully select and design each element to be appropriate for the users. This research examines the influential process named user-centered design (UCD), a well-known process to raise product quality. Furthermore, the roles UI elements in IS development by observing it in a small family software services company in Thailand. The findings of this study show small family team is proper with UI design that concern in usability for user. Even though some UCD processes or UI elements are quite unclear, the clan culture helps team to design UI with flexibility, and unbiassed obtain comments from user.

The objective of the study is to develop an algorithm for prioritizing requirements in the development of software for critical infrastructure object projects. Requirement development is a fundamental phase in any software project, as this phase involves the identification, processing, and manipulation of requirements. The primary source of these requirements is project stakeholders, taking into account project constraints and limits. The number of requirements varies for each software project for a critical infrastructure object, hence the term requirement prioritization pertains to determining the priority order of executing software requirements based on considerations and decisions of stakeholders. Various proposed optimization algorithms are employed to address optimization tasks. This paper presents the main stages of basic optimization algorithms, some of their modifications aimed at enhancing their efficiency in solving such types of problems. Additionally, a hybrid approach based on WOA and GWO optimization algorithms is proposed, combining the advantages of each algorithm to determine the priority of requirements for critical infrastructure object software. Furthermore, a dataset from the SKUDA project is provided, utilized in this research, meeting the requirements of a real software project for evaluating the proposed method. The scientific novelty lies in the modification, application, and combination of results from well-known GWO and WOA algorithms to address the requirement prioritization task for critical infrastructure object software projects. The proposed algorithm achieves an accuracy of 92% for the proposed set of requirements.

PurposeThis study aims to develop an empathetic and user-centric customer support service design model. Though service design has been a critical research focus for several decades, few studies focus on customer support services. As customer support gains importance as a source of competitive advantage in the present era, this paper aims to contribute to industry and academia by exploring the service design model.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a theories-in-use approach to elucidate mental models based on the industry’s best practices. In-depth interviews with 62 professionals led to critical insights into customer service design development, supported by service-dominant logic and theory of mind principles.FindingsThe ensuing insights led to a model that connects the antecedents and outcomes of empathetic and user-centric customer service design. The precursors include people, processes and technology, while the results are user experience, service trust and service advocacy. The model also emphasises the significance of the user’s journey and the user service review in the overall service design.Research limitations/implicationsThe model developed through this study addresses the critical gap concerning the lack of service design research in customer support services. The key insights from this study contribute to the ongoing research endeavours towards transitioning customer support services from an operational unit to a strategic value-creating function. Future scholars may investigate the applicability of the empathetic user service design across cultures and industries. The new model must be customised using real-time data and analytics across user journey stages.Practical implicationsThe empathetic and user-centric design can elevate the customer service function as a significant contributor to the overall customer experience, loyalty and positive word of mouth. Practitioners can adopt the new model to provide superior customer service experiences. This original research was developed through crucial insights from interviews with senior industry professionals.Originality/valueThis research is the original work developed through the key insights from the interview with senior industry professionals.

ATM interfaces nowadays present serious issues in usability and accessibility, frustrating users’ interaction and leading them to make operational mistakes. For this reason, we present the development of graphical interfaces for ATMs of BBVA Continental Bank, which follows a process of user-centered design. The priority was to identify the real needs of users based on the context, and to understand how they interact with the interfaces. In order to validate our proposal, we established a model and a functional prototype. Later, we evaluated this new design with a usability test. Based on the defects that were found, we applied changes to improve the interfaces. Finally, after an in-depth analysis, we concluded that the designed interfaces were suitable for implementation in the ATMs of BBVA Continental Bank, due to the process followed and the acceptance by users.

A central part of a robot programming system is its user interface. Oftentimes, its design and development are neglected, although the user interface is the connection between the robot and the user. In this work we present the application of a user-centered design process to a robot programming system interface. The iterative process consists of three steps, namely analysis, design, and evaluation that may be repeated until a desired outcome is obtained. The evaluation shows that with the help of the adapted user-centered design process, it is possible to improve existing user interfaces to become more intuitive and easy to use for nonexperts from domains of assembling and construction.