Australian Computer Society: ACS Digital Library
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From Documents to User Interfaces Universal Design and the Emergence of Abstraction
Get PDFAbstract representations of content which allow it to be automatically adapted to suit the delivery context, have emerged historically with the development of markup languages intended to facilitate the storage and processing of electronic documents. This technological tradition is reviewed in the first part of the paper, focusing predominantly on the nature and advantages of a ‘single authoring’ approach to the creation of content. Some of the lessons to be derived from the evolution and deployment of markup systems are also discussed, then applied, in the second part of the paper, to the question of how such abstractions can be extended to the design of user interfaces. Innovative work related to the generic specification of user interfaces is reviewed. It is argued that the advantages of an abstract approach depend for their realization on the development of more expressive style languages and more sophisticated adaptation mechanisms, as well as continued refinement of the semantics of markup languages themselves
3G Multimedia Content Production as Social Communication
Get PDFYoung people are taking advantage of the ever-increasing accessibility and technical capabilities of 3G phones and the Internet to represent their experiences through multimedia content. However, this practice is inhibited by design shortcomings which don’t adequately protect the privacy of content, problemitise content management and which limit distribution. This paper explores how possible design solutions were envisioned thorough the use of a scenario, called the Trophy Roo
E-Commerce in Saudi Arabia: adoption and perspectives
Get PDFAmong one of the most far-reaching influences of the Internet, especially from the perspective of business and market models, is the concept and application of eCommerce. Today, this erstwhile ‘experimental’ commerce model has become a standard platform for streamlining business flows and broadening product outreach. This is validated by the significant emphasis by a number of countries in developing robust eCommerce architectures tailored to suit their economical-social systems. An interesting case study in this perspective is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially given its emphasis on local, regional and religious traditions. Presently, with a tremendous growth rate in Internet connectivity, the Kingdom is actively moving towards large-scale adoption of eCommerce systems. In 2001, a two year project was initiated to study the present influence of Internet on social, educational and business systems within the Kingdom. One of the major aspects was the analysis of user responses collected over the two-year period through a number of surveys, which were designed based on two prominent behavioural models: Theory of Planned Behaviour and Roger’s Theory of Diffusion of Innovations. The consequent analysis of the results was supported and in some cases verified with linear regression models. This paper reports on the consequent findings, which identify factors that may significantly affect the adoption of eCommerce in the Kingdom
Realist and Postmodernist Perspectives on Information Systems Research: points of connection
Get PDFThere has been considerable debate in the information systems (IS) literature as to which research methodology is most appropriate to address IS related problems. This paper contributes to that debate by contrasting the post-modernist approach with that of the critical realist. A major strand within the postmodernist perspective is concerned with the various aspects of knowing – that is, it is primarily epistemological in focus. In contrast, traditional realist approaches are more ontological in focus in their acceptance and concern for a reality external to perception. Realist and postmodernist approaches are generally presented as in opposition to each other, yet as this paper will argue, a suitably aware contemporary realist approach to research can accommodate many of the proposals of the post-modernist. Critical realism is presented as such a contemporary realist philosophy in that it takes account of both ontological and epistemological viewpoints. It is argued that such a philosophy has the potential to provide a basis for developing a robust methodological approach to IS research
Factors Influencing Information Systems Success in Papua New Guinea Organisations: a case analysis
Get PDFInformation Systems (IS) applications have proliferated in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as organisations in these countries begin to realise the benefits of utilising these technologies to improve business process and enhance productivity. However much IS implementation in LDCs has been unsuccessful. Successful approaches should take account of technological factors, and also heed social context including economic, political, cultural and behavioural influences. As a component of a wider study to identify factors that influence IS success in developing countries, this paper examines factors that have affected IS implementation in two Papua New Guinea (PNG) organisations
Adoption of Online Purchasing Methods in Communities and its Socio-Economic Implications in Regional Central Queensland, Australia
No full textThis paper analyses the general trends of online purchasing in Central Queensland (CQ) communities during 1999-2002 and identifies the socio-economic factors affecting online purchasing activities. The Online Purchasing Indicator, defined as a combination of percentages of online purchasers and of regular purchasers (>one item/month) within a group, is applied to compare these activities between these two groups. The study identifies that four factors, namely ‘personal attributes’, ‘knowledge’, ‘trust’ and ‘need’ may play important roles in online purchasing decisions. The research found that regional economic bleeding associated with low local adoption failing to provide justification for local business to adopt electronic purchasing support has not yet reached significant levels
Interactive Spaces Towards Collaborative Structuring and Ubiquitous Presentation in Domestic Environments
Get PDFThis paper analyses the use of media and material in private homes based on empirical studies in a project on designing interactive domestic environments. Based on the analyses we propose a Domestic Hypermedia infrastructure (DoHM) combining spatial, context-aware and physical hypermedia to support collaborative structuring and ubiquitous presentation of materials in private homes. With DoHM we propose establishing new relationship between digital and physical hyperspaces, folding hyperspaces into the physical space of the household. Thus we strive to combine the qualities of physical domestic materials and spaces with the flexibility and dynamics of digital hyperspaces. We propose a variety of new ubiquitous home appliances called MediaWall, MediaTable, MediaTray and MediaPort, which address these issues
Online Communities: researching sociability and usability in hard to reach populations
Get PDFThousands of social gatherings - online communities – occur via ICTs across the Internet. They use listservers, bulletin boards, instant messaging, blogs, social network and meeting facilitation systems and purpose-build platforms. Each community is the product of a complex set of interacting variables. Some of these variables come from usability of the software but social factors have a strong influence. Direct cause and effect relationships are often difficult to tease out and identifying criteria for successful online communities can be difficult. Furthermore several disciplines own this topic, each with its own theories, research methods, community of researchers and publication outlets. This is good for multidisciplinary research but it can be challenging. In this paper I discuss two research projects. Each focuses on community populations that are hard to reach. The first analyses why people do not actively participate in online discussions, i.e., lurk. The second is a new project to develop cross-cultural online book communities for children across the world who do not speak each other’s languages. I present the key findings from each project and suggest ways of working with these hard to reach populations
Consumption of Multiple Concurrent Identities: the need from the instant messaging virtual community
Get PDFIn recent years, Instant Messaging (IM) has become one of the most growing online communities, reaching millions of users at home and at work worldwide. As the community expands, assuming more than one identity at the same time becomes a common behaviour of IM users. This paper reports our ongoing research on support for multiple concurrent identities (MCI’s). Our study used an online survey and face-to-face interviews to identify user needs in supporting MCI’s in IM. The study has identified five themes including single nickname, multiple avatars, multiple statuses, boundary control and interoperability. Reflecting on these themes, we propose a framework of MCI support in IM