Supply network design: Risk-averse or risk-neutral?

In this paper, we investigate a supply network design in supply chain with unreliable supply with application in the pharmaceutical industry. We consider two types of decision making policies: (1) a risk-neutral decision-making policy that is based on a cost-minimization approach and (2) a risk-averse policy wherein, rather than selecting facilities and identifying the pertinent supplier–consumer assignments that minimize the expected cost, the decision-maker uses a Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) approach to measure and quantify risk and to define what comprises a worst-case scenario. The CVaR methodology allows the decision-maker to specify to what extent worst-case scenarios should be avoided and the corresponding costs associated with such a policy. After introducing the underlying optimization models, we present computational analysis and statistical analysis to compare the results of the risk-averse and risk-neutral policies. In addition, we provide several managerial insights.     

Electronic document delivery suitable for all libraries and their users: Fiction or reality?

This paper provides an outline of a proposed system that would enable a person to gain electronic access to sources of information, then download, manipulate and present the material found in a range of ways. The paper then outlines the development of the Joint Electronic Document Delivery (JEDDS) project involving higher education in Australia and the United Kingdom, the Australian and New Zealand National Libraries and the Research Libraries Group in North America. When completed in late 1997, this project will have contributed to a significant part of the proposed system outlined in part one of the paper.     

Software design methods: life belt or leg iron?

Do software design methods have a future? The issue I explore in this article is concerned with the problems that the use of design methods can present. It can be expressed as a question: “Will the adoption of a design method help the software development process (the `life belt' role), or is there significant risk that its use will lead to suboptimum solutions (the `leg iron' role)?” (I use “method” to mean “a way of doing something”, rather than using the more pretentious-sounding “methodology”, which more correctly means “study of methods”). To address, but not necessarily answer, this question, I first consider what designing involves in a wider context, and then compare this with what we do, and finally consider what this might imply for the future     

Website design: place for luxury brands in cyberspace?

A great challenge for luxury marketers is how to harness Internet’s incredible influence on customers while still maintaining and adhering to the customer-based brand equity (CBE) of luxury brands. This study aims to investigate the effect of website design on the CBE of luxury brands. Integrating the research on aesthetic design and luxury branding, we develop and empirically validate a research model, specifying that two aesthetic design dimensions (aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal) can stimulate a strong sense of luxury, which in turn leads to a positive evaluation of CBE. Furthermore, the effect of aesthetic design on the sense of luxury is contingent upon brand familiarity prior to the exposure of a luxury brand website. The research model is validated with a survey study involving 201 participants. The paper includes implications for website design to deliver online brand experience and develop CBE with specific online consumer groups. As an early attempt to examine the website design effect on online branding experience and brand equity, this study contributes to both literature of website aesthetics and online luxury branding.     

Real-time collaboration in design engineering: An expensive fantasy or affordable reality?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main issues that are both driving and impeding the implementation and use of CSCW systems within the automotive industry. The paper begins by describing the current competitive pressures within the European Automotive industry and then moves on to highlight the main requirements for real-time collaborative systems, as expressed by various organizations along the automotive supply chain. Finally, the paper presents the results of a recent project in this area and some conclusions on the viability of CSCW technology in the current technical and commercial climate.     

Real-time collaboration in design engineering: an expensive fantasy or affordable reality?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the main issues that are both driving and impeding the implementation and use of CSCW systems within the automotive industry. The paper begins by describing the current competitive pressures within the European Automotive industry and then moves on to highlight the main requirements for real-time collaborative systems, as expressed by various organizations along the automotive supply chain. Finally, the paper presents the results of a recent project in this area and some conclusions on the viability of CSCW technology in the current technical and commercial climate.     

Selecting users for participation in IT projects: Trading a representative sample for advocates and champions?

The selection of users for participation in IT projects involves trade-offs between multiple criteria, one of which is selecting a representative cross-section of users. This criterion is basic because trading it for other criteria means basing designs on information biased toward some user groups at the expense of others. Based on interviews in development and customer organizations we find that their criteria for user selection favor persons who can contribute to the progress of the IT project over persons who are representative of the full range of users. A highly valued contribution from participating users is the ability to advocate a vision for the system and champion its organizational implementation. A survey in one customer organization shows that respondents’ personal traits explain up to 31% of the variation in their experience of aspects of the usability of a recently introduced system. Thus, unless participating users are representative as to these personal traits, IT projects may, inadvertently, bring about systems that will fail to satisfy many users.     

Towards incorporating personality into the design of an interface: a method for facilitating users’ interaction with the display

A novel user interface (UI) design based on the personality characteristics of users was proposed and examined in a mobile learning context. It was argued that differences in personality can stimulate individuals’ information processing capabilities in according to their display preferences, thus an effective visual experience. The personality characteristics and design preferences of 87 students (37 male, and 50 female) were collected and analysed. The clustering result (using k-means algorithm) revealed two potential personality types, which we call the neuroticism and the extra-conscientiousness groups. Then, an interface was designed for each personality group using the association rules method. An eye-tracking device was used to record changes in participants’ eye-pupil diameter and fixation duration, and thus examine their cognitive load and attention. The participants’ eye movement data of each group showed that their visual experience was significantly improved when using the interface designed based on their personality characteristics. This work offers some important design and practical insights to the human–computer interaction and the design of mobile device UI.     

Satisfaction/dissatisfaction: are users predisposed?

User satisfaction (US) is probably the most studied construct in information systems (IS) research. Despite such attention, reported results regarding the relationship between US and IS success have been inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. Is it possible that something else is occurring in this relationship that has not been modeled in past studies? Perhaps user dispositional traits are confounding the results. Users may be predisposed to be either satisfied or dissatisfied in a way that has nothing to do with the system itself. This paper investigates the impact that user predispositions have on how users perceive IS. The results of the investigation indicate that there is significant relationship between user predispositions and US.     

What makes an automated teller machine usable by blind users?

The present study examines changes in a variety of oculomotoric variables as a function of increasing sleepiness in 129 participants, who have been passed through a broad range of subjective alertness. Up to now, spontaneous eye blinks are the most promising biosignal for in-car sleepiness warnings. Reviewing the current literature on eye movements and fatigue, experimental data are provided including additional indicative oculomotoric parameters; inter-individual differences in the experiments were also assessed. Here, self-rated alertness decreased over six steps on average and proved itself a reliable measurement. Regarding oculomotoric parameters, blink duration, delay of lid reopening, blink interval and standardised lid closure speed were identified as the best indicators of subjective as well as objective sleepiness. Saccadic parameters and fixation durations also showed specific changes with increasing sleepiness. Substantial inter-individual differences in all of these variables were illustrated. Oculomotoric parameters were linked to three different components of sleepiness while driving: a) deactivation; b) decreasing attention, resulting in disinhibition of spontaneous blinks and reflexive saccades; c) increasing attempts of self-activation. Finally, implications for the development of drowsiness detection devices were discussed.     

Acting by hand: Informing interaction design for the periphery of people’s attention

Interactions in and with the physical world have enabled us to perform everyday activities in the periphery of our attention. Even though digital technologies are becoming increasingly present in the everyday environment, interaction with these technologies usually requires people’s focused attention. In the realm of the vision of calm technology, we think that designing interactions with the digital world inspired by our peripheral interaction with the physical world, will enable digital technologies to better blend into our everyday lives. However, for such interaction design to be effective, a detailed understanding of the everyday periphery is required. In this paper, we therefore present a qualitative study on everyday activities that may take place in the periphery of the attention. We provide a broad range of examples of such everyday activities and cluster them to present the conditions under which they may be performed peripherally. Furthermore, we discuss how our findings may be relevant for the design of peripheral interactions with digital technologies, and present two conceptual designs that are based on our findings.     

Choices for comparative analysis: DQ analysis or exaggeration?

Comparative analysis is the problem of determining how and why the behaviour of a system will change when its structure is changed. Like qualitative simulation, comparative analysis does not require precise quantitative information and can be used to produce explanations. This paper analyses two techniques for solving comparative analysis problems: differential qualitative (DQ) analysis and exaggeration. The techniques are shown to be complementary. Since DQ analysis is sound, it only produces correct answers. While exaggeration is only a heuristic technique, it solves a greater variety of problems than does DQ analysis. Together, they solve many problems correctly.     

User-centred design of neogeography: the impact of volunteered geographic information on users' perceptions of online map ‘mashups’

This paper investigates the influence of presenting volunteered and professionally created geographic information to 101 wheelchair users through an interactive website that included information collected by wheelchair-using volunteers. The aim of this experiment was to understand the influence that (1) knowing a map-based website contains volunteered information and (2) actually including volunteered information within an online interactive map (a mashup) have on the perceived trust of the user, described in terms of quality and authority. Analysis using Kruskal–Wallis showed that judgements of currency were influenced by including geo-information from untrained volunteers (volunteered geographic information) within the mashup, but not influenced by the participant being told that the online map contained volunteered information. The participants appeared to make judgements based on what information they saw, rather than what they were told about the source of the information.     

Which network design tool is right for you?

We've all seen advertisements for commercial network design tools. They usually show colorful workstation and server icons suspended like insects in a spider web of switches and routers, all neatly superimposed on a map of Northern California. But network design is more than dragging, dropping, and connecting icons to build a graphical network infrastructure. Network design is challenging, requiring designers to balance user performance expectations with network-resource costs, capacities, capabilities, and use levels. Network operators want to keep resource utilization high and costs low. But then the resulting design might produce unacceptable service levels when congested links and undersized routers cause too much delay or too many dropped packets. You need a design that will efficiently use your network resources and effectively serve your users. And you want a network design tool that can produce the design you want. Networks are a complicated mix of applications, protocols, device and link technologies, traffic flows, and routing algorithms. There may be tens of thousands of feasible configurations, each with different performance attributes and costs. Can network design tools help you find the combination that is right for your organization? Yes, but it's important to use the right one for the job     

Information systems for marine protected areas: How do users interpret desirable data attributes?

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on how various user groups related to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) interpret desirable data attributes, whether their interpretations differ and to what extent. Moreover, this study aims to make a methodological contribution to the interpretive information systems (IS) literature by showing the potential of Spradley's (1979) ethnographic methods for understanding the human context in IS research and practice. Semi-structured interviews of MPA managers, academics, government officials, and environmentalists were analysed in four steps. Our findings show that each of the five data attributes studied encompassed more than one and often partly overlapping meanings. Commonalities and differences in interpretations between groups were observed. Users' organisational background helped to explain these differences; cross-cutting themes that seemed to guide users' interpretations and actions were perceived legitimacy and accountability of practices along the data value chain. Systematic use of ethnographically-informed methods allowed the detection of subtle differences in how users constructed meaning. As these different interpretations may lead to misunderstandings during requirements engineering, Spradley's approach could prove useful as a tool not only to elicit and analyse requirements, but also to facilitate unambiguous communication to reach mutual understanding among participants. This may help to improve IS development and thus enhance IS use for participatory governance and management in MPAs.     

Designing menus for the Chinese population: horizontal or vertical?

This research investigated the language differences between English and Chinese and the implication on the design of menu presentations for computer interfaces. Eighty Chinese subjects and twenty American subjects participated in this experiment. The results of this research indicated that the menu layout should be congruent with the language being used. Horizontal English menus result in better performance than vertical English menus. However, vertical Chinese menus result in better performance than horizontal Chinese menus. It is important to design menus based on the language being used rather than the linguistic traditions of the population using the interface. The effects of menu layout also depend on whether the search task items were presented in English or Chinese.