Designing service systems by bridging the “front stage” and “back stage”

Service management and design has largely focused on the interactions between employees and customers. This perspective holds that the quality of the “service experience” is primarily determined during this final “service encounter” that takes place in the “front stage.” This emphasis discounts the contribution of the activities in the “back stage” of the service value chain where materials or information needed by the front stage are processed. However, the vast increase in web-driven consumer self-service applications and other automated services requires new thinking about service design and service quality. It is essential to consider the entire network of services that comprise the back and front stages as complementary parts of a “service system.” We need new concepts and methods in service design that recognize how back stage information and processes can improve the front stage experience. This paper envisions a methodology for designing service systems that synthesizes (front-stage-oriented) user-centered design techniques with (back stage) methods for designing information-intensive applications.     

Child–robot interaction mediated by building blocks: from field observations in a public space

This study attempts to describe children's behavior from the viewpoint of microscopic adjustment of actions when they encounter an oddly shaped robot, called “Muu.” We investigated this through field observations at a workshop in a children's museum. Children of various ages and their parents participated in the workshop together. They were instructed by an experimenter to play with building blocks while talking with Muu. As a result, it was found that the children and the robot could establish rich communications with each other not when the children evaluated Muu's behavior, but when Muu evaluated the children's work. This indicates that the robot could become an “other” that might interact with children mediated by the building blocks, whereas many children and parents treated it as a “toy,” just as the building blocks were considered merely as “objects” during interactions. This work was presented in part at the 10th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 4–6, 2005     

Some considerations of user interface switching to support the weaker user

We have already proposed a new concept of “universal multimedia access” intended to narrow the digital divide by providing appropriate multimedia expressions according to users’ (mental and physical) abilities, computer facilities, and network environments. In this article, we redefine the switching functions for our new concept of universal design-based multimedia access, and discuss its user interface for supporting users in accordance with their abilities, computer facilities, and network environments.     

Some considerations on user interface switching functions for those weaker at IT

We have already proposed a new concept of “universal multimedia access” intended to narrow the digital divide by providing appropriate multimedia expressions according to users’ (mental and physical) abilities, computer facilities, and network environments. Previous work has evaluated some types of multimedia user interfaces according to users’ (mental and physical) abilities, computer facilities, and network environments. In this article, we discuss the user interface switching functions.     

Taxonomy,technology and applications of smart objects

Deployment of embedded technologies is increasingly being examined in industrial supply chains as a means for improving efficiency through greater control over purchase orders, inventory and product related information. Central to this development has been the advent of technologies such as bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, and wireless sensors which when attached to a product, form part of the product’s embedded systems infrastructure. The increasing integration of these technologies dramatically contributes to the evolving notion of a “smart product”, a product which is capable of incorporating itself into both physical and information environments. The future of this revolution in objects equipped with smart embedded technologies is one in which objects can not only identify themselves, but can also sense and store their condition, communicate with other objects and distributed infrastructures, and take decisions related to managing their life cycle. The object can essentially “plug” itself into a compatible systems infrastructure owned by different partners in a supply chain. However, as in any development process that will involve more than one end user, the establishment of a common foundation and understanding is essential for interoperability, efficient communication among involved parties and for developing novel applications. In this paper, we contribute to creating that common ground by providing a characterization to aid the specification and construction of “smart objects” and their underlying technologies. Furthermore, our work provides an extensive set of examples and potential applications of different categories of smart objects.     

Analysis of autonomous cooperative assembly using coordination schemes by heterogeneous robots using a control basis approach

Robotic technology is quickly evolving allowing robots to perform more complex tasks in less structured environments with more flexibility and autonomy. Heterogeneous multi-robot teams are more common as the specialized abilities of individual robots are used in concert to achieve tasks more effectively and efficiently. An important area of research is the use of robot teams to perform modular assemblies. To this end, this paper analyzed the relative performance of two robots with different morphologies and attributes in performing an assembly task autonomously under different coordination schemes using force sensing through a control basis approach. A rigid, point-to-point manipulator and a dual-armed pneumatically actuated humanoid robot performed the assembly of parts under a traditional “push-hold” coordination scheme and a human-mimicked “push-push” scheme. The study revealed that the scheme with higher level of cooperation—the “push-push” scheme—performed assemblies faster and more reliably, lowering the likelihood of stiction phenomena, jamming, and wedging. The study also revealed that in “push-hold” schemes industrial robots are better pushers and compliant robots are better holders. The results of our study affirm the use of heterogeneous robots to perform hard-to-do assemblies and also encourage humans to function as holder’s when working in concert with a robot assistant for insertion tasks.     

The gain and pain in taking the pilot seat: learning dynamics in a non immersive virtual solar system

This study describes and analyzes the learning interactions of nine high-school students’ free exploration of a virtual solar system (VSS). The VSS is a non-immersive three dimensional virtual environment based on real NASA planetary images. The computer screen serves as a “spacecraft’s window” for the learner to “fly” between objects, to change the system’s frame of reference and its pace. A systematic analysis of participants’ real-time observable interactions together with what they said revealed that each of them created an unique learning pattern within at least five different dimensions: (1) the cognitive dimension, (2) the affective dimension, (3) the navigation dimension, (4) the interface dimension, and (5) the assistance seeking dimension. The construction of meaning emerged as a non-linear process, which includes transitions between and within these dimensions. Three different styles of learning interactions were identified, suggesting that individual differences might be enhanced due to the unique VSS’ features. Overall, the VSS served as an enriching and motivational learning experience. The design of additional navigation tools and content scaffolding might help participants’ in building a sustained deep scientific understanding.     

Tangled reality

Leonardo da Vinci was a strong advocate for using sketches to stimulate the human imagination. Sketching is often considered to be integral to the process of design, providing an open workspace for ideas. For these same reasons, children use sketching as a simple way to express visual ideas. By merging the abstraction of human drawings and the freedom of virtual reality with the tangibility of physical tokens, Tangled Reality creates a rich mixed reality workspace. Tangled Reality allows users to build virtual environments based on simple colored sketches and traverse them using physical vehicles overlayed with virtual imagery. This setup allows the user to “build” and “experience” mixed reality simulations without ever touching a standard computer interface.     

SubSafe: a games-based training system for submarine safety and spatial awareness (Part 1)

Recent advances in hardware and software technologies for computer games have proved to be more than capable of delivering quite detailed virtual environments on PC platforms and gaming consoles for so-called “serious” applications, at a fraction of the cost than was the case 8 years ago. SubSafe is a recent example of what can be achieved in part-task naval training applications using gaming technologies, exploiting freely available, freely distributable software. SubSafe is a proof-of-concept demonstrator that presents end users with an interactive, real-time three-dimensional model of part of a Trafalgar Class submarine. This “Part 1” paper presents the background to the SubSafe project and outlines the experimental design for a pilot study being conducted between August 2008 and January 2009, in conjunction with the Royal Navy’s Submarine School in Devonport. The study is investigating knowledge transfer from the classroom to a real submarine environment (during week 7 of the students’ “Submarine Qualification Dry” course), together with general usability and interactivity assessments. Part 2 of the paper (to be completed in early 2009) will present the results of these trials and consider future extensions of the research into other submarine training domains, including periscope ranging and look-interval assessment skills, survival systems deployment training and the planning and rehearsal of submersible rescue operations.     

The complexity of agent design problems: Determinism and history dependence

The agent design problem is as follows: given a specification of an environment, together with a specification of a task, is it possible to construct an agent that can be guaranteed to successfully accomplish the task in the environment? In this article, we study the computational complexity of the agent design problem for tasks that are of the form “achieve this state of affairs” or “maintain this state of affairs.” We consider three general formulations of these problems (in both non-deterministic and deterministic environments) that differ in the nature of what is viewed as an “acceptable” solution: in the least restrictive formulation, no limit is placed on the number of actions an agent is allowed to perform in attempting to meet the requirements of its specified task. We show that the resulting decision problems are intractable, in the sense that these are non-recursive (but recursively enumerable) for achievement tasks, and non-recursively enumerable for maintenance tasks. In the second formulation, the decision problem addresses the existence of agents that have satisfied their specified task within some given number of actions. Even in this more restrictive setting the resulting decision problems are either pspace-complete or np-complete. Our final formulation requires the environment to be history independent and bounded. In these cases polynomial time algorithms exist: for deterministic environments the decision problems are nl-complete; in non-deterministic environments, p-complete.     

Concept of inductive programming supporting anthropomorphic information technology

A new original approach to the formalization and implementation methods for the problem of inductive programming is described. This approach makes it possible for the first time to describe a wide range of problems within the given formalization based on examples from the implementation of problem-oriented languages to the development of applied systems with the help of these languages. Methods for passing on “procedure knowledge” that are accepted in information technologies and human communication are discussed and the concept of an “anthropomorphic information technology” is formulated. The general scheme for constructing this system based on the given technology is described. The fundamental role played by the mechanism of partial evaluation in providing the efficiency of implementation and maintenance of the extension mode for inductively specified languages is stressed. An example of inductive specification of a simple programming language and discuss the prospects of using the concept proposed is presented.     

User-Sensitive Inclusive Design

Although “User-Centred”, “Participatory”, and other similar design approaches have proved to be very valuable for mainstream design, their principles are more difficult to apply successfully when the user group contains, or is composed of, older and/or disabled users. In the field of design for older and disabled people, the “Universal Design”, “Inclusive Design” and “Design for All” movements have encouraged designers to extend their design briefs to include older and disabled people. The downside of these approaches is that they can tend to encourage designers to follow a traditional design path to produce a prototype design, and only then investigate how to modify their interfaces and systems to cope with older and/or disabled users. This can lead to an inefficient design process and sometimes an inappropriate design, which may be “accessible” to people with disabilities, but in practice unusable. This paper reviews the concept that the authors have called “User-Sensitive Inclusive Design”, which suggests a different approach to designing for marginalised groups of people. Rather than suggesting that designers rely on standards and guidelines, it is suggested that designers need to develop a real empathy with their user groups. A number of ways to achieve this are recommended, including the use of ethnography and techniques derived from professional theatre both for requirements gathering and for improving designers’ empathy for marginalised groups of users, such as older and disabled people.     

A study on PDAs for onboard applications and technologies and methodologies

In 2005, the European Space Agency carried out a study intended to clarify the use of PDAs for onboard space operations. Being this a rather new application domain due to the introduction of uncommon technology onboard, a need for feasibility clarification was perceived. The study narrowed its unbounded technological dimension by focusing on Java technologies. Furthermore, at a software engineering level an “agile” approach was chosen for evaluation because of the high degree of user interaction and their ability to cope with general requirement changes like those resulting from the uncertainty about the actual features and quality of specific PDA platforms and COTS. Two studies were performed in parallel with the same objectives but obtaining different solutions. Suitable “agile-like” approaches compatible with space software standards were defined and tried. A space crew representative was involved from the early phases of the studies, and a final evaluation exercise at the European Astronaut Centre training facilities was performed. Feedback on the suitability of the technologies and the MMI design choices were obtained together with other unexpected lessons. The paper is concluded with an enumeration of lessons learnt and hypotheses about “agile” approaches of interest for the software engineering community.     

Hardy Cross and the “Moment Distribution Method”

Leonard K. Eaton resurrects the reputation of Hardy Cross, developer of the “moment distribution method” and one of America’s most brilliant engineers. The structural calculation of a large reinforced concrete building in the nineteen fifties was a complicated affair. It is a tribute to the engineering profession, and to Hardy Cross, that there were so few failures. When architects and engineers had to figure out what was happening in a statically indeterminate frame, they inevitably turned to what was generally known as the “moment distribution” or “Hardy Cross” method. Although the Cross method has been superseded by more powerful procedures such as the Finite Element Method, the “moment distribution method” made possible the efficient and safe design of many reinforced concrete buildings during an entire generation.     

Learning medicine through collaboration and action: collaborative,experiential, networked learning environments

The SUMMIT Lab and William LeRoy Heinrichs, at Stanford University, were honored to be the 2002 awardees of the Satava Award for Virtual Reality in Medicine. Since the award, the group has followed two main threads of research, which we describe below. The first, “building a high-performance, network-aware, collaborative learning environment” has investigated the framework and components needed when students in multiple locations collaborate using computation-intensive simulations and large image datasets. The second thread, “online, interactive human physiology for medical education and training”, has focused on the application of interactive physiology models embedded in 3D visualizations of virtual patients in naturalistic medical environments. These environments support immersive, experiential learning where students act as medical providers and manage authentic medical events and crises. These research efforts, and our conclusions, are presented in the chapter below.     

Experience of teaching programming in the lyceum of information technologies

The paper describes an approach to the implementation of “Programming technologies” curriculum in senior school (grades 9–11), which combines development of skills for algorithm design with learning specific languages and technologies.     

Charting the behavioural state of a person using a backpropagation neural network

This paper describes the application of a backpropagation artificial neural network (ANN) for charting the behavioural state of previously unseen persons. In a simulated theft scenario participants stole or did not steal some money and were interviewed about the location of the money. A video of each interview was presented to an automatic system, which collected vectors containing nonverbal behaviour data. Each vector represented a participant’s nonverbal behaviour related to “deception” or “truth” for a short period of time. These vectors were used for training and testing a backpropagation ANN which was subsequently used for charting the behavioural state of previously unseen participants. Although behaviour related to “deception” or “truth” is charted the same strategy can be used to chart different psychological states over time and can be tuned to particular situations, environments and applications. We thank those who kindly volunteered to participate in the study.     

Design-in-play: improving the variability of indoor pervasive games

Treasure is a pervasive game playing in the context of people’s daily living environments. Unlike previous pervasive games that are based on the predefined contents and proprietary devices, Treasure exploits the “design-in-play” concept to enhance the variability of a game in mixed-reality environments. Dynamic and personalized role design and allocation by players is enabled by exploring local smart objects as game props. The variability of the game is also enhanced by several other aspects, such as user-oriented context-aware action setting and playing environment redeployment. The effectiveness of the “design-in-play” concept is validated through a user study, where 15 subjects were recruited to play and author the trial game.     

Back to the Future: An Historical Perspective on the Pendulum-Like Changes in Literacy

This article focuses on the pendulum-like change in the way people read and use text, which was triggered by the introduction of new reading and writing technologies in human history. The paper argues that textual features, which characterized the ancient pre-print writing culture, disappeared with the establishment of the modern-day print culture and has been “revived” in the digital post-modern era. This claim is based on the analysis of four cases which demonstrate this textual-pendulum swing: (1) The swing from concrete iconic-graphic representation of letters and words in the ancient alphabet to abstract phonetic representation of text in modern eras, and from written abstract computer commands “back” to the concrete iconic representation in graphic user interfaces of the digital era; (2) The swing from scroll reading in the pre-print era to page or book reading in the print era and “back” to scroll reading in the digital era; (3) The swing from a low level of authorship in the pre-print era to a strong authorship perception in the print era, and “back” to a low degree of authorship in the digital era; (4) The swing from synchronic representation of text in both visual and audio formats during the pre-print era to a visual representation only in print, and “back” to a synchronic representation in many environments of the digital era. We suggest that the print culture, which is usually considered the natural and preferred textual environment, should be regarded as the exception.