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1 – 10 of over 6000Adil Baykasoglu, Burcu Felekoglu and Ceylin Ünal
Usage of learning management systems (LMSs) has become widespread with the disruption of face-to-face educations after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are several software products…
Abstract
Purpose
Usage of learning management systems (LMSs) has become widespread with the disruption of face-to-face educations after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are several software products, usually named as LMS to enable and support distance education. However, selection of a suitable LMS is a complex multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem that requires consideration of many criteria and inputs from different parties like students, academicians, education managers, etc. Usability evaluation of LMS is one of the critical steps in deciding which LMS system to be adapted. There are several studies related to usability evaluation of LMS in the literature, but utilization of MCDM methods and real life case studies are very rare. Based on this motivation, perceived usability evaluation of SAKAI-LMS that is in use at an academic department is performed by employing axiomatic design procedure (ADP). This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned issues.
Design/methodology/approach
ADP is considered as a suitable MCDM method for perceived usability evaluation as it allows an easy approach to data fusion and setting performance targets for decision makers. A questionnaire is developed to collect data from three types of system users about predetermined usability criteria and their importance. After detailed statistical analyses and weighting criteria via analytical hierarch process (AHP), ADP is carried out to evaluate usability of the LMS.
Findings
It is found that the proposed ADP based approach is easy to apply in practical circumstances and able to quantify perceived usability of the LMSs.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed approach provides an easy and practical evaluation of perceived usability of the LMSs for decision makers who are responsible for the implementation of LMSs. The developed novel and practical MCDM-based perceived usability approach for LMS in this study has been verified through a real life case study at an academic department. Perceived usability results, therefore, reflects only the views of this focus group and are not generalizable.
Originality/value
First time in the literature, a comprehensive ADP based MCDM approach is proposed based on the analyses of the related literature and information gathered from the system users.
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Maria del Carmen Suarez-Torrente, Patricia Conde-Clemente, Ana Belén Martínez and Aquilino A. Juan
The purpose of this paper is to improve and facilitate the work of developers and usability evaluators by providing an adaptable and effective support. A well-defined set of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to improve and facilitate the work of developers and usability evaluators by providing an adaptable and effective support. A well-defined set of criteria and a range of evaluation values for each criterion as well as a complete websites classification, will guide evaluators. A usability percentage and a list of prioritized criteria, adapted to the type of website by a new usability metric, will help developers to improve the website. This improvement will increase the degree of web user satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Having established and validated a new usability evaluation framework, several usability tools have been analyzed. None of them totally fulfills the requirements of the evaluation framework. As a result of being unable to customize any of them, a new one has been developed. A study of 42 enterprise websites in an economically depressed region of Europe was performed using the new tool. This study involved 42 evaluators and 118 web users. Users have evaluated the websites before and after the redesign. A end-user computing satisfaction model-based questionary was used to collect data about end-user satisfaction. The results validate the proposal.
Findings
The study confirms that the proposed tool provides valuable information during the process of web development, evaluation and redesign. In adittion, it reveals that improving websites usability by ensuring criteria compliance has a positive effect on web users satisfaction.
Originality/value
Unlike previous purposes, the proposed tool allows to evaluate any type of website with a well-defined set of evaluation criteria and specific criteria values. As outcomes, the tool provides the website usability degree and a list of criteria ordered by priority repair. These results are adapted to the specific type of website. This makes easier and more effective the redesign of the evaluated website.
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Nadjla Hariri and Yaghoub Norouzi
The present study aims to review the literature concerning Digital Libraries (DLs) and user interfaces in order to identify, determine, and suggest evaluation criteria for a DLs…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to review the literature concerning Digital Libraries (DLs) and user interfaces in order to identify, determine, and suggest evaluation criteria for a DLs user interface. Accordingly, this study's objectives are threefold: explore which criteria exert a significant relationship with the DLs user interface; identify a set of criteria that appears to be useful for evaluating DLs user interface; and determine evaluation criteria that have more frequency and occurrence in the related texts reviewed.
Design/methodology/approach
To do it, first, identifying related texts was necessary. Consequently, keywords such as “DLs user interface evaluation”,” DLs user interfaces”, “DLs evaluation”, “DLs usability”, “user interface evaluation”, “DLs research”, “web sites user interface evaluation”, “user interface standards”, and the like have been searched in the web as well as in some leading databases including Emerald, Proquest, SagePub, ScienceDirect, LISA, ERIC, ACM, and Springer. After identifying and accessing more than 100 evaluative works and some related articles, theoretical and empirical, nearly 50 sources were chosen for final examination.
Findings
After reviewing related texts, three major categories are identified: user interface and DLs; DLs and usability; and other studies related to user interface; each one of three identified categories has its own subcategories. Additionally, 22 evaluation criteria for assessing DLs interface have been identified.
Research limitations/implications
The review does not claim to be comprehensive.
Practical implications
Hopefully, criteria such as feedback, ease of use, match between system and the real world, customization, user support, user workload, interaction, compatibility, visibility of system status, user experience, flexibility, and accessibility which have been less considered should be applied more in future, particularly user‐oriented, studies. Furthermore, it is expected that criteria mentioned here could help related bodies pay more attention to the evaluation of EISs, especially DLs interface.
Originality/value
It can be said that this study has contributed to the research into the evaluation of DL interface.
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J. Michael Pearson, Ann Pearson and David Green
This research aims to investigate the relative importance of five key criteria in assessing web usability. These criteria are navigation, download speed, personalization, ease of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to investigate the relative importance of five key criteria in assessing web usability. These criteria are navigation, download speed, personalization, ease of use, and accessibility. It is believed that these factors play a significant role in assessing web usability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilized a scenario‐based, multi‐criteria decision‐making approach. The method (policy capturing) utilizes multiple scenarios to determine the relative importance of the criteria of interest. Based on the responses to these scenarios (assessing web usability), linear regressions, and Tukey's honestly significant differences were utilized to determine the relative importance of the five web usability criteria.
Findings
The research indicated that, as expected, ease of use was the criteria that the respondents considered most important in assessing web usability. Interestingly, personalization and customization was consistently reported as the least important criteria. It was also found that males and females view these web usability criteria differently.
Practical implications
The findings from this study have practical implications for web site designers.
Originality/value
The results indicate that less effort/resources should be devoted to personalization and customization, and more in making sure that web sites are easy to use and have clear navigation capabilities.
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Adeleh Asemi, Asefeh Asemi and Hamid Tahaei
The objective of this research was to develop a new and highly accurate approach based on a fuzzy inference system (FIS) for the evaluation of usability based on ISO…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this research was to develop a new and highly accurate approach based on a fuzzy inference system (FIS) for the evaluation of usability based on ISO 9241-210:2019. In this study, a fully automated method of usability evaluation is used for interactive systems with a special look at interactive social robots.
Design/methodology/approach
Fuzzy logic uses as an intelligent computing technique to deal with uncertainty and incomplete data. Here this system is implemented using MATLAB fuzzy toolbox. This system attempted to quantify four criteria that correlate highly with ISO 9241-210:2019 criteria for the evaluation of interactive systems with maximum usability. Also, the system was evaluated with standard cases of computer interactive systems usability evaluation. The system did not need to train various data and to check the rules. Just small data were used to fine-tune the fuzzy sets. The results were compared against experimental usability evaluation with the statistical analysis.
Findings
It is found that there was a high strong linear relation between the FIS usability assessment and System Usability Scale (SUS) based usability assessment, and authors’ new method provides reliable results in the estimation of the usability.
Research limitations/implications
In human-robot systems, human performance plays an important role in the performance of social interactive systems. In the present study, the proposed system has considered all the necessary criteria for designing an interactive system with a high level of user because it is based on ISO 9241-210:2019.
Practical implications
For future research, the system could be expanded with the training of historical data and the production of rules through integrating FIS and neural networks.
Originality/value
This system considered all essential criteria for designing an interactive system with a high level of usability because it is based on ISO 9241-210:2019. For future research, the system could be expanded with the training of historical data and the production of rules through integrating FIS and neural networks.
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Di Wang, Deborah Richards, Ayse Aysin Bilgin and Chuanfu Chen
To address the key problem of lack of use in the advancement of open government data (OGD) portals from the aspect of good usability, which is an essential prerequisite to the…
Abstract
Purpose
To address the key problem of lack of use in the advancement of open government data (OGD) portals from the aspect of good usability, which is an essential prerequisite to the acceptance and usage of a portal, this paper aims to develop a usability framework including design principles and criteria for OGD portals and to discover problems in the present usability design.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds the usability framework by extending usability principles for general websites to address the specific needs of OGD portals. Criteria for each principle are developed accordingly based on the literature. A comparative heuristic evaluation involving five expert evaluators and 13 Chinese province-level OGD portals has been carried out to test the capability of the usability framework.
Findings
A usability framework with 24 principles and 63 criteria has been built. The heuristic evaluation shows OGD portals performed better in meeting general principles than the OGD portals specific ones. Insufficient help functions weakened OGD portals' usability. Similarities and differences were found of Chinese OGD portals compared with similar studies in the United States.
Originality/value
This paper proposed a usability framework for OGD portals and proved its capability in recognizing usability problems and its causes by carrying out a comparative heuristic evaluation in China. By comparing the evaluation results with other studies in the United States, the findings and lessons learnt in this study can thus be shared across international borders.
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The purpose of this study is to provide suggestions that could be adapted to improve the usability of institutional repository systems, and to establish a usability evaluation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide suggestions that could be adapted to improve the usability of institutional repository systems, and to establish a usability evaluation framework, which could be used for heuristic evaluation or formal usability testing of institutional repositories. The study seeks to establishe a usability evaluation guideline based on a literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the evaluation criteria and 30 subjects, the research team administered two usability experiments, laboratory and remote usability tests, and conducted a focus group interview with four experts. Based on the usability evaluation and focus group interview results, the paper proposes ways to improve system usability by showing selected screenshots of the dCollection interface.
Findings
The study shows that an effective provision of directions on how to register and search for documents, improving visual appearance, and clustering and displaying related materials based on the FRBR model is an important task to improve dCollection's usability.
Originality/value
The study establishes a usability evaluation framework for institutional repositories and evaluates the dCollection with the evaluation criteria.
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Janaina Rodrigues Penedo, Morganna Diniz, Simone Bacellar Leal Ferreira, Denis S. Silveira and Eliane Capra
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the usability of a remote learning system in its initial development phase, using a quantitative usability evaluation method through Markov…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the usability of a remote learning system in its initial development phase, using a quantitative usability evaluation method through Markov models.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an exploratory study. The data of interest of the research correspond to the possible accesses of users in a learning system's pre‐project. The present research is intended to answer questions of the type “how”, evaluating the usability through Markov models and the interaction of the learning system's users.
Findings
The paper provides a study which allowed the generation of a probability matrix among states and actions, which was utilized in the evaluation of usability based on Markov models, where the usability criteria specified were analyzed. Markov models allow a series of measures of interest to be calculated and they have been successfully utilized in the evaluation of computing and communication systems.
Originality/value
This research aimed to investigate the utilization of Markov models in the evaluation of usability in a remote learning system in its pre‐project phase and to help in proposing improvement suggestions.
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Cristian Thiago Moecke and Melanie Volkamer
Email communication has been used for many years, and has begun to replace traditional, physical correspondence more and more. Compared to a traditional postal service, email…
Abstract
Purpose
Email communication has been used for many years, and has begun to replace traditional, physical correspondence more and more. Compared to a traditional postal service, email services are easier, faster, and free of charge. Standard email, however, is, from a security point of view, more comparable to post cards than letters. Some security techniques and services exist, but few people use them due to lack of awareness, low usability, and a lack of understanding of Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs). A comprehensive comparison is missing, which makes it difficult for users to decide which email service to use. The purpose of this paper is to identify evaluation criteria covering security, usability, and interoperability aspects of email, and to apply them to existing email services.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first define criteria based on literature review, threat analysis and expert consultation. These criteria are then applied, when applicable, to existing approaches including DKIM, SPF, PGP, S/MIME and Opportunistic Encryption, and to common secure email providers including Gmail, Hushmail, and De‐Mail.
Findings
None of the existing analysed services meets all the derived criteria. Based on the result of the application of these criteria and the corresponding comparison, the authors propose future directions for usable secure email communication.
Originality/value
The criteria proposed are original and allow an evaluation and a comparison of different email systems that not only considers security aspects, but also the relation and trade‐offs between security, usability and interoperability. Moreover, the trust assumptions involved are also considered.
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The paper aims to evaluate the usability of the website of Central Science Library (CSL), University of Delhi. Multi-method approach of evaluation is used with the use of standard…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to evaluate the usability of the website of Central Science Library (CSL), University of Delhi. Multi-method approach of evaluation is used with the use of standard checklist and questionnaire survey of representative users. Besides, the information architecture of the website under study is analysed in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review and the author’s experience, a usability assessment tool for library websites was developed by Pant (2013). It comprises standard checklist and questionnaire for users’ survey. In the present study, this framework was used to assess the usability of CSL website. The questionnaire survey of 35 representative users was conducted through random sampling. The results of both methods (standard checklist and questionnaire survey) were analysed for evaluating the website usability.
Findings
Need for improvement of the website was realised in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and learnability for better usability. Notice board, site search facility, list of services, FAQs and user guides were the most sought after features among others as per the analysis of the questionnaire survey. Besides, the need to enhance the visual appeal of the website was felt. However, information resources provided through the CSL website were found useful for users.
Originality/value
The paper presents an innovative multi-method approach of website usability assessment while considering six usability attributes: Usefulness, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Learnability, Satisfaction and Accessibility. The approach adopted in this paper is cost effective in comparison to formal usability tests and heuristic evaluation. Therefore, this framework is suitable for libraries having limited budget to ensure the user-centred library website with maximum usability. This paper encourages other libraries to conduct similar website usability evaluation to identify the usability problem areas and users’ perception for their respective website.
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