Search results
1 – 10 of over 77000Gopikrishnan S. and Virendra Kumar Paul
The purpose of this paper is to identify and validate user requirement related building performance attributes and sub attributes for performance evaluation of government…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and validate user requirement related building performance attributes and sub attributes for performance evaluation of government residential buildings.
Design/methodology/approach
User requirements in a building were listed from ISO 6241-1984 (E). Seven building performance attributes were identified through literature review and linked with the user requirements. Three more attributes not directly related to building performance but that could influence user satisfaction were also identified. The attributes were grouped into physical, environmental and external factors to suit the intervention strategies proposed to be implemented by maintenance agencies to enhance user satisfaction. The need for amplifying the attributes for better comprehension by occupants was felt; hence, characteristics of each of these attributes were listed based on literature survey and review. In total, 42 such sub attributes were identified to amplify ten attributes. To validate the adequacy of these attributes, an online survey was launched to garner feedback on first adequacy of the attributes and secondly to confirm whether there is a necessity for amplification of attributes for better comprehension by occupants. In total, 200 responses were received through the online survey, and the data received were categorized as per gender, location, sector, profession and finally civilian/military.
Findings
The outcome of the survey revealed that 84% of the participants felt that the attributes were adequate enough to assess building performance and 75% of them agreed that amplification of attributes through sub attributes as essential for better comprehension and to avoid ambiguity in response. Also the seven identified attributes were ranked from 1 to 7 with 1 being the most important. Weights of each attribute in the scale of 1 were also arrived at based on the responses. Similar exercise was carried out for all sub attributes.
Research limitations/implications
Present research is confined to government residential buildings that are constructed and maintained through public funds and hence individual occupants are not constrained by economics. Other type of building infrastructure used for training, sports, storage, medical, etc., will have certain more specific performance parameters in addition to the ones identified in this paper for residential buildings. Economics also become a factor from users' perspective in case of private residential buildings which does not form part of the scope of this paper. However, as a future scope, the number of attributes can be escalated depending upon the type of building being surveyed, keeping the identified attributes as core attributes.
Practical implications
This paper links the end user satisfaction with building performance and the outcome of surveys will provide useful insights to the behaviour of buildings as well the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing maintenance management systems. Survey based on these attributes and sub attributes will enable the facility managers to ascertain the satisfaction level of occupants with respect to building performance, satisfaction with respect to external factors such as accessibility, amenities and societal issues other than building performance. It will enable the facility managers and decision makers to prioritize their maintenance according to importance, availability of funds, etc. It will also provide a data bank over the years that can indicate the changing aspirations of occupants of government residential buildings. This will enable policymakers to review specifications, authorizations and scales.
Originality/value
This paper links user requirement with building performance. ISO 6241-1984(E) forms the basis for user requirement. Survey based on these user requirement related building performance attributes shall enable facility managers prioritize their maintenance efforts in management of facilities.
Details
Keywords
M. Claudia tom Dieck, Timothy Jung and Dai-In Han
Recent advancements in wearable computing offer opportunities for art galleries to provide a unique experience. However, to ensure successful implementation of this new technology…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent advancements in wearable computing offer opportunities for art galleries to provide a unique experience. However, to ensure successful implementation of this new technology in the visitor industry, it is essential to understand user requirements from a visitor’s point of view. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate visitors’ requirements for the development of a wearable smart glasses augmented reality (AR) application in the museum and art gallery context.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews with 28 art gallery visitors were conducted and an affinity diagram technique was used to analyze the interviews.
Findings
The findings reveal that wearable AR is in its infancy and that technical and design issues have to be overcome for a full adoption. It reveals that content requirement, functional requirement, comfort, experience and resistance are important when developing and implementing the wearable AR application in the museum and art gallery contexts.
Originality/value
Mapping user requirements in the wearable smart glasses AR context using an affinity diagram is a new approach and therefore contributes to the creation of knowledge in the tourism domain. Practically, the area of wearable technologies and AR within the tourism and visitor industry context is still relatively unexplored, and the present paper provides a first foundation for the implementation of wearable smart glasses AR applications in the museum and art gallery context.
Details
Keywords
Simon Brownsell, Steven Blackburn and Mark Hawley
This paper seeks to identify the user requirements for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based system to deliver care, support and information services to older…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to identify the user requirements for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based system to deliver care, support and information services to older people in the community.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured, mixed methods approach incorporating workshops, systematic literature reviews, surveys, and focus groups gathered user needs prior to a prototype being developed. This was then tested with users and their feedback used in further iterations of the product.
Findings
In total, five main user requirement themes were identified: information access; communication; self‐care; accessibility; and personalisation of services.
Practical implications
Details are provided of the user requirements for a health and care system to remotely deliver support. Additionally, the value of utilising a range of requirements gathering tools and prototyping is discussed.
Originality/value
Too often technology systems are developed which do not meet actual need. This paper reports the results of a formal user needs process and discusses the role of user requirements more generally.
Details
Keywords
Yusuf Arayici, Ghassan Aouad and Vian Ahmed
Collaborative working using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems in construction has become a reality as many activities are performed globally with actors…
Abstract
Collaborative working using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems in construction has become a reality as many activities are performed globally with actors located in various geographical locations. Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) is the type of ICT system that binds a fragmented and geographically distributed set of construction stakeholders collaborating together. Although the concept of CIC has been the subject of research for many years, its uptake has been very limited due to the development of the technology and its effective implementation. Research in this area is still premature and does not pay much attention to the development and implementation of the prototypes in the industry. As a result, the research developments have remained as prototypes although they have captured industrial interest. However, ongoing research within the field of construction IT is stressing that it is crucial to define research methodologies for human centred and adaptive CIC developments through industry‐wide knowledge sharing. The aim of this paper, through triangulated research strategy of interviews, surveys and case study is to justify the need for a requirements engineering process as a CIC development methodology for adaptive and user‐centred systems developments and as a guideline to bridge the gap between industry and the research community. The case study project is the DIVERCITY system development undertaken by researchers and practitioners across Europe to develop a shared virtual construction design and briefing environment that enables the construction industry to better undertake the client briefing and design review phases of a construction project.
Details
Keywords
Heng‐Li Yang and Jih‐Hsin Tang
To investigate the relationship between key users (defined as their influence) in “information”, “purchase”, “communication” or “entertainment” networks, and the number of…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the relationship between key users (defined as their influence) in “information”, “purchase”, “communication” or “entertainment” networks, and the number of elicited requirements in web‐based information systems (WIS).
Design/methodology/approach
A lab experiment was designed and conducted to investigate the relationship between college students' elicited requirements for two WIS cases and their social networks.
Findings
The individual centrality in “information” networks has a significant positive relationship with the numbers of elicited “information” requirements and total requirements; however, the individual centrality in other social networks has no significant relationship with the number of the elicited requirements.
Research limitations/implications
The requirements collected from “key users” may account for most requirements, which is similar to the results predicted by Pareto's rule.
Practical implications
The origin of a WIS depends on a few influential users. These key users possess more power than others, and they define not only the “requirements” of the site but also its content or knowledge. The WIS designers may take advantage of this fact.
Originality/value
This paper fills the information requirement elicitation gap, while transferring the conventional IS development experiences to WIS.
Details
Keywords
Jih‐Hsin Tang and Heng‐Li Yang
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between users' role and users' perception of requirements in a web‐based community of practice.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between users' role and users' perception of requirements in a web‐based community of practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Online survey and social network analysis were adopted in this study.
Findings
The study classified user roles as advisors and two types of regular users (both aware of advisors and not); each type of user demonstrated different sets of requirement perceptions. The findings showed that user roles and the level of user involvement did have a significant effect on users' perceptions of requirements. Advisors paid less attention to the interface, communication and recommendation links than the regular users.
Practical implications
It implies that high involvers (core members) are more appropriate for requirement elicitation, even though high involvers might not be the only candidates for requirements elicitation.
Originality/value
Few articles discuss the relationship between user roles and requirements; therefore, the originality of this study is high.
Details
Keywords
Bradford Eichhorn and Oya Tukel
There are differing views and results in the literature regarding whether the user’s participation has a positive or negative impact, if any, on the success of an information…
Abstract
Purpose
There are differing views and results in the literature regarding whether the user’s participation has a positive or negative impact, if any, on the success of an information system (IS) project. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model with four main hypotheses to test the relationships between seven constructs using survey data conducted in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a structural equation model (SEM) with four constructs defining the activities the user participates in and three constructs defining user satisfaction as a measure of project success. As such, the proposed SEM is the most comprehensive among the models offered in the literature to date, and includes, for the first time, a presentation requirement construct as a specific system requirement for possible user participation.
Findings
The authors find that a business user’s participation in functional requirements benefits project outcome, whereas business users should not participate in gathering presentation requirements unless they are experienced middle managers.
Research limitations/implications
This study surveyed many industries across the USA and provided a solid statistical base for analysis. Future research should consider exploring IS projects in other countries since various cultures can differ in how they approach to such projects. Additionally, industries are known to have dissimilar needs; therefore, a study exploring specific industries would add to the available research.
Practical implications
The authors find that when the general business user participates in certain activities that relate to presentation of the system, his/her involvement negatively impacts the project success. However, if that business user is a middle manager, he/she has a positive impact on the project success. Similarly, when the business user participates in managing the projects, that involvement negatively impacts the project outcome (although the amount of negative impact is relatively small). These results should have an influence on the way the IS project managers allocate business resources to activities, and their decisions regarding whether and where the business users participate.
Social implications
The authors expect higher levels of business user satisfaction on IS projects if they are allocated to a limited subset of project activities that has a positive impact on project outcomes.
Originality/value
The authors believe these findings contribute to this research domain considerably since they are based on a large sample size on a new comprehensive model of business users that can be generalized across industries. The separation of business requirements into functional and presentation requirements has suggested that there are differing impacts to the project depending on the type of business user involved.
Details
Keywords
Heng‐Li Yang and Jih‐Hsin Tang
Although requirement elicitation is generally acknowledged to be very important in traditional information systems development (ISD), it does not get enough attention in most…
Abstract
Although requirement elicitation is generally acknowledged to be very important in traditional information systems development (ISD), it does not get enough attention in most Web‐based information systems development (WISD). This paper highlighted the difference between ISD and WISD, and proposed a three‐stage model of user requirements elicitation for Web‐based information systems. This model divides the requirements definition into three stages: initial analysis, key user requirements elicitation and regular user responses. Most current WIS design methodologies consider only initial analysis, and neglect actual users’ requirements. Key user input is emphasized in this model, and social network analysis is proposed as a tool for identifying key users. Requirements analysis for WISD is no longer considered a one‐stop step, but is better regarded as a continuous evolving process. Finally, managerial implications are also provided in this paper.
Details
Keywords
Konstantina Vemou and Maria Karyda
In the Web 2.0 era, users massively communicate through social networking services (SNS), often under false expectations that their communications and personal data are private…
Abstract
Purpose
In the Web 2.0 era, users massively communicate through social networking services (SNS), often under false expectations that their communications and personal data are private. This paper aims to analyze privacy requirements of personal communications over a public medium.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper systematically analyzes SNS services as communication models and considers privacy as an attribute of users’ communication. A privacy threat analysis for each communication model is performed, based on misuse scenarios, to elicit privacy requirements per communication type.
Findings
This paper identifies all communication attributes and privacy threats and provides a comprehensive list of privacy requirements concerning all stakeholders: platform providers, users and third parties.
Originality/value
Elicitation of privacy requirements focuses on the protection of both the communication’s message and metadata and takes into account the public–private character of the medium (SNS platform). The paper proposes a model of SNS functionality as communication patterns, along with a method to analyze privacy threats. Moreover, a comprehensive set of privacy requirements for SNS designers, third parties and users involved in SNS is identified, including voluntary sharing of personal data, the role of the SNS platforms and the various types of communications instantiating in SNS.
Details
Keywords
Jih‐Hsin Tang and Heng‐Li Yang
To explore the relationship between emergent user roles and perceived importance of user requirements in a social‐oriented community.
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the relationship between emergent user roles and perceived importance of user requirements in a social‐oriented community.
Design/methodology/approach
A field study was designed to uncover hidden online social networks, and to elicit and rate user requirements.
Findings
User roles might have an impact on their perceptions of requirements. The study showed that significant differences of perceptual requirements on regulation and links exist across user roles.
Research limitations/implications
Only a small‐sized online community (approximately 300 members) participated in this study. One‐quarter of the population filled out the online survey.
Practical implications
Online community builders should invite a handful of different user roles to participate in the design and evolutionary processes of information systems.
Originality/value
The paper challenges popular views about the design of online communities.
Details