ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of an international web-based survey on the use of field studies in the design and evaluation of interactive systems, which was conducted between December 2006 and February 2007. The results suggest that the advantages and disadvantages of field methods are generally well understood, but guidance is needed in their application and use. Field studies were ...

We describe methods and practices of early user involvement and human-centred design: how researchers and designers, in the ICT industry, attempt to cooperate with end-users, with the goal of making a better match with end-users’ needs and preferences. We describe six (dance) moves: participatory design, ethnographic fieldwork, lead-user approach, contextual design, codesigning, and empathic de...

The validity of semantic inferences depends on the contexts in which they are applied. We propose a generic framework for handling contextual considerations within applied inference, termed Contextual Preferences. This framework defines the various context-aware components needed for inference and their relationships. Contextual preferences extend and generalize previous notions, such as select...

The identification of the scientific production and the evaluation of the researchers is a problem we are facing at present times. Bibliometric methods use mainly statistical tools and their results are of quantitative nature. Consequently, this approach does not provide any tools of qualitative evaluation. It is for this reason we suggest to examine the specific details of the bibliographic re...

The fundamental thesis of this paper is that no matter how much physical science and technology are involved in complex systems, no system is ever purely or solely physical or technical. Certainly no system of which we are aware is purely scientifi c or technical in its operation or management. Furthermore, while research on and the modeling of complex systems usually rely heavily on the consid...

This paper presents a model for representing context-dependent variation of articulator movements. Our model explains the contextual e ect based on a multidimensional phonemic task and dynamic constraints of movements. The task determines the articulatory target so that invariant features of phoneme articulation are achieved. The dynamic constraints represent smoothly moving behavior of the art...

Contextual variables potentially influencing premature termination were examined. Clients (n=83) and therapists (n=35) provided parallel data on early working alliance, psychotherapy termination decision (unilateral vs. mutual), clients' reasons for termination, and barriers to treatment participation. When clients unilaterally ended therapy, therapists were only partially aware of either the e...

Firms worldwide are adopting enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Yet, few studies exist investigating the influence of organisationaltechnological contingency variables on the success of ERP systems. This study uses existing IS and ERP success evaluation models to investigate the influence of some of such contextual variables in two contrasting, yet similar, countries in Northern Europe...