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This paper describes the evaluation of our early design ideas of an ad-hoc of workflow system. Using the teach-back technique, we have performed a hermeneutic analysis of the mockup implementation named NIWS to get corrective and creative feedback at the functional, dialogue and representation level of the new workflow system.

In this study, a user experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of information presentation factors (modality and structure) on decision making behavior, using a time-limited task. The time constraint required subjects to develop heuristic strategies to substitute the defined normative strategy. The two presentation factors have been shown to significantly affect the decision making performance, assessed by time efficiency and efficiency, due to its impact on the efficiency of information perception. By analyzing the subjective reports and the error distribution, the structure was shown to influence the selection of heuristic strategies. Consequentially, it affected both the time efficiency and the accuracy of decision making. The interaction between the time constraint and the presentation effects was also observed.

This paper examines the role of visual information in a remote help-giving situation involving the collaborative physical task of designing a prototype remote control. We analyze a set of video recordings captured within an experimental setting. Our analysis shows that using gestures and relevant artefacts and by projecting activities on the camera, participants were able to discuss several design-related issues. The results indicate that with a limited camera view (mainly faces and shoulders), participants’ conversations were centered at the physical prototype that they were designing. The socially organized use of our experimental setting provides some key implications for designing future remote collaborative systems.

Human-Technology Interaction is a human-centred perspective to technological innovation and development that has great relevance to the economical success of technical products and services. The aim of HTI research is to enhance the implementation of information technologies in solutions that are more functional, usable and meaningful for people. This report defines the central issues of HTI research. It provides an overview of the history of HTI research and elaborates on the different traditions within it, and the state of the art at VTT is briefly sketched.The societal and technical drivers of HTI were surveyed to enhance understanding of the factors that effect the developments in this field. The implementation of information technologies has vastly increased the availability of information and connections in people’s everyday and working activities. As a consequence, the complexity of the interactions has increased. People face difficulties with information overflow, the diversity of different devices, applications and equipment as well as with the continuous introduction of new applications and updates of existing ones. The creation of possibilities to embed technology in smart appliances and environments together with the development of multimodal interface technologies are expected to ease the use of the capacities of the information technology. However, the new ways of applying ICT have simultaneously deepened the demands on usability. Moreover, questions regarding safety and operability, security and personal privacy have gained new relevance. As consequence the implementation of technologies in use create major challenges and need for research and innovations.Integrating the possibilities that the enabling technologies provide and the demands of the users creates a great number of research challenges. For better comprehension of the challenges we developed a systemic conception of HTI. This model makes explicit the role of enabling technologies for all three interconnected interaction aspects of HTI, “smart objects, services and environments”, “usage practices”, and “organisations and cultures”. Another aspect of HTI is the human-centred design methodology, which needs to be further developed. All together 25 hot topics were identified as challenges for research. Their interconnections are made explicit with the help of the systemic HTI concept. In the final part of this document recommendations are made for the direction of HTI research at VTT.

The dynamic complexity of anaesthesia sets specific requirements for the activity of anaesthetists. By exploring the significance given by anaesthetists to their work we have demonstrated a new conceptual framework and confirmed our hypothesis that there are differences in the orientations of anaesthetists, and that these become manifest in different types of clinical behaviour. We describe methods the anaesthetists use in framing the focus of their work, the patient in anaesthesia. The patient's uniqueness and uncertainty in anaesthesia were recognized in the `realistic' orientation, which is characterized by an extensive use of situational information and an aim to construct a cumulative interpretation of a patient's physiological state. In the objectivistic orientation the patient was treated as a natural object and uncertainty was not recognized. This orientation is typified by a reactive habit of action which seemed to be based on a pre-operative plan, and its deterministic implementation. Our results point to the need for a new strategy to cope with the uniqueness and uncertainty of actual problems. This has implications for education and practice in anaesthetic practice, since uncertainty is increasing with the ageing patient population and with implementation of new technology.