Waseem Ahmed Tahir
DESIGNING AN APPLICATION TO IN- CREASE INTERACTION BETWEEN PEO- PLE AT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Information Technology, MSc (Tech) Master of Science Thesis
September 2020
ABSTRACT
Waseem Ahmed Tahir: Designing an application to increase interaction between people at the work environment
Master of Science Thesis Tampere University
Information Technology, MSc (Tech) July 2020
Nowadays, the world is surrounded and connected by social network sites. We might have thousands of friends on social media. But in real life, we still feel lonely. Employees work in the same company for years. Most of the times they are only good colleagues, but not best friends.
Usually, people prefer to keep their professional life separate from their personal life.
This project aims to create an application which brings colleagues closer to each other base d on the same interest, study background, and working experience in the same working environ- ment.
The thesis work covers the whole process of designing technology for the working environment to encourage interaction between employees. Also, it covers the details of application design, specifications and the application vision. This will help to justify design decisions and understand- ing how the proposed solution fulfils the given problem.
The working environment is chosen as the overall context to explore in this project as it in- cludes varieties of activities, group of people, interests, and small communities. Then it narrowed down to company offices, café and restaurants. Company offices are chosen as the main context in this project as in the context itself includes both types of activities, i.e. work-related and non- work-related, and different groups of people e.g. employees, clients, and visitors.
The User-Centred Design (UCD) method is used to collect user data with the help of contextual inquiries. Collected data were analysed with the help of the affinity diagram. A cultural model and a physical model were developed to understand the working environment. After extensive user studies, an application concept is proposed, which consists of two parts: a mobile application and a big screen. The big screen will be placed at the office entrance and in the office cafeteria/res- taurant.
This application can be used on the mobile device along with a big screen. The big screen will give more openness that your colleagues in the surrounding can see your activities and private conversation will be only visible on the mobile screen.
Medium fidelity interactive prototype was created and tested with real users in working envi- ronments. Post-test interviews were conducted with users to understand their experience with the prototype. After analysing pro-test data. It shows that users’ were satisfied with the prototype design, and it accomplishes user requirements. They shared their excitement and eager to wait for the final working system. They were also willing to insert missing advance features. Which will help to in their daily working life? All suggestion will be considered in the future version.
Keywords: Smartphone application, big screen, interaction in the working environment, social interaction
PREFACE
First of all, I would like to thank the Tampere University of Technology for offering this master’s degree and accepting my application to complete my master degree.
For the thesis topic, I am thankful to my mentor Professor Dr.Thomas Olsson, who of- fered me this topic and supervised me in my thesis. Due to personal commitments, I was not focused. Due to Mr.Thomas commitment and dedication, I gathered my all intention and focused on my writing task.
Moreover, I would like to thank Professor Dr.Kaisa Väänänen, who accepted my appli- cation as a substitute supervisor, in the absence of Mr.Thomas. She agreed to continue her supervision during the writing process. Because of her guidelines, I was able to com- plete my master thesis.
I am thankful to my family for their unconditional love. A special thanks to my wife be- cause of her moral support and encouragement, I trust in my strength and finally, I have completed my master’s degree.
Münster, 1st August 2020
Waseem Ahmed Tahir
1. CONTENTS
1. CONTENTS...III
1. INTRODUCTION ... 1
1.1 Background and motivation ... 1
1.2 Mobile application ... 2
1.3 Interaction or social interaction ... 2
1.4 Research problem and goals ... 3
1.5 Research methodology... 4
1.6 Thesis structure ... 5
2. RELATED WORK AND COMPETITOR ANALYSIS ... 6
2.1 Interaction between nearby strangers... 6
2.2 Interaction Techniques for Wall-Sized Screens ... 7
2.3 Arrangements of screen ... 7
2.4 Interacting with Large High-Resolution Display ... 9
2.5 Importance of social networking for employees... 10
2.6 Current social networking applications ... 12
2.6.1 Strengths of current applications ... 12
2.7 Competitor Analysis... 15
2.7.1 Yammer ... 15
2.7.2 Yammer features... 15
2.7.3 Yammer disadvantages ... 16
2.7.4 Slack ... 16
2.7.5 Slack features... 17
2.7.6 Slack disadvantages ... 17
3. USER-CENTRED DESIGN... 20
3.1 Defining User-Centred Design ... 20
3.1.1 Key features of user-centred design ... 21
3.1.2 The user-centred design process ... 22
3.2 Methods of data collection... 22
3.2.1 Interviews ... 23
3.2.2 Observation ... 24
3.2.3 Observational research offers the following advantages: ... 24
3.2.4 Diary method ... 24
3.3 Data analysis and interpretation... 25
3.3.1 Affinity diagramming... 26
3.3.2 Personas ... 27
3.3.3 Ideation ... 28
3.3.4 User environment design ... 29
3.4 Prototyping... 29
3.4.1 Scenarios... 30
3.4.2 Storyboards ... 31
3.4.3 Usability testing ... 31
4. METHODOLOGY ... 33
4.1 User-centred design process ... 33
4.2 Participants ... 35
4.3 Data collection methods ... 36
4.3.1 Interviews ... 36
4.3.2 Contextual inquiries... 37
4.3.3 Contextual inquiry process... 38
4.3.4 Observation Overview ... 38
4.4 Modelling user data ... 39
4.4.1 Consolidated Cultural model ... 39
4.4.2 Consolidated Physical model ... 40
5. RESULTS OF THE USER NEEDS STUDY ... 42
5.1 Affinity diagram analysis... 42
5.1.1 Compatible and common interests ... 45
5.1.2 Personal data privacy... 45
5.1.3 Feasible to use in an office environment ... 46
5.2 Personas ... 47
6. IDEATION AND APPLICATION DESIGN ... 50
6.1 Brainstorming... 50
6.2 Scenarios and storyboards... 53
6.2.1 Job Interview - Scenario 1 ... 54
6.2.2 Team Event - Scenario 2 ... 55
6.3 User environment design ... 56
7. PROTOTYPING, TESTING AND EVALUATION ... 58
7.1 Prototyping... 58
7.2 Usability testing... 61
7.3 AttrakDiff questionnaire ... 63
7.4 Interviews ... 64
7.5 Evaluation report ... 64
8. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ... 69
8.1 Summary of the thesis ... 69
8.2 Methodological reflection and limitation ... 70
8.3 Conclusion and future work ... 71
9. REFERENCES ... 73
10. APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ... 78
11. APPENDIX B: POST PROTOTYPE TESTING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 79 12. APPENDIX C: PROTOTYPE SCREENS (MOBILE) ... 80
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Classifications of screen arrangements extracted from the design study: (a) screen band, (b) screen block, (c) cockpit arrangement,
(d)-(f) two plus two arrangement. ... 8
Figure 2. Yammer vs Slack features comparison ... 19
Figure 3. Human-centred design for interactive systems... 22
Figure 4. Example of an affinity diagram ... 27
Figure 5. Example of B2B Buyer Persona... 28
Figure 6. Example of paper prototype ... 30
Figure 7. User-Centred Design process ... 33
Figure 8. Cultural model- Healthcare Company Café ... 39
Figure 9. Physical boundaries and floor map- Healthcare Company Cafe... 40
Figure 10. Classifications of screen arrangements extracted from the design study: (a) screen band, (b) screen block, (c) cockpit arrangement, (d) ... 41
Figure 11. Photo of Affinity wall for the thesis ... 43
Figure 12. Ideation process with 8x8 method... 51
Figure 13. Job Interview- Storyboard 1 ... 55
Figure 14. Team Event - Storyboard 2 ... 56
Figure 15. UED of Big Screen Interaction System ... 57
Figure 16. Home page of a Big screen ... 59
Figure 17. Dashboard for the Employee portal – Big Screen ... 59
Figure 18. Common interest overview- Mobile ... 60
Figure 19. Employee Dashboard - Mobile ... 61
Figure 20. Big screen prototype testing ... 62
Figure 21. Big screen mobile prototype testing ... 62
Figure 22. AttrakDiff Big Screen test Results ... 65
Figure 23. Mean values of the four AttrakDiff™ dimensions for the product "BigScreen"... 66
Figure 24. Mean values of the AttrakDiff word pairs of products “BigScreen”... 67
Figure 25. Employee Dashboard Mobile All Screens... 80
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
CI Contextual inquiry
UI User Interface
HCI Human-Computer Interaction
UCD User-Centred Design
HCD Human-Centred Design
PQ Pragmatic Quality
HQ-S Hedonic quality – Stimulation HQ-I Hedonic quality – Identity
ATT Attractiveness
UED User Environment Design
1. INTRODUCTION
The introduction section defines the background, motivation, basic terminologies of re- search topics, research problem and goals of this topic. This section also includes the research methodology used for this thesis and the structure of the whole thesis.
1.1 Background and motivation
Employee interaction and communication considered essential to functioning organiza- tions. Researchers Meyer and Allen have discovered the central role of interaction and employee communication in organizational settings in different ways. Two kinds of com- munication have been noted, in organizational settings. First one is a communication concerning emotional and social aspects (informal), and the second one is a communi- cation concerning tasks and organization (formal). As compared to the past, the contem- porary organization settings no longer only emphasize formal communications, but also informal interactions and communications. The interpersonal interaction between em- ployees in an organization is increasingly gaining attention [1].
Employees who work full time for their company. Spend the majority of the time at the office. That is why work relationships are very important for employee comfort at the workplace [2]. These relations and interactions can affect an employee’s productivity, stress levels, positively or negatively. These are the factors which can affect employee’s health but not only work performance.
The use of technology is one reason for less communication and another reason is the cultural background. There is a huge difference between Asian culture and European culture. In Asia, people are more family-oriented and they tend to be more collective and caring. Success and failure are shared because it shows that you are a part of the com- munity. They are depended on family members & friends and they are emotionally con- nected. While European people are independent, and they believe in individualism. They motivate themselves rather than by the approval or the respect of others and they are straightforward.
Apart from two reasons which we have discussed above the third reason depends on personal behaviour. If someone is extrovert. It will be easy to make more friend because an extrovert person loves to talk. No matter wherever he/she live. This person will be
out-going and will be more socially connected. If someone is introvert and shy. It will be difficult for him/her to start a conversation and will be less socially connected. No matter, if he/she attends gathering regularly.
1.2 Mobile application
An application is a synergistic program that runs in a mobile device or computer [3].
Applications provide different functionalities for users. For example, We can play video games on the smartphone, use maps for navigation, accurate weather forecast can be seen with one touch, a photo and video recording and editing or cloud storage applica- tions, online shopping where orders are placed directly from the smartphone.
There are two types of applications, native and web-based. Native apps are retrieved and reside directly on the device they're just like other downloadable software applica- tions or programs that store files on our computer.
Web-based applications run through a website and users use them on web browsers such as Facebook web, google web page or calculating site. Currently, native applica- tions are more personalized, and they provide better engagement for users, that is why web-based apps also develop their mobile applications for better interaction with users..
1.3 Interaction or social interaction
Social interaction is formed when two or more people meet and interact with each other to build a society or gathering. The interaction between these gatherings can base on several common interests.
Social interaction is the process by which we act and react to those around us. In a nutshell, social interaction includes those acts people perform toward each other and the responses they give in return. Having a quick conversation with a friend seems relatively trivial [4].
For example, attending parties with friends, pass quality time with your family, being a member of a club or group, enjoying outdoor activities such as bar b q party or bike riding or boating or fishing with friends or playing football. These are the example of physical social interaction. Interacting with people on social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter is the same thing but digitally where users can interact socially, a thousand miles far away from other people. This social interaction requires proper social interaction skill- set. These are the common skills and ethics for interaction with others. When we are around with others like friends or family it is required several ethics and abilities.
We need to be respectful about other ideas of thought. We need to give proper time to others to speak. When playing any game then everyone should pay attention and show interest to maintain that gathering alive. Once you have interacted with others and during the conversation if you maintain good eye contact, smile and nodding show that you are paying attention to conversation. There are many benefits of social interaction e.g. this will help you meeting new people and making new friends. The stereotype about any specific person or group gets removed once we talk to each other and the whole per- spective gets change. Also, depression and anxiety are one of the most increasing prob- lems nowadays, we can cure these diseases with social interaction.
1.4 Research problem and goals
People are working in the same company for years and years. They are close col- leagues, but they are rarely close friends. There are various reasons for this behaviour.
It does not mean that we cannot make friends in the workplace. Even the people that we are close within the workplace are likely contextual. There is a very good likelihood that we see our colleagues more than we see our own family, on a week to week basis.
Especially when we have one of that close-knit office or open office culture. Where eve- ryone's up in each other's business. It is really easy to cultivate these artificially close relationships. Because we are going through so many of the seams things. We have so much common ground, but the thing that starts to blur of the lines is where the profes- sional line ends and where the personal line begins.
People are at work because they want to get paid. They are there to make money or they are there because they are trying to build success for themselves professionally. If neither of those things mattered, they would just be volunteering, or staying at home on their couch.
1. What are the workers’ needs to socialize with their colleagues in the work- place?
2. What kind of technology-mediated solution can support workers’ social inter- action in the workplace?
3. What privacy strategies can apply to separate personal and professional life?
4. How to draw users’ attention to use this system during working hours?
There are two types of employees in every company. First one, who just to do his work, get paid, less participate in social events and to go home. The second one, who is social,
wants to grow up, learn new things and climb the ladder. The goals of this system are to support both kinds of users’ in the company.
1.5 Research methodology
Before making any new design it is important to understand what has been done in the past and which features are missing in the previous system. A literature review is focused on a deep analysis of Human-Computer interaction (HCI) based research papers and conference papers. HCI shows how people interact with technology interfaces. This in- cludes dektop and laptop computers and how people interact with a keyboard, mouse, monitor and touch screens, to retrieve process and search for information [5]. This also includes other components of today's technologies. Such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. HCI deals with the studies of how people use any computational system or device and how those systems can be more useful or usable.
This thesis focuses on empathy and it is all about users, who will interact or will be af- fected by the proposed system or service. That's why the user-centred design approach was used in this thesis. After a deep analysis of the UCD method, We realized that User- centred design is a truly significant skill and everyone should learn about it, for all sorts of disciplines. It listens to everyone and unites individuals who have alternate thought and lead to an efficient design. The proposed system will be used by the real user. So the involvement of users’ are very important in the design process. UCD method helps us to understand users’ needs.
UCD process as followed.
Phase 1: Data collection methods which include interviews, observations, diary methods and .etc.
Phase 2: Data Analysis then the creation of affinity diagram, personas creation, physical and cultural model creation
Phase 3: Brainstorming, Ideation, designing
Phase 4: Prototype creation and testing with real user Phase 5: Evaluation of users’ feedback
Phase 6: Iteration, implementation
1.6 Thesis structure
This thesis is partitioned into eight sections, starts from the introduction section and end with discussion and conclusion chapters.
The second section gives an overview of the past work, done by specialists and re- searchers to find the appropriate solution to the problem. It describes the elements that can persuade people to increase interaction within the same working environment. It analyzes the currently used technology to increase the inspiration for interaction. The user-centred design method is the most suitable option for this thesis.
The third chapter describes the User-Centred Design (UCD) procedure and strategies required to acknowledge UCD in the working context.
The fourth chapter describes the UCD process used in this thesis, which starts with data gathering methods. The process begins with contextual inquiries and interviewing meth- ods. It focuses on data collection, data analysis to understand user requirements. Per- sonas, scenarios, storyboards, and prototypes are also discussed in this chapter to find a relevant solution.
The fifth chapter contains the interview results. After gathering data from interviews, con- textual inquires, and physical models, a detailed affinity diagram has created. The affinity diagram includes the findings obtained from the interviews. Deep analyses conducted to find answers to the research questions.
The sixth chapter focuses on design ideation based on collected data from the users.
The process started with the brainstorming process. Many ideas were generated, but the selection was based on the user's requirements and context of use. After the selection of design. Scenarios and storyboards were created, to understand the use of applications in the real world. All aspects of the design figured out through User Environment Design and moved forward with Medium-fidelity prototypes.
The seventh chapter is about the development, testing, and evaluation of the medium- fidelity prototype. After the development of a web-based prototype, it was tested with real users. To understand if the prototype is easy to use and full fill user requirements. To evaluate user needs AttrakDiff questionnaires and interviews were conducted. Based on collected feedback a final assessment was made.
In the last, the eighth chapter summarized the whole thesis. The result of the whole process, limitation of the used methodology, conclusion, and future work were discussed.
The last chapter leads to a conclusion, and it also explains what needs to be considered in the future.
2. RELATED WORK AND COMPETITOR ANALY- SIS
In this chapter, the focus is to understand how people are socially connected in the same working environment. What are the different ways or apps are currently available, which bring the users socially closer in the work environment? What are the limitations of cur- rent apps they are using? To answer the above questions, we have gone through several research papers, workshops, thesis, studies on social networking platforms and big screen devices.
2.1 Interaction between nearby strangers
In this paper [6], the researchers have created a digital workshop aiming to stimulate connectedness via digital technologies. As nowadays, everyday life stimulates the oppo- site of face-to-face communication. People have become more and more antisocial and feel disconnected when around people or public spaces.
Researchers focus on the potential connection through games, ad hoc connection, ex- change of content and other types of experiments. They identify the need for humans, to have social and physical interaction. We are humans and this creates part of our well- being. That is how researchers in the past 10 years have been testing methods to en- courage strangers in entering interactions between them. Taken ideas from these tests as one being an interactive display next to your coffee tables. Where you can read infor- mation about nearby strangers [9]. Or another game is an app. Where you can see who- ever is nearby and exchange information called location based-matchmaking [8]. Some apps include Badoo, MeetMe, StreetPass.
Researchers envision that the future will be all about digital interactions that will help people meet in the open space. Thus, the researchers have created a workshop. En- couraging connectedness in the open space. They have made a design space. In which people would have opportunities to meet. Where the sense of interaction can be from a talk to a non-verbal form of communication. The researchers aim to see what types of social interaction would people interact. The format has been the following: people who a part of the workshop need to submit 2-4 pages explaining their work in a presentation and a video afterwards [7]. Then, they will be part of a brainstorm session. In the end, all results will upload on a website of the workshop.
2.2 Interaction Techniques for Wall-Sized Screens
This workshop [10] aims to research and find topics for further collaboration when it comes to the wall-sized displays, their usage and perception among people. Also, re- searchers aim to invent categories in which all different techniques will be applicable and mostly functional for different jobs either in the office or not [11, p. 96-97].
What methods of interaction researchers from the workshop are looking at:
Direct touch /public settings/
Remote touchpad for data manipulation
Touch display at arm and direct touch
Gestures in private homes
Discoveries point out issues with peripheral space and awareness with the local aware- ness, which must be revisited and monitor arrangements are very important for the hu- man eye. Moreover, they mention the idea of using body sensors (EMG and BCI - brain- computer interface) [10]. Thus, one might know the mental state in which the user is working on the wall-sized display.
Most importantly, researchers discover the need for bigger displays to rearrange apps and tools and not hide information that one would want to be looking at it. Researchers also imply the fact that there will be situations when one would not want to use direct touch for presentations on wall-sized displays. Thus, they point out that new techniques must be developed when it comes to content representation [12].
2.3 Arrangements of screen
When it comes to content representation, researchers have made a study, where they experiment over how wall-sized displays can be arranged so that they appear most ef- fective and collaborative towards the purpose they are going to be used. This study has answered the above questions.
User-centred design studies aim to discover how display-space is used. Researchers [13] summarize that have made a long study in which they try to see how daily work has been conducted on one or two large screens and they conclude that people work better and faster when working on large displays.
Coming forward to how this study has tested the content representation and user-centred design study. They have created 3 groups which they explore the arrangement of screens for:
A software developer
Text analysts and writers
Visual collaborator with data sets and discussions with colleagues
19 people have participated in this study and have spent 10 minutes to arrange screens/displays according to the top 3 groups/purposed they have to use the screen.
There have been 6 types of arrangements:
Figure 1. Classifications of screen arrangements extracted from the design study:
(a) screen band, (b) screen block, (c) cockpit arrangement, (d)-(f) two plus two arrangement1.
For the first purpose, software development and the second, for text analysis participants did not change anything and the arrangement of the screens remain the same. Partici- pants from the third group have changed the screen arrangements. When they needed to collaborate with colleagues and discuss data sets.
Results from the studies and researchers conduct that all favour for landscape type of arrangement (a-d), hence it is easier to work I different body postures and there is no need to keep your head upwards, creating tension in the neck. All users have preferred symmetric arrangements [14].
Several times screen arrangements were preferred:
A: - 6;
B: 4;
C: - 5;
F: - 2.
Most of the people designed the screens as representing one and 13 people of all 19 have created a bow shape of arrangements. The reason being is that the peripheral space to the user is lesser. No one desired a touch element, but 3 of the participants have said that they would like to take notes on the screen with a pen or touch, but no need of the whole wall-sized display to have this gadget. All preferred a thinner/no bezels on screens, if possible. Only 2 people have separated the screens. For programming
1 L. Lischke, S.Mayer, K.Wolf, N.Henze, H.Reiterer, A.Schmidt., Screen Arrangements and Interaction Areas for Large Display Work Places (2016)
and text analysis 9 people preferred to arrange the browser windows and documents they use the most in the centre. Participants have then said that they would use the rest of the screens for browsing and reading: left and right [14].
2.4 Interacting with Large High-Resolution Display
The big research [15] has been conducted in between 2014 and 2018 and can show to the reader HOW one would use these wall-sized displays (LHRDs). Researchers have concentrated on 10 main components:
Vision
Influence of Physical screen resolution
Influence of Physical display space
Eye-tracking input
Mid-air gestures
Second device input
The resistance of a slider
Screen layout
Transforming desktops
Reading applications
In this study, most of the components are not relevant to our thesis. So we summarized only those topics, which supports in our study.
For the vision of how LHRD screens can be used in the office [16], researchers have conducted interviews with German designers. They have said that anything over 42” is considered large screen, as today companies use 50’’ or 55’’ displays. They have said that resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixel for a 55” screen makes the text clear, but employees who make designs are also willing to work with 3840 × 2160 pixel (4k).
For input text touch has been said by interviewees to be more interactive for guests in a museum or an office, hence the keyboard and mouse nowadays creates a certain border.
For academia, the big screen has been acknowledged as a whiteboard.
For Influence of physical screen resolution, the participants of the research conclude that DPI over 90 does not make people perform better in their work. Higher pixels would make the person work better in the office. The displays who are meant for designers would make workers see more details when looking at the display [17].
For Influence of Physical display space and researchers have conducted a study to see what is the optimal size of the display space when people are looking for titles and
images in documents and how much time it takes them to find the image or title. Findings show that 4 screens up top (269.2 × 113.1 cm) are well perceived by workers [17].
If the title or image is at the beginning of the document more space has been discovered to have a negative effect.
Reading application researchers have made a focus group in which the participants [18] are reading scientific documents. All of the methods of GUIs have put the main doc- uments in the centre of the display. Additional spaces above or below would help partic- ipants read related documents.
2.5 Importance of social networking for employees
Social networking in the workplace is the most effective and efficient way in which em- ployees can understand each other. In the workplace arena, it is crucial to know the clients if success is to be realized. Social networking facilitates on-net meetings and ex- change of information. Through social network trends, it is possible to learn about client and employee tastes and preferences. Knowing the client and employee taste and pref- erences whether in the office or business arena give one an upper hand when interacting with them and the ability to influence them. Social networking facilitates knowing your audience language, gender, and age. The audience language facilitates one strategy in get-ting along and selling ideas to the client, which provides a better working environment for staff working in the same office [19].
Social networking facilitates effective audience target. Notably, an effective way to trans- mit information is through geo-targeting, especially when targeting specific audiences based on their geographical locations [20]. For example, social networking sites allow users to target a specific audience by their geographical locations, age, marital status, language, and gender. Therefore, a social networking site in the workplace more accu- rate in communicating responsive and very much focused on messages to the audience.
Particularly, these social sites facilitate effective communication across different staff members of different age, gender, and different cultural background.
The role of social networking sites at workplace winning and expanding new employee and client loyalty is well established. Social networks allow staffs of one company to locate their potential users. For example, if a colleague wants to share new ideas with staff in other companies, to drag the attention of interested colleagues toward the idea, it is wise to create mutual interest keywords in social networks. The social network finds potential users who are like-minded. After locating the users, one can use a social net- work like Twitter and Facebook to invite them to discuss such ideas.
In the modern age business, time management is crucial to the success of any company.
Time management and timely decision making rely on how effective and efficient infor- mation passes from one point to another [19]. Social networks play an important role in information sharing with staff members and to collect their quick feedback. Social net- works facilitate instant access to feedback and deep insights about the ground reality.
For instance, if the colleague has a new idea and posts it on social networks, it is easy to know your user’s feedback on the new idea. In the modern era, producers are trying to keep abreast with the competition in the market. Taking user’s perspectives helps the producers to tailor their products to their user’s tastes and preference [21]. Therefore, a social network is an efficient tool for the developers because it provides quick user's feedback and their requirements.
Social network communication and interaction play an important role in enhancing inter- action among employees and increase productivity. Organizations should encourage employees through the creation of social networks to increase peer communication and interaction. Indeed, several organizations (e.g. Microsoft, Nokia, and Merck) are already supporting organization social networks.
The literature review points to the fact that social networking, especially in the same working environment, is key because It encourages communication to achieve organi- zational goals. However, there are always some certain challenges. The organization have to deal with them to achieve desire goals. Future social networking for people in working areas relies on sound intelligence. Analysis of social networks trends can pro- vide insights on how social networks in working areas need to be designed to meet the goals of the users. Strategies for enhancing social networks must be underpinned by best practices. Further solution-based studies on the challenges facing social networks need to be conducted and literature documented for future reference [21]. Prospects are an effective way of remaining relevant in the business and keeping abreast with the dy- namic challenges in the markets.
Various factors are responsible for the impeding the process of adopting and implement- ing IT changes, which potentially apply to the case implementing new social media in co- located settings. These include IT-related factors, innovation factors, technological envi- ronment, industrial organization factor, and resource-based factors [22]. Indeed, the sig- nificance of these factors can be well counted based on theory. One of the most appro- priate theories to account for the impediments underlying the adoption and implementa- tion of the social network technology within the same working environment is the diffusion theory [22].
2.6 Current social networking applications
It is very important to learn about the currently available applications in the market which are already proving the social communication services inside the working environment.
Before designing a new application, it is very important to know the pros and cons of the current application because this can help in several ways such as developing the missing features in the new system and making it a kind of hybrid system with mixing all the useful features and adding new features.
As explained in the previous portion, social networking is crucial in modern society be- cause it permits people to get together and transmit messages online. Currently, many web and mobile applications have been developed to start social networking in the work- ing environment e.g. Yammer and Slack. Notably, Web 2.0 was the most celebrated invention in social networking. Web 2.0 facilitates harnessing networks for online social network applications. The elements of Web 2.0 architecture include photo sharing, blogs, P2P file sharing, and other social networks [23].
2.6.1 Strengths of current applications
One of the social networking application is Twitter, which brings like-minded people to- gether to share information and build social interaction. Social networking enables inter- action and collaboration. One of the notable elements of Web2.0 is blogging. According to O'Reilly [49], a blog is a personal page in a daily format. Blogs are an effective platform for content sharing, among bloggers no matter what is their geographical locations. Fur- ther elements of Web 2.0 include tagging. Tagging enables the categorization of content by the web users Murugesan (2007). Tagging is more effective and efficient compared to traditional taxonomies.
Social bookmarking is another popular element of Web 2.0. Social networks such as Facebook use social bookmarking, through this, users can effectively and efficiently share their information. Social network sites have gained popularity. Currently, Facebook enjoys over two hundred million active members. Essentially, social networking sites are the most significant players of the Web 2.0 world. Although the Influence of social sites increasing in our social circles and also brings some challenges.
WhatsApp is an application for Smartphone that operates under a business subscription model. WhatsApp facilitates instant messaging and sharing of information among the users. The application requires a network to transmit messages from one user to the other. Notably, WhatsApp provides an effective and efficient way of sharing videos, im-
ages, and audio media information. In early 2015, WhatsApp was the most trending mes- saging application with more than 600 million users. The active user base is expected to grow up to over 950 million users. [24]
In social networking sites, Instagram is another trending application. The Instagram ap- plication facilitates video sharing and photo sharing. This application has uniqueness, for example, it shows a square format photo as compared to the mobile camera. The Insta- gram application was advanced in 2015, version 7.5 was launched to allow users to share photos captured in various ratios. Users can also edit their photos before sharing them with friends [24].
Other social networking applications have been ingrained in workplace and professional settings. One of the applications is the Enterprise Social Network (ESN). The enterprise social network was designed to facilitate collaborations and interactions. Facebook and Twitter can be used by enterprise social networks for the communication between the staffs. Employees can use such systems to share documents, hold discussions forums, and activity streams. For instance, an enterprise social network can be used to facilitate brainstorming before the actual meeting in the workplace. As such, management can identify personnel with valuable ideas [24]. The enterprise social network is feasible for the workplace because it increases interaction in the workplace. Noting the enterprise social network potential, Microsoft bought Yammer, the leading enterprise social network software provider. Microsoft objective of buying Yammer is to boost its enterprise social network efficacy. Microsoft has been working to improve its social network services to its users. For instance, Microsoft is working towards integrating SharePoint and Yammer.
According to Microsoft, the users will enjoy the options of choosing between Yammer and SharePoint for streaming online activity. Therefore, with the integration users of Yammer will have to sign in to Yammer, which in turn will allow the user to embed into the SharePoint site. As time progress, the integration will deepen the system to allow access with only one single sign-in with the 365-office interface. Yammer is also to be integrated with Office web applications. In 2014, users of Office 365 were expecting Yammer and Office 365-component integration. The expected integration includes Lync and Exchange.
Potential users often ignore the enterprise social network. As such, the enterprise social network has failed to meet its design objectives. Enterprise social network can play a significant role in the world of business.
SharePoint has been lauded for being the popular and front social network provider for people in the working environment for a long time. Microsoft has enhanced SharePoint
enterprise social network components in 2010 and version 2013 product. The limitation of SharePoint is that it is not dynamic as compared to the enterprise social network.
SharePoint enterprise social opportunities necessitated the need for other vendors to enter into play with new products to complement or replace the SharePoint enterprise social network [25]. The intriguing question is what strategy CIOs will take regarding SharePoint; Yammer to counter the enterprise social network competition. ESN making companies fall into three categories.
The categories include speciality players, collaboration platform companies, and busi- ness application, vendors. Microsoft falls under the collaboration platform companies.
Other companies in the same categories include IBM, Cisco, and WebEx Social. [25]
Another popular product on the ESN market is the Salesforce.com chatter. Other com- panies that are rapidly developing include Tibbr. ESN has been adopted by the US in- terpret police agency. ESN is lauded for its reliable mobile access. SharePoint enterprise social network facilitates the crucial social interaction between the agency and the com- munity for in time Intel. In the course of Yammer and SharePoint fusion, the company seeks to unify user expertise and eventually come up with one product will integrate all user functionality [25].
NewsGator Social application utilizes SharePoint based on the user premises or in a private cloud. The company is dedicated to extending its social sites to engage in collab- oration with other business and applications. Other products offer hybrid deployments including IBM connection, Tibbr, and Jive [52].
Other popular progress towards increasing the interaction and communication of people in same working place entails the development in Centre for Employee Interaction. SAP service sharing has a key feature in which The Centre for Employee Interaction operates under a centralized application. The centre facilitates the transference of information be- tween employees. As such, the centre empowers users because they have access to information. The centre delivers a wide range of channels for communication. For in- stance, employees can call the centre by phone, send email, or chart [53].
The literature review section emphasis on the importance of networking, especially for people in the working environment, and the trending developments and applications in the marketplace [54]. The review lauds social networking and the need for supportive applications. Some of the weaknesses of the current applications aimed at serving the networking and interaction needs of people in co-located areas that account for their unpopularity include insecurity, not easy to use and lack of enticing features and limited efficiency. As it can also be inferred from the review, the application in the market is not
inclusive to all people [54]. They either focus solely on the relationship between em- ployee registered in the system, excluding other external parties such as visitors and other un-registered parties within the collocated regions. Thus, review only justifies the essence of new application design that strives to meet the interests of users, further highlighting the areas and aspects that need to integrate into a new application.
2.7 Competitor Analysis
This section compares and evaluates the differences between the two famous current social applications for the work environment. Yammer and slack are the two famous and in-demand applications. The reason to pick these two popular applications is that I have personally used both tools in big companies. It was easy to analysis these tools, instead of those which I never used before. Both applications are developed by well-reputed companies. Yammer was acquired by the well-known technology company Microsoft.
Slack is one of the famous business communication tools which most of the companies are currently using.
2.7.1 Yammer
Yammer2 is an enterprise social networking service launched in September 2008, but with the increasing number of features and applications on the Yammer platform, Yam- mer is no longer just a communication platform. These new applications include voting, chat, events, links, topics, questions and answers, ideas, and more [26]. It provides an Activity Feed that aggregates the activities of colleagues in all enterprise applications, and users can also pay attention to the content.
Yammer has more than 5 million certified business users, including more than 85% of Fortune 500 companies. The basic version of Yammer is costless and users can upgrade their user account for advanced management and security controls, integration with en- terprise applications, prioritized customer service, and designated customer success managers. Yammer has raised approximately $142 million in venture capital. [26]
2.7.2 Yammer features
Like other microblogging products, Yammer can post messages and follow other users, but Yammer has several unique features compared to twitter microblogging.
A linear response model, which increases the Yammer's community function.
2 www.microsoft.com/en-US/microsoft-365/yammer/yammer-overview
You can manually add Tags to the information to classify the information.
Many groups and networks can be created, and users can contact people outside the company.
Pictures, files and documents can be uploaded in a common format. It also sup- ports voting, calendar, and question and answers type of functions.
For multi-user private messages (instead of e-mail function), Yammer information or post information can be sent to users via e-mail.
IM function allows you to see online contacts.
Support for Android, iPhone, Windows mobile, BlackBerry, and other mobile cli- ent applications.
2.7.3 Yammer disadvantages
Yammer is a very nice tool, but yet it lacks some features. The analysis was based on how the user is flexible to make changes? One window operation is missing in this.
Where the user is willing to use all Microsoft applications in one place without any prob- lem.
Following are the cons in which Yammer is still lacking.
Device app functionality. Many of us only use log in to their social media ac- counts, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, on our smartphones or tablets. This is relevant for our work tools as well. But you cannot yet edit notes or see current hashtags in the apps. [55]
SharePoint integration. This is very necessary for our users that the present level of integration must be considered as a weak point even though Microsoft has it as one of their top requirements.
Outlook integration. Many of us use Outlook for email, calendar and contacts. To break the habits of sending emails, Yammer and other ESN-tools face the chal- lenge of having people switching from Outlook to Yammer to send a message.
However, Yammer is working on an integration to Office and Outlook to bring the ESN-experience closer to the productivity tools. [55]
Feature of document editing tool is not good enough. The rich text editor tool is far behind compared to other online editors tools.
2.7.4 Slack
Slack is a chat group, massive tool integration, file integration, and unified search. By the end of 2014, Slack has integrated 65 tools and services, including email, SMS, Google Drives, Twitter, Trello, Asana, GitHub, to bring together fragmented enterprise communications and collaboration. [27]
After receiving more than 40 million U.S. dollars in financing in early 2014, it completed another 120 million U.S. dollars in financing. Its valuation has reached $1.12 billion, and
the company was founded just eight months ago, making it the fastest-growing SaaS company ever [27].
In February 2015, the first anniversary of Slack's corporate chat tool reached 500,000 active users, and the increase in the first six weeks of 2015 was 35% (at least 130,000), and the number of chat messages sent by users reached 1.7 million.
2.7.5 Slack features
Compare to Yammer, Slack has also several good features.
Slack brings all your communication together, At Slack, teamwork takes place in channels and all the news, tools and files are in one place - saving time and encouraging collaboration.
A channel for any kind of entertainment. Channels can be broken down by team, project, customer, or other topics relevant to your business.
o Team members can join and leave channels as they need them, unlike endless email chains.
o Threads prevent secondary conversations from distracting from the topic or the current project.
Share channels with companies and companies that you work with on a regular basis, such as clients, agencies and partners. So, all relevant people are in the same digital space.
Face to face and across the screen, discuss things by audio or video call directly from Slack and if you want to present your work, you can also share your screen.
2.7.6 Slack disadvantages
According to personal use and asking other users, following are the cons of Slack.
The interface is difficult to get used to.
Notifications have been a little bit of a challenging for us where they do not pop up right away.
Video chat becomes choppy when there are over 3 people.
For new users, it is difficult to start conversations.
Missing a calendar feature which would have been useful.
No project management features
2.7.7 Yammer and Slack features comparison
Yammer and Slack are both valuable communication tools that fill several user needs.
Yammer is to a greater degree a social communication site for organizations. Conversa- tions are made when somebody posts a message and after-ward individuals react with remarks to that post. It takes out the requirement for extensive messages as it permits
you to message your whole organization legitimately with tips, organization announce- ments or general questions.
On the other side, Slack is, even more, a messaging service for the organization. It is utilized more for real-time messing and responding to inquiries on ventures or other fun- damental projects.
Since individuals answer quicker, Slack is increasingly helpful for working for in-side groups and discussing related tasks. For better understanding, the following image ex- plains the comparison in tabular form.
Comparison of both applications was made, to understand which social interaction fea- tures are missing and which tools have advance features than others. This comparison will help us in our application design process. We will try to include missing features.
Figure 2. Yammer vs Slack features comparison3
3 comparisons.financesonline, Compare Yammer vs Slack, 2018, Link:
https://comparisons.financesonline.com/yammer-vs-slack
3. USER-CENTRED DESIGN
This chapter describes the User-Centred Design (UCD) procedure and strategies re- quired to acknowledge UCD in the working context. UCD process is used in this thesis to concentrate on the requirements of the individuals who are working in a similar domain and need to expand interaction and including them by using different UCD techniques, for example, data collection, and data analysis, design, and user evaluation methods.
UCD assists with recognizing how people in the same work environment can benefit in the best manner and how to design the system, understanding their needs, simple and easy user interface. In this chapter, briefly described the strategies which are used in this thesis.
3.1 Defining User-Centred Design
User-centred design process (UCD) is also known as a human-centred design process.
Human-centred design processes for interactive systems, ISO 13407:1999, states: "Hu- man-centred design is an approach to interactive system development that focuses spe- cifically on making systems usable. It is a multi-disciplinary activity" [28, p. 2].
User is always a focused point during development. A large number of the industrial designs in the past were condemned for being ineffectual, as the human genuine needs were not considered, UCD is progressively integrated into modern culture as it tends to client needs at the early period of the product development. UCD is commonly relevant to product development and improvement, the more explicitly in application develop- ment.
People refer to this as user-centred design, but there is a good reason for the human label. And that is the fact that when we use words that make people sound like another component of the system like the word ”user” then we are de-humanizing them. That is an argument that Simon Baron-Cohen makes in his book zero empathy talking about the fact that in many situations [29]. When we are talking about users, and to some extent it is inescapable. We know, we need to put a label on these people, but it is one of the main arguments, for example, in the use of personas that we replace rolls or users with actual names of people because that gives us a much better chance of promoting em- pathy promoting an understanding of their situation and their needs and behaviours.
3.1.1 Key features of user-centred design
The key feature of user-centred design is direct engagement with users [30]. We need to go out and research, understand to interact with real users. Needs to do the observa- tion by watching them work. I think observation is a fantastic tool. We do not do enough research, while it can be done in many ways, including questionnaires and interviews.
Perhaps not as effective as observation, but they have their advantages in many cases and then finally evaluation, and that is the real key. If we did none of these other things than evaluating with users would at least give us an idea of whether we’ve got problems or not. But Evaluation on its own is a fairly poor solution to the overall problem.
Other key components are research and context of use. We need to Research and un- derstand the context of use [30]. It is a very powerful label because it is fairly self-de- scriptive the contexts of use are everything about, how systems are employed in the real world.
A couple of examples. One is the differences in use, in the context of use between a point of sale system in a pub or a cafe versus a supermarket. The equipment may be virtually identical and software might be very similar too but the actual use of these sys- tems could not be more different.
In a supermarket, we have one customer at a time the person that doing the checking out for and there is one user at a time. The user is the checkout operator and that person might have to go through a hundred or more items from somebody's weekly shopping.
Important factors there are that it is just one customer and it is a lot of items and it needs to be done, pretty efficiently. There aren't any complications typically from needing to change to a different customer Midway through the process.
On the other hand, the situation is entirely reversed. In a pub or a cafe or something similar. We have many people sharing the one point of sale system and they need to be able to switch between customers very quickly. They need to switch between users very quickly too and the whole thing couldn't be more different. If we would try to impose the supermarket system in a cafe or the cafe system in a supermarket, it would be a horrible failure.
Other issues to do with the context of use. We often imagine that we are designing for people in a similar situation to our own [30]. For example, we are in a clean, dry, warm environment, typically an office environment. But as soon as we start looking at further fields. Start looking at warehouses or factories, then the context of use is very different.
We need to design our systems differently. Sometimes it means using different Hard- ware. Sometimes it means just being aware of the context of use in terms of how we
write the user-interface value design. So that the main focus for user-centred design is the suitability of solutions for real users in real contexts of use, not the ones that we are imagining.
3.1.2 The user-centred design process
Figure 3. Human-centred design for interactive systems4
It is a fairly straightforward diagram. We start with identifying the need for user-centred design. We start at the top with the research context of use we go around to specifying the user requirements. We finally at the bottom producer & Design Solutions, and then we those Solutions against the initial requirements and they do we do that with several tools but one of those courses would be usability testing with real users and depending on how that goes. We might have to go back and read it start again with our context of use. We only need to go back as far as tweaking the design solution. So we go around that loop until we can come out on the left-hand side here with the meets requirements box on that particular design.
3.2 Methods of data collection
The Motivation of data gathering in User-Centred Design is to understand the user needs and find facts and assess the opinions of the potential users before designing. Hence
4http://apppm.man.dtu.dk/images/thumb/0/03/Iso_USD.jpeg/600px-Iso_USD.jpeg
data gathering technique is essential for establishing prerequisites and assessments [50].
Kicking off a new project be a pretty daunting prospect, especially if we are building a new product or service or if we are working with a new client. There's usually somebody that knows almost all. If we are tasked with understanding the project. It can feel like a pretty massive task. So many questions. What is the project? Who's going to use it?
What will they use it for? How do we expect them to interact with it? How will you know if it is a success? What are our goals?
There are various procedures of data gathering and each produces various data and requires various techniques for investigation.
Interviews
Questionnaires and Surveys
Observations
Focus Groups
Ethnographies, Oral History, and Case Studies
Documents and Records
The following data gathering methods were used in this thesis: interviews (audio, video, and pictures), observation and diary methods.
3.2.1 Interviews
One of the more common methods of data collection, in UCD, is the use of interviews.
Interviews can be conducted with individuals, with pairs or with groups. They can be short and focused. They can be long, intense dialogues involving multiple sessions. In- terviews can be conducted via telephone or the internet, using something like Skype or they could even be conducted via a series of emails despite this variety. [31]
First, Aim of the interview is to understand the interviewee point of view regarding the issue. An interviewer should give freedom to participants that they can easily express their thought in their own words. The interviewer should avoid putting his words or thoughts into participants thoughts.
Secondly, The interview is one of the best methods to collect in-depth information. The interviewer should allow participants to answer in details and express freely. A single word or short answer will lead to an unclear story. Then the deep analysis will be difficult, and the final outcome will be in the inform of low-quality research.
Thirdly, interviews allow researchers to probe, and to follow up ideas. Researchers can ask the participants to expand on the right answer or even ask them why they answered the way they did. The interview is a conversation between the researcher and those people being researched. A dialogue in which the participants respond to the questions and then the interviewer responds to the interviewee. [31]
3.2.2 Observation
The meaning of observational research or field research is to observe the behaviours of people in their natural environment [32]. The study participants are observed by the re- searchers, in naturally occurring situations. Such as studying how people act as a pop concert? Observational research is one of the ways we gather market information, which we subsequently analyse. For example, we can observe fans at a pop concert and then analyse their behaviour. We can determine how many were happy with the ticket price.
How many enjoyed the actual concert and how many complained about the temperature.
In the world of business, observational research occurs when we want to study, how humans interact with goods and services? It is only observational research if the partici- pants are being watched in their natural surroundings. For example, observing people at a supermarket is observational research. Observational research may involve non-par- ticipant and participants observers. There is no intervention by the researchers in non- participant observations. In participant observations, researchers are also the part of re- search or in other words, they are also a participant. They mix in with the people that they are observing.
3.2.3 Observational research offers the following advantages:
It is a hypothesis to a real-world aspect.
It allows us to observe people acting together or separately.
It validates actual results rather than having to use data to predict things.
It is very ideal in no verbal communication.
The gathered data from this type of research is more reliable than self-report metrics.
3.2.4 Diary method
It is a longitudinal method, where we ask our participants to keep a diary of things that they do and how they feel over time [33]. Longitudinal means over time. The study can be a few days, a few weeks, or longer. Whatever we think would be appropriate to an- swer our research questions. When do we use a diary study method? One example could be, studying general behaviour. We want to do field studies but we cannot. We can also
use this method for testing a new product. When we wanted to launch something new, we want to understand how people would use it in the real world, in context. What do they use it for? What do not they use it for and why? How long it took them to learn it.
Positive and negative experiences with it. Those things we cannot really capture in a lab study. Therefore, if we want to understand our user's day-to-day experiences, what they do, how they feel? Diary study is the best proxy for understanding that user experience.
Since we are gathering data over time, we can track those changes. Changes in attitude, behaviour or skill.
Here are five steps on how to conduct a diary study.
Step 1: Recruit participants who fit our criteria. What kind of people do we want to talk to? Get a sense for how engaged they might be? All this can be hard because some people might forget to fill out Diaries. When recruiting, tell them upfront about what they should expect. For example, this is going to be a one-week-long study and we expect two diaries per day.
Step 2: We want to create our diary form with the questions that we want to learn. There are many ways. We can do with online apps, such as deep Scout or Paco. We can set up the Diary study and send out invitations links to our participants. If we do not want to use an app. We can send them through Google Forms or we can also have them write their own paper diaries and just email or take photos and send it to us, later.
Step 3: Set up an introduction with participants. Either via a phone call, email or through a video chat. Just introduce yourself, tell them what we expect from the study. What they can expect from us.
Step 4: Constantly check responses, to make sure that people are filling it out and if there are any problems, we can address it.
Step 5: Once have all the data from diaries, analyse it. Look for patterns, changes in behaviours, skills, attitudes or whatever want to learn. To make sure we can get answers to the research questions.
3.3 Data analysis and interpretation
After data collection, the next phase is data analysis and interpretation. The purpose of this part is to start making some sense of the data that we've collected. The next part, we know, once we get it all together and analyse it. The analysis helps to answer some of the questions that we were talking about the whole time.
In our research or analysis process, data can generally be divided into two main types’
quantitative data and qualitative data. The root of each of these words tells us what it is?
Quantitative data talks about quantities or things that can be measured. Numerically, it is often things that can be either whole numbers or can be measured on a sliding scale, but they naturally have a fixed number associated with them. Quantitative data has two subsets as well. So there are two different ways. We can describe quantitative data. It can be discrete or it can be continuous.
Qualitative data is data that normally has words as a description and not numbers [57].
So colours are a perfect example of qualitative data. Qualitative data analysis lets us find patterns or themes within data. It may not have a numeric value tied to it by description.
But this doesn't mean that we can't analyse examine and find insights about our data.
The most challenging part of qualitative data analysis is the initial setup. There are many different ways that we can work with qualitative data, depending on how our data is being measured or captured and what we are trying to develop or create as an outcome of our analysis work [57].
3.3.1 Affinity diagramming
This is a tool that is often used for interpretation. It helps to synthesize information. This method was developed by a Japanese Anthropologist Jiro Kawakita in the 1960s [34].
Affinity diagramming is a method for organizing related facts into distinct clusters. It is a fast and efficient way for teams to collaborate, as they distil and prioritize findings from user research and strategy or design workshops, among other things.
The process involves a lot of sticky notes and these three steps.
First, generating ideas during a research session or UX Workshop. Observers or attendees write down their observations or ideas; each one on a separate Sticky Note.
Second, organize these into categories, then subcategories.
And third, prioritize the notes in each category.
When to use Affinity diagramming? After making various simple observations such as hearing and seeing. After talking to people like, when we are conducting workshops and interviews for qualitative research. Or even when using something more quantitative re- search, such as surveys.
