OSU DESIGN 785 - Communication in a machine-mediated environment

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Statement of IntentE-work: communication in a machine-mediated environmentProblem The nature of work has changed dramatically over the last 200 years. From the AgriculturalEra to the Industrial Era, the workspace moved from farms to factories, and then to the offices. Lateron, during the Informational Era, a global economy model pushed the companies and institutions towardsa more complex and widespread environment. Work organization relies today on a project-based teamstructure and emphasizes collaboration over hierarchy. Workers sharing the same project are notnecessarily in the same physical space anymore. New forms of communication between members of awork team that are in different places have been developed and used since then. Their effectivenessvaries from case to case, but these dialogues never achieved the same levels of complexity andrichness of a face-to-face contact. Along with flaws in the theoretical approach, lack of compatibilitybetween different kinds of hardware and various existing software might be the main problems thatslow down e-work development.StatementI would like to create a method in which developers can rely on when designing distantworkapplications. A web-based system that achieves levels of complexity and richness a~s close as possibleto the ones found in a direct contact would also be developed to illustrate this method. This systemshould be a rich experience, contemplating a dialogue between two or more people, built through theprinciples of Design, Human Factors and Ergonomics. It has to be a multi-platform system based uponexisting hardware, capable of synchronous and asynchronous forms of communication.ObjectivesStudy and systematize communication as an information sharing process in a machinemediated environment, and its impacts on work tasks.To study and analyze the aspects of human interactions with the computer system and the tasksperformed in a usability perspective, including ease of learning, ease of use and the minimization oferrors.ProcedureResearch for existing literature on the Ohio State libraries, Ohio Link, and the Internet.Extend the studies to the fields of Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Ergonomics / Human Factors,Learning, Cognitive Sciences and Engineering, Information Sciences and Sociology, through courses atthe Design, Industrial and Systems Engineering and at the Psychology Departments.Research, study and compare the aspects of face-to-face contact and machine/interface mediatedcontact.Determine the importance, limits and impacts of distant work.Analyze the technology available today, as hardware and software concerning distant work.Research and analyze one company environment and use it as a model to develop a system prototype.Interact with members from this company to get feedback from the system created.Evaluate and refine the system.Project Description and PurposeE-work: communication in a machine-mediated environment.Research and understand the communication process between two or more people, in the workenvironment, when mediated by a machine. This research will be centered on the four areas of study,as follows:DesignThe bulk of this research will be based upon the Design field, with emphasis In VisualCommunication. This area of study will provide information about the use of typefaces,- shapes, color and composition as elements of the interface design, as well as the role of theinterface design and the cultural differences in design interpretation in the communication process.Human-Computer Interaction Information about the underlined processes that surround communicationbetween human and machine will be brought to my research through Human-Computer Interaction. Itwill also be concentrated in the structure and organization of hardware and software engineering of theinteractive computational systems.Human Factors / Ergonomics Along with HCI, Ergonomics will be an important source of informationwhen analyzing the elements that come into play during the interface design process. The principles ofHuman Factors will constitute the base to design the system that will work as an illustration to themethod developed.UsabilityUsability methods will be used to test and analyze the system that will be developed alongwith the written project. The results of these tests will be used to prove the hypothesis.Project Goals and ObjectivesTo study and systematize communication as an information sharing process between two or morepeople in a machine-mediated environment, and its impacts on work tasks.To study and analyze the aspects of human interactions with the computer system and the tasksperformed in a usability perspective, including ease of learning, ease of use and the minimization oferrors.Finally, to generate new knowledge that will benefit the Design discipline, concerning distant worksystem development and interface design.Testing and EvaluationA system will be developed to illustrate the theory created. Usability test will be performed with thesystem users. The amount of time spent by them to learn how to use the system and to performbenchmark tasks, as well as the number of errors when performing these tasks will be analyzed. Theresults will be used to evaluate its effectiveness.ProceduresResearch for existing literature on the Ohio State libraries, Ohio Link, and the Internet: thisbibliography search will be based upon four main areas of knowledge: Design, HCI, Human Factors andUsability.Extend the studies to the fields of Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Ergonomics Human Factors, Learning, Cognitive Sciences and Engineering, Information Sciences and Sociology, through courses atthe Departments of Design, Industrial and Systems ,Engineering, Psychology and Computer andInformation Science.Research, Study and compare the aspects of face-to-face contact and machine/interfacemediated contact: the components that come into play during a face-to-face interaction will beanalyzed and adapted to became the major constituents of the system developed for machine-mediatedcommunication.Determine the importance, limits and the impacts of distant work: it will define If this researchis a topic of general interest, and if it will be useful to the society.Analyze the technology available today, such as hardware and software, concerning distantwork, like computers, PDAs, mobile phones, videoconferencing equipment, etc. How are they beingused today in the work environments?


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