The Process of Developing a Mobile Device for Communication in a Safety-Critical Domain Jesper Kjeldskov and Jan Stage Mobile HCI Research Group Department of Computer Science Aalborg University Denmark INTERACT 2003

2 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 The Project A study of mobile device application design processes for highly specialized use-contexts Design, implementation and evaluation of a handheld communication device interface Distributed process control in a maritime domain Methods Ethnographic field studies Object-oriented and video analysis Lab-based usability studies

3 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Use Domain: Container Ships Sally Maersk: A huge container vessel (347 m) The Eiffel Tower: 324 m high (w. flagpole)

4 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 The Use Domain (2)

5 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 The Development Process Application Domain Analysis Problem Domain Analysis Design and Implementation Usability Evaluation

6 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Field Study: Letting Go The Lines Aft mooring lines Possible sequence of letting go mooring lines Departing from harbour

7 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Letting Go The Lines… A safety-critical and non-trivial operation Tasks must be carefully coordinated Errors can be disastrous (e.g. cause collisions) Operation involves distributed cooperating actors Captain and officers on the bridge Officers and assistants on deck, assistants ashore Access to shared information is critical Coordination is based on oral communication

8 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Some Observed Limitations… Sound quality is often poor Communication is not persistent and… Cannot be automated Is time consuming Suffers from language barriers Suffers form bottlenecks (multiple parallel tracks) Lacks information integration Hypothesis: text-based communication, may assist in reducing or resolving these limitations

9 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Objects and Relations Actors Locations Tasks

10 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 States of Tasks Follows a standardized pattern of sub-tasks Variation is complex but can be modeled Sub-tasks are either: Past Present Future

11 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Structures in Communication you can let go the bow line let go bow line bow line let go and we have the bow line home ok Each sub-task follow a formalized sequence:

12 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Overall Interface Design Visual representation of ship and mooring lines Textual representation of present status of mooring Communication divided into Past Present Future

13 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Heuristic Inspection A team of three trained usability experts 15 minute oral introduction to the use domain One hour of interaction + one hour of discussion

14 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Think-Aloud in Ship Simulator High-fidelity ship simulator Real-world scenario Test subjects: trained maritime officers

15 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Conclusions: The Design A large proportion of spoken communication in a the maritime domain can be replaced by pre- defined text messages on mobile devices However, the design needs to be more flexible… Ethnographic study provided valuable insight into the use context as it is - but gave limited support for changing/improving procedures

16 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Conclusions: The Process The ethnographic study provided valuable insight into the use context as it is - but gave limited support for changing/improving procedures The object-oriented method provided a solid tool for analysing the empirical data, identifying significant patterns and structures Getting from analysis to design was quite hard but OOA helped focus our efforts

17 Jesper Kjeldskov, The Process of Developing a Mobile Communication Device, Interact 2003 Questions…