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Publikation 'Women just have to accept it when the man wants it'. An investigation of the practice of forced marriage and the potential for design interventions(Association for Computing Machinery, 13.10.2024) Ahmed, Nimra; Fedosov, Anton; Huang, Elaine M.There is a growing interest in HCI on issues of marginalized communities and women’s well-being, including domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Forced marriage (FM), a practice related to DV and IPV but with its own unique characteristics, is comparatively underexplored. This paper addresses the widespread problem of FM through a qualitative study involving individuals affected by FM and workers for a non-governmental organization (NGO) that assists people affected by FM. The aim of the study was to gain insight into the practice of FM, the challenges in avoiding or escaping FM, and role technology may play. We identified three key themes of relevance for HCI: Information & Resources, Situational Context, and Technology Misuse. Based on these themes, we engaged in preliminary design explorations ranging from immediate intervention to enduring empowerment and formulated a set of design considerations for HCI researchers and practitioners to support help efforts in the FM context.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Design cards for culturally sensitive mental health technologies. Integrating Hofstede's cultural dimension theory into human-centered design processes(Association for Computing Machinery, 13.10.2024) Ahmed, Nimra; Al-Hazwani, Ibrahim; Fedosov, Anton; Schluchter, Tim; Huang, Elaine M.Despite the significant influence of culture on technology use, there is still lack of culturally sensitive approaches in mental health technology design within HCI. This paper introduces the Mental Health x Culture (MHxC) card deck, a translational tool developed to support researchers and designers in this space. Drawing on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension Theory, the deck comprises double-sided cards that depict contrasting cultural values for the five cultural dimensions. Each card combines findings drawn from existing research and illustrative examples and provides targeted design considerations and creative inspirations. We discuss the process of creating the cards and feedback we gathered from UX designers and psychologists regarding the composition and potential value of the cards in supporting design processes. By making cultural considerations explicit and actionable, this tool encourages critical engagement with culture in technology design to help bridge the research-practice gap. The MHxC card deck has the potential to enhance cultural sensitivity in mental health technology design and support the integration of cultural awareness into human-centered design processes.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Trustworthy AAL design cards(European cooperation in science and technology, 28.09.2024) Riva, Gianluigi M.; Fedosov, Anton; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; Colantonio, Sara; Lutz, Christoph; Tamò-Larrieux, Aurelia; Kuźmicz, Maksymilian M.; Colonna, Liane; Lameski, Petre; Zdravevski, Eftim; Pocta, Peter; Sklavos, Nicolas; Puaschitz, Nathalie G.S.; Dantas, Carina; Metin, Ebru; van Staalduinen, Willeke; Gurcinar, ElifThis Trustworthy AAL Design Cards collection is intended as a practical set of easy-to-read guidelines for AAL practitioners. In particular, these cards provide actionable, understandable, and specific guidance to developers, designers, and other stakeholders involved in the lifecycle of AAL systems. The key stakeholders are the professionals who need to create and implement trustworthy AAL systems. The purpose of the cards is to serve as a reference tool, providing clear guidelines for stakeholders. By offering structured advice across different stages of research, design, development, and deployment, the cards aim to foster a comprehensive approach to the ethical and compliant creation of trustworthy AAL technologies. Each card is grounded in relevant scholarly works, legal frameworks, and ethical and technological standards and offers a policy recommendation, giving stakeholders the tools they need to make informed decisions at every step of the process. The primary goal of the Cards is to support the stakeholders through the complex process of creating AAL technologies that can be functional, fair, ethical, and compliant with legal standards. This effort drew upon collaborative design approaches (e.g., co-conceptualization and co-creation) and resulted in actionable guidelines for AAL practitioners in order to improve feasibility and compliance with technical and legal requirements and effectively preserve the privacy of end-users. In particular, the cards focus on privacy as a fundamental consideration, ensuring that the systems respect users' personal data and autonomy. Privacy violations or ethical oversights can lead to a breakdown of trust in both end-users and other stakeholders involved in the care provision, rendering even the most innovative AAL solutions unviable. Therefore, this collection emphasizes the design of trustworthy systems that users and practitioners feel confident adopting. The primary stakeholders of the Trustworthy AAL Design Cards are developers and designers; however, project managers and decision-makers who work within the AAL domain will benefit from the cards as well. While the technical expertise of these individuals may vary, the cards aim to provide accessible and comprehensible guidelines that cut across disciplines. For these reasons, contributors who designed the cards span across a variety of fields and scientific disciplines. Developers and designers who are directly responsible for the technical and user interface aspects of AAL systems will find the cards useful for embedding ethical and privacy-conscious practices from the early stages of the development process. At the same time, policymakers, legal experts, and ethicists can use the cards to ensure that their insights are integrated into the technological process, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. The Trustworthy AAL Design Cards are organized to reflect the four critical stages in the development of AAL systems: Research, Design, Development, and Deployment/Maintenance. Each stage introduces unique challenges related to privacy, ethics, and compliance. The cards offer tailored advice for navigating these challenges. The research phase is foundational to the development of AAL systems. It involves gathering data, defining user needs, and analysing the technological and ethical implications of potential solutions. During this phase, it is essential to ensure that research methodologies respect privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Medical Device Regulation, among others, and maintain the dignity and rights of participants. The Cards offer specific guidelines on how to conduct research ethically, including recommendations on obtaining informed consent, anonymising data, and ensuring transparency in data collection and use. The design phase involves conceptualising the AAL system’s functionality, user interface, and interactions. This stage requires a careful balance between user experience and privacy. The Cards encourage developers and designers to adopt privacy-by-design approaches and data minimisation principles to ensure that privacy considerations are integrated into the system’s architecture from the outset. The Cards, thus, provide insights into designing systems that are intuitive, secure, and capable of handling sensitive data responsibly. The development stage translates design concepts into tangible interactive products or services. This phase requires adherence to technical standards and legal regulations, particularly those related to data protection and information security. The Cards offer advice on selecting appropriate security methods, implementing secure data storage, and ensuring that user data is processed lawfully and ethically in every stage of its lifecycle. Additionally, the Cards offer pointers to developers on conducting security assessments and integrating feedback loops to address potential ethical and privacy issues as they arise. Finally, once an AAL system is deployed, continuous monitoring and maintenance are necessary to ensure it remains functional, secure, and compliant with evolving legal standards. The Cards emphasise the importance of post-deployment assessments and monitoring, focusing on timely updates of privacy policies, conducting regular security audits, and engaging with users to gather feedback. This stage also involves managing data retention and ensuring that users have control over their data, including options for data deletion or modification in compliance with legal rights. The Trustworthy AAL Design Cards are designed to be flexible and easy to integrate into the workflow of stakeholders at various stages of AAL system development. Each card is structured around a specific issue or challenge, identifying the different stages in which it applies and providing actionable recommendations for addressing it. The structure is aimed at enhancing rapid understanding of the main elements of the topic addressed; for this reason, they provide questions and answers, keywords, examples, or scenarios that may clarify the context. For instance, one card may focus on obtaining informed consent in the research phase, while another might provide advice on implementing data encryption during development. The cards are concise and self-contained, allowing stakeholders to reference them quickly as they progress through the stages of their project. Likewise, they all contain actionable policy recommendations to guide the development process, and, when applicable, they offer a legal recommendation with an explicit reference to the specific legal requirements for that scenario. This approach intends to provide stakeholders with a brief explanation of the legal or ethical rationale behind each issue addressed, ensuring that they not only know what to do but also understand why it is important. This feature helps bridge the gap between disciplines, allowing developers and designers to engage with legal and ethical considerations without requiring deep expertise in those fields. However, they are not meant to remove or replace legal experts throughout these phases. Additionally, the cards are designed for an iterative development process, meaning stakeholders can revisit them as new challenges or questions arise. In conclusion, within a rapidly evolving field like AAL, where technological advances should be balanced with ethical and legal considerations, the Trustworthy AAL Design Cards provide an essential tool for developers, designers, and other stakeholders to readily access multidisciplinary know-how concerning AAL technology and service design. By offering clear, actionable, and reliable guidance across the lifecycle of AAL systems – from research to deployment – the Cards enable stakeholders to design innovative technologies that are trustworthy and compliant with privacy and ethical standards. Ultimately, the cards bridge the technical, legal, and ethical domains, ensuring that AAL technologies can be developed fairly, respecting users' rights and needs, and fostering trust in their adoption.05 - Forschungs- oder ArbeitsberichtPublikation Challenges and opportunities for prompt management. Empirical investigation of text-based GenAI users(Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., 01.09.2024) Patkar, Nitish; Fedosov, Anton; Kropp, MartinGenerative AI (genAI) tools, like ChatGPT, have become popular not only with everyday users but also with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers and practitioners. Despite their rapid adoption, there is a lack of studies examining their design, particularly regarding prompt handling, organization, and management. Our empirical survey study, involving 61 genAI tool users, addresses this gap by investigating the usability and user experience of the current features of these tools. We illustrate that advanced search and labeling functionalities and innovative interface designs can significantly enhance user experience as well as aid in reflecting on sustainability when using this technology. As genAI approaches the so-called “Trough of Disillusionment” (in Gartner’s Hype Cycle terms),1 our research aims to guide the design of genAI tools toward a more pragmatic and practical fit to end-user practices, ensuring that technology adoption comes with a deeper understanding of its capabilities and offerings.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation “I don’t want to become a number’’. Examining different stakeholder perspectives on a video-based monitoring system for senior care with inherent privacy protection (by design)(Association for Computing Machinery, 11.05.2024) Mujirishvili, Tamara; Fedosov, Anton; Hashemifard, Kooshan; Climent-Pérez, Pau; Florez-Revuelta, Francisco; Mueller, Florian Floyd; Kyburz, Penny; Williamson, Julie R.; Sas, Corina; Wilson, Max L.; Dugs, Phoebe Toups; Shklovski, IrinaActive and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies aim to enhance the quality of life of older adults and promote successful aging. While video-based AAL solutions offer rich capabilities for better healthcare management in older age, they pose significant privacy risks. To mitigate the risks, we developed a video-based monitoring system that incorporates different privacy-preserving filters. We deployed the system in one assistive technology center and conducted a qualitative study with older adults and other stakeholders involved in care provision. Our study demonstrates diverse users’ perceptions and experiences with video-monitoring technology and offers valuable insights for the system’s further development. The findings unpack the privacy-versus-safety trade-off inherent in video-based technologies and discuss how the privacy-preserving mechanisms within the system mitigate privacy-related concerns. The study also identifies varying stakeholder perspectives towards the system in general and highlights potential avenues for developing video-based monitoring technologies in the AAL context.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation “Shared online, made people envious, felt good”. Motivations to share non-media types of content online(IGI Global, 26.03.2024) Olsson, Thomas; Ojala, Jarno; Fedosov, Anton; Väänänen, Kaisa; Langheinrich, MarcAn online survey of 200 participants was conducted on the experiences of sharing material and immaterial artifacts, focusing on interaction with non-media content types. The survey included six categories of sharing: music preferences, travel plans, sports activities, apartments and vehicles, virtual items in online games, and dietary preferences. The study identified factors that motivate participation in content-mediated interaction: discovery, curating self, connectedness, collaboration, enjoyment, and instrumental motivations, as a set of six motivating factors driving contemporary sharing practices. The authors consolidated findings from earlier work on motivations to share personal content, validating the set of motivating factors with the six selected non-media types of content. The results suggest that both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations affect content sharing practices. Furthermore, motivating factors were mapped to the reported positive and negative experiences, in order to understand their relation and to discuss their capacity to guide user experience design.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Energyefficient Kubernetes(Hochschule für Technik FHNW, 22.03.2024) Baur, Jérôme; Engel, Julie; Graf, Sebastian; SIX GroupCloud Computing hat sich als unverzichtbarer Bestandteil der IT-Welt etabliert. Es ermöglicht Unternehmen, Ressourcen wie CPU und Arbeitsspeicher flexibel und bedarfsgerecht zu nutzen. Eine eziente Nutzung dieser Ressourcen ist entscheidend, da eine ineziente Nutzung mit einem erhöhten Stromverbrauch einhergeht. Bei der Produktion von Strom werden, direkt oder indirekt, Treibhausgase emittiert. Aufgrund des kontinuierlichen und starken Wachstums von Kubernetes als Schlüsseltechnologie besteht ein erhebliches Potenzial, die CO2-Emissionen durch eine ezientere Nutzung dieser Plattform zu reduzieren. Diese Arbeit untersucht den Energieverbrauch von Kubernetes-Clustern mithilfe des KeplerProjektes und zielt darauf ab, Strategien zur Steigerung der Energieezienz zu identifizieren und zu bewerten. Im Zentrum stehen dabei zwei Hauptansätze: der Vergleich von Monolithen und Microservices hinsichtlich ihres Energieverbrauchs und die Evaluation des Einsatzes des Vertical Pod Autoscalers (VPA) zur Optimierung der Ressourcennutzung. In der Untersuchung des ersten Ansatzes wurde festgestellt, dass die Deploymentstrategie (Monolith vs. Microservices) allein keine signifikante Auswirkung auf die Energieezienz hat. Der Energieverbrauch wird hauptsächlich durch den Idle Energieverbrauch der Nodes beeinflusst. Der zweite Ansatz dieser Arbeit, der Einsatz des Vertical Pod Autoscalers, zeigte hingegen positive Eekte auf die Energieezienz. Durch die dynamische Anpassung der Ressourcenanforderungen von Pods und durch das Entfernen von Nodes konnte die Auslastung der Nodes verbessert und somit der Idle Energieverbrauch verringert werden. Dies führte zu einer signifikanten Reduktion des Energieverbrauchs. Diese Arbeit bietet wichtige Einsichten in die Energieezienz von Kubernetes-Clustern und zeigt auf, dass insbesondere die Reduktion des Idle Energieverbrauchs und der gezielte Einsatz von Ressourcenmanagement-Tools entscheidend für ezientere Ressourcennutzung sind.11 - Studentische ArbeitPublikation Interactive use-case generation tool for functional REST API testing(Hochschule für Technik FHNW, 18.08.2023) Volken, Jonas; Leu, Benjamin; Kropp, Martin; Affolter, Fabian; Tesitifi GmbHSoftware is an integral part of any business, which makes the significance of high-quality software in today’s digital age undeniable. However, despite the advancements in software testing, challenges persist in efficiently planning, generating, and executing test cases, particularly for REST API-based applications. This project addresses the issue by developing a sequence generator tool that enables testers to effortlessly create and execute sequences of requests, streamlining the creation of comprehensive test scenarios. By simplifying the process of connecting response values to subsequent request values, the software seeks to maximize test coverage, improve test quality, and enable testers to focus more on software quality enhancement than the efforts of test construction. The client for this project is Testifi GmbH, a company dedicated to enhancing software delivery processes through DevOps integrations and AI-automated quality assurance solutions. The main focus of the project was to find out if the test quality increased by using the sequence generator tool due to more edge cases and more complex scenarios being tested compared to manual API testing, as well as showing if the efficiency improvement can be measured in reduced amount of time necessary for creation sequences. To answer these questions and develop an application that offers value for Testifi GmbH, a literature review was conducted on the subjects of basic user interface design and user experience concepts for advanced users. Based on the findings, the user interface of the application was outlined and the software implemented. During development and with the finished product, multiple sets of user tests were conducted with users experienced in working with APIs, to improve the design and software during development, and to gain insights about the effectiveness of the final product. Those tests showed that the main goals of the project could be reached by demonstrating a considerable amount of time saved by using the application, while also outperforming manual testing methods in efficiency and ease of use. Key features like the linking of response values to subsequent request values and the suggestion of such links based on Testifi’s Pulse Artificial intelligence (AI) as well as previously created sequences were well received by testers and customer. The literature review also proved to be very valuable as users praised the straightforward design, while never missing any important data. When Testifi GmbH integrates the end product in their pulse workflow, its ability to create sequences easily and intuitively as well as the potential of the additional link suggestions created by the tool to be used in improving the Pulse AI will be indispensable.11 - Studentische ArbeitPublikation Maintenance and evolution of large scale software systems – Business, dev & ops challenges(10.02.2023) Rüegger, Janick; Kropp, MartinEven in the time of agile software development and devOps, maintenance and evolution of large-scale software systems remain challenging. This is not only caused by technical debt, but is heavily caused by lost knowledge, high complexity of micro-service architectures, difficult requirements management, not available documentation, and the complexity of communication among and coordination of the many stakeholders. In our session we will talk about the challenges we identified in our study and present new approaches to address these challenges.06 - PräsentationPublikation Waste self-reporting for software development productivity improvement(Springer, 2023) Sallin, Marc; Kropp, Martin; Anslow, Craig; Biddle, Robert; Stettina, Christoph J.; Garbajosa, Juan; Kruchten, PhilippeLittle research has been done on enabling software development teams to self-report waste to assist in productivity improvement. This study created a waste categorization and survey for teams to identify and quantify wasteful activities. Developers from a Swiss company used the survey for three weeks. Participants found the survey helpful for identifying waste but there was little evidence that self-reported waste correlated with improved performance.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Understanding Leadership in Agile Software Development Teams: Who and How?(Springer, 09.06.2022) Weichbrodt, Johann; Kropp, Martin; Biddle, Robert; Gregory, Peggy; Anslow, Craig; Bühler, Ursina Maria; Mateescu, Magdalena; Meier, Andreas; Stray, Viktoria; Stol, Klaas-Jan; Paasivaara, Maria; Kruchten, PhilippeIn this paper we report on a study of the nature of different aspects of leadership in agile teams. We used an established model of leadership, distinguishing transactional and transformational styles, and asked IT professionals a set of questions about the leadership they experience, both from direct supervisors (hierarchical leadership) and from the team itself (shared leadership). Our results show that agility is indeed related to the transformational style, but that the transactional style also plays a part, especially as shared leadership. Furthermore, even in highly agile software development, leadership by direct supervisors still plays an important role. We propose that, as software development becomes more agile, the transactional aspects of leadership may shift away from the leadership dyad between supervisor and employee into the agile team, while transformational leadership is important for both the team and supervisors.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Benefits of card walls in agile software development. A systematic literature review(Springer, 2022) Sallin, Marc; Kropp, Martin; Stray, Viktoria; Stol, Klaas-Jan; Paasivaara, Maria; Kruchten, PhilippeCard walls are often used to visualize various aspects of the software development process. They are an essential and widespread agile practice. Despite the drawback of physical card walls, its digital version is often not considered a sufficient alternative. This paper aims to find the reason for this and suggests how to evolve digital card walls into a viable alternative. We conducted a systematic literature review and analyzed twenty-two studies. We identified which desirable effects agile teams get from card wall usage and derived a set of properties a card wall needs to achieve those effects. Furthermore, we suggested a typology of card walls to compare the benefits and challenges among them.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Deshalb gewinnt Edge Computing an Bedeutung(Netzmedien, 2022) Amberg, ThomasInternet-of-Things-Systeme speichern und analysieren Daten in der Cloud. Edge Computing bringt Rechenpower und Datenspeicher an den Rand des Netzwerks, zu den Sensoren und Aktuatoren im Feld.01B - Beitrag in Magazin oder ZeitungPublikation Agile Software Development: Practices, Self-Organization, and Satisfaction(Springer, 2021) Biddle, Robert; Kropp, Martin; Meier, Andreas; Anslow, Craig; Pfeiffer, Sabine; Nicklich, Manuel; Sauer, Stefan04A - Beitrag SammelbandPublikation Measuring Software Delivery Performance Using the Four Key Metrics of DevOps(Springer, 2021) Sallin, Marc; Kropp, Martin; Anslow, Craig; Quilty, James W.; Meier, Andreas; Gregory, Peggy; Lassenius, Casper; Wang, Xiaofeng; Kruchten, PhilippeThe Four Key Metrics of DevOps have become very popular for measuring IT-performance and DevOps adoption. However, the measurement of the four metrics deployment frequency, lead time for change, time to restore service and change failure rate is often done manually and through surveys - with only few data points. In this work we evaluated how the Four Key Metrics can be measured automatically and developed a prototype for the automatic measurement of the Four Key Metrics. We then evaluated if the measurement is valuable for practitioners in a company. The analysis shows that the chosen measurement approach is both suitable and the results valuable for the team with respect to measuring and improving the software delivery performance.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation The Effects on social support and work engagement with scrum events(IEEE, 2021) Müller, Debora; Kropp, Martin; Anslow, Craig; Meier, AndreasOne of the core values of the Agile Manifesto is “individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” Scrum implements interaction through key events (Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Retrospective). There is limited work done on how these events influence perceived social support and work engagement. This paper examines perceived social support as a strengthening factor on work engagement in an agile work environment. Drawing upon the Job Demands-Resource Model, the research question is how do Scrum events relate to social support and what effect do they have on work engagement? We conducted an online survey with 132 Scrum professionals and analyzed the data using structural equation modelling. Results show that the Scrum event Retrospective strengthened social support. Moreover, social support is positively related to work engagement. The research contributes to the limited empirical understanding on perceived social support as well as work engagement in an agile work environment. It provides companies with an understanding of the importance of Retrospectives as a Scrum event.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Create Video Games to Promote Well-Being of Elderly People – A Practice-Driven Guideline(Springer, 10.07.2020) Soldati, Marco; Zahn, Carmen; Bildibay, Doruk; Iseli, Tabea; Leisner, David; Niederhauser, Mario; Gao, Qin; Zhou, JiaThis paper presents a selection of game design concepts to promote social interaction between older people and players from other generations. Hardware-related interaction channels, game mechanics and game content can be used to trigger positive communication between several players. The proposed concepts are based on the experience of 32 game prototypes developed with and for the oldest seniors living in several Swiss nursing and retirement homes. The games are directed at the relatives to make their visits a pleasant and positively perceived experience, with the aim of increasing well-being of all involved.04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Satisfaction and its correlates in agile software development(Elsevier, 06/2020) Kropp, Martin; Meier, Andreas; Anslow, Craig; Biddle, RobertIn this paper we address the topic of software development team members satisfaction with their development process. We present an in-depth analysis of the results of a nationwide survey about software development in Switzerland. We wanted to find out if satisfaction relates to the applied development method, and to the use of various practices, and impacts on business, team and software issues. We found that higher satisfaction is reported more by those using Agile development than with plan-driven processes. We explored the different perspectives of developers and those with a management role and found a high consistency of satisfaction between Agile developers and Agile management, and differences with those using working plan-driven methods. We found that certain practices and impacts have high correlations to satisfaction, and that collaborative processes are closely related to satisfaction. We then explored the relationship between satisfaction and various other perspectives. Our results in this analysis are principally descriptive, but we think they can be a relevant contribution to understand the challenges for everyone involved in Agile development.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher ZeitschriftPublikation Visualizing progress tracking for software teams on large collaborative touch displays(IEEE, 2020) Scott-Hill, Brandon; Anslow, Craig; Ferreira, Jennifer; Kropp, Martin; Mateescu, Magdalena; Meier, Andreas04B - Beitrag KonferenzschriftPublikation Satisfaction and its correlates in agile software development(Elsevier, 2020) Kropp, Martin; Meier, Andreas; Anslow, Craig; Biddle, Robert01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift