Exergames have shown evidence to support physical activity in the elderly, thereby supporting cognitive and motor abilities and preventing falls. While the motivation for self-regulated exercising is low, high-intensive, diverse and long-lasting exercises on a regular is most effective. Using persuasive technologies as games requires matching the skill-level and preferences of their users. This poses a big challenge for an extremely heterogeneous and at the same time less accountable and assessable target group, as the senior population in care homes includes a variety of generations in stages of mental and physical decrease. Most exergames so far neglected to take the varying skill levels and preferences for themes and activities into account enough. The aim was to develop a new care-provider assisted electronic exergame module adapted to the diversity of the target group of elderly people in care. This is considered a crucial step to enhance engagement, and therefore treatment adherence. We conducted an inclusive user-centered design (UCD) research using a multi-method approach including literature study, quantitative ratings, user testing and observations, semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus groups with the target group of seniors in care homes. We purposefully included potential users from the edges of the age and skill range, women and men, and analysed the demographic influences of age and gender. The quantitative assessment of preferences before the development was the foundation upon which the content of the selected game modules was based. The individual differences in preferences were much larger and more practically relevant than differences between generations, genders or level of skills (|r|<.45, n=58).The gaming-module “Dancing” as the most preferred screen activity (57%) and effective music therapy was chosen to be implemented. “Music” (60%) and “Nature” (56%) as the largest interests were included in the game design. Results showed that Cognitive (73%) and physical (67%) challenges, playing in cooperation (67%) or competition (65%) were the most popular. (ii) The qualitative exploration with the target group before the development (n=12) helped to expand upon the findings from (i) and integrate those into a concrete gameplay with individually selectable content chosen for highly varying preferences in the favored playing mode, music styles and levels of difficulty in regard to movements. The found preferences match and expand the research on common life themes of the elderly. The new module allowed users with restricted mobility, even those in a wheelchairs , to engage in gameplay. Deutsches Register klinischer Studien: DRKS00016633

Touch interaction has established a dominating role in the realisation of Human-Machine Interfaces. However, to be able to use touch effectively and efficiently, users have to comply with particular prerequisites. Due to age-related changes, such as the decline of tactile accuracy and speed, especially elderly users often struggle with the touch modality. Interfaces that adapt to specific user characteristics could be a promising solution to overcome this problem. Notwithstanding the advantages of adaptive systems, perceived changes in the user interface can reduce the system's predictability and transparency. The present study compares three approaches concerning the adaptation of touch button sizes: no adaptation and adaptation with visible and invisible feedback. Results show that especially elderly users substantially benefit from an adaptive approach. Furthermore, data shows that the type of adaptation supports different usage goals. While adaption with visual feedback enables a higher interaction speed, invisible adaptation leads to a higher degree of accuracy.

This article published in the journal Gruppe Interaktion Organisation (GIO) presents the development and validation of a questionnaire to determine the agile maturity level of a software company based on the assessment of its employees. Agility has become a major issue for many companies, especially in the software field. The reasons for this can be found in the high volatility of the markets, the worldwide progressing digitalization, the global networking of value chains and the pressure to shorten innovation cycles. These developments can no longer be accommodated by conventional cascading development methods, so that they are increasingly replaced by agile approaches. Agile procedures make it possible to process complex requirements and to react flexibly to changes. Despite their advantages, the implementation of agile principles confronts many companies with major challenges. Decisive for the success of agility is not only the introduction of certain methods and techniques, but especially their perception and subjective evaluation by the employees. In order to capture subjective views and judgments, this article presents a questionnaire that can be filled in by employees and that represents the internally perceived level of agile maturity of the company. Since it can be used across departments and hierarchy levels, it provides a differentiated picture of shared values but also of differences in the workforce. Based on this picture, measures can be designed that further advance the agility of the company. The requirements for the questionnaire were derived from publications on agile maturity models and the Agile Manifesto. Based on this, an item pool of initially 128 items was generated. After interviews with six experts, this pool was reduced to 53 items. In an online survey, these 53 items were answered by 200 people on a 7-point Likert scale. A Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation resulted in a five-dimensional version with 26 items that can be used for an internal assessment of the degree of agile maturity. Future work will focus on further optimizing the instrument.

Since the 1960s, atopic dermatitis has seen a steady increase in prevalence in developed countries. Most often, the onset begins at an early age and many patients are very young children. Due to their young age, their parents are forced to take over handling of the disease. As a consequence, atopic dermatitis places a high burden not only on affected children, but also on their parents and siblings, limiting human flourishing of a whole family. Therefore, the described research area calls for a possibility-driven approach that looks beyond mere problem-solving while building on existing support possibilities and creating new ones. This paper presents atopi as a result of such a possibility-driven approach. It incorporates existing patient education and severity scoring into an extensive service, adding new elements to turn necessary practices into joyful experiences, to create feelings of relatedness and to increase perceived self-efficacy, thus is suitable to enable human flourishing.

A non-negligible proportion of seniors rarely uses new technology. Far too often, these rather tech unexperienced seniors struggle with new soft- or hard-ware, that do not provide easy access. As a result, some seniors avoid or completely desist to further use “these modern technologies” and consequently miss out on the benefits of digital age. Game-inspired design is supposed to be a promising way to overcome some perceived barriers of seniors by providing hedonic value during early interaction. Previous research has shown that game-inspired design is suitable to motivate seniors’ use of Health-IT. To investigate its potential to facilitate the use of information and communication technology (ICT), an experimental study was conducted. The study investigated the appeal of various gamification features, which were embedded in a prototype of an ICT learning software and compared it to a non-gamified version of the software. Results indicate that the concept of gamified ICT learning software appeals to seniors in general, but that the acceptance of different gamification features is quite diverse. A clear-cut superiority of adding gamification to the software was not found. After interacting with both software versions, seniors in around equal parts preferred either the non-gamified version, the gamified version, or could not decide. Those seniors that clearly favored the gamified version were particularly fond of continuous positive feedback and receiving rewards for each task they have accomplished. Whereas the remaining seniors rather disliked the intensive endorsement through these two features and decided against the gamified version, albeit they liked many of the other game features. Our results underline the necessity of following a user-centered design approach when developing game-inspired applications, and the need for an individualized use of gamification elements to meet the needs of the heterogeneous group of senior users.

Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag der Zeitschrift Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) wird die Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens zur Ermittlung des agilen Reifegrads eines Softwareunternehmens auf Basis der Einschätzung seiner Mitarbeitenden vorgestellt. Agilität ist mittlerweile ein zentrales Thema für viele Firmen, insbesondere in der Softwarebranche. Die Gründe hierfür liegen in der hohen Volatilität der Märkte, der weltweit fortschreitenden Digitalisierung, der globalen Vernetzung der Wertschöpfungsketten und dem Zwang zu kürzeren Innovationszyklen. Dieser Entwicklung kann man mit den herkömmlichen, kaskadierenden Entwicklungsmethoden nicht mehr Rechnung tragen, so dass sie zunehmend durch agile Ansätze abgelöst werden. Agile Vorgehensweisen ermöglichen es, komplexe Anforderungen zu bearbeiten und flexibel auf Veränderungen zu reagieren. Trotz ihrer Vorteile stellt die Umsetzung agiler Prinzipien viele Unternehmen allerdings vor große Herausforderungen. Entscheidend für den Erfolg von Agilität ist nicht nur die Einführung bestimmter Methoden und Techniken, sondern insbesondere auch deren Wahrnehmung und subjektive Bewertung durch die Mitarbeitenden. Um subjektive Sichtweisen und Urteile erfassen zu können, ein Fragebogen vorgestellt, der von Mitarbeitenden ausgefüllt werden kann und der den intern wahrgenommenen agilen Reifegrad des Unternehmens repräsentiert. Da er über Abteilungen und Hierarchieebenen hinweg einsetzbar ist, liefert er ein differenziertes Bild zu geteilten Werten aber auch zu Unterschieden in der Belegschaft. Hiervon ausgehend lassen sich Maßnahmen konzipieren, die die Agilisierung des Unternehmens weiter vorantreiben. Die Anforderungen an den Fragebogen wurden aus Publikationen zu agilen Reifegradmodellen und dem Agilen Manifest abgeleitet. Darauf aufbauend wurde ein Itempool von zunächst 128 Items generiert. Nach Interviews mit sechs Fachexpert*innen wurde dieser Pool auf 53 Items reduziert. Im Rahmen einer Online-Umfrage sind diese 53 Items auf einer jeweils 7‑stufigen Likert-Skala durch 200 Personen beantwortet worden. Durch eine Hauptkomponentenanalyse mit Varimax-Rotation ist eine fünfdimensionale Variante mit 26 Items entstanden, die für eine interne Einschätzung des agilen Reifegrades verwendet werden kann. Zukünftige Arbeiten gelten der weiteren Optimierung des Instruments.

Digital technology becomes more powerful, intelligent, pervasive and ubiquitous. Ethical aspects of this development have not yet drawn the appropriate attention of researchers and engineers. This paper presents an instrument that aims at measuring the individual ethical position with regard to the design and development of computer software. The development of the Epos tool was based on two data collections. The data of the first survey (n(1) = 147 participants) were used to select items and to determine the factorial structure of the questionnaire. Results show that the Epos instrument reliably assesses peoples' ethical opinion with respect to five central components: (1) regulation, (2) data privacy, (3) domain specific knowledge, (4) societal responsibility and (5) company responsibility. In the second survey, we determined the stability of the instruments factor structure by assessing a sample of n(2) = 196 participants. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the initial factor structure. Next steps and further implications are discussed regarding the final version of the questionnaire.

Five requirements can be considered as basic for a standardized and lean measurement of user experience (UX): Comprehensiveness of the assessment, efficiency of execution, intelligibility of items and scales, psychometric quality as well as adaptability to different research contexts and types of applications. meCUE is a questionnaire in German and English that was developed to meet these requirements. It is theoretically based on the CUE model (Components of User Experience) and consists of 34 items which cover the components of the model and their sub-constructs: product perceptions (usefulness, usability, visual aesthetics, status, commitment), user emotions (positive, negative), consequences of use (intention to use, product loyalty), and overall evaluation. Items are grouped into four modules which correspond to these components. The modules were separately validated in a series of studies and meCUE has been used in several surveys to assess UX. Insights from this practical use pointed out that items for instrumental product qualities (usefulness, usability) and those for non-instrumental qualities (visual aesthetics, status, commitment) should not be grouped together into the same module. The new version meCUE 2.0 fulfills this demand by splitting up the module for product perceptions into two sub-modules, one for instrumental and one for non-instrumental product qualities. To ensure that this structural change does not impair the psychometric quality of the questionnaire, two data sets were re-analyzed that had formerly been used to validate the German and English version. The results of the analyses confirm that the psychometric quality of both versions remains intact. Due to the modified structure of meCUE 2.0, investigators are no longer obliged to incorporate items for both, instrumental and non-instrumental product qualities into their studies. Hence, the new version of the questionnaire significantly increases efficiency and adaptability and offers more degrees of freedom for combining its modules.

Die im Jahre 2013 begonnene Workshop-Reihe „Usability in der betrieblichen Praxis“ auf der Mensch und Computer wird mit diesem Workshop als Aktivitat des Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrums Usability des BMWi fortgesetzt. Unter dem Stichwort „Digitalisierung“ ergeben sich neue Herausforderungen der Umsetzung von Usability und positiver User Experience (UUX) in der betrieblichen Praxis kleiner und mittelstandischer Unternehmen (UUX-Praxis). Diese werden in vier Schwerpunktthemen im Workshop behandelt: „UUX - Erfolgsfaktor fur Innovation und Zukunft der Arbeit“, „UUX und digitale Nutzerforschung“, „UUX und Agilitat“ sowie „UUX - Unterstutzung mittelstandischer Unternehmensnetzwerke“. Der Workshop richtet sich an Entwicklungs- und UUX-Praktiker aus Softwareentwicklungs-, Anwendungs- und UUX-Beratungsunternehmen sowie Wissenschaftler, die sich mit Umsetzung der UUX-Praxis in Unternehmen beschaftigen.

Seit einigen Jahren nimmt die Diskussion der ethischen Verantwortung von Technologieentwicklern einen immer größeren Raum ein. Selten jedoch werden praktische Maßnahmen fokussiert, die helfen können ethische Aspekte im Entwicklungsalltag zu berücksichtigen. In diesem Beitrag werden drei Methoden exemplarisch vorgestellt, die darin unterstützen sollen, ethische Aspekte früh und begleitend in der Gestaltung, Entwicklung und Erforschung neuer Technik zu berücksichtigen. Diese Methoden umfassen einfache Heuristiken (Daumenregeln) für den Umgang mit Probanden, einen Fragebogen zur Erfassung der ethischen Position und Checklisten für das schnelle Überprüfen grober ethischer Aspekte bei Forschungsund Entwicklungsvorhaben. Die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der vorgestellten pragmatischen Methoden zur Berücksichtigung ethischer Aspekte in der alltäglichen Arbeit werden diskutiert.

User Experience (UX) has emerged as a comprehensive concept which provides a holistic perspective on users' interaction with technology. This concept can be characterized as a multidimensional phenomenon that comprises both, the perception of different product qualities as well as emotions that arise while using a product. The interrelations of these components are described in the 'Component Model of User Experience' (CUE model), which serves as the theoretical basis for our experiment. UX can be investigated in different phases of usage. In our experiment, we examined product perceptions and emotions in early phases and for short-time usage. Sixty participants employed different versions of mobile digital audio players which were systematically varied with respect to visual aesthetics and usability. Essential aspects of UX, i.e., perceptions of visual attractiveness and usability, as well as emotional responses were measured at three stages: Before interacting with the device, after an exploration (2 min) and after working with the system for a short time (15 min) to solve a given set of tasks. Data was analysed using a 2 x 2 x 3 mixed MANCOVA. The results of the experiment show that influences of visual aesthetics and of usability on quality perceptions as well as emotions change during these early stages. Moreover, evidence for two different halo effects was found: On the one hand, visual aesthetics influenced perceived usability in the beginning. On the other hand, the usability of the device impacted the perceived visual attractiveness and emotional responses at later stages. To account for these findings, we suggest to distinguish a hedonic halo effect from a pragmatic one. Based on the results for both effects, we propose that two mechanisms may be responsible for the effects during short-time usage, one of them being cognitive in nature, the other emotional. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digitale Technologien werden immer leistungsfähiger, intelligenter und allgegenwärtiger. Im Zuge der Erforschung und Entwicklung von Mensch-Technik-Interaktion werden ethische Aspekte oft nur unzureichend oder zu spät berücksichtigt. Dieser Beitrag stellt das Messinstrument Epos vor, das die individuelle Ethische Position von Forschenden, Entwickelnden und Anwendenden hinsichtlich interaktiver Software erfasst. Epos ist ein Fragebogen zur Selbsteinschätzung, der angewendet werden kann, um die ethische Position einzelner Personen zu ermitteln oder um individuelle Ergebnisse mit Referenzwerten von Interessensvertretern vergleichen. Weiterhin können zeitlich bedingte Änderungen in der ethischen Positionierung erfasst werden. Die Daten einer ersten Umfrage (n1 = 147) wurden verwendet, um Items auszuwählen und die Faktorstruktur des Fragebogens zu bestimmen. In einer zweiten Erhebung (n2 = 36) wurde die Test-Retest Reliabilität evaluiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Epos Fragebogen reliabel die ethische Position von Personen anhand von fünf zentralen Komponenten erfasst: 1) Regularien, 2) Privatsphäre, 3) bereichsspezifisches Wissen, 4) gesellschaftliche Verantwortung und 5) organisationale Verantwortung. Abschließend wurde die Stabilität der Epos-Faktorstruktur mit einer dritten Stichprobe (n3 = 196) ermittelt. Eine konfirmatorische Faktorenanalyse unterstützte die initiale Faktorstruktur. Nächste Schritte und Implikationen hinsichtlich der finalen Version des Fragebogens werden diskutiert.

The experience of relatedness to others is a key intrinsic motivator for human behavior. Therefore, social support can be seen as a promising factor for enhancing intrinsic motivation, thus, leading to an improvement in health-promoting behavior. That is why in this study, an effort towards the development and user-centered evaluation of different design concepts for realizing social support in a mobile health application was made. The goal of this application is to improve treatment adherence in children and adolescents diagnosed with scoliosis that have to wear a back brace as their prescribed orthotic treatment. The application, in its current form, helps patients to track their brace wear time and provides them with knowledge about scoliosis. Additional features have been created in the form of storyboards, offering the possibility to provide and receive different types of social support as defined in the social support theory by House, i.e., appraisal, informational and emotional support. To test the effects of these support types on intrinsic motivation, the storyboards were evaluated in an online study, with 33 children and adolescents diagnosed with scoliosis. Results show that for informational and appraisal support, significant main effects could be observed, while emotional support did not substantially improve intrinsic motivation. The study was helpful in prioritizing the next implementation steps for the application and to justify the decisions empirically with data from a user's point of view.