USABILITY TESTING OF INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS CONDUCTED BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS DURING A PANDEMIC

This case study describes a usability testing course in which students learn by practicing several evaluation methods. The on-campus format makes it possible for teachers and students to meet to discuss recorded test sessions and students can observe other students' execution of pilot studies conducted on campus. The COVID-19 pandemic placed new demands on this course. In-person activities were avoided by some students and many test participants. Some student teams tried remote usability testing. Interestingly, screen recordings (with sound) of the test sessions show that remote testing sometimes helped the students focus more on observation and less on (inappropriately) guiding the test subjects. Another effect was that the students found it easier to recruit participants than during the previous years when the university was teeming with students, lecturers, and non-academic staff. However, the recruited participants were often notably limited to the students' circles of friends. © (2022) by Association for Information Systems (AIS) All rights reserved.

Covid-19 Technology Assessment Service

Purpose: As the COVID-19 emergency evolved, a wide range of 'new' technology based solutions were offered to meet clinical and occupational health needs in Europe. This technology extended beyond the standard medical devices usually deployed in clinical settings, and therefore required rapid assessment of suitability for use in hospitals. Here we describe a hospital-based COVID-19 technology assessment service (www.misa.ie/researchdevelopment/ bioengineering-lab/technology-assessment) that was developed and share our experience of its implementation. Material(s) and Method(s): A scientifically grounded assessment service was established to evaluate specific technological solutions. This service was led by a team of 2 Senior Medical Physicists and 1 Senior Clinical Engineer, with each assessment drawing on pan-hospital expertise and a specialist technology evaluation infrastructure. Each solution was evaluated using a standardized agile process: 1) user centric needs assessment;2) applicable literature and international standards review;3) balanced risk-benefit assessment;4) initial device functionality and usability assessment;5) in-depth device technical testing and safety assessment;6) rapid communications and detailed reporting;7) support for local clinical implementation/ installation with on-going evaluation. Evaluations were described in the form of short Bulletins with a webpage developed to share these findings internationally. Result(s): To date, a diverse range of technological systems and innovative solutions were evaluated, including thermal cameras for mass temperature screening, baby monitor devices for isolation room communications, augmented reality systems, a varied range of thermometers, and connected health technologies for remote working and clinical testing. Substantial variability in quality and standard of systems on offer was identified, with potential patient risks highlighted and mitigated. Critical success factors of the assessment service identified include: a central focus on the impact of solutions on both patients and staff, accessible local scientific and technical expertise supporting real-world testing and user feedback, an agile process which was responsive to high levels of uncertainty and a rapid communications process that was adaptive, responsive and connected both locally and nationally. Conclusion(s): Emergency situations, while challenging, are a huge stimulus for healthcare system-wide changes where barriers to technological innovation are significantly reduced, providing significant opportunities for adoption of new and innovative solutions. While there is a need for timely and practical technology assessments during an acute emergency, these should still be grounded in well-established scientific and safety principles that prioritize the health and safety of patients, staff and the public. A hospital-based COVID-19 technology assessment service has provided a practical and successful solution to this challenge.Copyright © 2023 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation.

Remote Moderated Usability Testing of a Web-Based Translation: A Case Study

A new design of web-based translation, also known as easyTranslate, is proposed for non-native English-speaking students to translate a paragraph of academic text. However, there is a need to determine whether this new web-based translation is usable or not for students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, this paper describes a remote moderated usability testing of a web-based translation. Five undergraduate students took part in the usability testing through an online video conferencing tool. The results showed that all students successfully completed the given tasks and the new web-based translation is considered usable. The advantages and challenges of the remote moderated usability testing are discussed. © 2022 IEEE.

A study on usability and design parameters in face mask: Concept design of UVW face mask for COVID-19 protection.

The aim of this study is to investigate the usability of conventional masks to prevent the transmission of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and subsequently design the proposed concept of the mask to reduce leakage and increase efficiency. Acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 is spreading around the world and can be transmitted from one person with COVID-19 to another through personal contact and breathing. Improper design of current masks can lead to virus transmission. One hundred fifteen users participated in the study using a simple random sampling method in which N95-FFP2 face mask and surgery face mask usability tests were chosen as the most widely used face masks in Iranian people with an online usability questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS. The results showed that the usability of the N95-FFP2 face mask with a total average of 4.46 and a surgical mask with a total average of 3.35 cannot be considered acceptable. Anthropometric and formal changes in people's faces and improper design of the face masks used make it necessary to review the mask redesign measures to increase the prevention of pathogens. In this study, new parameters for face mask design are proposed. Thirty different types of jaws have been considered with the help of CorelDRAW software, along with ideas for optimal mask design with UVW mask concept to be accessed by manufacturers around the world.

HAS COVID-19 AFFECTED SOFTWARE USABILITY: MOBILE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM AS A CASE

The importance of electronic systems has increased due to COVID-19 because of the mobility constraints which stimulates businesses to look for remote work supporting systems. So, businesses either rapidly adopted off-the shelf software or demanded the development of new software solutions. This causes usability concerns including new difficulties to businesses because of the low usability of the off-the shelf systems that were not designed to address the challenges during the pandemic. Also, the development of new software usually requires much time and may not produce usable software if all requirements are not sufficiently addressed. Furthermore, the factors affecting usability after the COVID-19 have not been identified in related studies. Therefore, this research empirically investigates the usability of software by developing a mobile accounting system and conducting qualitative analyses to evaluate the system and identify the usability factors in the post COVID-19 era. This research contributes the Rapid Application Participatory Development (RAPD) method which is used to develop the system because this method enables rapid development, sufficient requirements elicitation by allowing users to participate in the design process, and usability testing during the development. The results show that the RAPD method can be used to develop usable software and mobile applications. Also, in addition to the traditional usability factors, COVID-19 has created new usability factors including remote work, user experience, security, privacy, artificial intelligence and internet speed. © 2023 Little Lion Scientific.

Applying Design Thinking Approach to Improve Online Education

COVID-19 has transformed face-to-face learning interactions and forced children to stay home and connect through online education. During COVID-19, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia established the Madrasty platform as the new gateway for distance teaching and learning for the 1st to 12th grade for the 2020–2021 school year. However, students have faced many issues with the platform related to usability and features. This paper aims to improve the design of the Madrasty website educational in Saudi Arabia during online education through applying the Design Thinking approach as a foundation to extract the requirement set for a design prototype with complete features options to support remote learning. In addition to investigating the level of depression between the physical school attendance and remote school attendance in Saudi Arabia, this comparison is to consider adding the feature of mental health states to the educational website for remote learning. The authors studied the issues in Madrasty and proposed the newly updated platform, including a set of new features to resolve the problems in the existing platform. Usability testing was conducted with two types of users- teachers and students. The usability testing consists of two phases: 1) a list of tasks to measure features' usability, and 2) a post-test questionnaire to measure users' level of satisfaction. The result shows an excellent rate in the number of participants in both groups regarding the number of clicks and time to perform the tasks. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Applying Design Thinking Approach to Improve Online Education

COVID-19 has transformed face-to-face learning interactions and forced children to stay home and connect through online education. During COVID-19, the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia established the Madrasty platform as the new gateway for distance teaching and learning for the 1st to 12th grade for the 2020–2021 school year. However, students have faced many issues with the platform related to usability and features. This paper aims to improve the design of the Madrasty website educational in Saudi Arabia during online education through applying the Design Thinking approach as a foundation to extract the requirement set for a design prototype with complete features options to support remote learning. In addition to investigating the level of depression between the physical school attendance and remote school attendance in Saudi Arabia, this comparison is to consider adding the feature of mental health states to the educational website for remote learning. The authors studied the issues in Madrasty and proposed the newly updated platform, including a set of new features to resolve the problems in the existing platform. Usability testing was conducted with two types of users- teachers and students. The usability testing consists of two phases: 1) a list of tasks to measure features’ usability, and 2) a post-test questionnaire to measure users’ level of satisfaction. The result shows an excellent rate in the number of participants in both groups regarding the number of clicks and time to perform the tasks. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Human Factors Validation of the Tablo Hemodialysis System With Health Care Practitioners

Background: Hemodialysis is a lifesaving treatment warranting extensive training to perform safely and effectively in different use environments. Shortages in nurse staffing due to the COVID 19 pandemic caused a desire to innovate systems that can be safely and effectively used by healthcare professionals (HCPs). The Tablo Hemodialysis System ("Tablo") is easy-to-learn, indicated for clinic, hospital, and home settings. Features include a simplified user interface, interactive touchscreen GUI coupled with videos to assist users. Prior usability testing of Tablo had a use error rate of 1.5%. Here we report on the results of simulated use human factors validation testing on recent software version of the Tablo Hemodialysis System ("Tablo") with HCPs in the clinic setting. Method(s): HCPs tested the Tablo in a simulated clinic environment to validate safety and usability. HCPs underwent training on all aspects of device operation;including setup, takedown, monitoring, routine maintenance, and alarm resolution. After a decay of at least one hour, HCPs performed tasks without the trainer. Task performance to use errors, close calls, and difficulties were recorded along with interview data. Result(s): Fifteen (15) HCPs were recruited, consisting of 9 RNs with prior HD experience and 6 dialysis technicians. A total of 7365 tasks were performed, with the use error rate across all tasks less than <1%, with most use errors related to Manual Blood Return. 100% of HCPs reported that they felt they could use Tablo safely and effectively. Summary of user task assessments shown in Figure 1. Conclusion(s): After standard 3-hour training, HCPs were able to safely and effectively operate Tablo in a simulated use clinic setting. HF testing of this more recent software shows further reduction in Tablo's already low use error rate. This supports prior data regarding the ability of HCPs to easily learn and use Tablo and the device's ability to facilitate expansion of available dialysis nursing staff while increasing the quality and safety of dialysis treatments across the care continuum. (Table Presented).

Map Evaluation under COVID-19 restrictions: A new visual approach based on think aloud interviews

With the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the execution of eye-tracking user studies in indoor environments was no longer possible, and remote and contactless substitutes are needed. With this paper, we want to introduce an alternative method to eye tracking, completely feasible under COVID-19 restrictions. Our main technique are think aloud interviews, where participants constantly verbalize their thoughts as they move through a test. We record the screen and the mouse movements during the interviews, and analyse both the statements and the mouse positions afterwards. With this information, we can encode the approximate map position of the user's attention for each second of the interview. This allows us to use the same visual methods as for eye-tracking studies, like attention maps or trajectory maps. We implement our method conducting a user study with 21 participants to identify user behaviour while solving high-level interpretation tasks, and with the results of this study, we can show that or new method provides a useful substitute for eye-tracking user studies.

The Usability of a Smartphone-Based Fall Risk Assessment App for Adult Wheelchair Users: Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Individuals who use wheelchairs and scooters rarely undergo fall risk screening. Mobile health technology is a possible avenue to provide fall risk assessment. The promise of this approach is dependent upon its usability. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the usability of a fall risk mobile health app and identify key technology development insights for aging adults who use wheeled devices. METHODS: Two rounds (with 5 participants in each round) of usability testing utilizing an iterative design-evaluation process were performed. Participants completed use of the custom-designed fall risk app, Steady-Wheels. To quantify fall risk, the app led participants through 12 demographic questions and 3 progressively more challenging seated balance tasks. Once completed, participants shared insights on the app's usability through semistructured interviews and completion of the Systematic Usability Scale. Testing sessions were recorded and transcribed. Codes were identified within the transcriptions to create themes. Average Systematic Usability Scale scores were calculated for each round. RESULTS: The first round of testing yielded 2 main themes: ease of use and flexibility of design. Systematic Usability Scale scores ranged from 72.5 to 97.5 with a mean score of 84.5 (SD 11.4). After modifications were made, the second round of testing yielded 2 new themes: app layout and clarity of instruction. Systematic Usability Scale scores improved in the second iteration and ranged from 87.5 to 97.5 with a mean score of 91.9 (SD 4.3). CONCLUSIONS: The mobile health app, Steady-Wheels, has excellent usability and the potential to provide adult wheeled device users with an easy-to-use, remote fall risk assessment tool. Characteristics that promoted usability were guided navigation, large text and radio buttons, clear and brief instructions accompanied by representative illustrations, and simple error recovery. Intuitive fall risk reporting was achieved through the presentation of a single number located on a color-coordinated continuum that delineated low, medium, and high risk.

RAPD: Rapid and Participatory Application Development of Usable Systems during COVID19 Crisis

Software development methods have been evolved to enable producing usable systems rapidly while considering all requirements. Several studies have focused on the need to balance between rapid development and capturing requirements related to user experience and business workflow. This balance has become more urging during COVID19 because many businesses want to quickly transfer to usable electronic systems that are accurate, efficient, easy to learn, satisfy users and support remote work. Therefore, this paper proposes a framework by integrating Rapid Application Development (RAD) method with Participatory Design (PD) method for enabling rapid production of usable systems. Both RAD and PD consist of design stages that can overlap and generate new phases where users participate in the design process and accelerate the production. Five usability tests are also added to the framework to validate the usability of the design at all stages. The Action Research method is used to assess the framework empirically in a context of an urgent need to an electronic system, and qualitative data analyses were conducted. The results show that the framework can be adopted by software companies because it satisfies the requirements of adopting software development methods. Also, the system developed using the framework is usable. The paper concludes that COVID19 affects software development by emphasizing rapid development while maintaining workflow. Also, using video conference for remote design assists in meeting users more frequently and in creating concise requirement documentation. Author

A study of redesigning food delivery application in Thailand

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design is fundamental to the stickiness of any application. Food delivery is no exception. With the food delivery business sector on the rise during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is necessary for any newcomers in the market to at least match the must-have feature lists of the major players. However, Robinhood, despite having a niche in societal responsibility, is still a food delivery app that is found to lack some of the features that, in the past few months, due to the fierce competition within the food delivery space, moved down from a delighter to a must-have. In this paper, we show, through iterations of qualitative interviews, the proposed solutions consisting of features and future roadmap along with the general context of why each implementation was selected in each sprint. Through all these experiments, we learned not to go against the natural reading pattern of reading from left to right, the z pattern in the visual hierarchy, the users’ familiarity with buttons placement due to loaded external factors, and how introducing too many new features may negatively impact the usability test score © This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license

A Novel Hospital-to-Home System for Children With Medical Complexities: Usability Testing Study.

BACKGROUND: Children with medical complexity (CMC) are a group of young people who have severe complex chronic conditions, substantial family-identified service needs, functional limitations, and high health care resource use. Technology-enabled hospital-to-home interventions designed to deliver comprehensive care in the home setting are needed to ease CMC family stress, provide proactive and comprehensive care to this fragile population, and avoid hospital admissions, where possible. OBJECTIVE: In this usability testing study, we aimed to assess areas of strength and opportunity within the DigiComp Kids system, a hospital-to-home intervention for CMC and their families and care providers. METHODS: Hospital-based clinicians, family members of medically complex children, and home-based clinicians participated in DigiComp Kids usability testing. Participants were recorded and tasked to think aloud while completing usability testing tasks. Participants were scored on the metrics of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, and the total usability score was calculated using the Single Usability Metric. Participants also provided insights into user experiences during the postusability testing interviews. RESULTS: A total of 15 participants (5 hospital-based clinicians, 6 family members, and 4 home-based clinicians) participated in DigiComp Kids usability testing. The participants were able to complete all assigned tasks independently. Error-free rates for tasks ranged from 58% to 100%; the average satisfaction rating across groups was ≥80%, as measured by the Single Ease Question. Task times of participants were variable compared with the task times of an expert DigiComp Kids user. Single Usability Metric scores ranged from 80.5% to 89.5%. In qualitative interviews, participants stressed the need to find the right fit between user needs and the effort required to use the system. Interviews also revealed that the value of the DigiComp Kids system was in its ability to create a digital bridge between hospital and home, enabling participants to foster and maintain connections across boundaries. CONCLUSIONS: Usability testing revealed strong scores across the groups. Insights gained include the importance of tailoring the implementation of the system to match individual user needs, streamlining key system features, and consideration of the meaning attached to system use by participants to allow for insight into system adoption and sustainment.

Usability Evaluation Using Unmoderated Remote Usability Testing on Angkasa LMS Website Case Study

The pandemic has made digital transformation faster, and Indonesia is no exception, especially in education. Learning management system (LMS) is a learning media that is widely used in educational institutions. However, not all educational institutions have sufficient resources to build an LMS from scratch. “Angkasa LMS” Web is a Web that allows educational institutions to order a ready-to-use LMS easily. The target users of this service are pretty varied because they consist of education management and educational management foundations, especially in areas of Indonesia that have Internet access. To be used easily by these varied target users, this Website must have good usability in its user interface. For this reason, usability testing needs to be carried out in order to get feedback for improving the user interface design before the application is delivered to the public. However, the developer has obstacles related to the COVID-19 pandemic policy to carry out usability testing, which limits direct interaction with people. Moreover, the project time is quite narrow, and the schedule is quite tight for the developer team. Based on these limitations, this study conducted usability testing of the “Angkasa LMS” Web case study using the unmoderated remote usability testing method. The experimental results show that this method can be used to obtain insightful feedback from the participants, with additional treatment such as the use of convenience sampling, periodic reminders for participants, and the increasing number of participants exceeding the target. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

COMBINING IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE AND HUMANCENTERED DESIGN TO EXAMINE USABILITY OF A DEPRESSION SCREENING SHARED DECISION-MAKING TOOL AMONG CORONARY HEART DISEASE PATIENTS

BACKGROUND: Only 30% of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients are screened and treated for depression, far below general population rates. Utilizing a theoretical framework based on the Behavior Change Wheel integrated with patient-centered design processes, we conducted a second round of postcoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) beta-phase testing of a web-based, electronic shared decision-making (eSDM) tool for depression screening and follow-up in patients with CHD. METHODS: We recruited English-speaking patients who had internal medicine or cardiology clinic appointments from October 2020-January 2021. All participants were aged ≥21 years with CHD and a diagnosis of and/or positive screen for depression by the patient health questionnaire (PHQ)-2 and/or -8. Think aloud usability sessions with participants verbalizing their thoughts on the eSDM tool were conducted remotely. Sessions lasted approximately one hour. Pre-and post-session questionnaires assessed comfort, ease-of-use of the tool, and perceived barriers to success, and included the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS) and System Usability Scale (SUS). Think aloud and survey feedback were analyzed for recurring themes. RESULTS: Four patients participated before we reached saturation (25% aged > 65;75% male;75% White). The average SUS score was 77.00 (C, or “Good” on the scale). Three of four participants found the tool easy to use and straightforward, and none expressed confusion/difficulty utilizing the tool. Only 25% felt the tool alone was sufficient to make informed treatment decisions (pre-post decisional conflict increased from 21.3 to 27.5). Postsession, we observed lower perceived barriers to treatment related to access/ coordination (75% vs. 50%), stigma/motivation/efficacy (100% vs. 75%) but not in cost of treatment (50% vs. 50%) or time/travel (50% vs 50%). Three of four participants found the tool's video depicting a patient's depression treatment journey after experiencing a heart attack helpful but two found it retraumatizing. Finally, all participants indicated they would spend time reading about cardiac wellness topics at the end of the tool. CONCLUSIONS: Using an innovative theory-based approach to usability testing, we found high acceptability and usability of our eSDM tool but highlighted several features that will need to be optimized to improve postCOVID-19 adoption rates (e.g., traumatization considerations and increased decisional support). Our study adds further evidence to concerns that selfadministered eSDM tools may be insufficient without provider and clinician level intervention components. Enhancing a tool's features may improve its usefulness to patients, ultimately improving patient and provider adoption.

A Self-Guided App-Based Adaptive Coping Skills Training Intervention for Patients with Cardiorespiratory Failure: The Blueprint Pilot RCT

Rationale: Cardiorespiratory diseases are common causes of persistent psychological distress symptoms. To fill this gap, we developed Blueprint, a month-long mobile app-based adaptive coping skills training intervention based on lessons learned about intervention delivery and population targeting from a multicenter RCT of a hybrid telephone- and web-based intervention (Figure). However, Blueprint requires further testing before broader use. Methods: The objectives were to (1) Optimize the usability of the new Blueprint system by incorporation of features based on lessons learned and (2) Test two Blueprint iterations vs. usual care in a pilot 3-arm RCT with 3-month follow up among a targeted sample of 45 patients. Usability was assessed using the Systems Usability Scale (SUS). The two Blueprint iterations differed by their response to weekly changes in Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores within the app (app-based response with additional digital content vs. therapist response). The key inclusion criterion was hospitalization in an ICU or stepdown unit with a need for cardiorespiratory support (e.g., ventilation, vasopressors) plus a HADS total score ≥8 just after arrival home. Method of minimization was used to balance across strata (ICU service, baseline HADS, age). The 1-month HADS score was the primary outcome, with secondary outcomes at 1 and 3 months including HADS, Post-Traumatic Stress Scale (PTSS), and physical symptoms (PHQ-10) Results: Usability testing was performed among 5 patients asked to perform core tasks in the Blueprint app. The mean (SD) SUS score was 83.5 (9.5), exceeding the benchmark target of 80. Subsequently, the RCT was initiated. A total of 1,133 were screened, 416 (37%) appeared to be eligible, 229 (55%) were approached, 65 (28%) consented, and 45 (69%) randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio by group. A total of 19 (29%) were excluded post-consent for low baseline HADS scores. To date, 25 have completed the trial and 20 are still active in the protocol. The relatively high refusal rate reflects the conduct of the RCT by the study team completely by distance via telephone and SMS texting (including screening and consenting) during the COVID pandemic. Conclusion: We successfully transformed an adaptive coping skills intervention into a highly usable, fully self-guided, mobile app-based version called Blueprint that delivers content responsive to weekly changes in psychological distress symptoms. We reached the target sample size and follow-up for the RCT continues. We anticipate completion by January 2022 with full results ready for presentation by the time of ATS 2022.

Implementation of a Comprehensive Testing Protocol for a Rapidly Manufactured Mechanical Ventilator

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that surges in critical care demand can overwhelm existing healthcare infrastructures, most evident in the acute shortage of mechanical ventilators across the globe. Despite efforts to encourage urgent authorization of newly developed emergency ventilators, the currently available testing protocols are not internationally accepted, standardized and none address testing in clinical settings. The aim of this study was to compile and perform a comprehensive clinical testing protocol for a newly developed emergency ventilator. Methods: Using previously available guidance, we compiled a sequential testing protocol with a: 1. preclinical, 2. safety testing, 3. clinician usability test and 4. clinical stage involving respiratory failure patients. The protocol was then tested on the Luca ventilator, a mechanical ventilator capable of sophisticated ventilator settings rapidly developed specifically in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: During the pre-clinical/safety stages, the ventilator produced pressure and volume changes deemed acceptable by the Rapidly Manufactured Ventilator System guideline. Furthermore, our protocol allowed the identification of a number of issues that were easily resolved with minor software adjustments. Usability was excellent (overall System Usability Scale score = 90.5). Clinical testing revealed that a sampling frame of 15 critically ill patients was sufficiently powered to detect any significant, clinically relevant differences between the Luca ventilator and a standard ICU ventilator. Conclusions: The ventilator was accurate, reliable, safe, and user-friendly. The implementation of a comprehensive, standardized pre-clinical/clinical testing protocol is feasible, potentially enabling the safe and timely emergency authorization of rapidly developed mechanical ventilators crucial in pandemic situations.

Designing Virtual Environments for Smoking Cessation: A Preliminary Investigation

The recent pandemic of COVID-19 is placing smokers at a high risk of death as a result of the combination of smoking and COVID-19. This signals a need to address this problem among dual users (cigarette and vape users) and provides them with successful tools to quit tobacco. This pilot project aims to test a novel tool, a Virtual Reality and Motivational Interviewing combined approach that will assist dual users to quit tobacco products. The investigators wanted to pilot test the equipment and scenario for user-friendliness and interface. For the first phase of the pilot, we developed four Virtual Reality scenarios that contain different triggers for smoking, such as noise, stress, and cigarettes. We used Oculus Quest 2 for the hardware because the equipment does not require towers or connections to computers, operates utilizing WIFI, and is mobile. To develop the Software, we used the “Unity3D” game engine. A total of 21 participants tested the equipment and scenarios. The participants ranged between ages 18–71 with various gaming and virtual reality experience. The majority of the participants felt immersed in the Virtual reality environment. Some participants had some challenges with the equipment and the Software and provided valuable feedback to enhance the scenarios. The virtual reality environment promises to be a novel tool to assist tobacco users, mainly dual users, in quitting tobacco. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Establishing a blockchain online travel agency with a human–computer interaction perspective

Purpose>This study aims to incorporate innovative technology (i.e. blockchain) into the design of an online travel agency (B-OTA). The authors accelerated the design of the prototype system through expert interviews to understand the convenience of the blockchain travel and accommodation platform for users. The authors further validated the prototype system design and improved reference capability through usability testing.Design/methodology/approach>Rapid prototyping of B-OTA was carried out through the Delphi method and literature compilation. Design validation of usability testing was conducted using modified systematic evaluation methodology. Prototype system suggestions and improvements were collected through feedback from test subjects.Findings>This study will be helpful for the development of B-OTAs and related technologies. Through usability testing, the authors verified that creating a familiar operating environment for users can reduce users’ fear of unfamiliar technology. The results of this research provide future B-OTA researchers and practitioners with design guidelines.Originality/value>Beyond the blockchain-related technologies used, few studies have reported experiences and interface design of B-OTAs. This study states that, as many human–computer interaction-related papers have pointed out, the basic prerequisite for successful interface design is a clearer definition of users’ needs during operation. User experience and user interface design should provide a good user experience.

Website Usability Evaluation using Human Centered Design (HCD) Approach

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that is endemic throughout the world including Indonesia, which forces all activities to be done at home, including teaching and learning activities. This study aims to see the level of usability on an online college website and provide input based on human-centered design. The method used is the Usability testing criteria by Nielsen and the task to respond to the HCD approach, and consider the Quality Requirement tree for the academic websites. The results of the evaluation in this study indicate that the value of usability acceptance by users on the online college website is at 3.52, meaning that the online college website is quite user-friendly. The average value for usability testing, they are 3.4 for learnability, 3.4 for efficiency, and 3.52 for satisfaction, while memorability and error rate both get a value of 3.5. © 2021 IEEE.