Provides a way to understand the gaps between what a person needs from a system and what the system actually provides.
Published in Chapter:
UI Design for Mobile Technology in a Closed Environment
Kater Oakley (Carleton University, Canada), Gitte Lindgaard (Carleton University, Canada), Peter Kroeger (BRYTECH, Canada), John Miller (BRYTECH, Canada), Earl Bryenton (BRYTECH, Canada), and Paul Hébert (Canadian Medical Association, Canada)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-871-0.ch060
Abstract
This chapter reports on a case study linking several technology devices that monitor a range of vital signs in patients recently discharged to a hospital ward from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Apart from presenting an interesting technological challenge, this closed environment creates unique logistical and physical ergonomic challenges as well as cognitive and perceptual design problems for mobile technology. Devices include desktop computers, touch monitors, and several types of remote mobile devices including PDAs. A number of important design issues are addressed, such as deciding which visual details can be safely eliminated from a small display, or if permission should be given to turn off the alarm functions, among others. Lack of direct access to users compromised the ecological validity of several parts of the evaluation and alternative evaluation methods had to be devised.