Mark Haselkorn

Entertainment trends, learning curves and improving the online game user experience

This directed research group will explore one or more issues centered around online game interaction, working with Microsoft's Xbox team to explore current and future user experience. Students will select from a list of research topics provided by XBox, and then will work in teams (and with the Xbox UX Research team) to plan and carry out the research to be done. We will start with a brainstorming/ collaboration session, followed by a literature review around our topic and expand the work from there.

Potential topics/questions to be explored include:

  • As methods of entertainment and media consumption change, what will the future of entertainment look like?
  • What is the efficacy of behavioral versus perceptual methods to improve the user experience?
  • Do younger generations just "get" technology because they've grown up with tech ubiquity or is there an evolving UX design that is universal?
  • What techniques can be developed to police, change or handle inappropriate player behavior in online gaming communities?
  • Through the use of cognitive apprenticeship theory, what is the effectiveness of various teaching techniques in reducing game learning curves?

If interested please email Jonathan Bergeron at jon.j.bergeron [at] gmail.com. Time and location currently TBD.

Improving Information, Communication, and Coordination Systems for Emergency Response and Management

Students interested in participating with a research group on "Improving Information, Communication, and Coordination Systems (ICCS) for Emergency Response and Management" can contact Mark Haselkorn. This group will analyze and address systemic challenges to effective ICCS in regional safety and security systems, particularly as these challenges impact our management of catastrophic events. ICCS challenges arise during all aspects and stages of evolving emergency efforts, including preparedness, prevention, early warning, rescue, relief, and recovery. Efforts will include interaction with front-line responder organizations (e.g., Coast Guard, humanitarian NGOs) and be linked to both the Pacific Rim Visualization and Analytics Center (PARVAC) and an NSF-sponsored initiative to explore the emerging research frontier of "Humanitarian Service Science and Engineering."

Cognitive Informatics and Decision Making in Health Care

There is critical, nation-wide need to improve health care services while reducing cost. Electronic health records (EHR) and applications of health information technology (HIT) have great potential for this need but there is also strong resistance based on serious obstacles to achieving meaningful use. Conventional levels of software usability, predictability and cost-effectiveness of impact are not sufficient for health-critical and safety-critical applications.

Cognitive support in health informatics will depend on effective integration of information technology with user-centered design techniques, such as usability engineering, contextual research, cognitive systems engineering, task analysis, and several more. How can we apply and integrate these existing design approaches to address these needs? What are the needs for new technology for more powerful design paradigms? How can research influence priorities and strategy for health care informatics to create HIT systems that will be predictably useful, usable and cost-effective?

Topics will include:

  • Need and resistance to EHR adoption
  • The role of information in care processes
  • Major user-centered design approaches
  • The role of user-centered design in achieving process improvements
  • Integrating user-centered with software development

To join this group, you need to contact Keith Butler (Keith.A.Butler@gmail.com) no later than two weeks prior to the start of the quarter.

Human Centered Safety and Security Systems

Human Centered Safety and Security Systems: the HCS3 research group works on the design, application and management of visual analytic systems in support of analysts, responders and incident managers in distributed operational environments, collaboratively engaged in awareness, analysis, decision-making and actions that increase the safety and security of their communities and regions.

Systems Studies of Humanitarian Response and Logistics

This group will be the first of its kind, and will focus on understanding the nature of humanitarian response and logistics work and the elements which contribute to the "success" and "effectiveness" of humanitarian operations. It is intended to be interdisciplinary and welcomes students from human-centered design, logistics, international development and other fields of study. Because of the diverse make-up of students expected, the group will gather to self-define the nature of the work for the quarter. Under the guidance of Robin Mays, PhD student in HCDE with 17 years of rapid response logistics experience, we will identify course goals together (e.g., generate a seminar series, write a literature review, answer a key question, etc.). Students can register for either 496 or 596. Meeting details TBD. Please contact Robin Mays (rmays@uw.edu) with questions.