| 1. |
- Couvinhas, A. F., et al.
(författare)
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Software Developers Are People, Too : Using Participatory Research in the Tech Industry
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (2021). - Cham : Springer. - 9783030786342 - 9783030786359 ; , s. 18-24
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reports an ethnographic researcher’s shift towards the tech industry while maintaining the purpose of spotting opportunities and problems. It must be emphasized that whether working with remote communities in far-flung corners of the world or sitting in a room full of software developers, the concept remains the same: it is all about the users. Ethnographic researchers may not live with software developers but are getting increasingly closer to them. This paper aims to explain how this is done, i.e., by using participatory methods, such as field diaries. The first author’s initial realization of the full potential of diaries arose in Ethiopia and Mozambique, where efforts by institutions to help people often fail due to the lack of on-the-ground knowledge about the communities in which they operate. To address this, written and photo diaries were implemented so that community members could clearly express what is important in their everyday lives. In the current software company setting, we use the same method to understand what happens when users develop with our platform. The salient difference is that instead of receiving handwritten diaries and photos, we collect digital journals and screenshots from our users’ experience. This enables moving towards a continuous research vision to identify new user needs timely and ensure we are always building the right thing. However, by adopting this and other proactive approaches for generative research, new challenges are emerging regarding the efficient collection and analysis of large amounts of qualitative information.
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| 2. |
- Lourenço, Miguel L., et al.
(författare)
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A Design Contribution to Ergonomic PC Mice Development
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 19:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing new manual computer pointing devices abiding to the requirements set out in ergonomic product design literature necessitates joining contributions from several areas, including the ergonomic guidelines applicable to hand tool design, human–system interaction, and certain user characteristics such as anthropometric data. Computer mice are hand tools enabling the interaction with the computer, for use by people from both sexes and practically all ages. Moreover, the PC mouse’s intensive usage is able to cause musculoskeletal disorders. This paper reports on a study aimed at developing new computer mouse shapes, reducing forearm pronation, and providing hand–palm holding, supported by a literature review and an adequate design methodology, starting from known shapes of commercial products, the traditional (horizontal) computer mouse, and the vertical computer mouse. In this regard, potential concepts were generated as solutions to the previously specified problem through a set of creative tasks based on the specifications. Four new shapes were proposed to be evaluated through an assessment matrix; as a result, two new PC mice geometries were designed and fully prototyped. This study also reports on selected results of usability and an electromyographic evaluation of the prototypes against three commercial PC mice (horizontal, slanted, and vertical) by a sample of 20 participants, supporting validation of the development process and the newly developed geometries, with emphasis on the slanted conical innovative shape.
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| 3. |
- Barata, Isilda G., et al.
(författare)
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Traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Europe – A study of association with cultural, demographic and income variables
- 2021
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Ingår i: Advances in human aspects of transportation, Part II. - New York : AHFE International. - 9781495120985
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This contribution reviews key data on road traffic fatalities across Europe and seeks associative links between the afore-mentioned data and per capita income, new car sales and national cultural dimensions of European countries. The rate of population shift from poverty to affluence has been exponentially growing in many countries, with access to products and systems having increased. Understanding the association between cultural dimensions and road fatalities can point, at the European level, to the countries, where national dimensions of culture represent a predisposition for greater or less risk adversity and safe or unsafe road behaviors. This study may hence assist decision makers, nationally and at European level to tailor prevention campaigns and safety programs and measures to each national reality and culture. The regression model showed a single independent variable within the model of traffic fatalities per capita, which was power distance.
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| 4. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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A tentative efficiency index for pointing device use in computer aided design : A pilot study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Work. - : IOS Press. - 1051-9815 .- 1875-9270. ; 61:1, s. 157-170
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Focusing on the efficiency aspect of computer pointing devices’ usability, this paper reports on a novel and tentative empirically derived efficiency index for 3D CAD.OBJECTIVE: Three commercially available computer pointing devices were compared: a standard horizontal computer mouse, a vertical device (supporting neutral pronation of the forearm) and a slanted device.METHODS: Pilot structured observations of 10 subjects’ activity were carried out to estimate the proportion of each unique computer mouse operation during CAD modelling with a 3D parametric software. Pointing, dragging and steering standardized tasks were implemented by software and performed by 20 users. Effectiveness and efficiency were calculated and discomfort, effort and ease of use were subjectively assessed.RESULTS: The mean efficiency index value was lower for the vertical device. Assessments of discomfort, effort and ease of use also supported considering preference for the horizontal and slanted devices, providing limited internal validation.CONCLUSION: Results suggest the tentative index may offer a valid means of ranking performance of alternative pointing devices regarding operation efficiency.
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| 5. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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Psychosocial and ergonomic survey of office and field jobs in a utility company
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1080-3548 .- 2376-9130. ; 24:3, s. 475-486
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction. The effect of different kinds of work on the psychosocial assessment of workers under the same management and organizational environment is investigated.Methods. A voluntary assessment in a utility company was carried out using the short version of the Copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (CoPsoQ) on two occasions, 1.5 years apart. Initially, 25 office workers (11 men and 14 women) participated, while 14 of those workers (8 women and 6 men) participated in the second assessment together with 32 field workers. The sewage, water treatment and maintenance workers, totaling 32 men, also participated in a field ergonomics assessment using the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries field work ergonomic checklist.Results. The longitudinal outlook was fairly stable, with sustained severe scores in many CoPsoQ subscales and intensification of severity of workers’ control over work and esteem for men. A significantly higher esteem score resulted for field rather than office workers. Workers subjected to foul odors showed similar severity of psychosocial factors.Discussion. For most psychosocial dimensions, the organizational design and management system in place, as well as the overall cultural environment in which it operates, create a much stronger and more decisive impact than job-specific factors.
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| 6. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-
(författare)
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Sustainable Design and Management of Industrial Systems : A Human Factors Perspective
- 2022
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Ingår i: Applied System Innovation. - : MDPI. - 2571-5577. ; 5:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this concept article is to articulate multiple contributions from socio-technical fields into an approach for sustaining human-centred lifecycle management of industrial systems. Widespread digitalization and advanced robotics have fostered interest on innovative human-machine integration and sophisticated organizational transformation that is conducive to meeting the challenges of sustainability. Complementing technology-driven and data-driven approaches to industrial systems development, the human factors approach offers a systems perspective that is at once human-centred while striving for overall system performance, by considering technological and organizational perspectives alike. The paper presents a set of recent human factors developments, selected based on their potential to advance sustainability in industrial systems, including an activity-centred design perspective of industrial systems, and a unified and entangled view on organizational goals yielding a dynamic change approach to socio-technical systems management. Moreover, developments in organizational resilience are coupled with recent breakthrough empirical understanding of conditions conducive to attaining resilience in operations. The cross-pollination of the human factors developments is further pursued, resulting in a proposal of combined key organizational vectors that can mutually leverage and sustain human-centred design and management of industrial systems (production and logistics systems alike) for resilience. Systems thinking encompassing human, organizational and technological perspectives supports integration of insights across entangled domains; this can leverage both system enhancements that promote the satisfaction of dynamic situation-dependent goals, as well as the fulfilment of objectives derived from long-term values of an organization.
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| 7. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The benefits of occupational health and safety standards
- 2021. - 2. ed.
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Ingår i: Handbook of standards and guidelines in human factors and ergonomics. - Boca Raton : CRC Press. - 9781466594524 - 9780429169243 ; , s. 541-568
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- From Introduction: In this chapter, occupational health and safety is approached from the viewpoints of both Human Factors and Ergonomics and standardization, including management systems standards. The field of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is summarily characterized, and a historical perspective of its evolution is given, in relationship to Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE). While several components of what makes the field of OHS up today pre-existed as specialized fields before, the foundation of the discipline of HFE (following World War II)—and some of the genesis of HFE, OHS, and HFE—have developed as two distinct, although somewhat overlapping, areas of ac-tivity. Links and commonalities can be found today between the two. Environmental conditions (such as noise, climate, or lighting) are an example of an area that is dealt with within the discipline of HFE and is also a central concern of OHS. While inadequate postures and movements at work and psychosocial factors impinge on OHS, HFE is equipped with knowledge and methods to perform the design of work and to deal with these work design factors. Regarding legislation, regulations, and standardization, OHS has gained a head start compared to HFE (the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in the U.S.A., the ILO R164 recommendation of 1981 at an in-ternational level, and the directive 89/391 on safety and health at work of 1989 in the EU), which supports the inclusion of this discussion on OHS standards within the realm of HFE standards, given the intersecting interests of the two disciplines. Regarding economic considerations, some HFE interventions have been the object of cost-benefit analyses reported in the literature. In what concerns OHS, the literature has focused on the cost of occupational accidents, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Estimates of costs and benefits of complying with (or adopting) OHS standards are also available in the form of literature dealing with the mandatory U.S. OSHA standards.
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| 8. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of previous group interaction on individual ideation novelty and variety
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2165-0349 .- 2165-0357. ; 6:1-2, s. 80-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of antecedent group interaction on individual ideation is investigated, through an experiment based on generation of concepts by two groups of industrial design students following the same design brief. The underlying hypothesis is that preceding individual ideation with group interaction promotes increase in effectiveness of individual ideation. Results were analyzed for maximum novelty of individual ideation, showing a positive post-treatment effect, departing sharply from the novelty degradation in the control group in the second phase of the experiment. Analysis of the ideation outcomes using a variety metric, complement the findings obtained for novelty, in characterizing the effect of group interaction in creative ideation, demonstrating an inverse effect of previous group interaction leading to decreased variety of ideation.
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| 9. |
- Coelho, Denis A., 1971-, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of crowdsourcing in product development : An exploratory study of quirky based on the perspective of participants
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2165-0349 .- 2165-0357. ; 6:1-2, s. 114-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper focuses on Quirky, a social product development (SPD) company, in order to explore the SPD phenomenon, as well as the self-assessed level of the experience quality arising from participation in SPD. The study investigates the perceived benefits to designers arising from their participation, the motivators of participation, as well as the participants’ perception of SPD characteristics. It involved a focus session with seven industrial design engineering master students, and yielded results from which a questionnaire was developed within the study. The questionnaire was completed by voluntary participants (7 trained designers and 26 non-design trained participants) from the worldwide community of platform users of the selected SPD company. The questionnaire results suggest that the positive aspects of the SPD participants’ experience include the interest caused by participation and motivation to earn money, as well as the perception of a wide range of ideas and contributions available in the SPD platform. Negative aspects of the participants’ experience found in the analysis of the questionnaire data include high individual ratings for learning caused by participation as well as a keen awareness of too many unnecessary ideas in the SPD platform. The analysis also suggests that formally trained designers have some advantage in SPD participation compared to non-design trained participants. Finally, the results support the conclusion that the questionnaire respondents did not view SPD as detrimental to designers’ future job prospects.
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| 10. |
- Karltun, Anette, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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The work of first line managers – A key to resilience in manufacturing
- 2023
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Ingår i: Applied Ergonomics. - : Elsevier. - 0003-6870 .- 1872-9126. ; 110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- First-line managers (FLMs) have a vital role in developing stable output and organizational competitiveness through their ability to manage front-line operations in daily work. It is also well known that FLMs are strong determinants of good ergonomics and well-being for front-line staff. However, research focusing on how FLMs deal with their important role is lacking particularly regarding empirical studies. The focus here is how they deal with uncertainties and disruptive interruptions and develop more resilient performance in daily work – introduced in this article as resilient action strategies.This research uses two conceptual frameworks on resilient engineering for analysis of FLM's actions in daily work in two manufacturing companies, to explore how resilient action strategies can be organizationally supported. The study combines analysis of front-line activities with multilevel organizational support based on 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with FLMs and support functions, 21 workshops as well as policy documents of the two companies. The analysis exemplifies how resilience engineering was enabled in practice in the organizations.The study contributes to the empirical understanding of how resilience can be organizationally supported in daily front-line work. Our results show that a developed and consistent infrastructure in companies promotes the emergence of resilient action strategies in front-line work. We propose an extended model for resilient front-line performance enhancement by including coordination as a linking aspect between the earlier suggested resilient potentials – anticipate, monitor, respond and learn. This highlights the importance of both organizational support and coordination between system levels to enable the development of resilient action strategies by FLMs.
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| 11. |
- Karltun, Johan, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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Handbok för första linjens chefer
- 2022
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Från inledningen: Den här handboken vänder sig framför allt till dig som är första linjens chef i tillverkande industri. Första linjens chef definieras här som den första chefsnivån som har personalansvar. Det är den vanligaste chefspositionen och finns i alla företag med minst en chefsnivå. Det är en oerhört viktig funktion! Även forskningen lyfter fram första linjens chef som en nyckelposition för att skapa en väl fungerande och hållbar produktion.Du kanske är helt ny i rollen som chef och då är det här en hjälp till att förstå uppgiften. Eller så är du erfaren chef men ny i företaget, och kan behöva lite tips för att förstå och lyckas i ditt nya jobb. Slutligen hoppas vi erbjuda några guldkorn även för dig som är erfaren chef i ett företag som du känner sedan länge.Handboken vänder sig också till dig som har en roll i samarbete med första linjens chefer. Du kanske jobbar i linjen eller är teamledare, dvs ledare utan personalansvar. Du kanske är andra linjens chef eller har en stödfunktion till produktionen med ansvar för skydd och säkerhet, planering, kvalitetsutveckling, tekniskt underhåll, teknikutveckling, produktutveckling, logistik eller HR-funktioner. Vi hoppas att ni alla kan hitta användbara råd och lärdomar i handboken.I handboken vill vi tydliggöra arbetsinnehållet för första linjens chefer och hur det kan utvecklas. Vi gör det genom att beskriva rollen och arbetet som första linjens chef. Vi lägger också stor vikt vid att beskriva dynamiken och problemlösningen som hela tiden är närvarande. Dessutom vill vi peka på möjligheterna att systematiskt utveckla förutsättningarna för och förmågan att arbeta som chef i första linjen – så att du kan fungera och må bra i uppgiften på ett hållbart sätt eller stötta den personsom har denna roll. En första linjens chef har stor inverkan på både arbetsmiljön och effektiviteten inom sitt område. Även chefens arbetsmiljö är därför av stor vikt för att nå bra resultat inom dessa områden.
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| 12. |
- Karltun, Johan, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
-
Handbook for front line managers
- 2023
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- From the introduction: This handbook is aimed primarily at front line managers (FLMs) in manufacturing industries. Frontline manager is defined here as the first management level with personnel responsibility. It is the most common managerial position and is found in all companies that have at least one management level. It is an extremely important role. Research also highlights the FLM as a key position in the creation of well-functioning and sustainable production.You may be new to the role of being a manager, if so this book will help you to understand your tasks. If you are an experienced manager but new to the company, you will find some suggestions on how to succeed in your new job. Finally, we hope that we can offer some pearls of wisdom for those of you who are experienced managers in a company you have known for a long time.The handbook is also for you who collaborate with FLMs. You may be working in the line or as a team leader, which is a leader without personnel responsibility. You may be a second line manager or have a production support role with responsibility for protection and safety, planning and scheduling, quality development, technical maintenance, technological development, product development, logistics, HR functions or something else. We hope that the handbook will provide you all with useful advice and information.This handbook is intended to clarify the content of FLM’s work and how it can be developed. We do this by describing the role and work of the FLM but also the ever-present dynamics and problem-solving foundin the role. We also want to underscore opportunities for systematically developing the potential for and ability to work as a FLM. To enable you to work and thrive in the role in the long term or support someone else in this role. FLMs have a major impact on both work environment and efficiency within their area. As such, the manager’s work environment is also of great importance for success.
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| 13. |
- Lima, Tânia M., et al.
(författare)
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Ergonomic and psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal complaints in public sector administration – A joint monitoring approach with analysis of association
- 2018
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Ingår i: International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics. - : Elsevier. - 0169-8141 .- 1872-8219. ; 66, s. 85-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Administration entails a high level of computerization with multiple risk factors (including psychosocial and of ergonomic nature), affecting worker health and well-being. An ergonomics researcher supported by a senior ergonomist and guided by a domain specific checklist assessed physical ergonomics of an organization, including 96 administrative workers in the assessment. Unstructured observations and interviews to the workers were also done. Socio-demographic, musculoskeletal health and psychosocial job data was collected from a composite questionnaire including the versions validated for the Portuguese population of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). This paper demonstrates an approach to jointly monitor multiple factors to support controlling work system efficiency, safeguarding health. Even though postural issues, especially static posture, have previously been identified as risk factors contributing to the onset of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), the results of correlation analysis did not unveil a salient association between musculoskeletal complaints and ergonomic mismatches. The analysis did unveil statistically significant associations between exposure to psychosocial job factors and ergonomic risk factors. The pairs of variables actually associated were different according to gender confirming the need for future studies aiming the gendered study of MSD causality.Relevance to industry: Computerized offices expose workers to multiple risk factors (including of psychosocial and ergonomic nature), and possibly influence their health and well-being. The paper demonstrates an approach to jointly monitor multiple factors to support controlling work system efficiency and negative outcomes.
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| 14. |
- Lourenço, Miguel L., et al.
(författare)
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Usability evaluation of slanted computer mice
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 18:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders is supported by use of slanted rather than horizontal pointing devices, but user acceptance of the former may be compromised due to lower perceived ease of use. This study compares subjectively rated usability (N = 37) for three sizes of slanted computer mice and includes a horizontal small conventional device as a reference. For a random subset of the sample (n = 10), objective usability parameters were also elicited. Participants followed a standard protocol which is based on executing graphical pointing, steering, and dragging tasks generated by a purpose-built software. Subjective ratings were collected for each of the four pointing devices tested. The three slanted devices differed in size but were chosen because of an approximately similar slant angle (around 50–60 degrees relative to the horizontal plane). Additionally, effectiveness and efficiency were objectively calculated based on data recorded for the graphical tasks’ software for a random subset of the participants (n = 10). The results unveil small differences in preference in some of the subjective usability parameters across hand size groups. This notwithstanding, the objective efficiency results are aligned with the subjective results, indicating consistency with the hypothesis that smaller slanted devices relative to the user’s hand size are easier to use than larger ones. Mean values of weighted efficiency recorded in the study range from 68% to 75%, with differences across devices coherent with preference rank orders.
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