Culturability

Culture affects usability. For example, color may have different meanings in countries. A website with lots of green would be a problem in France since the French associate green with criminality. On the other hand, a website with lots of green would invoke positive feelings in Egypt and Middle Eastern countries. The following article provides good information on culture and usability (termed culturability):

Culturability: The Merging of Culture and Usability
By: W. Barber and A. Badre
https://www.usj.edu.lb/moodle/stephane.bazan/obs_interculturelle/Barber%20and%20Badre.pdf

Culturability reminds me of the term for American Indian in Guyana - Amerindian. Amerindian combines or merges American and Indian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video Player And Usability

I found a paper that made me realize that media players available on the web are not perfect. Research shows that YouTube players provide some desirable controls like captions, screen size, and so on, but there are also problems such as difficulty with subtitles in some browsers and screen reader issues (for the visually impaired). Other players available on the web are reported to have some issues.
The researchers designed a video player to improve upon players on the web. The new player has more accessibility features (video player controls). They stressed usability, even tested for it at the end.

Here is the paper:

Web Videos – Concerns About Accessibility based on User Centered Design
By: Johana María Rosas Villena, Bruno Costa Ramos, Renata Pontin M. Fortes, Rudinei Goularte, 2014
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050914000544

Video Visits And Usability

My healthcare provider offers video visits. I have had quite a few video visits since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The video visits went quite well.

I found a research paper that investigated how patients viewed their primary care video visits:

Patient Perceptions of Telehealth Primary Care Video Visits
By: Rhea E. Powell, Jeffrey M. Henstenburg, Grace Cooper, Judd E. Hollander and Kristin L. Rising
https://www.annfammed.org/content/15/3/225.short

To my surprise, the investigation found that the patients felt more comfortable with video visits than office visits and even prefer to receive serious news via a video visit because they would be in their "own supportive environment."
It is good to hear the views of the user/customer.
 
The study is very similar to a usability study (maybe it is a type of usability study). Usability studies are about the users' attitudes/perceptions about the application or solution. Some studies focus on the user to ensure the user has input into the best solution.

Here is an interesting paper on usability testing:

Usability testing: A review of some methodological and technical aspects of the method
By: J. M. Christian Bastien
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24256512_Usability_testing_A_review_of_some_methodological_and_technical_aspects_of_the_method

New Word

I decided to use the blog to learn 2 new words each week. Everyone wants to build vocabulary!

The word for today (first word of the week) is: mixed-handedness, which is related to the word ambidextrous.
I discovered today that ambidextrous means EQUAL use of the hands or ability to use the left hand and right hand equally well, which is not the same as the use of different hands for different tasks, which is mixed-handedness. So there are people who are right-handed, left-handed (lefties), mixed-handed, and ambidextrous.

It is unclear why mixed-handed people choose one hand over the other for tasks. Maybe it is because of habit or training.

The definition of ambidextrous from Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/ambidextrous

And here is an interesting article on handedness:

Is handedness determined by genetics?
MedlinePlus.gov
https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/traits/handedness/

Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

Kudos to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. People need to be respected, tolerated, treated fairly, and so on.

Fair treatment of all humans made me think of animals that are treated "unfairly". Only animals should be treated this way.

Here is one of my recent posts on beasts of burden (in Facebook):

This is an interesting post:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/624100460832346355/?mt=login

These beasts of burden do suffer. They are made to work and work and work. We think it is their job/role though (they are different from other animals). We think they can handle it. That is likely why we do not feel sorry for them - there is no real concern that they are made to carry heavy loads or work so much for their owners.

You may be interested in my Pinterest board 'Beasts of Burden':
https://www.pinterest.com/fahmeenaodetta/beasts-of-burden/

Universal Human Rights is also related to diversity and inclusion. Here is my comment on the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights in LinkedIn:

Related to diversity and inclusion. Here is an interesting paper on problems and solutions of global expansion of diversity initiatives:

Taking diversity and inclusion initiatives global
By: Neal R. Goodman
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00197851311320603/full/html 

Remote Work And Housing

A lot of people limit their job search to a particular area (city or metropolitan area). Sometimes there are just not a lot of available positions in the area. The job search may take a long time. It makes sense then to expand the job search to other cities and states.

I applied for jobs in other states in the past. I even traveled for a few interviews out of state. I once moved (to another state) during the final stages of the interview process and ended up losing the job. That was not fun.

These days, there are a lot of remote positions so it is possible to work for a company in another state from another (your current) location. I suspect this is happening a lot. It is a perfect solution to a problem.

It is interesting that with so many remote positions, there is still lots of moving to fill positions. There is now a call for a new benefit - a flexible housing benefit (see article:   
Airbnb for work: Could providing employees with flexible housing be the next big benefit?
https://www.benefitnews.com/news/housing-for-employees-a-good-employee-benefit). I still need to understand fully how these transient workers obtain jobs and move around to fill positions.

I remember a second cousin of mine received a housing benefit when she obtained a job in Linden many years ago. She moved into the house provided by her employer from the East Coast. I believe some professor jobs in the Caribbean have a similar benefit.

From past experience, I know that states such as Maryland offer a housing benefit for first-time homebuyers. When I was purchasing my condo over 10 years ago, I looked into the state benefit. I decided that the benefit provided by my employer would be better. I didn't receive the benefit, but I still purchased the condo. Memories, memories, memories.

Cross-Disciplinary Research

I found a great editorial on how to undertake great cross-disciplinary research:

How to undertake great cross-disciplinary research
By: Adam Lindgreen, C. Anthony Di Benedetto, Roderick J. Brodie, Michelvan der Borgh
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850120302583

I am all for cross-disciplinary research. In fact, it may be my "thing." I recall the different disciplines I touched on in my papers for the Research Methods course.
There was a paper on the decision to invest in people (human resources) vs. investing in technology to improve hand hygiene compliance. I discussed the impact of technology investment on performance or how technology may impact productivity and performance. This touches on technology as a factor of production (from economics). It also touches on finance since there is a rate of return of technology investments.
Another paper looked at how compensation of employees may affect the improvement of hand hygiene compliance and infection control. The relationship between compensation and performance was important. I used a lot of statistical analyses in the paper.

The blog for my Research Methods course that includes "under the hood" information on the papers is:
https://fmooresignatureassignment3.blogspot.com/