Originally trained as a software engineer, I studied Human-Computer Interaction (MSc, PhD) and subsequently worked in human factors research in both academic and commercial roles.
My current role (usability manager) is to manage a small team of usability specialists and interaction designers along with being a subject matter expert in usability, ergonomics, and accessibility issues with responsibility across the entire product range for NCR Corporation.
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the cognitive eects that delays in visual feedback have on real-time system users, especially operators of remote vehicles. Pilot work was carried out and then hypotheses were formed regarding the cognitive nature of visual delay eects; namely visual delays cause disruption to working memory. These hypotheses were then investigated with virtual reality based driving experiments.
Results from these experiments supported this hypothesis. Further experiments were then performed using a control system model to evaluate whether a system that made use of a mechanism analagous to working memory would behave in a similar manner to human operators. This system did indeed behave in a similar manner, with the same pattern of instability in tracking performance with the introduction of visual delays and additional interpolated tasks (similar to visual interference tasks). It is suggested that the control system model that was derived may well have use in further investigations regarding how to compensate for visual delays.
The thesis achieved the following goals: (1) previous work was replicated in showing the detrimental eects of delayed visual feedback, (2) past work was extended by investigating the cognitive nature of these eects and highlighting which cognitive mechanisms appear to be failing; namely by demonstrating a link between visual delays and working memory disruption, (3) a virtual environment was created to enable the investigation of complex tasks in a measurable manner thus demonstrating the use of immersive virtual reality in conducting complex experiments, (4) a model is proposed that introduces variable delay dependent on task complexity and demonstrates similar results to human performance when using delayed feedback.
Abstract: A method of operating a self-service terminal and a network of self-service terminals. The method comprises: receiving notification that a maintenance operation has been performed on the terminal; performing a compliance check on the terminal; and issuing a code in the event that the compliance check is successful. The code can be used to audit and/or validate that the maintenance operation was performed successfully and that the terminal was left in working order.
