Global Project Management - 3488 Words

Similarities and Differences between Domestic and Global Project Management. Global business practices are becoming increasingly common both for large multi-national organizations as well as small domestic businesses. Many businesses outsource work to other countries or contract people of organizations globally to complete project work or provide offshore services (Eberlein, 2008, p. 27). A better understanding of how to manage global projects is important to the body of knowledge about project management. The purpose of this study is to explore the similarities and differences between domestic and global project management. The research questions used to guide this study are 1. In what ways are domestic and global projects similar and†¦show more content†¦Management of project personnel is also an important responsibility of the project manager. Project human resource management involves identifying, recruiting, and maintaining a project team with the right mix of technical and knowledge experts (Kerzner, 2003). Project communication management involves creating a work environment that facilitates the proper communication channels for the collection and dissemination of information related to planning, implementation, and completion of the project. Project risk management involves identifying risks and incorporating processes and procedures to mitigate against risks to the completion of the project. Finally project procurement management involves identification and implementation of processes that facilitate the planning and procurement of resources and necessary documentation for completion of the project (Burke, 2001, pp. 8-9). During the project life-cycle, project managers are responsible for oversight of such tasks or processes as work breakdown structure, critical path methods (calculation of all the activities from start to finish to determine the duration of the project), resource smoothing, earned value, and configuration control (Burke, 2001). Many organizations are turning to management-by-projects approach because it provides flexibility, decentralized management responsibility, a more holistic or global way of conceptualizing problems and solutions, and problemShow MoreRelatedChallenges Of Global Project Management1629 Words   |  7 Pages Global Project Management is one of the most important topics when dealing globalization of an organization. It is the most significant part when trying to accomplish a goal or build a strategy for a new product or service in a new region. There are many characteristics for Global Project Management. Some of those characteristics will lead to advanced achievements. Global Project management can be defined through a framework that will simplify all negative indicators and will help lead organizationsRead MoreCase Study : Global Supply Chain Management Project2009 Words   |  9 Pages4.0. Project Scope Management 4.1. Collect Requirements Tools and technique: Interview: Formal interviews are conducted with the stakeholders by the project team in order to identify the needed requirements. Focus groups: This technique is held together with the stakeholders and SMEs to acquire their expectations in GSCMP. Below are the outputs from the requirements collected. 1. Requirements Management Plan Project Name : Global Supply Chain Management Project The Purpose of GSCMP requirementsRead MoreManaging A Global Enterprise Wide Project1207 Words   |  5 PagesThere are many items to take into consideration when managing a global enterprise wide project; after spending the last eight weeks working towards what it means to be a project manager of such an assignment we have come up with 10 tasks that must be met for successful project completion. They are as follows in no particular order; Define the team structure, work process, and communication channels- Management must prepare an infrastructure for effective functional teamwork and technology transferRead MoreLenovo Case Study1223 Words   |  5 PagesPROJECT MANAGEMENT IMPROVES LENOVO’S STRATEGY EXECUTION AND CORE COMPETITIVENESS I. Background In recent years, the personal computer (PC) industry has been developing by leaps and bounds. Global sales of PCs totaled 230 million units in 2006, representing a 9 percent increase over the previous year. Lenovo has a product line that includes everything from servers and storage devices to printers, printer supplies, projectors, digital products, computing accessories, computing services and mobileRead MoreSuccess Directing Technology Driven Business Transformation1297 Words   |  6 Pagestransformation in Fortune 500 and large public sector organizations delivering bottom line measurable benefit. Proven expertise in strategic business and IT planning, IT consolidation, project management, global delivery model, building Governance Structures/PMO and high-performance teams and driving change management. A trusted advisor to C-suite executives and key stakeholders known for making things happen by moving from vision and strategy to implementation and follow-through. A â€Å"go-t o guy† forRead MoreThe Initiation Of A Project1706 Words   |  7 PagesThe initiation of a project entails several elements that must be organized to ensure the overall success of the project. Planning, design, structure, and risk analysis are some of the areas that are essential in initiating a project. The group must thoroughly plan and organize the components of the project to corroborate that the proper elements and hierarchy are in place to validate that the project is executed smoothly and risks are minimized. Through comprehensive planning, an organization canRead MoreEssay about Project Planning and Control Methods1441 Words   |  6 PagesProject Planning and Control Methods Project planning and control methods came to be in the 1980s with the introduction of microcomputer software. In the 1990s project management was accepted into the mainstream business as a means for developing new products and services. In the 20th century project management appears to be the solution to many of the challenges confronting global business enterprises (Gray, C. Larson, E., 2003). Trends such as the globalization of business operationsRead MoreEssay on Analysis and Synthesis of Prior Research1253 Words   |  6 PagesSynthesis of Prior Research The companies that efficiently solve their projects issues and portfolio concerns will differentiate themselves from their competition. The projects that companies work to complete with the many different project methodologies demonstrate where the business is now, and the portfolio of projects of the organization demonstrate where the organization is headed. To effectively manage the tremendous number of projects that leaders face today in their organizations, they look to methodsRead MoreTransparency Reports And Reduction Of Carbon Footprint1432 Words   |  6 Pagesand United Kingdom regulated by the Depeartment for Environment Food Rural Affairs (2013). This has catalyses many corporation, such as Facebook and Google, to produce an environmental report that includes waste management, greenhouse and carbon emmission and many other indicators. Global Reporting Initiative has produced a reporting framework that is widely used today. As noted by Norman McDonald (2003) â€Å"if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it†, this method serves as a measureable indicatorRead MoreApplication For The Position Of Program Delivery Manager Telecommunications1583 Words   |  7 PagesAs a seasoned and outcome driven project and program management professional with a proven track record of achievements aligned to this job requirement, I am excited to submit my application for the position of Program Delivery Manager Telecommunications as advertised recently on the SEEK. With significant industry experience in management and leadership roles, every time I exceeded expectations of my management and stakeholder by leveraging the ability of analytical, strategic and tactical thinking

The Rising Concerns of Underage Drinking Essay - 1923 Words

Alcohol is a drink that possesses a seducing effect to tempt many citizens. Adults worldwide consume countless cans of beers, wine, vodkas, and other alcohol beverages. However, its luring quality has been secretly shared to minors, resulting to a problem called Underage Drinking. This situation has existed for quite some time. In the past, underage drinking was considered a miniscule crime, and wasn’t strictly restrained or monitored. As we continued to remain oblivious, numbers of adolescent drinkers have gradually increased as they used the tolerant rules to their advantage. Now, the problem has become significantly noticeable, and we can no longer neglect it. High school, even middle school students have been found with†¦show more content†¦Children tend to absorb the contents with a sense of judgment. This is because their curiosity sometimes leads to terrible consequences, in this case, the addiction to alcohol. â€Å"A national study †¦ concluded that gr eater exposure to alcohol advertising contributes to an increase in drinking among underage youth. Specifically, for each additional ad a young person saw †¦ he or she drank 1% more. For each additional dollar per capita spent on alcohol advertising in a local market †¦ young people drank 3% more† (Alcohol Advertising and Youth). Therefore, the commercials do have a great impact to the number of drinking adolescents, since the number of underage alcohol consumption rises as advertisement rates rise. If such commercials continue to display on the media without any types of appropriate-content filters, the number of teenage alcoholics will continue to rise as years pass by. As a result, we must greatly reduce the number of commercials referring to alcohol products, to minimize the possibility to create future drinkers under the legal age. Education is another great way to prevent the number of teenage alcoholics from rising any further. We can control this situation w ith just a couple lessons and speeches to inform kids about the consumption of alcohol by explaining how it affects their mind psychologically. Sure, drinking may cause stress relief and relaxation to the teenagers burdened with the amount of schoolwork and deciding their future. However, whenShow MoreRelatedUnderage Drinking And Teenage Drinking1584 Words   |  7 PagesAlex Wilmore Joshua James, Instructor ENG 111 07 July 2015 Underage Drinking â€Å"With such compelling information, the question is why haven t we been able to do more to prevent the crisis of underage drinking? The answer is: rising the age to 25† is what Lucille Roybal-Allard once said, a U.S. Representative for serving in Congress since 1993. This statement has brought many to speculate of issues and debates. This expression opened the eyes of American people that often struggled to make this truthRead MoreUnderage Drinking And Teenage Drinking1584 Words   |  7 PagesAlex Wilmore Joshua James, Instructor ENG 111 07 July 2015 Underage Drinking â€Å"With such compelling information, the question is why haven t we been able to do more to prevent the crisis of underage drinking? The answer is: rising the age to 25† is what Lucille Roybal-Allard once said, a U.S. Representative for serving in Congress since 1993. This statement has brought many to speculate of issues and debates. This expression opened the eyes of American people that often struggled to make this truthRead MoreShould the Minimum Drinking Age Be Lowered1128 Words   |  5 PagesTayrin O’Rand 14 March 2012 Should the Minimum Drinking Age be Lowered? The minimum drinking age became a hot topic ever since it was set to twenty one years old. It is a law not everyone welcomes with open arms, one that has the most impact in the lives of adolescents and if violated, one that can put a state at risk of forfeiting ten percent of its annual federal highway appropriation. John M. McCardell Jr., president of Middlebury College; founder and president of Choose Responsibility,Read MoreIntroduction. Alcohol The Debate Of The Ages, Between The1730 Words   |  7 Pagesold, researchers, people, alcohol companies, and parents. Within this topic, always comes the concern of when is it appropriate for people to legally drink alcohol. Currently, in the United States the minimum legal drinking age (MDLA) is the age 21. There are many reasons and sciences behind why the U.S. choose the age of 21. On July 17, 1984 the president signed an act called National Minimum Drinking Age Act (NMDAA). This mandated all the states, to federally instate this law within time all cameRead MoreLowering The Legal Drinking Age1387 Words   |  6 PagesThe concerns about safety involving alcohol, including alcohol-related fatalities, â€Å"binge drinking†, and long-term health effects, will not be compromised by lowering the legal drinking age to nineteen in the United States. Activists who wish to raise the legal minimum age frequently discuss the ways that driving while intoxicated endangers countless lives every day in the United States, and is an increasing problem in model Europe as well. However, drunk driving increases will secrecy, not withRead MoreNational Minimum Drinking Age Act Essay719 Words   |  3 PagesIn 1984 the United States Government approved the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that required that â€Å"the States prohibit persons under 21 years of age from purchasing or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages as a condition of receiving State highway funds.† Even though this bill was nowhere near the magn itude of the prohibition act that was passed less than a century before it, the act still damaged the relationship between individuals, firms, and the United States government. Although theRead MoreUnderage Alcohol Drinking And Cigarette Smoking1398 Words   |  6 PagesThe underage alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking has been a consistent problem for the last few decades. Majority easily blame marketing advertisements to this problem particularly to the rising percentage of alcohol, cigarette, and drug abuse among teens. While this may seem unfair to marketing industry, there may be some truth to that according to research. This study will focus on the probability to ban marketing advertisements of alcohol, cigarette and medically prescribed substances as theRead More The Drinking Age Should Be Lowered Essay2234 Words   |  9 Pageslinked to drinking underage. The legal drinking age in many states is twenty-one years old. The purpose of this law is to keep minors out of dan ger: away from drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and injuring the brain before it is fully developed. The government supports the belief that people are not ready or responsible enough for alcohol until this age. However, various professors and researchers are discovering ways to disprove this belief. These people think that reducing the drinking age toRead More Controversial Television Advertising Essay1498 Words   |  6 Pagesadvertising standards. Some ads a media company will simply refuse to accept (Peart, Karen N). Concerns have been raised about Beer advertising, Cigarette advertising, Sex advertising, Political advertising, and food advertising to children. Alcohol advertising is a primary concern for many Americans who believe that alcohol advertising in media directly influences the frequency of underage drinking. While drinking among youth and young adults has declined over the last six years, a recent study by theRead MoreEffects Of Alcohol Consumption On The Uk1630 Words   |  7 PagesAlcohol consumption in the UK has a clear tradition of having moderate and heavy drinking as seen in Plant and Plant s (2006) analysis of trends in alcohol consumption. It is also notable that most concerns about levels of alcohol consumption is directed particularly towards young people which most consider to be a link to crime and anti-social behaviour. As a result, there is no denying that a stigma has been attached to young people and alcohol. In the UK, general consumption is on a rise. Data

Motivation and Work Efficiency for Productivity- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMotivation and Work Efficiency for Productivity. Answer: Motivational techniques have become one of the most powerful weapons of the managers in handling the productivity of the employees. A manager who is being able to correctly motivate his employee will be able to churn out better productivity from him by directly enhancing his efficiency in work. A highly efficient employee will be able to surpass the organizational objectives much more easily and with greater enthusiasm. Therefore researchers nowadays are of the opinion that managers who use motivational techniques help to develop the skills and knowledge of the workers and thereby increase their efficiency by which better quality of work is produced long with higher productivity (Trepanier, Fernet and Austin 2015). In the present article, the author had also supported the view and has given a thesis statement that managers need to use the proper motivational tool to the correct category of employee so that they can increase the efficiency and bring out the best output from the employ ees in the organization . The essay will first find out the strength and weakness of the study. It will then provide a personalized view of the study which will then be followed by supportive statements from other article journals provided by eminent researchers. The main thesis statement which is identified in the present article is that motivation provides greater chance of developing the efficiency of work by the employers and mangers should also use different types of motivational tools according to the particular category of the employees so that each can bring out the best outcomes in reaching high productivity. The main strength which is identified in the article is that the author had created a very good background for the entire study which develops clear description to the reader and also helps them to understand the main rationale behind writing the paper. Moreover the author had chosen a very interesting topic of discussion as the paper would help a large number of managers to correctly assess their employees and thereby develop motivational tools for them so that they can also increase the productivity in the organization. The author had first started the literature review with the meaning of the word efficiency and how it has been perceived over the years in workplace. They have done extensive research for this paper and the definitions given by different authors on the term of efficiency is the proof behind them. Secondly after giving information about the term efficiency to the readers, the authors have moved to linking the term of motivation with efficiency and by step by step pro cedure they have wonderfully linked the terms together showing the reader about how motivation can develop efficiency and productivity at work place. They have established the benefit of the motivation on development of efficiency in the employees and thereby help the budding managers to develop an understanding of the benefits they can themselves get in the organization so that they can use the right motivational perspectives. They have provided the benefits also in bullet manner for easy jotting down of the important points for benefits that the managers can get. A very good feature that had been observed in the paper is that they have provided information about the different theories that help to understand the requirements of the different employees and then establishing a connection of the importance of motivation with each of the theories so that a strong base is provided to the readers about how motivation is helping to manage the theoretical basis if the needs of employees ( Olafsen et al. 2015). Moreover, it is also seen that the author had been particular in his approach and thereby had provided short description of each of the theory within brackets so that the readers do not face difficulty if they are unaware of the theories. The authors have also provided information of different types of motivational techniques which had been used over the years so that in order to make the readers understand how different techniques like intimidation, identifying with the occupation as well as institution, punishment as well as rewards, competition and reward are helping mangers over the world in increasing efficiency of the workers. Moreover this paper will extremely helpful for the mangers to develop an idea about how they should behave in a way which would help them to increase the efficiency among the workers. Different types of behaviors that are mentioned by the authors are like helping to express their concerns, listening to them with attentive ear, behav ing with them with warmth and others. The budding managers will be benefitted from this discussion as they can modify their behaviors accordingly so that they can motivate the workers more for better productivity. Therefore the entire section has been the strength of the paper as it had helped the readers to gradually develop an idea about the importance of motivation and also helped them to understand the different motivation technique, helpful behaviors and others which had helped readers to understand the importance of motivation in present day workplace. The first weakness of the paper that has been identified is that the paper lacks a discussion part. Discussion part is very necessary after finding the results so that the author can make the readers understand the significance of the findings and how it can help them gather knowledge on a particular topic (Samnani and Singh 2014). Secondly, it is seen that the tests that they have selected for the statistical analysis have been represented in a complicated manner making it difficult for the readers to develop an idea. It I seen that they have categorized the motivation tool into three types but they have not mentioned exactly what kind of motivational is exactly made by the tools. Moreover, they have used in separate categories if employees like based on the age, income, education level and many others. They have made the calculation section extensive which is making the reader confused about what to expect from the statistical analysis. Moreover it is also seen that in the conclusi on part written by the author is not serving its purpose. In the conclusion part, they had written the results of the research but they have not concluded the information obtained from the research. They have just suggested that a particular tool is having better effect on a particular category of employees but they have not discussed the rationale or the effects of the result properly or how the result could help us. They should have clearly provided a discussion part and also a concluding part in order to shape up the information collected from the study which would have helped to satisfy the knowledge of the readers who are going through the paper (Sterling and Bixall 2013). Moreover another negative aspect which was also identified that the language used by the writer while describing the results are formed of lengthy sentences and are confusing to the readers as lot of information seem to gather up together which is resulting including the clear picture of the study. Difficult statement like Similarly, it has been observed that, the psycho-social tools motivation level of the low income segment is validly high in terms of statistics than the high income segment and the organizational managerial tools motivation level of the middle income segment is validly high in terms of statistics than the high income segment. It is easier for the low income segment to accept and be motivated by the present motivation tools and opportunities, than of the high income segment makes the understanding difficult. This should have been providing in a tabular part which would have helped the leaders in developing a clear scenario of the work (Njorge et al. 2014). Although the article has certain positive as well as negative points, but my personal opinion is that the article would be extremely helpful for managers who would be trying to influence his employees for better productivity. Moreover, motivation is indeed a very good method for increasing the efficiency and workplace and it is personally believed that a manger that motivates his people will always have a higher advantage not only for increasing efficiency and productivity but also in developing a wonderful work place environment (Deci and Ryan 2014). This environment will continuously urge the employees to try their best to meet the organizational goals and objectives and will also help them to maintain a teamwork among themselves which will in turn bring the best outcome (Lazaroiu 2015). So I personally feel that this article which is highlighting the different motivational tools importance in different categories of employees will be helpful to a wide range of budding managers. An article which was published in the European Journal of Business and Management in the year 2014 by Shahzadi et al. also described the impact of employee motivation on employee performance. The author had stated that employee motivation is considered as a driving force which helps in driving the employees towards attaining specific goals as well as objectives of the organization. They have found significant relationship between employee motivation and employee performance by regression analysis. They have also found out that intrinsic rewards have positive relationship with employee motivation and performance. This study also suggested that employee perceived training effectiveness to have negative relation with motivation. Osabiya and Joseph had published a paper in the year 2015, which states that workers who are motivated has a higher sense of belonging, achievement and recognition. If the workers of an organization are encouraged by motivation, they would be striving to make su re that they would identify with the organization. As they would be highly motivated, they would be performing functions which would be characterized by better sense of responsibility, efficiency and humility. Seminars, workshops, periodic performance reviews and basing recognition upon systematic evaluation all help in motivating workers. Form the publication of the work of Ackah in 2014, theories of motivation were studied in the industry of the regions of Ghana. Several theories have been discussed to understand what might affect motivation. The work showed that motivated employees are more satisfied with their jobs and are less likely to resign forms their jobs in comparison to those who are not motivated. Managers are requested to understand what form of motivation excites the employees and also learn the different need theories to understand them to increase job performance. Conclusion: The paper is indeed important as it is providing a very important message to the budding mangers and enthusiastic readers. The paper suggests that managers should try tout different motivational tools to motivate employees which will in turn develop efficiency and performance of the workers. They also help to keep the workers satisfied which make them comply with the organizations objective. All these result in higher productivity. However different tools have different motivational effect on the workers and therefore managers should develop knowledge on the categories of employees and then apply their motivational tools for the best productivity. References: Ackah, D., 2015. The impact of motivation on employee performance in the manufacturing industry in Ghana.Global Journal of Management Studies and Researches,1(5), pp.291-310. Deci, E.L. and Ryan, R.M., 2014. The importance of universal psychological needs for understanding motivation in the workplace.The Oxford handbook of work engagement, motivation, and self-determination theory, pp.13-32. Lazaroiu, G., 2015. Employee Motivation and Job Performance.Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations,14, p.97. Njoroge, C.N. and Yazdanifard, R., 2014. The impact of social and emotional intelligence on employee motivation in a multigenerational workplace.Global Journal of Management And Business Research. Olafsen, A.H., Halvari, H., Forest, J. and Deci, E.L., 2015. Show them the money? The role of pay, managerial need support, and justice in a self?determination theory model of intrinsic work motivation.Scandinavian journal of psychology,56(4), pp.447-457. Osabiya, B.J., 2015. The effect of employees motivation on organizational performance.Journal of public administration and policy research,7(4), pp.62-75. Samnani, A.K. and Singh, P., 2014. Performance-enhancing compensation practices and employee productivity: The role of workplace bullying.Human Resource Management Review,24(1), pp.5-16. Shahzadi, I., Javed, A., Pirzada, S.S., Nasreen, S. and Khanam, F., 2014. Impact of Employee Motivation on Employee Performance. Sterling, A. and Boxall, P., 2013. Lean production, employee learning and workplace outcomes: a case analysis through the ability?motivation?opportunity framework.Human Resource Management Journal,23(3), pp.227-240. Trpanier, S.G., Fernet, C. and Austin, S., 2015. A longitudinal investigation of workplace bullying, basic need satisfaction, and employee functioning.Journal of occupational health psychology,20(1), p.105.

The Problems of Web Accessibility Essay Example

The Problems of Web Accessibility Essay Increased interaction of elderly and disabled people with web content after the setting up of World Wide Web (WWW) has created problems such as Web Accessibility. With the increase in users of Geographical Information System (GIS), it also started facing the problem of web accessibility issues. The users started interacting with the maps extensively in the recent years which ultimately intensified the web accessibility problems in GIS applications. User interaction content evaluation are helpful in identifying the web accessibility difficulties faced by GIS application users. Web accessibility problems can’t be identified by automated tools or guidelines but users are involved for that purpose. To identify the accessibility problems of users at initial stages, User Centred Approach is used in which users are included in the development process. With the help of user interaction evaluation and content evaluation the author attempts to identify the accessibility issues in GIS applications in this research project. A case study of web based GIS application called MapQuest is undertaken to discover the web accessibility issues pertaining in GIS applications. Another web based GIS application called Google Maps along with MapQuest was evaluated for identifying usability issues. The usability evaluation of aforementioned two GIS application were conducted using special criterion. Different research methodologies such as usability tests, questionnaires etc were carried out on users from different backgrounds. The report concludes with recommending UCD approach especially in development process through which the web based GIS application’s accessibility can be improved and enhanced. We will write a custom essay sample on The Problems of Web Accessibility specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Problems of Web Accessibility specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Problems of Web Accessibility specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This research project also suggests ways to improve the usability of GIS applications on the basis of studies conducted. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACTi TABLE OF CONTENTSii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION1 1. 1 Problem statement:1 1. 2 Aims:2 1. 3 Objectives:2 1. 4 Resources:3 1. 5 Risk:3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW4 2. 1 What is GIS? 4 2. 2 Potential of GIS4 2. 3 Role of GIS/ Web based GIS5 2. 4 Web Accessibility7 2. 5 Importance of Web Accessibility8 2. 6 Web Accessibility Guidelines8 2. 7 Web Accessibility Evaluation9 2. 8 What is User Centred Design (UCD)10 2. Advantages and disadvantages of UCD13 2. 10 Elements of UCD13 2. 11 UCD and Web based GIS14 2. 12 Usability definitions and its role15 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY19 3. 1 Research Process19 3. 2 Literature Review20 3. 3 Experiment21 3. 4 Questionnaires22 3. 5 Interviews23 3. 6 Case study23 CHAPTER 4 EMPIRICAL STUDY25 4. 1 Planning for Web Accessibility Test25 4. 2 Dichotomous method Vs Continuous numerical measurement method25 4. 3 We b Accessibility Guidelines26 4. 4 The need for automatic evaluation27 4. 5 Properties of Good Web Accessibility Metric27 4. Web Accessibility Barrier (WAB)28 4. 7 Construction of plan to evaluate the Web Accessibility of GIS Website MapQuest29 4. 8 Google Maps MapQuest usability testing35 4. 9 Questionnaire36 CHAPTER 5 RESULTS / ANALYSIS37 5. 1 First Evaluation- Standard Review Method:37 5. 2 WAB Score of MapQuest:42 5. 3 Second Evaluation Goal Question Metric Method (GQM)44 5. 4 Over All response of Questionnaire44 5. 5 Role of UCD (User Centred Design) in Accessibility47 5. 5. 1 Interview Results48 5. 6 Section 249 5. 6. 1 Results achieved from usability tests:49 5. 6. List of observation from usability tests51 5. 6. 3 Results from the questionnaires51 5. 6. 4 Comparison of Google MapQuest53 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS AND VALIDITY STATEMENTS55 SECTION I55 6. 1 Discussion55 6. 1. 1 Perceivable56 6. 1. 2 Operable57 6. 1. 3 Understandable57 6. 1. 4 Robust58 6. 2 User Centred D esign and Accessibility58 6. 2. 1 User Centred Design59 6. 2. 2 User Centred Design and Accessibility Problems59 6. 3 Validity Statement60 6. 3. 1 Credibility60 6. 3. 2 Transferability60 6. 3. 3 Dependability61 6. 3. 4 Confirmability61 6. 4 Section II62 . 4. 1 Effectiveness62 6. 4. 2 Usefulness62 6. 4. 3 User Reaction63 6. 4. 4 Consistency63 6. 4. 5 Architectural and Visual Clarity63 6. 4. 6 Functionality64 6. 5 Validation64 6. 5. 1 Credibility64 6. 5. 2 Transferability65 6. 5. 3 Dependability65 6. 5. 4 Conformability65 6. 6 Selection of Usability Criteria65 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION, SUGGESTIONS AND FUTURE WORK67 7. 1 Conclusion67 7. 2 Suggestions68 7. 2. 1 Suggestions for Google Maps69 7. 2. 2 Suggestions for MapQuest70 7. 3 Future Work71 REFERENCES:72 APPENDIX A80 APPENDIX B86 APPENDIX C94 APPENDIX D96 APPENDIX E98 APPENDIX F100 APPENDIX G101 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Problem statement: In the early days of Geographical Information System (GIS), not much emphasize was put upon how users interact with GIS but only on gathering and presenting more and more geographical data. But today, research on geographical data use is focusing more and more on how users interact with this data (Wilson et al, 2008). When GIS became available on the web, its user base expanded dramatically and now it is not only for geographers or others who know geographical terms but also for naive users. With the expansion of the pool of targeted users with variety of skills and knowledge, there is a need of more user-centred design of GIS. Although great advancements have been made concerning technical aspects and collecting geospatial information, there is a lack of research on human interaction with GIS and behaviour factors (Pick Gray, 2006). There may be two ways to enhance the accessibility of GIS Applications; either teaches the non expert users about GIS or make GIS usable for non experts through user centred design. The first approach to enhance the accessibility has limitations due to the large and rapidly growing number of non expert users and their lack of understanding of GIS terminologies. Yet another issue is that while making GIS more users centred, the true shape and most of the features of GIS should not be compromised. Usability is important concerning the web and if any website has problems like file downloading takes time, no clear navigations and not oriented towards the needs of the users, then users get frustrated and they will not use this website in future (Barnum, 2002). The interface of the web application must be so simple that experienced and non experienced users can easily use it and fulfil their requirements with it. The users are only satisfied when they can achieve their goals in a successful and efficient way. (Dillon, 1994) Usability evaluation has methodologies that help to measure usability aspects in system interfaces and also identify the problems. During the interface design process, Usability evaluation has an important role that includes interactive cycle of designing, prototyping and evaluating (Ivory Hearst, 2001). Usability evaluation methods play an important role in the designing of most GIS applications because usability aspects included in product design give credibility to company and customers are more satisfied with the products. Map applications are nowadays used by many users who have less experience in using the geospatial data, so usability aspects give benefits to the users accessing internet based services which contain easy to use and attractive exploring functions. Usability thus has an important contribution in the development of successful web-based GIS applications (Nivala et al. , 2008). Koua et al. (2006) proposed usability evaluation criteria for GIS applications; this evaluation helps to assess the ability of GIS applications regarding user performance and satisfaction. This evaluation is very important for evaluation of web-based GIS application because many usability issues can be taken care of through usability testing. This dissertation will evaluate and discuss the accessibility and usability issues faced by users with different disabilities, different knowledge and different social environments. It will aim to find out how can user centred design (UCD) be helpful to enhance the accessibility of web based GIS? 1. 2 Aims: The goal of this dissertation is to explore issues related to the accessibility of GIS by elderly and disabled people through user-centred approach, and investigate the end-users requirements by conducting usability test, questionnaires and interviews. 1. 3 Objectives: To explore issues related to the accessibility of GIS through user-centred approach * To study the common problems faced by naive users in using GIS applications * To find out the common design attributes for GIS applications that can be accessible for all types of the users * To prove the importance of the end-users in all phases of software development * To study the UI design of GIS and identify shortcomings that can be tuned to increase the accessibility * To identify the role of UCD design in designing GIS applications which are more accessible to users of all abilities * To identify various usability issues. To explore various web based evaluation techniques. To explore such criteria for usability evaluation that can be especially relevant for web-based GIS applications. These criteria could be in relation to the specific challenges that these applications have, and might be somewhat different than traditional usability criteria, due to the fact that usability evaluation was developed earlier than web-based GIS applications. 1. 4 Resources: The resources needed to complete this dissertation successfully will be Library Services, Internet. Library service will provide access to books, journals, articles to conduct the research required to complete the dissertation. Internet services will also be used extensively for research and also it will be useful for sending questionnaires to the volunteers, and analysing the case studies that will be used in this dissertation. Also ‘EvalAccess 2. 0’ tool which is software and will be used to compare the accessibility of GIS applications. 1. 5 Risk: This dissertation will focus on accessibility and usability issues of disabled people as a whole. Because of time constraint it doesn’t choose limited users from each category of disability. Choosing each category of disability would bring up more concise results. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is organized into three sections. Section 1 discusses the role of Web GIS, the potential of Web based GIS and who are its users. Further, HCI related issues in web based GIS are discussed. Section 2 discusses the evolution of Web Accessibility and the importance of accessibility of web contents. It also researches the guidelines and web standards regarding accessibility made by the international community World Wide Web consortium (W3C). Then the accessibility of web based GIS. In section 3 the overlook of what is User Centred Design, its elements and relevance of User Centred Design and Accessibility is presented. 2. 1 What is GIS? Good science is said to begin with clear definitions; but it is hard to give a clear cut definition of geographical information systems. As a result, different definitions have been proposed with the passage of time depending on the context. So we can define the term geographical information system in a variety of ways and each definition depends upon what we are searching for. The immense in GIS in recent years is due to the advancement in other technologies and fields that correlate and support the GIS system, such as geography and cartography, geo-visualization, computer science, database theory and mathematics field. Ron Abler has defined GIS as â€Å"Not just one but many simultaneous technological revolutions† (Clarke, 2004). So it is clear that GIS is not a new killer-application but it is an essential and innovative application like spreadsheet, database management systems and word processors. Another author, Peter Burrough, has defined GIS as â€Å"A powerful set of tools for storing and retrieving at will, transforming and displaying spatial data from the real world for a particular set of purposes†. Different authors have tried to define GIS in terms of its functionality. So another definition of GIS is â€Å"An automated system for the capture, storage, retrieval, analysis and display of spatial data†. (Clarke, 2004) 2. 2 Potential of GIS From the above it can be concluded that geographical information systems are known as powerful and integrating tools for managing and analyzing geo spatial data. The merging of the GIS technology with internet has introduced a new area of research referred to as web based GIS, on-line GIS, internet GIS and internet distributed GIS services. As accessibility to the web is easier for every one; web based GIS plays a major role by offering GIS functionality on the web (Kraak, 2004). Initially static maps have been developed then interactive maps with zooming features were introduced and now dynamic maps have been introduced with multiple features to give maximum functionality and accessibility to its users as a virtual communication tool. Web based GIS is still an emerging field and it is a broad area which involves a lot of issues that still need to be researched, such as spatial analysis and modelling, spatial database designing, wireless and mobile services and 3D data access and query. (Dragicevic, 2004) The World Wide Web has also altered the role of maps and makes them more dynamic. The map can be an essential part of the search engine, especially if we are referring to geospatial data. Maps can also play an important role by acting as an interface for geographical and non geographical information on the net. Maps can be helpful in guiding us from location ‘A’ to ‘B’, viewing the arrangement of the landscape, displaying urban plans and show changes occurring in population distributions. Hardware and software developments have made a tremendous change in the scientific and social needs for spatial data and for maps. The web not only presents dynamic data but also gives the user the ability to interact with the system, and there is subsequently a growing demand of the current users for faster and real time access to data. The role of the maps is definitely central in the web based GIS environment. The dynamic and interactive nature of the maps assists the users in solving geo-spatial analysis problems. (Kraak, 2004) 2. 3 Role of GIS/ Web based GIS The role of GIS is broad and it can act as an information system, support for decision making and may be helpful for emergency management, crises management and earth quake situations. Clarke (2004) quotes that Jack Estes and the late Jeffrey Star has taken GIS as an information system and they defined this as â€Å"An information system that is designed to work with data referenced by spatial or geo-graphic coordinates. In other words, a GIS is both a database system with specific capabilities for spatial-referenced data, as well as a set of operations for working with the data†. Based upon the above definition we can say that GIS is an information system that answers the user‘s queries. Whenever it receives a query from the user side, it collects relevant data, filters and sorts that data and then displays it before the user in a relevant form. Thus we can say that a GIS tool gives the solution of generic problems. GIS has proven its importance worldwide and web based GIS technology has shown its advantages in a variety of areas such as planning applications, decision making, management of historical buildings, and e-government etc. Web based GIS fulfils the requirements of e-government by sharing geographical data both within the organization and with the outside world. Geography is in some sense the glue that can integrate the data scattered in different departments and lying at different locations. Web based GIS is the first step in e-government that ensures the sharing of essential information between all the departments in local authority. Thus this technology enhances the internal and external communication, operations, efficiency within the organization and builds up a positive relationship with its citizens and/or visitors. Figure 2. 1 GIS working as glue, integrate scattered data (Stachowicz, 2004) Web based GIS provides centralized and easy access to spatial data for the users. It is the demand of the users for up-to-date, timely and rapid access to the data. Web based GIS fulfil all these requirements and provide dynamic geographical information to the users in an easy and accessible format. Web based maps assist the users in location finding, route finding and quick decision making. 2. 4 Web Accessibility When we talk about accessibility of a web page, it means that the web page should be accessible to almost every one with all abilities. During the start of World Wide Web, pages were more accessible because almost all web pages consisted of text which could be made more accessible with less complexity. With the advancement of web technologies and hence addition of more complexity, it is now difficult to make web pages accessible to all. Web designers started to include images, frames, streaming audio and video and different kinds of applications, which have made web pages full of hurdles for users with disabilities. (Hackett, 2004) The awareness is on rise about user‘s rights about the access of World Wide Web and there is recognition worldwide about the same rights of access to information on Web for people with disabilities. Legislation about the accessibility of web contents in different countries portrays the importance of the issue of making information on web accessible for all. Richards, 2004) Most of the developed countries have built their own guidelines or refined WCAG guidelines to make web contents more accessible. Increasing accessibility of web content is not only beneficial for people with disabilities but also for common users with lower ebb of resources like lower connection speed, lower processing speed. Mynatt (2000) believes as the average age of world population is increasing as a result t here will be increase in the group of senior citizens accessing information on the web. With aging, most people have deprived some of their abilities like focus, resolve images and distinguish colours. So if we look at cost to benefits ratio, it is clearly indicating more benefits than cost. It may increase the cost one to percent to make website accessible but it will result in increase of users by almost twenty percent. Web Accessibility is directed to address different kind of users and accessibility varies depending upon the disability type of the users. The users which could be addressed by Web Accessibility may have the following disabilities * Visual: From intense degree of blindness to low vision and colour blindness all include in this group * Mobility: People feeling difficulty in using input devices particularly mouse due to immobility or loss of control of relevant muscle * Auditory: people feeling difficulty or disability to listen * Cognitive: peoples having difficulty or disability to understand, learn, memorize or giving attention etc. 2. 5 Importance of Web Accessibility There is general perception that accessibility means web contents should be make accessible to users with disabilities like blind users. The area of web accessibility deals more than this limited view. In broader view Web Accessibility means making web contents available for as many users as possible. The user may range from common user to user with disabilities such as vision, mobility or learning impairment, users having limited network speed, slow processing speed compelling browsers to show text only version of websites and also users with mobile phone and PDAs with limited bandwidth and memory. Jackson, 2003) If we look at the cost benefit equation of making web content accessible we can clearly find this equation giving more benefits than cost by increasing users with substantial effort. For example minor changing of adding ALT tags for images will make large some difference. Advantages of making web contents more accessible can be increased by broadening the definition of â₠¬Ëœwho’ will get gain more access by this adaptation. Elder people are big percent of whole population and if you ignore web accessibility you are simply ignoring large chunk of possible users. Also this portion of population posses more free time and also discretionary spending power. Web contents can be converted into more accessible for adults by making the contents easy to read, reducing cognition and more efficient and easy use of keyboard and mouse. (Richards, 2004) 2. 6 Web Accessibility Guidelines In 1997 the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was setup by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to define international standards for users with disabilities. The standards are divided into three different groups. . Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2. User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 3. Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 1. 0 the first version of web content guidelines is mainly for websites with static information. But with advancement in web technology these guidelines are not sufficient to handle the emerging issues related to accessibility of web contents. To meet this challenging situation W3C‘s Web Accessibility Initiative gave a new version of gu idelines namely WCAG 2. 0 (Reid Snow-Weaver, 2008). Since 1997 W3C‘s Web Accessible Initiative is successfully promoting WCAG around the world. Many organizations have taken benefits from these guidelines in changing their web contents into more accessible form. Also there is more inclination now at national level to adopt these guidelines to standardize the web content. (Kelly et al, 2007) 2. 7 Web Accessibility Evaluation Accessibility of web content is evaluated to check the degree of accessibility available to the contents for users of all kinds. There are different methods to evaluate the web accessibility of any web content. Generally web content can be considered accessible if it follows the regulation provided by WAI‘s WCAG 2. 0 (Villegas et al, 2009). The guidelines provided by WCAG 2. 0 are divided into different set of check points and every checkpoint is assigned different level according to severity (Freire et al, 2008). One of the web accessibility evaluation methods is to involve user in this evaluation process. The user will interact and explore the real problems relating to accessibility. Strictly adopting the guidelines provided by WAI‘s WCAG does not guarantee the success. User’s experience is necessary to validate the accessibility of web content. There are some automated tools to evaluate the accessibility of any web content. According to WAI the following documents can be part of evaluation of web accessibility. a) Preliminary Review of web content for Accessibility b) Conformance evaluation of web content for Accessibility c) Involving Users in Web Accessibility Evaluation d) Evaluation of Web content Accessibility through tools. So evaluation of accessibility of any web content depends upon adherence of guidelines and user satisfaction level. In this thesis project we have evaluate accessibility of GIS web content by firstly using tool to check the adherence of guidelines provided by WAI‘s WCAG 2. 0 and then conduct survey of users with disabilities. 2. 8 What is User Centred Design (UCD) UCD is a broad term and it is defined as the design philosophy or process in which needs, limitations and demands of end users of an interface have been extensively considered in the entire design process. The entire design process revolves around the end users who have core role in the design process. In other words, UCD is a multi-stage problem solving process in which designer not only analyzes how the users interact with the interface but also perform a test to validate their assumptions with respect to user behaviour in real world scenario. The main distinction of UCD from other design philosophies is that UCD optimizes the user interface according to which users feel easiness and want to work rather than bounding the user to change their behaviour according to the design approach. Currently, different UCD models and approaches have been used to design a product and each approach has its own pros and cons. Models assist the software designers in engineering a product for their users. In these models requirement of the users are kept under consideration right from the beginning till to the end of the product cycle. All the following models follow ISO (ISO 13407 model, 1999) standard. These models are as: Cooperative design: This approach evolved in Scandinavia since 1970. End-users are involved very early in the design process. Thus end-user is given a ‘voice’ in the design and development process and ultimately this thing enhances the quality of end results. Cooperative design demands the right set of participants, right location and physical space. It is also essential to create such environment in which all participants can contribute actively to get some meaningful results. (Bodker et al, 2000) Due to cultural difference among users and designers it may be possible that users are unable to understand the language of designers. So for this purpose it is recommended that prototypes such as mock-ups (three dimensional paper based representation) or a paper based outline for web screen shots or other product. Abras et al, 2004) Participatory design: It correlates with the cooperative design in which end users, developers and business representatives work collaboratively. This design model is more beneficial in early stages of design process. This design model gives a lot of advantages such as * Provide equal participation opportunity to technical and non-technical members * Provide the close collaboration between developers and end users * Provide a forum for investigating product related issues. (Gaffney, 1999) Contextual design: Context design also called customer centre design provides the assistance to cross-functional team to reach an agreement on what the customer‘s needs and how to design the product for their customers. Cross-functional team listen the whole story of an interview but confine the concepts and issues related to design problem. Contextual design user says â€Å"When I was coding I was behind a mirror but when I sat together with the user in front of the system, I felt like I was looking through the mirror and becoming aware that there was a human being on the other side†. Holtzblatt, 2001) The term ‘User Centred Design’ was presented by the Donald Norman in 1980s and then this term widely spread after the publication of the book entitled: User-Centred System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction (Norman Draper, 1986). In the book The Psychology of Everyday Things (POET) (Norman, 1988), Norman has further built on UCD concepts. He has proposed four suggestions related to interface design * The interface should be simple enough in order to determine the possible actions at any moment. The things on the interface should be visible. * Current state of the system should be evaluated easily. * Interface provides the natural mappings between the required actions and intentions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the interpretation of the system state and visible information. According to Donald Norman recommendation, user should be in the centre of the design. Designer should design the interface that assists the users in performing their tasks and users have to put a little effort to learn a system. Small pamphlet should be delivered along with the products but that pamphlets should be understandable. Just to say designer the design of the product should be intuitive is not enough. There are some designs principles that should be adopted to give better outcome. Norman (1988) has recommended seven designs principles that can assist the designers in their task. 1. Utilize the knowledge both in the world and in the head. Build the manual before implementing the design and it should be in understandable format. 2. Structure of the tasks should be simple that giving full control to the user ver tasks. Tasks provide mental aids to the user for easy archival of information. 3. Things should be visible such that if user presses right click (mouse) on an object it exposes its full functionality for the user. 4. Graphics or icons should be used to make the things understandable. 5. Constraints both artificial and natural should be used to restrict the users. 6. After proper error tracking , the error should be displayed before the user in readable and understandable format so that user can perform error recovery. 7. Standardize the action if all else fails to avoid any abnormal action. In short all the work performed by Norman stressed on the exploration of user needs and requirements before designing the product. 2. 9 Advantages and disadvantages of UCD Table 2. 1: Advantages/disadvantages of UCD Advantages Disadvantages 2. 10 Elements of UCD According to Katz-Haas (2004), UCD model have the following four elements. 1. Visibility: Visibility provides the assistance to the user in constructing the mental model about the things. Essential elements such as those that aids in navigation should be highly visible for the user. Visibility is such that user can predict what he can do and what he cannot at a glance. The important information should be made prominent and placed at top place. 2. Accessibility: Accessibility is another element of UCD in which information is made available for the users easily and quickly no matter what the size of the document either it is long or short. Avoid the users from brainstorming to find specific information. Variety of ways have been provided to look into the information such as search function, page no and navigation elements. Chunking’ technique should be used in which information is divided into sections or blocks and relevant information is kept together and organized in a meaningful manner. Bold and italic pattern is used to make the information prominent. 3. Legibility: Text such as text size, font and style should be used that make the information convenient for the readers. It is hard to read such text or information written in ornamental fonts or all in capital letters but making bold and italic to the text can be helpful for the readers. High-figure-ground contrast between text and background can enhance the legibility such as dark text on light ackground. 4. Language: Information should be displayed in short sentences and in simple words instead of using technical terms. Utilize the active voice or verbs for writing information instead of noun strings. 2. 11 UCD and Web based GIS Although GIS are dominating in the market and usage of them are increasing but on the side usability of GIS technology is pitiable. Poorly designed GIS user interface can be made usable by arranging the training for them but this solution is not good according to the economic point of view. Relating to GIS user interface it is said â€Å"GIS user interfaces should be designed such that they fulfil user requirements instead of adapting the end-user to a GIS†. Comprehensive and accurate knowledge of the user requirements acts as a prerequisite for the GIS customization and development and it is said â€Å"User requirements are the criteria against which quality of GIS is tested†. Quality of use is also defined and measured like other technical and economical quality aspects. Quality of use is a multi-dimensional concept in which multiple aspects are checked such as robustness, visibility; learn ability, legibility and accessibility. Quality of use should be evaluated during the customization and development phase in order to get rid of the expensive market failures later. The development of GIS is different from other software development processes as GIS user interfaces are very complex and to make them usable it is essential to tailor them to specific user requirements. Mostly users interact with web based GI data and modify the parameters to achieve their desired results on the screen so it is crucial to provide interactive interface between end-users and the GIS. The design principles of UCD may be helpful for creating effective, efficient, innovative and interactive GIS user interfaces. Focus on end-users Iterative design appropriate allocation of functions between end-user and GIS Multidisciplinary design team (European Commission, 2005) 1. Focus on end-users End-users can contribute a lot in the design process of GI user interface by sharing knowledge and experience about GIS domain, tasks, workflows, object