Explore the vast range of titles available.

Web accessibility is becoming a relevant topic with an increased number of people with disabilities and the elderly using the web. Numerous legislations are being passed that require the web to be universally accessible to all people, regardless of their abilities and age. Despite this trend, university curricula still teach traditional web development without addressing accessibility as a topic. To investigate this matter closely, we studied the syllabi of web development courses at one university to evaluate whether the topic of accessibility was taught there. Additionally, we conducted a survey with nineteen students who were enrolled in a web development course, and we interviewed three lecturers from the same university. Our findings suggest that the topic of accessibility is not covered in web development courses, although both students and lecturers think that it should. This generates lack of competence in accessibility. The findings also confirm the finding of previous studies that, among web developers, there is a low familiarity with accessibility guidelines and policies. An interesting finding we uncovered was that gender affects the motivation to learn about accessibility. Females were driven by personal reasons, which we attribute to females having an increased sense of empathy. Finally, our participants were divided in their opinions whether accessibility contributes to usability.

With research data generation on the rise, Institutional Repositories (IR) are one of the tools to manage it. However, the variety of data practices across institutions, domains, communities, etc., often requires dedicated studies in order to identify the research data management (RDM) requirements and mapping them to IR features to support them. In this study, we investigated the data practices for a few national universities in North Macedonia, including 110 participants from different departments. The methodology we adopted to this end enabled us to derive some of the key RDM requirements for a variety of data-related activities. Finally, we mapped these requirements to 6 features that our participants asked for in an IR solution: (1) create (meta)data and documentation, (2) distribute, share, and promote data, (3) provide access control, (4) store, (5) backup, and (6) archive. This list of IR features could prove useful for any university that has not yet established an IR solution.

Drug–drug interactions (DDIs) pose a major problem to patient safety. eHealth solutions have the potential to address this problem and generally improve medication management by providing digital services for health care professionals and patients. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) to alert physicians or pharmacists about DDIs are common, and there is an extensive body of research about CDSS for professionals. Information about DDIs is commonly requested by patients, but little is known about providing similar support to patients. The aim of this scoping review was to explore and describe current knowledge about providing digital DDI services for patients. Using a broad search strategy and an established framework for scoping reviews, 19 papers were included. The results show that although some patients want to check for DDIs themselves, there are differences between patients, in terms of demands and ability. There are numerous DDI services available, but the existence of large variations regarding service quality implies potential safety issues. The review includes suggestions about design features but also indicates a substantial knowledge gap highlighting the need for further research about how to best design and provide digital DDI to patients without risking patient safety or having other unintended consequences.

Drug interactions are an important source of medical error and a topic of particular interest to patient audiences. Patients must be informed to be able to participate in decision-making affecting their health. This paper explores the availability of drug interaction checkers in Scandinavia and the prevalence and characteristics of usability issues preventing patients from benefiting from them. Drug interaction checkers were sampled and evaluated through heuristic evaluations. Issue-based data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, as well as single-case and cross-case qualitative analyses. The findings were interpreted side-by-side using a mixed-methods approach. The results showed a multitude of usability issues. Catastrophic issues indicating the safety of dangerous drug pairings were found in two of the checkers. Results also showed that the checkers lacked adaptive design, patient-oriented content, and adherence to basic design principles. A positive correlation was observed between system complexity and number of usability issues. We suggest that this comes from a lack of systematic design approach. The market for Scandinavian drug interaction checkers was as such characterized by a limited selection of checkers known to be used by patients for their utility, but failing to accommodate them in terms of system quality.

In the era of digital transformation, the need for more efficient self-service technologies has increased, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the importance of reducing physical interactions. Although there is research on commercial self-service technologies, there is a shortage in studies focusing on self-service portals designed exclusively for internal use within an academic organizational environment. This study aims to address this gap by examining the usability of a self-service portal in a university in Sweden. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, incorporating data collection techniques such as cognitive walkthrough, usability testing and semi-structured interviews. In addition, a system usability scale and interaction log file data were used to understand user behavior and satisfaction. Findings reveal important factors influencing the user experience, which are further materialized into design guidelines aiming to enhance the usability of the self-service portals.

There are many factors influencing the user awareness level of privacy and security concerns when storing data on the cloud. One such factor is the users' cultural background, which has been an inspiration to many studies comparing various cultures. Along those lines, this paper compares the user awareness level between Dutch and Macedonian users, which has not been investigated before. An online study was conducted to measure users' attitude towards privacy and security of data in the cloud-based systems. The research process was conducted by delivering an online survey to Computer Science students and employees working in different software companies in the Netherlands and Macedonia. The comparative analysis indicates that there are differences in user's attitude towards storing private data in the cloud. The results of this paper demonstrate that Dutch compared to Macedonian users in general have higher level of awareness regarding the privacy and security of cloud storage.

With research data generation on the rise, Institutional Repositories (IR) are one of the tools to manage it. However, the variety of data practices across institutions, domains, communities, etc., often requires dedicated studies in order to identify the research data management (RDM) require- ments and mapping them to IR features to support them. In this study, we investigated the data practices for a few national universities in North Macedonia, including 110 participants from different departments. The methodology we adopted to this end enabled us to derive some of the key RDM requirements for a variety of data-related activities. Finally, we mapped these requirements to 6 features that our participants asked for in an IR solution: (1) create (meta)data and documentation, (2) distribute, share, and promote data, (3) provide access control, (4) store, (5) backup, and (6) archive. This list of IR features could prove useful for any university that has not yet established an IR solution.

While Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), particularly tools powered by Large Language Models (LLMs), offer benefits in teaching and learning, they also raise critical concerns about academic integrity, fairness in examinations due to their potential for generating educational content. This evolving landscape requires higher education institutions to rethink their assessment models, ensuring they remain robust, inclusive, and aligned with the realities of AI-enhanced learning environments. In this backdrop, this study investigates the practical, GAI-resistant assessment frameworks in higher education. It explores how alternative, skill-focused methods such as oral exams (vivas) and AI-integrated tasks can be included in future assessment models. Central to the study is the understanding of how students perceive current assessments and envision future methods that fairly and effectively measure both knowledge and skills. The empirical investigation is based on a case study at a Swedish University. Research methodologies include a survey questionnaire administered to 30 students enrolled in a semi-theoretical course on innovation and technology, and a future workshop (FW) with 22 of them in five groups. The two research instruments corresponded to answering the two research questions, respectively. The survey results revealed students' clear concerns about the academic integrity challenges posed by essay and report-based take-home assessments, as well as online quizzes. They also expressed apprehension about the potential impact of relying solely on proctored and supervised exams, highlighting the risk of reducing diversity in assessment methods, and thereby raising red flags for the need for a new and innovative approach to assessment methods that is hardly affected by unauthorised assistance from GAI. Responses to open survey questions reflected their problem-solving mindset and deep thinking of how cheating can be minimised by increased peer collaboration and solving real problems, contextualised to specific and ongoing learning activities in class. The outcomes of the FW provided insights, such as active learning-based assessments, combined with real-world problem-solving or context-specific question-based assessments. These findings are intended to inform course design, policy-making, and broader discussions on educational reform in the digital age.

To access interactive systems, blind and visually impaired users can leverage their auditory senses by using non-speech sounds. The current structure of non-speech sounds, however, is geared toward conveying user interface operations (e.g., opening a file) rather than large theme-based information (e.g., a history passage) and, thus, is ill-suited to signify the complex meanings of primary learning material (e.g., books and websites). In order to address this problem, this dissertation introduces audemes, a new category of non-speech sounds, whose semiotic structure and flexibility open new horizons for facilitating the education of blind and visually impaired students. An experiment with 21 students from the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) supports the hypothesis that audemes increase the retention of theme-based information. By acting as memory catalysts, audemes can play an important role in enhancing the aural interaction and navigation in future sound-based user interfaces. For this dissertation, I designed an Acoustic EDutainment INterface (AEDIN) that integrates audemes as a way by which to vividly anticipate text-to-speech theme-based information and, thus, act as innovative aural covers. The results of two iterative usability evaluations with total of 20 blind and visually impaired participants showed that AEDIN is a highly usable and enjoyable acoustic interface. Yet, designing well-formed audemes remains an ad hoc process because audeme creators can only rely on their intuition to generate meaningful and memorable sounds. In order to address this problem, this dissertation presents three experiments, each with 10 blind and visually impaired participants. The goal was to examine the optimal combination of audeme attributes, which can be used to facilitate accurate recognitions of audeme meanings. This work led to the creation of seven basic guidelines that can be used to design well-formed audemes. An interactive application tool (ASCOLTA: Advanced Support and Creation-Oriented Library Tool for Audemes) operationalized these guidelines to support individuals without an audio background in designing well-formed audemes. An informal evaluation conducted with three teachers from the ISBVI, supports the hypothesis that ASCOLTA is a useful tool by which to facilitate the integration of audemes into the teaching environment.