Digital companions shall augment complex human processes like extensive decision-making. However, their acceptance may depend upon their ability to adapt to individuals’ psychological states and preferred decision strategies. Regulatory Mode Theory divides human self-regulation into assessment (i.e., making comparisons) and locomotion (i.e., movement from state to state). These regulatory modes are more or less compatible with different decision strategies. In an experimental study (N=81, 2x2-between-subjects design) we explored whether digital companions can gain higher acceptance by considering these compatibilities. Participants were confronted with a decision task. The assisting digital companion first induced a regulatory mode (assessment vs. locomotion) and subsequently presented information according to one of two decision strategies (full evaluation vs. progressive elimination). We show that a fit between regulatory mode and decision strategy (assessment/full evaluation or locomotion/progressive elimination) leads to a favorable evaluation of decisions and the digital companion. No differences regarding decision accuracy and speed were observed.

Social media monitoring for crisis intelligence is on the brink of commercialization and widespread adoption. To close the gap between research and application, this paper presents results of a broad-scale case study on visual analytics of social media for situation awareness. We asked twenty-nine domain experts from disaster response and critical infrastructure management to investigate various crisis intelligence tasks based on actual Twitter data, which was recorded during the 2013 German Flood. To this end, the ScatterBlogs visual analytics framework, a platform that provides reference implementations of tools and techniques from ongoing research, was given to them as an integrated toolbox. This paper presents and reviews the domain experts' individual performances with the system, their comments about the usefulness and applicability of its capabilities, and the results of a questionnaire each participant had to complete. Based on this evaluation, we will answer the question if and how visual analytics of social media can shape tomorrow's crisis intelligence.

The present study examines the role of subjectively perceived ergonomic quality (e.g. simplicity, controllability) and hedonic quality (e.g. novelty, originality) of a software system in forming a judgement of appeal. A hypothesised research model is presented. The two main research question are: (1) Are ergonomic and hedonic quality subjectively different quality aspects that can be independently perceived by the users? and (2) Is the judgement of appeal formed by combining and weighting ergonomic and hedonic quality and which weights are assigned?

Applications in the field of capital goods make specific requirements in terms of efficiency, fault tolerance, and verifiability-and therefore of the overall quality of use. Visual design-regarded as something derived logically from the functional stipulations and not just as an accessory to be applied later-contributes to this. The link between functional requirement and formal design will be illustrated by using Syngo, which is a software platform for controlling the image-transmitting procedure in radiology. In the context of the annual competition "Industrieforum Design Hannover" (Industrial Design Forum Hanover), Syngo was awarded the special "Best of Category" prize at the "Interaction Design Award 2000" (see Color Plate 11, Figures 1 and 2).