AlphaLabs: Improving User Experience and Accessibility of Online Medical Test Data via Gameful Design
October 2020-October 2021
Researchers: Katja Rogers (postdoctoral fellow) and Triskal deHaven (graduate researcher)
Abstract
In this project, we plan to study and improve the existing Best Tests section of the Clinician Portal from Alpha Laboratories. Best Tests provides metrics to clinicians that allow them to compare the effectiveness and cost of their test ordering patterns. However, the problem is that many of these comparison metrics are not easy to understand and even harder to integrate into the existing routines of doctors, nurse practitioners, and lab orderers (i.e., clinicians). This is a significant research problem, because if clinicians could alter their testing strategies based on these metrics, it would result in savings for the healthcare sector and faster results for patients. To address this design problem, we propose to improve the user experience and accessibility of the currently existing Best Tests online medical test data section using gameful design. We will iteratively improve the online experience using online prototypes and data collection from real clinicians, following a rapid iterative testing (RITE) approach alongside traditional online user studies. We will work closely with Alpha Laboratories to ensure the iterative implementation of our prototype design into the current online software.
MLD Solutions: Studying Gameful Design for Bite-Sized Information
October 2020-April 2021
Researchers: Ekaterina Durmanova (graduate researcher), Mel Edens (graduate researcher), and Karina Arrambide (graduate researcher)
Abstract
Consumption MLD Solutions is facing the challenge of creating engagement with their online platform Mozaik Global that allows users to create, distribute, and sell interactive digital content. This content is created in bitesized units, currently visualized as cards. The key problem with this new type of digital content is that the company currently does not know how to make this content engaging. To address this problem, we ask the research questions regarding whether we can identify gameful design elements that would work in the Mozaik.Global framework, how these gameful design elements motivate users to consume or create non-game digital content, and how we could track interaction data to evaluate the effectiveness of gameful design strategies. Understanding how gameful design can be used for bite-sized information creation and consumption marks a significant research problem, because not many measures or methods exist to assess the effectiveness of such gameful applications in this specific context. Our primary deliverable in this project will be a user research report studying how gameful design elements motivate users in the context of bite-sized content. Given the current pandemic, we will study the gameful user interactions with Mozaik.Global in remote experiments using behavioural observation and interviews. The bulk of our results with be qualitative and summarized in a thematic analysis.
Wiggles 3D: The Impact of Cultural and Economic Factors on Play and Purchase Decisions for Tabletop Games
October 2020-April 2021
Researchers: Joseph Tu (graduate researcher) and Derrick Wang (graduate researcher)
Abstract
Wiggles 3D is a company that has set its goal to create relevant, inclusive, and entertaining tabletops games that are accessible to all who may find them of interest. However, much of game research has focused on a user group’s life stage or the occasion at which a game is played, while not so much on cultural aspects, such as players’ ethnicity or the cultural context of their lifestyle. This lack of understanding of the impact of cultural differences on attitudes, behaviours, and habits that emerge in tabletop gameplay marks a significant research problem, because in order to create more inclusive and relevant games, it is key to understand cultural differences. In an era where equality and respect remain more difficult to achieve than ever, board and tabletop games can be a medium that allows racial-ethnic diversity and cultural expression. To address this, we propose a 2-intern project evaluating how cultural and economic factors affect player decisions regarding playing tabletop games, through literature review, online user studies, and qualitative data analysis, to conclude in the form of a final report that summarizes and discusses the research insights and how they can become actionable for Wiggles 3D and the general Canadian public.