An article in Helsingin Sanomat (a major Finnish newspaper) 22nd of December describes how the poor usability of the hospital information systems affects the work of the doctors: the patient information is scattered throughout the system and there are no overviews on patient condition. The low usability of the systems takes time away from actual patients and lowers the efficiency of the doctors' work.
The article is available online in Helsingin Sanomat web site: Kankeat tietojärjestelmät tuhlaavat lääkärien aikaa (hs.fi) (in Finnish only).
We have now 2000 respondents registered in our database of potential study participants, and the database keeps on growing every week! Etnoteam wants to thank all people who have shown interest in co-operating with us. We are continuously contacting enrolled people, offering an opportunity to influence in the development of user-friendly producs.
We need new enrollments and fresh ideas on regular basis, so if you are interested in getting involved, please sign up to our user database.
Simo Säde, the CEO of Etnoteam Finland, appeared in the morning TV show on Yle TV1 on Tuesday 14.4.2009 to discuss usability and the failures in the trial of electronic voting systems of Finnish municipal elections last autumn. The Finnish Supreme court recently ruled that the election process has to be redone in the municipalities that had participated in the trial.
The failures were mostly due to a usability problem that was discovered only after the election - the system allowed the user to accidentally cancel the voting process without informing the user that the vote was not cast yet. Most of the users thought that they had successfully voted, even though the voting process was cancelled.
The discussion went on to cover also topics of complex work-related systems, and the users rights to demand better usability and easier systems. Often the user has to learn how to live with complex informations systems, even though it should be the other way around. The systems should adapt, not their users.
Read the article that Yle wrote about the discussion and the related commentary (in Finnish)
See the video of the discussion at Yle Areena web site (in Finnish, can be viewed until 14.5.2009)
The purpose of this kind of multilevel research is to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the entire scope of work activities, not just a single software product or partial solution. By carefully conducting user research, it is possible to get results not only for designing user interfaces but also for developing work processes and the structure of the entire organization.
Soliditet Finland rates the creditworthiness of all Finnish companiesyearly. There are 7 rating categories and reaching the highest ratingrequires the company to have significantly better financial indicatorsthan average, positive payment behavior and stable background. Etnoteam Finland Oy has been rated in the highest AAA-class. Only 4,4% of Finnish companies are rated in this class.
Interested in working in varying usability and user experience projects, both globally and locally? Join us, we're growing rapidly!
We are looking for user experience and usability professionals of all levels of experience. You may have just graduated or have years of experience in the field. Contact us, and we'll talk more.
If you are interested, take a look in our Careers section, or send an open application to careers@etnoteam.fi.Etnoteam Finland User Experience Consultant Tiina Härkönen gives a talk on the subject "Acknowledging good usability and user experience in industrial product development processes" in Smart Systems 2008 conference in Seinäjoki, Finland.
Smart Systems 2008 is the seventh annual mutidisciplinary international conferenc that has grown rapidly to the largest gathering of designers, manufacturers and researchers of smart products.
If you have comments regarding the new site, please send an email to webmaster@etnoteam.fi
Etnoteam Finland's User Experience Consultant Hannu Karvonen presents an article about user psychology with in-car ubicomp solutions. The article is going to be presented in the IEEE Intelligent Vehicles 2008 Symposium. The conference is an annual forum sponsored by the IEEE Intelligent Transport Systems Society and it will take place in Eindhoven, the Netherlands during June 4-6, 2008.
The title of the article is "Ubiquitous Co-Driver System and Its Effects on the Situation Awareness of the Driver" and it is written together with Tuomo Kujala, a researcher at the University of Jyväskylä and Pertti Saariluoma, the professor of cognitive science at the University of Jyväskylä.
During the last six months Etnoteam Finland has employed six new usability consultants with extensive expertise on the area of usability. The competencies these experts possess correspond well with the service portfolio we are providing to our customers. Etnoteam Finland continues growing in the future as well.
You can view new career opportunities on our Careers page.
Etnoteam Finland is participating in 26th Annual Conference on Computer-human Interaction (CHI 2008), held 5th to 10th of April in Florence, Italy.
The conference brings together over 2000 usability professionals and researchers from 38 countries.
If you would like to meet Etnoteam Finland representative in the conference, please contact Simo Säde.
The winner of the best Usability related academic thesis 2007
competition in Finland was announced in the World Usability Day event
in Helsinki 8.11.2007. The competition was arranged by SIGCHI Finland
(Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction) and the price
award of 1000 Euro was sponsored by Etnoteam Finland Oy. The winner of
the competition with over 20 participants from universities in Finland
is Pekka Parhi, University of Oulu, with his master thesis “Two case
studies in the design and evaluation of mobile interactive systems”.
The World Usability Day in Helsinki contained also presentations from two companies where usability is part of their global product offering. At the event Aapo Puskala, Usability Specialist at Kone, presented the importance of Usability for Kone as a leading innovator in the elevator and escalator business. “Elevators has been around for over 100 years, but usability is now being more important than ever before”.
Harri Kiljander, Director Experience Design at Nokia, spoke about the role of usability in purchasing decision situation. “With consumer devices such as mobile handsets, ease-of-use is playing an increasingly important role both in the purchasing decision process and later in the daily use of the products and services”, says Harri.
The event has been arranged for 3 years in a row in several places globally.
For more information about the World Usability Day please visit www.worldusabilityday.org
Finns on the path of usability: from thesis works to world-conquering products
Thursday, 8th of November 2007 at 14 - 17, Kinopalatsi hall 4 (Kaisaniemenkatu 2, Helsinki)
The event includes the reward ceremony for the best usability related thesis work of 2007. The reward was sponsored by Etnoteam Finland.
Schedule
14.00 Opening
Simo Säde/Etnoteam Finland
14.15 Elevator psychology
Aapo Puskala/Kone
14.45 Is usability a sales argument?
Harri Kiljander/Nokia
15.15 SIGCHI Finland Best thesis work reward ceremony
Chairman of the reward committee
Antti Pirhonen/University of Jyväskylä
Simo Säde/Etnoteam Finland
15.25 Winner's speech
15.45 The event continues at Etnoteam Finland premises
17.00 Event ends
After the presentations the event continues in Etnoteam Finland premises in Vilhonkatu 6 A with free conversation and snacks.
The seminar is free of charge and open to everyone. Preliminary enrollment beore Wednesday 31st of October 2007 to Sanna Heinonen, tel. 09-4780 1300 or sanna.heinonen@etnoteam.fi.
Welcome!