We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Bangladesh Emergency Services (BES), a m... more We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Bangladesh Emergency Services (BES), a mobile application that provides 911-like services in Bangladesh. The involvement of A2I, a government agency, helped in the nationwide deployment of BES. To date, 120,382 unique users downloaded BES and 27,117 users are actively using it. Analysis of user ratings (N=3,788) and reviews (N=1,231) from Google Play Store, an online survey (N=137), and face-to-face interviews (N=10) revealed that users considered BES effective. Currently, BES is used to report aggressive behavior, street fight, harassment, fire-related incidents, and for locating nearby hospitals for medical emergencies. Our findings highlight the importance of trustworthiness, scalability of service, and iterative and participatory design for successful deployment of such services. We believe our research will inspire the design of mobile-based emergency applications in other developing countries that lack 911-like services.
College students with autism have an estimated retention rate of 38.8% in the USA, which is attri... more College students with autism have an estimated retention rate of 38.8% in the USA, which is attributed to challenges resulting from mental and behavioral problems, lack of adequate support from colleges, and a lack of awareness of their unique needs. We propose visualizations guided by the self-determination theory to help understand the experiences and needs of college students with autism and to empower them to manage their behavior. The visualizations are created based on physiological and contextual data collected from 20 college students (10 with autism, 10 neurotypical) using Fitbit and smartphone, and are incorporated in a dashboard to offer seamless access. We evaluated the effectiveness of these visualizations by conducting a lab study (N=18) and learned that such visualizations can highlight experiences of students with autism, can enhance awareness about individuals’ behaviors and habits, and can help to identify areas that can potentially improve the college experience.
The 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility - ASSETS '19, 2019
Many neurodiverse individuals experience isolation in adult life with a significant percentage re... more Many neurodiverse individuals experience isolation in adult life with a significant percentage reporting never engaging in long term romantic relationships. Such social isolation can result in critical behavioral and mental health problems such as anxiety, addiction, and depression. Online socialization platforms can aid in relationship building as they are void of many complexities present in face-to-face communication. We conducted an exploratory study (N=10) with neurodiverse and neurotypical young adults to investigate how to design online socialization platforms that enables creating and maintaining lasting relationships, especially for neurodiverse individuals. We focused on understanding their experiences surrounding online socialization platforms, challenges in using them, and unmet needs. To elicit requirements, we designed a prototype socialization platform, Connection. Our findings reveal that there is indeed a great desire for such platforms among neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals.
Proceedings of the 2012 ACM international conference on Intelligent User Interfaces - IUI '12, 2012
ABSTRACT Reuse of existing presentation materials is prevalent among knowledge workers. However, ... more ABSTRACT Reuse of existing presentation materials is prevalent among knowledge workers. However, finding the most appropriate material for reuse is challenging. Existing information management and search tools provide inadequate support for reuse due to their dependence on users' ability to effectively categorize, recall, and recognize existing materials. Based on our findings from an online survey and contextual interviews, we designed and implemented a slide-based contextual recommender, ConReP, for supporting reuse of presentation materials. ConReP utilizes a user-selected slide as a search-key, recommends materials based on similarity to the selected slide, and provides a local-context-based visual representation of the recommendations. Users input provides new insight into presentation reuse and reveals that slide-based search is more effective than keyword-based search, local-context-based visual representation helps in better recall and recognition, and shows the promise of this general approach of exploiting individual slides and local-context for better presentation reuse.
With every advancement in mHealth sensing technology, we are presented with an abundance of data ... more With every advancement in mHealth sensing technology, we are presented with an abundance of data streams and models that enable us to make sense of health information we record. To distill this diverse and ever-growing data into meaningful information, we must first develop tools that can represent data intuitively and are flexible enough to handle the special characteristics of mHealth records. For example, whereas traditional health data such as electronic health records (EHR) often consist of discrete events that may be readily analyzed and visualized, mHealth entails sensor ensembles that generate continuous, multivariate data streams of high-resolution and often noisy measurements. Drawing from methodologies in machine learning and visualization, interactive visual analytics tools are an increasingly important aid to making sense of this complexity. Still, these computational and visual techniques must be employed attentively to represent this data not only intuitively, but also accurately, transparently, and in a way that is driven by user needs. Acknowledging these challenges, we review existing visual analytic tools to identify design solutions that are both useful for and adaptable to the demands of mHealth data analysis tasks. In doing so, we identify open problems for representing and understanding mHealth data, suggesting future research directions for developers in the field.
2020 IEEE 44th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC)
Job interviews are uniquely challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While digi... more Job interviews are uniquely challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While digital interview training tools have shown promising results for improving vocational outcomes for individuals with Autism, existing solutions are largely limited in the degree to which they can simulate a realistic interview environment, collect performance data from the user, and provide actionable feedback for continued improvement. To address these shortcomings and understand how to create an effective training tool, we designed InterViewR, a simulation-based interview training system that combines virtual reality and wearable smart technology in an integrated platform. Our design emphasizes an immersive user experience for training effectiveness and utilizes physiological sensing to provide intelligent affective biofeedback. We report findings from a usability study (N=11) where participants evaluated InterViewR on feasibility, usability, and perceived usefulness.
Early childhood education and teachers providing them play an imperative role in the development ... more Early childhood education and teachers providing them play an imperative role in the development of children with autism, which motivated us to examine the current educational practices, teachers’ experiences, needs, and expectations in Bangladesh. Findings from our qualitative study with teachers (N = 20) from four schools specializing in autism reveal that despite not having the required training for these kids they join the profession and even after getting a meager salary they continue to teach them. We also found that their relationship with the parents is complex, resulting from lack of effective communication about student progress. We propose a set of guidelines to design ICT tools which are a first step in addressing how to improve the educational experience of the teachers and their students by leveraging existing ICT tools. We believe our findings will open avenues for future researchers and guide them in envisioning robust technology to aid the existing educational process.
Smoking is one of the most challenging behavioral health problems. In the past, failed quit attem... more Smoking is one of the most challenging behavioral health problems. In the past, failed quit attempts have been attributed to factors including stress, presence of smoking cues, and negative affect – most of which were self-reported and prone to recall-bias. The first step in designing effective smoking cessation systems is to objectively identify factors that contribute to lapse. In our research, we collected physiological data utilizing wearable sensors from a four day pre-quit, post-quit study (N=55). We also collected self-report measures (n=3120), which offer rich contextual information about users' social, emotional, geographical, and physiological conditions. Analysis of collected data informed the design of MyQuitPal, a participant-centric cessation support system, which aims to assist individuals to better understand their smoking behavior. The design of MyQuitPal is also grounded on theories of long term health-behavior change. We believe our research advances understan...
Proceedings : AutomotiveUI 2014 : 6th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications : September 17-19, 2014, Seattle, Washington, USA / Linda Ng Boyle [and 3 others] ; in cooperation with ..., Jan 17, 2014
Driving is known to be a daily stressor. Measurement of driver's stress in real-time can enab... more Driving is known to be a daily stressor. Measurement of driver's stress in real-time can enable better stress management by increasing self-awareness. Recent advances in sensing technology has made it feasible to continuously assess driver's stress in real-time, but it requires equipping the driver with these sensors and/or instrumenting the car. In this paper, we present…
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2009
ABSTRACT Prior knowledge is a critical resource for design, especially when designers are strivin... more ABSTRACT Prior knowledge is a critical resource for design, especially when designers are striving to generate new ideas for complex problems. Systems that improve access to relevant prior knowledge and promote reuse can improve design efficiency and outcomes. ...
Abstract: This paper reports on a generic sequential thinning algorithm to thin both Bangla and E... more Abstract: This paper reports on a generic sequential thinning algorithm to thin both Bangla and English characters and numerals. In this algorithm the thinned image is obtained by making the whole image uniform at first and then thinning it by deleting the unnecessary ...
We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Bangladesh Emergency Services (BES), a m... more We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Bangladesh Emergency Services (BES), a mobile application that provides 911-like services in Bangladesh. The involvement of A2I, a government agency, helped in the nationwide deployment of BES. To date, 120,382 unique users downloaded BES and 27,117 users are actively using it. Analysis of user ratings (N=3,788) and reviews (N=1,231) from Google Play Store, an online survey (N=137), and face-to-face interviews (N=10) revealed that users considered BES effective. Currently, BES is used to report aggressive behavior, street fight, harassment, fire-related incidents, and for locating nearby hospitals for medical emergencies. Our findings highlight the importance of trustworthiness, scalability of service, and iterative and participatory design for successful deployment of such services. We believe our research will inspire the design of mobile-based emergency applications in other developing countries that lack 911-like services.
College students with autism have an estimated retention rate of 38.8% in the USA, which is attri... more College students with autism have an estimated retention rate of 38.8% in the USA, which is attributed to challenges resulting from mental and behavioral problems, lack of adequate support from colleges, and a lack of awareness of their unique needs. We propose visualizations guided by the self-determination theory to help understand the experiences and needs of college students with autism and to empower them to manage their behavior. The visualizations are created based on physiological and contextual data collected from 20 college students (10 with autism, 10 neurotypical) using Fitbit and smartphone, and are incorporated in a dashboard to offer seamless access. We evaluated the effectiveness of these visualizations by conducting a lab study (N=18) and learned that such visualizations can highlight experiences of students with autism, can enhance awareness about individuals’ behaviors and habits, and can help to identify areas that can potentially improve the college experience.
The 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility - ASSETS '19, 2019
Many neurodiverse individuals experience isolation in adult life with a significant percentage re... more Many neurodiverse individuals experience isolation in adult life with a significant percentage reporting never engaging in long term romantic relationships. Such social isolation can result in critical behavioral and mental health problems such as anxiety, addiction, and depression. Online socialization platforms can aid in relationship building as they are void of many complexities present in face-to-face communication. We conducted an exploratory study (N=10) with neurodiverse and neurotypical young adults to investigate how to design online socialization platforms that enables creating and maintaining lasting relationships, especially for neurodiverse individuals. We focused on understanding their experiences surrounding online socialization platforms, challenges in using them, and unmet needs. To elicit requirements, we designed a prototype socialization platform, Connection. Our findings reveal that there is indeed a great desire for such platforms among neurotypical and neurodiverse individuals.
Proceedings of the 2012 ACM international conference on Intelligent User Interfaces - IUI '12, 2012
ABSTRACT Reuse of existing presentation materials is prevalent among knowledge workers. However, ... more ABSTRACT Reuse of existing presentation materials is prevalent among knowledge workers. However, finding the most appropriate material for reuse is challenging. Existing information management and search tools provide inadequate support for reuse due to their dependence on users' ability to effectively categorize, recall, and recognize existing materials. Based on our findings from an online survey and contextual interviews, we designed and implemented a slide-based contextual recommender, ConReP, for supporting reuse of presentation materials. ConReP utilizes a user-selected slide as a search-key, recommends materials based on similarity to the selected slide, and provides a local-context-based visual representation of the recommendations. Users input provides new insight into presentation reuse and reveals that slide-based search is more effective than keyword-based search, local-context-based visual representation helps in better recall and recognition, and shows the promise of this general approach of exploiting individual slides and local-context for better presentation reuse.
With every advancement in mHealth sensing technology, we are presented with an abundance of data ... more With every advancement in mHealth sensing technology, we are presented with an abundance of data streams and models that enable us to make sense of health information we record. To distill this diverse and ever-growing data into meaningful information, we must first develop tools that can represent data intuitively and are flexible enough to handle the special characteristics of mHealth records. For example, whereas traditional health data such as electronic health records (EHR) often consist of discrete events that may be readily analyzed and visualized, mHealth entails sensor ensembles that generate continuous, multivariate data streams of high-resolution and often noisy measurements. Drawing from methodologies in machine learning and visualization, interactive visual analytics tools are an increasingly important aid to making sense of this complexity. Still, these computational and visual techniques must be employed attentively to represent this data not only intuitively, but also accurately, transparently, and in a way that is driven by user needs. Acknowledging these challenges, we review existing visual analytic tools to identify design solutions that are both useful for and adaptable to the demands of mHealth data analysis tasks. In doing so, we identify open problems for representing and understanding mHealth data, suggesting future research directions for developers in the field.
2020 IEEE 44th Annual Computers, Software, and Applications Conference (COMPSAC)
Job interviews are uniquely challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While digi... more Job interviews are uniquely challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. While digital interview training tools have shown promising results for improving vocational outcomes for individuals with Autism, existing solutions are largely limited in the degree to which they can simulate a realistic interview environment, collect performance data from the user, and provide actionable feedback for continued improvement. To address these shortcomings and understand how to create an effective training tool, we designed InterViewR, a simulation-based interview training system that combines virtual reality and wearable smart technology in an integrated platform. Our design emphasizes an immersive user experience for training effectiveness and utilizes physiological sensing to provide intelligent affective biofeedback. We report findings from a usability study (N=11) where participants evaluated InterViewR on feasibility, usability, and perceived usefulness.
Early childhood education and teachers providing them play an imperative role in the development ... more Early childhood education and teachers providing them play an imperative role in the development of children with autism, which motivated us to examine the current educational practices, teachers’ experiences, needs, and expectations in Bangladesh. Findings from our qualitative study with teachers (N = 20) from four schools specializing in autism reveal that despite not having the required training for these kids they join the profession and even after getting a meager salary they continue to teach them. We also found that their relationship with the parents is complex, resulting from lack of effective communication about student progress. We propose a set of guidelines to design ICT tools which are a first step in addressing how to improve the educational experience of the teachers and their students by leveraging existing ICT tools. We believe our findings will open avenues for future researchers and guide them in envisioning robust technology to aid the existing educational process.
Smoking is one of the most challenging behavioral health problems. In the past, failed quit attem... more Smoking is one of the most challenging behavioral health problems. In the past, failed quit attempts have been attributed to factors including stress, presence of smoking cues, and negative affect – most of which were self-reported and prone to recall-bias. The first step in designing effective smoking cessation systems is to objectively identify factors that contribute to lapse. In our research, we collected physiological data utilizing wearable sensors from a four day pre-quit, post-quit study (N=55). We also collected self-report measures (n=3120), which offer rich contextual information about users' social, emotional, geographical, and physiological conditions. Analysis of collected data informed the design of MyQuitPal, a participant-centric cessation support system, which aims to assist individuals to better understand their smoking behavior. The design of MyQuitPal is also grounded on theories of long term health-behavior change. We believe our research advances understan...
Proceedings : AutomotiveUI 2014 : 6th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications : September 17-19, 2014, Seattle, Washington, USA / Linda Ng Boyle [and 3 others] ; in cooperation with ..., Jan 17, 2014
Driving is known to be a daily stressor. Measurement of driver's stress in real-time can enab... more Driving is known to be a daily stressor. Measurement of driver's stress in real-time can enable better stress management by increasing self-awareness. Recent advances in sensing technology has made it feasible to continuously assess driver's stress in real-time, but it requires equipping the driver with these sensors and/or instrumenting the car. In this paper, we present…
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2009
ABSTRACT Prior knowledge is a critical resource for design, especially when designers are strivin... more ABSTRACT Prior knowledge is a critical resource for design, especially when designers are striving to generate new ideas for complex problems. Systems that improve access to relevant prior knowledge and promote reuse can improve design efficiency and outcomes. ...
Abstract: This paper reports on a generic sequential thinning algorithm to thin both Bangla and E... more Abstract: This paper reports on a generic sequential thinning algorithm to thin both Bangla and English characters and numerals. In this algorithm the thinned image is obtained by making the whole image uniform at first and then thinning it by deleting the unnecessary ...
Uploads
Papers by Moushumi Sharmin