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MAKINGDATABASES

USABLE FOR

USERS

Ritu Khare . July 8 2010.

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Order of Presentation

Topics of Interest Databases Forms

Making Databases Usable First Generation Applications Second Generation Applications Third Generation – my topic

Experiments Future

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Topics of Interest - Databases

What is a database? An organized

collection of information (data) which is arranged in individual records.

What are the primary uses of a databases? Data collection and Data

searching. Used everywhere to

manage individual items of importance Grocery stores Banks Phone companies School systems Hospitals

What Why

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Topics of Interest - Databases

Any tools to design databases? Microsoft Access, Oracle,

Knowledge/ Skills needed to design databases Understanding needs of

users DB concepts Data Modeling Design guidelines Database programming

language

ID Name DOB Gender

1 Mark Twain

Jan 1 94 M

2 Mary Steel

Feb 7 95 F

How

ID

Name Description

Instructor

1 INFO101

Introduction to Databases

Prof. Sam

2 INFO102

HCI Prof. MarieID Student

IDCourseID

1 1 1

2 1 2

3 2 1

Student

StudentCourse

Course

High School Database

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Topics of Interest - Forms

Globally used for data collection

All users(irrespective of their technical knowledge) are familiar

Scenarios: Survey data collection Craigslist ad posting Gmail, yahoo, facebook

account Sign Up

Forms Example

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Research Focus

To make DATABASES more useful for those USERS who have no background in databases who still want to use databases for DATA

COLLECTION. In this study, I explore how FORMs can

be used to accomplish this.

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User-Database Equation First Generation

Accomplishment: Users can collect data into databases on their own.

Shortcoming: Users depend on the database expert to specify their data collection needs.

Expert Designed

DBExpert Designed Form (Front End)

Clinician DB Expert

Examples:MS Access

Data collection needs

designdesign

collect data

ID

Name

Age

Race

Occ.

Patient

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User-Database Equation Second Generation

Accomplishment: Users can design databases based on customized data collection needs without depending on the database experts.

Shortcoming: Unfit for dynamic /critical environments (like healthcare) – where data collection needs keep evolving and changing.

User-Designed Form (Front End)

Clinician

Examples:Google FormsFormAssemblyZohocreator

design

collect data

User Designed DB

ID Name Phone

DOB

ID PatientID

Date Height

Weight

Patient

VitalSigns

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User-Database Equation Third Generation (My Precise Topic)

New User Designed Form

Clinician

?

How to merge a form to an existing database?

How to integrate new needs with existing ones such that the information represented in database in minimal.

designID Patient

IDDate Heigh

tWeight

VitalSigns

Form to Databa

se Mappin

g

ID Name Phone

DOB

Patient

ID

PatientID

Date

Height

Weight

BP Smoking Stat

Existing Database

New Need

s

Evolved Database

Why this is IMPORTANT? Solves healthcare issues:1. Dependence on

experts2. Inconsistency

between needs and databases

3. Inflexibility of systems

Why this is INTERESTING?It uses forms

and databases.

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Experiments (in healthcare domain)

New User Designed Form

Existing Database

Form to Databa

se Mappin

g

Can clinians use system to specify

their data collection needs

in terms of forms? (Usability

Study)

Efficiency

Effectiveness: Is the evolved database of high quality w.r.t

data collection needs of user ? Correctness,

Completeness, Normalization, Minimalism.

A

B

C

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Future

This Research helps… Understand the Technical Details of Forms and

Databases. Understand the issues in healthcare; Interaction

with users to understand their problems and design real-world solutions for them.

grow as a researcher After my graduation I plan to …

work as a Researcher in a Laboratory (addressing the issues of healthcare and several other industries)

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Questions?

Thank you