Dissertations

Towards Universally Designed Assistive Technology E-Learning

Karl O'Keeffe — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:56:11 PDT

The aim of this dissertation is to provide Assistive Technology (AT) professionals involved in the area of education and training with a set of reusable technological tools and techniques that will enable them to increase the reach, efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility of their training through online delivery. There are a number of broadly accepted reasons why an organisation in any field might choose to make training available online or partially online (blended) rather than relying on traditional face to face methods. Of the four considered here and mentioned above, accessibility is the biggest concern in the context of AT. It is essential that an AT course follows accessibility best practice and in terms of education this means adhering closely to the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Through an extensive literature review the intrinsic properties of AT that might influence its delivery as e-Learning will be examined, followed by a review of previous AT education initiatives. A suitable Learning Management System (LMS) will then be selected and the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model will be used to develop initial pilot modules. The evaluation of these pilot modules will take the form of a detailed questionnaire issued to course participants and will be supplemented by an examination of the user data captured by the LMS. There will also be a further examination of the pilot modules against the UDL checkpoints. From these findings the design process will be modified and an improved design methodology will be proposed. This improved design methodology and supporting documentation will help AT educators to identify and utilise a range of reusable tools to create Universally Designed Learning Objects that will enable them, as the experts in the field, to successfully transfer their expertise from the classroom to an online medium. On completion, the improved design methodology will be offered back to AT professionals for expert evaluation. This evaluation will be documented and will inform further work including the building of UDL AT Learning Objects and the creation of an AT Learning Object Repository where the resulting learning objects can be easily accessed for reuse. Key words: Assistive technology, e-

Can a Self Assessement Tool for Environmental Controls which has been Informed by Users be of Benefit to Potential Users

Sean Loughran — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:56:09 PDT

This dissertation looks at the area of environmental control systems (ECS) also known as electronic aids for daily living for people with disabilities. These systems allow an individual with a disability to control devices such as a television, music player, telephone as well as a door, window or curtain controllers. A self-assessment tool was developed for potential users, which was informed by the feedback of (i) users who use or who have used environmental control systems, (ii) Enable Ireland staff who were involved in the service delivery of ECS and (iii) companies who install ECS for individuals with disabilities. These stakeholders were interviewed by a guided interview based on the research on assistive technology models. Results of interviews informed the self-assessment tool development. After the self-assessment tool was developed it was evaluated by potential users to see what benefits it had for potential users.

The Prevailing Obstacles in Web Accessibility on Three Well-Known Websites for Older People with sight difficulties

Sarah O'Reilly — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:56:07 PDT

Prior research has argued that there is no one best approach to evaluating web accessibility and proposes the adoption of multiple approaches. Following these proposals this research used three different approaches for evaluating accessibility on websites for accessibility to older persons with sight difficulties as there are advantages and disadvantages to each approach. Approached used included: (1) Using automated tools to determine accessibility, which looks at the code of websites to get a general overview of accessibility issues. (2) Manually looking at the design, code and also how it might impact the user. This involved a manual assessment of each of the websites and comparison to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines (3) the third aspect of Web 4 accessibility is looking at the visual, thinking skills or cognition required by the user to access the website. The user testing evaluation method involved participants completing tasks on each of the three websites while participants were being videoed, and asked them to speak aloud at the same time to reflect on accessibility issues. The participants were then asked to complete an exit-interview based on the Principles of Universal Design. The three approaches provided a complete holistic approach to accessing Web accessibility on the three key websites.

Cloud Computing Adoption for SMEs: Challenges, Barriers and Outcomes

Mojtaba Akbari — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:40:36 PDT

In spite of all the excitement and fuss around cloud computing technologies in recent years, it is believed that the industry has been to some extent lagging behind when it comes to the deployment of cloud technologies and migration from legacy Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. This research aims to investigate the influential factors that impact adoption of cloud-based technologies by various organizations. More specifically, this research focuses on the behaviour of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) rather than larger organizations. Such classification is crucial since the constraints applicable to SMEs are different to their larger counterparts and subsequently the decision mechanisms and influential factors are dissimilar. The research is conducted through design and implementation of a real cloud-based solution that has been evaluated by three SMEs from different sectors and with different requirements. Subsequently, using the cloud-based test-bed, a number of quantitative measurements are performed to provide a better understating of some of the performance aspects of the implemented solution. Along with the pilot system evaluation, two survey studies are conducted targeting both employees, as well as, organizations’ chief level executives.

The Effect of Learning Styles and E-Learning Tools on the Training of ICT to Digital Immigrants in Life Long Learning

Stephen Horan — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:40:35 PDT

The diversity of learners in the classroom has expanded significantly in the past twenty years, in a modern classroom it is unsurprising to see learners for whom English is not their first language, learners with specific learning difficulties, mature learners, learners attempting to return to work, etc., so much so that the 'typical' learner has become extinct. This research will look at the use of Information Communication Technology in Education by undertaking an investigation of how the use of ICT can aid learners, both digital natives and digital immigrants. The project will use learning styles at the core of an e-Learning tool developed as a model of diversity. A great deal of research has been carried out in this area with regard to learning styles and how interaction with ICT can facilitate learning. In this work a range of students will be introduced to an e-Learning tool to aid in their learning of a specific topic, in this case a small element of spreadsheet design. To evaluate the success of the e-Learning tool the learners will undertake a questionnaire.

An Investigation into Obstacles Effecting the Use of Support Technology for Accommodation Facilitation in Third Level Education

Conor Brennan — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:35:28 PDT

The profile of students attending third level education in Ireland has changed over the past number of years. More non-traditional students have entered mainstream education. These non-traditional students may be mature students, students whose first language is not English and students with disabilities. In the 2010-2011 academic session 6,932 students with disabilities were enrolled in third level education. This represent 3.9%(AHEAD 2011) of all students enrolled in third level education, which constitutes a 10% increase on 2009-2010. This increase is putting pressure on an already strained system. Efforts have been made to educate and inform lecturers and teaching staff on their role and responsibility in the student journey. The responsibility of students with disabilities lies with each third level institutes disability or access service. This research investigated the role of eLearning resources in providing support for disability services in third level education. The individual resources were evaluated and issues with their usage and deployment arose. This led to an evaluation into the role they play in disability service training strategies. From this evaluation a set of policy suggestion were created which will improve interactions between the stakeholders and support future eLearning resource development and deployment.

Investigation and Analysis of Open Government Data in Ireland, and the Creation of a Set of Quality Guidelines to Aid its Utility Within Mobile Application Development

Peadar Fitzpatrick — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:25:40 PDT

Governments are the custodians of vast amount of data. While some of this data may be sensitive in nature, in that it contains personal or confidential information, much of it is in the public interest. Recent years has seen the emergence of Open Government Data (OGD) where governments are now actively making their data available in open and electronically accessible formats. The motivation for the production of such data includes a desire to increase transparency but also a desire to realise the economic potential associated with re-use of this data. A key usage area for this data to date has been within mobile applications where raw OGD is transformed into a consumable product. Making data available for re-use in this context introduces the concept of data quality in that the OGD being released must be of sufficient quality to allow for re-use by application developers. This dissertation proposes a set of quality guidelines to be applied to OGD to aid its utility within mobile application development. The guidelines are derived from an assessment of Irish produced OGD. Existing data quality literature indicates that data quality can be assessed at both an objective and subjective level. This research adopts this proposal, objectively assessing OGD data quality through an impartial assessment of the data. It also subjectively assesses the quality of OGD through it utilisation within an experimental mobile application developed on the Android platform. The resulting assessment findings are interpreted to produce a set of OGD quality guidelines.

Accessible Information: Advocating the Use of Technology for Individuals with Intellectual Disability on their Path to Individualised Services

Michelle Moloney — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:25:39 PDT

Providing people with an intellectual disability (ID), opportunities for social integration have been shown to have a reliable positive influence on their well-being (Wehmeyer et al., 2006; Bunning, 2009). A large percentage of individuals with ID are unable to read and write. For this reason in order for the person to make an informed choice the person needs to have good information presented in a way that they can understand. They may need to see tangible visual aids (video, role play, film, photographs). It may need to be demonstrated to them a number of times. This assists a person in making choices and decisions so that they can actively participate not just in their own lives but in the community. Otherwise the person cannot make the decision, and other people are making it for them. Therefore this research will investigate the viability of developing an internal webbased learning and communication tool for people with an ID. The tool will focus on providing accessible information through image to image navigation and by providing choice of modality when receiving information. (Who, 2011) state that two of the biggest barriers to living an ordinary life are the lack of accessible information and being able to advocate. A person cannot be an active citizen if they cannot access the information or understand the way it is presented. It effects every part of your life. The experiment also evaluated if video conferencing communication tools are accessible for the participants who reside in different locations to communicate with each other. The key issues that must be explored around the development of such a system will be factors such as; Accessible Information, Web Accessibility and Universal Design. The pilot system will involve individuals with mild to moderate ID who attend one of seven training centres in disparate locations. This research will also explore these issues in the context of social models, such as Wolfensberger's theory of Social Role Valorization.

Effective Knowledge Management System Implementation in Small Organisations.

Orna Nicholl — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:20:28 PDT

Much of the key research in the field of Knowledge Management carries an inherent set of assumptions as to the nature of the organisations under investigation, such as the fact that the organisation is a large one. As a consequence of this, Knowledge Management papers tend to focus on the distinctions such as: management-led initiatives versus grassroots initiatives, and the importance of inter-departmental communications, but for smaller organisations these types of issues are minimised or completely absent. This project will look at models and techniques from the existing body of Knowledge Management literature (with its focus on larger organisations) and look at how these approaches may need to be modified for smaller organisations and teams. A number of techniques will be investigated, and a smaller number will be fully developed specifically for the (small) target team based on their needs. A preliminary survey will be undertaken of employees in organisations with already working Knowledge Management systems to investigate the validity of a range of approaches, and research in the area will be used to choose the specific technique(s) to be applied to the target smaller team. One potentially fruitful approach that will be investigated will be the new available range of visualisation techniques, in an effort to impart a sense of ownership of the Knowledge Management system to the employees in the organisation. The usage of the developed system will be monitored and the visualisation techniques assessed through interviews with the employees who used them. Finally, the results of the implementation will be examined under a wide range of conditions, such as the scope of the system, accessibility, the emotional response of the employees and the continued usage over a sustained period of time.

Biometric Alternatives to CAPTCHA: Exploring Accessible Interface Options

Anita Foley — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:10:28 PDT

In the computing domain the relationship between accessibility and security is a complex and evolving one; accessibility attempts to ensure that as wide a range of individuals as possible are granted access to systems, whereas security attempts to restrict access only to individuals who are entitled to access those systems. A key security concern is to determine whether or not the system is being accessed by a software agent or a real human being, and a number of approaches have been developed to determine the answer to this question. This issue has been discussed throughout the history of computer science and its roots can be traced back to Alan Turing's 1950 paper "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" from which the so-called "Turing Test" derives its name. A very common approach to this question is the CAPTCHA (the "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"), which requires a human being to perform a visual test, typically recognizing alphanumeric characters that are obscured or warped in some way to make Optical Character Recognition (OCR) difficult. This seemingly effective approach highlights the essential tension between security and accessibility, since it provides significant challenges to rely on a visual character recognition test when considering users with visual impairments or learning difficulties. In this work, an accessible biometric alternative to the CAPTCHA user interface is proposed. In the event of a single sign-on biometric recognition system, the interface developed has the potential to exploit the capabilities of the iPad platform to provide universal access. The proposed interface, BioScope, is implemented using accessible development and evaluation methodologies to ensure universal and inclusive design. Following implementation, the interface is evaluated and compared with CAPTCHA using a series of surveys, questionnaires and prototype experiments with the aim of determining if BioScope’s approach

E-learning and Knowledge Management: The development of an E-Learning System for Organisational Training

Alan Muhire — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:10:25 PDT

Information technology has major role in most successful companies and organisations around the world, most companies are using IT to reduce operation cost, while improving customer service by providing service twenty four hours, seven days a week and improving communication that helps keep pace with competitors. In most companies and organisation training is a process carried out on a regular basis; the quality of training offered to employee will be reflected on how knowledgeable the staff will become resulting in the organisation becoming more successful. As organisations and companies are currently interested in improving knowledge management, employees are equally working hard to improve their knowledge and skills to ensure their job security, it is important to evaluate tools and techniques that can be used to achieve this objective. This research looks at knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing processes through the development of an e-learning system which considers both the course material and the learner ability to provide individualised learning paths for learners that can be used in organisations to train staff and is made available to employees over the corporate intranet and online, and is thus readily available to people at any time anywhere. The research will address the culture changes required, implementation process and an evaluation of the implementation. The work will be looking specifically at the use of elearning tools to advance and enhance knowledge management within the organisation. A group of people will be used to represent the organisation and will be participating in this work experiment.

Testing Mobile Web Applications for W3C Best Practice Compliance

Sean Mee — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:45:33 PDT

Adherence to best practices and standards when developing mobile web applications is important to achieving a quality outcome. As smartphones and tablet PCs continue to proliferate in the consumer electronics market, businesses and individuals are increasingly turning from the native application paradigm to HTML 5-based web applications as a means of software development and distribution. With an everincreasing reliance by users on the correct functioning of such applications, the requirement for stringent and comprehensive quality assurance measures is also brought sharply into focus. This research investigates the increasing trend towards mobile web application development in the mobile software domain, and assesses the requirement for an automated approach to best practice validation testing for mobile web applications. Contemporary approaches to automated web application testing are examined, with particular emphasis on issues relating to mobile web application tests. The individual guidelines proposed by the W3C Mobile Web Application Best Practices are analysed and where applicable automated conformance tests are implemented in a customised testing tool. A range of mobile web applications are tested using this tool in order to examine the extent to which implementation of the tested-for guidelines is detected. Automated tests were successfully implemented in respect of nearly 60% of the best practices.

Development of Student Centred Knowledge Management System Based in a Higher Education Institution

Chong Liu — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:45:31 PDT

With the emergence of a knowledge society and of information technology, knowledge has become a key resource to develop a sustained economy. It is a vital word in the Knowledge Management area (Awad & Ghaziri, 2004). Knowledge Management has also become vital to help knowledge organizations seek a competitive advantage. It also encourages members of organization to share knowledge and improve the organization‘s efficiency, performance, and competitiveness (Shin, 2004). Therefore, an increasing number of organizations have realized the necessity of knowledge management. Especially, the Higher Education Institute (HEI) as the extraordinary ―business‖ will be suitable for implementing knowledge management approaches and activities to have a competitive advantage in the ―education market‖. The head of HEI realizes the challenges that knowledge organization brings. The challenges include: the intensive knowledge needed to manage; activities involved in knowledge creation, dissemination, and learning; preferred activities of students. Knowledge Management System (KMS) is a platform to support the KM processes to provide better services for students, staff, and faculties. It is established through information technology and mechanisms. The KM processes consist of knowledge discovery, capture, sharing, and application. Knowledge discovery and capture can convert between tacit and explicit knowledge; then the knowledge is stored in the repositories; after that, knowledge sharing occurs between partners, departments, and individuals; the knowledge application can provide better applications to support decisions. MSc in computing is one of programmes in School of Computing within DIT. This research will attempt to develop and evaluate a KM system that will help HEIs be a ‗knowledge organization‘. Due to the timescale required for implementation, it will be for a small group of students on the same programme in the same HEI. While the findings will be analyzed and reviewed in the wider research context, they will be restricted by this timescale.

Sports Data Mining Technology Used in Basketball Outcome Prediction

Chenjie Cao — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:40:29 PDT

Driven by the increasing comprehensive data in sports datasets and data mining technique successfully used in different area, sports data mining technique emerges and enables us to find hidden knowledge to impact the sport industry. In many instances, predicting the outcomes of sporting events has always been a challenging and attractive work and is therefore drawing a wide concern to conduct research in this field. This project focuses on using machine learning algorithms to build a model for predicting the NBA game outcomes and the algorithms involve Simple Logistics Classifier, Artificial Neural Networks, SVM and Naïve Bayes. In order to complete a convincing result, data of 5 regular NBA seasons was collected for model training and data of 1 NBA regular season was used as scoring dataset. After processes of automated data collection and cloud techniques enabled data management, a data mart containing NBA statistics data is built. Then machine learning models mentioned above is trained and tested by consuming data in the data mart. After applying scoring dataset to evaluate the model accuracy, Simple Logistics Classifier finally yields the best result with an accuracy of 69.67%. The results obtained are compared to other methods from different source. It was found that results of this project are more persuasive since such a vast quantity of data was applied in this project. Meanwhile, it can be referenced for the future work.

Recommendations for “KIWI” Exploring Different techniques for Recommendations in a Kazakh Online Video Website

Tair Kuanyshev — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:10:36 PDT

The aim of this project is to build a recommender system for an online website based on an empirical study using real-world data. The real world data was taken from the website Www.kiwi.kz which is an online video sharing website, providing online video, broadcast and radio to users since 2009. The research problem sought to develop the most suitable recommender system for an online video sharing website and to evaluate the effectiveness of this model on the real world data. This research attempts to develop the recommender system which will suggest possibly interesting video clips for users on an online video sharing website. It also proposes methods and techniques that can be used to implement recommender systems and evaluate its effectiveness on an offline experiment. This project is based on performing an empirical evaluation to establish whether a recommender system can be developed that will predict whether people will like a particular video.

Hear3D: A Study Of Spatial Sounds Effect On Language Learning

Brendan Cregan — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:05:27 PDT

Spatial sound is the manipulation of audio to add the illusion of position to the source of the sound, i.e. making sounds seem to originate from behind you or from different points around a room. Headphones must be used to achieve the optimum level of 3D sound. At any time over half a billion people are learning languages with the aide of audio which is why and the study of the effect or potential effects that the spatial sounds have on language learning is particularly interesting. If the application of spatial sounds to educational audio clips could be shown to have a positive effect by, for example, improving the knowledge retention of the listener it could provide an interesting insight into future language learning course development. Equally, if the effect had a negative effect on the listener’s learning capacity it could also provide guidelines for the creation of high quality educational audio content. For the purposes of this dissertation Hear3D an application that enables 3D audio to be combined with language learning content was developed. A group of participants (users of Hear3D) applied individually chosen 3D positions to French language learning content in the form of a pre-developed language-learning module. The script was read by a French language teaching professional and, upon completion of the module (8-12 minutes approximately), the students’ comprehension and knowledge retention was assessed through the use of a questionnaire. A second control group (non-users of Hear3D) also, completed the same module and were tested in the same manner. The results for the two groups were then compared in order to measure any impact of Hear3D on the users comprehension and knowledge retention. The results of this experiment showed that there was a positive effect on the Hear3D users knowledge retention and that this area merit further research.

Applying Data Visualisations to Open New Perspectives in Birdwatching

Frank Kendlin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:00:39 PDT

Advances in data analytics for big data have affected many different domains and are providing new insights from these data for their respective communities. One such community is conservation science. A part of section of this community, ornithologists and bird conservationists has at its disposal millions of volunteers willing to contribute to a new ‘big’ data set. This can be achieved by means of new technology and the use of citizen science. This is already underway in North America through the excellent work of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology (CLO). This institute has harnessed the technology and the people and science is benefiting from the results. We would like to understand if a gap exists between the approach of the CLO and comparable groups in Ireland and the United Kingdom and if so, what issues need to be addressed to enable adoption of the new methodologies outside North America. This paper researches the effect of data visualisation techniques such as geo representation and tabular displays on motivating a community of interest to achieve a critical mass for successful delivery of a desirable new ‘big data’ set. Our work includes a review of data visualisation as part of data analytics, a review of how data visualisation has been used by conservation science in the past, and what the state of the art looks like today. We try to find key features in the techniques which are valuable for motivating the stakeholders. We also try to find the impact of the new insights provided from large spatio-temporal data sets on possible new beneficiaries

Using Grounded Theory to Develop a Framework for Software Testing Best Practice in a Telecommunications Company

David Hendrick — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:55:27 PDT

Software testing is a key part of the software development process, irrespective of the development methodology being followed. Estimates suggest that testing can account for more than 50% of the cost of a software development project. However, the cost of inadequate testing or verifying software can be far greater; this can result in losses that could total more than 10% of an organisation’s turnover. It is clear that software testing is essential; but while many companies implement different forms of testing, there is often no structure or best practice followed to this testing. There appears to be a gap in terms of research into software testing best practice. It has been shown in previous research that qualitative research methods can be used successfully when conducting research in the software engineering domain. In particular Grounded Theory was seen as very suitable for research in this area. The basis of Grounded Theory is in the formation of a theory from the data that is gathered. As such it is considered reflective of the reality of situations. This dissertation aimed to create a model for testing best practice in the telecommunications industry using a qualitative research methodology. It aimed to develop a Grounded Theory that could be used to guide testing within a large telecommunications company.

Retaining the People Who Know Your Business Exploring Knowledge sharing as a tool to Improve Employee Retention in the Hotel Sector

Vincent McKenna — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:50:35 PDT

The retention of core workers in the hotel/hospitality sector is a key challenge for human resource management, organisational strategies and operational effectiveness. The purpose of this research was to investigate and evaluate the impact of the introduction of knowledge sharing tools/techniques and change in work practice on the retention attitudes of knowledge workers in two context specific environments. Problems relating to the retention of knowledge workers are not confined to Ireland and are shown in this project to be a global phenomenon.

This research project is based on a knowledge audit of core knowledge workers/assets in two context specific environments and that knowledge audit allowed for the construction of a work/training rotational matrix, a new concept developed by this author. The work/training rotational matrix in this project is simply used as a visualisation for the recommendations flowing from the knowledge audit.

An Investigation of Data Protection and Computer Security in Small Irish Medical Practices

Sean McGrath — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:25:21 PST

Small medical practices store and process the health information of their patients in order to aid in providing care to them. Because of this a level of trust exists between the patients and the practice to ensure the sensitive medical data is kept private and secure. There was no formalised way to test if this trust was well deserved and what level of protection was applied to such sensitive health records. A security model that is applicable to small medical practices for the purpose of protecting and securing the personal health information they store was constructed and validated by a security expert from the security industry. This model was then applied to a number of small medical practices to assess the level of data protection and computer security of medical information present in the surveyed practices. In general the practices were found to be complying with the security model, some discrepancies were discovered and noted. A formalised way to test if the trust patients place in their medical practices is well deserved now exists. The trust that the patients of the small medical practices surveyed placed in their practices was well deserved.