A propos du centre ou de la direction fonctionnelle

Created in 2008, the Inria center at the University of Lille employs 360 people, including 305 scientists in 16 research teams. Recognized for its strong involvement in the socio-economic development of the Hauts-De-France region, the Inria center at the University of Lille maintains a close relationship with large companies and SMEs. By fostering synergies between researchers and industry, Inria contributes to the transfer of skills and expertise in the field of digital technologies, and provides access to the best of European and international research for the benefit of innovation and businesses, particularly in the region.

For over 10 years, the Inria center at the University of Lille has been at the heart of Lille's university and scientific ecosystem, as well as at the heart of Frenchtech, with a technology showroom based on avenue de Bretagne in Lille, on the EuraTechnologies site of economic excellence dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICT).

Contexte et atouts du poste

Hosting Laboratory

The postdoctoral candidate will join the Inria centre of the University of Lille and be part of the LOKI research group, specialized in Human-Computer Interaction. It is affiliated with the CRIStAL laboratory (UMR 9189) and includes professors and assistant professors of the University of Lille, as well as Inria researchers. Lille is at the northern tip of France and its metropolitan area, situated at the crossroads of northern continental Europe, is the 5th biggest in France. Loki is a dynamic and multicultural team with members coming from different countries (Germany, Canada, China, Iran, France, etc.) and communicating daily in English.
Abstract

Interactive systems aim to support large audiences of end users to achieve stereotypical tasks. This approach limits their support for personal needs and preferences and forces end users to make significant efforts to learn and adapt to the systems' logic, and in the worst cases, to abandon them. This project focuses on facilitating the personalization and automation of interactive systems, such as changing the command layout in a graphical interface or setting email filters. We aim to (1) characterize types of tailoring tasks to identify their similarities and discrepancies, and (2) characterize their conceptual workflow(s) from the need to personalize a system, to actively tailor it, and test and experience the outcomes.

Mission confiée

Goal

We aim to build theoretical foundations to identify and expose characteristics of tailoring tasks to study more precisely their benefits and limitations. We particularly want to (1) identify types of tailoring tasks and characterize them, and (2) characterize their stages to identify conceptual workflows.

For the first goal, we want to distinguish different task types to assess their potential duration, their challenges, and their potential impact on the systems' structures (e.g., changing the behavior vs. changing the graphical layout). We propose to first survey the existing commercial tools and literature on end-user development [1] and software customization [2, 4] to identify a comprehensive list of approaches to tailoring. With a systematic review, we will produce a taxonomy of tailoring tasks exposing their significant characteristics (e.g., what do they affect, how long do they last).

For the second goal, we propose to build on the previously collected examples to characterize stages of tailoring tasks such as answering automatic suggestions from the system, navigating menus to find options, testing outcomes of actions, and applying them. Using this methodology, we hope to identify conceptual workflows for tailoring tasks. To validate these workflows, we may interview knowledgeable end-users (e.g., HCI experts or power users of specific applications) and ask them about their practicality. We then expect results in the shape of a general framework detailing concrete stages and workflows used to tailoring software, exposing when and ideally how to support end-users in tailoring tasks.

References

[1] B. R. Barricelli, F. Cassano, D. Fogli, and A. Piccinno. End-user development, end-user programming and end-user software engineering: A systematic mapping study. Journal of Systems and Software:101-137, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2018.11.041.

[2] W. E. Mackay. Users and customizable software: A co-adaptive phenomenon. PhD Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990.

[3] A. MacLean, K. Carter, L. Lövstrand, and T. Moran. User-tailorable systems: pressing the issues with buttons. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '90, pages 175-182, Seattle, Washington, USA. Association for Computing Machinery, 1990. DOI: 10.1145/97243.97271.

[4] A. Mørch. Three Levels of End-User Tailoring: Customization, Integration, and Extension. In Computers and Design in Context. The MIT Press, Nov. 1997. DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/ 1966.003.0004.

[5] S. Ohly and L. Bastin. Effects of task interruptions caused by notifications from communication applications on strain and performance. Journal of Occupational Health, 65(1):e12408, June 2023. DOI: 10.1002/1348-9585.12408. eprint: https://academic.oup. com/joh/article-pdf/65/1/e12408/58563340/joh212408.pdf.

Principales activités

Main activities

• review the literature on software appropriation and the state-of-the-art with regard to software design
• analyze this corpus to identify categories of tailoring tasks
• detail the workflow of tailoring tasks
• design a conceptual framework that characterizes tailoring tasks
• report on this work by publishing at least a paper in an international conference

Avantages

• Subsidized meals
• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Social security coverage

Rémunération

Gross salary by month : 2788€