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The Effects of Threads in a Chat Application and How to Design Them

Tran, Le Filip LU and Bengtsson, Arvid LU (2023) MAMM01 20231
Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology
Certec - Rehabilitation Engineering and Design
Abstract
The usage of online communication has increased heavily in recent times, especially chat applications. It both makes communication faster and fits well with remote work. As the chats of large chat groups can be messy with many writers there is potential for improvement in regard to the structure and organization of messages. This is the focus of this master thesis, what kind of effects using threads may have, and how to design the implementation. The research questions that were posed were the following: 1) What effects do chat threads have on text communication? 2) How do you effectively design/implement threads to make it satisfactory according to ISO 9241-11:2018 about usability? 3) How do different communication systems affect the... (More)
The usage of online communication has increased heavily in recent times, especially chat applications. It both makes communication faster and fits well with remote work. As the chats of large chat groups can be messy with many writers there is potential for improvement in regard to the structure and organization of messages. This is the focus of this master thesis, what kind of effects using threads may have, and how to design the implementation. The research questions that were posed were the following: 1) What effects do chat threads have on text communication? 2) How do you effectively design/implement threads to make it satisfactory according to ISO 9241-11:2018 about usability? 3) How do different communication systems affect the efficiency of the teams/people using them?

These were answered by a user-centered and iterative process, during which multiple methods were used to gain both qualitative and quantitative data. Such as heuristic evaluation, user tests, interviews, and surveys. This showed that threads would be appreciated by users in larger chat groups and what to keep in mind while designing this feature. The iterative process also showed which aspects of the design of threads needed to be improved while also displaying which aspects worked. Furthermore, the results indicate that if implemented correctly, with the user in mind, threads would be intuitive to learn and use. The text communication seemed to be affected in a positive manner by threads as it organized and structured messages which allowed for countermeasures against message obscuration. Lastly, the structure and organization allowed for more efficient work as it encouraged more public conversations and eased finding older and relevant messages. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
På senare tid har användningen av online kommunikation ökats drastiskt, speciellt angående chatapplikationer. Det gör både kommunikation snabbare och passar in väl med distansarbete. Då chatter i stora grupper kan bli röriga då det är många användare som skriver finns det potential för förbättring gällande strukturen och organiseringen av meddelandena. Det är målet med detta examensarbete att hitta vilken effekt användandet av trådar kan ha och hur implementation av dem ska designas. Frågeställningen blev följande: 1) Vilka effekter har chattrådar på textkommunikation? 2) Hur kan man effektivt designa/implementera trådar för att göra det tillfredsställande enligt ISO 9241-11:2018 angående användbarhet? 3) Hur påverkar olika... (More)
På senare tid har användningen av online kommunikation ökats drastiskt, speciellt angående chatapplikationer. Det gör både kommunikation snabbare och passar in väl med distansarbete. Då chatter i stora grupper kan bli röriga då det är många användare som skriver finns det potential för förbättring gällande strukturen och organiseringen av meddelandena. Det är målet med detta examensarbete att hitta vilken effekt användandet av trådar kan ha och hur implementation av dem ska designas. Frågeställningen blev följande: 1) Vilka effekter har chattrådar på textkommunikation? 2) Hur kan man effektivt designa/implementera trådar för att göra det tillfredsställande enligt ISO 9241-11:2018 angående användbarhet? 3) Hur påverkar olika kommunikationssystem effektiviteten hos teams/människor som använder dem?

Detta blev besvarat av en användarcentrerad- och iterativ process där flera metoder användes för att få fram både kvalitativ och kvantitativ data. Metoder som heuristisk utvärdering, användartester, intervjuer, och formulär. Detta visade att trådar hade varit uppskattat av användare i större chattgrupper och vad man ska hålla i åtanke när man designar denna funktion. Den iterativa processen visade också vilka aspekter av tråddesignen som behövde förbättras och vilka aspekter som fungerade. Resultaten indikerar att om trådar implementeras korrekt och med användaren i åtanke, kommer trådar att vara intuitivt att lära sig och använda. Textkommunikationen verkar bli positiv påverkad av trådar då det organiserar och strukturerar meddelanden vilket förebygger obskuration av meddelanden. Slutligen tillåter strukturen och organiseringen mer effektivt arbete då det uppmuntrade fler publika konversationer och underlättade att hitta gamla och relevanta meddelanden. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Chattgrupper med många medlemmar kan bli stökiga av flera osammanhängande konversationer som hålls under samma tid. Vi har undersökt hur introduktionen av chattrådar kan underlätta denna sorts kommunikation och hur de ska designas för att vara effektiva.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Tran, Le Filip LU and Bengtsson, Arvid LU
supervisor
organization
course
MAMM01 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Chat, Chat application, Chat threads, Usability, User-centered design
language
English
id
9139017
date added to LUP
2023-09-25 13:07:56
date last changed
2023-09-25 13:07:56
@misc{9139017,
  abstract     = {{The usage of online communication has increased heavily in recent times, especially chat applications. It both makes communication faster and fits well with remote work. As the chats of large chat groups can be messy with many writers there is potential for improvement in regard to the structure and organization of messages. This is the focus of this master thesis, what kind of effects using threads may have, and how to design the implementation. The research questions that were posed were the following: 1) What effects do chat threads have on text communication? 2) How do you effectively design/implement threads to make it satisfactory according to ISO 9241-11:2018 about usability? 3) How do different communication systems affect the efficiency of the teams/people using them?

These were answered by a user-centered and iterative process, during which multiple methods were used to gain both qualitative and quantitative data. Such as heuristic evaluation, user tests, interviews, and surveys. This showed that threads would be appreciated by users in larger chat groups and what to keep in mind while designing this feature. The iterative process also showed which aspects of the design of threads needed to be improved while also displaying which aspects worked. Furthermore, the results indicate that if implemented correctly, with the user in mind, threads would be intuitive to learn and use. The text communication seemed to be affected in a positive manner by threads as it organized and structured messages which allowed for countermeasures against message obscuration. Lastly, the structure and organization allowed for more efficient work as it encouraged more public conversations and eased finding older and relevant messages.}},
  author       = {{Tran, Le Filip and Bengtsson, Arvid}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Effects of Threads in a Chat Application and How to Design Them}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}