The project is hosted at the Department of Informatics, CBS, by Torkil Clemmensen. The project has participants from Indian Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Computer science at University of Copenhagen and at Roskilde University. From the industry individuals from Snitker &Co, Nokia and Honeywell participate.

This project aims to investigate the impact of culture on the results of established methods of usability testing. The production and use of technologically advanced information and communication applications are no longer restricted to the Western world, and there are indications that usability testing procedures, developed for use in, e.g., Europe or the US, do not give reliable results in countries such as India, China or Malaysia. This project is an in-depth investigation of the cultural specifics that go into usability test situations in three countries: Denmark, India and China. In a second phase we want to explore possible developments of the testing methods in order to avoid cultural bias and produce comparable results across the countries of the world. The proposed project is a collaborative one, involving senior researchers in all three countries where testing will occur, as well as advisers from worldwide companies located within the US and Europe and from institutions elsewhere.

This research is relevant for Denmark in a variety of ways: Denmark represents the type of society, for which usability testing methodology was developed and Danish researchers can therefore provide crucial insight into the intended workings of the methods; Denmark is already strongly represented in the international research activities in the area of culture and usability with several Danish research groups, including an established research group focusing on human-computer interaction at CBS in Copenhagen, providing specialist knowledge and experience of the issues at hand, and this project promises to further enhance the Danish research profile internationally.

Future practical application of the results of this research may benefit the marketing of Danish products in Asia, and the project’s theoretical contribution can be one of the pillars in strengthening the movement towards user-driven innovation in the Danish computer software industry. Danish usability professionals will improve their understanding of usability in other parts of the world and their ability to configure usability evaluation methods cross-culturally in e.g. Indian and Chinese settings or ethnic minority settings within Europe and Denmark.

Project website:
www.culturalusability.com

Project period:
1 January 2006 - 31 December 2008

Budget:
Forskingsrådet for Kultur og Kommunikation, 2.492.898 DKK

Project manager: Torkil Clemmensen

The project Euro-India's is an EU funded project that has the main objective to scientifically and comprehensively conduct an in-depth knowledge mapping of India’s ICT R&D competencies with a view to understanding and identifying future technological trajectories. The project aims to provide better understanding of Indian ICT R&D capabilities from two perspectives. First, it provides the framework for better ICT R&D deployment and alignment between the two regions. Secondly, the project aims to provide input to the ongoing annual policy dialogue between EU and India.

The project is managed by Department of Informatics. Mogens Kühn Pedersen from Copenhagen Business School is scientific manager of the project and contact person from CBS.

Project website: www.cbs.dk/euroindia

Projektperiode:
1. januar 2008 - 31. december 2009

Budget:
Projektets totale omkostninger: € 770.951,93 (heraf EU's andel på € 581.100)

Projektleder: Mogens Kühn Pedersen

Projektet har til formål at bidrage til forbedring af kvaliteten og produktiviteten af softwareprocesser i danske softwarevirksomheder gennem målrettet forskning. Forskningsindsatsen er organiseret som et tæt samarbejde mellem tre danske softwarevirksomheder og forskere ved Aalborg Universitet, Københavns Handelshøjskole samt IT-universitetet i København. Projektet løber over tre år og har et samlet budget på 15 Mkr., hvoraf virksomhederne finansierer halvdelen

Mange IT-projekter strander eller opnår ikke tilfredsstillende resultater. Softwareprocesforbedring (Software Process Improvement, SPI) er et af de mest lovende paradigmer for ændring af denne situation. En gruppe af danske forskere har gennem de seneste år videreudviklet og tilpasset dele af dette nordamerikanske paradigme til en dansk industriel kontekst i et tæt samarbejde med danske virksomheder. Forskningen har fokuseret på, hvorledes virksomhederne kan nå et gentageligt niveau af performance (niveau 2) gennem udvikling af centrale discipliner i projektledelse, og den har bidraget til at skabe en dybere forståelse af de problemer og muligheder, som paradigmet indebærer. Forskningssamarbejdet har med støtte fra CIT opnået resultater i fire danske softwarevirksomheder. Resultaterne er dokumenteret i mere end 50 videnskabelige artikler, 1 doktorafhandling, 3 Ph.d. afhandlinger og i bogen ”Improving Software Organizations”.

Projektperiode:
Nov 2002 - nov 2005

Budget:
15 mill. DKK

Samarbejdspartnere:
Aalborg Universitet
IT Universitetet i København
Rovsing Space Systems A/S
Systematic Software Engineering A/S
Logimatic Software A/S

Projektansvarlige ved Informatik:

Projektleder:
Peter Axel Nielsen, Aalborg Universitet