Past Projects:

Candidate: Marianne Haugen

Title: An exploratory study into the usability of an interactive form interface for a legal advice system

Description: This project was carried out to gain more knowledge about the form filling style as an interaction type. Form filling applications are commonly used, however the usability of forms is often poor and people experience a number of different problems when filling out forms. An experiment examined the usability of the form interface in comparison to a non-interactive interface style, namely Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). These two interface styles were examined within the domain of legal advice, where there is a need for an alternative interaction style

Candidate: Arild Havnen

Title: Mediated group decision-making using text messaging on mobile telephones: A field experiment

Description: This research project involved a field experiment on structured and unstructured group decision making using mobile telephone short messages as the communication medium. Differences were examined between unstructured communication and structured communication, using a modified Delphi method.

Candidate: Sarah Hatton

Title: A Comparison of the Multimedia Home Platform and OpenTV for typical Interactive Television Application Requirements

Description: This study is a comparison of the Interactive Television systems, OpenTV and MHP. It compares them from the perspective of a developer, unfamiliar with either system, embarking on the development of their first Interactive Television application. The study uses the components of a trivia game to assess each system in terms of Ease of Learning and Usage, Functionality and Size of application components.

Candidate: Dianne Edwards

Title: E-Learning: Developing A Framework For Interoperable Learning Objects

Description: The idea of E-Learning has become very popular over the past few years because of the ability to provide learning anywhere at any time in a much richer format than traditional distance education. This has resulted in the development of Learning Management Systems that can package and deliver learning materials over the Internet or local network. Current Learning Management Systems package the learning materials in proprietary formats that are not transferable between systems and are not readily reusable. This project explored the concept of learning objects and developed a framework for interoperable learning objects to address current issues in creating and developing interoperable learning objects, such as granularity, multimedia content description, intellectual properties, copyright and access as these issues appear to be current in E-Learning systems.

Candidate: Mark Abernethy

Title: Identity Verification Based On Computer Interaction

Description: The increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web has placed increased demands on computer networks. This has led to an increase in security risks to computer networks and compromised their ability to provide resources and services. Administrators are recognizing the need for improvement in authentication systems responsible for frontline computer network security. In an attempt to overcome some of the limitations associated with these authentication systems, this research presents a model that extends the existing traditional method of initial authentication (the logging on process) on computer networks. This model is based on the traditional method, and incorporates the use of biometric technology to provide an additional, more rigorous, verification process before authentication is granted.
An experiment was conducted using the biometric technique of keyboard dynamics to capture the typing characteristics of participants. The aim was to determine the appropriate length character string for the verification process. An artificial neural network performed analysis of each participant's data, to create individual reference templates.

Candidate: Glen Hornby

Title: Internet Export Marketing by Australian SME's

Description: This research assesses the contributions of the Internet to export marketing, and document and explore which marketing approaches are being taken by Australian SME's.

Candidate: Linda Lim

Title: Individual Differences in Human Computer Interaction

Description: The aim of the project is to examine individual differences in Human Computer Interaction and the impact of these differences on people's preferences for different types of user interfaces.

Candidate: Christian Payne

Topic: Security through Design as a Paradigm for Systems Development

Description: An examination of the way that security is considered throughout the various phases of software development and how this impacts on the security of the the final system. The outcome and its success can be qualitatively described through the set of security features that the system has and the vulnerabilities it exhibits.

Candidate: Kim Carter

Title: Artificial Intelligence and the Internet

Description: The focus of my research will be the integration of an AI system in an Internet based business situation. AI, more particularly Expert Systems, has been used for a number of years in forecasting and decision support applications. In particular, I will be researching how an expert system can be interfaced with a number of data sources, to provide a stock level or inventory prediction system, in an Internet based domain. The expert system will contain a series of rules, concerning stock levels, seasonal trends, past sales and other appropriate factors, and will be passed raw data (eg sales figures) from a number of data-sources( eg databases). The results from the system will be passed back to an Internet based system, which will organise and coordinate the entire process.

Candidate: Alex Chong

Title: Development of a Fuzzy Cognitive Map based Decision Support System Generator

Description: The study aims to explore the potential of Fuzzy Cognitive Map software to be effective Decison Support System Generator.

Candidate: David Bennett

Title: Authorisation and Security Systems for E-Commerce

Description: This research seeks to develop a model and protocol for an electronic payment system for customer to business transactions by using the best features of existing payment systems, authentication systems and security mechanisms amenable to implementation within Web browser software.