Post-Doctoral Research Visit F/M Software Appropriation: Characterizing Tailoring Tasks and the[...]

Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences; France; Sur place; EUR 30 000 - 40 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

A leading research institute in France is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to join their LOKI research group, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction. The successful candidate will engage in innovative research aimed at personalizing interactive systems, focusing on tailoring tasks and workflows. Candidates must hold a PhD or be about to obtain one, and should have a solid grasp of technical English. This role offers flexible working arrangements and a dynamic multicultural environment.

Prestations

Partial reimbursement of public transport costs

7 weeks of annual leave

Possibility of teleworking

Professional equipment provided

Social and cultural events

Qualifications

• Must be about to obtain a PhD.
• Great interest in performing high-quality research required.
• Good level of technical and scientific English.

Responsabilités

• Review literature on software appropriation and state-of-the-art software design.
• Analyze categories of tailoring tasks.
• Design a conceptual framework characterizing tailoring tasks.
• Publish at least one paper in an international conference.

Connaissances

Research skills

Creativity

Team spirit

Communication skills

Formation

PhD in Human-Computer Interaction or Computer Science

Description du poste

Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences

Organisation/Company Inria, the French national research institute for the digital sciences Research Field Computer science Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Country France Application Deadline 19 Dec 2025 - 00:00 (UTC) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 38.5 Offer Starting Date 1 Apr 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Reference Number 2025-09571 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

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.

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.

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

A successful candidate must hold or be about to obtain a PhD, ideally in Human-Computer Interaction or Computer Science, and show great interest in performing high quality research. We value overall creativity, independence, team spirit and communication skills. The candidate does not have to speak French, but a good level of technical and scientific English is required.

Languages FRENCH Level Basic

Languages ENGLISH Level Good

Additional Information

• 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