Utilisabilité d'un Espace Personnel d'Information Modifiable par les Utilisateurs

International audienceCet article présente une étude sur l'utilisabilité d'un nouveau prototype de système de gestion des informations personnelles sur Internet (PIMI). Les objectifs sont d'évaluer sa facilité d'utilisation, et d'évaluer la modification utilisateur comme technique d'évaluation. Trente utilisateurs ont participé à l'expérience : une première partie consistait en un test utilisateur classique (TUC) et une seconde partie était un test d'utilisabilité avec modifications utilisateur (TUM). Un total de 51 problèmes d'utilisabilité a été diagnostiqué. Parmi eux, 32 avec TUC, et 19 avec TUM. Une partie de ces derniers (11) s'ajoute à ceux identifiés avec TUC, et à ceux diagnostiqués précédemment lors d'une inspection de l'utilisabilité (IU avec Critères Ergonomiques). La participation active des utilisateurs au travers de scénarios de personnalisation semble fournir des indices supplémentaires pour l'évaluation de l'utilisabilité et pour la conception (nouvelles recommandations génériques d'utilisabilité)

Espaces d'Informations Personnelles: Utilisabilité et Modification Utilisateurs

This paper presents a study on the usability of a new prototype system for managing personal information on the Internet (PIMI). The objectives are to assess its ease of use, and assess user modification as an evaluation technique. Thirty users participated in the experiment: the first part was a classical usability test (TUC) and a second part was a usability test with user modifications (TUM). A total of 51 usability problems were diagnosed. Among them, 32 with TUC, and 19 with TUM. Part of the latter (11) adds to those identified with TUC, and those previously diagnosed during a usability inspection (IU with Ergonomic Criteria). The active participation of users through customization scenarios seems to provide additional clues for evaluating usability and for design (new generic usability recommendations).Cet article présente une étude sur l'utilisabilité d'un nouveau prototype de système de gestion des informations personnelles sur Internet (PIMI). Les objectifs sont d'évaluer sa facilité d'utilisation, et d'évaluer la modification utilisateur comme technique d'évaluation. Trente utilisateurs ont participé à l'expérience : une première partie consistait en un test utilisateur classique (TUC) et une seconde partie était un test d'utilisabilité avec modifications utilisateur (TUM). Un total de 51 problèmes d'utilisabilité a été diagnostiqué. Parmi eux, 32 ont été identifiés avec TUC, et 19 avec TUM. Une partie de ces derniers (11) s'ajoute à ceux identifiés avec TUC, et à ceux diagnostiqués précédemment lors d'une inspection de l'utilisabilité (IU avec Critères Ergonomiques). La participation active des utilisateurs au travers de scénarios de personnalisation semble fournir des indices supplémentaires pour l'évaluation de l'utilisabilité et pour la conception (nouvelles recommandations génériques d'utilisabilité). Mots clés : Utilisabilité ; méthodes d'évaluation ; modifications utilisateur ; e-gov. ; informations personnelles. Abstract: This paper presents a study on the usability of a new prototype system for managing personal information on the Internet (PIMI). The objectives are to assess its ease of use, and assess user modification as an evaluation technique. Thirty users participated in the experiment: the first part was a classical usability test (TUC) and a second part was a usability test with user modifications (TUM). A total of 51 usability problems were diagnosed. Among them, 32 with TUC, and 19 with TUM. Part of the latter (11) adds to those identified with TUC, and those previously diagnosed during a usability inspection (IU with Ergonomic Criteria). The active participation of users through customization scenarios seems to provide additional clues for evaluating usability and for design (new generic usability recommendations)

HIVE-MIND SPACE: A META-DESIGN APPROACH FOR CULTIVATING AND SUPPORTING COLLABORATIVE DESIGN.

The ever-growing complexity of design projects requires more knowledge than any individual can have and, therefore, needs the active engagement of all stakeholders in the design process. Collaborative design exploits synergies from multidisciplinary communities, encourages divergent thinking, and enhances social creativity. The research documented in this thesis supports and deepens the understanding of collaborative design in two dimensions: (1) It developed and evaluated socio-technical systems to support collaborative design projects; and (2) It defined and explored a meta- design framework focused on how these systems enable users, as active contributors, to modify and further develop them. The research is grounded in and simultaneously extends the following major dimensions of meta-design: (1) It exploits the contributions of social media and web 2.0 as innovative information technologies; (2) It facilitates the shift from consumer cultures to cultures of participation; (3) It fosters social creativity by harnessing contributions that occur in cultures of participation; (4) It empowers end-users to be active designers involved in creating situated solutions. In a world where change is the norm, meta-design is a necessity rather than a luxury because it is impossible to design software systems at design time for problems that occur only at use time. The co-evolution of systems and users\u2bc social practices pursued in this thesis requires a software environment that can evolve and be tailored continuously. End-user development explores tools and methods to support end users who tailor software artifacts. However, it addresses this objective primarily from a technical perspective and focuses mainly on tailorability. This thesis, centered on meta-design, extends end-user development by creating social conditions and design processes for broad participation in design activities both at design time and at use time. It builds on previous research into meta- design that has provided a strategic overview of design opportunities and principles. And it addresses some shortcomings of meta-design, such as the lack of guidelines for building concrete meta-design environments that can be assessed by empirical evaluation. Given the goal of this research, to explore meta-design approaches for cultivating and supporting collaborative design, the overarching research question guiding this work is: How do we provide a socio-technical environment to bring multidisciplinary design communities together to foster creativity, collaboration, and design evolution? 8 To answer this question, my research was carried out through four different phases: (1) synthesizing concepts, models, and theories; (2) framing conceptual models; (3) developing several systems in specific application areas; and (4) conducting empirical evaluation studies. The main contributions of this research are: \uf0a7 The Hive-Mind Space model, a meta-design framework derived from the \u201csoftware shaping workshop\u201d methodology and that integrates the \u201cseeding, evolutionary growth, reseeding\u201d model. The bottom-up approach inherent in this framework breaks down static social structures so as to support richer ecologies of participation. It provides the means for structuring communication and appropriation. The model\u2bcs open mediation mechanism tackles unanticipated communication gaps among different design communities. \uf0a7 MikiWiki, a structured programmable wiki I developed to demonstrate how the hive-mind space model can be implemented as a practical platform that benefits users and how its features and values can be specified so as to be empirically observable and assessable; \uf0a7 Empirical insights, such as those based on applying MikiWiki to different collaborative design studies, provide evidence that different phases of meta-design represent different modes rather than discrete levels

A meta-reflective wiki for collaborative design

This paper presents MikiWiki, a meta-reflective wiki developed to prototype key aspects of the Hive-Mind Space model. MikiWiki is aimed at supporting End-User Development activities and exploring the opportunities to enable software tailoring at use time. Such an open-ended collaborative design process is realized by providing basic boundary object prototypes, allowing end users to remix, modify, and create their own boundary objects. Moreover, MikiWiki minimizes essential services at the server-side, while putting the main functionalities on the client-side, opening the whole system to its users for further tailoring. In addition to traditional wikis, MikiWiki allows different Communities of Practice to collaboratively design and to continuously evolve the whole system. This approach illustrates the meta-design concept, where some software collaboration between professional developers and end users is made possible through communication channels properly associated with the environment. As such, the MikiWiki environment is presented as a 'concept demonstrator' for meta-design and end-user tailoring