Effective communication in requirements elicitation: A comparison of methodologies

The elicitation or communication of user requirements comprises an early and critical but highly error-prone stage in system development. Socially oriented methodologies provide more support for user involvement in design than the rigidity of more traditional methods, facilitating the degree of user-designer communication and the 'capture' of requirements. A more emergent and collaborative view of requirements elicitation and communication is required to encompass the user, contextual and organisational factors. From this accompanying literature in communication issues in requirements elicitation, a four-dimensional framework is outlined and used to appraise comparatively four different methodologies seeking to promote a closer working relationship between users and designers. The facilitation of communication between users and designers is subject to discussion of the ways in which communicative activities can be 'optimised' for successful requirements gathering, by making recommendations based on the four dimensions to provide fruitful considerations for system designers

Communication issues in requirements elicitation: A content analysis of stakeholder experiences

The gathering of stakeholder requirements comprises an early, but continuous and highly critical stage in system development. This phase in development is subject to a large degree of error, influenced by key factors rooted in communication problems. This pilot study builds upon an existing theory-based categorisation of these problems through presentation of a four-dimensional framework on communication. Its structure is validated through a content analysis of interview data, from which themes emerge, that can be assigned to the dimensional categories, highlighting any problematic areas. The paper concludes with a discussion on the utilisation of the framework for requirements elicitation exercises

Principled design guidance for the development of computer-based training materials

This study is concerned with the provision of guidance for designers of computer-based training (CBT) materials. Four interrelated principles - immersion, interaction, locative fit, and multiple representations - are discussed. These principles draw upon research into instruction and technology and re-frame and re-interpret established instructional factors in terms of the capabilities of the interactive computer as a training delivery medium. It will be argued that the conjoining of pedagogy and technology in the principles is crucial to the effectiveness of CBT. Furthermore, this study will also argue that the form of the guidance has a direct bearing on its usefulness. The four principles are argued to represent a coherent framework which can raise the awareness of CBT designers on key instructional issues and the ways in which the delivery medium may be used to support them, and provide a resource on which designers may draw.The relevance and effectiveness of the principles (and the issues that they address) are explored through a body of empirical work. This takes the form of two studies: a survey of designers providing comments on the content and expression of the principles and their importance to CBT design; and a series of user trials. The contrasting nature of the studies allows the comments of designers and users to be assessed and compared

An investigation of the representations of users' requirements in the design of interactive systems

The design of interactive computer systems was identified as an important area for investigation due to the increasing evidence of a discrepancy between the intended use of the systems, and the use by users. This led to the hypothesis that the discrepancies between systems and users were attributed to an inadequate representation of users' requirements in the design of the systems. Therefore, the research focused on the design process, and how users' requirements were represented in the process. The research was based on an investigation of two areas of design: the type of design processes that developed in system design, and the representations of users' requirements in design. Studies were based on structured interviews with designers, on observations of design teams engaged in design tasks, and on documentation from design projects. A major component of the research findings concerns the design context. The research has made it possible to see how the variations in design relate to the context in which it takes place. Some of the primary contextual influences include the commercial constraint, the pressure to innovate, and the specialisation in user interface design. Another significant finding relates to the representations of users' requirements in the design process. Two key issues emerge from the findings. First, designers approach design tasks with a technical, system based design model. The application of this model to design tasks is often inappropriate; however, designers lack design schemas appropriate to user related tasks. The second issue is that designers often work with inadequate information on users' requirements. The design process is characterised by limitations of information on users' information in design tasks. The extent to which these limitations are experienced by designers differs according to the design context

Illustration of immature HCI engineering: Carry forward in the development of military planning systems

In recent years, a number of difficulties in designing interactions between military personnel and their command and control (C2) systems have been identified. These difficulties are persistent and have been attributed to a lack of carry forward between procurement projects. In response to these difficulties, this thesis attempts to realise and then illustrate carry forward in a manner that is characteristic of a particular form of the discipline of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) - informal HCI Engineering. In essence, informal HCI Engineering is different from current best practice in that design work addresses general classes of design Problem and instances of general classes of design Problem, rather than just problem instances which are related to other instances in some, unspecified way. Consequently, in principle, informal Engineering offers additional opportunities to develop and apply knowledge to design work. Specifically, it offers additional opportunities to support; (i) the abstraction of general requirements from instance requirements; (ii) the production of general specifications in response to general requirements; and (iii) the instantiation of general specifications for particular instances. Further, the knowledge applied in support of design may concern classes of design Problem, rather than just instances or a poorly specified range of instances. In addition, informal Engineering provides an additional way of reasoning about the completeness and/or selectivity with which design Problem instances are addressed - reasoning with respect to a relevant class. In this thesis, carry forward in the desired manner is enabled by acquiring the minimum amount of knowledge necessary for carry forward of some kind - a preliminary conception of the domain of C2. Carry forward is then realised by using this preliminary conception to evaluate and specify selected aspects of military planning systems reconstructed in a laboratory for purposes of research. To highlight the distinctive characteristics of carry forward in informal HCI Engineering, and to monitor its potential effectiveness in practice, each attempt to realise carry forward is compared to the current best practice equivalent. Two attempts are made to realise carry forward in the desired manner, first, in late evaluation, and second, in specification. Of these, the second attempt is judged to be more satisfying than the first, since: (i) carry forward is fully carried through; (ii) both a general requirement and a general specification are developed; and (iii) in the case reported, the value of the specifications produced are judged likely to outweigh the costs of their development. Future work may seek to scale-up and transfer to actual design Problems, the manner of carry forward illustrated here

Assessing the quality of audio and video components in desktop multimedia conferencing

This thesis seeks to address the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) research problem of how to establish the level of audio and video quality that end users require to successfully perform tasks via networked desktop videoconferencing. There are currently no established HCI methods of assessing the perceived quality of audio and video delivered in desktop videoconferencing. The transport of real-time speech and video information across new digital networks causes novel and different degradations, problems and issues to those common in the traditional telecommunications areas (telephone and television). Traditional assessment methods involve the use of very short test samples, are traditionally conducted outside a task-based environment, and focus on whether a degradation is noticed or not. But these methods cannot help establish what audio-visual quality is required by users to perform tasks successfully with the minimum of user cost, in interactive conferencing environments. This thesis addresses this research gap by investigating and developing a battery of assessment methods for networked videoconferencing, suitable for use in both field trials and laboratory-based studies. The development and use of these new methods helps identify the most critical variables (and levels of these variables) that affect perceived quality, and means by which network designers and HCI practitioners can address these problems are suggested. The output of the thesis therefore contributes both methodological (i.e. new rating scales and data-gathering methods) and substantive (i.e. explicit knowledge about quality requirements for certain tasks) knowledge to the HCI and networking research communities on the subjective quality requirements of real-time interaction in networked videoconferencing environments. Exploratory research is carried out through an interleaved series of field trials and controlled studies, advancing substantive and methodological knowledge in an incremental fashion. Initial studies use the ITU-recommended assessment methods, but these are found to be unsuitable for assessing networked speech and video quality for a number of reasons. Therefore later studies investigate and establish a novel polar rating scale, which can be used both as a static rating scale and as a dynamic continuous slider. These and further developments of the methods in future lab- based and real conferencing environments will enable subjective quality requirements and guidelines for different videoconferencing tasks to be established

User-centered multi-layer programming approach to model scenarios on driving simulators

Le simulateur de conduite est un outil très utilisé par les chercheurs, Il leurs permet d'étudier le comportement des conducteurs, d'analyser certains aspects de la sécurité routière et d'évaluer des Systèmes d'Aide à la Conduite (SAC). La modélisation des scénarios pour ces simulateurs de conduite est une tâche cruciale et complexe pour le chercheur. Elle exige des compétences techniques et de programmation spécifiques, pour lesquelles les chercheurs ne sont pas nécessairement formés. Une des principales raisons est le manque de conception centrée sur l'utilisateur (UCD), ce qui pourrait expliquer la difficulté des chercheurs à atteindre leurs objectifs avec des simulateurs de conduite. L'interface utilisateur n'est donc pas très intuitive et conviviale dans la plupart des simulateurs de conduite. Afin de combler l'écart entre les compétences des utilisateurs et les objectifs qu'ils souhaitent atteindre en utilisant des simulateurs de conduite, une approche de programmation multicouche centrée sur l'utilisateur est proposée. Une étude a été menée sur des utilisateurs afin de recueillir leurs besoins et leurs exigences pour modéliser des scénarios sur simulateur de conduite. Les différentes étapes que suit l'utilisateur final lors de la conception d'un protocole expérimental et les différents types d'utilisateurs qui interagissent avec les simulateurs de conduite ont été identifiés. L'interface pour le développement d'un protocole expérimental a été divisée en trois sous-interfaces, qui sont utilisées par les différents utilisateurs qui interagissent avec les simulateurs de conduite : le 'Template Builder' pour le personnelle technique, le 'Experiment Builder' pour les chercheurs, et le 'Experiment Interface' pour les opérateurs expérimentés. L'utilisation de cet 'Experiment Builder' peut permettre aux chercheurs de développer des scénarios à haut niveau tout en exploitant les primitives de programmation. Une évaluation de l'approche a été effectuée sur un prototype semi-fonctionnel et fonctionnel. Lors de l'évaluation, les utilisateurs finaux (les chercheurs) ont développé un protocole expérimental sur simulateurs de conduite. Les résultats obtenus ont montré que l'approche proposée permet aux chercheurs non-programmeurs de modéliser des scénarios sur les simulateurs de conduite sans aucune aide technique ou de programmation. En outre, chaque simulateur de conduite à une plate-forme d'exécution différente. Un cadre d'interopérabilité et un Scénario-Meta Langage (SML) ont été proposés et développés afin de porter les scénarios d'une plateforme à une autre. Les scénarios développés avec l'approche de programmation multicouches peuvent ainsi être exécutées sur différent simulateurs de conduite. Le cadre d'interopérabilité et le métalangage ont été testés avec succès en les intégrant dans le logiciel SCANeR.Driving simulators are useful tools for researcher in order to study the drivers' behaviour, to analyze road safety features and to evaluate ADAS (Advance Driving Assistance Systems). Modeling scenarios on driving simulators is a critical and complex task for behavioral researcher. It requires specific technical and programming skills, for which researchers are not formally trained. One of the main reasons why designing scenarios is a complex task is the lack of User-Centered Design (UCD) of the scenario authoring tools, which could account for the skills they lack in order to achieve their objectives with driving simulators. The user interfaces are thus not very intuitive and user-friendly in most driving simulators. A User- Centered andMultilayer programming approach is proposed in order to fill the gap between the end-user's skills and the goals they want to achieve with driving simulators. A user study was conducted to gather the user's needs and requirements to model scenarios on driving simulators. Different steps have been identified, followed by the end-users while designing an experimental protocol; moreover, different types of users who interactwith driving simulators have been identified. We propose that the interface to develop an experimental protocol should be split into three sub-interfaces used by different end-users who interact with driving simulators: the Template Builder for Technical persons, the Experiment Builder for Researchers, and the Experiment Interface, for Experiment operators. Using the Experiment Builder, researchers can develop scenarios at high-level exploiting the programming primitives. An evaluation of the approach was conducted on a semi-functional and a functional prototype. During the evaluation, end-users (behavioral researchers) developed experimental protocols on driving simulators. The results have shown that the proposed approach has empowered the non-programmers to model scenarios on driving simulators without any technical or programming help from technical persons. Besides, every driving simulator has a different execution platform. An interoperability framework and a Scenario-Meta Language (SML) is proposed and developed to port the scenarios from one platform to another. The scenarios developed using the multi-layer programming approach can be executed on different driving simulators. The interoperability framework and the meta-language has been successfully tested by integrating them with the SCANeR software