Introduction to the new usability

This paper introduces the motivation for and concept of the "new usability" and positions it against existing approaches to usability. It is argued that the contexts of emerging products and systems mean that traditional approaches to usability engineering and evaluation are likely to prove inappropriate to the needs of "digital consumers." The paper briefly reviews the contributions to this special issue in terms of their relation to the idea of the "new usability" and their individual approaches to dealing with contemporary usability issues. This helps provide a background to the "new usability" research agenda, and the paper ends by posing what are argued to be the central challenges facing the area and those which lie at the heart of the proposed research agenda

Customer perception of switch-feel in luxury sports utility vehicles

Successful new product introduction requires that product characteristics relate to the customer on functional, emotional, aesthetic and cultural levels. As a part of research into automotive human machine interfaces (HMI), this paper describes holistic customer research carried out to investigate how the haptics of switches in luxury sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are perceived by customers. The application of these techniques, including an initial proposal for objective specifications, is addressed within the broader new product introduction context, and benefits described. One-hundred and one customers of SUVs assessed the feel of automotive push switches, completing the tasks both in, and out of vehicles to investigate the effect of context. Using the semantic differential technique, hedonic testing, and content analysis of customers’ verbatim comments, a holistic picture has been built up of what influences the haptic experience. It was found that customers were able to partially discriminate differences in switch-feel, alongside considerations of visual appearance, image, and usability. Three factors named ‘Affective’, ‘Robustness and Precision’, and ‘Silkiness’ explained 61% of the variance in a principle components analysis. Correlations of the factors with acceptance scores were 0.505, 0.371, and 0.168, respectively

Map-Based Navigation in a Graphical MOO

Traditional MUDs and MOOs lack support for global wareness and simple navigation. These problems can be addressed by the introduction of a map-based navigation tool. In this paper we report on the design and evaluation of such a tool for MOOsburg, a graphical 2D MOO based on the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. The tool supports exploration and place-based tasks in the MOO. It also allows navigation of a large-scale map and encourages users to develop survey knowledge of the town. An evaluation revealed some initial usability problems with our prototype and suggested new design ideas that may better support users. Using these results, the lessons learned about map-based navigation are presented

Integrating macro and micro hierarchical task analyses to embed new medical devices in complex systems

The introduction of new medical devices (technologies) into complex systems usually includes usability evaluation (formative and summative) using Human Factors (Engineering) methods. This paper outlines the use of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) to not only look at usability but also consider implementation in a complex system. Firstly, the macro system is mapped as a process model for a complex field exercise (simulation) for prehospital care following a chemical incident; and secondly the individual human-medical device interface is analyzed. This allows the two outputs to be integrated by combining the macro systems modelling and micro product interactions. It provides an example of using HTA to support implementation of new devices and technologies in complex healthcare systems

Game Edukasi Introduksi Bilangan dan Operasi Aritmatika dengan Penerapan Algoritma Fisher–Yates Shuffle

The introduction of numbers and arithmetic operations is basic learning in Mathematics aimed at students at the kindergarten level, where the learning method is still conventional and tedious. The solution that can be applied is to use an android educational game using the Fisher-Yates Shuffle method. useful in obtaining random permutations of a series of questions that allow the arrangement of similar questions to be impossible to appear again while avoiding students remembering the questions and their answers. The idea of making games is to create a new impression and make it easier to learn the introduction of numbers and arithmetic operations. The technique used is Game Development Life Cycle and Android-based Unity 3D software in the development of this educational game application. The application of the concept of User-Centered Design (UCD) is used in the evaluation in measuring game excellence with a Playability testing approach in the form of 4 criteria, namely gameplay, usability, mobility, and game story. The questionnaire was filled out by 10 respondents, namely kindergarten students with the assistance of their parents. Based on the assessment, it is determined that this game gets a score where gameplay is 75%, usability is 75%, mobility is 70%, and the game story is 70%. support kindergarten students in learning number introduction and arithmetic operations

ISEL: An e-Taxation System for Employers

In 2008 the State of Geneva modified its regulation on taxation at source in order to collect electronic fiscal data from employers. Indeed the latter provide data on their employees directly to the tax administration (AFC) and furthermore pay taxes to the State on behalf of their employees. They subtract the corresponding amounts from employees' income and refund that money to the fiscal administration. The taxation at source system is applied to foreigners who work in Switzerland or who receive Swiss pensions, to people who live in Geneva but work in other Cantons, as well as to performers, artists or speakers who work occasionally in Geneva. More than 12'000 companies and 117'000 employees are concerned by the scheme, and large companies provide data on several thousand employees. In the past these files provided by employers were handled semi-automatically by the AFC (at best). The new system (called ISEL for Impôt à la Source En Ligne) offers employers two electronic channels to provide data on employees: file transfer (.XSD) and internet e-form. This case study describes the ISEL project and its context, and discusses the issues raised by the introduction of this e-taxation system. On the human side, our paper takes a qualitative approach, based on interviews of various stakeholders involved in the project. They were asked questions on ISEL's functionality, usability, performance, and so on. On the technical side, the paper presents the architecting principles of the e-government approach in Geneva (Legality, Responsibility, Transparency and Symmetry) and the workflow that was implemented on top of AFC's legacy system.private public partnership; tax collection; e-services; e-government; data exchange; architecture; usability

What is Usability? A Characterization based on ISO 9241-11 and ISO/IEC 25010

According to Brooke* "Usability does not exist in any absolute sense; it can only be defined with reference to particular contexts." That is, one cannot speak of usability without specifying what that particular usability is characterized by. Driven by the feedback of a reviewer at an international conference, I explore in which way one can precisely specify the kind of usability they are investigating in a given setting. Finally, I come up with a formalism that defines usability as a quintuple comprising the elements level of usability metrics, product, users, goals and context of use. Providing concrete values for these elements then constitutes the investigated type of usability. The use of this formalism is demonstrated in two case studies. * J. Brooke. SUS: A "quick and dirty" usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, and A. L. McClelland, editors, Usability Evaluation in Industry. Taylor and Francis, 1996.Comment: Technical Report; Department of Computer Science, Technische Universit\"at Chemnitz; also available from https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/service/ib/2015.php.e