Evaluating system utility and conceptual fit using CASSM

There is a wealth of user-centred evaluation methods (UEMs) to support the analyst in assessing interactive systems. Many of these support detailed aspects of use – for example: Is the feedback helpful? Are labels appropriate? Is the task structure optimal? Few UEMs encourage the analyst to step back and consider how well a system supports users’ conceptual understandings and system utility. In this paper, we present CASSM, a method which focuses on the quality of ‘fit’ between users and an interactive system. We describe the methodology of conducting a CASSM analysis and illustrate the approach with three contrasting worked examples (a robotic arm, a digital library system and a drawing tool) that demonstrate different depths of analysis. We show how CASSM can help identify re-design possibilities to improve system utility. CASSM complements established evaluation methods by focusing on conceptual structures rather than procedures. Prototype tool support for completing a CASSM analysis is provided by Cassata, an open source development

The Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit @ eResearch Australasia 2011

Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit (SITS) meetings are designed to share technical operational experience between CTOs, Lead Developers and Head System Administrators so as to assure that internationally we are all DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) i.e. saving technical operational money by learning from each other's previous experiences.Iteration four of the International Scholarly Infrastructure Technical Summit meeting following events in London and California and Geneva took place in Australia alongside the 2011 eResearch Conference (eXtreme eResearch).The eResearch conference brings together CTOs and CIOs from various Universities whose job it is to provide, work with and support IT services for scientific research projects. This was a first for SITS, which previously had seen a mix of researchers and those working on the fringes of institutional IT infrastructure. The Australian focus on supporting research directly thus provided the 4th new platform for the SITS meetings, one closest to the infrastructure itself

Usability testing in a library web site redesign project

An intuitive library information gateway is critical to meeting the information needs of library users in the digital age. This article describes the process involved in redesigning a library Web site. In addition to first determining the goals and requirements for the library Web site, a user and task analysis was conducted for defining the library\u27s user base and types of tasks which users might be performing at the site. Usability testing methods, such as observational interviews, provided fresh insights about how users are interacting with the library Web interface as they approach various information seeking tasks. These usability studies uncovered problems related to unclear terminology, proper use of color, size and location of navigational links, and the need for context sensitive help, built-in redundancy, and clear and consistent navigation

An architecture for organisational decision support

The Decision Support (DS) topic of the Network Enabled Capability for Through Life Systems Engineering (NECTISE) project aims to provide organisational through-life decision support for the products and services that BAE Systems deliver. The topic consists of five streams that cover resource capability management, decision management, collaboration, change prediction and integration. A proposed architecture is presented for an Integrated Decision Support Environment (IDSE) that combines the streams to provide a structured approach to addressing a number of issues that have been identified by BAE Systems business units as being relevant to DS: uncertainty and risk, shared situational awareness, types of decision making, decision tempo, triggering of decisions, and support for autonomous decision making. The proposed architecture will identify how either individuals or groups of decision makers (including autonomous agents) would be utilised on the basis of their capability within the requirements of the scenario to collaboratively solve the decision problem. Features of the scenario such as time criticality, required experience level, the need for justification, and conflict management, will be addressed within the architecture to ensure that the most appropriate decision management support (system/naturalistic/hybrid) is provided. In addition to being reliant on a number of human factors issues, the decision making process is also reliant on a number of information issues: overload, consistency, completeness, uncertainty and evolution, which will be discussed within the context of the architecture

Patterns of interactions: user behaviour in response to search results

This paper presents patterns of users’ interaction when working with digital libraries. It focuses on strategies developed and applied by users over time to achieve their goals. Results show that users choose different patterns of interaction depending on their evaluation of results, particularly in terms of the number of results returned from a search. This study gives indications about how the user interface could better support users in developing different search strategies

Suggestion systems: a usability-based evaluation model

Usability has been used to design and assess products and websites. This paper takes the concept of usability one step further and proposes a framework to assess suggestion systems. Thus taking the concept of usability one step further and applying it in the area of ideas management through suggestion system. The fundamental premise of the article is that a suggestion system designed, with usability in mind, will improve innovation among employees, and hence increase participation. This framework was then used to assess four suggestion systems in an oil and gas company in the middle-east. These systems were further assessed for employee perception of their usability and participation. After collecting data on these three different aspects conclusions are drawn. Out of the four systems analyzed, the most usable suggestion system had the highest participation rate and the least usable system attracted the fewest suggestions