Involving users in OPAC interface design: Perspective from a UK study

This is the post-print versoin of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 SpringerThe purpose of this study was to determine user suggestions for a typical OPAC (Online Public Library Catalogue) application’s functionality and features. An experiment was undertaken to find out the type of interactions features that users prefer to have in an OPAC. The study revealed that regardless of users’ Information Technology (IT) backgrounds, their functionality expectations of OPACs are the same. However, based on users’ previous experiences with OPACs, their requirements with respect to specific features may change. Users should be involved early in the OPAC development cycle process in order to ensure usable and functional interface

İçerik Yönetim Sisteminde Kullanılabilirlik Yapılarının İncelenmesi

The internet provides a media-rich navigational environment where people interact with computer systems. This interactive relationship between humans and computers can be explored from a socio-technical philosophy. Thus, investigating individual behaviors toward new information technologies based on their experiences with the internet technology in general, and content management in particular emerged as an alternative stream of research. Since users' behaviors are heavily influenced by web sites usability, this study is aimed at exploring multidimensionalty in usability constructs of a content management system. The findings indicate that multidimensional model - at least- with two upper constructs exist in usability. This finding supports the socio-technical perspective in usability in that content presentation and architectural design were perceived as separate constructs by participants.İnternet, bireylerin bilgisayar sistemleri ile etkileşim sağladığı medya açısından zengin bir ortam sunmaktadır. Bilgisayarlar ve bireylar arasındaki bu etkileşimli ortam, sosyoteknik bir açıdan incelenebilir. Bu nedenle, bireylerin yeni teknolojiye yönelik davranışlarını, internet teknolojileri ile olan deneyimlerine ve içerik yönetimine dayalı olarak inceleme, araştırmalarda alternatif bir yaklaşım olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Bireylerin davranışları, web sitelerinin kullanışlılığından çok fazla etkilenmektedir. Bu görüşten hareketle bu çalışmanın amacı, bir içerik yönetim sisteminin kullanışlılık yapılarını çok boyutluluk açısından araştırmaktır. Bulgular, kullanışlılık açısından en az iki olmak üzere model olarak çok boyutlu bir yapının varlığını göstermektedir. Bu bulgu, kullanışlılık açısından sosyoteknik bakış açısı ile içerik sunumunun ve mimari tasarımın farklı yapılar olarak ele alınması gerektiği görüşünü desteklemektedir

Software development methods and usability: Perspectives from a survey in the software industry in Norway

This paper investigates the relationship between traditional software development methodologies and usability. The point of departure is the assumption that two important disciplines in software development, one of software development methods (SDMs) and one of usability work, are not integrated in industrial software projects. Building on previous research we investigate two questions; (1) Will software companies generally acknowledge the importance of usability, but not prioritise it in industrial projects? and (2) To what degree are software development methods and usability perceived by practitioners as being integrated? To this end a survey in the Norwegian IT industry was conducted. From a sample of 259 companies we received responses from 78 companies. In response to our first research question, our findings show that although there is a positive bias towards usability, the importance of usability testing is perceived to be much less than that of usability requirements. Given the strong time and cost pressures associated with the software industry, we believe that these results highlight that there is a gap between intention and reality. Regarding our second research question our survey revealed that companies perceive usability and software development methods to be integrated. This is in contrast to earlier research, which, somewhat pessimistically, has argued for the existence of two different cultures, one of software development and one of usability. The findings give hope for the future, in particular because the general use of system development methods are pragmatic and adaptable

Usability in Scientific Databases

Usability, most often defined as the ease of use and acceptability of a system, affects the users' performance and their job satisfaction when working with a machine. Therefore, usability is a very important aspect which must be considered in the process of a system development. The paper presents several numerical data related to the history of the scientific research of the usability of information systems, as it is viewed in the information provided by three important scientific databases, Science Direct, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Xplore Digital Library, at different queries related to this field

The role of the user within the medical device design and development process: medical device manufacturers' perspectives

Copyright @ 2011 Money et al.Background: Academic literature and international standards bodies suggest that user involvement, via the incorporation of human factors engineering methods within the medical device design and development (MDDD) process, offer many benefits that enable the development of safer and more usable medical devices that are better suited to users' needs. However, little research has been carried out to explore medical device manufacturers' beliefs and attitudes towards user involvement within this process, or indeed what value they believe can be added by doing so.Methods: In-depth interviews with representatives from 11 medical device manufacturers are carried out. We ask them to specify who they believe the intended users of the device to be, who they consult to inform the MDDD process, what role they believe the user plays within this process, and what value (if any) they believe users add. Thematic analysis is used to analyse the fully transcribed interview data, to gain insight into medical device manufacturers' beliefs and attitudes towards user involvement within the MDDD process.Results: A number of high-level themes emerged, relating who the user is perceived to be, the methods used, the perceived value and barriers to user involvement, and the nature of user contributions. The findings reveal that despite standards agencies and academic literature offering strong support for the employment formal methods, manufacturers are still hesitant due to a range of factors including: perceived barriers to obtaining ethical approval; the speed at which such activity may be carried out; the belief that there is no need given the 'all-knowing' nature of senior health care staff and clinical champions; a belief that effective results are achievable by consulting a minimal number of champions. Furthermore, less senior health care practitioners and patients were rarely seen as being able to provide valuable input into the process.Conclusions: Medical device manufacturers often do not see the benefit of employing formal human factors engineering methods within the MDDD process. Research is required to better understand the day-to-day requirements of manufacturers within this sector. The development of new or adapted methods may be required if user involvement is to be fully realised.This study was in part funded by grant number Ref: GR/S29874/01 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This article is made available through the Brunel University Open Access Publishing Fund

Identifying and explicating knowledge on method transfer: a sectoral system of innovation approach

Post-print (lokagerð höfundar)With the advances in information technology and its increasing impact on humans and society, there has been an expanding need to spread knowledge from domain to domain. This need is not least in the area of human–computer interaction, which includes a rich culture of carrying out usability evaluations in many different domains and technology platforms. This paper aims to show how transfer of methods takes place, by explicating and formalizing the process. It will contribute to the quest for knowledge on the constituents of the process of transferring methodological knowledge and their relationships. A sectoral system of innovation approach is used to analyse the constituents of a selected sector, crisis management, where training is essential and which is rapidly adopting technology for operations and training. Two case studies are described where heuristics evaluation and user testing were applied on simulation software that allows training for crisis management. The analysis results in a process model, describing the transfer of methodological knowledge within the sectoral system of innovation framework.The research leading to these results has received funding from COST Action IC0904, Twintide, and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. [FP7-242474], CRISIPeer Reviewe

Explaining the Success of User-Centered Design - An Empirical Study across German B2C Firms

This study focuses on the widely spread concept of User-Centered Design (UCD) and tries to answer the question why it is so popular. On the one hand, it is of interest to reveal the nature of UCD, especially in terms of the methods used, the types of users involved and the stages the involvement takes place. On the other hand, this paper aims to find out about the success of UCD projects as well as the organizational context that is beneficial for UCD. To do so, several streams of scientific literature in the field of UCD as well as organization theory are reviewed and the results of an empirical study conducted among UCD experts in Germany are analyzed. The theoretically derived characteristics could mainly be confirmed by the insights of the study. Moreover, several hypotheses concerning the influence of the organizational context using established constructs (IT competence, UCD competence, customer orientation, innovativeness, exploration and exploitation as well as the top management team) towards the project success in an UCD setup are proposed and tested by the means of a multiple factor analysis. By analyzing open comments concerning the facilitators and obstacles of UCD activities deeper insight into the daily business of UCD experts can be gained. A comparison between two subsamples split according to their project success score yield interesting results concerning different motives, types of integrated users and the locus of the user integration. This study has been created in collaboration with the user research and user experience (UX) consulting agency ‘Facit Digital’ who are based in Munich, Germany.Keywords: User-Centered Design, User Integration, Exploration, Exploitation, Empirical Investigatio