Development and Evaluation of a Groupware System to Support Chemical Design Processes

This article presents the concept of a groupware system adapted to the early stages of chemical design processes. To ensure best usability for chemical engineers during the chemical plant design, a field study in an international chemical group was carried out. Several theoretical concepts of cooperation and workspace design models were analyzed to meet the requirements of cooperative and distributed work during the design process. Based on this, a new groupware concept was developed that consists of 4 main design elements. This concept was evaluated empirically for the relevance of the design elements and efficiency of use.     

A Taxonomy-Based Usability Study of an Intelligent Speed Adaptation Device

Usability studies are often based on ad hoc definitions of usability. These studies can be difficult to generalize, they might have a steep learning curve, and there is always the danger of being inconsistent with the concept of usability as defined in standards and the literature. This alternative approach involves comprehensive, general-purpose, and hierarchically structured taxonomies that follow closely the main usability literature. These taxonomies are then instantiated for a specific product. To illustrate this approach, a usability study for a prototype of an Intelligent Speed Adaptation device is described. The usability study consists of usability requirements analysis, heuristic evaluation, and subjective analysis, which helped identify problems of clarity, operability, robustness, safety, and aesthetics. As a context-specific usability taxonomy for this particular field of application happened to exist, the way that real-world usability results can be mapped to that taxonomy compared to the taxonomy in this article is examined, with the argument that this study’s taxonomy is more complete and generalizable.     

Schedule of Events

This article presents an outline of information on the usability activities in Japan with a focus on the last 10 years. Although there were many activities in academia, substantial efforts were made in industry, and both activities coincided to form unique usability engineering in the country. Because of the language barrier that exists in many Japanese usability engineering professionals, just a few works have been presented at international conferences. This is the reason why the tried to summarize in English the usability engineering activity in Japan.     

Usability Ratings for Everyday Products Measured With the System Usability Scale

This article characterizes the usability of 14 common, everyday products using the System Usability Scale (SUS). More than 1,000 users were queried about the usability of these products using an online survey methodology. The study employed two novel applications of the SUS. First, participants were not asked to perform specific tasks on these products before rating their usability but were rather asked to assess usability based on their overall integrated experience with a given product. Second, some of the evaluated products were assessed as a class of products (e.g., “microwaves”) rather than a specific make and model, as is typically done. The results show clear distinctions among different products and will provide practitioners and researchers with important known benchmarks as they seek to characterize and describe results from their own usability studies.     

Rethinking the path to usability: how to design what users really want

As the software market grows more competitive, companies with difficult-to-use products face higher customer support costs as they attempt to rework user interfaces to fix usability problems. It is time that software designers tried reversing the direction - get user requirements, design the user interaction with the product's features, and then code the features - to produce software from the user's perspective and logic.     

DEEP: Design-Oriented Evaluation of Perceived Usability

Existing perceived usability questionnaires detect the appearance of usability issues rather than the underlying design generating those issues. This limits the capability of existing instruments to directly inform design recommendations. To address this problem, a usability questionnaire structured around the analytical composition of the design was created and validated. A four-stage process was followed. First, 3 usability experts refined 54 questions from highly cited usability questionnaires and structured them around 6 design dimensions. Second, 12 raters scored the questions by their relevance to assess usability. Third, questions and dimensions were then improved through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (N?=?196) and, fourth, further enhanced through confirmatory factor analysis (N?=?362). The result is DEEP, a 19-question usability questionnaire based on 5 main design dimensions (content, information architecture, navigation, layout, and visual guidance). DEEP can be used to capture detailed usability feedback that more directly relates to specific aspects of design requirements.     

Finding a way to usability: procurement of a taxi dispatch system

Despite the extensive work on human–computer interaction regarding methods of involving users and designing for high degrees of usability, there is surprisingly little published on how procurer organizations understand, reason about, and require usability. This study focuses on how one taxi company dealt with usability requirements when procuring a new dispatch system. We have conducted ten interviews with various stakeholders in the company and analyzed related documentation in order to discover the process. The case shows how the concept of usability matured during over time. The taxi company dealt with requirement elicitation by developing prototypes in small reference groups. They did no formal analysis of the operators cooperation with each other at the operator central, but they did include experienced users, which created implicit scenarios. The supplier company did not focus on the efficiency of the operators or, for that matter, the cooperative demands of the operator central in their original design, which became evident when the procurer organization requested a redesign that emphasized user tasks. This indicates, on one hand, the extent to which procurers must understand usability and cooperation to procure good systems design and, on the other hand, the extent to which designers must understand business and activity processes in order to design good systems.     

Users’ participation in requirements gathering for smart phones applications in emerging markets

This study presents insights from using requirements gathering techniques for country-specific customization of smart phones in two emerging markets, Iran and Turkey. In each country, a group of users participated in requirements gathering sessions that were aimed at developing design ideas for overcoming country-specific usability problems. Using qualitative content analysis, it was found that in each country some specific interaction activities were considered more when participants generated design ideas for country-specific usability problems. It was also found that even for similar usability problems, participants suggested country-specific solutions. Therefore, it is suggested that participation of local users in the design process should not be limited to identification of usability problems, but should also include the problem-solving phase that is usually a phase in design and development processes in which requirements gathering techniques are being used.     

Stakeholder logistics of an interactive system

Although it seems that software metrics have moved beyond mere performance measurement, it is not too clear how machine effectiveness, efficiency, and effort pertain to human requirements on such matters. In industry as well as academia, the ISO 9241-11 norm provides the dominant view on usability, stating that usability is a function of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Although intuitively, usability requirements should be part of a software's design in an early stage, conceptually and empirically, it seems more likely that performance requirements (i.e., the absence of errors) should be the center of concern. This paper offers an elaborated view on usability, satisfaction, and performance. Certain theoretical conceptions are tested with data gathered from professional users of banking and hospital systems by means of a 4-year single-item survey and a structured questionnaire, respectively. Results suggested that performance factors (i.e., efficiency) are more important than usability in understanding why stakeholders are satisfied with a system or not. Moreover, it neither is dissatisfaction with a system nor that a system is less usable that predicate requirements change. Instead, avoiding machine inaccuracy best predicted the variability in agreement to “must have” requirements, while achieving human accuracy predicted the variability in agreement to the “won’t have” requirements. The present contribution provides a consistent research framework that can bring more focus to design (i.e., prioritization), clarify discussions about design trade-offs, makes concepts measurable, and eventually may lead to better-informed designs.     

Linux下PCI设备驱动开发方法及应用实例

Linux是一种日趋成熟完善的操作系统.越来越多的软硬件厂商开始使用Linux平台来开发自己的产品,因而对基于该平台的设备驱动程序的需求也愈来愈多。同时PCI总线作为一个具有兼容性强、平台无关性等特点从的计算机总线标准。日前得到了广泛的应用。本文通过实例讨论了如何在Linux下实现PCI设备驱动程序的开发。     

Model mismatch analysis: towards a deeper explanation of users' usability problems

An evaluation method is proposed based on walkthrough analysis coupled with a taxonomic analysis of observed problems and causes of usability error. The model mismatch method identifies usability design flaws and missing requirements from user errors. The method is tested with a comparative evaluation of two information retrieval products. Different profiles of usability and requirements problems were found for the two products, even though their overall performance was similar.     

The scenario‐based usability checklist development for home appliance design: A case study

In the past decade, home appliances have been rapidly developed to satisfy the various requirements of users. Thus, there are increases in requirements to explore appropriate evaluation methods that reflect the usability of home appliances quickly and comprehensively. This study aims to develop a scenario‐based usability checklist for product designers early in the design process. In this study, the scenario‐based usability checklist consists of two parts: 1) a heuristic evaluation checklist, and 2) a scenario evaluation checklist. In heuristic evaluation checklist development, usability factors of home appliances are extracted and then coupled to user interface (UI) elements. In scenario evaluation checklist development, scenarios are developed through brainstorming by focus group interview (FGI), and then evaluation elements are extracted from previous scenarios analysis. The proposed scenario‐based usability checklists can enable designers to evaluate product design quickly and comprehensively early in the development process with users' viewpoints. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evidence for an elders' advantage in the naive product usability judgments of older and younger adults

OBJECTIVE: To determine whose naive judgments of consumer product usability are more accurate--those of younger or older adults. Accuracy is here defined as judgments compatible with results from performance-based usability tests. BACKGROUND: Older adults may be better able to predict usability problems than younger adults, making them particularly good participants in studies contributing to the user-centered design of products. This advantage, if present, may stem from older adults' motivation for more usable products or from their experience adapting their own environments to meet their changing physical, cognitive, and sensory needs. METHOD: Sixty older participants (ages 65-75 years) and 60 younger ones (ages 18-22 years) evaluated illustrations of consumer products on specific criteria (e.g., readability, learnability, or error rates). They either rated a single design for each product or ranked six alternative designs. They also explained their choices, indicated which features were most critical for usability, and selected usability-enhancing modifications. RESULTS: Although there was no reliable age difference in the amount of usability information provided in the open-ended explanations, older adults were more accurate at ranking alternative designs, selecting the most usability-critical features, and selecting usability-enhancing modifications (all ps < .05). CONCLUSION: The usability judgments of older adults are more accurate than those of younger adults when these judgments are solicited in a fixed-alternative, but not open-ended, format. APPLICATION: Because older adults are more discerning about potential product usability problems, they may be particularly valuable as research participants in early-stage design research (prior to the availability of working prototypes).     

Usability: Lessons Learned … and Yet to Be Learned

The philosopher of science J. W. Grove (1989) once wrote, “There is, of course, nothing strange or scandalous about divisions of opinion among scientists. This is a condition for scientific progress” (p. 133). Over the past 30 years, usability, both as a practice and as an emerging science, has had its share of controversies. It has inherited some from its early roots in experimental psychology, measurement, and statistics. Others have emerged as the field of usability has matured and extended into user-centered design and user experience. In many ways, a field of inquiry is shaped by its controversies. This article reviews some of the persistent controversies in the field of usability, starting with their history, then assessing their current status from the perspective of a pragmatic practitioner. Put another way: Over the past three decades, what are some of the key lessons we have learned, and what remains to be learned? Some of the key lessons learned are:

??When discussing usability, it is important to distinguish between the goals and practices of summative and formative usability.

??There is compelling rational and empirical support for the practice of iterative formative usability testing—it appears to be effective in improving both objective and perceived usability.

??When conducting usability studies, practitioners should use one of the currently available standardized usability questionnaires.

??Because “magic number” rules of thumb for sample size requirements for usability tests are optimal only under very specific conditions, practitioners should use the tools that are available to guide sample size estimation rather than relying on “magic numbers.”     

Model mismatch analysis: Towards a deeper explanation of users' usability problems

An evaluation method is proposed based on walkthrough analysis coupled with a taxonomic analysis of observed problems and causes of usability error. The model mismatch method identifies usability design flaws and missing requirements from user errors. The method is tested with a comparative evaluation of two information retrieval products. Different profiles of usability and requirements problems were found for the two products, even though their overall performance was similar.     

多媒体产品的可用性设计指南

多媒体产品的设计应在重视产品功能性的同时重视其可用性。可用性体现了从用户角度感受到的产品质量,是决定产品成败的关键因素之一。为了提高多媒体产品的可用性质量,必须在产品的设计开发过程中运用可用性工程方法,其中包括使用多媒体的可用性设计指南,该文将综合介绍目前提出的多媒体产品的可用性设计指南。     

Supporting management and maintenance of manufacturing knowledge in design automation systems

Many companies base their business strategy on customized products. To enable a high level of product adaptation in an engineer-to-order approach companies invest time and resources to develop design automation systems. Initially, when implementing a design automation system, the focus is on successfully developing a system that generates design variants based on different customer specifications (i.e. the execution of system embedded knowledge and system output). However, in the long run, two important aspects are the management and maintenance of the knowledge that governs the designs. Further, the increasing emphasis on deploying a holistic view of a product’s properties and functions implies an increasing number of life-cycle requirements. The knowledge to adapt the product to fulfil these requirements should also be used and consequently incorporated into the knowledge-base, allowing for correct decisions to be made. In a system for automated variant design, the implications on the product of these life-cycle requirements have to be expressed as algorithms, production rules and/or computational statements to be intertwined with the design calculations. The number of requirements can be significantly large, and the knowledge scattered over different application systems used for the realisation of the design automation system. This makes it difficult to manage and maintain the system as the product life-cycle environment changes and evolves.In this article, the focus is on the requirements related to manufacturing. For that, an approach for the modelling of manufacturing requirements, supporting both knowledge execution and information management, in systems for automated variant design is introduced. The approach has been applied and refined when developing a design automation system in cooperation with a company to demonstrate and verify the approach’s usability.     

Facets of prior experience and the effectiveness of inclusive design

Research in inclusive design has shown the importance of prior experience for the usability of interactive products. Prior experience, however, is an ill-defined and inconsistently used construct. A number of different definitions and operationalisations of experience exist, but the differing power of these operationalisations to predict the usability of products for older users has rarely been investigated systematically. This study seeks to fill that gap. It is argued that the construct of experience has at least three components. It is proposed that two of these components, exposure and competence, are directly relevant for the current discussion about prior experience in inclusive design and that they can predict to different degrees the usability of a product for older users. In an empirical study, these facets of expertise are each operationalised on three levels of specificity and their impact on usability is assessed. The results show that measures of competence predict usability variables more strongly than measures of exposure and that levels of medium and high specificity are the best predictors. The application of inclusive design principles to a redesigned version of a ticket vending machine—although not resulting in a difference of overall usability—changed the impact of prior experience on usability measures implying an enhanced inclusiveness of the redesign with regard to prior experience. The implications of these findings for the effectiveness of inclusive design for older users are discussed.     

Usability laboratories at Philips: supporting research, development, and design for consumer and professional products

This paper describes two of the usability laboratories at Philips, discusses practical issues arising from our experience using the facilities, gives an example of a typical usability evaluation, and briefly outlines our vision for the future of the laboratories. Usability tests at Philips can involve any product from a portfolio ranging from Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) to electron microscopes. Performing usability tests for consumer electronic products poses a number of specific problems: our user group is broad and diverse, the context in which our products are used is highly variable, and it is difficult to determine the importance of usability relative to other design goals. In the further development of our facilities, the efficient planning and the execution of usability test is of particular concern since we are driven by demanding time schedules. In the future, we expect a shift in focus towards testing more products and product concepts in their actual context of use.     

Usability laboratories at Philips: supporting research,development, and design for consumer and professional products

Abstract

This paper describes two of the usability laboratories at Philips, discusses practical issues arising from our experience using the facilities, gives an example of a typical usability evaluation, and briefly outlines our vision for the future of the laboratories. Usability tests at Philips can involve any product from a portfolio ranging from Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) to electron microscopes. Performing usability tests for consumer electronic products poses a number of specific problems: our user group is broad and diverse, the context in which our products are used is highly variable, and it is difficult to determine the importance of usability relative to other design goals. In the further development of our facilities, the efficient planning and the execution of usability test is of particular concern since we are driven by demanding time schedules. In the future, we expect a shift in focus towards testing more products and product concepts in their actual context of use.