ii Computer software has become increasingly complex as advances in technology permit substantially more functionality to be provided to the user, a phenomenon which has led some people to describe today’s heavily featured software as “bloated”. Despite the prevalence of this trend, the impact of complexity on the user has received little attention in the research community. This dissertation describes research that addresses that problem. Study One, a comprehensive study that looked at the experience of 53 users of Microsoft Word, showed that while many users would like to have unused functions “tucked away”, most users were uncomfortable with the complete removal of unused functions. These findings suggested personalization as a promising direction for design and led to our Pilot Study which evaluated a multiple-interfaces prototype for Microsoft Word, where one of the interfaces was personalized to the user’s individual needs. Results from that informal Wizard-of-Oz evaluation with 4 participants encouraged refinement of our prototype. Study Two, a field study that included 20 participants, tested the effects of different interface

Interactive systems are complex and often difficult to use. Their complex design therefore presents ideal, and worthwhile, material for visualising. Some of the generic ways of visualising interaction, and some of the pitfalls, are illustrated using simple techniques applied to real examples. One problem with interactive devices, particularly in the consumer market, is rapid obsolescence: we visualise this as a performance-overtime graph, and show that doing so provides further insight into the design process and its problems. 1. Introduction Computers and other systems would be pointless if people could not interact with them. Although it is trendy to consider how visualisation will change and enhance how people interact with systems, the focus of this paper is how visualisation will change how designers are able to visualise interaction, and how, thereby, they can design systems to be more usable. How people are able to interact with systems is built into those systems when they a...

The User Centered Design (UCD) approach comprises a set of several steps, methods and tools designed to assist engineers and developers in addressing the issue of usability in design of interactive systems. The UCD approach combine to assist in the process of collating design information obtained using a variety of user oriented data gathering techniques. The essence of the UCD approach is that it provides a structure to assist the developer in assuring that relevant design issues have been considered in a user oriented manner. Individual methods and tools may be visited and revisited a number of times in an iterative design process (Rauterberg and Strohm, 1992). The UCD approach directs developers to the questions that must be answered if products are to be successfully applied in their intended market, and focuses on the importance of taking user requirements into account. Consequently UCD should be seen as a methodology for collating design material rather than a design model per se. From this perspective UCD acts as a framework rather than being a detailed design method in its own right. Design usually involves a number of common activities. Typically these include: (1) a problem definition phase, (2) �the development of a functional specification, (3) �a building phase, and (4) �a testing or evaluation phase. Many engineers and designers will intuitively recognize this sequence even though they may not actually use this terminology.

: Agile manufacturing relies heavily on the quality of information that organizations have and on their ability to organize and reuse it. Constant inflow of information and knowledge is the fuel of agile manufacturing. In the process of forming virtual enterprises, these new organizations have to be equipped with information systems that integrate their present legacy technology and improve upon it. In order to support the quick formation of virtual organizations, one must have the ability to develop such systems quickly. Over the past years we have evolved, through collaborative projects with industry an approach composed of methods and an information infrastructure called n-dim that improves the ability of becoming agile manufacturers of information systems, by responding quickly to information needs of new and evolving organizations. Following an analysis of the requirements of information systems for agile design, we discuss this approach; describe some of the infrastructure featur...

As a User Centred Design group placed centrally in a larger company, one is regularly confronted with the question of transferring competence to other functions within the organisation. These requests will be motivated by the need for expanding the activities or spreading the mind-set of user orientation. Frequently regular development and marketing staff move into usability related tasks and look for training. So, it is not seldom that we as user centred design specialists are asked upon to convey our skills to others. An activity which is likely to fall in a dilemma between teaching 'easy-to-learn methods' (methods which are cooked up by others and a bit old - from when we did a presentation last) or a user centred design attitude (so that the learners can design their own methods through continuous experimenting and learning). The latter is definitely richer but much more difficult to convey. This is the dilemma we would like to address in our position paper. Work practices are rapidly changing User Centred Design is a very fast moving field, both technologically and in terms of work practices for design and user involvement. If we want to stay on the leading edge we need to adopt a practice of continuous experimentation and improvement of the way of involving users in product development. The Danfoss User Centred Design group has worked with user involvement in product development for eight years. Looking back, our methodology has changed radically over the years: Starting from a mechanical design methodology basis [Buur et.al. 1991] with user interviews, via a cognitive engineering approach [Rasmussen et.al. 1994] favouring usability testing, to a participatory design philosophy [Kyng & Greenbaum 1991] with user involvement in design workshops [Binder ; Brandt & H...

This dissertation analyses two different paradigms used for the development of a software product, Operating Systems. The targets of research are two groups that operate in very different ways, Microsoft Corporation and the Linux Community. Through the observation of the strategies and methodologies used by these actors in their work, and taking into account the constraints to which they are subject, assesses, from a dynamic perspective, the relative strengths and weaknesses of their competing paradigms. In the dissertation I will analyse the efficiency of the development processes that they have adopted for the design, improvement and enhancement of their products. A theoretical model based on Giovanni Dosis "Technological Paradigms" framework, incorporating institutional, industrial, social and cultural aspects, is constructed and specifically adapted to the software industry case. The private management of technology issues considered during the analysis of the development processes inside different organisations are linked to questions having to do with the evolution of high technology, networked, markets. This analysis lends to assessment of some rationales and potential strategies for public intervention in the Operating Systems industry, taking into account some relevant concerns that have been raised about competitive issues and dominant position in this market, one of strategic importance for the future development of the Information Society

Bloat", a term that has existed in the technical community for many years, has recently received attention in the popular press. The term has a negative connotation implying that human, or system performance is diminished in some way when "bloat" exists. Yet "bloat" is seldom clearly defined and is often a catch-all phrase to suggest that software is filled with unnecessary features. However, to date there are no studies that explore how users actually experience complex functionality-filled software applications and most importantly, the extent to which they experience them in similar/different ways. The significance of understanding users' experience is in the implications this understanding has for design. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we carried out a study to gain a better understanding of the experiences of 53 members of the general population who use a popular word processor, Microsoft Word, Office 97. As a result we are able to further specify the term "bloat", distinguishing an objective and subjective dimension. It is the discovery of the subjective dimension that opens the design space and raises new challenges for interface designers. There is certainly more to "bloat" than meets the eye.

As technology progresses, we are still surrounded by complex and difficult-to-use systems. Usability engineering appears to have had little impact on practice. Why is this, and what can be done to contribute to improving system design? This paper surveys the pervasive culture of unusability, and proposes that HCI should promote public understanding of science. A particular proposal is also put forward: for an interactive web-available "HCI workbench," an interactive design assistant, that can be used by consumers, collaboratively both researchers and practising designers.

The paper presents an approach for orchestrating validation of project results from different perspectives by using visual modelling techniques. The context for the paper is the FP6 project MAPPER. Validation in MAPPER covers economic, socio-technical and technical viewpoints. The economic viewpoint mainly focuses on business value and coherence with business drivers like reduced lifecycle time or increased flexibility. Sustainable collaboration for joint value creation of various units in a networked organisation is the main aspect of the socio-technical viewpoint. From a technical point of view, usability of IT-infrastructure and services is a key aspect. The MAPPER Validation Framework includes and orchestrates approaches and methodologies from these three viewpoints and defines the validation actions to be performed. The main contributions of the paper to research in the field are (1) the structure of the MAPPER Validation Framework integrating different validation perspectives, (2) experiences from using a visual modelling environment for framework The paper presents an approach for orchestrating validation of project results from different perspectives by using visual modelling techniques. The aim of validation is to ensure that the project results meet the project objectives. The context for the paper is the FP6 project Model-based Adaptive

Governments across the world are launching ambitious and expensive initiatives related to health care information systems and information systems strategies that use IT as the basis for improving the health care of patients. Computer-based hospital information systems (HISs) are expensive, e.g. a typical HIS for a large hospital is estimated to cost some $50m, i.e. 140m PLN [21]. In contrast, the benefits that result from an information system- in health care or in other business sectors- have rarely been measured [9]. The National Health Service in the UK has embarked on a huge initiative, namely The National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT), costing some £12.4 billion (70bn PLN) over 10 years to 2013-2014. Hospital information systems have evolved over the last three decades. Has this evolution allowed us to gain knowledge of, and understand, the problems and obstacles of HISs and their implementation? Have we a corresponding knowledge of how to achieve success and minimise failure in HIS implementations? In this context, this paper examines the NPfIT, the problems it has experienced and the successes it has achieved, in order to extract lessons from these experiences that might benefit future information and communication technology (ICT) implementations in health care. 1.