Using videotex for shopping - a qualitative analysis

Abstract

Abstract Public access computer systems, e.g. videotex, enable the development of value added services such as teleshopping and telebanking. Potential users may not have any significant experience of computers, or indeed any interest in learning how to operate them. The computers, therefore, need to be simple to use. This paper attempts to identify features of the teleshopping task which contribute to problems of usability. This identification is a pre-requisite for subsequent experimental evaluation and system optimization. First, transactions are described in terms of a general model of the task. The videotex form of a particular transaction-shopping - is then examined and expectations of sources of difficulty are derived. The data from an observational study are used to identify sources of difficulty and to establish a set of operationalizable system variables contributing to user difficulties and errors. A model of the user is then described which accounts for such problems of usability in terms of mi...