User Work Research Articles

Integrating Task Analysis in Software Usability Evaluation: A Case Study

This paper describes a task analysis approach to usability engineering a digital Emergency Medical Services system. In a hierarchical task analysis, we decomposed user's workflow into major tasks and examined the compatibility between software functionality and user's work process. In a cognitive task analysis, we built an expanded GOMS model to account for user interaction at the procedural level. The analyses revealed that the system's physical setup made it difficult to be integrated into user's primary patient care tasks and that the interface design put high demand on users' information processing resources at both the cognitive and perceptual-motor levels. These results complemented our previous work of heuristic evaluation of the same system but allowed us to examine software usability issues in a broader context as well as at a more fundamental level. The expanded GOMS analysis technique we introduced here is also useful in the revision of the software's user interface.

ニーズ・テクノロジー・サイクルに基づいた製品設計に関する研究

In usual design process of machine products such as machine tools, most designers concentrate on the improvement of technical specification of the product. However, all products should be designed as those users' needs are realized. And the design process in which users' needs are extracted and reflect on the product should be expressed clearly. In this paper, a new design process that composes of both technology-oriented cycle and needs-oriented cycle is proposed. We call it needs-technology cycle. The design process was applied to a design of CNC lathe. The results of evaluation of the developed CNC lathe show that both user satisfaction and efficiency of user's work are improved more than an ordinal CNC lathe.

Challenges for user-interface designers of telemedicine systems.

Problems associated with telemedicine systems include high telecommunications costs, lack of physician interest, and failure to build evaluation into the design process from the onset of the telemedicine project. An overview of the human-factors engineering approach to systems design and how it can be applied to the development of telemedicine systems is described. Design of an interface is based on an analysis of user capabilities, tasks, and work environment. Task analyses are performed to understand and document the interaction between a user's work activities and a system. Two characteristics of a human factors approach that are important for telemedicine are: (1) defining and measuring user performance, and (2) involving users in the design and testing of a system. Usability goals are operationally defined and tracked to quantify performance. Having users participate in the design, testing, and critique of a system also increases the likelihood that the system will be accepted and used after it is released.

The Impact of Order Communication System on Changes of User's Work Patterns, Adaptation and Satisfaction

The Impact of Order Communication System on Changes of User's Work Patterns, Adaptation and Satisfaction

Interactive implementation: Promoting acceptance of expert systems

Successful implementation depends both on a computer system's characteristics and on the process by which the system is integrated into the user's work routine. The importance of organizational involvement in expert systems development has been relatively neglected in previous studies. Moreover, relatively few expert systems progress past the prototype stage and still fewer are accepted by the users they are designed to assist. This article examines how and why an expert system is implemented and accepted by a public works agency. It analyzes the process and the results of an in-depth case study of an expert system for water supply system operations. The focus in this study differs from much previous work on computer implementation: instead of examining just the process of technology development, thus study analyzes the critical interactions between the system developer, the technology, and the organization's members. A key finding is that the systems developer can engage in a process of “interactive implementation” to develop the expert system with the organization rather than merely for the organization. This process can catalyze organizational support, reduce barriers, and shape a system that suits user and organizational needs, which ultimately can improve acceptance.

Designing interfaces for programmers

Describes tools, techniques and concepts to optimize user interfaces. Increasingly, individual tools are being replaced by programming environments, which increase productivity and usability by tight integration with and knowledge of the user's working context. An integrated environment provides several benefits, such as preventing users from making mistakes that cause rework. Recently, as integrated environments have demonstrated higher levels of usability and the ability to enhance productivity, experienced developers have overcome their resistance to them.

Sistema automatizado de registro de la actividad eléctrica de estructuras profundas del sistema nervioso central

This paper describes a computer system to record and process the deep brain electrical activity, during functional and stereotactic neurosurgery. The NDRS program system (Neurorestorative Deep Recording System), developed at the International Neurological Restorative Center in Cuba, allows a digital osciloscope simulation with different graphic facilities in real time and some signal processing: spike amplitude discrimination, signal integration as a quiantification of its general amplitude, and spectral Fourier analysis to study the correlation between different simultaneous signals. The behavior of the integrated activity can be shown on the electrode trajectory into the brain. This graphic can be superimposed on any selected sagittal. plane of the Schaltenbrand and Wahren Atlas, after its automatic scaling according to the brain dimensions of each patient. The system also allows the possibility to reprocess and edit the recorded data, saved in the computer disk, as well as to export them in standard format, making it compatible with other processing systems. lt has an interface oriented to facilitate the user's work, with help-windows available at every moment. Using an 80386/80486 IBM compatible personal computer this program system substitutes the signal analogical processing equipments, which are expensive and have specific purposes. Therefore, it has more flexibility for the recorded data manipulation and to include other kind of analysis. Up to this moment, the NDRS has been successfully used, contributing to increase the safety in the correct selection of the therapeutic lesion or implantation sites in more than 110 neurosurgical procedures (Vim-Thalamotomies, Pallidotomies, Subthalamotomies and Nurotransplantations) to control different symptons of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES OF INFORMATION RETRIEVAL INTERACTION: ELEMENTS OF A COGNITIVE IR THEORY

The objective of the paper is to amalgamate theories of text retrieval from various research traditions into a cognitive theory for information retrieval interaction. Set in a cognitive framework, the paper outlines the concept of polyrepresentation applied to both the user's cognitive space and the information space of IR systems. The concept seeks to represent the current user's information need, problem state, and domain work task or interest in a structure of causality. Further, it implies that we should apply different methods of representation and a variety of IR techniques of different cognitive and functional origin simultaneously to each semantic full‐text entity in the information space. The cognitive differences imply that by applying cognitive overlaps of information objects, originating from different interpretations of such objects through time and by type, the degree of uncertainty inherent in IR is decreased. Polyrepresentation and the use of cognitive overlaps are associated with, but not identical to, data fusion in IR. By explicitly incorporating all the cognitive structures participating in the interactive communication processes during IR, the cognitive theory provides a comprehensive view of these processes. It encompasses the ad hoc theories of text retrieval and IR techniques hitherto developed in mainstream retrieval research. It has elements in common with van Rijsbergen and Lalmas' logical uncertainty theory and may be regarded as compatible with that conception of IR. Epistemologically speaking, the theory views IR interaction as processes of cognition, potentially occurring in all the information processing components of IR, that may be applied, in particular, to the user in a situational context. The theory draws upon basic empirical results from information seeking investigations in the operational online environment, and from mainstream IR research on partial matching techniques and relevance feedback. By viewing users, source systems, intermediary mechanisms and information in a global context, the cognitive perspective attempts a comprehensive understanding of essential IR phenomena and concepts, such as the nature of information needs, cognitive inconsistency and retrieval overlaps, logical uncertainty, the concept of ‘document’, relevance measures and experimental settings. An inescapable consequence of this approach is to rely more on sociological and psychological investigative methods when evaluating systems and to view relevance in IR as situational, relative, partial, differentiated and non‐linear. The lack of consistency among authors, indexers, evaluators or users is of an identical cognitive nature. It is unavoidable, and indeed favourable to IR. In particular, for full‐text retrieval, alternative semantic entities, including Salton et al.'s ‘passage retrieval’, are proposed to replace the traditional document record as the basic retrieval entity. These empirically observed phenomena of inconsistency and of semantic entities and values associated with data interpretation support strongly a cognitive approach to IR and the logical use of polyrepresentation, cognitive overlaps, and both data fusion and data diffusion.

Early warning system for PC-AIDS revisited

Computer viruses can wipe out some or all of a user's hard work. Thus, it is important for every computer user to be on the alert. Virus programs have been written in assembler language in the past. However, it also is possible to write them in a high-level language. This may lead to an even greater proliferation of these types of programs than previously thought. A tool which aids in the detection of Corresponding and Surrogate File Viruses is discussed. This tool can be used in conjunction with other tools to provide a high level of security from the computer virus problem. The source code for this tool is provided in the Appendix.

Integrated Engineering Decision Making Through the Use of a Data Extract System

Summary This paper describes Chevron U.S.A. Production Co.'s data extract system, CDX. CDX integrates our corporate mainframe databases with a set of ad hoc data analysis tools. Tools include statistical analysis software, database packages, and a widely used spreadsheet. CDX allows the user, through a single user interface, to access and retrieve data from a variety of databases written in industry-standard languages. CDX also allows access of large indexed data sets, such as Chevron's digital well-log archives. Data are delivered to the user's work environment—mainframe, workstation, or PC—ready to be loaded into ad hoc analysis programs or technical applications. This approach to system integration gives users the ability to mix, match, and reanalyze both technical and financial data in ways only experts could previously. Examples of how CDX has increased our ability to manage business more effectively include analyzing individual wells and patterns for profitability and optimizing flood operations by generating maps of individual well plots. The benefits of CDX are numerous, considering the business pressures now in effect that drive companies harder than ever to reduce operating costs, increase production, and optimize property portfolios. CDX offers a way to realize the benefits of data integration without having to rewrite multimillion-dollar data systems immediately. CDX also provides an organized way to shift information systems, data, and work processes to the newer relational technologies. Lastly, information derived from operating CDX is allowing Chevron to plan and optimize new relational data models and information systems.

The Utilization of Computer Graphics in Hospitality Financial Management Education

ABSTRACT Once considered an invader, today a personal computer is accepted as a help tool used to enhance the user's work performance. The move from isolated microcomputers to network environments has considerably changed the entire approach to conducting business and education.

An online library catalogue

This paper starts with a description of a project to introduce automation in the libraries of the National Institute for Cancer Research and the Clinical and Experimental Oncology Institute of the University of Genoa. It then describes the information retrieval software chosen to manage various library functions, in particular the book catalogue. Use of this system led to new working methods for library staff and for the users. The users' interest in the new system has been evaluated by attendance of specific training courses and by the number of accesses to the online catalogue. Preliminary results show that this interest exists, and that adequate information can improve the library user's approach to the automated catalogue and make it a part of the user's routine work.

Recognition of stages in the user's information‐seeking process during online searching by novice searchers

This paper reports results of an exploratory study to investigate the ability of novice searchers to recognize stages in a user's information‐seeking process. This study follows recent research by Kuhlthau et al. (1992) which examined the ability of experienced search intermediaries to recognize and assess the stage of a user's information‐seeking process. Two aspects were examined in the study: problem definition level and the work stage that the user was experiencing at the time of the online search interaction. The purpose of this present study is to examine if the ability to recognize and assess the information‐seeking stage of the user is limited to skilled and experienced intermediaries or is a more fundamental human cognitive activity. Results of the analysis suggest that novice searchers were able to judge the user's problem definition level more successfully than the user's work stage. Implications of this finding are discussed in terms of a general process model of information‐seeking behavior.

Development of a universal wheelchair narrower.

A wheelchair user's mobility may be hampered by narrow doorways and restricted turning spaces. Mobility may be improved by undertaking expensive building alterations in the wheelchair user's own home and work environment. However, other environments, including modes of public transport, may still present considerable difficulties. One way of improving mobility is to reduce the overall width of a wheelchair with the occupant still seated within it. This is achieved by using a clamp, known as a "wheelchair narrower" which can be fitted and operated either by the wheelchair user or an attendant. The narrower takes advantage of the inherent design of a wheelchair which permits folding for storage. A universal wheelchair narrower was manufactured and tested at Tayside Rehabilitation Engineering Services. It was designed to be used on 69% of wheelchairs issued through the National Health Service in Scotland. Tests revealed that wheelchairs could be narrowed by between 38 and 127 mm depending upon the type of wheelchair. Active wheelchair users reported that the device was particularly useful when travelling.

How Evidence Alters Understanding and Decisions

have been gradually developed to portray the idealized versions of each kind of use. One of these is the instrumental model. Under this model, consists of making a decision, and social science evidence is assumed to be instructive to the decision. Though there are variations on this theme, the model usually assumes that once the evidence is available, the decision is relatively straightforward. The instrumental model has recently become something of a straw man in discussions of social problem solving, as observers have pointed out deviations from the model on such things as the sequence of events in social problem solving (Rein & White, 1977), the ability of social science to clarify issues (Cohen & Weiss, 1977), the need for findings from social science to be confirmed by ordinary knowledge (Lindblom & Cohen, 1979), the procedural ambiguities inherent in group decisionmaking (March & Olsen, 1979), and the tendency of policies to change incrementally rather than abruptly (Weiss, 1980). The other model of use could be called the conceptual model. Although it does not account for decisions, it does account for a good deal of social science use (Rich, 1977; Weiss, 1977). Under this model, evidence is not specifically instructive, but it is nevertheless relevant, and consists of thinking about the evidence. The most important difference between the conceptual model and the instrumental model is this: Whereas the central feature of the instrumental model is the decision, the central feature of the conceptual model is the human information processor, and that fact leads to several other important distinctions between the models. For instance, human information processors are assumed to already have a considerable body of knowledge before receiving the evidence. They approach the evidence with a well developed, internalized model of the substantive issues at hand. If participants work primarily in education, for instance, they may approach new evidence with knowledge about child development and the learning processes; about how teachers teach and how to tell a good one from a bad one; about the different kinds of effects that different kinds of policies or programs are likely to have and why; and about how well the administrators of existing educational programs are doing their jobs. The presence of this knowledge is essential to the conceptual model. Because the evidence is no longer instructive to a decision, as it was in the instrumental model, it must have a bearing on something else. In the conceptual model, it influences the user's working knowledge of the issues at hand. A second important difference between these two models has to do with the authority that the evidence may have: Whereas a decison may follow almost automatically from the instructions contained in the evidence, information pro-

Describing businesses with data dictionaries

A data dictionary not only describes the computer processes and data within a computer system but also the business processes and data which they represent. In this way a computer system actually mirrors the way the user's business works and is not merely a reflection of the way the systems analysts perceive it. The use of entity modelling for building the data dictionary and the development of application generators are also described.

An APL system for interactive scientific-engineering graphics and data analysis

This paper describes an APL system, GRAFSTAT, designed for interactive scientific-engineering plotting, data analysis, applied statistics, and customized graphics output development. It runs under VSAPL on the IBM 3277GA and 3279 graphics terminals. The system has a full screen, menu driven interface. It is synergistic with APL in that full screen entries can be APL expressions and in that the interactively developed full screen responses can be run noninteractively within the user's own APL functions. The system contains a wide range of graphics capabilities, a set of commonly applied data analysis and statistical routines, and utilities for cataloging full screen responses, application functions, and data, i.e., for the general management of the user's work sessions and work units. It provides an excellent example of the potential of APL as a software base for scientific-engineering applications in interactive environments with high resolution graphics displays.

Computer utility environments and local networks

Current activities in computer system development indicate a continued interest in and expansion of Computer Utility Environments (CUE) and local networks of the most cost effective computers that can be produced in the current technology, CUE's are characterized by the support of functions that are integrated into the user's work, as well as other, environments. This utility in the future will be as commonplace as the typewriter, photocopy machine, telephone, mail, etc. Office automation systems now in use are an example of a specific CUE. CUE's are a development of the ideas presented as early as 1965 by the groups that developed the Multics system. These groups were from MIT, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and General Electric (later Honeywell). In his book <u>The Multics System</u>, Elliott Organick explained the system objectives as "In a sentence, these objectives were and are to provide multiaccess computer use to a large community of individual problem solvers, teams of cooperating researchers, and/or (legitimately) competing entrepeneurs, by providing reliable processing power and storage that expands as required in which information private to its users can be shared in a controlled manner."

Progress report on the establishment of a Patent Information Centre (informationszentrum patente) in the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract The author describes the structure of the sectorial information centre for patent information (IZ 17) which is being established in the Federal Republic of Germany as central information service under the responsibility of the German Patent Office. The local patent information services will be incorporated in the system. Details are further given on the work of the user's working party 17, which since April 1980 has taken part in the planning of the information centre by the German Patent Office.

Managing VM/CMS systems for user effectiveness

Discussed in this paper is a computing center management methodology based on the premise that the computer user's time and work product are valuable. Experience in the use of interactive systems in a research environment from 1965 to the present time is presented. Current user experience and management of VM/ CMS are emphasized. The use of computers as tools for extending users'powers of memory and logic and the development of new methods of managing VM/CMS are discussed in detail.