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Ian McClelland, Bronwen Taylor Philips Corporate Design PO Box 218, 5600 MD Eindhoven, Netherlands Tel: +31-40-27 333 11 E-mail: c834997@nlccmail.snads.philips.nl |
Bill Hefley Human-Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Tel: +1-412-268-7793 E-mail: weh@cs.cmu.edu |
User-centred design, process improvement, usability
engineering, user involvement.
The human computer interaction (HCI) community has
a long association with the development of user centred design principles
(UCD) and usability engineering. In fact it could be said that user centred
design is, together with the opportunities offered by computer technology,
the prime driver in developing the HCI field. We would like to review the
extent to which UCD principles and working practices are an established
part of system and product development processes within industry.
There are several reasons why we think it is worth
re-examining this issue. There has been a dramatic increase in the dependency
of advanced industrialised societies on computer use. There is now apparently
general acceptance within industry that system usability is a key objective.
But the most challenging development is the application of digital technologies which is continually breaking into new spheres of use. Consequently business environments are rapidly evolving: new markets, new market players, new types of products, new user groups, which raise different issues from those traditionally confronted in the computer industry:
- the qualities we design to; social/cultural dimensions, pleasure of ownership and use, status, fun, enjoyment etc. are being added to the traditional usability concerns ("quality of use" - ISO 9241 pt 11),
- the new skills coming into the multidisciplinary design teams; interaction designers, engineering designers, writers, animators, sound designers as well as software engineering.
- the development of new working practices.
The workshop will examine how far industry has incorporated user-centred design principles into their product and system development processes. Issues to be explored include:
- how far are UCD principles recognised as relevant to the business objectives?
- how far are UCD practices in need of adaptation
as the "usability issue" becomes more widely applied to many
product areas beyond traditional areas of HCI?
By working in groups during the workshop we plan to identify:
- the key components required for an effective and successful UCD process,
- the essential skill bases (established and emerging),
- the enablers and constraints associated with managing
"quality of use" in practice.
It is intended that the results of this workshop will be reported in the SIGCHI bulletin and/or Interactions.
20 participants from following groups will be invited:
- specialists (HF, Usability, HCI, etc.) directly engaged in product or system development in industry,
- consultants in the industrial application of UCD practices
- researchers investigating UCD practices in industry.