Marilyn M. Mantei

Cost/benefit analysis for incorporating human factors in the software lifecycle

New software engineering techniques and the necessity to improve the user interface in increasingly interactive software environments have led to a change in traditional software development methods. Methodologies for improvement of the interface design, an overview of the human factors element, and cost/benefit aspects are explored.

Capturing the capture concepts: a case study in the design of computer-supported meeting environments

Designing interactive interfaces for individual usage is a significantly hard task that is being surmounted by evolving theory and hours of trial and error. The task of designing interactive interfaces for cooperative work is even more difficult. Not only is it necessary to deal with the individuals cognitive processes and model of the computer aided task, but also to build software to support human - human communication with all the underlying socialization and group dynamics that this communication implies. In the development of the Capture Lab environment, guesswork was coupled with a study of human behavior in meetings both electronic and conventional, an extrapolation of existing research and a series of mini-experiments to test out various ideas about the design. These approaches are described in the body of the paper along with the design considerations at issue and the meeting behaviors we have since observed as a result of our design choices.

Work relationships and media use: A social network analysis

Our research provided empirical evidence about the alternative means of communication used by 25 members of a research group who had available to them: unscheduled face-to-face encounters, sheduled face-to-face meetings, electronic mail, telephone, fax, and desktop videoconferencing. The intent of our research is to learn whether there are elements in existing group communication patterns that suggest how future communication systems can be designed or selected to fit the actual work relationships of a group. A detailed social network survey provided information about what members of the group communicated about, how they communicated, and with whom they communicated. Most communication was done through a combination of media, but predominately through unscheduled encounters, electronic mail, and scheduled meetings; people rarely videoconferenced, telephoned, or faxed. Factor analysis reduced the 24 work relationships to six distinct dimensions: receiving work, giving work, collaborative writing, major emotional support, sociability, and computer programming. The proportion in which the three main media were used varied according to the nature of the work dimension. Our findings suggest that a multivariate perspective that considers group norms and practices, social networks, and work dimensions is necessary to analyze media use.

Idea management in a shared drawing tool

The generation of design ideas in group discussion is a complex and dynamic process. Some design ideas are accepted; others are rejected; many others are modified and combined. The fluent expression of ideas and the ability to interact and build on representations created by others contributes significantly to the idea generation process. Computerized shared drawing tools support this fluency and interaction, but such tools need to aid not only the drawing process but also the management of design ideas during group interaction. This paper lays the groundwork for the design of the idea management portion of a shared drawing tool. It presents a taxonomy of group idea management activities, identifies user requirements in support of these behaviours, and illustrates how the user requirements are satisfied by features in CaveDraw, an experimental shared drawing system.

Skilled financial planning: the cost of translating ideas into action

We use GOMS models to predict error rates and mental times for translating financial concepts into equations in two widely used interface representations. The first of these, common to spreadsheet packages, is characterized by non-mnemonic naming and absolute referencing of variables. The second, common to non-procedural command-driven software, is characterized by mnemonic naming conventions and relative referencing of variables. These predictions were tested in an experiment using experienced financial analysts. Although the interface that allows mnemonic and relative names (called keyword) takes longer overall, it produces seventy-five percent fewer simple errors and requires less mental effort. Given the overall serious cost of errors in financial models, we conclude that interfaces having the keyword representation are far superior.

Incorporating behavioral techniques into the systems development life cycle

The gathering of a variety of human-oriented information is vital in the development stages of a software system. This information can be applied at a given stage to improve the human-computer interface of the software product. To reflect this, new categories of design and/or development effort need to be added tot he traditional systems development stages. These efforts, termed user factor stages, differ from the traditional feasibility studies, requirements analyses, and tests that are currently conducted. The stages offer a flexible series of techniques, which can be compared and contrasted in terms of their expected information benefit, cost, and reliability of data obtained. As a concrete example, the development of a forms interface to a relational database management system illustrates these techniques.

Observation of executives using a computer supported meeting environment

Abstract Designing interactive interfaces for individual usage is a significantly hard task that is being surmounted by evolving theory and hours of trial aand error. The task of designing interactive interfaces for cooperative work and group decision making is even more difficult. Not only is it necessary to deal with the individuals cognitive processes and their model of the computer aided task, but also to build software to support human - human communication with all the underlying socialization and group dynamics that this communication implies. In the development of the Capture Lab, a computer supported meeting environment, guesswork was coupled with a study of human behavior in meetings both electronic and conventional. Added to these approaches was an extrapolation of existing research studies on non-computerized meetings and a series of mini-experiments to test out various ideas about the design. The body of the paper describes the application of this mixture along with the design considerations at issue and the meeting behaviors we have since observed as a result of our design choices.

Bullseye! when Fitts' law doesn't fit

Today’s GUI interfaces require considerable visual attention for their operation. Consequently, interface events use up precious screen real estate and disenfranchise blind users from current software usage. If interfaces move to the realm of auditory and tactile designs, these problems are mitigated. However, it is not clear how much useful HCI research, particularly performance time models, will transfer from the visual to the non-visual. This paper attempts to answer a small part of this question by considering performance time models for menu selection in a non-visual bullseye menu. We chose to study non-visual bullseye menus because we have found them to be highly useful in non-visual interfaces: they can serve as effective non-visual replacements for several visual linear menus.

Mixing oil and water?: Ethnography versus experimental psychology in the study of computer-mediated communication

Mixing oil and water? Ethnography versus Experimental Psychology in the study of computer-mediated communication.

Communicating about communicating: cross-disciplinary design of a media space interface

describes benefits and misunderstandings resulting from differing perspectives and methodologies in a crossdisciplinary team. Our team designed and deployed a mtila spa& (video commi%cati& system). The interface designers were frustrated by the limited user access and rigid schedules necessary for the sociologists, The sociologists saw designers as nonobservant researchers using invasive research practices and inconstant measures, In the end, both disciplines helped the other accomplish their goals. The sociologists learned something about evaluating technology and how usability impacts future product acceptance. The designers learned how detailed studies of current work practices and roles can provide design clues.