W. Mike Martin

How relative absolute can be: SUMI and the impact of the nature of the task in measuring perceived software usability

This paper addresses the possibility of measuring perceived usability in an absolute way. It studies the impact of the nature of the tasks performed in perceived software usability evaluation, using for this purpose the subjective evaluation of an application’s performance via the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI). The paper reports on the post-hoc analysis of data from a productivity study for testing the effect of changes in the graphical user interface (GUI) of a market leading drafting application. Even though one would expect similar evaluations of an application’s usability for same releases, the analysis reveals that the output of this subjective appreciation is context sensitive and therefore mediated by the research design. Our study unmasked a significant interaction between the nature of the tasks used for the usability evaluation and how users evaluate the performance of this application. This interaction challenges the concept of absolute benchmarking in subjective usability evaluation, as some software evaluation methods aspire to provide, since subjective measurement of software quality will be affected most likely by the nature of the testing materials used for the evaluation.

Building Stories Revisited: Unlocking the Knowledge Capital of Architectural Practice

Abstract Since architects deal with unique projects, their knowledge is largely experience-based, tacit and embedded within the design and construction process. Nevertheless, few consistent and systematic mechanisms exist that try to establish and maintain access to the professions knowledge. Effectively capitalizing on this knowledge thus seems as pressing a problem as producing more knowledge. Building Stories, an experimental course at University of California—Berkeley, started with a carte blanche opportunity and generous support from leading architecture firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, to try to unlock the knowledge capital of architectural practice through storytelling. This paper is about creating a discussion forum for dialogue about the nature of knowledge in architecture, how it can be captured and disseminated. More importantly, the paper illustrates how designers and other participants in the design and making of architecture can share their experiences through the method of storytelling. The paper looks back on the outcomes of Building Stories over the past five years, and on how it has evolved into an inventive methodology for catalyzing knowledge sharing between projects, between individual architects and architecture firms and, finally, between practice and academia. After briefly recalling the underlying ideas of Building Stories and their implementation as an operational methodology, the paper reports on its recent in-depth evaluation involving former participants from various contexts—young and seasoned professionals in practice, students and researchers in academia. Besides valuable feedback on Building Stories as such, this assessment provides more general insights regarding current ideas and practices of knowledge production and sharing in architecture.

The right story at the right time: Towards a tacit knowledge resource for (student) designers

In response to the lack of systematic study of architectural practice, the Building Stories methodology propounds storytelling as a vehicle for studying active cases, i.e., projects that are in the process of being designed and built. The story format provides a dense, compact way to deal with and communicate the complex reality of a real-world project, while respecting the interrelated nature of events, people and circumstances that shape its conception. With an eye to establishing a valuable knowledge resource of and for the profession, the paper explores how stories can be stored, organized and accessed so as to turn the growing story repository into a convenient instrument for students, educators and practitioners.

From repository to resource. Exchanging stories of and for architectural practice

In response to the lack of systematic study of architectural practice, the Building Stories methodology propounds storytelling as a vehicle for studying active cases, i.e. projects that are in the process of being designed and built. The story format provides a dense, compact way to deal with and communicate the complex reality of a real-world project, while respecting the interrelated nature of events, people and circumstances that shape its conception. With an eye to establishing a valuable knowledge resource of and for the profession, the paper explores how stories can be stored, organized and accessed so as to turn the growing story repository into a convenient instrument for students, educators and practitioners.