IEEM552 - Human Computer Systems Week 2 - An organizational perspective & research perspective

1. IEEM552 - Human Computer Systems Week 2 - An organizational perspective & research perspective February 9, 1999 Dr. Vincent Duffy - IEEM http://iesu5.ieem.ust.hk/dfaculty/duffy/552 email: vduffy@ust.hk 1

2. Week 2: Overview • Microsoft Word for DOS Systems- • Change the User Interface? • IBM Europe Headquarters • 2nd half- Research perspective • Discussion of recent papers • History lesson: The Web Discovers User Interface Design by A. Marcus • Human Interface Research and Practice at Apple Computer by P.Strijland • from Proceedings of the 7th Int’l HCI, San Francisco • 10 ways to look at a research paper 2 2

3. MS Word for DOS- Changing the user interface • Why did they want to consider changing the interface? • Q1. Was usability a problem? For who? Give an example. 3

4. MS Word for DOS • Why did they want to avoid the change? • Q2. What reasons were used to justify ‘not changing the interface’? 4

5. MS Word for DOS- Changing the user interface • What role did the following play? • cost? • operating system? • standards? • product differentiation? • competition? • market conditions? • break with the past (for old users)? • increased confusion? 5

6. MS Word for DOS- Changing the user interfaceMS2 • Why did they want to consider changing the interface? • Improved performance? • usability? • reliability? • Why is the decision about change important? • What are issues for concern? • Long/Short term? 6

7. MS Word for DOS- Changing the user interfaceMS4 • Why is the decision about change important? • What are issues for concern? Long/Short term? • 3. What information was gathered from current users? Was that information representative of their current users? Target market? 7

8. Dynamics of a product lineMS5 (Graph) Why did this issue continue to be raised? • What are the dynamics of a product line? • 4. In terms of dynamics of a product line, describe 3 dimensions of compatibility that a software developer would be concerned about. Give an example. • Long term - want compatibility between • new and old versions of same software • different products- file parts (copy), commands etc. • between different operating systems-dos, apple, etc. 8

9. see graph

10. What happened? • 5. Should they have chosen Option 1,2 or 3? What would you do? What happened? • option 1: incorporate feature and user-interface improvements in DOS Word v.6.0 • option 2: unbundle feature and user-interface improvements; user-interface changes in v.5.5 and feature improvements in v.6.0. • option 3: DOS Word has limited life; do not invest resources in changing the interface at this late stage (1989) 10

11. MS Word for DOS • put off the switch until the benefits outweigh the cost of switching. • continued to maintain Word for Dos (not option 3) • chose option 2 • interface improvements in version 5.5 • still shipped v.5.5 w/two sets of disks- with and without new interface • feature improvements in 6.0 11

12. IBM Europe Headquarters • 6. What is the focus of this case? • product development? • usability? • productivity? • implementation? • What was the role of EHQ? • What is PROFS? 12

13. IBM Europe Headquarters • 7. What important changes occurred at EHQ at the time PROFS was implemented? • Did it have the three important functions of any office system? • (clue: according to: Egbert Hoeferlein). What are they? • p.4 enable communication, data access, graphics 13

14. IBM Europe Headquarters • 8. Who were intended users? • secretaries? • Why were they the intended users? • see p.2 14

15. IBM Europe Headquarters • 9. Was it successful? Did it gain widespread acceptance? If so, how? • Why was it successful? • Organizational need - multilingual, and role of EHQ was communication • Top management support -and use • Pilot studies and demonstrations • Training, support and help available 15

16. IBM Europe Headquarters • Q.9. continued. What benefits were realized for EHQ for using PROFS? • improved communication • better access to data • p.5 productivity and reduced need for support • BAM (BusinessArea Mgmt. group) liked access across timezones -when offices were otherwise closed 16

17. IBM Europe HeadquartersIBM4 • 10. What were 2 problems that were caused? • underemployed secretaries • only copying and answering phones • prefer answer email and make graphics • p.7 difficult to follow the trail of decisions • lines of communication changed • new paths opened up between all parts of the organization (layers) 17

18. IBM Europe HeadquartersIBM5 • Were the problems because of PROFS? • p.7 EHQ strategy for intoducing the technology but no guidance on how to use it 18

19. Human Interface Research and Practice at Apple Computer by P.Strijland from Proceedings of the 7th Int’l HCI, San Francisco • What do interface designers do? • sometimes systematically compare two different interfaces • sometimes improve an existing prototype/interface • one of you noted ‘there is there a gap between research work and the practice on interface design especially for small scale, and short time to market productions’. Why? • Resources. Takes time and money to run subjects • Why shortage of designers if apple works well with academics? • Many times HCI is not discussed in UG curriculums 19

20. History lesson: The Web Discovers User Interface Design by A. Marcus from Proceedings of the 7th Int’l HCI, San Francisco • How to judge a good web page design? • note the references to Schneiderman, J.Nielsen • terms like ‘user interface’, ‘metaphors’, ‘mental model’, concern about ‘productivity’, • need for transferring good theory, principles and evaluation techniques • compete for ‘users attention, time and decision-making/choice’ • note poor quality: but what makes good quality in web design? • And what about cultural differences (standardize ‘almost impossible task’) • how do you decide if the results are generalizable to the intended users? 20

21. And what about ‘good designers’? • Many in H.K. focus on graphic design. Why? • How does UID help w/future development of the web? • Through acquiring quantitative data…test users • how to measure pros and cons of interface designers’ idea? • Good question….how to measure? 21

22. Why to measure? • Mistaken belief that problems can be fixed in later releases. • But why focus on user ? 22

23. Consider a bit of history of computer use • re: Companies like Microsoft/Oracle and their recent emphasis on interface design • why has there been a recent shift in interest toward HCI • a lot of automation - particularly with anything requiring numerical and logical operations • phase 2 - requires enhancing activities that people do that can not be taken over by computers • ex. write, negotiate, decide, organize, entertain, persuade, create • now (as a percentage of total program) more lines of code are dedicated to interface design 23

24. Is user interface design really important? • Good question. • As in the case study we sometimes look at the organizational perspective. • We will compare two designs next week in class. • Consider: sometimes the designer doesn’t think like a typical user…maybe expert…maybe novice 24

25. But what is the problem with this paper? • One of you pointed out….When you get to the end, the author hasn’t really supported the claim about ‘what is a good web design?’. • That leads us to consider…. • How do we summarize a research paper… • one of you asked...what is a research perspective? • But how do you look at a conference or journal paper from a research perspective? 25

26. 10 ways to look at a research paper systematically for critical analysis • 1. research ideas/question -what is the purpose? • 2. what background support? - literature review • 3. theoretical basis for analyzing question/hypothesis? • 4. applicability-practical contribution? • 5. theoretical contribution? • 6. appropriate methodologies for carrying out study? (determining variables, data collection, method used to test hypotheses, validity of measures and reliability) • 7. appropriate statistical analyses and assumptions? • 8. presentation of results: what do they really mean? • 9. conclusions drawn: are they reasonable? • 10. future work/research directions: any possibilities?

27. for next class meeting - week 4 • in class demonstration • all groups will participate in collecting data • compare two interfaces • analyze the data, interpret the results • estimating the benefits - • we will compare library cat for dos/www • meet in the I.S. Lab • first half of class • 3rd floor - near 3203 27

28. For the next few weeks • Week 3 - Next week, Tuesday16th • no class, no homework • Week 4 - Tuesday, 23rd February • in week 4 - select papers for oral presentations • finalize groups of 2 or 3, • present during wk.6,7,9,10, or 11 • first a practice exercise - homework due by noon Tuesday 23rd by email (no attachment) • details in just a few minutes minute • Week 5 - Monday, March 1 • OSHC seminar 9am-6pm (no Tuesday class) 28

29. Sidenote: note that two of you did the summary/questions for the wrong papers. • Please be more careful with the next assignment. 29

30. H.W. For next time - week 4 • 1. research paper for next week • Nielsen, J. (1994) Estimating the number of subjects needed for a thinking aloud test Int. J. of Human Computer Studies 385-397. • using the 10 ways to look at a research paper • choose 3 subheadings in the ‘10 ways’ and write 3 sentences about each. • Choose 1 subheading and write 1 sentence about why you didn’t choose it. 30

31. H.W. For next time - week 4 • 2. Economic Benefits of User Interface design • read chapter 1-Eberts-User Interface Design • consider the Mantei and Teori method. • Q. Could it have been used by Microsoft (for Word for DOS) for determining the economic benefits of increased usability? • Yes/No and 1 sentence is sufficient. 31