From the Publisher:
Written by the author of the best-selling HyperText & HyperMedia, this book provides an excellent guide to the methods of usability engineering. Special features: emphasizes cost-effective methods that will help developers improve their user interfaces immediately, shows you how to avoid the four most frequently listed reasons for delay in software projects, provides step-by-step information about which methods to use at various stages during the development life cycle, and offers information on the unique issues relating to informational usability. You do not need to have previous knowledge of usability to implement the methods provided, yet all of the latest research is covered.

Usability Engineering

System R is a database management system which provides a high level relational data interface. The systems provides a high level of data independence by isolating the end user as much as possible from underlying storage structures. The system permits definition of a variety of relational views on common underlying data. Data control features are provided, including authorization, integrity assertions, triggered transactions, a logging and recovery subsystem, and facilities for maintaining data consistency in a shared-update environment.This paper contains a description of the overall architecture and design of the system. At the present time the system is being implemented and the design evaluated. We emphasize that System R is a vehicle for research in database architecture, and is not planned as a product.

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System R: relational approach to database management

A formal approach to analysing the user complexity of interactive systems or devices is described, based on theoretical results from cognitive psychology. The user's knowledge of how to use a system to accomplish the various tasks is represented in a procedural notation that permits quantification of the amount and complexity of the knowledge required and the cognitive processing load involved in using a system. Making a system more usable can be accomplished by altering its design until the knowledge is adequately simplified. By representing the device behaviour formally as well, it is possible to simulate the user-device interaction to obtain rigorous measures of user complexity.

An approach to the formal analysis of user complexity

This paper presents an approach to the description and analysis of complex Man-Machine Systems (MMSs) called Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE). In contrast to traditional approaches to the study of man-machine systems which mainly operate on the physical and physiological level, CSE operates on the level of cognitive functions. Instead of viewing an MMS as decomposable by mechanistic principles, CSE introduces the concept of a cognitive system: an adaptive system which functions using knowledge about itself and the environment in the planning and modification of actions. Operators are generally acknowledged to use a model of the system (machine) with which they work. Similarly, the machine has an image of the operator. The designer of an MMS must recognize this, and strive to obtain a match between the machine's image and the user characteristics on a cognitive level, rather than just on the level of physical functions. This article gives a presentation of what cognitive systems are, and of how CSE can contribute to the design of an MMS, from cognitive task analysis to final evaluation.

Cognitive systems engineering: new wine in new bottles

Finally-a thorough pedagogical survey of the multidisciplinary science of HCI.

Human-Computer Interaction spans many disciplines, from the social and behavioral sciences to information and computer technology. But of all the textbooks on HCI technology and applications, none has adequately addressed HCI's multidisciplinary foundations-until now. 

HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks fills a huge void in the education and training of advanced HCI students. Its authors comprise a veritable house of diamonds-internationally known HCI researchers, every one of whom has successfully applied a unique scientific method to solve practical problems.

Each chapter focuses on a different scientific analysis or approach, but all in an identical format, especially designed to facilitate comparison of the various models.

HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks answers the question raised by the other HCI textbooks: 
How can HCI theory can support practice in HCI?
* Traces HCI research from its origins
* Surveys 14 different successful research approaches in HCI
* Presents each approach in a common format to facilitate comparisons
* Web-enhanced with teaching tools at http://www.HCImodels.com

*Contributors are leading researchers in the field of Human-Comptuter Interaction 

*Fills a major gap in current literature about the rich scientific foundations of HCI 

*Provides a thorough pedogological survey of the science of HCI

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Toward a Multidisciplinary Science of Human-Computer Interaction
by John M. Carroll, Virginia Tech 

2. Design as Applied Perception
by Colin Ware, University of New Hampshire

3. Motor Behavior Models for Human-Computer Interaction
by I. Scott MacKenzie, York University, Toronto, Canada

4. Information Processing and Skilled Behavior
by Bonnie E. John, Carnegie Mellon University

5. Notational Systems--The Cognitive Dimensions of Notations Framework by Alan Blackwell and Thomas Green, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

6. Users' Mental Models: The Very Ideas
by Stephen J. Payne, Cardiff University, Wales

7. Exploring and Finding Information
by Peter Pirolli, Palo Alto Research Center

8. Distributed Cognition
by Mark Perry, Brunel University, London, England

9. Cognitive Work Analysis
by Penelope M. Sanderson, University of Queensland, Australia

10. Common Ground in Electronically Mediated Communication: Clark's Theory of Language Use
by Andrew Monk, University of York, England

11. Activity Theory
by Olav W. Bertelsen and Susanne Bodker, University of Aarhus, Denmark

12. Applying Social Psychological Theory to the Problems of Group Work
by Robert E. Kraut, Carnegie Mellon University

13. Studies of Work in Human-Computer Interaction
by Graham Button, Xerox Research Centre Europe, Grenoble, France

14. Upside-Down Vs and Algorithms-Computational Formalisms and Theory
by Alan Dix, Lancaster University, England

15. Design Rationale as Theory
by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson, Virginia Tech

HCI Models, Theories, and Frameworks: Toward a Multidisciplinary Science

Formal grammatical description has not generally been applied in the human factors area, which traditionally draws on behavioral science for its methodology. This paper illustrates, by means of a detailed example, how formal grammatical description can be used as a predictive tool to compare alternative designs for ease of use and to identify design choices which could cause users to make mistakes.

Formal Grammar and Human Factors Design of an Interactive Graphics System

This paper describes a series of psychological experiments used to test a new data base query language. The intent is to make psychological testing of a language part of the design and development process. By testing a language while it is still under development, features that require changing can bs identified and the changes made.

P. Reisner

Papers

Formal Grammar and Human Factors Design of an Interactive Graphics System

Use of Psychological Experimentation as an Aid to Development of a Query Language