Showing papers on "User story published in 2001"

Context of Use within usability activities

Abstract: Designing for usability involves establishing user requirements for a new system or product, developing design solutions, prototyping the system and the user interface, and testing it with representative users. However, before any usability design or evaluation activity can begin, it is necessary to understand the Context of Use for the product, i.e. the goals of the user community, and the main user, task and environmental characteristics of the situation in which it will be operated. This paper describes the background to, and importance of, understanding Context of Use, and presents a process for performing a context analysis. The method described is particularly aimed at non-experts in the area of user-centred design and evaluation.

Launching extreme programming at a process-intensive company

Abstract: The author describes a project that was started using many extreme programming practices in a company that has a traditional formal development process. He discusses how XP was proposed to management, how the project seed was started and grown, what the team faced during its first six months, and what worked.

Extreme Programming Applied: Playing to Win

Abstract: Extreme Programming (XP) is a significant departure from traditional software development methods, one that is ushering in a change for both developers and business people. It is an agile methodology, which enables highly productive teams to produce quality software from rapidly changing or unclear requirements. XP is disciplined software craftsmanship, elevating best practices in software analysis, design, testing, implementation, and project management to a new level. Extreme Programming Applied helps you begin using the principles behind this revolutionary concept. Extreme Programming Applied is just that roadmap, a pragmatic guide to getting started with Extreme Programming. It helps programmers and project managers take their first steps toward applying the XP discipline. This book is not a tutorial, however. It uses real-world experience to educate readers about how to apply XP in their organizations. The authors offer guidelines for implementing XP, illustrating key points with valuable stories from successful XP pioneers.

Intelligent adaptive navigation optimization

Abstract: A method and apparatus for optimizing the navigation of lists or other hierarchies of alternatives, as presented to the user by electronic devices and computer networks, by automatically recommending the alternatives of the next list to be presented. Each alternative is recommended on the basis of the importance of that alternative to the user, or to the operator of the service provided to the user, or to providers of applications that can be selected by the user. The optimization is based upon probabilities estimated by mathematical functions on several variables, statistics, and parameters, including but not limited to the user location, time and date, user's expressed personal preferences, service operators' and application providers' expressed commercial intentions, service operators' and application providers' expressed business rules, implied application relationships, personal information of the user, usage statistics of the user, usage statistics of the general public, and embedded parameters which refine a statistical model of the user's behavior. Such optimization reduces the efforts required of a user to select one item, out of a structure of lists of items, by reorganizing the structure so that the user is likely to use fewer keystrokes or spoken words to select an item of combined higher importance to the user, the service operator, and the application provider. The optimization is personalized to each user by presenting the lists and structures to each user in a way that is automatically adapted to the statistical and deterministic factors pertaining to that individual user, so that users of different personalities and preferences can see or hear differently organized lists from which to choose. The number of keystrokes, or spoken words, is further reduced by intelligent data sharing between applications to avoid requiring the user's reentry of the same data to one application that was already entered in another.

Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design and Development

Abstract: From the Publisher: "Using extensive practical examples, the Practitioners's Handbook for User Interface Design and Development illuminates today's best practices for user interface design, usability, and user-centered development, Robert J. Torres introduces user interfaces from three points of view: the user, the developer, and the system. Next, he introduces a complete user-centered UI development process, beginning at the highest level and then drilling down to each phase of the lifecycle. For every stage, Torres offers clear principles, specific guidelines, and practical heuristics for self-assessment." Whether you're a developer, project manager, usability specialist, IT manager, software customer, or researcher, Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design and Development will be your definitive resource for building great user interfaces.

Web-Based Information Systems Development - A User Centered Engineering Approach

Abstract: Web-based Information System (WIS) engineering is more complex than traditional Information System (IS) engineering in that it raises many new issues such as presentation issues, user profiling, navigation support etc...This paper presents a method - a set of product models along with process models for the development of WIS.This method adds the dimension of user modeling and customization to Web engineering. By capturing the user profiles, the designer is able to define user categories and to tune the presentation of the WIS content according to the specificity of the user. Besides, by capturing the user goals, he is able to define guidelines for navigating in the Hyperspace in order to optimize the satisfaction of the user needs.Finally, the proposed approach considers, as it does in much traditional software approaches, three different levels of abstraction (conceptual, logical and physical). It also clearly separates the management of potential users data, content design, navigational design and interface design. Such separation of concerns facilitates many maintenance tasks and leads to a higher degree of independence and flexibility.

Applying experientialism to HCI methods

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to incorporate the results of Experientialism in the domain of Human-Computer Interaction. The purpose is twofold: on the one hand it shows how some concepts of Experientialism like metaphor, image-schema, stories or conceptual integration may be used to explain where some concepts of HCI come from. On the other hand it uses the same conceptual background to support the design activity: the same concepts of Experientialism may be employed to build new conceptual artifacts in order to design User Interfaces and application software in general. One of the most fruitful ideas Experientislim may offer is conceptual integration as the basis upon which to construct new design solutions. Notwithstanding the pervasive use of metaphor in everyday language and even in HCI texts, there is a considerable amount of criticism regarding the use of metaphor in designing user interfaces based on the assumption that this practice may be the origin of troubles when using such software products. That is why one of the chapters is aimed at showing that not only the use of metaphor is pervasive in HCI but even the use of figurative language as well. Not only figurative language is usually employed but it is even one of the main tools for conceptualising new ideas and concepts required in the activity of software development. The Thesis proposes a framework aimed at designing User Interfaces based on the concepts of Experientialism. The proposal integrates two phases (analysis and design) the same way as most of software development methods do, trying to profit on the broad scope of the cognitive processes such as image-schema, metaphor and conceptual integration. These general concepts may be well suited to build conceptual models upon which to elaborate the user interfaces and the optirnalizy principles proposed to study the suitability of conceptual integration may be also used as validity criteria to evaluate such design artifacts. In order to validate such a proposal, the Thesis shows how to use the framework in two different situations: i) to explain why a problem such as the Mac trashcan -used to eject diskettes- is not a problem of using metaphors but an unfortunate design decision, and ii) to be applied in the design of a new User Interface. Other concepts of Experientialism are proposed in capturing user requirements. The concept of story is the ground on which to build scenarios or use cases, as stories are a more general cognitive process and a form of telling things at a more general level. That is why the user stories may be mapped to use cases, as both are essentially different type of stories and the capture of requirements is a way of specifying one type of stories (use cases) based on the original stories (user stories).

The application development process: What role does it play in the success of an application for the user developer?

Abstract: End user development of applications forms a significant part of organisational systems development. This study investigates the role that developing an application plays in the eventual success of the application for the user developer. The results of this study suggest that the process of developing an application not only predisposes an end user developer to be more satisfied with the application than they would be if it were developed by another end user, but also leads them to perform better with it. Thus the results of the study highlight the contribution of the process of application development to application success.

Mining user session data to facilitate user interaction with a customer service knowledge base in RightNow Web

Abstract: RightNow Web is an integrated software package for web-based customer service that has, at its core, a database of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). One major design goal is to facilitate end-user interaction with this dynamic document collection, i.e. make it as easy and efficient as possible for users to browse the collection and locate desired information. To this end, we perform several types of analysis on the session tracking database that records user navigation histories. First, using both explicit and implicit measures of user satisfaction, we infer a "solved count" representing the average utility of an FAQ. Second, using the user navigation patterns we construct a link matrix representing connections between FAQs. The technique of building up the link matrix and using it to advise users on related information amounts to a form of the "swarm intelligence" method of finding optimal paths. Both solved count and the link matrix are continuously updated as users interact with the site; furthermore, they are periodically "aged" to emphasize recent activity. The synergistic combination of these techniques allows users to learn from the database in a more effective manner, as evidenced by usage statistics.

Mindmatch: method and system for mass customization of test preparation

Abstract: The invention is a method and system for providing dynamic, customized test preparation using a computer assisted search engine which retrieves: (1) specific solutions to sets of questions that a particular user is answering incorrectly, (2) teaching modules on how to solve each general case of question that appears within the searched set, and (3) new assignments of questions similar in type to the searched set. The search function is fueled by a unique issue-based classification system, and triggered by a series of diagnostic tests that are designed to evaluate a user's weakness. The user begins the cycle by inputting his/her test results and the system matches the performance of the user and enables the user to gain training mainly in his/her weakneses. The system includes media rich teaching tools, referred to as the “Living Page” because the question text is animated in a unique manner that highlights the steps of solution. As the user continues to train, the search engine continues to adapt to the user by retrieving materials that best suit the user at that instant. The user's history is recorded, evaluated and updated with each visit to the website, where this service will be hosted and principally provided to online users. The user may even design, within certain predetermined parameters, a self-prescribed course of study. The two main user driven modalities are referred to as “The Hedghog” and “The Fox”: the former retrieves information along one specific line of inquiry (eg, user seeks to see every solution for every question of a single type), while the latter enables the user to scope the boundaries of the entire field and review preselected examples (eg, user requests information on every question under a particular category or issue and also wants to know how many other categories would need to be studied before the field is exhausted). Finally, the digital product achieves customization by assigning a virtual tutor, referred to as the “Genie” to each user. The user will be able to select one of several personas to digitally accompany and plan the entire course of study through a series of emails and computer generated schedules and reminders. The user selected Genie will also proctor exams and evaluate replies to homework. In the event that the digital solutions do not provide adequate training, the program is designed with a “Hard Stop” button, so that the user may send an email to a live instructor and have his/her substantive question replied to by a trained teacher. This method of providing test preparation will enable the user to register for instruction in a variety of ways, including: (1) according to time spent on website (i.e., number and/or length of visits to visit), (2) by subject (eg, a bundle of services triggered by a user's response to a subject test would include solutions, training sessions and a customized drill set) or (3) as a way of enhancing live course delivery and CD-Rom study aids.

Considering possible outcomes and the user's environment in designing user interfaces for data-intensive systems

Abstract: Application programmers are often unrealistic about the end-user's working environment and seldom cater for the effects of events which will interfere with the use of the application. Such events can disrupt the straightforward execution of a task and interfere with a user's concentration. These events, which are referred to in the paper as "quirks", could be system breakdowns, various types of interruptions to application use, or human errors. Applications often make no concession to the inevitability of quirks and seldom give assistance in rebuilding mental context afterwards or facilitate understanding of the cause in the case of an error. In addition to the normal quirks caused merely by sharing office space or in working as part of a group of people, most data-intensive systems are distributed and this tends to precipitate a whole range of errors, hitherto unsuspected, which will probably be reported to the user in all their technical verbosity, reducing the user's understanding of and confidence in, the system and perhaps necessitating intervention by specialists. The inherent distributed nature of data-intensive systems also increases the likelihood of breakdowns, since so many more computers are involved in the application than the computer being used by the end user. Few applications consider the effects of quirks while developing their systems, and the user is therefore unsupported in recovering from them. The paper discusses how applications may be designed to better support users in dealing with the effects of quirks in data-intensive systems.