Lecture 3

(part 4 of 4)

Key Concepts

That makes the end of this part of the lecture course. By now you should be thinking about designs and designing and thinking about how to design with user groups in mind.

You should have learnt the following concepts and be already aware of different definitions in the literature:

• human factors as concerned with FJM.
  
• the relationship between HF and other related work.
  
• usability, learnability, functionality. Definitions of usability, e.g. objective and subjective measures (Schackel).
  
• the concept of 'user error', the study of error, types and taxonomies of error forms, the cause of errors, the issue of blame as separate from error. The broader political context of error.
  
• The concept of design, models of how design proceeds in organisations and the different roles the HF expert can take.
  
• Considering the user: and the consequences when you do not.
  
• What are my design options? The space of design options?
  
• What is the rationale for the design choice I made?
  
• What are the consequences of my design choice for different user groups? Have I considered the tasks which need to be performed? Have I considered all situations (e.g. emergency situations) in which this tool will be used? Have I considered resources for support?
  
• Ways in which design proceeds and ways in which the design process fails to incorporate user issues. (We will start to address some of the tecniques at the end of the course.)
  
• Some characteristics of the Human Operator and some places you could find out about the human operator.
  
• The advantages and disadvantages of design guidelines (also house styles), principles, models, standards.

Summary

• HF is concerned with fitting the environment to the person.
  
• HF is often perceived (esp. historically) as a discipline born of crisis.
  
• HF is a human centred design philosophy.
  
• HF is a body of knowledge about human behaviour in systems.
  
• HF is an interdisciplinary and international field.
  
• HF in design is complemented with consideration of selection and training.
  
• design decisions have consequences for the user's behaviour/performance.
  
• latent errors are manifested at the 'sharp end' of work activities.
  
• "errors" and "mistakes" may often be circumvented by good design.
  
• often design decisions are made on the basis of perceived need and market forces which drive a focus on functionality and not suability and learnability.
  
• in many cases, the space of design options is enormous, although a number of factors reduce the design space: e.g. standards (legal issues), cost, time constraints.
  
• the role of functionality, learnability, usability (objective and subjective measures) in systems.
  
• there are constraints and trade-offs involved in design.
  
• need to move away from viewing HF as simply techniques for improving surface appearance of systems.
  
• must look at how systems are used and how they are perceived in order to help design.
  
• how human information processing is influenced by the resources available in the environment around us.
  
• well formed but approximate theories of cognition and social cognition are necessary.
  
• human capabilities is not the same as human characteristics.
  
• The role of anthropometrics, behavioural issues, cognitive issues, and social context issues.
  
• human adaptability is incredible, BUT it is not "free", requires time to adapt, consumes mental and physical resources.

Lecture 4