Know your users!

1. Know your users!

2. Users • Last week we looked at the physical and cognitive abilities of humans • Aims this week • Understand the importance of knowing your users • Understand the context in which the user will interact with the technology / software • Look at a number of case studies and real life examples.

3. User Centred Design • Simple definition is including users in the design process • However there is more: • ISO 13407, Human-Centred Design Processes for Interactive Systems, approved in 1999, is a general reference model of user-centred design principles and processes.

4. UCD Model

5. Problems of UCD in practice • Clients are unhappy with consultants who fail to understand the domain in which they work, focus only on the users and produce shallow, surface work they could have done themselves. • Donna Maurer. 2006. User centred design in practice: is it working?. In Proceedings of the 18th Australia conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Design: Activities, Artefacts and Environments (OZCHI '06), JesperKjeldskov and JeniPaay (Eds.). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3-3.

6. Sonos • “Before we even begin to design anything, we do a lot of work upfront about who our customers are, how they interact with music throughout their day and what they want from our products,” he explains. • “That means that rather than designing something an engineer wants, we’re working on what users want. It lets us simplify designs and focus on everyday use,” Lambourne continues.

7. Sonos • Further research – including home visits to Sonos users – led to users being able to turn off the Play:3’s display, so its light wouldn’t bother people using one in the bedroom.

8. User Errors • Daily Mail Headline: • Mother-of-four dies after blundering nurse administers TEN times drug overdose • But staff nurse wrongly pumped her with 50ml of the drug over half an hour instead of over five hours, the inquest heard.  • Instead of pressing the 10ml per hour button, the nurse admitted tapping in 100ml per hour on the drug infusion pump. 

11. Seven Segment Displays • Don’t use 7-segment displays! • Title of a paper at British HCI 2011 • Rational for use: • They make economic sense: they are simple, and with only seven on/off segments, they require little wiring and electronics to support. They are cheap to buy and cheap to use; they make seemingly effective products.

12. 6 and 7

13. Hexadecimal

14. Pen • What is the time 10:21 or 12:01???

15. Fireman • Seven segment radiation dosimeters hanging upside down from the wearer’s belt can easily be read differently by a supervisor and by the wearer, who would lift them up to read them.

16. Planes fall out of sky • United Airlines Flight 389 – 1960’s • A definitive cause was not determined by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators. However, it was believed that the crash was most likely the result of the pilots misreading their three-pointer (3p) altimeters by 10,000 feet.

18. To Err is human • Fact is that people make mistakes • Need to understand human ability to try and design to minimise these mistakes • Need to understand consequences of mistakes • Result in lost data • Business loose money • Loose Job • Death

19. Cancer Treatment to Die For (2000) • Cost: Eight people dead, 20 critically injured • Disaster: Radiation therapy software by Multidata Systems International miscalculated the proper dosage, exposing patients to harmful and in some cases fatal levels of radiation. The physicians, who were legally required to double-check the software’s calculations, were indicted for murder. • Cause: The software calculated radiation dosage based on the order in which data was entered, sometimes delivering a double dose of radiation.

20. Users • Not everyone like you! • People suffer from range of disabilities • Visual impairment • Auditory Impairment • Autism • Dyslexia • Arthritus • Etc… • Then there is age!

21. Age • Unlike yourselves older people have not grown up with computer technology • Generation Y – people born late 70’s – 90’s • Experience important • Promotes confidence • When I did my degree many essays / coursework still written by hand

22. Elderly • Physical disabilities – arthritis, mobility • Hearing derogates over time • Memory issues - Alzheimer‘ • Confidence suffer • Social Issues - isolation

23. Children • Less developed motor skills • Mouse has been redesigned • Drag and Drop vs Point and Click • Debate on whether drag and drop is too difficult to use for children because they may not be able to hold the mouse button pressed and move the mouse simultaneously • Communication skills

24. Summary • It is important to know your users • Need to know their physical and cognitive abilities • Need to know their environment in which they will use the technology • Without this knowledge your designs or products can FAIL!