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Project Sponsors  |
Target Groups
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IESUP will support the following target groups (to use the EU jargon) Indian university academics lecturing / researching in disciplines such as Computing, IT, Psychology, Ergonomics. Indian software developers: particularly in the e-commerce field - Software engineers, Internet programmers, Interaction designers, Usability engineers. European usability practitioners and interaction designers will also benefit from the collaboration with partners in India. |
The first IESUP activities took place in March 2003, just after Holi - (the Indian Festival of Colour, for EU readers!) |
University academics
One internationally recognised strength of the Indian IT community is a strong educational orientation that produces high-class engineering graduates skilled in computer science. Currently however, very few university courses address HCI in their curricula.
The reason for specifically involving university academics is that by highlighting aspects of HCI and interaction design within those involved in shaping the Indian university curriculum the next generation of systems developers will be more aware of the need for effective interaction design across the whole spectrum of interactive applications.
Software developers
India is currently in the midst of an e-commerce and web-based revolution. The arrival of the Internet followed by the escalating growth of Web-based businesses is promoting e-commerce in both the B2B and B2C sectors.
Although IESUP addresses the needs of all types of software developer it has a particular focus in the e-commerce arena. Because e-commerce is seen to be critical to business expansion in India, and many B2C and B2B applications are highly interactive and involve a large user base where usability is a critical success factor.
European usability practitioners
An important aspect of this partnership is its dual impact both in India and Europe. Systems usability and interaction design address a global product with a global user base. European collaborators will benefit by exploring the needs of Indian / Asian users in relation to the next generation of artefacts and infrastructures for a global community, gaining a better understanding of the role of culture in relation to usability in the Indian context, and understanding the problems and opportunities for the user-centred and participative design of IT applications in the Indian context.