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Systems Usability
Information technology is all pervasive in large parts of the global community. Ensuring an effective user experience of new technology systems is a critical element in the design process. IESUP has decided to use the term 'system usability'. To know why, we will explore the three terms:
Human-computer interaction (HCI)
For the last two decades the discipline of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has underpinned the design of interactive systems in many parts of the world, most notably Europe and the USA. HCI is a multi-disciplinary subject linking computer science with other fields such as psychology and ergonomics. The discipline of HCI aims to support the development of usable software artefacts.
The ACM defines HCI as:
'Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use. '
Usability
Usability is the output from a development process based upon sound HCI techniques. In Europe and other areas usability engineers are a common contributor to the commercial design process and usability is seen as an important aspect of overall IT systems quality.
There are standards for usability - both for the systems that we develop and for the user centred process that we adopt to develop them. International standard (ISO 9241) defines usability as follows:'the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.'
Systems usability
Today new technologies are penetrating our lives at an increasing rate and in mainly different ways, from mobile communications to interactive domestic devices. The discipline of HCI is evolving to address the design and development of the next generation of ubiquitous interactive systems designed to support people in their everyday and working lives.
No longer is HCI just about designing usable interfaces to single user computing systems. In the world of what is referred to as 'new usability' the emphasis is often on small, sometimes multi-user and frequently mobile systems. In this partnership we refer to 'system usability' to encompass both 'traditional' aspects of software usability and more recent developments in interaction design and 'new usability'.