R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 1

iSome Things

Information ScientistsKnow

That Web Site Developers Don’t

Randolph G. BiasINF 180J

Introduction to Information Studies UT-Austin School of Information

Fall, 2003

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 2

iProfessional History

•B.S. in psych from FSU•Ph.D. in cognitive psych from UT-Austin•Bell Labs for 3 years•IBM-Austin for 11 years•BMC Software for 5 years•Co-founded Austin Usability 3 years ago•Associate professor in the iSchool since January. •Previous teaching experience at UT, Rutgers, Huston-Tillotson, (SW)TSU

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 3

iObjectives• To show how smart information

scientists are, and• To show how dumb Web designers and

developers are.No, rather:- To illustrate our mutual dependence. - And, to introduce you to a subset of

Information Science.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 4

iInformation Science and Technology

• Human Information Processing– Sensation and perception– Cognition– Human learning and memory– Psycholinguistics– Decision making

• HCI Design– Information Architecture– Digital media design– Usability engineering

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 5

iDefinitions

• Usability -- the quality of a system, program, Web site, or device that enables it to be easily understood and conveniently used.

Usability affords the user easy access to the product’s functions.

• ISO 9241 definition: The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which specified users achieve specified goals in particular environments.

• HCI -- the point of contact between the user and the computer, including all physical and informational content.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 6

iTwo Jokes

1. Establish the domain for our talk

and

2. Insult everyone in the room.

. . . designed to simultaneously

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 7

iThe Discipline

• Human Factors• Ergonomics• Man (sic) - Machine Interface• Human-Computer Interaction• Human Performance Engineering• Cognitive Engineering• Software Psychology• Usability Engineering

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 8

iWhat is Usability ?

• Usability is NOT– Just common sense– all art (and no

science)– stumbled onto by

accident– tacked on at the end– free

• Usability IS– intuitive, safe, error-free,

enjoyable – best designed in from the

beginning– best achieved by knowing your

users– “The best predictor of customer

satisfaction”– “The next competitive frontier”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 9

iEngineering, not art

• Usability professionals aren’t “keepers of the magic key.”

• We purvey usability engineering methods -- specific, learnable techniques that yield valuable data.

• Bad idea: “Mr. or Ms. Software Developer, don’t depend on your own intuitions. Depend on MINE!!”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 10

iPoor Usability • It’s everywhere• In the everyday world:

nice knife…

which side do you cut with?

an (old) photocopier - which button do you press to start making copies?

not this one! that’s the “clear all settings” button!

this is the “start” button did you think it meant “copy”?

not this one either

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 11

iA better design

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 12

i

click here, right?

say you want to cancel your subscription…what would you do?

Poor Usability • The Internet:

this box pops up when you click “No”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 13

iPoor usability is rampant• “66.8% of online shoppers have abandoned sites because they

were unable to locate a product; 59% have left because the sites were disorganized or confusing.”

• In a study of online merchandise purchases, “almost half of all attempts to make a purchase failed because the users could not work out how to complete the transaction.”

• A recent, non-computer, work-flow example: If you were an 18-year-old considering where to go to college, and you were visiting the UT campus, where might you go for an application?

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 14

iWhy does this happen?• Typical software development process:

– product conception (MRD)– design: product mgmt and engineering negotiate

features– coding; maybe a visual designer makes a pass– QA / test– deployment– customers & users start complaining, support

phones ring– big customers submit modification requests team

gets to work addressing issues for R1.1

• Why wasn’t the user represented earlier in the process?

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 15

iWhy no usability engineering? • Website built to satisfy management, not users

– “Branding” becomes the focus, site is treated as an advertisement, visual design overrides usability

– It takes an act of corporate bravery to put up a relatively austere, simple site

• Engineering owns too much responsibility for UI design– Thus, the UI reflects implementation

technologies, developers’ design model• Teams can’t escape featuritis:

– “Competitor A has these 5 features, competitor B has those 10… we’d better put them all in our next release.”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 16

i Design

• Design entails discovery.• Design should be empirical.• Design is a process.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 17

i2 Design Approaches• Analytical

– Armchair design

• Empirical -- Dreyfus (1953) “Designing for people”– “Design is an intimate

collaboration between engineers, designers, clients.”

– User focus throughout.– Studied cabins for ocean

liners.– 8 “staterooms” in a

warehouse.– “Travelers” packed and

unpacked for trips of 1 week to 3 months.

– Prototyping, iteration, collaborative design.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 18

iBlack Magic• NZ stomped the US in the 1995

America’s Cup.• Headed by Peter Blake and designer

Doug Peterson.• SI, 5/22/95: “One of Blake’s earliest

and best decisions was to build 2 nearly identical boats. It enabled NZ to test rigging configurations, keels, sails, and rudders and learn exactly how much faster or slower each change made the boats go.”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 19

iBlack Magic (cont’d.)

• Blake: “We learned nothing about boat speed from the trials . . . and everything from the two-boat program.”

• “Blake told Peterson he wanted the sailors to be involved in the design process from the start.”

• Peterson: “Everyone participated in decisions from the start. As opposed to the usual way of having a design team over here, and the sailing team over there, and directors telling you what you have to do.”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 20

iBe Empirical!

From Carroll and Rosson:

“Our view is that design activity is essentially empirical . . . not because we ‘don’t know enough yet,’ but because we can never know enough.”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 21

iAnd so . . .

Empirical Design:Carroll and Rosson quote:“. . . not because we ‘don’t know enough yet,’ but because we can never know enough.”

Participatory Design:Like the Kiwis.

User-centered Design:Like Dreyfus.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 22

iSo . . .

• If we’re worried about USE, then it will behoove us to know something about WHO is doing the using.

• Psychologists (cognitive psychologists, perceptual psychologists, etc.) and information scientists are the folks who study human information processing.

• So . . . six things WE know that Web developers (apparently) don’t.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 23

i1. Users have tasks to do.

• The VAST majority of Web site visitors do not care at ALL about:– HTML, SMTP, IP addresses, C++, java, connection

types, database design,– Doug Engelbart or Vinton Cerf,– How hard it was for you to develop a Web site, or– WHY it’s taking your page so long to load.

• They just have a task to do, and if they could do it without a computer, that might be just fine.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 24

i2. Perception is not a one-to-one mapping of sensations

• Put another way, two people can process the same stimulus and have two different perceptions.

• (Or one person, processing a stimulus at two different times.)

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 25

i

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 26

iSame with auditory perception

• Phonological ambiguity: – “An ice man” – “A nice man”

• Lexical ambiguity– “His face was flushed but his broad shoulders

saved him.”• Syntactic ambiguity

– “They were shooting hunters.”• Semantic ambiguity

– “There will be a short teachers meeting at 3:00 p.m.”

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 27

i3. What’s that, over there?

• Human beings are very good at detecting movement, especially in the periphery.

• Audio, too.http://www.liptonfavorites.com/

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 28

i4. People Differ• Some of your

users/visitors may be:– Non-native English

speakers– Left handed– Capricorns– Republicans– Heterosexuals– Poor visual

processors– In a hurry– Alabamans

– In a public library– Blind– Mostly blind– Color blind– Geniuses– Drunk– Visitors to your earlier site– First-time Web visitors!– On a subway– Using a PDA

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 29

i5. Cognitive Set

• Context influences perception. • A series of events can “set” a person to

perceive things a certain way.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 30

iGuess what frequent error was made on

this form, on an IBM Service site:

• Name: ___________________• Street Address: ___________________• City: ___________________• State/ZIP: ___________________• County: ___________________

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 31

i6. Dangers of convenient sampling

• Steven Krug, in his popular book Don't make me think, argues that though there are some exceptions, "it doesn't much matter who you test."

• Jakob Nielsen famously champions employing only five users in a test (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html).

• Such parsimony is attractive to the Web site development team always laboring under budget and schedule constraints.

• But what happens when the usability engineering approach is too "discount"? ESPECIALLY when we test “friends, in the office”?

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 32

iBonus

• Three things software developers know that HCI researchers don’t (or else tend to forget):– Performance in the first 2 hours with a system may

or may not correlate with asymptotic performance.– Performance while being observed may not predict

performance when alone.– If “usability” was ever mentioned in a software

developer’s performance plan, I didn’t hear about it.• They get promotions and raises based on functionality,

code quality, and schedule.

R. G. Bias | School of Information | SZB 562BB | Phone: 512 471 7046 | rbias@ischool.utexas.edu 33

iPrinciples of User-Centered Design

The ABCs of developing useful and usable user interfaces are:

A. Products driven by task analysisB. Designs based on perceptual/cognitive theoryC. Frequent and intentional UI evaluation and user feedback