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Brainstorming is an individual or group process for generating alternative ideas or solutions for a specific topic. Good brainstorming focuses on the quantity and creativity of ideas: the quality of ideas is much less important than the sheer quantity. After ideas are generated, they are often grouped into categories and prioritized for subsequent research or application.
Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability>Methods>Collaboration
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Critical incident technique is a method of gathering facts (incidents) from domain experts or less experienced users of the existing system to gain knowledge of how to improve the performance of the individuals involved.
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A design pattern is a proven design solution to a common design problem documented in a standard format.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Design>Usability>Planning
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A focus group is a focused discussion where a moderator leads a group of participants through a set of questions on a particular topic. Focus groups are often used in the early stages of product planning and requirements gathering to obtain feedback about users, products, concepts, prototypes, tasks, strategies, and environments. Focus groups can also be used to obtain consensus about specific issues.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Methods>Focus Groups
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A usability evaluation method in which one or more reviewers, preferably experts, compare a software, documentation, or hardware product to a list of design principles and list where the product does not follow those principles.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Methods>Heuristic Evaluation
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Internationalization is the process of designing and developing software or Web applications so that they can be easily adapted to various linguistic and cultural environments without additional programming or engineering. Central to internationalization is the separation of language and cultural data from the source code.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>International
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Sizing UCD projects presents special challenges to usability practitioners and consultants. Each project and UCD methodology comes with its own set of variables that makes it difficult to accurately estimate resource requirements and completion times.
Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Project Management
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A semi-structured or structured interview that is conducted over a phone or Internet audio line. Phone interviews can supplement other HCI methods and allow HCI specialists to follow users over an extended time.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Interviewing
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Users take photos to highlight important aspects of their lives and context. The photos are assembled into collages and studied to highlight opportunities for new technologies and barriers to their acceptance.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Design>Usability>Photography>Methods
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Pluralistic Usability Walkthrough
A usability test method employed to generate early design evaluation by assigning a group of users a series of paper-based tasks that represent the proposed product interface and including participation from developers of that interface.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Resources>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting
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A well designed user interface is comprehensible and controllable, helping users to complete their work successfully and efficiently, and to feel competent and satisfied. Effective user interfaces are designed based on principles of human interface design. The principles listed below are consolidated from a wide range of published sources (Constantine & Lockwood, 1999; Cooper & Reimann, 2003; Gerhardt-Powals, 1996; Lidwell, Holden & Butler, 2003; Nielsen, 1994; Schneiderman, 1998; Tognazzini, 2003) and are based on a long history of human-computer interaction research, cognitive psychology, and design best practices.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Design>Usability>User Interface
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Continued learning and professional training are essential for continual growth in the evolving field of usability. To address this need, the BoK will provide a listing of courses that are relevant to both students and professionals looking to enhance their knowledge of this growing field.
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The creation of low-cost representations of the user interface to a system as a method of brainstorming, creating, testing and communicating ideas about the system being developed.
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Strategies for Sizing UCD Projects
When discussing strategies for sizing UCD projects with consultants, it quickly becomes evident that there seem to be as many strategies as there are consultants. This document will define and describe commonly used strategies, identify each strategy’s scope (i.e., whether it applies to design, research, or evaluation), suggest situations in which each strategy would be best suited, and identify pros, cons, and caveats to its use.
Usability Body of Knowledge. Articles>User Centered Design>Project Management
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A short glossary of terms used in the field of usability.
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There are two basic alternatives for structuring a usability/UCD group within an organization: members of the group can be centralized in a single department, or, members can be distributed among development teams.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability>Project Management>Collaboration
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There are two basic alternatives for structuring a usability/UCD group within an organization: members of the group can be centralized in a single department, or, members can be distributed among development teams.
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This section describes the usability profession's relationship to other fields. It includes a brief description of related fields.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability
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Design involves finding solutions that fit the user, task, and context of use. Properly designed objects -- including software, tools, and web sites -- fit their context so well that they are easy to use and beneficial to the user.
. Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Design>Usability
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Where in the Organization Should a Usability Group Belong?
Companies often struggle to find the best place for the usability/UCD group within the organizational structure. While common placements for this skill set are in the IT/development department, in the marketing/communications department, in the Quality Assurance department or in Product Development, whether these locations are the best for any specific organization is a function of the capability of the usability group and the maturity of the organization to leverage that capability.
