June 2010 Edition
Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
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‘Interfaces are something we do at the end of software development. We want to make the system look nice for the end user’
Unfortunately many analysts and programmers might agree with the above statement. They cannot see the point in spending time and money on seriously considering and involving the users in design. Instead they consider they know what is best for the user and can build effective interfaces without using extensive user-centred methods.
However experience has shown that badly designed interfaces can lead to serious implications. If you build poor interfaces you might find:
Your company loses money as its workforce is less productive than it could be
The quality of life of the users who use your system is reduced
Disastrous and possibly fatal errors happen in systems that are safety-critical
There has been a lot of interest in the past into a phenomenon known as the productivity paradox. People have wondered why when so much money has been spent in recent years on computer systems has there been such a limited improvement in organisation and country productivity. The common belief is that computers can make a business more efficient and effective but there has been little economic data to back this up.
Tom Landauer, in his book The Trouble with Computers, suggests that one of the key reasons why computers are not living up to our expectations is that they are difficult to use. Employees waste time with difficult systems, become frustrated and slowed down and are thwarted from achieving their employer’s goals.
‘I booked a ticket to fly to Athens for an Easter holiday using an online e-commerce site. I was impressed by the cheapness of the ticket and that I could do all the booking without leaving my computer.
The time for the holiday came and I drove to Gatwick airport in London. I parked my car and went straight to the check-in. Everything went well until the airline representative said, “You do know that you are flying back from Athens into London Heathrow, don’t you?”.
We had a good holiday but when we returned we landed in Heathrow and then had to spend 4 hrs trying to get to Gatwick airport (some distance away).
I felt let down by the Web site I had booked the tickets at.
A poor user interface had led to stress and tension for the holiday maker. A well designed interface might have meant that the problems never arose.
Below is an extract that appears in the discussion on usability and quality of life:
‘I booked a ticket to fly to Athens for an Easter holiday using an online e-commerce site. I was impressed by the cheapness of the ticket and that I could do all the booking without leaving my computer.
The time for the holiday came and I drove to Gatwick airport in London. I parked my car and went straight to the check-in. Everything went well until the airline representative said, “You do know that you are flying back from Athens into London Heathrow, don’t you?”.
We had a good holiday but when we returned we landed in Heathrow and then had to spend 4 hrs trying to get to Gatwick airport (some distance away).
I felt let down by the Web site I had booked the tickets at.
How would you redesign the online booking Web site interactions to avoid such problems?
A discussion of this activity can be found at the end of the chapter.
Sometimes poor HCI design can lead to very serious implications. There are many systems that are safety-critical. A safety-critical system must work under all conditions without failure or error. Some examples are:
Aeroplane control systems
Nuclear power control systems
Computer controlled medical equipment.
A new type of aeroplane had all its documentation online. Pilots could browse through the material in the cockpit as if they were browsing the Web.
On one particular flight the pilots encountered a potential serious engine problem. The captain tried to use the interactive documentation system to get help. Unfortunately he became lost in the maze of inter-linked documents.
By chance the co-pilot had printed out the appropriate part of the manual the night before (he was revising for an examination) and the captain quickly found what he needed to know by flicking through the notes.
Bad interfaces can lead to disasters and even fatalities.
In unit 2 of this course we will think in more detail about the importance of HCI. You will explore arguments that you could use to convince your company to take interactive system design seriously.
Imagine you are the technical director of an electronic company that makes a wide range of product including home entertainment systems, safety-critical systems and business productivity tools. You wish to persuade the board of directors that they should employ a number of Human Factors people. Write some outline notes of the presentation you would make to the next board meeting.
Answer to this question can be found at the end of the chapter.