June 2010 Edition
Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
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Computers have had a great impact on the way we live our lives and do our work. But they have apparently had little impact on how productive we are at doing out jobs. The jury is out as to how little impact they have had, but the evidence of their lack of impact is compelling as well as the argument that improving their usefulness and usability will improve their productivity.
The fluidity and rapidly moving software market means that pressures are placed on developers to rapidly produce badly designed software instead of slowly produced well designed software. The unquantifiable nature of usability mean that there is little effort to produce more usable software and there are also a few myths amongst developers (for example the feature list size = usability myth) which mean that a push for genuine usability is rare.
What is the ‘productivity paradox'? Explain what may cause the productivity paradox and give an argument as to why the productivity paradox may not exist.
Answer to this question can be found at the end of the chapter.
Explain why designing systems well should give productivity benefits, but only in the long run.
Answer to this question can be found at the end of the chapter.
In this unit and the next we are going to analyse web surfing from a user centred perspective: that is to say we are going to look at what users actually want to do when they surf the web. We will step through a simple analysis process which requires no special skills other than critical thinking. In total the analysis should take at most three or four hours. We hope to show that there are some usability issues with the most commonly used web browsers.
We hope to dispel some myths about user centred design – that it is woolly, vague and time consuming. We also aim to get you to look and think more critically about software, hopefully moving you from the viewpoint of what the software allows the user to do to the viewpoint of what the user wants to do, and to make you think about why there should be a mismatch between the two.
Complete each step completely before moving onto the next. Each subsequent step builds on the next so try to take notes about what you do in each step; you may need them subsequently.
Clear your desk and switch off your computer, or at least switch off the monitor. You are going to think abstractly about the web and web surfing and you do not want to be distracted by the day to day business of pushing the ‘Back' button or clicking on highlighted links.
Now ask yourself this question: ‘What is the web?' and ‘What does it mean to me?' Think about this carefully and then write down your answer, trying to be as careful and explicit with your description as possible.
Do not use any of the phrases you may have come across in the media like ‘the encyclopedia of tomorrow' or ‘a vast collection of interrelated pages spread out over the world'. If you find the web to be wonderful and exciting then say that, but explain why. Similarly if you find the web ugly and intimidating then say so, but explain why.
Write two or three paragraphs, but think about it before you do. We are trying to make you think about the web, what it is and what it means to you and explain that, and that can be quite difficult. Many people have hazy ideas about what the web is and what its for.
Write down your description, then click here to see mine, but do not look at it until you have completed yours
Now you may completely disagree with my viewpoint, and you are welcome to do so. We are not trying to collect objective information about the web, quite the opposite; we want subjective user opinions, but we want them explained rationally and explicitly.
Save your description. We will refer to it on later activities.