User Centered Design Principles: How Far Have They Been Industrialised?

Ian McClelland, Bronwen Taylor, Philips International
Bill Hefley, Software Engineering Institute

Monday, April 15

The human computer interaction (HCI) community has a long association with the development of user centered design principles (UCD) and usability engineering, but how far is industry integrating UCD principles into their product design processes in practice?

The application of digital technologies, which is continually breaking into new spheres of use, presents a challenging development. Business environments are rapidly evolving; new markets, new market players, new types of products, and new user groups are all raising different issues for the computer industry. As the "usability issue" is applied to product areas beyond traditional HCI, how much are the principles commonly advocated in need of adaptation?

The workshop will examine these issues and seek to identify:

key components for success;
essential skill bases (existing and emerging);
enablers and constraints of managing "quality of use" in practice.

We invite participants from:

specialists (HF, HCI, usability, interaction designers) engaged in industrial product/system development;
consultants in the industrial application of user centered design principles;
researchers investigating current industrial practice.

Those interested should send a two- to three-page position statement covering:

current status of activities related to UCD principles and practice in your own work sphere;
summary of issues you would like to discus;
personal objectives for the workshop;
a biographical sketch.

This information will be circulated to all participants in advance of the workshop.

This one-day workshop is limited to 20 participants.

Contact

Bronwen Taylor
Philips Corporate Design
PO Box 218, 
5600 MD Eindhoven  Netherlands
E-mail: c896415@nlccmail.snads.philips.nl
Tel: +31 402 73 30 76
Fax: +31 402 73 49 59

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