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MultiCom, a platform for the design and the evaluation of interactive systems.

MultiCom, a platform for the design and the evaluation of interactive systems.

BP 53 - 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9 - FranceCNRS - INPG - UJF

Communication Langagière etInteraction Personne-Système

J. Caelen, CLIPS-IMAG, GRENOBLE

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Needs

• The designers of interactive systems need tools and methods for system design and evaluation.

• The academic research teams are sought frequently by the industry for studies on user needs, and on user evaluation.

It would be more benefit, to create a common platform for the both partners. The platform would be more a service centre devoted to the experimentation than a classical academic or industrial institution.

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Objective

A platform for the design and the test of interactive systems, allowing to :

- study the usage and the usability of the interactive systems under real conditions of using- design and assess complex systems to respect with the usage and the usability- analyse the human behaviour (under definite scenarios of using) from collected data

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Expected benefits

• Improved feasibility assurance of development projects,• Improved procedures, methods and concepts,• Reduced development costs and time,• Improved product quality and increased flexibility and adaptability,• Progress towards the establishment of software engineering standards,• Improved guarantees to end-users that a product has been developed following best software and cognitive engineering practice.

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Rationale

MultiCom is an approach to software development which emphasises the use of operational models throughout the lifecycle.

MultiCom is a complete platform for the design and the evaluation of the interactive systems, including all the stages of the development cycle and supporting tools for sociologic observations and ergonomic tests (by taking into account human factors).

MultiCom provides training to the end-users as soon as the system comes in the exploitation phase.

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The complete lifecycle

A Observing the current usage, predicting the future usage,B Defining the specification notebook,C Defining the using scenario and assessing it,D Refining the specification on the diagnosis delivered in C, E Developing a mock up,F Evaluating the use and the usability of the mock up,G Modifying after debriefing and debugging,H Developing another version of the mock up,I Returning at the step F while it is necessary,J Evaluating the final mock up,K Developing a prototype,L Pushing it on the market,M Training end users if needed,N Analysing the market returns.

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The pre-development lifecycle

Specific approach : to enrich the product concept as soon as possible, before the first stage of the pre-development, using a complete parameters palette(a) sociological questionnaires, (b) human factors grid and task analyses,(c) data collected from users

Concept

Specification

Diagnosis

CriteriaFunctions

Virtualinterface

Scenario

TestFunctions

Mock up 1

Devel.

Test Mock up 2Criteria

Correct.

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The design cycle

To integrate as soon as possible the human factors in the design process : three phases

Information Elicitation Phase

Design Synthesis Phase

Design Specification Phase

Concept

Specification

Diagnosis

CriteriaFunctions

Virtualinterface

Scenario

TestFunctions

Mock up 1

Devel.

Test Mock up 2Criteria

Correct.

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MultiCom Tools

Simulation Measure Analysis

The platform :

rooms

workstations

audio-video

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Tools : simulation

The simulation consists in :

— simulate a product/system using some virtual reality tools,

— or simulate a situation (using wizard of Oz method),

— or simulate the situation and the product together.

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Tools : measure

The simulation The measure consists in :

— choosing adequate criteria,

— selecting parameters,

— defining scenarios and test protocols,

— collecting data about the user behaviour,

— applying criteria on the selected parameters.

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Tools : analysis

The simulation The measure The analysis consists in :

— making functional analysis or task analysis before the specification phase,

— applying reverse engineering method during the specification phase in order to validate it,

— applying statistical methods on collected data after the development phase,

— studying spoken dialogues if any.

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By prediction : from socio-cognitive theory : to specify the design and to specify the system.

Materials : questionnaires,

task trees,

sociological criteria grid

Methods

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Methods

By prediction By simulation :

(virtual prototype, wizard of Oz, etc.) in order to refine functionality and to control the level of usability of the prototype, during the development phase.

Client Magicien - Agent

Echange de- images- plans- textes

DAT

Vidéo-disque

1 Magicien "Gestion du dialogue" 1 Magicien "Annotation"

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Methods

By prediction By simulation By direct observation on the prototype working : in

applying assessment protocol,

Materials : scenario editor,

observation scripts and annotation,

data collecting software,

data analysis tools,

simulation tools.

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Methods

By prediction By simulation By direct observation : By indirect observation : in verifying the conformity

of the system to the specifications.

Materials : ergonomic expertise.

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Benefits to the developing countries

Last years, usability budgets have been steadily growing... Costs for a usability labs ? Not really a problem...

– Sharing equipment

– Sharing specialists

– Portable equipment Usability laboratories can also be used for certain variants of

heuristic evaluation (for the design phase but also for the adaptation to the user and for the “computerisation” phase)

The single-most important decision in usability engineering is simply to do it !

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Conclusion

MultiCom is…

A competence network (sociology, ergonomics, computer science)

A complete platform of experimentation and measure A training centre (seminars, short courses) A resource centre offering services on sociology and

human factors areas