How to combine task and activity analyses to integrate a users' centred point of view in the software design process?

Maryline Specht
Software Ergonomics Lab, Paris V University (France)
Tuesday 10 August at 11am

Abstract

After a short presentation of my department and its principal research areas, my talk will deal with the following question:

How to integrate work analysis in the software design?

My studies on Human-Computer Interaction have convinced me that interactions are related to users’ tasks, environment, purposes (as opposed to rational purposes), irregular contexts, and a lot of different variables depending on the working situations.

The bargain is to reinforce task analysis with work analysis for a better integration of HCI in the design process. One possibility is to model the variables that have an impact on HCI. For this case, I will present the results of my modeling of car drivers’ interactions with their vehicle in a highway environment and it's results for a driver assistance system design and evaluation. Another possibility is the development of general recommendations and guidelines for software engineering. I will present the first results of a work analysis focused on Internet and it’s use in real situations.

Short resume

I am an Associate Professor in Ergonomics at the University of René Descartes (Paris V) at the L.E.I. (Software Ergonomics Laboratory) department, in Paris (France). Member of the SELF (French Ergonomics Society). My studies are focused on Human Factors, and especially on the cognition process in human-artifacts interactions during working situations. After completing my PhD dedicated to the modeling of car drivers’ interactions with their vehicle in a highway environment, my research area has been extended to the modeling of human-computer interactions.

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