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Charles D. Bowen

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Publications by Charles D. Bowen (bibliography)

1994

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Cuomo, Donna L. and Bowen, Charles D. (1994): Understanding Usability Issues Addressed by Three User-System Interface Evaluation Techniques. In Interacting with Computers, 6 (1) pp. 86-108.

“Three structured judgment evaluation techniques were applied to a system with a graphical direct manipulation style interface, to understand the types of usability problems they address. These evaluation techniques were cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluation, and the Smith and Mosier (1986) guidelines. The authors wanted to learn whether the techniques identify problems: across all stages of user activity, which noticeably affect users' performance with the system, and which are important to the usability of direct manipulation-style systems. Results showed that the cognitive walkthrough method identifies issues almost exclusively within the action specification stage, while guidelines covered more stages. The walkthrough was best, however, and the guidelines worst at predicting problems that cause users noticeable difficulty (as observed during a usability study). All the techniques could be improved in assessing semantic distance and addressing all stages on the evaluation side of the HCI activity cycle. To evaluate the directness of engagements, improved or new techniques are needed.”

1992

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Bowen, Charles D. (1992): Prototype Classification and User Interface Management during the Requirements Analysis Phase of System Acquisition. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 1110-1112.

“Much has been written about the value of prototyping during the requirements analysis phase of system acquisition. This paper focuses on the classification of prototypes as they impact the user interface. Using a style guide to manage the user interface during the prototyping process is also examined. A distinction between different categories of prototypes, can be drawn in terms of the amount of functionality provided to the user. Consequently, three distinct types of prototypes can be differentiated: conceptual, detailed design and operational prototypes. The conceptual prototype presents the user with the least amount of functionality and is often undertaken to derive functional requirements and to exhibit a proposed solution to a problem. The detailed design prototype exhibits more functionality and is often used by human factors personnel to collect detailed user feedback and performance data to make specific tradeoff decisions and to derive a more detailed design of the user interface. An operational prototype is a complete system that has been fully tested by selected end users, but is not sold as a commercial product. Once the category of prototype is established, a style guide is helpful in managing the development of the user interface. Ensuring consistency within a prototype is the principal role of a user interface style guide. Recent experience in the creation of a style guide for a prototyping effort for the US Air Force has led to a number of suggestions. These suggestions are discussed and future efforts in the development of user interface style guides is indicated.”

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Cuomo, Donna L. and Bowen, Charles D. (1992): Stages of User Activity Model as a Basis for User-System Interface Evaluations. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 1254-1258.

“This paper discusses the results of the first phase of a research project concerned with developing methods and measures of user-system interface effectiveness for command and control systems with graphical, direct manipulation style interfaces. Due to the increased use of prototyping user interfaces during concept definition and demonstration/validation phases, the opportunity exists for human factors engineers to apply evaluation methodologies early enough in the life cycle to make an impact on system design. Understanding and improving user-system interface (USI) evaluation techniques is critical to this process. In 1986, Norman proposed a descriptive "stages of user activity" model of human-computer interaction. Hutchins, Hollan, and Norman (1986) proposed concepts of measures based on the model which would assess the directness of the engagements between the user and the interface at each stage of the model. This first phase of our research program involved applying three USI evaluation techniques to a single interface, and assessing which, if any, provided information on the directness of engagement at each stage of Norman's model. We also classified the problem types identified according to the Smith and Mosier (1986) functional areas. The three techniques used were cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluation, and guidelines. It was found that the cognitive walkthrough method applied almost exclusively to the action specification stage. The guidelines were applicable to more of the stages evaluated but all the techniques were weak in measuring semantic distance and all of the stages on the evaluation side of the HCI activity cycle. Improvements to existing or new techniques are required for evaluating the directness of engagement for graphical, direct manipulation style interfaces.”

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