title: Heuristic evaluation of a web-based interface for internet telemedicine.
abstract: A low-cost usability engineering methodology (heuristic evaluation combined with small-scale expert assessment) is examined in the context of the design and development of a Web-based telemedicine system. Six experts - three human-computer interaction (HCI) experts and three medical-content experts - examined the Spacebridge to Russia Web site for usability. The HCI experts identified 52 interface problems using a set of ten usability criteria or heuristics; these problems ranged in severity from cosmetic to a major failure. The content experts completed a series of six simple tasks while describing their actions. The usage difficulties were related to the HCI problems identified and were primarily characterized by a mismatch of the designer model and the content expert model. This heuristic/usage methodology can provide an incremental benefit in a variety of other design activities. It is suggested herein that the combined heuristic/usage methodology should be included as a standard design component of dynamic telemedicine systems.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064, USA.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lathan
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sebrechts
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Doarn
mesh_terms: D006804:Ergonomics; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012426:Russia; D013026:Space Flight; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States; D018557:United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration