title: Designing for user benefit: a methodological cautionary tale.
abstract: This paper is concerned with the problem of 'losing sight' of the user during the design of human-computer interfaces. A methodological practice is proposed which enables the designer to track the implications of design proposals with respect to both the benefits they confer on the user and their goodness of fit with user characteristics. The methodological practice, which is seen as a technique for early or formative evaluation, is then applied in retrospect to two adaptive prototypes which are currently being incorporated into a Multi-Author Document Preparation System. The results of this process are intended as a methodological cautionary tale for other designers, illustrating the potential consequences of failure to evaluate the implicit assumptions that are being made about users by the designer.
authors.affiliation: a STC Technology Ltd , London Road , Harlow , Essex , CM 17 9NA , UK.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Totterdell
authors.affiliation: b Scottish HCI Centre, University of Strathclyde , George House, 36 North Hanover Street , Glasgow , Scotland , G1 2AD , UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: b Scottish HCI Centre, University of Strathclyde , George House, 36 North Hanover Street , Glasgow , Scotland , G1 2AD , UK.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mayes
authors.affiliation: b Scottish HCI Centre, University of Strathclyde , George House, 36 North Hanover Street , Glasgow , Scotland , G1 2AD , UK.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McEachen
keywords: Adaptive interface design; Evaluation; User benefit