Our design-oriented usability evaluation paper appeared on the Int. Journal of HCI

Finally our paper on a design-oriented approach to perceived usability has been made available on the International Journal of HCI in its accepted, unedited version. Final version of archive on the printed journal issue will be published soon.

Access paper (with subscription here)>>>>

DEEP - Design-oriented Evaluation of Perceived usability
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Volume 99999, Issue 1, 2011, Page 1
Authors: Tao Yang; Jared Linder; Davide Bolchini
DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2011.586320

Abstract:

Existing perceived usability questionnaires detect the appearance of usability issues rather than the underlying design generating those issues. This limits the capability of existing instruments to directly inform design recommendations.

To address this problem, we created and validated a usability questionnaire structured around the analytical composition of the design. A four-stage process was followed. First, 3 usability experts refined 54 questions from highly-cited usability questionnaires and structured them around 6 design dimensions. Second, 12 raters scored the questions by their relevance to assess usability. Third, questions and dimensions were then improved through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (N=196), and fourth, further enhanced through confirmatory factor analysis (N=362).

The result is DEEP, a 19-question usability questionnaire based on 5 main design dimensions (content, information architecture, navigation, layout, and visual guidance). DEEP can be used to capture detailed usability feedback that more directly relates to specific aspects of design requirements.

World Usability day in Indianapolis with Aaron Marcus

Presented by: Indiana Chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association (UPA)
Sponsors: Center for Information and Communication Sciences, Ball State University
Indiana University School of Informatics at IUPUI
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for this event contact us at indianaupa@gmail.com
What: Celebration of the sixth annual UPA World Usability Day
International UPA World Usability Day
When: November 11th, 2010 from 8:00am to 6:00pm
Program: This year we are featuring renowned UX speaker Aaron Marcus
Aaron Marcus is the founder and President of Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc. (AM+A). A graduate in physics from Princeton University and in graphic design from Yale University, in 1967 he became the world's first graphic designer to be involved full-time in computer graphics.

Mr. Marcus has published, lectured, tutored, and consulted internationally for more than 30 years and has been an invited keynote/plenary speaker at conferences of ACM/SIGCHI, ACMSIGGRAPH, Usability Professionals Association (UPA), and the Human Factors and Ergonomic Society, as well as conferences internationally. He is a visionary thinker, designer, and writer, well-respected in international professional communities associated with Web, user interface, human factors, graphic design, publishing, and desktop software application development.
The Indiana Chapter of the UPA encourages design principles that aid in the creating, enhancing, and servicing usable products and services. Last year's World Usability Day involved more than 100 events in more than 35 countries. Be a part of the global experience this year as Indiana does its part for World Usability Day!


Location: IUPUI Campus Center
3rd floor
420 University Boulevard (southwest corner of Michigan and University Boulevard), Indianapolis, Indiana, 46062
Cost: $50 for professionals
$30 for students
Lunch is provided if you register by November 5th

To register:
http://indiana-upa.org/ind_wud2010.html

Registration: For immediate confirmation of your registration, complete the online registration form.
Online registration form

Event News: Follow us on Twitter #indwud2010

Nielsen's word on iPad Usability - the first Report

Usability and the iPad - the battle between "defending usability conventions" and "promoting cutting-edge design innovation" had begun.

Nielsen Norman Group has recently released
a free-to-download report on the usability of iPad applications.
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/mobile/ipad/


A brief observation: most of the usability findings reported seem reasonable, but they also appear at times too focussed on minor (wrong?) issues of the user experience, which is actually enhanced and driven by cutting-edge design innovation unleashed by the iPad (i.e. in the iPhone paradigm).
The iPad is targeted to users who are willing and/or experienced to explore, learn new interaction paradigms, and greatly adapt to innovative interfaces. Pushing too much on the infringment of the "traditional" usability conventions (which are contingent, and always changing) does not provide much insight at this point and risks just to hinder the power of design innovation.

10th International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE 2010)

Call for papers >>>

The Tenth International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE 2010) will be held July 5 - 9, 2010 in Vienna, Austria. ICWE 2010 aims at promoting research and scientific excellence on Web Engineering and at bringing together scientists and practitioners interested in technologies, methodologies, tools, and techniques used to develop and maintain Web-based applications and to enable and improve the dissemination and use of Web-related content.

ICWE 2010 invites original submissions in any of the following categories: research papers, industrial experience papers, workshop papers, demonstrations, posters, and tutorials. The submissions may cover new approaches in Web Engineering, novel viewpoints, challenges, and visions on any aspect of Web Engineering, as well as reports on the implementation and deployment of advanced Web projects in an industrial or application scenario.
>>>>>> http://icwe2010.webengineering.org/ >>>>>

World Usability Day 2009 coming to Indianapolis

As part of World Usability Day, the Indiana Chapter of the Usability Professionals' Association is hosting an event to promote the exchange of ideas on sustainability as it relates to usability and product development. The IU School of Informatics, Human-Computer Interaction Program is co-sponsoring the event.

Everyone with an interest in usability is invited! The conference will be held Thursday, November 12, 9:00AM-4:00PM at the IUPUI Campus Center. Additional sponsors include The Center for Information and Communication Sciences at Ball State University, Pearson Publishing, and Creative Street Media Group.

Posters are welcome. Please indicate that you will be bringing a poster when you register. The registration fee for professionals is $35. This special package includes the conference fee (lunch, handouts and prizes) and a one year membership to the Indiana Usability Professionals’ Association.

Normally, the Indy UPA membership is $20. If you prefer not include the Indy UPA membership, the registration fee is $30. Students pay $10 to attend the conference.

http://newsroom.informatics.iupui.edu/4293/IUPUI-HumanComputer-Interaction-Program-sponsors-World-Usability-Day-conference

Usability Analysis Could Bring Benefits to Bioinformatics Portals and Research - my interview just published

I released an interview to Genomeweb, just published on Bioinform online newsletter, on how "Usability Analysis Could Bring Benefits to Bioinformatics Portals and Research": >>>>

Usability should be engineered into the development process of web-based bioinformatics resources, particularly because databases and applications don’t grow in linear patterns, according to a team of researchers from the UK, the US, Switzerland, and Italy. READ THE STORY >>>>.

After the publication of my usability article on Bioinformatics, I was kindly contacted by Vivienne Marx from Genomeweb to illustrate some key findings of the work and the implications for bioinformatics researchers.

Better Bioinformatics Through Usability Analysis (Just Published!)

My paper on usability and bioinformatics has just been published today on "Bioinformatics", as advance online access.
Full PDF freely available online here

TEC-CH DAS M308 - Welcome to the 5th week

Introductory welcome message to the participants of 5th week of the online module on "Usability of Digital Interactive Applications", within the Online Diploma of Advanced studies in Technology-Enhanced Communication for Cultural Heritage (http://www.tec-ch-online.unisi.ch/).

TEC-CH DAS M308 - Welcome to the 4th Week

Introducing the 4th week of the module: carrying out a sample inspection with MILE+

Davide's Seminar at City University (London) on Usability and Bioinformatics

On May 2, 2008, I have been hosted by Prof. Neil Maiden at the Centre for HCI Design at City University, London, to give a talk on my current research on usability issues and redesigns for bioinformatics web applications.
Here you can enjoy the slides of the talk:

| View | Upload your own

The Quality of eGovernment in Switzerland - New Report Published!

The TEC-Lab at the University of Lugano has just published a report (in italian, french and german) about the status of the eGovernment in Switzerland, particularly from a communication and usability perspective.
I have prepared the final report, which extracts the key finding of 3 studies which have been recently conducted by research centers in Switzerland to assess the quality of eGovernment in terms of citizens' satisfaction, information and servide offer, and future development.

Report online and Press Release >>>>>>>

Facebook and Usability - by Jared Spool

Usability challenges and lessons learned at Facebook - told by Jared Spool from User Interface Engineering >>>

The NEW website of the University of Lugano has just been launched! !

The University of Lugano has just launched a new institutional website.
The site has been designed by the TEC-Lab and the Web Service of the University of Lugano and with a strong involvement and collaboration of the key stakeholders and user representatives.

Communicating usability problems - issues and guidelines

| View | Upload your own

High-Cost Usability - by J. Nielsen

Sometimes, investing more on usability pays off ...>>>

About Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" ...

one quote from the article on "Markeplace"
[...] Tom Chavez heads Rapt, a company that helps determine what advertising real estate on a Web page is worth. He did the math on how much the 1 percent of people who don't use the button are costing the company.
TOM CHAVEZ: Basically you have $110 million of revenue loss per year associated with that button. [...]
Read on:: >>>>

Usability Lab - student's video examples

Here you can find some videos produced by a student of mine attending the Usability Lab course in the Master TEC-CH (http://www.tec-ch.unisi.ch), illustrating a usability inspection of the Museo Poldi Pezzoli website.
Enjoy!

Student's usability inspection

VIDEO 1



VIDEO 2


VIDEO 3

Tips for User Testing - by Jared Spool

http://www.uie.com/articles/usability_tests_learn/