DELIVERING HCI MODELING TO DESIGNERS - A FRAMEWORK AND CASE-STUDY OF COGNITIVE MODELING

The human-computer interaction (HCI) research community is generating a large number of usability-oriented models and design frameworks. How ever, a critical factor which will determine whether any of these achi eve significant penetration into the real world of software design is the effort required by practitioners to understand and apply them. In short, analytic tools for usability design must themselves be usable. In response to this challenge, we present a framework which identifies four different 'gulfs' between user-centred modelling and design appr oaches, and their intended users. These gulfs are potential opportunit ies to support designers if a given analytic approach can be encapsula ted in appropriate forms. We then illustrate the framework's applicati on with a concrete example. An evaluation is reported which investigat es gulfs associated with an approach which uses an expert system to au tomate cognitive modelling for human factors designers. An early proto type was evaluated in order to assess the knowledge required to use it . The study demonstrates that whilst this tool does shield users from the complexities of the underlying modelling, they need to understand the way in which it builds its description of the task and user interf ace. Implications for bridging the different gulfs are then considered .