Welcome to my two-part blog on Ethnography and the role it plays in usability engineering and user interface design.

What is Ethnography?

Ethnography is an approach to research that involves in-depth study of population groups through participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, and artifact analysis in an attempt to gain a thorough understanding from a number of perspectives. This research methodology is usually associated with the social sciences, in particular anthropology and sociology. Ethnography also takes place in the natural context of the subject being observed and, as such, the term is often interchangeable with phrases such as “field study” and “case report”. Traditional ethnography focuses on long-term studies spanning weeks, months, or even years. This is in order to understand, first-hand, fundamental answers in regard to the subject(s). Where do they live? How do they make a living? What do they eat? What are their linguistic, housing and marriage customs etc?

What does ethnography mean in the context of user interface design?

In the context of user interface design, ethnography is a valuable source of data for personas, scenarios of use, task analysis, requirements elicitation, and storyboards. Sometimes in life the laboratory setting can obfuscate data due to the very act of observation affecting the subject. Ethnography seeks to paint observations in their proper naturally occurring context, i.e. the point at which they would be using a software application and navigating its interface design in the course of their everyday life.

Ethnography as a usability method

Ethnography lends itself well to usability testing of user interface designs due to the principle of holistic human data collection. This works well in tandem with the fundamentals of user experience in user interface design. Ethnography brings with it a number of merits to usability testing. In comparison to observations conducted in the lab the authenticity of ethnographic reports is higher. Behavior observations are best understood within their natural environment and ethnography allows for this. As a usability method ethnography provides a much more comprehensive perspective of the users and their environment than other forms of research. Another advantage is that it employs a theoretical framework for contextualizing data.

When to use ethnography as a usability technique

According to usability expert James Horn, the use of ethnography as a usability method is “best used in the early stages of development, when you need to know more about the issues surrounding the use of a product rather than actual metrics.” In the very early stages of user interface design, using the ethnographic method will help you collect user requirements based on how users operate within their “native” environments, which is how they operate in the real world.  Obtaining these user requirements will then allow you to incorporate your findings into preliminary designs of a user interface. Of course, it is important to watch out for observer bias, as Information and results are highly dependent on the researcher’s observations and interpretations.

In this 2 part blog I shall look at the role gender plays in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). What is Gender HCI, after all? Does empirical data show significant differences between male and female end-users?

What is Gender HCI and what does it have to do with user interface design?

Gender HCI is a subcategory of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI is concerned with the design and evaluation of interactive systems used by humans, such as user interface design. Gender HCI, a relatively new field that is still in its formative stages, shifts the focus to the differences between men and women and the role that plays in how they interact with interface designs. The term Gender HCI was coined in 2004 by Laura Beckwith, an Oregon State University PhD candidate, and her adviser Margaret Burnett. Relevant research reports that dealt with the gender aspects of user interaction date back all the way to 1987, namely Chuck Huff’s research on how games designed as “gender neutral” look like games designed for boys.

Gender HCI, like regular HCI, is a highly interdisciplinary field because it requires that designers and researchers from various fields collaborate to understand the ways in which males and females solve problems, communicate, and process information.  Researchers and designers must explore diverse areas such as psychology, computer science, marketing, neuroscience, education, economics and others to ascertain the information needed to research requirements and design successful user interfaces with potential Gender specifics in mind. Since it became clear that Gender HCI’s is a viable category of HCI, research and interest in the field has exploded. Today many computer scientists and designers are occupying themselves with system models based on gender differences.

Topics explored in Gender HCI: Why is it important for user interface design?

Gender HCI is not simply about adding pink to an interface design optimized for girls and, conversely, blue for boys. Examples taken from the available empirical data have shown that Gender HCI applies to many situations. An example of this is in spreadsheet problem-solving tasks where it was found that female end users were significantly slower to try out advanced software features. It has also been found that with smaller displays, males’ performance was significantly better than female’s. Larger displays improved the performance of females while the performance of males was not negatively affected.

Usability is one of the foundation stones of UX design, but as a concept and a design method it does not come without limitations. One of the main shortcomings of the usability concept is its inability to account for the level of interest and desire within users relative to the employment of a particular interface design.  Of course the fact that a user interface is well organized and structured (in other words usable) usually makes it, in most cases, popular, but it is not usability alone that compels users to seek out and maintain a relationship with a given interface design.  For that, designers are learning that there needs to be a certain level of enjoyment and fun for the user. The notion of using fun and enjoyment to compel users is encapsulated by the relatively new design concept desirability.

This blog post is the first in a series of two about Human Computer Interaction (HCI)

What is Human Computer Interaction (HCI)?

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is an interdisciplinary area of study that concerns itself with the point of intersection where people come into contact with computers, namely user interface designs. It also encompasses computer science, behavioral sciences, interface design and other fields of study. Although Human-Computer Interaction also refers to many products with traditional electronic displays and/or physical controls such as microwave ovens or aircraft (here, often the term Human Machine Interaction or HMI is also used), for our purposes let’s look at it from the point of view of computers, software and their user interfaces.

Human-Computer Interaction, Interface Design and Usability

The main goals of Human-Computer Interaction and interface design are to maximize usability and user satisfaction. A poor human-machine interface design, such as using non-standard interface design layout, can lead to a number of unexpected and annoying problems. Improving the interactions between users and computers and meeting the user’s needs regarding the interface design are important when creating successful systems. The design activities relating to Human-Computer Interaction significantly impact how successful systems are in terms of user acceptance, in terms of how productively the system can be used to accomplish critical tasks, and to how popular systems are with users and what market penetration they can reach. Often, the aspects relating to efficiency of use are summarized as usability.

This blog post is the first in a series of two about accessibility design as a usability method

What is accessibility and why is it important?

In general, accessibility describes the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is easy and straightforward to use by as many people as possible.  In addition, accessibility concerns itself with the benefits of the entity being accessed: How does easy use of a product benefit the user and the creator?

Accessibility results from proper design of products and services. Take public transportation for example.  Public transportation is designed to optimize the routes which users (by bus, tram, or train etc.) must take to get to their given destinations.  Public transportation provides users with maps, internet sites that help them plan their routes, elevators and wheel chair lifts for the disabled, and many other features that make it easy and beneficial for people to use.  When public transportation is easily accessible, the benefit is that the users have efficient, cost-effective means of travelling and the creators are able to earn money and sustain the transport system.

Computer science, accessibility design and user interface design

In computer science, accessibility design means creating websites or software that is easily usable and available to people of all abilities.  This means that each interface design should grant users equal access to the functionality of and the information contained within the site. In computer science, accessibility design concerns itself mainly with the construction of interface designs that are accessible to the disabled. For example, how can a designer code the HTML to provide or enable text-to-speech software for the deaf or text-to-Braille hardware for the blind?  The concept behind accessibility design is clear: Disabilities should not hinder users from accessing and using a given software or website due to shortcomings of its user interface design.

What is learnability?

According to the UsabilityFirst glossary, learnability is a measure of the degree to which a user interface design can be learned quickly and effectively. Learning time is the typical measure. User interface designs are usually easier to learn when they are familiar and designed to be easy to use based on core psychological properties. The learnability of an interface design can be, in turn, further broken down into five similar but distinct components: the aforementioned Familiarity, Consistency, Generalizability, Predictability, and Simplicity. When developing usability tests, it is important to keep the learnability of your user interface design in mind because a website or app that is easy to use will likely be used more often and more productively.

The five components of learnability

As mentioned above, there are five distinct components that comprise learnability.   It is essential to understand these constituents because they contribute to a user’s overall ability to learn a given interface design:

1.   Familiarity: Familiarity comes into play because users tend to expect certain things to happen.  This can include certain layout conventions, such as navigation schemes, color schemes or responses of an application.
2.    Consistency: Applications with a consistent interface design are easier to learn. This is especially important across various different parts of a software application, where changes of the interface design may confuse users or require them to adapt to yet another pattern.
3.    Generalizability: Generalizability means looking at other software applications that are similar to yours. The expectation of users is that tools which serve similar purposes include similar functions and respond to similar priciples. As users use many applications, generalizability helps them learn to operate an application without having to understand entirely new interface design concepts each time they encounter a new product.
4.    Predictability: Predictability means whatever tool you are developing, users of similar tools should be able to navigate your interface design with only the knowledge of using a similar tool in the past. That is to say that meeting user’s expectations improves learnability.
5.    Simplicity: Learning is fastest when there isn’t much to learn. Simplicity means keeping your interface design as lean and clean as possible for optimum learnability. Minimizing the amount of learning required by limiting the interface design’s complexity, improves learnability.

In part 3 of my blog entry on context of use I shall look at things to consider when conducting a context of use analysis during the interface design process.

How to use the context of use analysis

A context of use analysis takes the form of a brainstorming session among all project participants. The meeting should be conducted by someone with experience using context of use analysis from previous projects. Three general categories can be used as a springboard to uncover probing questions during context of use analysis that will help determine the most important contexts to design the usability test. The interface design’s target user group is one such category. Possible questions include: How many different user types are there? Why are they using this particular interface design? How can the actual design of the website or application reflect a marketing strategy that hones in on this particular group? The interface design’s tasks and goals is another category. Question candidates are: How many and what types of tasks do users need to carry out using the proposed interface design in order to achieve their goal(s)? The third general category is when interface designers define the contexts in which users will use the interface design. This includes answering question, such as: Will users have fast or slow internet connections?  Do all users interact with the computer and interface design in similar or dissimilar environments?

It is also important to set a timeline (be wary of time and ensure participation among group members is equal) and a schedule of topics to discuss. This can be designed in any fashion, but an example could be:
1.    Introduction: introduce the interface design project, talk about goals and objectives of the website or application.
2.    Discuss context of use categories.  Broadly define context of use categories and then discuss them in depth. Divide into groups and work through potential context of use questions.
3.    Small group presentations: Give each small group a chance to introduce their findings to the larger group and then discuss each topic and how it relates to the interface design task.
4.    Work together to create main goals of usability testing.  What contexts of use should be targeted in order to obtain optimal user experience feedback on the interface design?

Conclusion
It is critical for interaction and interface designers to understand the contexts in which users will use a website or application in order to create the right kind of usability test and develop products that work for the targeted users.  Context of use analysis is an effective way for designers to ensure that they will be able to ask users the right questions and ascertain user experience feedback that will guide the interface design process in the right direction towards a successful interface design. Thus, it may be recommended that interface designers use this usability method often, carefully following best practices.

In this three part blog I shall look at context of use and context of use analysis and what part they play in successful interface design. In the first part of this blog entry I shall define context of use and why it matters for user interface design processes.

What is the “context of use”?

Context of Use is a term used in product, software and website interface design to understand the parameters and conditions by which users employ a product. In this blog I shall focus on context of use vis-à-vis the interface design of software applications and websites. Context of use is measured on many levels by situational factors that a user of a product may be in. Firstly, there are Environmental Factors such as the space, time, noise, cleanliness, and other physical conditions. Secondly, there are Organizational Factors such as work processes, organizational or social networks, and pressures related to organization and management. Thirdly, there are Broad Social Factors. These include everyday factors such as the economy, career aspirations/ interests, ethical standards and family constraints.  Further factors are the Technical/ System Factors such as network connectivity and system stability.

Why does the context of use matter when designing user interfaces?

All of the mentioned factors can contribute to the use of any product within any context (although clearly technical factors are relegated to technical contexts etc.). An example of how context of use is crucial is the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 laptop for poor children in the third world. The laptop was designed to be rugged, use low power, run Linux, be small and such other features. The context of use of this product is defined by the situation of children whose families live below the poverty line and might live in remote underdeveloped areas with sparse access to electricity. The context of use for a $5,000 gaming laptop would be different. Products are designed to be used in specific settings and contexts by users. Thus, it is important to understand what factors comprise each individual context of use because designers are then better able to understand their users, their users’ limitations, and their users’ needs. This ensures that all the factors that relate to the use of the system are accounted for and understood when designing the product and the future usability tests intended to validate the usability of a product. Just as with any other product, the context of use has a great impact on software applications and the user interface design. To give one example of how the context of use influences interface design is when software is used in a mechanical workshop setting where people quickly need to enter measurements, activities and the like. Big buttons, straightforward navigation and the like should dominate the considerations during the interface design process.

The BBC News website has long been a popular source of news on the web. A revamped interface design, the “biggest rethink of the design of the site since 2003”, has now provided the website with improvements that increase the usability of the website. This redesign is a great example of how an already great interface design can be improved upon by looking at key usability issues. It must be said that users of CNN’s website will no doubt realize that BBC’s new interface design looks a lot like cnn.com. But rather than chastise BBC’s re-designers as clueless copycats devoid of creativity I think they should be praised for sticking to great interface design and usability principles. A mistake a lot of interface designers make is in designing a work of techno-art instead of a functional website or software application. Remember that your interface design should be usable by all and sundry and not just those with degrees in computer science.

The most startling change to the BBC’s interface design is moving of the navigation from the left of the screen to the top. This decision frees up a lot of space for actual news content and makes sideways scrolling (which many users find frustrating) more redundant. Stories that are new now stand out as they are marked with a red “NEW” badge. Below the days’ main stories is a section where users can navigate stories according to geographical location. This area is differentiated from the rest of the page by using a stark color scheme that stands out from the rest of the page. Clicking on a single story, one can easily share stories via Facebook, Twitter and the like. This is possible from both the top and bottom of the story so that users who scroll all the way down to the end of a story do not have to scroll all the way back up just to share. Had that been the case then the number of stories from the BBC website being shared on social networks might be reduced. Good usability practice here as well.

Kohive, a cloud-based tool that creates an online social desktop for users to share, communicate and collaborate, recreates the interface design of a desktop computer’s graphical user interface which, being familiar to all computer users, is a unique way of engendering the learnability of the tool. It essentially allows users to create workspaces where they can invite collaborators to share a ‘Hive’. Users can then upload whatever files are pertinent to their particular hive, be they pictures for friends and family or work-in-progress for a client. Users log in to a capable browser to access an application that supports file storage and sharing, task management, note taking and instant messaging among others.

How does Kohive recreate the desktop interface design?

Although the feature-list is long, Kohive’s interface design makes it relatively easy to learn how to use the application. The interface design is made to look and operate just like a standard desktop user interface. To be precise, more like a Mac’s desktop (but I guess that might make it more appealing and usable considering the kudos the Mac OS has received over the last decade) but the concept will be fathomable to the average computer user. Furthermore it looks like the interface design of a new computer without clutter and icons on the deskspace. The sparse environment (to begin with at least) is clean, clear, and not intimidating to first-time user, therefore lowering potential usability barriers. The tool eschews the use of menubar options (those are left for manipulating the web-browser), and a replica of Mac OS X’s Dock interface design accesses the various functions of the tool. Unlike the Dock’s default setting on Mac OS X whereby it is found at the bottom of the screen, the dock on Kohive is found to the left of the interface. The bottom of the interface design is left for the different Hives a user has access to, allowing for easy and fast switching between workspaces. Hovering the mouse over the icons on the left of the interface design reveals an overlay that names the highlighted app. The familiarity of the desktop-like interface, the ease of use and the fast access to important options speak much in favour of the usability of Kohive.