Socio-cognitive Engineering An approach to the design and deployment of usable, useful and enjoyable socio-technical systems

Socio-technical system An combination of people and interactive technology, e.g.: An engineer inspecting a plane using a wearable computer Students studying a distance learning course on the Web People meeting by videoconference

The Problem How to design successful technologies that support people in everyday, cognitively demanding, activities, e.g.  managing knowledge,  communicating at a distance,  organising work,  learning,  shopping,  interactive entertainment

If the telephone were designed nowadays it would… have a Windows™ interface be controlled by a mouse require a complex series of operations to make each call be packed with unnecessary features be almost unusable

A badly designed socio- technical system can… Make life more complex and frustrating  Telephone call centres Put people off using a new type of technology  Camera phones Waste money  Computerisation of the Inland Revenue, cost £2.4 billion - £1 billion higher than estimated Kill people  USS Vincennes (293 deaths)  London Ambulance Service (unknown)  Therac-25 radiation therapy (3 deaths)

Why are systems so bad? Because they are badly designed  “We can create powerful and pleasurable software- based products by the simple expedient of designing our computer-based products before we build them” Alan Cooper, The Inmates are Running the Asylum. Because they are developed by technologists rather than for users Because they are not based on a deep understanding of how people interact Because they do not use a human-centred design method

The Product Triangle (Cooper) Product WHAT’S VIABLE (Business) WHAT’S CAPABLE (Engineering) WHAT’S DESIRABLE (Design)

The goals of human-centred system design The system must be: usable useful enjoyable cost effective Need to design, implement, deploy and evaluate to these goals

‘Complex’ does not necessarily mean ‘unusable’…

Example Design Brief Design a controller for the Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Learning

Home :44 Local Lecture Local Discussion Video Conference Lecture Video Conference Discussion Shutdown room Engineering Controls 

What it is versus what people want to do

‘Complex’ does not necessarily mean ‘unusable’… … and ‘simple’ does not necessarily mean ‘usable’. An unusable water machine!

HOT WATER:- PRESS & HOLD HOT BUTTON, THEN PRESS THE DISPENSE BUTTON

Design approaches Market-driven User-centred Human-centred

Market-driven design Develop technology to fit the market Advantages: –sell on features Problems: –Feature bloat –Diminishing returns –Problems of usability, compatibility, training, maintenance Results: –traditional technology plus features

% of Wordprocessor Features Used by Professional Writers From a survey by Jane Dorner

Market-driven Design...over the years, each succeeding generation of word processors has been able to do more, and consequently has been less useful. MacUser, August 2, 1996

Human-Centred Design Involve studies of human cognition and social interaction in the design process Involve users as participants in the design Advantages:  design support for human learning, skill development, styles and strategies of working, individual and cultural differences Problems:  can be time consuming: detailed analysis of cognitive processes and social interactions  designing radically new products, where we can’t easily predict how people will think, work and interact Results:  human centred technology

Human-Centred Design Cognitive Engineering  To understand the fundamental principles behind human action and performance that are relevant for the engineering principles of design. Don Norman, 1986 Socio-cognitive Engineering  To analyse the complex interactions between people and technology so as to inform the design of usable, useful and enjoyable socio-technical systems Human-centred design includes user-centred design

Related approaches User Engineering (IBM)  Combination of human-centred design process with rigour and metrics to ensure quality control Contextual Design (Beyer and Holtzblatt)  Customer focused human centred design