UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Disrupting digital library development with scenario informed design

Blandford, A; Keith, S; Butterworth, R; Fields, B; Furniss, D; (2007) Disrupting digital library development with scenario informed design. INTERACT COMPUT , 19 (1) 70 - 82. 10.1016/j.intcom.2006.07.003. Green open access

[thumbnail of 5112.pdf]
Preview
PDF
5112.pdf

Download (590kB)

Abstract

In recent years, there has been great interest in scenario-based design and other forms of user-centred design. However, there are many design processes that, often for good reason, remain technology-centred. We present a case study of introducing scenarios into two digital library development processes. This was found to disrupt established patterns of working and to bring together conflicting value systems. In particular, the human factors approach of identifying users and anticipating what they are likely to do with a system (and what problems they might encounter) did not sit well with a development culture in which the rapid generation and informal evaluation of possible solutions (that are technically feasible and compatible with stable system components) is the norm. We found that developers tended to think in terms of two kinds of user: one who was exploring the system with no particular goal in mind and one who knew as much as the developer; scenarios typically work with richer user descriptions that challenge that thinking. In addition, the development practice of breaking down the design problem into discrete functions to make it manageable does not fit well with a scenario-based approach to thinking about user behaviour and interactions. The compromise reached was scenario-informed design, whereby scenarios were generated to support reasoning about the use of selected functions within the system. These scenarios helped create productive common ground between perspectives. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Type: Article
Title: Disrupting digital library development with scenario informed design
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.intcom.2006.07.003
Keywords: digital libraries, scenario based design, usability evaluation, software development processes, USABILITY EVALUATION METHODS, CLAIMS ANALYSIS, USER, REQUIREMENTS, SOFTWARE
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/5112
Downloads since deposit
769Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item