Table of Contents

VOLUME IX.2 March 2002

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  • Editorial

    • Editorial

      This is the third of three annual special issues on Design. In an editorial in the first of the three issues, I explained how the annual came about: I gatecrashed a lunchtime meeting of the Visual Interaction Design group, and was impressed with what they were doing. I heard…

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  • Business

    • Why do version 1.0 and not release it?

      The Challenge of New Technology Design There have been many discussions at conferences and in journals on the merits of various user-centered design (UCD) methodologies to address different types of design problems and how they fit into the design life- cycle. Generally, user-centered design professionals have promoted ethnographic work…

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  • Interface design, 2002

    • What we say, what we do

      What We Say, What We Do This issue is the third annual special issue of interactions to bring together practitioners and academicians involved in user interface design. Once again, I am very grateful to Steven Pemberton, interactions Editor-in-Chief, and Ken Korman, Executive Editor, for their encouragement and assistance in…

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  • The whiteboard

    • What’s in a word?

      We create meaning by placing words in a context where they absorb their surroundings like herring in a sherry marinade. Use a word in a context that supports clear understanding of the intended meaning, and you make the word richer and stronger for yourself and for the time when…

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  • Interface design, 2002: University Briefs

    • Aalborg University

      The Department of Computer Science at Aalborg University offers three related programs in information technology. All three programs share a common focus on software development. Within this focus, each program emphasizes individual aspects of the use and development of computerized systems. The three programs have emerged in order to…

    • Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

      The New Media Program (NMP) is a new program of study that has grown to include more than 700 undergraduate and graduate students in four years. Students from a broad spectrum of disciplines within informatics learn about the role of interface design and usability in the design and testing…

    • University of British Columbia

      Philosophy of Design Education The central focus of our program is multidisciplinarity—using cognitive, social, and perceptual science theories and methods to create multiple perspectives on the interaction of human and machine. We look at technology as a medium of communication and as an environment for perceptual and cognitive processes…

    • Umeå University

      Philosophy of Design Education Our interaction design philosophy has emerged from the need for industrial designers to redirect their professional activities as a result of the impact of information technology. Industrial design education and practice traditionally focuses on the qualities of the three-dimensional object. The emphasis has been on…

    • University of Melbourne

      Philosophy of Design Education The Interaction Design Group draws researchers and research students from a wide range of areas, including craft-based disciplines (graphic and industrial design), engineering (information systems, human-computer interaction, software engineering), commerce, and social science (psychology, anthropology, and sociology). The Interaction Design Group's multifarious activities include research…

    • Vrije Universiteit

      Philosophy of Design Education The Multimedia and Culture curriculum aims at educating students, at a university level, to be leaders in design teams for multimedia applications in domains of culture, education, and leisure. After graduation at the master's level, participants should have the theoretical background to partner with software…

    • Washington State University

      Philosophy of Design Education The Department of Teaching and Learning uses the competencies endorsed by the International Board of Standards Training, Performance, and Instruction (Richey, Fields and Foxon 2001) to focus our Instructional Design program objectives. At their broadest level, the standards recommend that an instructional designer be able…

    • Wichita State University

      Philosophy of Design Education From its inception, the WSU Human Factors doctoral program was designed to include an emphasis on basic methodology intrinsic to the behavioral sciences, along with a strong foundation in areas fundamental to psychology. In many ways the early stages of our training are modeled on…

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  • Interface design, 2002: Industry Briefs

    • Accenture

      Philosophy of Design Accenture designs and builds a multitude of applications for its clients: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) Web sites, call centers, enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations, learning management systems, training systems, and back-end applications such as billing systems. The philosophy of maximizing human performance is a key…

    • AM+A

      Philosophy of Design Experience is everything We sometimes call the user interface "the last two feet," to portray its role in bridging the last two feet between the monitor and the user. Too often, design and usability are treated as secondary, finishing steps. While functionality and content are of…

    • Constantine & Lockwood

      Philosophy of Design At its heart, our philosophy is simple: All software systems are tools, so, to empower users, give them better tools. Since good tools fit the work, we employ task modeling within a disciplined engineering process. That planes are designed to fly and bridges to stand does…

    • Lycos Europe

      Philosophy of Design The philosophy of design at Spray Labs, a development department of Lycos Europe, can be summarized as pragmatic, integrated, and iterative. Pragmatic means that we believe adaptation to the practical reality of product design gives better end results than striving for theoretical perfection. The everyday reality…

    • Motivo

      Philosophy of Design On its own, visual design seems to be well on its way to becoming merely a commodity, doomed to be only a thin veneer adhered to content that is nevertheless solely relied upon to "carry" a solution. Instead, Motivo's philosophy has always focused on the integration…

    • Oracle

      Philosophy of Design The goal of the usability and user interface (UI) design group at Oracle is to improve our users' experience and increase their task efficiency, thereby making our products more competitive in the marketplace. A well-designed user interface is considered to be a key corporate competitive advantage.…

    • Siemens AG

      Philosophy of Design At SIEMENS the User Interface Design Center is part of Corporate Technology, the central research and development department. User Interface Design Center's mission is to offer innovative customer-focused solutions to SIEMENS business units and external organizations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. User Interface Design specialists…

    • SWIM

      Philosophy of Design Swim's distinction among design firms is that its sole focus is interaction design. Our field is young, and we feel there is much to explore in creating methods and tools for addressing interaction issues. When projects call for additional areas of expertise, we collaborate with consultancies…

    • Syntagm

      Philosophy of Design My design approach is to develop systems that are as user-centered as they can be, within the constraints of each project. Ideally this involves: Clearly defining user communities and personas Interviewing and observing potential users Iterating through scenario and use case models User conceptual modeling Generating…

    • SRA, NAIST & JST

      Philosophy of Design SRA is a typical software development company at which most of the people focus on producing contract-based software and where usability and interaction design are a secondary matter. The design project reported here, therefore, has been a unique project in our institute where we could apply…

    • SQR

      Philosophy of Design Typically we want our designs to be effective, aesthetically pleasing, and useful. Sometimes we want them to be compelling and innovative as well. Our main areas of expertise are design, marketing, engineering, and content creation. We use a multidisciplinary approach for our work; we believe that…

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  • Interface design, 2002: Perspectives

    • HCI down under

      While we enjoy all the benefits the country affords, Australia also has a proud tradition of innovation and rapid uptake of technology, which has created significant opportunities in HCI. Australia's distances offer great opportunities within the communications industry and within companies wishing to contact or sell their products to…

    • Coming together to explore the intersections of HCI, experience design, and information architecture

      Experience Design and HCI The Experience Design community within the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is one such community. Founded in 1914, the purpose of AIGA is to further excellence in communication design as a broadly defined discipline, as a strategic tool for business, and as a cultural…

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  • Interface design, 2002: Interviews

    • Alben Design by Lauralee Alben

      About Lauralee Alben Lauralee Alben is a design consultant dedicated to creating new ways to apply design sensibilities and strategies to solving the complex challenges facing our world today. Until 2000, Lauralee was a principal of AlbenFaris Inc., a firm that specializes in the design of interactive experiences for…

    • Perspectives on interaction design by Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp, and Jennifer J. Preece

      EADE: For what audience have you written your new book? JENNY: Our book is written for undergraduate and master's students; practitioners will find it useful too. It also provides Ph.D. students with a good grounding in the theory and practice of HCI and interaction design. We've pointed out areas…

    • Perspectives on user interface design training by Scott Berkun

      Scott Berkun studied computer science, philosophy, and interaction design at Carnegie Mellon University. He has worked on Internet Explorer 1.0 through 5.0, designing or managing the development of many features of its user interface. He worked as a lead program manager for Consumer Windows before becoming the training manager…

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  • Reflections

    • Choose one: fast, correct, or pleasurable

      Choose One: Fast, Correct or Pleasurable I work at a research institute populated by mathematicians and computer scientists. When mathematicians ask me what usability is I reply: A maximum of the function t S Ut, where t is a task and Ut= f1(Ct) + f2(St) + f3(Pt) where Ct…

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  • Fast forward

    • Metaphors and user interfaces in the 21st Century

      Let's begin our journey in the 21st century by thinking about metaphors in user interfaces. I have defined them as the essential concepts in computer-mediated communication that substitute for the underlying code and terminology of operating systems, applications, and data. Instead, concepts are communicated through words, images, sounds, and…

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