Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools collects six essays that herald a fundamental shift in the way industry and researchers think about usability. In this new, broader definition, usability no longer means safeguarding against human error, but rather enabling human beings to learn, to use, and to adapt the equipment to satisfy better the demands and contingencies of their work. Today, three quarters of all advanced technology implementations in manufacturing fail to achieve their performance goals because of inadequate usability. By viewing the human being as a mechanistic system component, and not a particularly reliable one, the traditional "human factors" model of usability virtually ensures that the uniquely human qualities - experience, adaptation, innovation - will be neglected, and therefore that new technologies will realize little of their true potential. Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools answers the need for better usability criteria and more effective design and usability assurance processes. In so doing, it leads the way to making a new, broader concept of usability central to design. Its chapters will be of interest to managers and professionals in computer systems, manufacturing engineering, industrial design, and human factors, as well as researchers in disciplines such as computer science, engineering, design studies, sociology, organizational behaviour and human resource management, industrial relations, education, and business strategy.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
Publication Date: 1993
Language: English
ISBN 10: 0195075102
ISBN 13: 9780195075106
Binding: Hardback
Condition: New
Weight: 454 grams

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Synopsis

Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools collects six essays that herald a fundamental shift in the way industry and researchers think about usability. In this new, broader definition, usability no longer means safeguarding against human error, but rather enabling human beings to learn, to use, and to adapt the equipment to satisfy better the demands and contingencies of their work. Today, three quarters of all advanced technology implementations in manufacturing fail to achieve their performance goals because of inadequate usability. By viewing the human being as a mechanistic system component, and not a particularly reliable one, the traditional "human factors" model of usability virtually ensures that the uniquely human qualities - experience, adaptation, innovation - will be neglected, and therefore that new technologies will realize little of their true potential. Usability: Turning Technologies into Tools answers the need for better usability criteria and more effective design and usability assurance processes. In so doing, it leads the way to making a new, broader concept of usability central to design. Its chapters will be of interest to managers and professionals in computer systems, manufacturing engineering, industrial design, and human factors, as well as researchers in disciplines such as computer science, engineering, design studies, sociology, organizational behaviour and human resource management, industrial relations, education, and business strategy.

Review

"The book contains much insight." --B. Hazeltine, Computing Reviews
"Unusual in that the research it brings together spans the perspectives of cognitive psychology, the sociology of work and technology, work-oriented systems design, computer-supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction. Although most of these essays are not directly related to computer
systems, they will nevertheless help anyone involved in building products design better ones." --Robert C. Briss, Computer/IEEE P&DT
"The book contains much insight." --B. Hazeltine, Computing Reviews
"Unusual in that the research it brings together spans the perspectives of cognitive psychology, the sociology of work and technology, work-oriented systems design, computer-supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction. Although most of these essays are not directly related to computer
systems, they will nevertheless help anyone involved in building products design better ones." --Robert C. Briss, Computer/IEEE P& DT
"The book contains much insight." --B. Hazeltine, Computing Reviews
"Unusual in that the research it brings together spans the perspectives of cognitive psychology, the sociology of work and technology, work-oriented systems design, computer-supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction. Although most of these essays are not directly related to computer systems, they will nevertheless help anyone involved in building products design better ones." --Robert C. Briss, Computer/IEEE P&DT
"The book contains much insight." --B. Hazeltine, Computing Reviews

"Unusual in that the research it brings together spans the perspectives of cognitive psychology, the sociology of work and technology, work-oriented systems design, computer-supported cooperative work, and human-computer interaction. Although most of these essays are not directly related to computer systems, they will nevertheless help anyone involved in building products design better ones." --Robert C. Briss, Computer/IEEE P&DT

"The book contains much insight." --B. Hazeltine, Computing Reviews

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