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Object Modeling and User Interface Design: Designing Interactive Systems addresses the problem of designing interactive systems that are easy to learn and use, that augment human abilities by supporting users in their activities, and that are satisfying to their end users--topics that are highly significant for analysts and designers of interactive systems, object modelers, user interface designers, and software design methodologists.
This book showcases the vanguard of new methods for object-oriented and component-based interactive system development, incorporating contributions from international experts in object modeling and human computer interaction. It shows how object modeling approaches can be modified to bring user interface concerns into the earliest stages of the software design life cycle, where they have the greatest possible effect on subsequent system design and on system usability for end users. Adopting the perspective that system scope, contents, functionality, and detailed user interface are all inextricably interrelated, this book provides methods for integrated and concurrent consideration of user requirements, analysis-level object models, interaction modeling, detailed user interface design, and interactive system usability. The methods integrate the best applicable user interface design practice with object modeling techniques that use the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
Major themes covered in the book include user participation in modeling, scenario- and task-based design, use case based design, and user-centered design. Ten individual chapters cover specific topics such as:
Object Modeling and User Interface Design merges theories with practical techniques to create methods for the design of today's systems. By reading this book you will gain an understanding of the benefits of integrating object-oriented analysis approaches with human computer interaction design, and learn how to systematically design interactive systems for their human users.
The contributors whose work appears here are: John Artim; Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood; Jan Gulliksen, Bengt Goeransson and Magnus Lif; William Hudson; Philippe Kruchten, Stefan Ahlqvist, and Stepha Bylund; Simon McGinnes and Johnny Amos; Nuno Nunes and Joao Cunha; Mary Beth Rosson and John Carroll; and Mark van Harmelen.
Mark van Harmelen is an independent consultant who has been involved with object-oriented technology and human-computer interaction since 1985. Mark is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester, U.K. Previously Mark has been a Senior Researcher at Matsushita's (Panasonic's) Tokyo Research Laboratory, a tenured member of the academic staff at Manchester University, and has held various positions in industry. He has degrees in Computer Science and Psychology, including a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He started working on the integration of object modeling and user interface design in 1991, and initiated worldwide cooperation in the field in 1997. He continues to foster this cooperation.
All the authors are trying to solve constraints or deficiencies in existing methods. Since these are all new or experimental techniques, each author explains exactly what problem s/he is trying to solve, where the new method might be best used, and how it worked in practice. Most of the sections work through a couple of cases, so you can see how the method works.
A couple of the writers have pointed out how difficult current heavy-weight methodologies are to use. The models generated, unless the modeler is extremely experienced, are usually not correct. What's more, as the first chapter notes, the modelers don't realize that their models are bad. A couple of writers have tried to deal with the problem that business customers can't understand UML-style notation, and don't mentally describe their jobs in terms of classes or windows. That cuts customers out of the system design process at exactly the point where they should be most engaged.
The editor repeats what is generally recognized: that very few people use a methodology as such. Most of us use a grab bag of techniques from a mix of methods, heavily customized to our own needs. Mark van Harmelen's book may be best addressed to those who use mixed methods, because it helps us to see how experienced architects decide which techniques to use in different circumstances and how we can determine whether we were successful.