The Handbook of Task Analysis for Human-Computer Interaction (Hardcover)

Product Description
A comprehensive review of the current state of research and use of task analysis for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), this multi-authored and diligently edited handbook offers the best reference source available on this diverse subject whose foundations date to the turn of the last century. Each chapter begins with an abstract and is cross-referenced and indexed to other chapters. Divided into five parts - each prefaced with a rationale and brief summary of its chapters - this volume presents contemporary thinking about task analysis together with a representative set of methods. Part I opens with seven chapters that form a book-within-a-book and introduce most of the main concepts, methods, and techniques discussed in more detail in later parts. Part II describes the use of task analysis in commercial IT projects and recognizes some of the important constraints on its use.Part III primarily concentrates on human issues - most relying on some particular psychological or ergonomic model. Part IV presents task analysis methods targeted at software engineering development. These methods, particularly where supported by CASE tools, are therefore practical for use in commercial projects. Lastly, Part V focuses on outstanding issues associated with task analysis, highlighting the main problems with it and analyzing how these might be resolved in due course. Academic researchers, post-graduate students and final year undergraduates, as well as practicing HCI professionals and hardcore task analysts, including industrialists, psychologists, and computer scientists all benefit from this Handbook.

From the Back Cover
A comprehensive review of the current state of research and use of task analysis for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), this multi-authored and diligently edited handbook offers the best reference source available on this diverse subject whose foundations date to the turn of the last century. Each chapter begins with an abstract and is cross-referenced and indexed to other chapters.

Divided into five parts--each prefaced with a rationale and brief summary of its chapters--this volume presents contemporary thinking about task analysis together with a representative set of methods. Part I opens with seven chapters that form a book-within-a-book and introduce most of the main concepts, methods, and techniques discussed in more detail in later parts. Part II describes the use of task analysis in commercial IT projects and recognizes some of the important constraints on its use. Part III primarily concentrates on human issues--most relying on some particular psychological or ergonomic model. Part IV presents task analysis methods targeted at software engineering development. These methods, particularly where supported by CASE tools, are therefore practical for use in commercial projects. Lastly, Part V focuses on outstanding issues associated with task analysis, highlighting the main problems with it and analyzing how these might be resolved in due course.

Academic researchers, post-graduate students and final year undergraduates, as well as practicing HCI professionals and hardcore task analysts, including industrialists, psychologists, and computer scientists all benefit from this Handbook.

First Sentence
Task analysis is at the core of most work in human-computer interaction because it is concerned with the performance of work, and this is what, crucially distinguishes it from other approaches. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

Search inside this book:

1 Review 5 star:  (1) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Diaper does it again!, 12 Jul 2004 By  C. Sanger (Haslemere, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: The Handbook of Task Analysis for Human-Computer Interaction (Paperback) Diaper does it again! As a comprehensive sample of current research on task analysis if not the definitive reference, Dan Diaper and Neville Stanton's Handbook of Task Analysis for Human-Computer Interaction is indeed a worthy successor to Diaper's long out-of-print, but still widely cited Task Analysis for Human-Computer Interaction of 1989. This new volume's thirty chapters bring together a wealth of reference material, experience reports and evaluation studies of task analysis models and methods currently in use. Contributors include the leading authorities in the field: many of them the originators of the methods they describe, in some instances taking a retrospective and critical view of their progeny's efficacy. It adds up to a systematic re-evaluation of what task analysis is or could be. The Handbook's contents are structured into five sections - Foundations, IT Industry Perspectives, Human Perspectives, Computing Perspectives and Today and Tomorrow - each with an introduction and rationale. Moreover, individual chapters are cross-referenced so as to provide alternative pathways through the book. The addition of extensive author and subject indexes, together with the complete contents on CD-ROM, make this an indispensable reference for any serious student, researcher or designer-practitioner of human computer interaction, computer-supported co-operative work or ergonomics. And in the paperback edition, at an affordable price. What more could anyone wish for? Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

• Books > Computing & Internet > Programming > Interface Design
• Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
• I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
• I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.