Article

Assumptions considered harmful: the need to redefine usability

Authors:

Heike Winschiers,

Jens FendlerAuthors Info & Claims

UI-HCII'07: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Usability and internationalization

Pages 452 - 461

Published: 22 July 2007 Publication History

Abstract

A cultural evaluation of Usability Engineering in the Namibian context reveals a number of good practices as well as locally inadequate methods. One major challenge in cross-cultural Usability Engineering is the implicit western understanding of usability and its associated assumptions which often lead to a locally inappropriate usability evaluation. Conceptualisation sessions held with different Namibian user groups confirmed a deviating perception of the term "usability". None of the groups mentioned terms "commonly" associated with "usability" such as speed, learnable, or memorable. Thus standard usability testing comprises a dual bias through the western definition of usability and the related choice of methods which aim to test an already biased objective. We therefore suggest an ethno-centric software development framework which incorporates a contextual redefinition of usability.

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Pearson JRobinson SReitmaier TJones MJoshi A(2019)Diversifying Future-Making Through Itinerative DesignACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/334172726:5(1-21)Online publication date: 29-Jul-2019
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Assumptions considered harmful: the need to redefine usability
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

UI-HCII'07: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Usability and internationalization

July 2007

660 pages

ISBN:9783540732860

Editor:
Nuray Aykin
The New School, New York, NY

Publisher

Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 22 July 2007

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3341727
van Biljon JRenaud KChimbo BBouhlel MJere N(2018)Visualization of African knowledge to embody the spirit of African storytellingProceedings of the Second African Conference for Human Computer Interaction: Thriving Communities10.1145/3283458.3283496(1-2)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2018
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