Tag: Efficiency

Johnson R. R., Salvo M. J. & Zoetewey M. W. (2007).User-Centered Technology in Participatory Culture: Two Decades ‘Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing.’ IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 50(4), (pp. 320-332). doi: 10.1109/TPC.2007.908730

In Robert R. Johnson, Michael J. Salvo, and Meredith W. Zoetewey (2007) article, “User-Centered Technology in Participatory Culture: Two Decades ‘Beyond a Narrow Conception of Usability Testing’” they argued that “usability requires a balance between empirical observation and rhetoric” (p. 320). Johnson, Salvo, and Zoetewey outlined usability by discussing the “end-of-the-line” problem, the complex relationship between rhetoric and science, efficiency, effectiveness, accuracy, the split between culture and science, human behavior, the “Uniqueness of Individual Perception,” the relationship between humans and technologies, contingencies and probabilities, corporatization, and audience analysis. Johnson, Salvo, and Zoetewey’s purpose was to show that the “long view, exemplified in both scholarship and theorizing, may be inefficient, but it remains the only avenue for innovation and coining new knowledge” (p.330). Johnson, Salvo, and Zoetewey’s intended audience was implied psychologist, technical communicators, and engineers. Johnson, Salvo, and Zoetewey effectively demonstrated the dynamics of usability and its different facets, but there should have been more specific examples of what usability was and why the considerations mentioned were necessary.

Nielsen, J. (2012). Usability 101: An Introduction to Usability. Nielsen Norman Group, (pp. 1-6). https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/

In Jakob Nielsen’s (2012) article, “Usability 101: An Introduction to Usability” he exposed usability as a “quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use” (p. 1). Nielsen dissected usability by identifying the five components (learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction), various definitions (utility, usability, useful), the first law of ecommerce, the effect on budget and profit, improvement through user testing, the process, and the location. Nielsen’s purpose was to demonstrate “Usability and utility are equally important and together determine whether something is useful: It matters little that something is easy if it’s not what you want” (p. 2). Nielsen’s intended audience was anyone who needed to know the basic usability facts and their important role in everyday lives. Nielsen explained usability in simple, digestible terms with definitions that were easy to understand and comprehend.