User Centered Technology

Presents a theoretical model for examining technology through a user perspective.

Winner of the 1999 Best Book presented by the National Council of Teachers of English NCTE Awards for Excellence in Technical and Scientific Communication User-Centered Technology presents a theoretical model for examining technology through a user perspective. Johnson begins with a historical overview of the problem of technological use from the ancient Greeks to the present day—a problem seen most clearly in historical discussions of rhetoric theory. The central portion of the book elaborates on user-centered theory by defining three focal issues of the theory: user knowledge, human-technology interaction, and technological determinism. Working from an interdisciplinary perspective, Johnson uses rhetoric theory to present a definition of user knowledge; human factors engineering to illuminate the ideological presuppositions built into technology design; and history, philosophy, and sociology to explain technological determinism, possibly the greatest impediment to user-centered technology development in modern times. The latter part of the book applies user-centered theory in two contexts: the nonacademic sphere, where the writing and design of computer user documentation is discussed, and the academic sphere, through a discussion of how user-centered concepts might drive university technical communication and composition curricula.

This comprehensive volume is the product of an intensive collaborative effort among researchers across the United States, Europe and Japan. The result -- a change in the way we think of humans and computers.

This open access volume focuses on the development of a P5 eHealth, or better, a methodological resource for developing the health technologies of the future, based on patients’ personal characteristics and needs as the fundamental guidelines for design. It provides practical guidelines and evidence based examples on how to design, implement, use and elevate new technologies for healthcare to support the management of incurable, chronic conditions. The volume further discusses the criticalities of eHealth, why it is difficult to employ eHealth from an organizational point of view or why patients do not always accept the technology, and how eHealth interventions can be improved in the future. By dealing with the state-of-the-art in eHealth technologies, this volume is of great interest to researchers in the field of physical and mental healthcare, psychologists, stakeholders and policymakers as well as technology developers working in the healthcare sector.

User Experience Innovation is a book about creating novel and engaging user experiences for new products and systems. User experience is what makes devices such as Apple's iPhone and systems such as Amazon.com so successful. iPhone customers don't buy just a phone; they buy into an experience enabled by the device. Similarly, Amazon.com customers enter a world of book reviews, interesting recommendations, instant downloads to their Kindle, and one-click purchasing. Products today are focal points, and it is the experience surrounding the product that matters the most. User Experience Innovation helps you create the right sort of experience around your products in order to be successful in the marketplace. The approach in User Experience Innovation is backed by 18 years of experience from an author holding more than 100 patents relating to user experience. This is a book written by a practitioner for other practitioners. You'll learn 17 specific methods for creating innovation; these methods run the gamut from targeting user needs to relieving pain points, to providing positive surprises, to innovating around paradoxes. Each method is one that the author has used successfully. Taken together, they can help you create truly successful user experience innovations to benefit your company or organization, and to help you grow as an experienced expert and innovator in your own right. Provides 17 proven methods for innovating around user experience Helps you think beyond the product to the sum total of a customer's experience Written by an experienced practitioner holding more than 100 user-experience patents

"This book is anchored in the concept that information technology empowers and enhances learners' capabilities adopting a learning summit on using the machine for the augmentation of human intellect for productivity, improvement, and innovation at individual, organizational, societal, national, and global levels"--Provided by publisher.

Emerging technologies have enhanced the learning capabilities and opportunities in modern school systems. To continue the effective development of such innovations, the intended users must be taken into account. End-User Considerations in Educational Technology Design is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly material on usability testing techniques and user-centered design methodologies in the development of technological tools for learning environments. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics such as multimedia learning, human-computer interaction, and online learning, this book is ideally designed for academics, researchers, school administrators, professionals, and practitioners interested in the design of optimized educational technologies.

Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems introduces the fundamental human capabilities and characteristics that influence how people use interactive technologies. Organized into four main areas—anthropometrics, behaviour, cognition and social factors—it covers basic research and considers the practical implications of that research on system design. Applying what you learn from this book will help you to design interactive systems that are more usable, more useful and more effective. The authors have deliberately developed Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems to appeal to system designers and developers, as well as to students who are taking courses in system design and HCI. The book reflects the authors’ backgrounds in computer science, cognitive science, psychology and human factors. The material in the book is based on their collective experience which adds up to almost 90 years of working in academia and both with, and within, industry; covering domains that include aviation, consumer Internet, defense, eCommerce, enterprise system design, health care, and industrial process control.