Evaluating Usability-Supporting Architecture Patterns: Reactions From Usability Professionals

Date
Language
American English
Embargo Lift Date
Department
Committee Chair
Committee Members
Degree
M.S.
Degree Year
2008-12
Department
School of Informatics
Grantor
Indiana University
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Abstract

Usability professionals and software engineers typically approach software design differently; driven by a similar goal to create usable software products yet advocating distinct design methodologies. This distinction often creates a communication gap that hinders effective usability design discussions. A potential way to bridge this gap is to leverage Usability-Supporting Architecture Patterns. Recent studies suggest that they enable software engineers to include usability considerations in the architecture of software systems. A better understanding of what the usability community thinks about these patterns can lead to their improvement as well as increased adoption by software engineers, hence more effectively integrating usability into software design. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how usability professionals react to these patterns via an online pretest-posttest control group design experiment, where participants answered questions about the patterns based on prior software design experience. Participants verified there is a communication gap with software engineers, and that Usability- Supporting Architecture Patterns are perceived as useful to account for usability in software architectures. Results suggest that participants recognize the patterns’ usability benefits as important and that the presentation of these usability benefits could be improved by using language more familiar to usability professionals.

Description
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Source
Alternative Title
Type
Thesis
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}