Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Facilitate an involved and concerned management committed to following and promoting the
UCD activities
.
As discussed, within the realm of UCD there are countless variations of techniques and tools to include
end-users and their needs in the design process, to generate data and knowledge of the work system, and
to test and evaluate the usability, appropriateness, and of system design alternatives. This chapter pro-
vided a high level overview of the most prevailing methods as well as guidance in the selection and appli-
cation of UCD methods and tools validated to be effective through both research and practice.
Overall, UCD is the principle of including users and stakeholders in the design process, an idea that
was unheard of (or ignored) just a few decades ago. However, with the steadily increasing ubiquity of
computer-based technologies within the personal and work lives of the general populace, UCD is becom-
ing not only a “good practice,” but a legal mandate and a practical necessity to ensure the success and
acceptability of technologies. Despite the relatively long history and continual development of UCD
tools and procedures, the UCD philosophy is still far from reaching a saturation point in today's
world of product and technology design. Champions of UCD are needed to propel this ideology and
techniques in a variety of domains to produce systems that uphold high standards of safety, quality,
and efficiency and support a high level of user satisfaction. Users and the various aspects of the work
system must be deliberately and judiciously woven into the design process to emerge a usable, useful
appealing design.
7.5 Message from the Authors
As introduced in this chapter, the introduction of UCD in the mid 1980s resulted in several initiatives
that correspond with the underlying fundamentals of this approach. Specifically, these include
approaches for integrating the needs of users with disabilities in design referred to as universal or inclus-
ive design. The inclusive approach to the design of products, technologies, and systems entails designing
for as expansive and varied user population as possible (Preiser and Ostroff, 2001). Problems arise,
however, as these design philosophies can result in tension when considered in the context of UCD.
They place greater demand on the requirements gathering process (Newell and Gregor, 2000).
Inclusive design is not wholly inclusive. This approach does not account for end-users who are not
included in the scope of the product and task requirements (Coleman et al., 2003). Simply put, and
“designing for all” is not always appropriate in all situations (Norman, 1988). Still, there is a noted
lack of progress in the application of inclusive design even in mainstream products and systems. This
lack of progress has been attributed to shortcomings in the guidance offered in the practical application
of the inclusive design strategies and requirements in terms of real world design constraints and priorities
(Cassim and Dong, 2003; Lebbon and Coleman, 2003). As previously discussed, designers and developers
of products and systems have to work within several practical and limiting constraints when creating or
modifying designs. As such, a more practical approach to the UCD process is needed to help facilitate its
actual use in practice.
Inclusive design is a challenging venture in its own and imposes additional requirements on the UCD
process. Newell and Gregor (2000) have identified these additional considerations and challenges, which
inclusive design impose on the UCD process. They include:
.
A much greater spectrum of user characteristics and functionality to be considered
.
Developing precise specification of user group characteristics and functionality
.
Defining, finding, and recruiting representative users
.
Resolution of conflicts between accessibility and ease of use for less disabled individuals and var-
ieties of impairments
.
Identifying and justifying situations in which universal design may not be appropriate
.
The need to provide additional components for a system to afford access to
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