Glossary - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 412

Human-centered design (HCD) An expansion of the User-Centered Design
approach which extends the focus from the user's interaction with the system to
considering how human capabilities and characteristics are affected by the
system beyond direct interaction with the interface or system itself.
Iconic memory A store where perceptual images are held for a short period of
time. Visual iconic memory, for example, holds only a few items and these
decay fairly quickly.
Ill-structured problem Some problems are more difficult than others because
they are ill-structured, that is, they are not clearly defined in terms of states,
goals, and actions that are available. Also called ill-defined or messy problems.
Implicit memory A hypothesized store of items that cannot be explicitly repor-
ted. Most procedural information cannot be explicitly reported. Often used in
contrast to Explicit memory.
Information Information can be thought of as organized data.
Information architecture A term used to describe how on-line information is
structured to support usability by both its creators and its users.
Information scent Information scent is what leads a user to spend more time
exploring a web page (or menu item) to find what they are looking for because
the content effectively smells like the thing they are looking for. The idea is to
make sure that objects and links appear to smell like the content they contain
and do not smell like content that they do not contain.
Insight problems A class of problems where novel behavior or understanding is
required to solve them. Sometimes called ''Aha'' problems.
Interaction design (IxD) An approach to designing interactive products and
systems to support the way that people interact and communicate.
Intrinsic motivation The motivation to do something that arises directly from a
person's inherent needs and desires.
Introspection The examination of your own mental experiences. It can be a
source of insight but has been proven to be unreliable in general.
Just noticeable difference (JND) The smallest change in a perceptual stimulus
that is noticeable by a user.
Keystroke level model (KLM) A simplified version of GOMS. It provides a
quick and approximate way to calculate how long users will take to perform a
cognitively manageable (unit) task.
Kinesthesis Kinesthesis (or the kinesthetic sense) generates an awareness of static
and dynamic body posture based on information coming from the muscles,
joints, and skin, along with a copy of the signal sent to the motor system.