STC Usability SIG Newsletter
Usability Interface

Off the Shelf:
Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction by Mary Beth Rosson and John M. Carroll

Book Review by Alice Preston

I have read an interesting book that I think you might enjoy, it's called Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction, by Mary Beth Rosson and John M. Carroll, published by Academic Press.

Usability Engineering makes me wish I were back in college (or that when I was in college, the subject of usability engineering had been invented—it hadn’t). The book gives students not only the tools they need to do a major part of what I now do as a usability engineer but also information on how to make the judgement calls that are such an integral part of this job, and it does it with flair. With ten chapters, the authors state that it’s designed to be covered in a 14-week semester (the authors indicate the three starred chapters below as worth two weeks in the course). The chapters are:

• Scenario-Based Usability Engineering
• Analyzing Requirements
• Activity Design
• Information Design*
• Interaction Design*
• Prototyping
• Usability Evaluation*
• User Documentation
• Emerging Paradigms for User Interaction
• Usability Engineering in Practice
  

The References section is the most complete I've seen in print (though I have to admit I don't read a lot of proceedings from various conferences). We may have a challenge for the Usability SIG Web site when we crosscheck that all these references appear.

The running example in Usability Engineering is an example the authors implemented in their hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia—a virtual science fair. In addition to being a compelling story, the example brings out many usability themes, such as balancing the needs of different user groups and dealing with technical requirements across a broad segment of users (the public).

Usability Engineering balances research and practical application, with plenty of exercises and project ideas at the end of each chapter. Rosson and Carroll introduce frequent considerations of the tradeoffs that are perhaps the biggest part of my job as a usability engineer. I particularly like the fact that they’re trying to give students a real-world set of tools to handle difficult problems.

For those of you interested in honing your skills and knowledge, Usability Engineering is an excellent addition to your bookshelf. If your job does not involve developing new products for use on a computer, there may be a text with a better running example. I doubt if there's a text with a better structure and outline. I'm keeping this copy on my bookshelf when I finish my first avid read-through.

John Carroll is a professor of Computer Science, Education and Psychology, and director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. Mary Beth Rosson has been an associate professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech since 1994. The Web site for the community network project is at http://moosburg.cs.vt.edu/.

You can order Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction, as well as preview the preface and one chapter, from the Morgan Kaufman Web site at www.mkp.com.