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Management perspectives on usability in a public authority: a case study

Published: 14 October 2006 Publication History

Abstract

In trying to understand the problem of poor usability in computer-supported work, this article looks at management and their perspective on usability in a public authority. What are their underlying basic values, assumptions and attitudes? Why do managers interpret usability as they do, and what are the consequences for the organization and for usability? The empirical basis is an interpretive case study where 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results indicate that usability is interpreted differently, depending on the formal roles of informants. Furthermore, a majority of the informants express personal, but limited, responsibility for usability. Moreover, we found that basic values are based on an instrumental view of work where efficiency and economy are important constituents. We identified that even though users participate in IT development, they have no formal responsibility or authority. They have become IT workers in that they perform highly technical tasks such as integral testing.

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    NordiCHI '06: Proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: changing roles
    October 2006
    517 pages
    ISBN:1595933255
    DOI:10.1145/1182475
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 14 October 2006

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    Author Tags

    1. UCSD
    2. basic values
    3. case study
    4. management
    5. participatory design
    6. public authority
    7. responsibility
    8. studies of organizations and usability studies
    9. usability

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    • (2022)UX professionals’ learning and usage of UX methods in agileInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2022.107005151:COnline publication date: 1-Nov-2022
    • (2022)“Organized UX Professionalism” – An Empirical Study and Conceptual Tool for Scrutinizing UX Work of the FutureHuman Work Interaction Design. Artificial Intelligence and Designing for a Positive Work Experience in a Low Desire Society10.1007/978-3-031-02904-2_2(34-65)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
    • (2021)Walking in the jungle with a machete: ICT leaders’ perspectives on user-Centred systems designBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929X.2020.186477641:6(1230-1244)Online publication date: 18-Jan-2021
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    • (2014)On the establishment of user-centred perspectivesProceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational10.1145/2639189.2639199(103-112)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2014
    • (2014)Investigating and promoting UX practice in industry: An experimental studyInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2013.10.00472:6(542-551)Online publication date: Jun-2014
    • (2011)User-Centred Systems Design as Organizational ChangeSociological and Philosophical Aspects of Human Interaction with Technology10.4018/978-1-60960-575-9.ch005(80-120)Online publication date: 2011
    • (2010)Towards a Usability Coaching Method for Institutionalizing Usability in OrganisationsHuman-Computer Interaction10.1007/978-3-642-15231-3_10(86-97)Online publication date: 2010
    • (2008)Obstacles to usability evaluation in practiceProceedings of the 5th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: building bridges10.1145/1463160.1463164(23-32)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2008
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