ABSTRACT

Current work in the field of usability tends to focus on snapshots of use as the basis for evaluating designs. However, giving due consideration to the fact that everyday use of technology involves a process of evolution, we set out to investigate how the design of the technology may be used to support this. Based on a long-term empirical study of television use in the homes of two families, we illustrate how use continuously develops in a complex interplay between the users' expectations---as they are formed and triggered by the design---and the needs and context of use per se. We analyze the empirical data from the perspective of activity theory. This framework serves to highlight how use develops, and it supports our analysis and discussion about how design, the users' backgrounds, previous experience, and needs, and the specific context of use supports or hinders the development of use. Moreover, we discuss how the characteristics of the home settings, in which the televisions studied were situated, represent a challenge to usability work. The concluding discussion leads to a set of hypotheses relevant to designers and researchers who wish to tackle some of the aspects of usability of particular importance to development in the use of home technology.

REFERENCES

Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references.

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CITINGS  2

Peter Thomas , Harold Thimbleby, The new usability: the challenge of designing for pervasive computing, Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Computer communication, p.382-388, August 12-14, 2002, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Marianne Graves Petersen, Remarkable computing: the challenge of designing for the home, Extended abstracts of the 2004 conference on Human factors and computing systems, April 24-29, 2004, Vienna, Austria

Collaborative Colleagues:

Arne Kjær:	Kim Halskov Madsen Marianne Graves Petersen
Kim Halskov Madsen:	Peter H. Aiken Susanne Bødker Jakob Bardram Jeanette L. Blomberg Thea Borgholm Claus Bossen Kathleen A. Carter Søren Christensen Elizabeth A. Dykstra Erik Granum	Joan Greenbaum Berit Holmqvist Jens Bæk Jørgensen Finn Kensing Arne Kjær Arne Kjaer Søren Kolstrup Bjørn Laursen Morten Constantin Lervig Andreas Lykke-Olesen	Michael J. Muller Rune Nielsen Marianne Graves Petersen Lars Qvortrup
Marianne Graves Petersen:	Susanne Bødker Arne Kjær Arne Kjaer Kim Halskov Madsen Christina Nielsen

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