Frequently Asked Questions about User Validation: Supporting Projects and Documents

Return to BASELINE Home Page

Return to FAQ Overview Page

1. How far can BASELINE support IE projects ?(a1)

2. Where can I get a copy of the ELPUB 105 Usability Study: Handbook for Practical Usability Engineering in Information Engineering projects ? (a2)

3. Where can I get the USERfit handbook ?(a3)

4. Can you provide relevant references for the production of Best Practice in User Guides to support software tools ?(a4)

5. What is EUPA ?(a5)

Please also see our extensive web page about Links to Resources and Related Projects for more information about public-domain resources on the WWW.

1. How far can BASELINE support IE projects ?

   BASELINE is concerned with the planning and co-ordinating of activities with regard to user validation efforts. Thus BASELINE seline can offer free consultancy as a support action to projects who need help with organising and managing the process from formulating their validation plan, to their final validation results reports. However, BASELINE cannot unfortunately provide help with the executing of user validation actions or analysing them. If such support is needed, the BASELINE Email Helpdesk can suggest appropriate consultants who can help.

---




2. Where can I get a copy of the ELPUB 105 Usability Study: Handbook for Practical Usability Engineering in Information Engineering projects?

   An electronic copy of the ELPUB 105 report is available in the BASELINE File Archive See ftp://ftp.ucc.ie/hfrg/baseline/elp105.zip for a direct download. The format is Word 6 and EXCEL, zipped for IBM PC. A printed copy of the report is available from:

   European Commission, DG XIII/E-4
   Electronic Publishing and Libraries
   Office C4/024, Batiment Jean Monnet
   L-2920 Luxembourg
   Fax: +352 4301 34959
   

   The ELPUB 105 Usability Study was funded by the Information Engineering Sector of the European Commission's Telematics Applications Programme. The Handbook for Practical Usability Engineering in Information Engineering projects is the result of this study.

   This objective of this handbook is to guide personnel responsible for usability engineering in Information Engineering (IE) type projects through the process of user validation. The main information contained in the handbook is:

   • Introduction to quality of use problems and overview of user validation, including results from an analysis of the needs and requirements of the IE community.
   • Framework for user validation in IE type projects. The user validation process model is introduced and its standard and routine procedures are described.
   • Recommendations for tailoring the user validation process model to the validation question of a specific project.
   • Guidelines to assist in the planning, managing, and controlling of the user validation process throughout the entire development (and even life) cycle of electronic information applications.
   • Forms for the documentation of the user validation process
   • Comprehensive and structured description of relevant methods and approaches for user validation in the IE domain, including measures, cost and other aspects. These are living resources, extendable to include further emerging methods.
   • List of usability test centres and consultants who may be asked for support for user validation.

   The advantages of using this handbook are:

   • efficient and effective execution of user validation
   • increasing quality of the results because the most suitable validation methods are used
   • results which are comparable with reference values from previous projects and from other organisations and companies

   Information from previous documented processes can be reused for repeated user validation and in similar projects. Each iteration will require less effort.

---




3. Where can I get the USERfit handbook ?

   The USERfit handbook is a practical handbook on user-centred design for Assistive Technology. It is the work result of the User Requirements Elaboration in Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology project (TIDE 1062 USER). A review of the handbook can be found in the BASELINE newsletter 5.

   For a copy of the handbook ask the

   TIDE Contact Pint
   Mr. E. Ballabio
   TIDE OFFICE, DGXIII/C/3-BU29
   Avenue de Beaulieu 29
   B-1160 Brussels
   Tel:+32.2.299.02.40
   Fax:+32.2.299.02.48.

See also a presentation of the handbook at http://concord.cscdc.be/conference/abstract/2_1400_4_3.htm

---




4. Can you provide relevant references for the production of Best Practice in User Guides to support software tools ?

   Two books give a good overview of designing and writing online documentation:

   • William Horton (1994). Designing and writing online documentation. Hypermedia for Self-Supporting Products. 2nd edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
   • William Horton (1991). Illustrating computer documentation. The Art of Presenting Information Graphically on Paper and Online. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

   These and other more general reading matter can be found on the Baseline references page.

---




5. What is EUPA ?

   EUPA - European Usability Professionals Association - is a plan of the BASELINE partners for the exploitation of BASELINE results.

   Developers of electronic information products need up-to-date knowledge about user validation methods. The delivery of this information must be such that the individuals concerned don't have to expand personnel resources searching for this information on the web, in libraries, by individual contact with each other. BASELINE started to provide such support in the beginning of 1996 and will have created by the end of 1999 the nucleus of information for a representative professional grouping (EUPA) with a commonly understood level of professionalism.

   EUPA shall be a non-profit organisation which supports user validation and quality control for Usability Engineering. EUPA should make the quality of results attained in Europe visible worldwide, help to form consensus on the state of the art and best practice, and make it visible to the industry which needs it. EUPA shall be initiated by assembling a group of the leading practitioners and scientists in the field. It shall be user-oriented with practitioners as the driving force.

   If you like this ideas and are interested in becoming a starting member of EUPA please contact the BASELINE project.

Return to BASELINE Home Page
Go to top of this page