ERMIA Analysis of a Complex Interface

Software	None
Covers	HCI, usability evaluation techniques
Skills Required	Interest in HCI, formal analysis techniques, psychology
Challenge	Conceptual ???? Technical ? Programming

Brief Description

Evaluating the usability of a computer interface can be an important part of a software development project, when the importance of getting the interface right justifies the effort invested in assessing it and redesigning it for greater usability. When the interface is used a lot by many people, or is part of a safety critical system, systematic evaluation is well worth the trouble. There are a variety of interface evaluation methods in existence, that vary a great deal in their thoroughness and the work involved in using them. Martin Stacey worked for a while on the ERMIA Project (Entity Relationship Modelling of Information Artefacts) led by Thomas Green and David Benyon, which developed a notation, based on entity relationship modelling for databases, for describing the structure of information artefacts like computer interfaces, bus timetables, data graphics, and so on. This is a relatively rapid, lightweight analysis technique. (For a complete explanation, see Thomas Green and David Benyon's main paper on ERMIA.)

The objective of the project is to develop an ERMIA analysis of the information structure of a complex computer interface of your choice (perhaps a very non-standard one), and an assessment of what this analysis tells you about the effectiveness of the interface, and how it might be redesigned to be more effective.

Variants/Extensions

Develop an analysis of the effectivenss of your chosen computer interface using another formalism or methodology, such as cognitive walkthrough. If you want to be ambitious, compare and contrast what two or three methods tell you about the interface.

Develop ERMIA analyses of two (or ideally more) software systems for doing the same or similar jobs, investigating how their different structures influence how they're used or how effective they are.

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