Developing a user-process model for designing menu-based interfaces: An exploratory study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to organize menu items based on a user-process model and implement a new version of current software for enhancing usability of interfaces. Dervin & Nilan's time-line method is used to develop a user-process model for user interface design. We developed a user process model drawn from actual users' understanding of their goals and strategies to solve their information needs by using Dervin's Sense-Making Theory with sense-making interviews. Six experienced subjects were recruited for the sense-making interviews. Each subject went through a learning/exploration session, and was asked to recall and describe specific information needs throughout the activity (situation). The data obtained from the interviews were then analyzed inductively based on Dervin's Sense-Making theory. The events, gaps, and uses (help/hurt) elicited from each subject were then chronologically ordered within each user's situation, and merged across all subjects to yield a master timeline matrix illustrating the use of the features of the software. The master timeline guided changes to the initial traditional menu for the product producing a reorganized, userprocess driven interface. The new interface was implemented for usability testing.