The group elicitation method for participatory design and usability testing

Abstract

This article presents the Group Elicitation Method (GEM), a brainstorming technique augmented by a decision support system for participatory design and usability testing. GEM has been successfully used in four industrial projects to elicit knowledge from users, management and designers. In three cases GEM was used to elicit end-users' knowledge for the design of new user interfaces and complex human-machine systems. The properties of this method and the lessons learned are discussed.