These were some of the initial
usability studies run at Lotus. They produced strong support for usability
by Lotus senior management. By the end of this work a usability department
was started in the 1-2-3 product group, and a usability specialist had been
hired by the Freelance product group.
Multimedia Smart Help (Fall 1990 – Spring
1992)
Usability services to a long-term R&D project to design and build multimedia
smart help for business spreadsheets. While the project succeeded, the product
was not launched due to management concerns about the lack of multimedia
capabilities in the 1992 installed base of desktop computers. Done with
Dr. Barbara Flagg. Findings included:
- Users preferred two of the six types of multimedia
smart help over traditional on-line help.
- Developed fine-grained user control over
interactive help that let users (1) move back and forth seamlessly between
work and multimedia help, (2) direct access to the precise multimedia
help users need during work, (3) user control over the types of learning
and the pace of learning, and (4) task-level support for advanced user
performance at new skill levels.
- Users rated the system very high for appeal,
effectiveness and accessibility — especially in areas where they
are novices (which is at the margin of new uses and learning for all,
even experts).
- Developed a clear picture of user behavior
with advanced help systems, and a "best practice" feature
set for goal-oriented business users.
"Calder" Multimedia Research Prototype
(Fall 1990)
In-depth usability research for an R&D prototype for providing full-featured
multimedia authoring on the desktop as a mass-market product. Researched
functional utility, usefulness, interface design and user effectiveness.
Done with Dr. Barbara Flagg, a leader in the field of assessment of educational
technologies.
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