2. ICT systems are designed for
and used by people
S Ict systems are commissioned for a purpose.
3. Characteristics of users
S Different users have differing requirements depending on
S Experience
S Physical characteristics including age
S Environment of use
S Tasks to be undertaken
4. How users interact with ICT
systems
S Students should be able to discuss the need for effective
dialogue between humans and machines
S Appropriate interface design to provide effective
communication for users
S The need for the provision of appropriate help and support for
users of ICT systems
S The benefits and limitations of different types of user interfaces.
5. Working in ICT
S Students should be aware of many different jobs
available to ICT professionals.
S The personal qualities and general characteristics
necessary for an ICT professional to work effectively
within the industry.
S The characteristics of an effective ICT system.
6. People and ICT systems and
characteristics of users
S Users are all different. They are usually different ages
with different educational backgrounds, interests and ICT
experience.
S Because of this, producing systems that everyone can
use is challenging.
S If you make things too simple you may annoy or frustrate
users that are experienced. The challenge is to produce
systems capable of being used by your average user.
7. Characteristics of users
S Users are the people who use the systems designed by others on a day to day
basis. In many cases they will spend long periods using these systems which could
be a major part of their work. Therefore an obligation on people who design and
develop these systems to make them as easy and user friendly as possible. Users
have differing requirements dependent upon:
S Experience
S Physical characteristics
S Environment of use
S Task to be undertaken
S Age.
8. Experience
S When a new system is introduced, most users will need
to be trained to use it.
S In small organizations this may not be feasible and users
will be expected to learn new software themselves using
manuals, online tutorials and books.
S Users will all have different experience in using ICT and
any ICT solution needs to take this into account.
9. Physical characteristics
S People with special or particular needs need to user computers as do
disabled people.
S ICT systems can present these people with many new opportunities and
make their lives more fulfilling.
S Users with sensory impairment – the user many not be able to read the
letters on the screen properly use a font that is easy to read and make
sure the size of the font is large enough for these people to read.
S If a person is blind then ICT can help them buy using the speech to text
tool where the words are sounded when they are typed in by the user.
Bind users can use braille keyboards and printers where raised dots are
printed onto paper for them to read.
10. Physical characteristics ctd..
S Users with physical disability affects their mobility they
may not be able to use their arms for instance or may not
be able to walk. People who cannot write can use voice
activated systems to input the data into the computer.
S QUICK TASK- can you think of any other uses ICT
systems can assist people with disabilities.
11. Environment of use
S ICT systems can e used within the home, on the move
such as trains and planes, and at work..
S The requirements of any ICT system must take this into
account.
S For example the screen on a laptop is generally smaller
than with a desktop computer so systems may need to
have less cluttered screen design if the system is to be
used mainly on a laptop.
12. Task to be undertaken
S The task to be undertaken will determine the user requirements. For example if if there is a
lot of text to be entered then you would need to look at the possibility of entering the text
without the user having to type it in.
S Automatic methods of data entry could be used making the use of MICR and OCR and OMR.
RESEARCH THESE!
S If none of these techniques are suitable, then a system making use of voice recognition could
be considered.
S The user requirements for a website could be:
S Easy to navigate: quickly to find information that they require
S Regular updates: so they do not rely on wrong information
S Use of the correct font, color, size background etc. making text easy to read
S Fast load times: they do not waste time waiting for webpages to load.
13. Age
S Age is a big factor when designing systems. You would not design
the interface for a piece of multimedia software aimed at primary
school children in the same way as an adult user.
S As people are living longer there are more older people who want
to use ICT systems.
S They may want to keep in touch with children and grandchildren
who may be located around the world or may want to meet new
friends.
S As they have more time on their hands older people are making
full use of benefits that ICT brings.
14. Ways in which accessibility of
a website or other ICT system
can be improved
S Websites and other ICT systems are often designed to be used by the
general public.
S This would include people of all ages, nationalities, in different situations
at work, for leisure..
S With a range of disabilities, educational background and ICT competency
skills.
S This could consider everyone…
S YOUR TASK: what different ways could you make a website more usable
and accessible to users: such as use plain text, explain difficult words or
phrases….think of more!!!!
16. Interface Types
S RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING:
S Graphical User Interface (GUI)
S Menu-driven interface
S Command line interface
17. Characteristics
S What are the characteristics of ICT users?
S You will research the characteristics of particular users and
what their requirements will be.
S Physical characteristics – deaf, blind, motor
S Environment of use – home, office, on the go
S Experience – beginner, novice, expert
S Tasks to be undertaken – programming, accounts, general
office, art and design
S Age – very young, teenagers, middle, old
19. SCNEARIOS
S A national supermarket chain surveyed their customers and
found that 10% of shoppers who left a store without making a
purchase said that excessive waiting time at the checkout was
the reason for their decision. The chain has decided to
introduce self-service checkouts.
S The self Service checkout would be used by a variety of
customers.
Discuss what should have been considered when designing the
interaction for users of the self-service checkout shown above.
22. Essential skills for ICT
Professionals
S Written Communication
S Oral Communication
S Problem –solving
S Patience
S Flexible Hours
S Teamwork
23. What makes an effective ICT
team?
S Work together in organised and effective manner – deadlines are
met.
S Know strengths an weaknesses – tasks are allocated to correct
staff.
S Appropriate structure.
S Monitoring of tasks progress.
S Costs for completion monitored.
S Good communication skills
25. Introduction
S Humans need to interact with ICT systems and this
needs to be done in the most effective way, taking into
account the characteristics of the users.
S There needs to be an effective dialogue between humans
and machines. The commonest interface involves the
user of GUI or Graphical User Interfaces. With the user
issuing instructions using the mouse.
26. The need for effective dialogue
between humans and
machines
S When using any ICT device, there needs to be a dialogue between the machine
and the human user. The user needs to be able to issue instructions to the deice
to tell it what to do and the device needs to tell the user what to do if there is a
problem, what the problem is.
S Human/computer interfaces provide the means by which the user can tell the
computer what to do and the same time the computer can interact with the human
user by gibing them a response. These interfaces are important because they
determine how easy it is to use the ICT system to do a certain task.
S The standard interface for the human inputting data into the computer is via the
keyboard with the computing giving its response on the screen/ This is not the
only type of human/computer interface, although it is fair to say that it is the most
common.
S There are many other systems that make user of ICT and need other types of
interfaces. Process control screens, digital TVs, mobile phones, computer games.
Cockpit controls on fly-by-wire aircrafts, information systems that can be used by
members of the public, all make sure of innovative user interfaces.
27. Appropriate interface design to
provide effective
communication for users
S If you are playing a game such as simulating driving a F1 racing car around the track, you would want to
the game to be as realistic as possible..
S You can easily show the view of the cockpit on a computer and it is easy to show the indicators and the
instruments on the screen.
S All this adds to the realism.. the part that would let the game down might be the human/computer
interface..
S The worst interface would be using the cursor keys and the other keys to steer the car, change gear etc
S A better interface would be to use a joystick, although this might not be ideal as cars normally have
steering wheels gear sticks and foot pedals.
S You can actually buy these to make the interface as near to the real thing as possible.
S The interface must be designed to enable the user to communicate effectively with the device and to
enable the device to communicate with the user.
28. GUI
Graphical User Interfaces is the most popular human computer interface used by
software manufacturers. A mouse is the main input device.
GUIs consist of:
S Windows
S Icons
S Menus
S Pointers
S Desktop
S Drag and drop
S Task bar
29. Your Task
S Hand draw/on computer:
S Create a graphical user interface for an online booking
system for holiday cottages. They have 10 holiday
cottages in total and can be booked at any time of the
year.
S They accept credit and debit cards!
S The rest is up to you!
30. Command driven interfaces
S With command-driven interfaces the user has to
remember and issue commands to the ICT system to get
it to do something.
S Sometimes the commands are entered using the
keyboard and sometimes they are entered using lists of
commands.
31. Natural Language Interfaces
S It would be easy if we could issue instructions to the ICT
system in the same way that we can issue instructions to
another human. This would be the ideal interface for us
as it is the way humans communicate with each other.
There are interfaces that are able to do this they are
called natural language interfaces..
S Can you think of any you would like to design?
32. The need for the provision of
appropriate help and support
for the users of ICT systems
S Everyone has been a beginner at using ICT systems at
some time. It can be frustrating to know what you want
to do but not sure how to do it. Help screens come into
handy….
S Can you think of any that have helped you in the past?
33. Advantages and
disadvantages of Online help
and support
S Think of some advantages and disadvantages of online
help and support for users of software. Think about the
different levels of expertise these users have.. do you
think its suffice to support all levels?
S Try the office online help tool now!
34. Online help for novice users
S All software packages have online help facilities where
users can get help; supplied by the package rather than
have to look through manuals or user guides.
S Online help for novice users – some help screens can be
very off putting with technical words that people don’t
understand…
S This help will be through the use of wizards in Microsoft
Office which will help you through complex tasks.
35. Appropriate Training
Users should not be left to figure out new ICT systems for themselves. It is
much more productive to train them properly on any new system they have to
use. There are a number of ways this can be done:
S Online tutorials which can guide them through the features of the system
S Interactive multimedia training resources eg CD or DVD
S Classroom face to face training
S Paper-based instructions
S Individual tuition on a one to one basis.
36. Existing user base
S If you are working in an office with other more
experienced users and you encounter a problem with
some software you might be able to ask them for some
help before approaching IT support.
S It is reckoned that 80% of problems are solved by non-IT
staff. If the problem cannot be solved in this way you can
then approach IT support for guidance.
37. Help desks
S List ways in which the ICT support and help desks can
support users in a business environment.
38. Help-desks
S Problems will always occur when people use ICT systems and
these problems can often leave the user unable to use the
facility.
S In most organisations user support is provided by the use of
help-desks which is someone who works in the IT support
department. This may be outsourced to an external company.
S They will provide advice and support on technical aspects such
as hardware and software issues as well as network issues.
S Most of the fixes can be carried out from their desktop
computer without having to physically leave your desk.
39. Re-cap
S Summarise what you have learnt from this lesson in no
more than 1 paragraph maximum 200 words!
S Exchange your summary with your partner so they can
suggest strengths and targets! Try and think of everything
you have learnt to summarise it for revision purposes!
