User model and system model: the yin and yang in user-centered software development

  • Authors:
  • Han Xu;Oliver Creighton;Naoufel Boulila;Ruth Demmel

  • Affiliations:
  • Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany;Siemens AG, Munich, Germany;Siemens AG, Munich, Germany;Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international symposium on New ideas, new paradigms, and reflections on programming & software
  • Year:
  • 2013

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Abstract

Software systems can be viewed from both external and internal perspectives. They are called user model and system model respectively in the human-computer interaction community. In this paper, we employ the yin-yang principle as an analytical tool for reviewing the relationship between the user model and the system model. In the traditional system-centered approach, the engineer is more concerned with the system model and does not pay much attention to the user model. However, as the user-centered approach has gained increasing acceptance in a number of projects, we claim that the user model and system model are the yin and yang in user-centered software development and, following the yin-yang principle, call for equal emphasis on both models. Particularly, we propose using video-based scenarios as the representation of user models and reveal the benefits of the use of video in software development. As a case study, we describe how we have employed scenario videos in a project course and share best practices that we have identified for the creation of demo scenario videos.