Usability Terms Explained: Contextual Design – Part I
During the interpretation phase the data from all the interviews is analyzed and
detailed work models are created in order to ascertain context of use and aspects of work that matter for the user interface design team. What matters here is looking at the interviews from a macro birds-eye-view level for key insights across the board. In Contextual Design there are five work models used to model details of the working environment and work tasks. The Flow model is used to represent the coordination, communication, interaction, roles, and responsibilities of the various people involved in a particular work practice. The Sequence model is used to represent the steps users of an UI design have to go through to accomplish a certain activity, including breakdowns. The Culture model is used to represent the norms, influences, and pressures that are present in the work environment. The Artifact model is used to represent the documents or other physical things that are created while working or are used to support the work. Artifacts often have a structure or styling that could represent a user's way of structuring the work. The physical model is used to represent the actual physical environment where the tasks are accomplished. This includes looking at things like office layout, network topology or a user interface design's layout tools on a computer display.
Usability Terms Explained: Contextual Design Part I