Information Tasks: Toward a User-centered Approach to Information Systems / Edition 1

by Bryce Allen

Overview

The user-centered approach is central to the creation of usable information systems, services, and institutions. Information system design should derive from user research into information needs, tasks accomplished in meeting those needs, and resources used in the tasks. "Information Tasks" summarizes user research, then presents design sketches of systems that illustrate how design is linked to research. Also discussed are usable information services and an overview of the organization and economics of information institutions. This comprehensive user-centered approach provides an agenda for information research, design, and education that challenges many accepted beliefs and suggests new directions for information work. "Information Tasks" is of interest to library and information science students and faculty interested in information storage and retrieval, user studies, and systems analysis design. Students and scholars of human factors in systems design, human-computer interaction, and cognitive engineering also find the text useful. It reviews user research from many disciplines, and links research to practical design issues. It provides a unified model for user studies and user-centered design, and includes how-to summaries of design chapters. It shows how designers can investigate their user communities. It provides a general template for the design process. It integrates all aspects of information design, and discusses library issues in the larger information context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780120510405
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:	10/09/1996
Series:	Library and Information Science , #96
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.87(d)

Read an Excerpt

Winner of the 1997 Best Information Science Book Award by the American Society for Information Science

Table of Contents

Introduction. An Introduction to User-Centered Information System Design. Information Needs. Information Needs and Information Design. Expressing Information Needs. Designing Systems for Meeting Expressed Information Needs. Information Tasks: Interacting with Information Systems. Design Details for Information Systems. Information Services from the User's Perspective. Information Institutions. Conclusion: User-Centered Design and Evaluation. Chapter References. Index.

Editorial Reviews

Summarizes user research, then presents design sketches of systems that illustrate how design is linked to research, with an overview of the organization and economics of information institutions. Includes chapter summaries outlining practical aspects of design. For library and information science students interested in information storage and retrieval, user studies, and systems analysis design, as well as human factors in systems design, human-computer interaction, and cognitive engineering. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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