in Technical Communication (Journal of the Society for Technical Communication), August 2002 (p. 362):
Humanware – Practical Usability Engineering
Taking a broad an practical view of usability, Ulf-L Andersson focuses on humanware, which"embraces everything which communicates with the human user, e.g. instrument panels, controls, screen dialogues and the appearance of components to be assembled (even markings on components which ease disassembly and sorting for recycling). Humanware can help people to do the right things, and to avoid doing the wrong thing.” (p. 5)
I’m always intrigued by books that take a much broader perspective on a subject than I would have expected; Andersson’s book does that. It does not focus just on software interfaces, but on a wide range of products we see and use in our lives. VCRs, control sticks, stereo equipment, furniture to be assembled, wehicles, and, of course, human-computer interfaces–they are all examined and discussed. And we are made aware of the possibilities for making this a much more usable world.
Andersson takes a very human-centered approach to usability. People are always portrayed in the examples and illustrations. Objects are portrayed from the user’s point of view. This is not an abstract notion of usability, but a very practical, user-centered one.
A listing of the book’s chapters indicates both the broad scope of the book and its human focus:
1. What is humanware?
2. Man as a design unit
3. Without memory the world would stand still
4. Interface between man and the outside world
5. We have to live with human errors
6. The human being is an integrated part of the product
7. Analyses provide a basis
8. Functional testing ensures realism
9. Designing humanware
10. Choosing a suitable structure
11. Help the memory
12. Vary signal type and emphasis
13. Reduce the amount of work
14. The human is always the measure
15. Case study: Programming a video recorder
16. Case study: Furniture kit
17. Case sudy: Electronic car pilot
The book is designed to be used by designers, developers, and technical communicators–as practitioners, techers, or students. I believe it meets it goal, providing practical information built on a theoretical base and an interesting and varied set of problems with which to apply what was learned. There are suggested answers to the problems in the back of the book; they can be used as solutions or as discussion points for further exploration.
Pointers to further reading include reference works, textbooks, conference proceedings, and journals. Not merely a listing of titles, the pointers describe the resources and indicate why someone might be interested in them.
This book would be useful in an undergraduate or introductory graduate-level course. I provides perspective, viewpoints, and springboards for discussion. If I were to use this book, I would couple it with a text that is heavy on facts, procedures, and guidlines to complement the thought-provoking but high-level approach taken here. I would recommend this book as one that provides insight into many possibilities for considering usability and making products and documentation usable.
Roger Grice
(Roger Grice is a clinical associate professor of technical communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and directs RPI’s graduate certificate program in human-computer interaction. Retired from IBM Corporation, where he was an information developer, he is an STC fellow, a senior member of IEEE, and a member of the Usability Professionals’ Association. He holds a PhD in communication and rhetoric from RPI.)