IMEDIA technical staff has built a reputation in the areas of human-centered design, human-media technology, as well as human-computer interaction, which is constantly facing usability tasks and challenges in developing next-generation user interfaces.
The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of National Research Council of the U.S. published in 1997 a review on the state-of-the-art on design and evaluation practices that states:
"Designing any sort of computer-mediated device for ordinary people for effective and pleasant everyday use has proven to be surprisingly difficult. … It is, of course, possible that the greater power, utility, and desirability of computer-based functions as compared to traditional mass-market technologies (e.g., television, telephony) mean that greater difficulty of use is inevitable, worth a high price in human effort and inconvenience, and solvable only by increased education with its concomitant risk of leaving out those with insufficient time, resources, or ability. However, an alternate view is that it should be possible to use the power of the new technologies not only to do more and better things but also to do most of them at least as, or more, easily. Much of the burden of introducing new information technologies to the public can be removed or relieved by better design of the functions and interfaces with which most people will deal.
While it is hardly possible to mount a systematic search for empirical evidence on trends in usability, there is a consensus among usability engineers that things have not in general improved: for the most part, technological advances, particularly in software, have increased complexity, and, while some vendors are doing more usability testing, increased competition to be first to market with new features has brought a growing tendency to omit the kinds of early and iterative design and evaluation activities these experts think is essential to ensure ease of learning and use."
Although these statements come from a market-oriented survey, they nonetheless apply to products that evolve out of applied research activities within the INI-GraphicsNet. It is envisioned that such novel applications could be productized for the broader market, thus forming a basis for spin-off commercial activities and ventures. New tools and applications can only compete if their usability is at least comparable to similar products. For innovative technologies and applications, usability studies can help determine the potential market acceptance of a new product.
The quality of software products and component technologies is paramount at IMEDIA. In addition to its own R&D activities, IMEDIA positions itself to introduce products to the North American market. IMEDIA technical staff has established the Software Engineering Competency Center in order to achieve the highest degree of performance, stability, maintainability, and reuse accors multiple product lines for the future. Of equal importance is thorough evaluation of the usability of any new system, which will ultimately impact its market value.
