Chapter Title 1

Chapter 1. Introduction
By concentrating on meeting the users goals and
information needs and ensuring the design enhances
the awareness of the overall problem situation, the
overall effectiveness of the design ensures that the
reader can comprehend and act on the information in
an efficient manner. Unfortunately, interfaces are
inherently difficult to design and more reflective of
creative craft than engineering principles (Myers,
1994), although both interface design and
documentation continue to move toward engineering-
type principles (Weiss, 2002).

This book provides one view of handling the problem of

analyzing the situation and presenting dynamic
information for complex open-ended situations. The
remainder of this opening chapter lays out a model of
the situation, user goals, and information needs, and
then provides definitions of simple, complicated, and
complex situations. As part of that definition, I consider
how designing for a complex open-ended situation
requires changing from a design objective of defining
tasks to a design objective of gaining an in-depth
understanding of the user goals and information needs
Example 1:
within specific situations. The remainder of this book
then expands on those complex open-ended design While I
considerations. was
discussing
Corporate reports this book
with a
potential
By considering report analysis as a complex situation editor, we
and using dynamic online reports, the report were
discussing
interpretation methods do not have to outside of scope.
the
monthly
reports
she (as a
senior
editor)
 2 Chapter Title

The information the analysts needs exists. The data

used to create the standard report is in a or mobe
purely cognitive, as when a person wants to find out
about a particular topic. In this case, the beginning and
ending situations are defined by the change in the
persons knowledge level about the topic. For example,
before you knew nothing about how a database server
worked, now you know as much as you want to know.

interpretin The common aspect of the examples in the preceding

g the paragraph and the ones presented earlier in the
informatio chapter, is that they all
n in the
reports,
involve a person with a goal of obtaining information,
the report
designers interacting with a situation,
took the
view of and changing it.
just asking
what Of course, a person wants to change the situation in
informatio such a way that it meets the goal. As part of interacting
n was with the situation, the person acquires data from
desired situation, transforms that data into information, and
and
providing
then, if required, makes a decision about what
a adjustments to make.
collection
of reports First, here are definitions of the five elements that
that make up the model shown in figure 1.3. Then Ill
contained discuss how they fit together. Chapters 2 through 6
it
somewher
examine each of these five elements in detail.
e. A
situation Situation The situation is the current world
which Im state which the user needs to
sure most understand. An underlying
managers assumption is that the user needs to
can
identify interact with a system to gain the
with. The necessary information in order to
issues understand the situation. In most
surroundin
g how the
senior
editors
and
Chapter Title 3

situations, after understanding the

situation, the user will interact with
the situation, resulting in a change
which must be reflected in an
updated system.

Goal The real-world change of the current

situation or understanding of the
current situation that the user is
trying to achieve. Goals can consist of
sub-goals, which are solved in a
recursive manner. Goals should be
considered from the user-situation
viewpoint (what is happening and
what does it mean to the user), rather
than the system viewpoint (how can
the system display a value for x). The
system provides a pathway for the
user to obtain the information to
achieve the goal.

People The central person or persons are the

ones with the intention of interacting
with the situation via the information
system. The information system
provides them with information
relevant to their goals, which they
use to understand the situation.

Other people which may be involved

in the situation, but not working
directly interacting with the
information system should be
considered as part of the situation
itself. In a non-cooperative or hostile
situation, other people may be
4 Chapter Title

working to achieve their own goals

that are in opposition to the users
goals.

System In general, the system is defined as a

computer (web) based method of
providing a user with information
about the current situation. The
common use of system can mean
either just the software system,
including associated databases,
hardware, and so forth, or a
combined view that takes into
account the software, the hardware,
and the user. This book considers the
system as the software and hardware.

If the model could show a time element, the situation

would be shown changing based on both situation
development and user interactions, with the users
actions aimed at accomplishing the goals representing
the desired transformations (Figure 1.4). Of course, in
most real-world situations, achieving the overall goal
requires a recursive process of having the situation
undergo numerous smaller transformations.
Chapter Title 5

Fig. 1.4.Changes in situation factors over time. Based on

both the user interactions to achieve a goal and simply the
passage of time, individual factors within the situation
change. The user needs to be able to comprehend the initial
state, transition states, and final state of each factor to
ensure the change achieved the goal.

In this situation-centered model, the emphasis is on

getting information to the user so they understand the
situation and can achieve the goal (i.e., transform the
situation from the beginning state to the ending state).
Any situation contains an overabundance of data,
mostly irrelevant to the current user goals, that
complicates the task of extracting data. The person
needs to sift through the available data, decide what is
relevant, and use it to achieve the goal. However, the
system can only provide part of the information the
person needs. Other information comes from sources
such as interacting with other people in the situation.
There are also confounding aspects such as political or
economic limitations that affect valid interpretations of
the information.

The system receives data from the situation and feeds

it to the person, but does not affect the situation. The
system takes in data both internal to the situation and
external to it and provides the person with information.
The irrelevant data must be filtered out and important
data give proper salience. The ability of the person to
use that information reflects the quality of the system
design to provide integrated and coherent information
6 Chapter Title

and information relationships directly relevant to the

user goals. As the situation changes, users needs
dynamic update of the information. Likewise, they need
the ability modify their view to fit their current goals
and information needs.

Too many systems seem to have a focus that assumes

that the problem has been defined and all that is
needed are the details to address the problem (Allen,
1996). This assumption holds true for simple situations
but fails for complex ones. An objective of this book is
to explain how to tease out the goals and information
needs of ill-defined problems.
Chapter Title 7

Fig. 1.3.Model of situation, people, goals and information

needs. Note how the information from the system forms a
vital component of how the user understands the situation,
but the system itself is outside the situation. However, the
user sits squarely in the middle of the situation.

If the model could show a time element, the situation

would be shown changing based on both situation
development and user interactions, with the users
actions aimed at accomplishing the goals representing
the desired transformations (Figure 1.4). Of course, in
most real-world situations, achieving the overall goal
requires a recursive process of having the situation
undergo numerous smaller transformations.