Competitive usability studies of virtual environments for shipbuilding.

摘要

Establishing usability specifications as measurable attributes in repeatable scenarios has been an essential task in the management and continuous improvement processes [1]. Early studies in Usability Analysis were primarily conducted to assist software developers and hardware designers in improving the Human-Computer Interface (HCI) or Man-Machine Interface (MMI). However, this study was conducted to provide comparative data supporting broad conclusions regarding the comparative merits of one technology (non-stereoscopic, conventional CAD systems) competed against another (tracked, stereoscopic virtual environments). Competing environments to establish usability features and preferences provides a new tool to the interface designer. Benchmark scenarios were designed and executed to measure navigation, fault identification/repair, and spatial awareness through a sequence of choices and to provide user preference of one GUI paradigm over another functionally similar paradigm. This study, performed on a ship design application, included an analysis of the effects of user collaboration in virtual environments.