The main
goal of the IFIP 13.2 working group on methodologies for user-centered
systems design is to promote fundamental research and improve
the practices of the user-centred systems design and engineering
philosophy. While HCI research has made considerable progress
on analysis and design methods for interactive systems, industrial
and software engineering practices of HCI have been less successful.
The working group has a significant role in bridging the gaps
between HCI and the software development communities.
This objective decomposes into three sub-goals:
To improve and mediate the communication line between software engineers and HCI designers via a cost-effective integration of the UCD toolbox and methods into the traditional methods and tools for software engineering.
To encourage research into human action within the system development process and to promote knowledge transfer from such studies into the construction of integrated HCI-SE design methods.
To achieve these goals, the IFIP working group 13.2 is providing a unique forum for discussing ideas on focused topics that supplements informal groups and general HCI conferences; and secondly, by organizing workshops/conferences as well as joint meetings with other IFIP groups and other local and international associations such as ACM SIGCHI and UPA.
The following topics were identified as core topics of the groups' initial membership:
Implications of cognition and human psychology for the design of human computer interfaces
Evaluation and study of different approaches to design delivery: cognitive models, design rationales, task artifact cycles, engineering principles, development methods
Human Factors in Software engineering methods and techniques, practice in industrial environments
Human Behavior in software development, cognitive studies of software engineering Cooperative work techniques applied to software development Activities The group has an ongoing of meetings, workshops and working conferences.