Human-Centered Alphabet Soup: Approaches to Systems Development from Related Disciplines

Abstract

There are several different technical disciplines focused on improving the systems that humans use, creating an ‘alphabet soup’ of acronyms to stay abreast of. While they all build upon a common emphasis of developing systems around their users, there are differences (both perceived and real) across disciplines such as Human Factors Engineering (HFE), Human Systems Integration (HSI), Human Computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience (UX), and Design Thinking (DT). A panel discussed what each of these disciplines are (and what they are not), when and how they get involved in system development, their philosophies and methods for system development, and where they share common interests. Panelists were asked philosophical, practical, and scenario-based questions, before opening the floor to the audience.

Towards a guide for developers and novice researchers on human-centered design of the take-over request—Combining user experience and human factors

“…Conducting research with humans is used both at the very beginning of the development process when the solution space is very open and at more advanced stages when design solutions are tested against user needs. Secondly, both disciplines aim to develop technological solutions, products, and services that humans benefit from or to improve existing systems in a way that benefits the humans interacting with them (Dorton et al 2021). This benefit might be on an individual, organizational, physical, or cognitive level (Wickens et al 2022).…”

“…Thirdly, there is also much potential in the interdisciplinary work of the professionals in this field: The involved disciplines are, amongst many others, HF Engineering (HFE), Human Systems Integration (HSI), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), UX, and Design Thinking (DT) (Dorton et al 2021). When asking representatives about which tasks and roles their certain discipline includes, we see that all of the aspects of concept formulation, user research, system design, and human-in-the-loop/user testing are in the scope of each of these disciplines.…”

“…When asking representatives about which tasks and roles their certain discipline includes, we see that all of the aspects of concept formulation, user research, system design, and human-in-the-loop/user testing are in the scope of each of these disciplines. Those disciplines can now benefit from each other from their different philosophies for system development: As John Winters is cited in Dorton et al (2021) HF "requires structure and rigor and depends on sound application of science and foundational research" (Dorton et al 2021(Dorton et al , p. 1169. In contrast to this, Melissa Smith describes "understanding users' motivations and needs and how they influence product usage" as key elements of UX Design (Dorton et al 2021(Dorton et al , p. 1169.…”

“…Those disciplines can now benefit from each other from their different philosophies for system development: As John Winters is cited in Dorton et al (2021) HF "requires structure and rigor and depends on sound application of science and foundational research" (Dorton et al 2021(Dorton et al , p. 1169. In contrast to this, Melissa Smith describes "understanding users' motivations and needs and how they influence product usage" as key elements of UX Design (Dorton et al 2021(Dorton et al , p. 1169.…”