[Sigia-l] Usability Testing comments from Giga

[Boniface Lau]

> Behalf Of Pittas Marios
>  
[...]
> However many tests (including some usability tests) are not done for
> verifying hypothesis (although research work is most "often" carried
> this way)... they are done to "measure the usability of a system",

Assuming that they were not used as a catch-all by people who don't
know what they are doing, those tests for measuring a system's
usability are actually sanity or verification tests. They verify that
no usability problems were introduced while putting together the
usable parts. Thus, those system usability tests don't need to be
repeated unless the system has changed.


> find usability defects, etc... 

Assuming that the earlier defect discovering tests were done properly,
there is no need to repeat those tests unless the system has changed.


[...]
> 
> > Genuine IA is about structures. Thus, a natural way to test is
> > subjecting the structural specification to various scenarios to
> > see how the structures will stand up.
> 
> which I would not dispute.. for me closure of this threat is: "could
> you provide me with any references how one goes on about "subjecting
> the structural specification to various scenarios to see how the
> structures will stand up".., 

Unfortunately, I am not aware of such publication. There is little, if
any, IA substance when we have IA publication seeing blueprints as
"just good thinking written down" (see "Information Architecture:
Blueprints for the Web").

Hopefully there will be IA publication addressing the real stuff after
more people focus on the genuine information architecture, instead of
the peripheral topics such as navigation, labeling, searching, etc.


Boniface