Last Update
22 October 2003
11 September 2001
What's New - the EPSScentral Reader
18 April 2003
INTERESTING PERFORMANCE SUPPORT TOOLS AND SYSTEMS
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The 2003 Performance Centered Design Awards
 The deadline is 45 days away!
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 It's that time again! EPSScentral is now accepting submissions for the 2003 Performance Centered Design Awards! Here's your chance to show your stuff and gain recognition for yourself, your organization, your software, and/or your business sponsor. The PCD Awards will showcase creative solutions that best represents the principles of electronic performance support and performance-centered design in three categories this year:
 Traditional EPSS - external or extrinsic "EPSS" solutions with designs rooted primarily in the learning and/or reference technologies; PCD Solutions - end-user embedded / intrinsic performer-centered solutions that are strictly focused on task completion (not learning); andExtraordinary PCD Tools - for developing EPSS and any performance-centered systems and functions!Awards will be presented at the 2003 Online Learning Conference and Expo and will be published on www.EPSScentral.com to serve as models for new and experienced EPSS/PCD advocates. Previous winning entries may be viewed here.
DATES, DEADLINES, and PRESENTATIONS:
Submission deadline is July 15, 2003. No exceptions! Awards will be announced on August 31, 2003 and will be presented during session 413 on Tuesday, September 23, 2003 at the Online Learning Conference in Los Angeles. Award-winning entries will also be on display at the EPSScentral booth at the Online Learning 2003 Expo, September 22-24, 2003. COSTS: All non-refundable entry fees must be accompanied with a check in the appropriate amount payable to EPSScentral LLC or payment can be made via PayPal.
Traditional EPSS: US $350 PCD Solutions: US $350 EXTRAORDINARY PCD TOOLS: US $550 SUBMISSIONS & EVALUATION:
You are responsible for the costs of preparing your entry. You are required to use the entry template for Traditional EPSS, PCD Solutions, and Extraordinary PCD Tools, respectively. You must also supplementing the online submission with a URL, CD, DVD, or video tape of the live experience so that the judges can experience your offering in as concrete a manner as possible. ELIGIBILITY: Your entry must describe either a particular component or feature of an operational Traditional EPSS Solution, an intrinsic/embedded Performance-Centered System, Performance Centered System Development Tool, or a complete Performance Centered System. Note the word "operational!" - NO design concepts that have not been at least piloted in an operational setting where the business/organizational value has been measured.
Traditional EPSS submissions are the "electronic performance support systems" that are external or extrinsic and have learning and/or reference as their primary design bases. EPSS submissions must be grounded nonetheless in business or organizational performance outcomes. While learning or reference design may be primary with regard to design, the system must show a measurable improvement in performance, reduction in conventional training time, and/or reduced time to competency on the task(s) it was designed to support.
PCD Solutions are intrinsic or embedded and exclusively focused on the business performance outcome in measurable ways. For example, a PCD Outcome that replaces the interface of an enterprise application such that (a) the frequency of data entry errors is reduced; (b) the frequency of incomplete information entered into the system is reduced; (c) the speed with which data is entered is substantially increased; and (d) the need for any form of learning in advance of doing is eliminated is Performance Centered.
On the other hand, an embedded tutorial, online help, field-sensitive help, and the like, are typically NOT Performance Centered Solutions in the same sense. Provided they show measurable performance improvement as described above, such programs should be submitted to the EPSS/Performance Centered Learning category. .Performance-Centered means that there is a measurable improvement in the business outcome (or, if not a business, then a measurable improvement in achieving the organization's goals) with learning NOT a primary goal.
Extraordinary PCD Tools are new technologies (tools, products, protocol) that were not previously available commercially or otherwise. Innovative PCD Tools and Techniques are things that facilitate embedding support into other software, act as "agents" to deliver decision support at the time of need, integrate disparate end-user software, help anticipate and resolve performance challenges, use general inference techniques to eliminate complexity, reduce the need for conventional IT support, replace more conventional means of support, and the like. These can be new components of existing PCD Tools and Techniques if they are sufficiently unique.
The Awards are open to businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions. Vendors are welcome to submit their work but are strongly encouraged to do so in partnership with their clients.
WHAT AND WHERE TO SUBMIT:
To be considered in this year's PCD Awards, your submission must be postmarked on or before July 15, 2003. Your submission must include:
The prepared submission template (Traditional EPSS, PCD Solutions, or Extraordinary PCD Tools) with supplementary URL, CD, DVD, Video or other supporting media/materials to ensure that our judges can evaluate the real experience. You must mail six (6) copies of your submission materials.One copy of the completed and signed Permission to Publish template (hard copy, signed and mailed) that is included with each submission template. Your check for US $350 (Traditional EPSS, PCD Solutions) or $550 (EXTRAORDINARY PCD TOOLS and TECHNIQUES) made payable to EPSScentral LLC. Payment can also be rendered via PayPal. Please write to info@epsscentral.com if you plan to pay via PayPal. Transactions must be completed by the postmark deadline.ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST FOLLOW THE DETAILED GUIDELINES PROVIDED ON THE ENTRY FORMS!
All materials must be addressed to:
PCD Awards 2003
c/o EPSScentral LLC
6909 Pacific Lane
Annandale, VA 22003-5936
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The purpose of this site is to support the exchange of ideas about next-generation user interfaces, focusing on approaches that go beyond the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointing Device) method on which most current user interfaces are based. The goal is to promote out-of-the-box thinking on how user interfaces might evolve to accommodate new classes of users and devices outside of the traditional PC domain.
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This link takes you to the EPSScentral bibliography.
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The dot.com crash of 2000 was a wake-up call, and told us that the Web has far to go before achieving the acceptance predicted for it in ’95. A large part of what is missing is quality; a primary component of the missing quality is usability. The Web is not nearly as easy to use as it needs to be for the average person to rely on it for everyday information, commerce, and entertainment.
In response to strong feedback from readers of GUI BLOOPERS calling for a book devoted exclusively to Web design bloopers, Jeff Johnson calls attention to the most frequently occurring and annoying design bloopers from real web sites he has worked on or researched. Not just a critique of these bloopers and their sites, this book shows how to correct or avoid the blooper and gives a detailed analysis of each design problem.
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"Not since Card, Moran, and Newell's Psychology of Human Computer Interaction in 1983 has so much been brought together to advance the science of HCI. This book is a must-read for researchers and Ph. D. students.
I am very impressed with the undertaking of this book and with its results. We have many models and theories in HCI, and this book collects them and encourages people to think about them together. I'm sure good things will come from those who digest this all."
--Judith Olson, University of Michigan
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Information visualization is a rapidly growing field that has emerged from research in human-computer interaction, computer science, graphics, visual design, psychology, and business methods. It is becoming an increasingly critical component in scientific research, digital libraries, data mining, financial analysis, market studies, manufacturing production control, and drug discovery.
The Craft of Information Visualization: Readings and Reflections traces the evolution of ideas and innovations within a leading research lab. It collects for the first time 38 of the key papers from the University of Maryland’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL), a respected community that has shared many scientific and commercial successes. Each chapter contains an introduction written by the current director and the founding director of HCIL, describing the connections between these seminal papers and tracing their innovative histories.
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The April 2003 issue of Performance XPress is now available from the International Society for Performance Improvement!
Questions or comments should be directed to Gary Dickelman at EPSScentral or April Davis, ISPI's Director of Periodicals at april@ispi.org.
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INNOVATION
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This is a new section of the EPSScentral Reader and web site devoted to the general topic of innovation - in business, organizations, and content domains. Innovation is at the root of performance, hence the ideas presented in these articles are seeds for PCD.
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This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
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by Jakob Nielsen
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The key difference between user interfaces for sighted users and blind users is not that between graphics and text; it's the difference between 2-D and 1-D. Optimal usability for users with disabilities requires new approaches and new user interfaces.
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Experience remote usability testing
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In this two-part article, Pervasive Computing specialists Velda Bartek and Deane Cheatham share the experience gained by conducting a number of remote usability studies using application-sharing technology. The first article provides a context for remote usability testing by detailing and describing the benefits and pitfalls of remote usability evaluations and the application-sharing tools that were evaluated. The second article describes some of the experiences and lessons learned as the authors planned for and conducted remote usability evaluations for software products.
In the second part of the Remote Usability article, Pervasive Computing specialists Velda Bartek and Deane Cheatham share the experience gained by conducting a number of remote usability studies using application-sharing technology. The authors describe some of the lessons learned as they planned and conducted remote usability evaluations for software products. The first article provides a context for remote usability testing and describes the benefits and pitfalls of remote usability evaluations and the application-sharing tools that they evaluated.
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This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
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The Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) has certainly become one of the major enterprise software categories of the day. While the definition varies somewhat from vendor to vendor, a portal is basically a dynamic Web site containing multiple modules (often called portlets or gadgets or other goofy names), the display of which can be customized by each user. Portals contain a user security methodology, ideally including a single sign-on so users can log in to all of the modules at once....
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When we delve into the realm of intranet technologies, we tend to focus on the technology, the details, and heavy-duty geeky stuff. Even if we step outside that box on rare occasions and address intranet strategy within our organization, I contend that we still focus way too much on the trees and miss an entire forest of potential that exists ...
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Enterprise content management systems, when implemented properly, are good for getting content into the hands of those who need it. Where the content goes once it's in those hands is another issue, one that CYA Technologies hopes to solve with its Secure Collaboration Platform.
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by Nate Fortin
What is brand? More than just a corporate logo, “brand” is that tangible—and intangible—something that makes your product jump off the shelf and keep consumers and customers coming back for more. This article is the first in a series that describes concrete aspects of branding, sheds light on how interaction design and brand are related, and provides a primer for talking about the religion that is brand.
by Jonathan Korman
A Web site can function as a simple brochure for communicating with customers, a way to disseminate information to people within a large organization, a tool for running complex business processes, and much more. Because different sites try to address different problems, creating them requires different types of planning and development. Discussing the distinctions between various kinds of Web development can help smooth the way.
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This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
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It is time to face the cold, hard reality that the training business, as we know it today, is out of touch with customers and changing market requirements; and is therefore floundering, if not failing, as a business itself. While this analysis focuses on corporate training vendors, particularly those that supply technology-based training products, I suggest that the same condition pertains to classroom providers and those suppliers that serve other audiences as well.
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Online Learning and Training magazines are now one...and this is the subscription link. Back articles are available here.
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Cover Story: Taking the e-Pill
John Smith has been working for the same pharmaceutical manufacturing plant for 25 years. In fact, Mr. Smith is a third-generation pharmaceutical worker in his family. He knows his way around a pill compression machine like no other and is well versed in the latest SOPs (standard operating procedures).
SANTA ANA, Calif.--Advanstar Communications, Inc., announced the addition of a Homeland Security E-learning Roundtable Forum to be held at Learning & Training Week 2003 on April 28 – May 1 at the Washington D.C. Convention Center.
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Feature Story
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eLearn magazine is published by ACM, a not-for-profit educational association serving those who work, teach, and learn in the various computing-related fields. Founded in 1947 as the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM's stated mission is to advance the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. It is the oldest and most respected organization of its kind. eLearn is ACM's first Web-only publication. It will build on ACM's reputation by serving as the most accurate and unbiased source for news, information, and opinion on the now-flourishing field of online education and training. It also offers a community hub for e-learning professionals on the Web, providing a wealth of public forums for the free exchange of ideas.
Content is culled from two distinct sources: News and features written by professional journalists with expertise in education and technology, and columns and tutorials by industry leaders and stars of academia. Our targeted readership includes both providers and consumers of online learning, with a special emphasis on teachers, managers, and administrators working to develop educational programs or classes on the Web.
A confession: When I think about e-learning, I focus on U.S.-based corporations. But e-learning is a global phenomenon, and its application extends far beyond U.S.-based e-learning programs or vendors. In fact, technology for education can significantly improve the quality of life for billions of people all over our planet.
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This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
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In the second installment of his quest to make his data available wherever and whenever he wants by using SyncML, Edd Dumbill encounters Wireless Binary XML (WBXML) and examines the minimum functionality required for a SyncML server.
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Consider small and repeatable template-based portal solutions for similar projects and groups in the enterprise
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 Fully orchestrated ECM Percussion releases Rhythmyx 5 - Posted 4/9 Complete packages Integrated suites from Vignette - Posted 4/9 Out-of-the box content notification Atomz Alert for enterprise Web sites - Posted 4/9 Look out for Salesforce Announces e-mail integration - Posted 4/7 Signed, sealed and delivered Saperion and AuthentiDate team up - Posted 4/7 Kofax and HP ink deal VirtualReScan to power workgroup scanners - Posted 4/7 |
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This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
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AIIM 2003, the showcase of the document and content management world, returned to New York's Javits Center this week amidst an environment that could not be worse for trade shows in general. If it wasn't the lackluster economy, reluctance about airline travel, or security in general (between terrorism and the war) that kept you away, perhaps it was the rare April snowstorm that made travel in the New York area messy.
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ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION
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A new category on EPSScentral.
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Features
Market research and cost-benefit analyses indicate that well managed EAI implementations result in strategic and scalable solutions that yield an attractive return on investments. This article looks at the business value of different integration approaches.
By Ravi Acharya
A look at Countrywide's CRM project to harmonize disparate systems and create a single, real-time view of the customer. Like so many organizations the complexity of their host systems proved to be the greatest challenge.
By Ellen Silverman
A look at the canonicalization of business objects. The problems are still the same thorny issues of data semantics and message structure.
By Ross Altman
We take a look at Attunity Connect, a real-time integration solution, providing SQL and XML-based interfaces to mainframe data and logic.
By Ellen Silverman
This excellent article examines the often uneasy relationship between business and technology and concludes that a new wave of BPM solutions will make talk of a divide appear anachronistic. From now on, BPM is THE enterprise application, while traditional applications will merely play a supporting role.
By Smith and Fingar
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CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, ETC.
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Conferences covering a range of topics, including Instant Messaging, Voice XML, Search Engines, Enterprise Portals, Ultrawideband, and more.
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REPORTS and STUDIES
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Abstract: The Software Engineering Institute (SEISM) has developed two methods for analyzing system and software architectures--the Quality Attribute Workshop (QAW) and the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis MethodSM (ATAMSM). These techniques, which are described in detail in various SEI technical reports and on the SEI Web site, can be used in combination to obtain early and continuous benefits. Designed to complement the ATAM, the QAW provides a method for analyzing a conceptual architecture or a system architecture against a number of critical quality attributes--such as availability, performance, security, interoperability, and modifiability--before the software architecture is fully developed. Once the software architecture is developed, the ATAM can be used to reveal how well the architecture satisfies particular quality attribute requirements and the risks, sensitivities, and tradeoffs involved in satisfying the requirements.
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