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What's New - the EPSScentral Reader
15 August 2003
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forUse2003, the Second International Conference on Usage-Centered Design, is 19-22 October 2003 in the picturesque port city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The full program is now available, click for details.



Register through EPSScentral and receive $100 discount off the forUSE conference fee or $150 off conference plus any tutorials!  Click here for the registration form. To receive the the discount, enter "EPSSCENTRAL DISCOUNT" in the Special Instructions field, as shown here:

Workshops and Sessions

Usage-Centered Design: A Crash Course in Designing for Use
From Usage-Centered Design to Object-Oriented Design
Performance Support Systems: What They Are, Why They are Important and How to Build Them
Representing Work for the Purpose of Design
Agile Usage-Centered Modeling for Setting Scope, Goals, and Priorities
KEYNOTE: Performance by Design
What Use Are Use Cases for User Interface Design?
Forum: Research and Teaching
Learning and Doing “Expert Evaluation”: A Dilemma in Teaching User-Centered Design
Cognitive Walkthroughs vs. Usability Testing: Experiences Using Evaluation Techniques to Improve Design
Desert Rain: Requirements for Software Tools Supporting Usability Engineering and Similar Lifecycles
Guides and Guards: Designing Software that Supports and Protects the User
Usage-Centered Design in Extreme Programming and Agile Software Development Environments
Software Product Design: From Theory into Practice
Workspace Portals: Supporting Work, Integrating Resources and Enabling Learning
Instructive Interaction: Innovating Without Inundating Your Users
Persona-Based Expert Review: A Technique for Usefulness and Usability Evaluation
Use Case Storyboards: Integrating Usability with RUP and UML
Between Extreme and Unified: Where Are the Users and Usability in Development Processes?
Forum: Usability Processes and Practices
Usability and Other Quality Aspects Derived from Use Cases
Heuristic Evaluation Plus: Toward Usage-Centered Expert review for Website Design
Usage-Centered Design and the OPEN Process Framework
Can Designers Dance? Surviving Agile Teams and Astringent Customers
Designing for Performance Using Usage-Centered Design
Tools and Techniques for Developing Performance Support Solutions
Usability by Inspection: The Collaborative Approach
Iterative Project Planning with Extreme Programming
Agile Customer-Side Practices
Making Mistakes Well: Improving Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Web Crisis Points
Visual Design Patterns in Action
Patterns or Process: What Works for Usage-Centered Design?
Forum: Putting Usage-Centered Design to Work
Integrating Usage-Centered Design into the Centers for Disease Control Development Process
Case Study: From Use Cases to User Interface Using UML
Usage-Centered Map Design for Mobile Services: Combining Empirical and Theoretical Findings
Lean Feature-Driven Development of Interaction Designs
Adopting Agility: Usability and Design for Extreme Programming and Other Agile Methods
Making Usage More Productive: Leveraging Usage-Centered Design for Improved Performance
Customer-Centered Planning: User Research as a Management Tool
User Interface Architecture Patterns with UML
Usage-Centered Town Meeting
The 2003 Performance Centered Design Awards


Entries have been accepted!
EPSScentral has accepted submissions for the 2003 Performance Centered Design Awards!   The PCD Awards showcase creative solutions that best represents the principles of electronic performance support and performance-centered design in three categories:  

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); and
Extraordinary PCD Tools - for developing EPSS and any performance-centered systems and functions!

Awards will be presented at the 2003 Online Learning Conference and Expo, September 20 - 24, 2003, Los Angeles Convention Center, 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.
NTERESTING PERFORMANCE SUPPORT TOOLS AND SYSTEMS
epiplex version 4.0 released!

Contact EPSScentral for further information on epiplex™.
Version 4.0 of the award-winning software suite has been released!  

epiplex™ enables business performance by capturing, expressing, managing, and growing business processes, then producing an arsenal of assets that enable the workers - the business performers - to achieve business outcomes with a minimum of training, learning, and support.  epiplex's core capability is capture, which is the ability to observe and gather the key elements of performer actions as they accomplish work in the computer applications that support the organization. epiplex captures and organizes the process assets necessary to create performance enablers.  The capture file provides a rich set of resources for creating performance support characterized by the phrases Show Me, Guide Me, Let Me Try, Test Me, and Do It For Me. Moreover, epiplex includes developer utilities that create such support automatically.
epiplex's automatically-produced knowledge objects are Processes, Process Models, Process Documents, Process Animations, Process Simulations, Process Assessments, Active Cue Cards (live-in-the-application Guide Me objects), Genies (live-in-the-application Do It For Me wizards), User Interface Forms, Projects that logically integrate all other object types, Context Maps that tie application workflow to knowledge objects, and Intelligent Dialogues that present knowledge objects at the time of need.
Compared with conventional e-learning, performance support, and system integration tools, epiplex saves organizations over 85% of time an resources in developing and maintaining solutions, and time-to-competency is decreased by over 75% when tasks are supported by epiplex solutions.
Contact info@epsscentral.com for further information on epiplex™.



Auxilium™ Community Builder is a performance support and e-learning portal that provides an outstanding infrastructure that is easy to set up.  It is targeted at the right markets, and built by people who know what "performance-centered" means!

Allows any size organization to support on-line portal for information sharing and collaboration by harnessing the real power of the Internet. For the first time, Internet server software is truly affordable, easily deployed in under 30 days, and requires no technical expertise to administer.

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.

This link takes you to the EPSScentral bibliography.
EPSS Revisited
Edited by Gary J. Dickelman
Available August, 2003 from http://www.ispi.org/bookstore/.

EPSS Revisited is an essential reader for students and practitioners of performance-centered design (PCD).  Its chapters support each element of the performance-centered systems development lifecycle.  From job aids and "bolt on" EPSS to ground-up enterprise performance-centered systems, you will find gems in terms of methodology, industry trends, and a plethora of real-world examples of PCD.  EPSS Revisited promises to be the seminal work on ensuring business and organizational performance through human performance in our ever growing world of computer-mediated knowledge work.

EPSS Revisited is a select collection of articles from the journal Performance Improvement .  The authors in the compendium include Donald Norman, Gloria Gery, Barry Raybould, Burt Huber, Douglas Weidner, Hal Christensen, and Stan Malcolm.  In addition, the winners of the annual PCD Awards - those who have created real systems that are in production showing remarkable compression of time-to-competency and day-one performance - are showcased on the book.  

ISBN 1-890289-15-9.  ISPI No. 5118.  ISPI/2003
Pre-orders are being taken by 1-800-587-8570 and www.ispi.org.
The August 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.
INNOVATION
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.

Marx Toys recently launched a small line of interactive toys. IM Buddies are animatronic dolls -- currently of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck -- that read your instant messages and otherwise interact with computer applications. The dolls speak in the...
Blogger Liam Page, brings up an interesting point on his weblog, Little Think Tank. Explaining his rationale for creating his blog, Page says: "Sometimes, thinking needs to be externalised, ideas need to be said out loud to see how silly...


Sometimes you need more than incremental innovation … much more.

Sometimes you need to …
reinvent your business strategy
leapfrog the competition
revolutionize your industry
create the future
Guarantee: you won't get there doing the same old thing.
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.



Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster (June 30, 2003)
The 2003 conference theme was Ubiquitous Usability - usability encountered everywhere. The growth of pervasive devices, and the continuing encroachment of technology in our lives, guarantees that we cannot survive without interacting with environments, interfaces, systems, and devices. We need to ensure that these encounters are always mutually beneficial.
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.

Most of us just give up and assume content doesn't exist if we can't find it on the first few tries. Would your Web sites pass the test? Or do you unknowingly turn users away?


 Slashcode is the site for All Things Slash. Slash is the source code and database that was originally used to create Slashdot, and has now been released under the GNU General Public License. It is a bona fide Open Source / Free Software project. Use this site to get the Slash source, read the latest Slash news, and participate in Slash discussions.
Slashcode is run by the good folks at OSDN, but like all good open source projects, depends on the community. Thanks for your continued support, and let us know what we can do to make the site better.

Although different, Goal-Directed Design and the Rational Unified Process® are both successful ways to manage software product development. Do development organizations need to choose one methodology over the other? Or are the two development strategies complementary?


In part two of our series on digital branding, we take a closer look at how branding differs between traditional applications, like printed corporate collateral, and emerging new media applications, such as software user interfaces, with a focus on behavior and color.

This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
From the Internet Times Blog archives.

Online Learning and Training magazines are now one...and this is the subscription link.  Back articles are available here.


Current News  
How to Make Your E-Learning Initiative Succeed  
E-learning has the potential to help you save money, retain employees, and lead your business to the next level. Why do some companies successfully implement e-learning, and others don’t? Gili Gordon, founder and CEO of Worknowlege, offers insight into e-learning complexities.   
E-Learning Suite Adds Web Conferencing and Customer Support  
PHOENIX, Arizona, August 4, 2003 -- EDT Learning released iLinc, its new four-product suite that extends its virtual classroom and Web collaboration software products. You can choose among the products in the iLinc suite, depending on your needs and budget.    
Collaborative Content Management Platform  
FOSTER CITY, Calif., August 1, 2003 -- iManage announced iManage Worksite MP, a Java-based CCM (collaborative content management) platform that allows development partners to set up separate, secure instances of CCM software on the same server to serve multiple internal entities such as business units or multiple customers.   










Feature Story
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.

Denver University and C-SPAN reveal their “political” agenda
By Marisa E. Campbell, Managing Editor, eLearn Magazine

The august halls of Washington are filled with well-known movers and shakers that few us ever will ever know on a personal basis. But in the halls of Denver University, over 1,500 miles away, undergraduate students are speaking one-on-one with the likes of Bob Dole, Dee Dee Myers, and Newt Gingrich—via satellite from C-Span's Distance Learning studio in Washington D.C.

This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.
E-mail with a mission Kubi and Determine strike OEM deal - Posted 8/13
Consummate CI Hoover's enhanced online service - Posted 8/13
Interwoven and iManage to merge Emphasize end-to-end content life cycle management - Posted 8/7
SOS Stellent delivers Sarbanes-Oxley Solution - Posted 8/4
Multi-tenant-enabled CCM iManage develops WorkSite MP - Posted 8/4
Action Technologies and Corticon partner Expand human-centric process capabilities - Posted 8/4
This link takes you to previous articles on this topic linked from EPSScentral.



It's not as flashy an upgrade as the forthcoming Microsoft Office 2003, but the new OpenOffice adds value to what was already the best value in Windows software — the free, open-source, Office-compatible word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing combo gets a facelift, a speed bump, and improvements ranging from PDF export to macro recording.
Perhaps the most important piece of any application development project is gathering requirements. So why do most intranet teams spend so little time focusing on developing the skills necessary to do this piece well?
We close out our series on instant messaging by examining one company that has made IM an integral part of its communications structure and speaking to an IM software provider that powers IM for one of the largest ISPs in the United States.
ENTERPRISE APPLICATION INTEGRATION
A new category on EPSScentral.

Features
IT matters more than ever. A new generation of business integration software based around composite applications will, at last, deliver on IT’s fundamental promises providing acceleration of business processes and transforming productivity.

This month we look at chaos and determinism in EAI systems, and why a butterfly symbolizes both chaos and EAI.

A Google search on the term ‘Web services’ will yield nearly three million results. But despite the abundance of information, many business managers are still unclear about the concept of Web services. This article provides a guide.

To best leverage the myriad of back-end transactions, enterprises require a layer of business rules to regulate, document, and manage them. This will enable the accumulation and use of best practices and facilitate policy management.

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS, ETC.

Conferences covering a range of topics, including Instant Messaging, Voice XML, Search Engines, Enterprise Portals, Ultrawideband, and more.
REPORTS and STUDIES






Abstract: This paper describes a generic process framework for developing software systems based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. The framework is based on Barry Boehm's familiar spiral development process. However, it is primarily intended for projects that make significant use of commercial components and other pre-existing software as elements of the system to be fielded. The aspects of the process that are most affected by this reliance on COTS components lie in the area of requirements, and the description of the process is most extensive in that area. The necessity of using system prototypes as the major vehicle for reducing risk is assumed, as are parallel and interleaved periods of gathering and refining knowledge about the system to be built. Each element of the process is first described and then depicted in several models, using Integrated Definition modeling technique (IDEF0). The paper describes how the interactions between the candidate COTS components, the stakeholders' implicit and explicit needs, and the context in which the system will operate all provide interacting constraints on both the process and the resulting system.