New book offers usability 'expert over your shoulder'

The Human Factors and Ergonomics has just released Usability Assessment: How to Measure the Usability of Products, Services, and Systems, a concise volume for anyone requiring knowledge and practice in assessing the usability of any type of product, tool, or system before it is launched.

Volume 1 in the new HFES series "User's Guides to Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods," the book, by Philip Kortum, PhD, provides a brief history and rationale for conducting usability assessments and examples of how usability assessment methods have been applied, takes readers step by step through the process, highlights challenges and special cases, and offers real-life examples (a corporate Web portal and a high-security voting system). By the end of the book, readers will have the knowledge and skills they need to conduct their own usability assessments without requiring that they read textbooks or attend workshops.

Amazon's Alexa User Research Senior Manager Arnold Lund notes, "Kortum has again demonstrated his ability to capture a broad area in our field and summarize it in a practical, usable way. Part of the special 'seasoning' through the book is Philip's clear point of view and his ability to engage the reader in some of the tough issues in usability assessment that are still being debated today."

Usability Assessment is geared toward undergraduate and graduate students; practitioners; usability professionals; human-computer interaction professionals; researchers in fields such as industrial design, industrial/organizational psychology, and computer science; and those working in a wide range of content domains, such as health care, transportation, product design, aerospace, and manufacturing.

Philip Kortum is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Rice University, Kortum worked for more than 15 years in the defense and telecommunications industries, where he researched and helped field award-winning user-centered systems. He is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and conference proceedings and holds 49 U.S. patents.

Provided by Human Factors and Ergonomics Society