Flashbulb Interaction | Working through Screens Book

Inaugural online book | Application Concepting Series No. 1

100 Ideas for Envisioning Powerful, Engaging, and Productive User Experiences in Knowledge Work

Opening thoughts

Table of contents

Preface / Publication information

Introduction: The case for Application Envisioning

Primer on example knowledge work domains

A. Exploring work mediation and determining scope (9)

B. Defining interaction objects (10)

C. Establishing an application framework (10)

D. Considering workers’ attentions (7)

E. Providing opportunities to offload effort (6)

F. Enhancing information representation (11)

G. Clarifying central interactions (7)

H. Supporting outcome exploration and cognitive tracing (4)

I. Working with volumes of information (7)

J. Facilitating communication (7)

K. Promoting integration into work practice (13)

L. Pursuing aesthetic refinement (5)

M. Planning connection with use (4)

Glossary

Bibliography

About the author

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Table of Contents

Opening thoughts

Preface / Publication Information

Introduction: The case for Application Envisioning

A. EXPLORING WORK MEDIATION AND DETERMINING SCOPE

A1. Influential physical and cultural environments
A2. Workers’ interrelations and relationships
A3. Work practices appropriate for computer mediation
A4. Standardization of work practice through mediation
A5. Interrelations of operation, task, and activity scenarios
A6. Open and emergent work scenarios
A7. Collaboration scenarios and variations
A8. Local practices and scenario variations
A9. High value ratio for targeted work practices

B. DEFINING INTERACTION OBJECTS

B1. Named objects and information structures
B2. Flexible identification of object instances
B3. Coupling of application and real world objects
B4. Object associations and user defined objects
B5. Object states and activity flow visibility
B6. Flagged variability within or between objects
B7. Object ownership and availability rules
B8. Explicit mapping of objects to work mediation
B9. Common management actions for objects
B10. Object templates

C. ESTABLISHING AN APPLICATION FRAMEWORK

C1. Intentional and articulated conceptual models
C2. Application interaction model
C3. Levels of interaction patterns
C4. Pathways for task and activity based wayfinding
C5. Permissions and views tailored to workers’ identities
C6. Standardized application workflows
C7. Structural support of workspace awareness
C8. Defaults, customization, and automated tailoring
C9. Error prevention and handling conventions
C10. Predictable application states

D. CONSIDERING WORKERS’ ATTENTIONS

D1. Respected tempos of work
D2. Expected effort
D3. Current workload, priority of work, and opportunity costs
D4. Minimizing distraction and fostering concentration
D5. Resuming work
D6. Alerting and reminding cues
D7. Eventual habit and automaticity

E. PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES TO OFFLOAD EFFORT

E1. Offloading long term memory effort
E2. Offloading short term memory effort
E3. Automation of low level operations
E4. Automation of task or activity scenarios
E5. Visibility into automation
E6. Internal locus of control

F. ENHANCING INFORMATION REPRESENTATION

F1. Coordinated representational elements
F2. Established genres of information representation
F3. Novel information representations
F4. Support for visualization at different levels
F5. Comparative representations
F6. Instrumental results representations
F7. Highly functional tables
F8. Representational transformations
F9. Simultaneous or sequential use of representations
F10. Symbolic visual languages
F11. Representational codes and context

G. CLARIFYING CENTRAL INTERACTIONS

G1. Narrative experiences
G2. Levels of selection and action scope
G3. Error prevention and handling in individual interactions
G4. Workspace awareness embedded in interactions
G5. Impromptu tangents and juxtapositions
G6. Contextual push of related information
G7. Transitioning work from private to public view

H. SUPPORTING OUTCOME EXPLORATION AND COGNITIVE TRACING

H1. Active versioning
H2. Extensive and reconstructive undo
H3. Automated historical records and versions
H4. Working annotations

I. WORKING WITH VOLUMES OF INFORMATION

I1. Flexible information organization
I2. Comprehensive and relevant search
I3. Powerful filtering and sorting
I4. Uncertain or missing content
I5. Integration of information sources
I6. Explicit messaging for information updates
I7. Archived information

J. FACILITATING COMMUNICATION

J1. Integral communication pathways
J2. Representational common ground
J3. Explicit work handoffs
J4. Authorship awareness, presence, and contact facilitation
J5. Public annotation
J6. Streamlined standard communications
J7. Pervasive printing

K. PROMOTING INTEGRATION INTO WORK PRACTICE

K1. Application localization
K2. Introductory user experience
K3. Recognizable applicability to targeted work
K4. Verification of operation
K5. Understanding and reframing alternate interpretations
K6. Design for frequency of access and skill acquisition
K7. Clear and comprehensive instructional assistance
K8. Seamless inter-application interactivity
K9. Directed application interoperation
K10. Openness to application integration and extension
K11. End user programming
K12. Trusted and credible processes and content
K13. Reliable and direct activity infrastructure

L. PURSUING AESTHETIC REFINEMENT

L1. High quality and appealing work products
L2. Contemporary application aesthetics
L3. Iconic design resemblances within applications
L4. Appropriate use of imagery and direct branding
L5. Iconoclastic product design

M. PLANNING CONNECTION WITH USE

M1. Iterative conversations with knowledge workers
M2. System champions
M3. Application user communities
M4. Unanticipated uses of technology

Glossary

Bibliography

About the author

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All original contents of Working through Screens online book are subject to
the creative commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) unless otherwise noted.
Please attribute the work to “Jacob Burghardt / FLASHBULB INTERACTION Consultancy.”