Human Centred

5/20/2022 Computing
Strategy

Admin
[COMPANY NAME]
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................3
Key Users and Stakeholders..........................................................................................3
Personas Creation ........................................................................................................5
Work Domain Analysis..................................................................................................7
Interaction Design and Information Visualisation........................................................8
User interfaces illustration...........................................................................................10
User-Centred Design and Agile Development..............................................................13
Designing the system in India.......................................................................................16
References ...................................................................................................................17
Introduction
In this portfolio, we deploy an Automated Library System (ALS) and a human-centered new
version of digital search is to be integrated into British Library’s website. The new and updated
version will make sure that the users get efficient results when they search for an item and that
the automated agent work without a hitch. The main task of the Automated Library System will
be to make a request and deliver the requested item to the designated circulation desk and also
help the library assistant with restricting access to certain books.

Key users and Stakeholders

Stakeholder:
A stakeholder is a person with an interest or concern in something or those who are affected by
a change in the thing in question, which in this case is the British Library. The main stakeholders
are the following:

Students:
As the University of London and other universities are located very close to The British Library,
naturally the students will make their way over to the library. For studies or other activities, the
students will be needing to search for the books they need from millions of items. An
automated Library system will help students with that task.

Teachers:
Teachers from the surrounding institutes may also use the library for education, research, and
other purposes. They will also be using the Automated Library system to search for their items.

Librarians:
The librarians working inside the library, stocking and handling the books will also be majorly
affected by the Automated Library system as most of the book handling work now will be done
by the ALS.
Library Members:
People who are members of the library will be switching from the old searching system to the
new one. Now searching and accepting the items from the Automated Library System.

Managers and Executives:

People managing and overseeing the library and also the integration of the Automated Library
System. Managers will certainly be interacting with the ALS system.

The general public:

Libraries nowadays don’t just offer only books, but also other services such as free internet,
Computers, Scanning, printing, etc, meaning that more people will be visiting the library for
their needs, and they are bound to interact with the Automated Library System.

Tourists:
As St. Pancras international train station is located right beside The British Library, tourists are
bound to visit there. The Automated Library system will also be a cause of some attention from
the tourists.

Staff members:
Staff who are responsible for the maintenance of the Automated Library system will be directly
interacting with the new system. For example, depositing books into ALS, scanning the bar
codes, entering new data, etc.

Client:
The main user of the digital search facility will be the students that want to access the material
of the British Library. Students will use the digital search facility to find the books that they
require. The aim of this portfolio is to make that experience fast and seamless. The students will
be able to request material from the British Library website and pick up the requested item
which will be waiting for them with an automated agent at the designated circulation desk.
Library Assistant:
The library assistant will be able to move whichever item they want, from the public reading
collection to the restricted collection. For example, items that are due for restoration,
valuables, restricted items, or other special items can be stored in the restricted collection by
library assistant using Automated Library System.

Persona Creation

Persona of Users:
Library Assistant:
Work Domain Analysis
Two tasks will be performed and their respective Abstraction hierarchy is shown below.

Task 1:
 Task 2:

Interaction Design and Information Visualisation

In interaction design, there is a specific set of activities that achieves certain goals that ensure
that the final design of the product meets the set requirements and works well with the user,
stakeholders, and staff.

Generalized Behavior User Interface Design Concepts Design Principle and Heuristic
Function Type Components
Required
Place the Rule-based Take the request from When the user Feedback: Users will be notified
item behaviour the user and start the requests an item, they if their request was successful or
request transfer process. are notified about the not.
item. Visibility: User will be able to see
if the item is available or not.
Check the Knowledge- ALS needs to check in its In case the item is not Visibility: The user will be
database if based database if the item is currently available in notified about the availability of
the item is behaviour currently available in its the inventory, the user the item.
available inventory or not. is notified. Constraint: If the item is
unavailable, notify the user.
Affordability: Check if the user
wants any other items if the
requested item is not available.
NFC / Skill-Based The agent can interact For ease of access, NFC Feedback: The user should be
Speech behaviour with the user through and speech recognition informed about the availability
Recognition NFC and speech can be used to interact of NFC and speech recognition.
recognition. with the agent. Accessibility: Users with
impairments will be able to
interact with the agent easily.
NFC also makes interaction
quick.

Place the Rule-based Take the order from the Staff can order certain Feedback: Staff will be notified if
item order behaviour staff and start the items to be sent to their order to move an item was
transfer of the ordered restricted collection. successful or not.
item. Affordability: Staff will be able
to start the order again.
Check if the Knowledge- ALS should notify the Notify the staff if the Feedback: Staff will be notified if
requested based staff if the requested ordered item is sent to their order to move an item was
item moved behaviour item has been moved to restricted collection or successful or not.
the reception desk of the not. Visibility: Staff will be able to see
restoration department if the item is moved or not.
in BL.
User interfaces illustration

Place the item request

Check the database if the item is available or not.
NFC / Speech Recognition
Place the item order

Check if the requested item moved

Managing the integration of User-Centred Design and Agile
Development activities for the interface design of the website

Agile Development
In this section, we evaluate two different approaches to integrating the interface to the British
Library, one is Agile Development and the other is user-centered Design.
Firstly, we discuss the Agile method. In agile development, the project phases are broken up
into several different smaller parts. Then the phases are iteratively completed one by one while
constantly collaborating with the stakeholders for continuous improvement at every phase.
This constant iteration, prototyping, and evolution ensure high-quality output.
Integrating Automated Library System using Agile development can be very beneficial. In agile,
the work is can be done in what’s called biweekly “sprints”. In sprints, the work is done in the
given time frame. This ensures that the new requirements from the stakeholders and the
surveys are easily integrated throughout the development. The requirements and data from
the stakeholders are collected before the start of each sprint. This means that in different
iterative phases the program might change vastly, meaning that there might be different
prototypes of the final program.
Below is the sprint map of the agile development process:

The outcome of a sprint is a fully developed final product, that is ready to roll out. The owner
decides if the product is satisfactory for deployment.
User-centered design development revolves around the needs of the final user of the product
For the integration of ALS in the British Library website and installing the automated agent, the
agile development process can be used. Once the ALS is physically installed at the library, the
sprint framework can be used to carry out both the mentioned tasks. In the first sprint, the
requirement can be gathered from the stakeholders, and keeping those requirements in mind
development can start. As the sprints continue, the feedback can be used to develop the final
product.

User-Centred Design
User-centered design development revolves around the needs of the final user of the product
and similar to Agile development, UCD also follows an iterative design process that satisfies
user needs at every step of the way. A set of user groups are involved who contribute
throughout the design and development of the process.

The following PERT chart shows how the progression of the development will go:
Designing the system in India

While implementing such a system as Automated Library System in India, it is important to

carefully research the cultural differences compared to the UK. For example, cultural, religious,
and societal differences must be researched first before designing and developing a project.
Geert Hofstede was a Dutch social psychologist who developed a framework for measuring
cultural dimensions from a global perspective. India has a score of 48 compared to UK’s 89
(Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights, 2021), meaning India is much less individualistic than
the UK and identifies more as a Collectivist country. We have to research first if the Automated
Library System even makes sense in different libraries. Once we find a suitable library for
integrating the ALS, design, and development would have to proceed to keep in mind the
preferences of the people, for example, if a certain colour is not seen as a good omen, that
should not be included in the design of the new project.
Power distance refers to the fact that all the members of a society have unequal power
distribution. India scores very high in the power distance dimension at 77 suggesting that the
majority of people with lower power distance accept people in a higher power. On the other
hand, power distance is much lower in the UK at 35 only, which is less than half compared to
India.
Considering this, persona will likely change a lot. People will have higher respect for the
authority, meaning they are more likely to listen to people in charge. It will be also beneficial to
include the language of the region as an option for more reliability.

References
1. M. Lind. 2020. MAKING SENSE OF THE ABSTRACTION HIERARCHY. [online]. Available at:
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu›viewdoc›download
2. En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Interaction design. [online]. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_design
3. Wesley Chai. 2021. PERT chart. [online] Available at:
https://www.techtarget.com/searchsoftwarequality/definition/PERT-chart
4. Hofstede Insights. 2021. Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights. [online] Available at:
[Accessed 23 May 2021].