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New requirements for the design of interactive systems call for a human‐centred approach. Learner‐centred design has been considered as the equivalent of human (or user) centred design as it applies to the design and development of elearning systems and applications. E‐Learning is gaining momentum and the respective interest in design methods and practices for such systems is continuously increasing. Nevertheless it is not clear how learner‐centred design can be implemented in practice; questions, such as what are the processes included in learner‐centred design, what kind of activities should take place, how can existing human‐centred design methodologies be combined with instructional design methods and techniques, remain unanswered. This paper stresses the need for an effective integration between usability ‐ the ultimate goal for every human‐centred design effort ‐ and instructional design concepts, techniques and practices. It presents a case study where authors’ activities to design a web‐based training curriculum are described. Problems and challenges of applying human‐centred design and instructional design methods and techniques are discussed along with future research dimensions.

The aim of this article is to map the use of AI in the user experience (UX) design process. Disrupting the UX process by introducing novel digital tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve efficiency and accuracy, while creating more innovative and creative solutions. Thus, understanding how AI can be leveraged for UX has important research and practical implications.

This article builds on a systematic literature review approach and aims to understand how AI is used in UX design today, as well as uncover some prominent themes for future research. Through a process of selection and filtering, 46 research articles are analysed, with findings synthesized based on a user-centred design and development process.

The authors’ analysis shows how AI is leveraged in the UX design process at different key areas. Namely, these include understanding the context of use, uncovering user requirements, aiding solution design, and evaluating design, and for assisting development of solutions. The authors also highlight the ways in which AI is changing the UX design process through illustrative examples.

While there is increased interest in the use of AI in organizations, there is still limited work on how AI can be introduced into processes that depend heavily on human creativity and input. Thus, the authors show the ways in which AI can enhance such activities and assume tasks that have been typically performed by humans.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of human information behaviour and to explore the relationship between information behaviour of users and the existing approaches dominating design and evaluation of information retrieval (IR) systems and also to describe briefly new design and evaluation methods in which extensive attention is dedicated to the users and their behaviours and conditions.

The paper takes the form of a literature review with particular concentration on the efforts made by information science researchers.

The paper finds that there are four classic approaches to IR systems design: system‐centred, user‐centred, interactive and cognitive. Not enough research has been carried out to explore the relationship between information behaviour and information systems design to date. Contextual design and participatory design are among the new methods where users' behaviour, factors and contexts are considered more proactively than previously when designing information systems.

The paper introduces new methods and research frameworks being investigated currently in the area of information systems design and evaluation in which considerable attention is given to the users' information behaviour and situation. The paper is also useful in gaining a broad understanding about issues explored that have not previously been presented in one publication.

Participatory design involves users and other key stakeholders in processes that aim to ensure solutions generated meet their needs. This paper compares the processes and outcomes of two participatory design approaches (design thinking and co-design) to examine their utility in co-creating innovative service solutions for reducing household energy demand.

Design thinking and co-design were implemented in two independent convenience samples of household energy users in Queensland, Australia. Workshops were conducted online using Zoom and Padlet technology. Informed by the capability-practice-ability (CPA) portfolio, a critical analysis based on the research team's experiences with implementing the two participatory design approaches is presented.

The key distinguishing features that set design thinking apart from co-design is extent of user involvement, solution diversity and resource requirements. With a shorter duration and less intensive user involvement, co-design offers a more resource efficient means of solution generation. In contrast, design thinking expands the solution space by allowing for human-centred problem framing and in so doing gives rise to greater diversity in solutions generated.

Mapping the six constellations of service design outlined in the CPA portfolio to the research team's experiences implementing two different participatory design approaches within the same context reconciles theoretical understanding of how capabilities, practices and abilities may differ or converge in an applied setting.

Understanding the benefits and expected outcomes across the two participatory design approaches will guide practitioners and funding agencies in the selection of an appropriate method to achieve desired outcomes.

This paper compares two forms of participatory design (design thinking and co-design) for service innovation in the context of household energy demand offering theoretical and practical insights into the utility of each as categorised within the CPA portfolio.

This paper aims to build on the presumption that defining the spatial solution of the activity-based office environment through user-centred interdisciplinary dialog would strengthen understanding of interdependencies between the environment and the worker. Secondly, this presumption also contributes to the idea that the shared and clarified concepts of a spatial solution through location-specific structuring, would support the research outcomes in being communicated to the design practice, and further improve the work environment design in the future. Thirdly, this supposition is that understanding, documenting and communicating of the interdependencies between the environment and the worker would contribute to increased interdisciplinary understanding, ultimately benefitting the end-user, the worker.

The driver of this conceptual paper is to encourage understanding across disciplinary boundaries and communication of work environment research results for implementation in design practice. The authors introduce an ecosystem-based approach to discuss the spatial solutions of activity-based office work environments. This approach is motivated by a need to understand the contradictory findings in former knowledge work environment research, such as ambiguities with shared concepts concerning interdisciplinary spatial discourse and shortcomings with user-centred methodologies in architectural design research. The transdisciplinarity forms the methodological framework of this paper, and it is reflected in relation to the design research approach Research by Design (RbD). RbD considers the professional designer’s viewpoint, which includes creative knowledge production, carrying out the operations of research in a real-life context with interdisciplinary interactions together with the worker’s user-experience.

The research outcome is the proposal of an activity-based office ecosystem-based approach, in which the physical environment is structured into two entities: architectural envelope and interior orchestration. In this twofold approach, both qualitative and quantitative contents are meant to be seen as part of the time-location-based framework of an office space. This integrative approach is intended to support the process of searching for understanding and unity of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. The twofold structuring also has an essential role in supporting methodological choices and the communication of the research outcomes both between disciplines and to design practice. The twofold model also has a role in engaging users as participants and evidence providers in the design or research processes.

The location-specific ecosystem-based approach of the physical work environment compiles of a twofold entity architectural envelope and interior orchestration. This approach supports affordance-based thinking, understanding the ecosystem’s complexity and underpins spatial documentation. Furthermore, this location-specific ecosystem-based approach enables communication of the research outcomes to the design practice and participation actions with the users.

Purpose – The paper introduces methods for the evaluation of new software applications that build on semantic knowledge technology for use in information‐ and knowledge‐intensive application domains. Design/methodology/approach – While user‐centred design is a mature and proven field, the new knowledge‐centred applications also require that information quality is assessed in a more profound manner than was considered previously, and the business value generated by semantic knowledge technology is quantified. The methods to be used in different phases of the development cycle are described. Findings – The approaches used in ongoing RTD projects and in different user organizations are described. Research limitations/implications – The analysis of organisational aspects of knowledge management and the benefits of improvements in cooperation mechanisms provide further challenges for methodological development. Practical implications – Recommendations and suggestions for similar innovative research and application development projects are given. Originality/value – While some of the methods are proven and well documented, there is a need to collect further experience with the user validation of applications using semantic knowledge technology.

The aim of this paper is to define the main directions and emerging challenges in adoption of general usability principles by the memory institutions.

Theoretical analysis of usability concepts, usability management processes, methods and evaluation criteria found in the Human‐Computer Interaction professional literature and ISO standards is performed.

Usability should become a part of quality management activities in memory institutions and will change and expand traditional practices in this sphere. ISO standards and theoretical models may be applied to create a framework for usability management in memory institutions both on strategic and operational levels. However, further research in the scope of joint cultural heritage services, audiences, contexts of use and applied technology in the sector of memory institutions should be performed. The main challenges on the way towards the usability framework are cultivation of partnership culture and multidisciplinary teamwork in development and provision of ICT‐based services and application of complex and overlapping recommendations provided by volumnious ISO standards.

The main value of the paper is the comprehensive analysis of state‐of‐the‐art in usability and provision of the main directions and challenges of usability adoption in memory institutions. This analysis maps the future research and practical activities necessary for successful adoption of usability management in libraries, museums and archives.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a user-centred analysis of video digital libraries and to present users’ criteria based on concepts emerging directly from the responses of study participants. As a time-based and multi-channeled format, video warrants considerations for information delivery through interactive tools such as digital libraries.

A survey method was used to collect open-ended responses from participants. Content analysis was performed on the responses, and categories then emerged to form the coding scheme where simple and weighted frequencies were calculated to obtain a ranked set of users’ criteria. Cohen’s κ was 0.87, indicative of high-level of inter-coder reliability. In the end, 81 participants contributed a total of 385 open-ended responses, which were all then analysed and coded.

The emergent coding method and continuous refinements to the coding scheme ultimately produced 28 criteria (subcategories) under four primary categories. Criteria corresponding to “retrieval functionality” of video digital libraries emerged as the highest, or most frequently referenced, primary category, while the “user interface”, “collection qualities”, and “user support” followed, respectively.

The primary research contribution is a baseline for video digital libraries that can be applicable throughout design and evaluation. Future studies can utilise findings presented here as guidance for the initial design stages and/or for assessing systems via targeted evaluations.

While users’ criteria of digital libraries have been analysed from non-visual contexts, they have not been directly assessed as they pertain to users’ experiences and perceptions with video, which is needed as the nature and structure of video can influence users and use.

Drawing on a user-centred design perspective, the purpose of this paper is to (i) provide an overview of three contextual user research methods, namely, spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting, (ii) exemplify their applications in different case studies and (iii) compare the methods according to their contributions for the study of users’ workplace experiences. Previous workplace studies with qualitative approaches mainly rely on methods such as interviews and observations. Although these methods provide rich data, the understanding of office users, their use situations and finding more fitting workplace designs can benefit from deeper user experience insights.

Three methods and their variants were tested in studies of user experience in flexible offices: spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting. The methods were tested during workshops and interviews in four case studies with a total of 114 participants.

Spatial walkthroughs were more immersive and provided the most insights on the actual context with respect to spatial design qualities, while experience curve mapping enabled understanding the temporal aspects of the user experience and card sorting enabled exploring user experiences with respect to predetermined spatial qualities and contextual aspects.

Spatial walkthroughs, experience curve mapping and card sorting methods have not previously been applied in workplace studies. They facilitate dialogue, participation and user involvement and provide insights for making evidence-based recommendations for designing or redesigning office environments that fit users’ needs and preferences.

The purpose of this article is to review the research on human‐computer interfaces for library‐based commercial online information retrieval (IR) systems.

The review first focuses on basic interface issues for information retrieval such as interface style, end‐user searching, query formulation, relevance feedback and browsing. The second part deals with cognitive engineering in IR including mental models and individual differences. Finally, the topics on user interface engineering are covered. These include user interface guidelines, usability evaluation methods and interface engineering techniques.

The review shows that user interface design has received a limited attention from IR researchers. There is a need for adopting human‐computer interaction (HCI) techniques into IR interface designs, but this issue has not yet been fully recognised by the commercial database vendors and distributors. The paper recommends that applying HCI techniques could help in developing more usable IR interfaces.

The review identifies the main activities of a user‐centred design methodology and suggests that IR interface designers should use this method in future. This could have major implications in IR interface design for end‐user searching.

The review is the first to offer an overview of empirical research on IR interface design and IR usability engineering. Both IR researchers and practitioners may benefit from the description of previous research and the user‐centred design advocated by the current research.