User Frustration

Assignment 4: User Frustration

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CIS 524 – Computer Interaction and Design

Assignment 4: User Frustration

Introduction

The quality of the user experience is very important to the success of an application. In the early days of computing, users often experienced long delays since computing power was weak and networks had comparatively slow throughput. Modern systems have largely eliminated these delays due to increased network and computing power, yet users still report a high level of frustration. Despite the best efforts of designers, computer interactions still leave users feeling frustrated. A frustrating interaction with a computer system can also leave a user feeling negatively disposed toward the system and its makers. There have been various solutions presented to deal with this user frustration, including trying to determine and fix the problem that is causing the frustration and preemptively trying to prevent the problem for happening in the first place.

User Frustrations with Modern Applications and How to Reduce Them

Use of technology can have an unpleasant side effect which may include strong, negative emotional states that arise during interaction with computers. Frustration, confusion, anger, anxiety and similar emotional states can affect not only the interaction itself, but also productivity, learning, social relationships, and overall well-being (Klein, Moon, & Picard, 2002). This can be caused by a multitude of scenarios that does not necessarily is about how modern or outdated an application is. Frustration is an objective measure and will vary from user to user. For example, one might find the use of complex functions and formulas in Excel to be complex and frustrating, but another user more familiar with them might find it reassuring that there is such a level of complexity in the application. Forbrig tells us that “Errors are defined as the perception of users that something in the computing system is not functioning correctly, leading to a barrier in attaining goals” (Forbrig, 2010).

Some of the most common frustrations that users nowadays experience with modern applications are not as dissimilar as any other type of frustration that has been experiencing with older applications. The fact that the user is human and is interacting with a non-human and non-thinking and rational entity is a huge gap and prone to frustration. Frustration occurs as follows:

Is Frustration Caused by Poor System Design or Associated with Learning a New Product?

1. They may occur as a direct action of a user such as selecting wrong commands or entering right commands in a wrongful manner like spelling and mode errors. A method to reduce this type of frustrations can be to refer errors to expert users, consultants, subject matter experts (SMEs), or even help desk personnel that can guide the user in troubleshooting both the error and possible solutions.
2. Users may be frustrated with jargon and new terms that are difficult to comprehend. Forbrig tells us that “application complexity occurs where a user is unable to operate a certain application due to a limitation in knowledge or hard to complicated manuals and directions (Forbrig, 2010). A method to reduce this type of frustration is to provide a knowledgebase or help with the applications that contain both the technical information necessary to understand process and command with the application. Digital and video user guides go a long way as well and can be included as part of the documentation in the applications.
3. Failure to anticipate problems occurs increasingly in users, as they expect everything to run smoothly without any hitches. Let’s face it, as a user we want everything to be running as smoothly as possible and without errors, but the reality is that there is a variety of situations that are not controllable by the user that contributes to them; high traffic to a site, viruses, and hard disk failures are just a few that comes to mind. To avoid this, a user must expect hitches in using applications, and proper expectations need to be setup by the process owner to balance the user frustrations when it happens. If a user knows that there is a possibility of error, but has been instructed on how to deal with it, or what to expect, the frustration can be considerably less. Backup solutions should be kept so that losses are minimized in case of viruses or hard disk crashes.

Frustrations may occur as a result of poor system design or learning a new software product. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has a goal of increasing interaction between users and computers. Methods to determine HCI are concerned with perception, cognition, and physiology.

Frustrations among the Disabled Population and How to Better Serve Them

1. Perception refers to the use of senses to detect information. Applications should be able to appeal to a user’s sensory functions so that information may be relayed in an efficient manner (Johnson, 2016).
2. Cognition refers to how information is processed. A human being’s short-term memory has low capacity while long-term memory has a high capacity. Interfaces should be designed in such a way that a user employs short-term memory where a few bits of information should be remembered when using the applications (Johnson, 2014).
3. Physiology refers to the interaction between humans and the applications. Human anatomy should be considered when designing applications (Johnson, 2014).

As much effort as possible needs to be put into making sure that the applications serve the disable population. The fact that this population has a different set of things that can or cannot do makes it hard to prepare for, but with proper design and expectation setting, frustration can be kept to a minimum. Disabled people often encounter limitations when using applications as they may not be able to perform functions as well as other people. The population has been well served in the present with the development of technology gear towards them specifically. Applications such as speech recognition will reduce frustration as typing will be eliminated. Twenty-four-hour availability of technical support created purposely for the disabled should be created by service providers and applications manufacturers so that they may have access to any assistance required. Manufacturers should also provide after sales service support, especially to disabled people, so that programs can be installed for them at a reduced cost. Disabled people can be served better if advanced broadband is made available to them (Miesenberger, 2010).

Conclusion

For the reasons listed above and also because of the fact that no system is perfect and no system is error free, preventing user frustration is very difficult. There will never be a bug or error free system and unexpected problems with the system will always occur, hence resulting in user frustration. But the fact is that you can minimize these frustrations and present a complex interface of alternatives when this frustration occurs. The system administrator should provide solutions to as many quick fixes as possible giving the user the power to clear error. However, the best way of reducing errors and user frustration is to maintain up-to-date maintenance, scan systems regularly to ensure that they are not infected, and update all applications, OS, and security software.

References

Forbrig, P. (2010). Human-computer interaction second IFIP TC 13 Symposium. HCIS 2010, held as part of WCC 2010 September 20-23 (p. Proceedings). Brisbane, Australia: Berlin: Springer.

Johnson, C. (2016). Interactive Systems Design. Interactive Systems Design.

Klein, J., Moon, Y., & Picard, R. (2002). This Computer Responds to User Frustration: Theory, Desgn, and Results. Interacting With Computers, 14, 119-140.

Miesenberger, K. (2010). Computers helping people with special needs. Conference proceedings (pp. 12th international conference, ICCHP). Vienna, Austria: Berlin: Springer.