University of Glasgow
June 2002
CS1Q Exam.
Time allowed: 2 hours and 15 minutes
Answer ALL questions.
a) Please provide BRIEF answers to the following questions:
[2 marks per answer, 10 marks in total]
b) Why can it be particularly difficult for designers to obtain an impression of an expert user?s mental model of an interactive computer system?
[3 marks]
c) User interface design often centres on identifying an appropriate abstraction for an underlying computer system. For example, the waste-paper basket on the desktop of most operating systems provides an abstraction of the delete function. Files are deleted by placing them in the waste-paper basket.
What are the dangers associated with hiding the underlying complexity of computer systems in this way?
[5 marks]
d) The Johnson Corporation have won a contract to develop a web-based system that is intended to help elderly users find friends and relations that they have known in their childhood. Write a brief technical report for the manager of the project describing how you would go about conducting requirements elicitation for the design of an interface to this application.
[7 marks]