User modelling: A global perspective

Abstract

It is now widely recognized that the design of computer-based information systems is more than a technical or technological problem. Participative design technologies such as that developed by Mumford [1] and the use of Soft Systems methodology [2][3], are now widely recognized as necessary to ensure that systems devised for organizational use fit the needs of departmental users. Thus, in the financial services sector one might expect to find a majority of departmental staff on a development team rather than a majority of systems analysts and programmers. However, there is still something of a gap between the recognition of departmental or organizational needs and their satisfaction in systems terms and the recognition of the perspective of the individual information user. This paper seeks to address that issue by proposing a wider perspective of the user than that commonly adopted in modelling user behaviour