Sino European Systems Usability Network

Target Groups

SESUN will support the following target groups (to use the EU jargon)

Chinese university academics lecturing / researching in disciplines such as Computing, IT, Psychology, Ergonomics and industrial design. HCI is a multi disciplinary subject and benefits from the sharing of different backgrounds and experiences.

Chinese software and IT developers: particularly, but by no means exclusively, in the transport and e-Government fields - Software engineers, Internet Programmers, Interaction Designers, Usability Engineers and government officials for e-government and intelligent public transport systems. It is necessary to state here that although this proposal cites the two areas of activity of transport and e-government systems, usability is relevant to all areas of ITC activity.

European usability practitioners and interaction designers will also benefit from the collaboration with partners in China.

University academics

One strength of the Chinese IT community is a strong educational orientation that produces high-class engineering graduates skilled in computer science and IT. Currently however, very few of the more than 1500 Chinese universities address HCI in their curricula. The reason for involving university academics is that by highlighting aspects of HCI and interaction design within those involved in shaping the Chinese university curriculum the next generation of systems developers will be more aware of the need for effective usable interaction design.

Chinese software and IT developers

e-Government: Municipal and provincial e-Government project managers/workers

The Chinese government has begun a large programme and investment to support e-government. There is a special department for this initiative in every municipal and provincial government as well as each ministry. The construction of unique portals, the training for the government service workers and evaluation of e-government systems are now becoming the focuses in this area. This trend is beneficial to the ongoing development process towards a more efficient, democratic and citizen-oriented government systems in China. However usability and accessibility has yet to be formally considered in this area. In this regard usability is central to both the needs of the general public (who are the recipients of information from such systems) and for service workers (whose roles and modes of working may be effected with consequential issues for occupational health). SESUN will support municipal and provincial government in realising the importance of usability and raise requirements for it to e-government projects.

Transport: Systems analysts and developers

Logistics has always been the driver of increased trade, and transport is the largest component of logistics costs. In China wealth is concentrated in coastal cities due to high land access costs to ports. For the benefits of trade to reach further inland, increased investment in transport infrastructure is required. Multi-modal transport is becoming more important as transport becomes more integrated with complete logistics systems. The adoption of information technology is leading to greater utilization of transport assets, a higher quality of service, and potentially lower costs. Information technology has the ability to redefine business practices and enhance the utilisation of human resources through institutional re-engineering to meet changing market environment. Chinese central and regional government as well as transport enterprises have been making increasing investment for the so called Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) construction. However as with other areas of IT development, systems usability and accessibility is crucial to success, for transportation sponsors, owners and workers (who operate the systems) and the general public (who use them).

European usability practitioners

An important aspect of this partnership is its dual impact both in China and Europe. Systems usability and interaction design address a global product with a global user base. European collaborators will benefit by exploring the needs of Chinese / Asian users in relation to the next generation of artefacts and infrastructures for a global community, gaining a better understanding of the role of culture in relation to usability in the Chinese context, and understanding the problems and opportunities for the user-centred and participative design of IT applications in the Chinese context.