Resumen
This special section offers a look at the state of the art usability practices represented by three U.S. companies, International Business Machines Corp., the American Institutes for Research and Microsoft Corp. and three Danish companies, Bang & Olufsen, Danfoss Inc. and Kommunedata. These six companies not only represent a diversity of approaches to usability, but also a diverse set of products, ranging from off-the-shelf office software, Internet applications and software embedded in mechanical products to consumer products. Most companies are in-house service providers, but some also work as consultants to external clients. The U.S. has a long-standing tradition of usability labs, whereas usability labs in Danish industry are a fairly novel phenomenon. On the other hand, the Scandinavian countries, including Denmark, have a strong tradition for informally involving users in the design process rather than having them participate in a formal usability program. In the I990s one has seen the emergence of a process where Danish industry institutionalizes usability by establishing usability labs, while U.S. industry is increasingly influenced by approaches to user involvement rooted in Scandinavian countries. A usability lab was originally a testing room and an observation room separated by a oneway mirror. For a formal usability test, a single user is brought into the testing room, which in addition to the software product to be tested, contains video cameras and microphones for recording sessions.