People, Activity, Context,
Technologies
Ebba Thora Hvannberg
Objective
• To be able to analyse situations with respect
to People, Activities, Technologies and
Context (PACT) to scope design projects.
PACT examples
• People use technologies to undertake activities
in contexts.
– For example, teenagers use mobile (cell) phones to
send text messages to their friends whilst sitting on
a bus.
– Secretaries use Microsoft Word to write
documents in a firm of solicitors.
– Air traffic controllers work together to ensure the
smooth operation of an airport.
– A woman in her seventies presses various buttons
to set the intruder alarms in her house.
– People use MySpace to contact with other people
when sitting in an Internet café.
Activites and technologies
Requirements
Activities in context
People
Opportunities
Technologies
People
• Physical differences such as height, weight,
disabilities, visual and hearing impairment.
• In Europe there are 2.8 million wheelchair users so designers must consider
where technologies are placed, and many people have dexterity
impairments involving the use of their fingers.
– What if Apple designed
ATMs?
Psychological differences
•
•
•
•
•
Memory
Spacial intelligence
Communication
Languages
Attention
Mental models
Activities
• First, you need to decide on the goal of the
activity
• Temporal aspects (1-4)
– How regular or seldom an activity is
– Peaks, time pressure
– Continous work
– Response time
• Collaboration (5)
• Complexity(6)
Triaging of casualities
Activities
• Safety dependent (7 og 8)
– Can work lead to injuiry or death?
– What consequences do errors and mistakes have?
• Nature of content (9 og 10)
– What type of data are processed?
– What steps are executed?
Context
• Physical context
– Inside / outside
– Wide/narrow, clean/dirty
– How is the whether?
• Social context
– Who is there to help?
– Alone or in public
Different work environment
In a closed room
At a window
Organizational context
• Context of an organization
– Hierarchy of power
– Division of work
– Different paths of communication and
management
A technological environment
• Ways and media which help us to finish an
activity
• Which content do you work with
• Technology development is fast and hence it
is important to be able to distinguish
technology from other factors such as
actvities, context and people.
People Activities Context Technologies
• In design you need to take into consideration
all these factors (PACT)
• Who uses, what is he or she doing, in which
context and what technology does he/she
have?
Challenge
• Write down a quick PACT analysis for a point
of sale system for a café at a motorway
service station.