Past Projects

Public Safety Usability Research

First responders in public safety respond to emergency incidents to serve and protect their communities. The voices of first responders have often not been taken into consideration, especially when technology is developed for them but not with them. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) public safety usability team is multidisciplinary with scientists specialized in human factors and ergonomics, usability, computer science, psychology and social science. We perform human-centered research aimed at understanding the experiences, tasks, needs, requirements, and the contexts of use of first responders in different public safety disciplines–Comm Center & 9-1-1 Services; Emergency medical services; Fire service, and Law enforcement. Our research objective is to provide guidance for the public safety research and development (R&D) community to ensure that technologies are developed for and with first responders to achieve their goals and objectives with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in their specified contexts of use. For more information see Public Safety Usability Research.

Biometric Usability

The Visualization and Usability Group conducting research on the usability of biometrics.  With the plans for integrating biometrics into many areas of government  and public life, the importance of usability research has increased. We hope this site can broaden the awareness of what usability research is and why it is critical to the success of  many biometric programs. For more information see Biometric Usability.

Usability Testing

Usability testing refers to evaluating a product by testing it with representative users performing representative tasks. The goal is to identify any usability problems by collecting quantitative (e.g., time on task, errors and successful completion rates) and qualitative (e.g., comments, likes or dislikes) data to  determine participants’ satisfaction with the product. Our staff are experts in usability testing products including websites and biometric devices. Our usability lab has state-of-the art technology. We have tested new technologies to determine the usability of the devices with real users.  For more information see Usability Testing. 

Health IT

The NIST health IT usability initiative focused on establishing a frame work that defines and assesses health IT usability. The goal of the research effort, being conducted in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is to create a detailed specification of an objective, repeatable procedure for measuring and evaluating the usability of health IT systems. For more information see Health IT Usability. 

Darpa

Developed evaluation methodologies and tools that enabled user-centric testing and benchmarking of information management systems.

CIFter

The project was initiated to promote the investigation and development of ways to evaluate and benchmark methodologies for assessing the usability of websites. For more information.

Cloud Usability Framework  

The goal of this work was to provide a framework that encompasses multiple characteristics for the evaluation of the cloud user experiences. Powerpoint Presentation on the Framework.

Reports

Framework for Cloud Usability 
December 22, 2015
Author(s); Brian C. Stanton, Mary F. Theofanos, Karun P. Joshi

Framework for Cloud Usability 
August 2, 2015
Author(s): Brian C. Stanton, Mary F. Theofanos, Karun P. Joshi

Safety of Building Occupants Project Task 2 

This is a collaboration with the Engineering Lab.  Data related to human behavior during fires is being collected, via survey and interviews, and analyzed to determine how mobility impaired individuals evacuate multi-story buildings during emergencies and the role their personal risk perception plays in their decisions/actions such as their concerns about using elevators during these evacuations.  Data is also being gathered via focus groups with emergency responders and people with disabilities on evacuation procedures for their elevator usage. The goal is  guidance for designers and building managers about the concerns of individuals with mobility impairments and how to improve elevator design and usage during emergencies.  For more information.