skip to main content
article

The blind men and the elephant: views of scenario-based system design

Published:01 November 2004Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

Six blind men encounter an elephant. Each of them touches a different part of the elephant and expresses what the elephant is. Although they are touching the same elephant, each man's description is completely different from that of the others. We have been using this story as a metaphor for understanding different views of scenario-based system design.

References

  1. Carey, T., McKerlie, D., Bubie, W., & Wilson, J. (1991). Communicating human factors expertise through design rationales and scenarios. In D. Diaper & N. Hammond (Eds.), People and Computers VI: Proceedings of the HCI `91 Conference, August 20-23, Edinburgh, UK (pp. 117-130). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. Carroll, J. M. (Ed.). (1995). Scenario-based design: Envisioning work and technology in system development. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. Carroll, J. M. (1997). Human-computer interaction: Psychology as a science of design. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 46, 501-522. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Carroll, J. M. (2000). Making use: Scenario-based design of human-computer interactions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. Clarke, L. (1991). The use of scenarios by user interface designers. In D. Diaper and N. Hammond (Eds.), People and Computers VI: Proceedings of the HCI `91 Conference, August 20-23, Edinburgh, UK (pp. 103-115). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. Dubberly, H. & Mitch, D. (1987). The Knowledge Navigator. Apple Computer, videotape. Appears in B. A. Myers ed. HCI'92 Special Video Program.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  7. diSessa, A. (1985). A principled design for an integrated computational environment. Human-Computer Interaction 1(1), 1-47.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  8. Gould J. D., Boies, S. J., Levy, S., Richards, J. T., & Schoonard, J. (1997). The 1984 Olympic message system: A test of behavioral principle of system design. Communications of the ACM 30(9), 758-769. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  9. Hooper, J. W. & Hsia, P. (1982). Scenario-based prototyping for requirements identification. Software Engineering Notes 7(5), 88-93. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  10. Hsia, P., Samuel, J., Gao, J., Kung, D., Toyoshima, Y., & Chen, C. (1994). Formal approach to scenario analysis. IEEE Software 11(3), 33-41. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. Hughes, J. A., Randall, D., & Shapiro, D. (1992). Faltering from ethnography to design. In Proceedings of CSCW'92 Conference, Oct. 31-Nov. 4, Toronto, Canada (pp. 115-122). New York: ACM. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. Jacobson, I. (1995). The use-case construct in object-oriented software engineering. In J. M. Carroll (Ed.), Scenario-based design: Envisioning work and technology in system development, 309-336. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  13. Jacobson, I., Christersson, M., Jonsson, P., & Overgaard, G. (1992). Object-Oriented Software Engineering: A use-case driven approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  14. Kahn, H. (1962). Thinking about the unthinkable. New York: Horizon Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  15. Koskimies, K. Systa, T., Tuomi, J., & Mannisto, T. (1998). Automated support for modeling OO software. IEEE Software 15(1), 87-94. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  16. Mountford, S. J. (1991). A day in the life of .. (Panel). In Proceedings of CHI'91, April 27-May 2, New Orleans, LA. (pp. 385-388). New York: ACM. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  17. Potts, C., Takahashi, K., & Anton, A. I. (1994). Inquiry-based requirements analysis. IEEE Software 11(2), 21-32. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. Rolland, C., Achour, C. B., Cauvet, C., Ralyte, J., Sutcliffe, A., Maiden, N. A. M., Jarke, M., Haumer, P., Pohl, K., Dubois, E., & Heymans, P. (1996). A proposal for a scenario classification framework. Requirements Engineering 3(1), 23-47. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. Rosson, M. B. & Carroll, J. M. (2001). Usability engineering: scenario-based development of human computer interaction. Redwood City, CA: Morgan Kaufmann. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  20. Wack, P. (1985). Scenarios: Uncharted waters ahead. Harvard Business Review 63(5), 72-89.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  21. Weidenhaupt, K., Pohl, K., Jarke, M., & Haumer, P. (1998). Scenarios in system development: Current practice. IEEE Software 15(2), 34-45. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  22. Wirfs-Brock, R., Wilkerson, B., & Wiener, L. (1990). Designing object-oriented software. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  23. Young, R. M. & Barnard, P. J. (1991). Signature tasks and paradigm tasks: new wrinkles on the scenarios methodology. In D. Diaper and N. Hammond (Eds.), People and Computers VI: Proceedings of the HCI `91 Conference, August 20-23, Edinburgh, UK (pp. 91-101). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. The blind men and the elephant: views of scenario-based system design

        Recommendations

        Comments

        Login options

        Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

        Sign in

        Full Access

        • Published in

          cover image Interactions
          Interactions  Volume 11, Issue 6
          November + December 2004
          58 pages
          ISSN:1072-5520
          EISSN:1558-3449
          DOI:10.1145/1029036
          Issue’s Table of Contents

          Copyright © 2004 ACM

          Publisher

          Association for Computing Machinery

          New York, NY, United States

          Publication History

          • Published: 1 November 2004

          Permissions

          Request permissions about this article.

          Request Permissions

          Check for updates

          Qualifiers

          • article

        PDF Format

        View or Download as a PDF file.

        PDF

        eReader

        View online with eReader.

        eReader

        HTML Format

        View this article in HTML Format .

        View HTML Format