Dr. Timothy C. Lethbridge

Ottawa University

Integrating HCI and Usability into Software Engineering: The Imperative and the Resistance

In this presentation I will defend the assertion that the area of knowledge most lacking in software engineering practice is knowledge about usability and human factors. Furthermore I will suggest that the best way to improve the situation is through a combination of improved education and industrial certification. I will start the presentation by reviewing the concept of usability and why improving it can have such a large effect. Then I will describe why there has been resistance to focusing on this area. Next I will present steps that are being taken to rectify the situation: Notably, an increased emphasis on the topic in the SE 2004 curriculum, and moves to better incorporate it into SWEBOK. Finally I will propose a potential maturity model that corporations can use to improve their capabilities in this area.

Biography

Dr. Lethbridge is of dual Canadian / British citizenship, having immigrated to Canada in 1975. Dr. Lethbridge received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick in 1985 and an MsC(CS) from the same University in 1987. While in New Brunswick, Dr. Lethbridge worked for the Government of New Brunswick (Data processing division) on a variety of projects, both as a Co-op student and later as a consultant. His master's thesis was entitled "Perceived Animate Motion by Deterministic Rules of Inter-Object Behaviour" - it was an early work in what is today called Artificial Life. While writing his MSc thesis Dr. Lethbridge taught university courses in Fortran programming and Interactive Computing.

From 1987 to 1989 Dr. Lethbridge worked at Nortel (then called Bell-Northern Research) in Ottawa, where he designed database applications in the CAD group.

From 1989 to 1994, Dr. Lethbridge worked on his PhD (see below) at the University of Ottawa. This was funded by an NSERC Scholarship as well as consulting contracts (with BNR, and Boeing Aircraft Corporation) and teaching. After defending his thesis, in November 1994, Dr. Lethbirdge worked at the University of Ottawa as an Assistant Professor.

Since 1991, at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Lethbridge has taught courses in Object Orientation, Software Engineering, Software Evolution and User Interfaces. Most of his work until 1997 was with the Institute for Government Informatics Professionals, a program whereby Ottawa University’s School of Information Technology and Engineering department upgrades the education of computing professionals.

Dr. Lethbridge’s research has focused on systems to help people manipulate complex information and on software engineering education. He has done research with Mitel Corporation, QNX Corporation and IBM Canada. Dr. Lethbridge has been a full professor since May 2005, and served a term as Acting Associate Dean, starting in January 2005.

Dr. Lethbridge published the textbook Object Oriented Software Engineering: Practical Software Development Using UML and Java, in its second edition as of 2005. Dr. Lethbridge also was a leader in the development of the Software Engineering 2004 curriculum, sponsored by the IEEE and ACM.