User modeling: a globalperspective

Abstract

This rapid review of the many meanings of the user model and of the findings of research on managerial behaviour serves to draw attention, yet again, to the fact that no part of an information system can be isolated from the contexts of individual and organizational behaviours. Leavitt's [19] famous diamond which shows the relationship between various aspects of the organization ought to be on the wall of every systems design office:The message of Leavitt's diamond is simply - every element of organizational life affects every other: change the technology and you change the task and ought to change the structure and the people. Change the people, and they will find new ways of performing tasks and the technology must adjust, as must everything else. A user model, therefore, must be an organizational model, not a systems model, or an individual model and a limited, system perspective of the information user in the organization will not provide a sound basis for the development of future, usable information systems. Technology will drive development but, equally, the final form of those developments must respond to the wider world of the information user.