Nuances of Human-Centredness in Information Systems Development Hannakaisa Isomäki Department of Research Methodology University of Lapland PO Box 122, 96101 Rovaniemi, Finland hannakaisa.isomaki@ulapland.fi Samuli Pekkola Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Jyväskylä PO Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland samuli@cc.jyu.fi Abstract Numerous methods, methodologies, approaches, techniques and tools have been developed over the years to ensure successful accomplishment of information system development (ISD) projects in terms of user satisfaction. However, different methodologies and approaches perceive the user differently; sometimes the user is seen as an anonymous ‘object’ that is going to use the system, or as an evaluator confirming the correctness of the design, or even as a critical contributor along the way to user-friendly information system. Each of these approaches has their own benefits from the ISD point of view but they lack a holistic view of the user. In this paper, we will review the trajectories of ISD approaches and elucidate the nuances of human-centredness in ISD. We aim at offering a holistic picture that illustrates an overview of different understandings of the user in ISD, so that, first, the systems designers’ awareness about the user in general is increased, and second, future research directions are portrayed to the researchers. 1. Introduction Avison and Fitzgerald [2] discussed the needs for new development methods and changes in the perceptions of the role of users in information systems development processes. Development methods have gone through a long evolution from basic technical problem solving approaches to well-defined multi-methodological techniques. Similarly, the interpretation of the user has changed. Early, the user was seen as a person using the given system. Later, with modern era, it is often recognised that the user needs opportunities to influence the development process and to yield the system according to his or her own needs and preferences. The range of these approaches is still very common in different realms of ISD discipline as pointed out by Iivari, Hirschheim and Klein [28] in their dynamic framework of eleven generic approaches for ISD. When comparing different perceptions of users in ISD with development projects, it is interesting to realise that the projects incorporate only a certain single perception. For example, users are seen as experts in the requirements specification phase [35], or as resources in the design and testing phases [14], or even as integral participant in the whole development process [52]. This kind of congregated focus is evident as each approach has its benefits. For example, participatory approaches, e.g. participatory design, can provide realistic feedback for the developers throughout the development process but reciprocally require resources and intensive involvement from every actor [3, 24]. On the other hand, requirements engineering approaches focusing solely on the requirements specification phase disregard the active user involvement during the whole project. Consequently they require fewer resources and simultaneously minimise the chances for conflicting requirements (c.f. [3]). However, grounding the development of IS on a single type of user perception does not guarantee a ‘human-centred’ outcome for the project. As Isomäki [30] argued, users possess various roles and inherent characteristics that should be taken into account in ISD, and thus, a holistic view of users needs to be embedded into the process of ISD in order to facilitate a comprehensive analysis of the various ways that people interact with information, technologies, and tasks. Nowadays, as human-centredness is becoming a hot topic in the information systems community [2], it is necessary to discuss how the users will be perceived in the future. That is to say, IS designers’ awareness and perception on the user needs to be increased. This is of utmost importance because the designers’ intellectual frameworks, first, determine the operationalisation of human-centredness within a certain ISD methodology or approach (e.g. [15]), and second, are of practical relevance in that the designers’ views of users are mediated to practice through the use of ISD methodologies, methods, techniques, and tools [26, 27]. The purpose of our paper is to promote and contribute to the discussions that aim at increasing user awareness within the field of IS. For this we will present a historical 0-7695-2268-8/05/$20.00 (C) 2005 IEEE Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2005 1