Using Design Patterns as Usability Heuristics for Mobile Groupware Systems

The objective of this research was to determine the capability of design patterns to find usability issues in mobile groupware interfaces. A particular collection of patterns was used for this purpose. Patterns were obtained by identifying essential activities and collaborative tasks in the communication process among members of working groups. A previous study on said proposal suggested that design solutions offered by the patterns foster communication, collaboration, and coordination through user interface elements. This new analysis evaluated virtues of the proposal from a user interface-assessment perspective. For this purpose 6 experts on design, usability, HCI and UCD validated the heuristics, which were then applied by 12 members of an educational support group called USAER. Results suggested that proposed heuristics could provide a reliable perspective of the usability level of mobile user interfaces for groupware applications.