Design and Development of a Search Interface for an Information Gathering Tool

In order to design effective and usable search interfaces it is essential to fully understand the characteristics of the users and the tasks they perform. In this paper we describe how to use human-centered approach to design a usable search interface. We first conducted user and task analyses of the application domain--Biomedical Engineers' log notes at NASA Johnson Space Center. From these analyses we identified what functions the users want, the tasks they perform, and a coding system for the vocabulary used by the users to log entries in the log notes. We then implemented a prototype of human-centered search interface by using the results of the user and task analyses and by applying other human-centered principles. Finally we discussed the implications of human-centered design for general health information systems.