Assessing a digital document

When undertaking an assessment, it is essential to define what it is you wish to assess. To do this, we need to consider that the use of a digital document takes place in the context of an activity carried out via a technical device. The user is thus exposed to a double constraint: he or she must find information, integrate new knowledge in a given field, solve a problem, and to do so, use a technical device (a digital document developed for this purpose) at the same time. This double constraint and goal structure will make this type of task particularly complex, should the technical device fail (i.e. be difficult to use). In this particular case, the allocation of additional cognitive resources to the use of the technical device rather than to the main task will result in poor performance. In this article, we will focus on the evaluation of digital documents using classical methods of person-system interface ergonomics. The methods chosen are: evaluation by inspection (or audit), user testing, interviews and questionnaires. For each of these methods, we will give examples of deliverables. It is perhaps worth pointing out that a high-performance interface is generally one that requires very few cognitive resources to use. A transparent, unobtrusive interface will enable users to concentrate their cognitive resources on their activity, rather than on learning or mastering the technical device. The aim is therefore clearly to minimize the cognitive load specifically dedicated to operating the system.