The user context and formal specification in interactive system design

The growing use of computer-based systems inmany sectors, particularly those where safety is an issue, combined with the increased complexity of human interaction with such systems, has meant that concerns of human error and usability in general are more important than ever. This paper reviews research done at York to relate formal methods to Human Computer Interaction. A particular concern of this work has been to show how understandings of use can be integrated into the design of the system. These techniques have evolved to take increasing account of the user context in the specification of the system. The paper will illustrate this development and show how formal specificationmay be used as a common representational framework for user’s goals, tasks and for components of the interface specification. The method is illustrated using a small example from the aircraft domain.