Broadband communications offer many exciting possibilities for new services for all kinds of users. This potential can, however, lead designers to believe that being inventive with the technology will be sufficient to create services which users will find valuable. The evidence of the case studies is that technology alone is not sufficient; users are looking for a form of technology which is fit for the purposes they have and has service qualities appropriate to the context of use, for example, is usable, acceptable etc. In the design process by which these services are created it is necessary to develop an understanding of the users' world and to test emerging forms of the service in order to ensure it will work at all levels; the form of interaction is usable, the mix of media is appropriate to the user's purpose, the system can operate within the organisational framework etc. If we can achieve a user-centred design process with these properties at all stages we can realise the enormous potential of these systems without going through a succession of failures before we identify a successful way of delivering the service.

Inspec keywords: broadband networks; product design; quality of service; telecommunication services; telecommunication network management; ergonomics

Other keywords: quality of service; user-centred design process; product design; telecommunication quality of service management; broadband communications; ergonomic

Subjects: Network management