Collaborative system to investigate mental models: The information architecture automatic tool (IAAT)

A software product that has been developed according to user centered design principles takes into account knowledge of the future user and guarantees a user friendly human-computer interaction through interfaces that enable to effectively and efficiently accomplish tasks. Therefore, the user's mental and conceptual model should match to achieve interfaces consistent with the user's system expectations, and consequently with the representation of how a system should work. To investigate mental models and extend the knowledge and understanding of human interaction with technical systems, we describe a collaborative system that relies on the user configuration of the information architecture of an In-Vehicle Information System (IVIS) that reflect the users' mental models. Each user generates the content of predefined information structures that compete in efficiency with structures from other users, thereby expanding the number of “lead users” and the test subjects' sample.