ABSTRACT
How we perceive usability testing, and what we hope to accomplish from conducting a series of small steps as part of an iterative process, must change, especially when we are tasked with evaluating a complex system. This chapter proposes that usability practitioners look to ecology for guidance. Ecologists for some time have relied quite successfully upon small-scale studies, such as the ones we conduct, not to solve easy problems but to engage in the ongoing monitoring of very unstable, very complex ecosystems. Drawing on research from ecology and examples from previous usability testing, this chapter details how an ecological framework for usability would work.
