Week 2 - PACT

Question 1

What does PACT stand for?

Answer 1

People, Activities, Contexts, Technologies

Question 2

What are the three ways people differ from one another?

Answer 2

1. Physical Differences
2. Psychological Differences
3. Social Differences.

Question 3

What is meant by Temporal aspects of activities?

Answer 3

Temporal aspects covers how regular or infrequent activities are.

Question 4

In what ways do ‘Activities’ vary?

Answer 4

temporal aspects, whether they involve cooperation, complexity, whether they are safety-critical and the nature of the content they require.

Question 5

What are the three types of Context?

Answer 5

1. Organisational Context
2. Social Context
3. Physical Environment

Question 6

What role does Technology hold within design?

Answer 6

Technologies vary in terms of the input, output, communication and content that they support.

Question 7

What is a Mental Model?

Answer 7

The understanding and knowledge that we possess of something is often referred to as a ‘mental model’.

Question 8

Name three aspects of a Mental Model.

Answer 8

1. People can ‘run’ (or try out) their models when required, but often with limited accuracy
2. Mental models are unstable – people forget details.
3. Mental models are incomplete. People will understand some parts of a system better than others.