Toolbox for Anticipating Interaction Complexity in Socio-Technical Systems: Templates, Evaluation Tools, and Framework

This repository contains the supplemental materials for the journal article "Extending the User-Centered Design Toolbox: An Instrument for Anticipating Complexity of Interaction". The provided resources operationalize a two-stage instrument designed to identify and analyze complexity-generating characteristics during the conception of digital systems. The dataset includes the following five components: Conceptual Framework File: framework_overview.png Content: A visual illustration of the theoretical model of step-by-step generalization and mapping to specific complexity criteria. Step 1: Identification of Complex Scenarios Objective: Identifying interaction situations and determining if they are obvious, complicated, complex, or chaotic. Collection Tool: Complexity-Scenarios_Template.xlsx – Used to anticipate and collect interaction scenarios from the perspective of various user groups or personas. Visualization Tool: Complexity-Scenarios_Evaluation.xlsx – The graphical evaluation template that processes the collected interaction scenarios. Stage 2: Analysis of Complexity-Generating Properties Objective: Assigning and analyzing specific complexity criteria for interaction scenarios identified as "complex" Collection Template: Complexity-Characteristics_Template.xlsx – A ‘do-it-yourself’ tool for rating ten dimensions such as dynamics, non-linearity, and adaptivity. Visualization Tool: Complexity-Characteristics_Evaluation.xlsx – The graphical evaluation template used to map ratings onto a ten-dimensional network diagram/radar chart for final design conclusions. Purpose and Application: This toolbox enables development teams to perform systematic self-reflection during the conception phase. By providing templates and visualization tools, this repository allows teams to identify potential "cognitive obstacles" even before conducting user studies, ultimately supporting the design of more intuitive and transparent digital systems.