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Abstract. Task models are widely used within the research field of HCI for the model-based development of interactive systems. Recently introduced approaches applied task models further to model the cooperative behavior of people using devices within a smart environment. We describe a method of model-based usability evaluation to evaluate interactive systems, with a particular focus on smart environments, which are developed based on task models. We consider the evaluation in early development stages to interactively walk through the models and in later stages to execute a test case within a real environment. The paper provides results of a prototypical implementation.

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Creating a smart environment is a challenging task because of the excessive software development and adaptation required. Additionally, hardware in form of stationary as well as dynamic devices has to be installed. Similar to traditional software development, evaluating only the end product is often very costly in terms of time and effort needed. This is due to the fact that usually a lot of changes have to take place since the system fails to deliver the expected behaviour. Therefore, modelling is of great benefit. Models help to get a shared and thorough understanding of a specific domain. Making the animation of those models feasible allows getting a first impression of the system under development. Such prototypes of a system can be created on different levels of abstraction. The paper aims to demonstrate how modelling the human behaviour from the perspective of the activities performed in the environment can lead to first abstract prototypes. Those prototypes can be further extended and fostered by device models as well as models for the whole environment. In the paper, we also strive to discuss the costs and benefits of offering an abstract environmental model in 2D or 3D.