Leveson’s Software Assessment Scale
Adapted for NTARI use by Jodson B. Graves
Developed by Professor Nancy Leveson as an assessment for aircraft software, this assessment is designed to measure software quality as it relates to user experience (i.e. flying the aircraft). This system may also be used to describe interactions in an economic setting as described in Computational Thinking by Peter J. Denning and Matti Tedre.
Readme Text
A trade assessment scale based on Nancy Leveson's Software Assessment Scale developed for evaluating software used in airborne vehicles.
Contemporary trade assessments based on 5-star systems do not provide data that motivates producer improvement. Developed in the United States, apparently by Forbes Travel Guide, formerly Mobil Travel Guide, in 1958. This system was used to advertise hotel quality along popular travel routes as part of a larger campaign to encourage cross-country driving trips using the new US interstate highway system and was never meant to be a two-way communication system. As a result, ratings hold little to no value in e-commerce where they are most commonly applied. In many cases, PR managers place minimal effort toward rationalizing with customers and represent a barrier to companies changing internal policies to improve customer experience.
The Leveson System was developed in the high-stakes arena of aircraft software development where if a system fails, someone dies or at the very least, tens of thousands of dollars in research and development investments are wasted. Leveson still uses a similar 6-point system with ratings from positive 4 to negative 1. Leveson also further defines each category allowing users to compress more meaning behind the rating. This reduces the need for comment sections for more data.
SCALE DESCRIPTIONS (Adapted) +4 Delight Interaction anticipates the evolution of user practices and concerns post-transaction
+3 No Negative Consequences Interaction designed to prevent loss, exceed basic quality
+2 Basic Satisfaction Interaction meets socially acceptable standards exceeding articulated user demands
+1 Basic Promise Interaction meets all articulated user demands, no more
0 Cynical Satisfaction Interaction fulfills a basic promise requiring little to no discipline toward user satisfaction
-1 No Trust User was harmed, exploited, or received a product or service with evidence of no discipline or malicious intent
Though not a two-way communication system on its own, the assessment function may be levied against both consumer and producer in a digital collective intelligence network; identifying bad actors on both sides of transactions for future users. For example, a network may maintain average ratings for producers to identify unskilled providers, and a consumer rating to identify exploitative or difficult customers.
This program was produced by the Network Theory Applied Research Institute's Forge Laboratory by Jodson B. Graves using ChatGPT3 on September 4, 2024. Learn more and support Forge Laboratory at https://ntari.org/forge
Aprovechar
Leveson-Based Trade Assessment Scale (LBTAS)
Rating | Quality Level | Emergent Effect of Transaction |
4 | Delight | Interaction anticipates the evolution of user practices and concerns post-transaction |
3 | No Negative Consequences | Interaction designed to prevent loss, exceed basic quality |
2 | Basic Satisfaction | Interaction meets socially acceptable standards exceeding articulated user demands |
1 | Basic Promise | Interaction meets all articulated user demands, no more |
0 | Cynical Satisfaction | Interaction fulfills a basic promise requiring little to no discipline toward user satisfaction |
-1 | No Trust | User was harmed, exploited, or received a product or service with evidence of no discipline or malicious intent |
Code tested by Jodson Graves and Calvin Seacrest on October 6th, 2024...it worked then
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