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78 lines
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78 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
Excerpted from CACM, Aug-83 ...
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On Human-Machine Interface
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The preface to the special section of Human Factors in Computing Systems,
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"The Humanization of Computer Interfaces" ... may accurately represent
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the views of many computer users. However it seems to portray a rather
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damning statement against computer science. The type of user presented
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has a rather large chip on his shoulder when it comes to computers.
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He must realize that solving complex problems on a complex system will
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require some effort on his part. I feel the following parody of the
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preface shows the attitudes presented by such users in their proper
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light.
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I remember the first time I used a car. I walked into a car dealership
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and with no prior experience with cars I purchased a car. To help
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me get acquainted with my car I was handed something called and owner's
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manual. It was filled with pages of diagrams, boxes, examples, and
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instructions. I tried to read it that afternoon, but got bogged down
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after the first two pages.
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The next day the car arrived, and I jumped in for a drive. After
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turning it on, the owner's manual said move the gear selection level
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from PARK to DRIVE. A "PARK"? A "DRIVE"? What was that? There was
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nothing on or near the gear shifter that said PARK or DRIVE. After
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spending fifteen minutes searching through the owner's manual, I
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realized that P stands for PARK and D stands for DRIVE. Why couldn't
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they agree on a labeling scheme? Why don't they say what they mean?
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I drove around until evening and then came home. The next day I tried
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to start the car, but nothing happened. I attempted to revive the
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car a few times with no success. When I called the car salesman, I
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was told that when I turned off the ignition the headlights I was using
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the previous evening were not turned off too. Why should the headlights
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remain on when the car is turned off, especially when if causes the
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car not to function? The answer: The ignition is not important; it's
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the pressing of the headlight switch that controls the activation of
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the lights. Suddenly I knew why the car had left on the headlights
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after I had turned off the ignition. From then on, I avoided using
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the headlights; I wanted to know that my car would start in the morning.
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During the next two weeks I drove a number of different cars. Each
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car looked different; many worked differently; the parts from one could
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not be used in conjunction with another. What bothered me most was
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that I had to think in different terms when driving a sports car as
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opposed to a limousine. Not only were the same items labeled by
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different names in different cars, but tasks I could do in one car
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were impossible in another. As a computer scientist I had learned
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well-defined methods for designing programs. Why couldn't engineers
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do the same thing?
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About six months later, I was telling the car salesman my problems with
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a particular car. He suggested that I try a new model of that car.
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It was, he said, better than the old one. I learned how to use it
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and became somewhat proficient. But how did he know that one car was
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easier to use than another? Are there tests that can be applied to
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cars comparing ease-of-use?
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Recently I was driving a subcompact for three or four hours a day.
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I would have used it more, except that I began to get headaches and
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pains in the neck. In fact, I even had to stop driving it a few times.
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I was sure it was the car's fault. However, after I was given a large
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luxury car, I felt much better.
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Sometimes I wonder about the future of cars. My car has become an
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important tool for solving transportation problems. Yet, the car
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designers who develop new cars still seem to forget about people like
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me. Before we computer scientists design a new program, we perform
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systems analysis and then thoroughly test is. Why can't engineers
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apply this same approach to their cars? I can some up my feelings in
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the following questions:
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Why isn't the design of cars more like a science?
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Why can't people who design cars be more like computer scientists?
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Peter Buhr, University of Manitoba.
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