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Updated: June 29
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NewsletterUpdated: June 29 |
| June '98 | Volume 33 Number 6 |
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http://www.erols.com/hfespoc |
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The theme continues: When (and how) will HFE be an integral part the design process? Many of us have tried different ways to convince management that HFE was important. To get our foot in the door of design. We've tried cost-benefit analysis, hard engineering models, and even common sense. But from a cost-benefit analysis perspective, though most of us can easily see the benefits of HFE in terms of things like training cost, user acceptance, and user error, HFE input tends to cost additional money during the development cycle while the saving in training costs are hard to measure. Savings in user acceptance or user errors are outside the visibility of most development leads. And those hard engineering models (e.g., Card, Moran, and Newell's Keystroke Level GOMS Model), which has always impressed me, seems seldom to impress management. And common sense? Well common sense is not that common. Maybe we need a different way to get our foot in the door.
I was intrigued by a recently published article in the Washington Post about Web sites and capitalizing user typing errors. It seems that some companies have discovered (or someone told them) about typical user typing errors. Now they're trying to take advantage of these errors to promote their businesses. For example, an on-line bookstore recently registered the URL "www.amazom.com" (notice the final "m" in "amazom"). Why? Well it turns out that they are competitors of Amazon.Com and they found out that a common user typing error is to replace the "n" with the "m" when typing a word like Amazon. Since "www.amazom.com" was an un-registered URL, the poor user just received an error message. Now if they make the mistake, the user is linked to an on-line bookstore just like they wanted to be (albeit not the bookstore they thought they were linking to). This example isn't just a fluke. If you try to reach Ford Motors (www.ford.com) and make what is a typical typing error, you may end up at Murry's Auto Supply in Miami, Florida (www.frod.com). And there are other examples. Is this illegal? We'll have to wait and see. Is it immoral? Possibly. Is it clever? Definitely.
Who's providing this insight into human behavior to these companies? Who thought of this deviously clever way to make money? Is there some renegade Human Factors Engineer selling secrets to success? Is there a message we should all take from this - like maybe we need to find a way that management can directly benefit from our knowledge of users and user behavior? Maybe before we can get them to make a "costly" change to improve usability, we need to show them how to capitalize on user behavior to cut costs, reduce the amount of code, or otherwise save development time. If we can, then maybe the value of our knowledge will be appreciated and we can get them to make the "costly" change.
No, you didn't miss it! The June meeting was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with the conference room at George Mason University that we were hoping to use. Apparently Mikhael Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher took precedence, although it could be argued that "Machine Learning and the Design and Development of Adaptive Intelligent Systems" is a more "happening" topic. Larry Sklar will still be presenting his talk, at one of our meetings in the fall. We had not planned to meet during the summer. We will try to keep the newsletters coming, so watch this space for further information on the next meeting of the chapter. Executive Council members beware! Bill Killam is hoping to schedule some Council meetings during the summer. Everyone, please contact Zack Koutsandreas, our Program Chair (301-294-3097; zack@cais.com), with your ideas for meeting topics or speakers that you would find appealing .
Note – We have a standing offer to Student Members of the Chapter: Dinner at a monthly meeting FOR FREE if you write up a synopsis of the meeting for publication in the Newsletter. Contact the Newsletter Editor when interested.
Current Research in UMCP Lab for Automation Psychology Presented at May Meeting
The May 27, 1998 meeting of the HFES Potomac chapter took us on a tour of the Lab for Automation Psychology, at the University of Maryland. Kent Norman started us off with an overview of the presuppositions and current goals of the lab. After a short review of interface design issues, we were introduced to the current projects of the lab.
A questionnaire was developed in the late 80s to allow developers to get feedback as to how satisfied users were with their interface. The lab recently tested the QUIS (Questionnaire for User Interaction Satisfaction) online in an effort to upgrade the questionnaire. This test provided validation information on the questions and helped to find areas where questions needed to be added (i.e., documentation, new technology, installation).
Technicians monitoring information being sent by satellites have to deal with multiple columns of changing numbers. The lab has been testing VisAGE (Visual Analysis Graphical Environment) to see whether this could help current as well as new technicians. VisAGE presents these data streams in a graphical display that can be zoomed, rotated, and moved. Although the current technicians have achieved a level of expertise with the text data streams, VisAGE proves to be useful for the use and training of new technicians.
The final project looked at different ways of presenting numbers in scientific notation in order to facilitate comparison. The focus of this project was to find an alternative to the standard text display format. Although several display types and colors were tested, only color made a significant difference in people’s reaction times.
Julie Bzostek
Membership Renewal - OK, One Last Chance
The deadline for membership renewals has past! However, laggards have been granted a grace period of one newsletter. This is it! Starting next month, Doug will purge the mailing label print-out of all unrenewed members. So if you care to renew, or have questions about whether or not you already have, please contact the Membership Chair, Doug Griffith (ERIM International, Inc., Suite 1100, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22209, (703) 528-5250 x4120, dougg@erim.org).
U.S. Bureau of the Census -- Position Currently Available for a Research Psychologist
Possible future openings for social scientist,
statistician or psychologist
Announcement: Position available for Research Psychologist to
develop and implement usability research in survey applications.
Location: Suitland, MD (outside Washington, D.C.)
Salary (Research Psychologist): GS-13 ($55,969 to $72,758 per
year)
Apply by: July 12, 1998
About the Census Bureau:
The Census Bureau is one of the major statistical organizations
within the Federal Government. In addition to counting people in
the decennial census, we routinely collect economic data from
businesses and household demographic data. More and more, these
data are collected and disseminated by interacting with a
computer. This trend makes research on the usability of the
computer interface a necessity here.
Duties:
* Work with a small group of like-minded colleagues on long-term
and short-term usability research and testing projects.
* Apply knowledge of human factors, cognitive and social
psychological literature to identify causes of usability problems
in Census Bureau products.
* Contribute to the scientific literature in psychology and
survey methods.
Further information:
Applicants will be ranked based on their knowledge and research
experience in psychology (e.g., cognitive, human factors, social,
or related), survey methods, usability design and evaluation, and
related skills (e.g., prototyping languages, statistical analysis
packages). This is a permanent, full-time position leading to
civil service tenure.
Payment of relocation expenses may be authorized.
To see the official vacancy announcement point your browser to:
http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/wfjic/jobs/BC6528.HTM or call the vacancy information line at 301-457-4499,
refer to Bulletin # ASF 98-107.
For information about possible future vacancies, contact:
Kent.H.Marquis@ccmail.census.gov
**********
UserWorks, Inc. expects opportunities for continued growth over the near-term and is looking for usability professionals AT ALL LEVELS who would be interested in joining us. UserWorks, Inc. is a Washington, D.C.-area human factors engineering firm specializing in user interface design, usability evaluation and human factors research. We also distribute Norm Wilcox Associates’ portable usability lab equipment and data logging software. For more info, please visit our web-site at: www.userworks.com. Inquiries will be handled in confidence. Job qualifications are as follows:
We are particularly interested in adding one or more PRINCIPAL- or SENIOR-LEVEL USABILITY PROFESSION-ALS. The right individual(s) should have:
We are looking for someone who is capable of functioning independently but who recognizes the value, and the fun, of working with a highly motivated group of kindred spirits.
Contact Dick Horst, President, at:
PHONE: 301-431-0500
FAX: 301-431-4834
EMAIL: dhorst@userworks.com
REGISTER NOW. SPACE IS LIMITED. REGISTER AT: http://www.hypercourseware.com/cert.html
This course is about teaching using the new media of information technology, teaching in new electronic classrooms, and teaching on the World Wide Web. This course is not just about "computers in the classroom" or about presentation graphics, it is about the total educational environment. We will not only discuss the topic, we will also experience the new electronic educational environment first hand!
We will cover the pros and cons of computer mediated education in the classroom and in distance education. We will deal with the interaction of education and human/computer interface design. We will survey the many techniques for interactive presentations and interactive projects for the students. Finally, we will apply these principles, tools, and techniques to different subjects and levels. We will look at the problems of implementation and evaluation.
The entire course will be taught in a distance education mode using asynchronous interactions by week of the course. All materials and assignments will be on the WWW. Discussions will be via threaded dialogues; projects will be in html.
Tuition: $240 US currency, payable by check or
money order
Textbook: The textbook is on-line. It is a full length book with
many pictures and illustrations, Teaching in the Switched on
Classroom. http://www.hypercourseware.com/SOC
Safety Critical Interactive Systems: TOCHI Special Issue Call
Papers are invited for a special issue of ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction (ToCHI) on the topic: "Interface Issues and Designs for Safety-Critical Interactive Systems" When There is No Room for User Error:
Safety critical interactive systems must meet usability, performance, and safety requirements. In this domain, usability issues can have potentially disastrous consequences and the design of user interfaces in this area requires the use of innovative technologies for supporting user interactions.
Following a workshop at CHI'98, the journal ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction (ToCHI) plans to publish a special issue on the subject of Interface Issues and Designs for Safety-Critical Interactive Systems. The special issue will be edited by Wayne D. Gray, Philippe Palanque, and Fabio Paterṇ. We are soliciting high quality manuscripts, either substantive research contributions or review papers, on interface issues or design considerations for safety-critical systems. Preference will be given to papers that emphasize issues or designs that highlight the lower tolerance for errors or the higher standards of performance required of safety-critical systems.
Example topics include (but are not limited
to):
1. What is usability in a safety critical context and how to
evaluate it.
2. How the components of an interface may discourage or encourage
certain classes of errors; how interfaces may be designed to
encourage the detection and correction of errors.
3. How to guarantee the safety of the possible interactions.
4. Requirements analysis, specification, testing, and evaluation
for safety-critical interactive systems.
5. Formal methods in the development of safety critical and
safety related software.
6. Ways in which standard design methods such as task analysis,
scenario-based design, early prototyping, and so on may be
adapted to facilitate the design of error-free or error-tolerant,
safety-critical interactive systems.
7. Techniques for understanding and predicting how changes in the
interface, team dynamics, and/or fatigue should affect workload
and performance.
ToCHI's normal rigorous journal refereeing
standards will apply. Hence, while the Special Issue Editors will
make every attempt to urge reviewers to expedite the reviewing
process, we can make no guarantee as to how long the review and
revision process will require. However, once the issue is
completed, ToCHI expects a short (less than 6 months) publication
lag.
To aid cohesion and quality, all papers will be cross-refereed by
the authors of other papers in the special issue, as well as by
reviewers from outside the group. People submitting papers may
therefore be asked to contribute to the review process.
Submission format: TOCHI uses digital submission and distribution
of manuscripts. Details of the submission process can be found on
the TOCHI website at http://www.acm.org/tochi/. ACM requires
digital submission of accepted papers in one of several formats.
These formats are specified at the ToCHI website. To facilitate
the publication process, authors are advised to use one of these
formats when submitting their manuscript. Be sure to indicate in
your cover letter that you are submitting your manuscript for the
special issue on Safety-Critical Interactive Systems.
For more information, please contact the
editors at gray@gmu.edu, palanque@univ-tlse1.fr, or F.Paterno@cnuce.cnr.it
Deadline for receipt of manuscripts: 1st December 1998.
First Issue of Internetworking
The first issue of Internetworking is now on
the web at http://www.sandia.gov/itg/newsletter/june98/contents.html
It is a publication of the Internet Technical Group - an
organization devoted to web usability.
In this issue, you can learn about the history of the ITG, web development tools and processes, useful resources, and more.
First Meeting of DC-CHI Held Recently
The first meeting of DC-CHI, a local chapter of SIGCHI, was held on June 11, 1998 at the National Science Foundation offices in Arlington, VA. DC-CHI is intended to be a Washington DC-area special interest group to focus on issues surrounding Human-Computer Interaction. A discussion was held at this organizational meeting on possibilities for future meeting times, plans, and logistics. The speakers for this first meeting were Gary Strong, Ben Shneiderman, and John Siebert, who participated in a panel on the topic, "HCI in the Washington Area: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going." For further information about future meetings, contact:
Dr. Allison Druin
University of Maryland,College Park
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory
and College of Education
allisond@umiacs.umd.edu
www.umiacs.umd.edu/~allisond
office phone: 301-405-7406
or
Dr. Jean Scholtz
NIST
Quince Orchard and Clopper Road
Building 225, Room A216
jean.scholtz@nist.gov
office phone: (301) 975-2520
Technology Etiquette (Techniquette?)
Technology can reveal a bad side of human nature. "Road Rage" represents one of the worst examples. "Flaming" on the internet represents a less dangerous example. In both cases technology provides a shield that provides people a context that allows the old reptilian portion of the brain to govern their behavior. Law enforcement agencies are trying different techniques to counter road rage. Netiquette has been developed to provide guidance on how to behave on portions of the internet. Most listserv and discussion groups provide a protocol to assure that participants adhere to some basic standards of human decency and consideration while participating in that group. In my experience, however, some people still find it difficult to adhere to these standards and managed to be bounced from the group. I would estimate that the frequency of people being thrown out of electronic discussion groups is higher that the frequency of people being physically removed from groups. Again, it appears that technology provides a shield, and it is difficult to maintain standards for human courtesy.
It is good that netiquette has emerged. I wish to suggest that it be expanded to a larger range of behaviors and a broader range of technology. Consider, for example, how such specific technologies as call waiting and voice mail should affect our behavior. Frankly, I feel that it is rude when someone with call waiting tells you to wait, that there is another call on the line. Unfortunately, this type of behavior is seen on television frequently. At a minimum, callers should excuse themselves and ask if you would not mind if they took the call on the other line. If the person does not extend any such courtesy when talking to me, they will likely find that I am gone when they return to my line. For myself, I see no need for call waiting as long as I have voice mail. Few things are that time critical in my life that it will hurt if I respond in several minutes rather than immediately. It is not just a matter of courtesy. From a human information processing perspective, I would rather complete one unrelated task before undertaking another and have to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
With respect to email, standards for what is bad, e.g., flaming, have been established, but there seems to be little guidance as to what is good. I think email provides a wonderfully convenient means of maintaining contact with people. A phone call requires an intrusion and an obligation to conduct some sort of conversation. Although conventional mail is much less intrusive than a phone call, there still is a minimum amount of communication implied before writing a letter. Email, on the other hand, makes no requirements regarding paper envelopes and postage, and does not entail a particular message length to justify a message. You can simply email Harry a brief note indicating that you have not heard from him for a while and are wondering if matters are okay. I also wonder why many people will not knock out a brief message indicating that they have received your note. All one needs to do is to hit the "Reply" button. Sometimes I wonder if this does not unnecessarily clutter up email inboxes. Undoubtedly there are different opinions here. I have come to the conclusion that the clutter is minimal and is easily handled. For myself, I appreciate the briefest of acknowledgments.
I hope something along the lines of Techniquette does develop. One might ask if this belongs in the domain of human factors/ergonomics. Sometimes human factors/ergonomics is defined as the field concerned with facilitating human/machine interaction. Often, however, it involves human/machine/human/ interaction. I believe that Techniquette is essential to effective human/machine/human interaction.
Doug Griffith
Report of April Meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Federal Safety & Health Council
On April 22, I attended the monthly meeting of the Council as a representative of the POC. The meeting's topic, "Safety and Health Networking," was a panel discussion with representatives from safety and health chapters belonging to the Intersociety Forum in the Washington, DC area (of which the POC is a member).
Representatives, in addition to the POC, were
from:
Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
American Society for Safety Engineers (ASSE)
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)
American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN).
The Council is composed of Federal government
agency personnel involved in industrial safety and health issues
including occupational health, workers' compensation, human
resource management, building and space, and architecture.
After a discussion of upcoming Council events (upcoming meetings,
nominations for safety person of the year, Council openings),
each representative provided a brief description of their chapter
-- area of interest, dues, events, meeting dates, point of
contact.
A question and answer period followed with two topics of greatest
interest -- indoor air quality, and cumulative trauma
disorder/RSI. The audience was concerned with (a) how to identify
competent consultants/contractors in these areas, and (b) how to
determine if ergonomic equipment would be effective (for RSI).
Competency suggestions included investigating previous work
history, appropriate personnel qualifications, professional
certifications, previous work products, publications, and
references.
Effective ergonomic equipment suggestions included
recommendations by experienced personnel (as opposed to sales
literature), equipment sample evaluation, and personnel
("user") training on how to use the equipment.
Jack Laveson
Capitol College Graduate School is a small, fully accredited program offering degrees to adults in the Washington, DC area through evening and Saturday classes. Our primary emphasis is on management with some emphasis on information and telecommunications systems. We include one course in Human Performance Engineering and use a text of the same name by Robert Bailey. Our terms run seven weeks with two three-hour meetings each week, either at night or on Saturday morning and afternoon. We seek adjunct professors for this course who hold a terminal degree, have successful teaching experience and relevant professional experience.
We have an opening at Falls Church on Saturdays. We also will have openings at Quantico, VA for evening courses in the fall. For more information, contact:
HFESPOC Web Site - "Other Cool Sites"
Did you know that our chapter's web site (www.erols.com/hfespoc) contains links to a wide variety of other organizations and professional resources? Our web-master, Penny Church, updated this list back in April, and continues to augment it periodically. For your information, the following are now hot linked to us:
(See the Sites of Interest Page for the linked list)
Windows HCI Guidelines
from Microsoft
Apple HCI Design Guidelines
Department of the Army Weapon System HCI Guidelines
Alertbox - Jakob Nielsen's (bi) monthly column on user
interface issues of information technology
CHI-Web mailing list - CHI-Web is a companion list for
discussing the HCI issues of the Web.
Designing for the Web: Empirical Studies - The
proceedings of this Microsoft-sponsored conference are
now online and represent the best empirical look at Web
usage to date.
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University
of Maryland
Human-Computer Interaction Resources
IBM HCI: Making Computing an Everyday Thing
Isys Information Architects - check out the Interface
Hall of Shame
Stop me if you've heard this one:
This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.
AMERICANS: Please divert your course 15 degrees
to the North to avoid a collision.
CANADIANS: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the
South to avoid a collision.
AMERICANS: This is the Captain of the US Navy ship. I say again,
divert YOUR course.
CANADIANS: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
AMERICANS: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND
LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC LFEET. WE ARE
ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUSIERS AND NUMEROUS
SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGRESS
NORTH, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE
UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.
CANADIANS: This is a lighthouse. Your call.
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January 14, 1998 February, 1998 March 26, 1998 April 22, 1998 May 27, 1998 |
June 24, 1998 No meeting ??? October, 1998 November, 1998 December, 1998 |
