Lecture Notes for Human Factors
Chapters 11-16: Humans & Technology

Richard Halstead-Nussloch, Ph.D.

Chapter 11-- Input

• Input devices
  • Matches the physiological and psychological characteristics
  • Appropriate for tasks
  • Suitable for intended work and environment
  • Often requires tradeoffs
• Discrete entry devices, e.g., keyboard
• Continuous entry devices, e.g., mouse

Keyboards and Pointing Devices

• Keyboards - Discrete entry devices
  • QWERTY
  • Dvorak
  • Chord
• Pointing - Continuous entry devices
  • Mice, trackballs, joysticks
  • Touch screens
  • 3D--E.g., Dataglove

Matching Devices With ...
Developments in Input

• Matching
  • Work or Task
  • Users, e.g., disabled
  • Environments
• Developments
  • Speech and handwriting recognition
  • High-precision touch screens
  • Other parts of the body

Chapter 12 - Output

• Visual
  • Screens/Displays
  • Content
    • Presentation of information
    • Feedback
    • Visualization
  • Examples

Sound, Haptic, etc.

• Sound
  • Speech (recorded, synthetic, etc.)
  • Music
  • Natural
  • Synthetic
• Haptic
• Multimedia

Chapter 13 - Interaction Styles

• Command (good old DOS)
• Question and Answer Dialogue
• Menus
• Forms
• Spreadsheets
• Natural Language

Direct Manipulation

• Direct Manipulation
  • Visibility of objects of interest
  • Rapid, reversible, incremental actions
  • Replacement of complex command language
• Cognitive Issues
  • Gulf of execution (user goals to system)
  • Gulf of evaluation (system behavior to user goals)

Affordances, Constraints, Mappings and Feedback

• Affordances
  • Perceptual, e.g., see and understand button
  • Sequential, e.g., feedback from action
  • Sound, e.g., earcons
• Constraints--Physical, Semantic, Cultural, Logical
• Mappings, e.g., stove controls
• Feedback-seeing/understanding what's done

Chapter 14 - Designing Windowing Systems

• WIMP--
  • Windows, e.g., window working set
  • Icons, pictorial representation of object/action
  • Menu, list of options for user selection (294+)
  • Pointer, big cursor controlled by e.g., a mouse
• Software -- It has to be programmed
• Widgets/Controls--Graphic elements (296+)
• Management Tasks--Input, focus, window(s)

Chapter 15 - User Support and Online Information

• Active learning (AKA Discovery learning)
  • Minimalist instruction
  • Training wheels
  • Scenario machine
• Online information
• Hypertext and Hypermedia
  • Extremely important today--The Web
  • Speed, Feedback, Location, Movement

Comparison of Information Resources-Granda, H-N, Winters

• Survey asked 228 computer users to recall a recent problem
• Categorized cognitive state from problem statements--learners, solvers, refreshers
• Another person was effective for all states
• Online assistance only effective for refreshers

Chapter 16 - CSCW- Computer Supported Collaborative Work

Virtual Environments and Virtual Reality

• All contain
  • Sense of direct physical presence
  • Sensory cues in all dimensions and modalities
  • Natural interaction
• Design trade-offs