Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!spool.mu.edu!olivea!oliveb!felix!asylvain@felix.UUCP From: asylvain@felix.UUCP (Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain) Newsgroups: comp.human-factors Subject: Re: What's this?? Message-ID: <164658@felix.UUCP> Date: 14 Jun 91 01:42:12 GMT Article-I.D.: felix.164658 References: <33519@usc.edu> Sender: daemon@felix.UUCP Reply-To: asylvain@felix.UUCP (Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain) Organization: Foundation for the Increased Wealth of Chipmunks Send in your pledges now! (Visa/Mastercard accepted) Lines: 60 Written in article <33519@usc.edu> by czinngra@skat.usc.edu (Claude Zinngrabe): > This newsgroup only recently appeared at my site; Ditto. > apparently it has just recently been formed. Reasonable assumption. > Could someone please explain to me the > purpose/intent of this newsgroup?? I'd venture to guess that it's a forum to discuss ways of making machinery, equipment and systems more easily operated by the intended users. For example, giving an old HP-35 calculator with Reverse-Polish-Notation to a secretary is probably a big mistake. (I think it's a mistake for engineers, too, but that's only MHO.) In the same vein, they used to make some 4-function calculators based on the accountant's model. This means, instead of pressing 4 - 2 =, the user must press 4 + 2 - *. Sometimes the keys were combined for a running subtotal, ie., +/= and -/=. eg: 4 +/= 5 +/= 10 +/= 3 -/= 4 +/= shows: 4 9 19 16 20 My sister had one of these, with the +/= combined. When she entered 4 -/= 2 +/= (thinking she was entering 4 - 2 =) she get a -2 result! Of course, she ignored the sign, a dangerous practice at best ... but adequate to her needs. It seems timely to me, since I just finished ranting and raving in misc.consumers and rec.tv about how stupidly designed most TV and VCR remote controls are. My TV remote, for example, has a matrix of 9 x 3 identical buttons on it, with no particular rhyme or reason for their placement. If you're aiming for VOLUME-DOWN, you could easily miss and hit the button that switches it from TV tuning to Cable-TV tuning. Further, most remotes have no mechanism for viewing in the dark, when probably at least of third of TV viewing is done with the lights off. I won't even get into the problem of setting the controls on a VCR! Is it any wonder probably two thirds of the VCRs in the nation have "12:00" blinking on and off? Somebody posted that he didn't feel sorry for people who were too "stupid" to program a VCR. My response is that the machinery must be made to adapt to the people, not the other way around. That, I assume, is what this newsgroup is about. -- Alvin ===== asylvain@felix.UUCP ===== hplabs!felix!asylvain ===== "hplabs!felix!asylvain"@uunet.uu.net (I always try to respond to mail, if possible. If you don't hear back from me, try changing "hplabs" to "ccicpg," "spsd," or "lawnet.") DISCLAIMER: It's all in fun, folks, no flames intended. Any similarity between my opinion and that of my employer is purely coincidental and sufficient reason to change my opinion, although I'll still be right.