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From: chidsey@smoke.brl.mil (Irving Chidsey)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Human Factors or also called Ergonomics
Message-ID: <16396@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 12 Jun 91 17:37:48 GMT
References: <1991Jun12.091705.2823@actrix.gen.nz> <31211@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 42

In article <31211@hydra.gatech.EDU> rc7@prism.gatech.EDU (Richard Catrambone) writes:
<In article <1991Jun12.091705.2823@actrix.gen.nz> keith@actrix.gen.nz (Keith Stewart) writes:
<> a personal interest in whether designers of programme interfaces
<>ever use the principles that have been derived from psychology and are used
<>in amny places when designing instruments , control panel etc.
<>
<The issue of whether academic-type research on human-computer
<interaction can actually be applied to real-world issues
<is an important one.  Each year there are workshops and
<panels at conferences (such as the Computer-Human Interaction
<[CHI] Conference) that discuss this issue.  To the best of
<my knowledge, research by psychologists in this area has
<had at best a relatively modest impact on interface designs
<and the design process.  Part of the problem is that the
<research findings and the theories used to drive the
<research (such as the GOMS model, for those of you who
<are familiar with that area) are often not presented in
<ways that suggest clear guidelines to a person/group
<designing an interface.  

	If a researcher can't produce a good human-human interface, 
why should anyone pay any attention to any human-computer interface
design criteria they claim to have produced?
	The proof may be in the pudding, but if it looks unappetizing,
no one will taste it.

<A second factor may be an
<unwillingness of companies/design teams to involve
<HCI researchers in the design process at an early enough
<stage to make a real contribution.

	There are similar failings all over.  They can be counteracted
with a little evangelism by believers.  If you think you have something,
get up and crow about it.


								Irv
-- 
I do not have signature authority.  I am not authorized to sign anything.
I am not authorized to commit the BRL, the DA, the DOD, or the US Government
to anything, not even by implication.  They do not tell me what their policy 
is.  They may not have one.		Irving L. Chidsey  <chidsey@brl.mil>