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From: de5@ornl.gov (Dave Sill)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: re: adaptive interfaces
Message-ID: <1991Jun21.120324.24695@cs.utk.edu>
Date: 21 Jun 91 12:03:24 GMT
References: <91Jun19.155043edt.6300@neat.cs.toronto.edu>
Sender: usenet@cs.utk.edu (USENET News Poster)
Reply-To: Dave Sill <de5@ornl.gov>
Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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This is my second attempt to reply to this article, so bear with me if
you somehow saw the first.

In article <91Jun19.155043edt.6300@neat.cs.toronto.edu>, mgreen@cs.toronto.edu (Marc Green) writes:
>
>The major problem [with adaptive interfaces] is that the system's
>response is not completely predictable. People like machines to be
>slaves and to know that the same thing will have everytime. Moreover,
>an adaptive interface is going to make a lot of mistakes. Any
>diagnostic system, including ones which have to diagnose user
>intentions, makes errors. And Imagine the poor user when he tries to
>do something new for the first time and the interface keeps
>classifying as it some previously learned intention. You've got all
>the problems of HCI and all the problems of AI rolled into one. 

I think you're talking about *predictive* interfaces, not *adaptive*
interfaces.  The way I see it, there are at least the following major
different types of interface.

STATIC: The command set doesn't change from user to user or session
to session, although small changes may occur as the software is
refined.

CUSTOMIZABLE: The command set can be altered by the user to include
new commands or modify the behavior of commands or the appearance of
the interface.  The IF will tend to vary widly from user to user but
remain fairly constant from session to session once customization is
accomplished.

ADAPTIVE: The command set and appearance of the IF are adjusted
automatically by the software in an attempt to streamline the IF based
on a particular user's usage patterns.  For example, frequently
selected menu items might migrate toward the tops of the menus, or new
compund commands might be created and advertized that implement
frequently executed command strings.

PREDICTIVE: The software attempts to predict the user's intended
sequence of actions before it's fully specified.  For example, if a
user always types "ls" after "cd", the IF might automatically execute
the "ls".

>I'd put my money on customizable systems or systems which give advice
>on how to use more advanced features to accomplish a task more easily.
>This still puts the user in control, and that's where he wants to be.

If the interface is implemented well, the user will be in control,
regardless of whether it's adaptive or predictive.

-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)	  Tug on anything in nature and you will find
Martin Marietta Energy Systems    it connected to everything else.
Workstation Support                                             --John Muir