Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
From: peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley)
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Subject: new group for psychology applied to CS
Message-ID: <1909@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Aug-83 00:25:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1909
Posted: Mon Aug  8 00:25:19 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 8-Aug-83 00:36:07 EDT
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 39

Some months ago, I asked for comments on the creation of a newsgroup to
discuss psychology as it applies to computer science.  I received a
number of replies and submitted a summary.  Here's the summary again,
somewhat edited:
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Thank-you to all people who sent mail to me regarding the creation of a
newsgroup to discuss issues involving psychology and computer science.  I
received 20 votes in favour and none opposed.  Some interesting comments
were made, and I hope the following summary does justice to them.  Firstly,
arizona!gary mentioned that net.psych might receive postings related to
psychic phenomena and dciem!mmt felt that it might contain discussions of
interpersonal psychology not directly related to computer science.  Thus,
a new name is needed, and net.cog-eng (Cognitive Engineering) seems to fit
the bill, as cognitive engineering seems to be the field closest to the
intersection of computer science and psychology, in an applied sense.
  yale-comix!mwolf commented that cognitive science material should go in
net.ai rather than net.psych; perhaps the name change will solve this
problem by putting the accent on *applied* psychology, rather than more
theoretical issues.  For example, results of experiments evaluating user
interfaces, which don't really belong in net.ai, could go in net.cog-eng.
  Secondly, several people mentioned specific issues to be covered:
uw-beaver!mager: psychology of human interaction over networks
ihnp4!pcl: university programmes in "CS and Psychology"
ritcv!mjl: graphic design of programs, evaluation of pointing devices
  In summary, there is support and material for a newsgroup to discuss,
as its description might read, "psychology and cognitive science applied
to the design of computer systems".
  Thanks go to utcsrgv!(willy,ralph,roderick,perelgut), mhb5b!gsp,
uw-beaver!mager, qucis!browse, ihnp4!pcl, watmath!jamcmullan, ritcv!mjl,
arizona!(gary,rogerh), utcsstat!grant, dciem!mmt, and yale-comix!(mwolf,
feist,douglis,debenedi,rhunter) for their votes and comments.
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I'm submitting this to net.news.group to achieve the consensus needed
to create the group.  I'm afraid I'm not clear on the social protocol
for creating a group, so I'd appreciate information on this as well as
comments on the proposed group itself.
   peter rowley, U. Toronto CSRG
   {cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!peterr
or {cwruecmp,duke,linus,decvax,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr