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From: dir@cbosgd.UUCP (Dean Radin)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Japanese Human Factors?
Message-ID: <505@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Nov-83 14:12:47 EST
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.505
Posted: Tue Nov  1 14:12:47 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Nov-83 04:21:22 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 20

TWO QUERIES:

Is anyone aware of any references on the state of Japanese human factors
work in computing systems?  The Japanese written languages (Katakana,
Hiragana, Kanji) are rather difficult to display on CRTs and enter
by keyboard.  I wonder how the Japanese are addressing this.

On a related topic, most of the thrust of HF in CS has been in expert
systems, user-friendly interfaces, etc. -- all designed to REDUCE
human labor.  Has anyone thought of what it means to apply HF in CS 
to labor-intensive societies wishing to use computers?  Our international
customers are happy to get computers and automation, but they also
warn us that the systems should not displace workers.  Do we (1) ignore HF
in such systems, (2) actively apply HF knowledge to make the jobs more
difficult, thus requiring more human labor (arggh!), or (3) use HF
to optimize each job given that full automation is not being taken
advantage of?

Comments?
Dean Radin - AT&T Bell Labs - Columbus