Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!seismo!esosun!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!nick From: nick@hp-sdd.HP.COM (Nick Flor) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: Technological overcomplexity in 1523 Keywords: cognitive engineering, design, comnplexity, history of technology Message-ID: <1391@hp-sdd.HP.COM> Date: 4 Aug 88 04:58:54 GMT References: <585@sdics.ucsd.EDU> <17596@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> <587@sdics.ucsd.EDU> <1383@hp-sdd.HP.COM> <693@tetra.NOSC.MIL> Reply-To: nick@hp-sdd.UUCP (Nick Flor) Distribution: all Organization: Hewlett Packard, San Diego Lines: 38 In article <693@tetra.NOSC.MIL> embick@tetra.nosc.mil.UUCP (Edward M. Embick) writes: >The ideal approach is to have an underlying design that adjusts the level >of prompts, and the macro capabilities of the user's commands, to the >perceived level of user competence. Such indicators as the user entered >command complexity, the way menus are traversed, how often and what type >of help screens/menus the user calls up, can be tracked and logged. > You've introduced a potentially annoying variable into your tool -- time. Your system must learn the user before it can perform efficiently and in a less complex manner. Like I said before, we must first define what is meant by complexity. If I have to type in a whole bunch of simple commands because my tool hasn't figured me out yet, then I'm inclined to call the tool complex (i.e. too many steps to accomplish the goal). There are other problems too like, misinterpreting actions, and relearning for each new user. More importantly, however, is the fact that a tool designed with intelligience has the potential to make many mistakes since it must *predict* what the user's true intentions are. A tool must do what the user asks of it, not what it thinks the user wants it to do. I guess an extreme example would be a "smart" gun that learns to fire based on statistics it takes from the user. Let's say it "figures out" that the soldier always pulls the trigger when he aims at something moving fast. So, the soldier takes this gun into battle, hears a noise, quickly points his gun in the direction of the noise. Unfortunately, the noise is made by one of his friends running away from the enemy. . (yeah, I know, it is an extreme example. It does however illustrate a potentially dangerous problem with smart tools) Nick -- + Disclaimer: The above opinions are my own, not necessarily my employer's. + + Oh, sure. Sure. I'm going. But I got | Nick V. Flor * * o * * + + your number, see? And one of these | Hewlett Packard SDD * * /I\ * * + + days, the joke's gonna be on you. | ..hplabs!hp-sdd!nick * * / \ * * +