Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!ucsd!sdics!norman
From: norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Human Factors Symposium
Summary: Read the book
Message-ID: <646@sdics.ucsd.EDU>
Date: 8 Nov 88 19:48:39 GMT
References: <2734@hound.UUCP>
Reply-To: norman@sdics.UUCP (Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept)
Organization: UC San Diego Department of Cognitive Science
Lines: 29

In article <2734@hound.UUCP> mjb@hound.UUCP (M.BURNS) writes:
     The Metropolitan Chapter of the Human Factors Society Annual Symposium
     will be held November 15, 1988 in New York, NY.  The theme is "The
     Role of Failure in the Design Process."  The Keynote Speaker is Henry
     Petroski, Director of Graduate Studies in Civil & Environmental
     Engineering at Duke University and author of "To Engineer Is Human:
     The Role of Failure in Successful Design."

This announcement is clearly not relevant to most of us outside of the
New York area, but I want to take the opportunity to recommend that
Petroski's book be required reading of everyone in this cognitive
engineering business (especially those who say such things as, "human
computer interface is such a mushy, soft field: why can't it be as
precise and computationally driven as, say, bridge building").

The reference is:

Petroski, Henry.  (1985) To engineer is human: The role of failure in
     successful design.  New York: St.  Martin's Press.

don norman

Donald A. Norman	[ danorman@ucsd.edu   BITNET: danorman@ucsd ]
Department of Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093 USA

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