Computer systems
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Computer systems are tools for communication between human beings. The flow of information communicated through these systems increases rapidly in volume, complexity, and potential availability. But the great irony of the interface between systems and information seekers is that while users of computers are, themselves, infinitely more complicated systems than any computer, the vast majority of users are incapable of exploiting any system that cannot communicate with them in very basic ways. A good analogy for this communicative dilemma is an interaction between adult and child. The more sophisticated adult system has little trouble deciphering a message carried by the less sophisticated child. A message garbled by the child can usually be sorted out by means of interrogation. If the child does not, however, speak a language known to the adult, the relative sophistication of the two systems is moot. Selecting the messenger is analogous to designing the human-computer interface (HCI). Such design must consider the language spoken by the intended receiver. Human social interaction is based on the ability to communicate using language. In order for the computer to function as an effective enhancement of that communication system it must employ a language that "matches, complements, and extends" human communicative ability (Shackel & Richardson, 1991, p. 10). The study of system usability has, therefore, concentrated on developing a model of users' abilities, the defin
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--they were, essentially, talking to themselves. Usability only emerged as a priority for system designers when, in the 1980s, microcomputers with many applications became available to almost anyone. As Shackel and Richardson (1991) point out, computer designers and producers were slow to see that market share would depend on universal usability. Such ideas were so slowly absorbed by designers that when the West German DIN standards for keyboard height met with rapid acceptance (which determined sales) "this came as a big surprise" to the U.S. computer industry and software designers (Shackel & Richardson, 1991, p. 12). The result of their tardiness has been that designers' models of users were generally based on individuals' intuitive assessments of human cognitive processes. The human user remained "an information processor of unknown characteristics and somewhat unpredictable behaviour and, once coupled to the computer system, put paid to the philosophy of perfect design from first principles" (Hammond et al., p. 24).
HCI designers needed a model of the user and they needed usability goals. The two were interdependent since the demands of the user shaped what the designers needed to know about the user's capacities. Ea
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Shackel Richardson, Christie Marshall, Palmiter Elkerton, Barnard MacLean, Abowd Beale, , Design HCI, Gardiner Christie, Ed Cognitive, Eds Applying, shackel richardson, computer system, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, shackel richardson 1991, marchionini 1995, information flow, richardson 1991, barnard 1991, flow information, gardiner christie, cambridge university press, cambridge cambridge university, human factors informatics, palmiter elkerton 1993,
Approximate Word count = 2461
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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