Here are some varied examples of issues relevant to user interface design at the ergonomic level: wrists have 2 degrees of freedom, while elbows have 1, and the neck has 3 (actually, Im not sure of these numbers); human color space is 3-dimensional; the QWERTY keyboard was intentionally designed suboptimal, to avoid key jams in mechanical typewriters.
HCI (for Human Computer Interface) is largely concerned with issues at the level of individual psychology, such as learning and error rates in using interfaces; the model for research here is experimental psychology. Shneiderman's book is largely written from this perspective, although in fact much of what he recommends for practitioners does not fit this rigid mold. It is surprising to see the following incredibly naive description on page 28:
The reductionist scientific method has this basic outline:CSCW (for Computer Supported Cooperative Work) is reaching towards group psychology and sociology, since social issues often have dramatic effects on how systems are actually used. Ethnomethodology is a branch of sociology concerned with ordinary social behavior. The prefix "ethno" refers to how some group of people ("the natives") actually do something, as opposed to how some group of analysts think they ought to do it, as in ethnomusicology, ethnobotany and ethnomedicine; hence "ethnomethodology" studies how groups do their own social analyses, as opposed to how some group of analysts think they ought to do it. Organizational issues concern organizations as a whole, e.g., a corporation; this course will consider this level as part of the social level, since after all, even large organizations are social entities.Materials and methods must be tested by pilot experiments, and results must be validated by replication in variant situations.
- Understanding of a practical problem and related theory
- Lucid statement of a testable hypothesis
- Manipulation of a small number of independent variables
- Measurement of specific dependent variables
- Careful selection and assignment of subjects
- Control for bias in subjects, procedures, and materials
- Application of statistical tests
- Interpretation of results, refinement of theory, and guidance for experimenters
This course will focus on the last three of these levels, especially the fourth. Although difficult, there are some techniques that can help us to deal with these higher level problems, including the following:
In order to see the importance of user interface design, it is interesting to consider how many "high-tech" (and often highly hyped) user interfaces seem to ignore the social context of their actual use at some expense to their effectiveness. Examples include WebTV, ecash, Bill Gates' home music and LCD art displays, and stockbroker support systems.