Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!bzs@bu-cs.bu.EDU From: bzs@bu-cs.bu.EDU (Barry Shein) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Request for human interface design anecdotes Message-ID: <10579@brl-adm.ARPA> Date: Sun, 29-Nov-87 18:38:23 EST Article-I.D.: brl-adm.10579 Posted: Sun Nov 29 18:38:23 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 2-Dec-87 21:05:43 EST Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA Lines: 23 Gak, this discussion comes up every few months doesn't it? And, predictably, not one poster ever offers anything beyond the thinnest anecdotal evidence. No research papers or even informal, controlled studies, nothing. Just introspective, armchair psychology. I do know that AT&T has made MegaSagans of US$'s with a user interface that requires people to type in long strings of digits to contact their friends and business associates. I suppose we tend to remember the user who whines about learning the system (and their rationalizations) more than the silent masses who just seem to be able to remember that "cat" is short for "caterwaul", as in "caterwaul that file for me" (and, of course, the -v means caterwaul less vigoroso, it's all very clear if you grok the aural traditions involved.) I'm not even completely convinced that the goal of a computer interface design is to make it easy for any idiot to use the system with no effort. Unless perhaps the hidden agenda is to turn every body in site into a data entry clerk. Perhaps. -Barry Shein, Boston University