ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_1

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

We identify a problem with the process of research in the human-computer interaction (HCI) community-an overemphasis on "radical invention" at the price of achieving a common research focus. Without such a focus, it is difficult to build on previous work, to compare different interaction techniques objectively, and to make progress in developing theory. These problems at the research level have implications for practice, too; as researchers we often are unable to give principled design advice to builders of new systems. We propose that the HCI community try to achieve a common focus around the notion of reference tasks. We offer arguments for the advantages of this approach as well as consider potential difficulties. We explain how reference tasks have been highly effective in focusing research into information retrieval and speech recognition. We discuss what factors have to be considered in selecting HCI reference tasks and present an example reference task (for searching speech archives). This example illustrates the nature of reference tasks and points to the issues and problems involved in constructing and using them. We conclude with recommendations about what steps need to be taken to execute the reference task research agenda. This involves recommendations about both the technical research that needs to be done and changes in the way that the HCI research community operates. The technical research involves identification of important user tasks by systematic requirements gathering, definition and operationalization of reference tasks and evaluation metrics, and execution of task-based evaluation, along with judicious use of field trials. Perhaps more important, we have also suggested changes in community practice that HCI must adopt to make the reference tasks idea work. We must create forums for discussion of common tasks and methods by which people can compare systems and techniques. Only by doing this can the notion of reference tasks be integrated into the process of research and development, enabling the field to achieve the focus it desperately needs.

ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_2

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Several studies show that despite experience, many users with basic command knowledge do not progress to an efficient use of complex computer applications. These studies suggest that knowledge of tasks and knowledge of tools are insufficient to lead users to become efficient. To address this problem, we argue that users also need to learn strategies in the intermediate layers of knowledge lying between tasks and tools. These strategies are (a) efficient because they exploit specific powers of computers, (b) difficult to acquire because they are suggested by neither tasks nor tools, and (c) general in nature having wide applicability. The above characteristics are first demonstrated in the context of aggregation strategies that exploit the iterative power of computers. A cognitive analysis of a real-world task reveals that even though such aggregation strategies can have large effects on task time, errors, and on the quality of the final product, they are not often used by even experienced users. We identify other strategies beyond aggregation that can be efficient and useful across computer applications and show how they were used to develop a new approach to training with promising results. We conclude by suggesting that a systematic analysis of strategies in the intermediate layers of knowledge can lead not only to more effective ways to design training but also to more principled approaches to design systems. These advances should lead users to make more efficient use of complex computer systems.

ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_3

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Giant strides in information technology at the turn of the century may have unleashed unreachable goals. With the invention of groupware, people expect to communicate easily with each other and accomplish difficult work even though they are remotely located or rarely overlap in time. Major corporations launch global teams, expecting that technology will make "virtual collocation" possible. Federal research money encourages global science through the establishment of "collaboratories. " We review over 10 years of field and laboratory investigations of collocated and noncollocated synchronous group collaborations. In particular, we compare collocated work with remote work as it is possible today and comment on the promise of remote work tomorrow. We focus on the sociotechnical conditions required for effective distance work and bring together the results with four key concepts: common ground, coupling of work, collaboration readiness, and collaboration technology readiness. Groups with high common ground and loosely coupled work, with readiness both for collaboration and collaboration technology, have a chance at succeeding with remote work. Deviations from each of these create strain on the relationships among teammates and require changes in the work or processes of collaboration to succeed. Often they do not succeed because distance still matters.

ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_4

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Over the last 10 years, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) has identified a base set of findings. These findings are taken almost as assumptions within the field. In summary, they argue that human activity is highly flexible, nuanced, and contextualized and that computational entities such as information sharing, roles, and social norms need to be similarly flexible, nuanced, and contextualized. However, current systems cannot fully support the social world uncovered by these findings. In this article I argue that there is an inherent gap between the social requirements of CSCW and its technical mechanisms. The social-technical gap is the divide between what we know we must support socially and what we can support technically. Exploring, understanding, and hopefully ameliorating this social-technical gap is the central challenge for CSCW as a field and one of the central problems for human-computer interaction. Indeed, merely attesting the continued centrality of this gap could be one of the important intellectual contributions of CSCW. I also argue that the challenge of the social-technical gap creates an opportunity to refocus CSCW.

ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_5

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

As human-computer interaction (HCI) expands its scope, the proper context for the design of information technology (IT) is increasingly an interconnected mosaic of responsive adaptive systems (MoRAS) including people's heads, organizations, communities, markets, and cultures. The introduction of IT not only perturbs the individual systems but also critically changes the coupling structure of the whole mosaic that comprises them. These various systems respond and adapt to these changes, in effect undertaking their own sort of "design" efforts, sometimes at odds with explicit intentions. The need to understand the role of all these different systems in the outcome explains why IT design has become an increasingly interdisciplinary effort. It is likely that our designs will be more successful if we become more mindful of this bigger picture. This article discusses the motivations for the MoRAS perspective; briefly sketches the MoRAS itself; and presents some tales that illustrate its dynamics, the role of IT within it, and the implications for the future trajectory of HCI. The article concludes with design implications and an agenda for furthering the framework.

ISSN:0737-0024    

DOI:10.1207/S15327051HCI1523_6

出版商:Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.    

年代:2000

数据来源: Taylor