RFN@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU.UUCP (09/19/86)
Computer Science Colloquium Tuesday, October 7, 1986, 4:15PM, Terman Auditorium "Equal Opportunity Interactive Systems and Innovative Design" Harold Thimbleby Dept. of Computer Science University of York Heslington, York United Kingdom YO1 5DD Most interactive systems distinguish between the input and output of information. Equal opportunity is a design heuristic that discards these distinctions; it was inspired by polymodality in logic programming and a well-known problem solving heuristic. The seminar makes the case for equal opportunity, and shows how several user engineering principles, techniques and systems can be reappraised under equal opportunity. By way of illustration, equal opportunity is used to guide the design of a calculator and spreadsheet. The resulting systems have declarative user interfaces and are arguably easier to use despite complex operational models. About the speaker: Harold Thimbleby did his doctoral research in user interface design. He joined the Computer Science department at York in 1982 and is currently on sabbatical at the Knowledge Sciences Institute, Calgary. He is currently writing a book on the application of formal methods as heuristics for user interface design.