mullins@pitt.UUCP (Paul M. Mullins) (01/06/89)
Developing a set of tasks or a task description is a common starting
point for interface design. Many task taxonomies have been developed
as a part of this process. If you were creating a new interface
(assume this is a command language for simplicity) for an Office
Information System what would you use as the initial set of tasks?
What is the most general (all-inclusive) published task taxonomy you
are aware of? How much of its generality can be attributed to
high-level task description and how much to the inclusion of "basic
task elements"?
This may spark argument about the "proper" way of determining the
functionality needed by an interface. If you argue that interviews,
end-user specifications, etc are the correct way to begin, consider
whether a basic task set is implicit in your method also.
As you might suspect, I am investigating the design of such task sets.
I would like to ascertain what you (net-people) consider to be the basic
references for such taxonomies, how they are arrived at, and how they
are customized to a particular situation. A general discussion is
great, but specific references or lists of tasks will be of more use
to me.
I'll summarize all e-mail responses.
Thanks in advance,
Paul
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Paul Mullins UUCP: psuvax1!pitt!mullins or {allegra,cadre}!...
Univ. of Pittsburgh mullins@pitt.uucp
Computer Science Dept. Internet: mullins@vax.cs.pittsburgh.edu
313 Alumni Hall BITNET: MULLINS@PITTVMS
Pittsburgh, PA 15260 CSNET: mullins@pitt.csnetmullins@pitt.UUCP (Paul M. Mullins) (01/23/89)
In case anyone was waiting for a summary, this was the only response I received concerning task sets: - begin summary - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In article <4390@pitt.UUCP> you write: > >What is the most general (all-inclusive) published task taxonomy you >are aware of? > >Thanks in advance, >Paul Paul - I'd suggest that you spend an afternoon slogging through the book "Taxonomies of Human Performance" by Edwin A. Fleishman & Marilyn K. Quaintance, Academic Press, 1984, isbn 0-120260450-4 [It took more than an afternoon, but was worth it. PM] Here are the 15 chapter titles: 1. The Need for Taxonomic Development in the Field of Human Performance 2. Role of Taxonomies in Scientific Development 3. Conceptual Bases for Classifying Human Task Performance 4. Methodological Issues in Developing and Evaluating Classificatory Systems 5. Classificatory Systems for Describing Human Tasks: Behavioral Description 6. Classificatory Systems for Describing Human Tasks: Behavior Requirements 7. Classificatory Systems for Describing Human Tasks: Abilities and Task Characteristics 8. Data Bases and Taxonomic Development 9. The Criterion Measures Approach 10. The Information-Theoretic Approach 11. The Task Strategies Approach 12. The Ability Requirements Approach 13. The Task Characteristics Approach 14. Taxonomic Developments in Related Areas 15. Conclusion This little, 500 page book is loaded with citations to the original source literature, in addition to providing a fair overview. You might also want to check out some of the chapters in Salvendy's Handbook of Human Factors, Wiley, 1987, and see if you can glean any further ideas. ____ ______ _____ _____===== Bill Hefley / __ \ | _____| |_ _| _____========= Software Engrg Institute | |__|_| | |__ | | _____============= Carnegie Mellon _\___ \ | __| | | _____================= Pittsburgh, PA 15213 | |__| | | |____ _| |_ _____============= (412) 268-7793 \____/ |______| |_____| _____========= ARPA: weh@sei.cmu.edu -----===== BITNET: weh%sei.cmu.edu CSNET: weh%sei.cmu.edu@ relay.cs.net C a r n e g i e M e l l o n U n i v e r s i t y +---------------------------- Disclaimer -------------------------------+ | The views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect | | those of my employer. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ - end summary - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Mullins UUCP: psuvax1!pitt!mullins or {allegra,cadre}!... Univ. of Pittsburgh mullins@pitt.uucp Computer Science Dept. Internet: mullins@vax.cs.pittsburgh.edu 313 Alumni Hall BITNET: MULLINS@PITTVMS Pittsburgh, PA 15260 CSNET: mullins@pitt.csnet