acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk (Anthony Finkelstein) (02/12/89)
IFIP Working Group 8.1 in Cooperation with AUSTRIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY (OCG) Call for Papers IFIP International Conference on Human Factors in Information Systems Analysis and Design. Place: Schaerding (Austria) Time: 5. - 8. July, 1990 Objectives Todays information systems aim at a broad support of people in their work. Information systems can also be characterized by an interleaved interaction of human and technical agents and are therefore human-machine systems per se. For a long time human factors were overlooked in the design of human-computer systems. Nowadays the needs to provide both a functionality which meets a user's tasks and an ergonomic human-machine interface which takes the style how people would like to solve their tasks into consideration are recognised as primary concerns to the designers of information systems. Computerized environments for the design of information systems are themselves information systems in the above sense. So for the designer of information systems issues of an ergonomically designed human-machine system arise in his role as the provider as in his role as a user of relevant techniques. Both issues have a lot in common. The conference has as its objectives the exploration of these communalities. These include especially design methods and techniques for human-machine interfaces, and also methods for the evaluation of human-machine systems with respect to their impact to human cognitive work and social life. Researchers in the field of information systems and in the field of human-computer interaction have been working apart towards a common target. The conference should speed the convergence process in order to reach these urgently needed objectives. The Conference IFIP Working Group 8.1 is concerned with the "design and evaluation of information systems" and has in recent years particularly occupied itself with information systems analysis and design methods through the sponsorship of conferences, notably the CRIS (Comparative Review of Information Systems Design Methodologies) series of conferences, workshops and task groups. WG 8.1 has established an official task group whose remit is to support advances through research, practice and international collaboration in the field of the human factors of information systems analysis and design. The establishment of this task group was based on a long standing interest of working group members in a principled and human understanding of the design process, a subject on which a workshop was held in 1984 at the Royal College of Art, Department of Design Research, London. The first full workshop held by the task group took place in September 1986 at the Johannes Kepler University, Institute of Informatics, Linz, Austria. The Linz workshop reviewed current research progress on human factors of information systems analysis and design and set a programme of work which has been examined in a second workshop held at Imperial College of Science and Technology, Department of Computing, London in July 1988. This workshop has established the foundations for this international conference. Potential authors are invited to submit papers on Human Factors in Information Systems Analysis and Design. Topics of particular interest include but are not restricted to: Cognitive and human basis for models of software development. Foundations of formatted and formal methods. Users and tasks as the focal point in the design of information systems. Principles of a user-oriented view to analysis and design of information systems