djs@mit-amt (David J. Sturman) (11/28/89)
User Interface Strategies '90
A one-day national satellite TV course December 7, 1989
Ben Shneiderman, Organizer, University of Maryland
Aaron Marcus, Aaron Marcus and Associates
John M. Carroll, IBM
S. Joy Mountford, Apple Computer, Inc.
This course is produced by the University of Maryland Instructional
Television (ITV) System and broadcast nationwide on the AMCEE/NTU
(National Technological University) Satellite Network. For information on
attending at an AMCEE site in your area or at an ITV site in the
Washington, DC area, call the University of Maryland ITV office at (301)
454-8955 or (800) 344-6712 or by FAX (301) 454-8841. You may consider
arranging a private showing for your organization, university, or company.
Audience: User interface designers, programmers, software engineers,
software evaluators, managers in the computing and communications fields,
human factors specialists, documenters, trainers, marketing personnel.
Overview: These four leaders of the field offer their perspectives on why
the user interface is a central focus for expanding the application of
computers. They offer their visions and suggest exciting opportunities for
the next decade's developments. Demonstrations, new software tools,
guiding principles, emerging theories, empirical results, and future
scenarios will be presented.
Lecture 1: 11:00am - Noon (Eastern Time)
Ben Shneiderman: Breakthroughs in User Interface Design
Ben Shneiderman introduces the entire program, reviews current directions,
and offers a vision of the future of user interfaces. He covers the lively
battle over multiple window graphic user interfaces, emergence of user
interface tools, rapid dissemination of hypertext/hypermedia, international
competition on home controls and electronic consumer devices (such as
digital photography), and movement towards collaborative meetings and
classrooms. While foundational empirical research and theorizing is
occurring at many laboratories, commercial developers are pushing ahead
with exciting products and services. Examples are demonstrated and new
directions proposed. Shneiderman proposes a suitable balance between
controlled experimental research to test hypotheses and more practical
usability studies to guide designers.
Ben Shneiderman is Head of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory,
Professor of Computer Science, and Member of the Institute Advanced
Computer Studies all at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is
the co-author, with Greg Kearsley, of the recently published
hyperbook/disk Hypertext Hands-On!, and author of Designing the User
Interface and Software Psychology. Dr. Shneiderman is editor of the Ablex
Publishers series on Human-Computer Interaction, author of 120 technical
papers, and creator of the Hyperties hypertext system. He is an
international lecturer and consultant for many organizations including
Apple, AT&T, IBM, Library of Congress, and NASA.
Lecture 2: 12:30 - 1:25pm
Aaron Marcus: Graphic Design and the Ten Commandments of Color
Aaron Marcus presents essential principles of screen design and the use of
color. He argues that all computer graphics systems communicate visually
and that the primary goal is not data processing, but visual communication.
He believes that user interface design will become a key feature of product
design and will be influenced by style in the consumer market. Marcus
offers case study design examples to illustrate principles of graphics and
color design. He gives specific guidelines in his Ten Commandments of
Color and deals with tradeoffs such as simplicity vs. complexity,
practicality vs. beauty, function vs. form, and enlightenment vs. delight.
Aaron Marcus received a BA in physics from Princeton University and a
BFA and MFA from Yale University Art School. He is an authority on the
design of computer graphics for charts, forms, documents, icons, and
screens. He has presented tutorials at SIGGRAPH, NCGA, and SIGCHI
conferences and teaches seminars world-wide. He and his staff have
designed and critiqued user interfaces for Apple, DEC, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Kodak, 3M, Motorola, Pacific Bell, Ricoh, US Dept. of Defense
(DARPA), and many other organizations. He has recently co-authored,
with Ron Baecker, Human Factors and Typography for More Readable
Programs.
Lecture 3: 1:35 - 2:30pm
John M. Carroll: The Nurnberg Funnel:
Minimalist Instruction for Computer Skill
The Minimalist instructional model was developed to address the "paradox
of sensemaking", and the inventory of learner problems that were observed
when computer users worked with systematic materials. Three design
projects, Guided Exploration, Minimal Manual, and Training Wheels,
illustrate the Minimalist model of instructional design for computer
artifacts.
There is no Nurnberg Funnel for instructional designers; no way to just
pour information into the learner's mind. Carroll reviews how the failures
of the systematic approach led to the development of the Minimalist model,
and how it has been applied in several practical computer systems projects.
He clarifies why systematic and analytic design models so often fail in user
interface design. By contrast, this work is grounded in an empirical model
of the situation of use. The Minimalist design prescriptions succeeded
because they were embodied and implemented in design exemplars which
were iteratively refined.
Dr. John M. Carroll is Manager of User Interface Theory and Design at the
IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. His recent
books are What's In A Name: An essay in the psychology of reference,
Interfacing Thought: Cognitive aspects of human-computer interaction, and
The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing minimalist instruction for practical
computer skill. He holds BAs in mathematics and information science from
Lehigh University and a PhD in experimental psychology from Columbia
University. He is on the editorial boards of the International Journal of
Man-Machine Studies, Behaviour and Information Technology, and the
International Journal of Human Computer Interaction and is a member of
the Cognitive Science Society, ACM SIGCHI, IEEE Computer Society,
and the Psychonomics Society.
Lecture 4: 3:00 - 3:55pm
S. Joy Mountford: Navigation of Multi-Media Data
Starting with the question "What will people want to do with computers?",
S. Joy Mountford describes the sources of information and data that are
about to overwhelm the computer user. She describes some multi-media
visual navigation tools that help filter, index, search, and organize large
knowledge spaces.
Joy demonstrates several multi-media interface metaphors that have been
developed from user-driven interface principles. The systems she
demonstrates illustrate the important role of users in the design process:
helping to define critical tasks, providing feedback on the interface
elements, and participating in user studies before more effective interface
design iterations can take place. Joy offers an exciting vision of what
comes next in the world of personal computing. The future may hold the
promise of surrogate travel, info-tainment, wearable computers, artificial
realities, and personalized playstations.
S. Joy Mountford is the manager of the Human Interface Group at Apple
Computer, Inc. Previously she worked for MCC in Austin, TX and for
Honeywell, Inc. in Minnesota Her past research focussed on the
applications of advanced technology to crew station design: speech
recognition and generation, stereographic displays, six degree-of-freedom
hand controllers, and intelligent systems. Her group at Apple is examining
ways of extending the user interface by providing better assistance,
multi-media access and expanded metaphors. Her group has been involved
with such products as the new Macintosh Finder developments, color uses,
and information filters. Joy gives presentations world-wide on issues
facing the future of interface design. Joy's graduate work was at the
University of Illinois in Engineering Psychology and her undergraduate
work was as University College, London.
Discussion: 4:05 - 5:00pm
--
Good health is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.