sandy@snoopy.cs.umass.edu (& Wise) (06/27/91)
enag@ifi.uio.no (Erik Naggum) writes: > Can you imagine a telephone which is so easy to use that you don't > need any time learning how to use it? [...] > Now think of all the incredible losers in the world who > could actually _need_ a menu-based phone. We (the University of Massachusetts/Amherst) spent a bundle of money for a state-of-the-art phone system. The bid winner was Ericsson. Our phones include such meaningful operations as # 2 # - call diversion * 2 * - cancel call diversion ( or is it the other way around...) If you press 6 when you get a busy signal, the system will call you back when the line becomes free... etc... Even the technologically sophisticated users can't use the *@&^!~ thing... It needs more than a menu, it needs a complete rewrite! Of course, "state of the art" is a little known synonym for "closed and proprietary" so we can't even use a Mac to dial (as was suggested), since it doesn't listen to tones! Why, when they were going to require us to use their brand of phones, they couldn't have put meaningful buttons on them I will never know. Especially since there *ARE* buttons and lights for special features (read: more monthly charges) like voice mail (which replaces the answering machines we can't use). /s -- Alexander Erskine Wise /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Software Development Laboratory /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ WISE@CS.UMASS.EDU /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\ This situation calls for large amounts of unadulterated CHOCOLATE! /\/\/\
roseman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Mark Roseman) (06/27/91)
It's interesting... I did some contract research/development for one of
the manufacturers of fancy business sets, in this case one of the types
with the lcd screen, tons of features, and oodles of buttons.
They did a fair bit of usability studies, or so I was led to believe,
but I still couldn't understand how some of the things in there got there.
I've seen people use these phones - they are not obvious! (On the plus
side, there's none of this *26 crap, unless you want a feature that you
don't have a button for, in which case its improved - you can press
the "feature" button then 26 :-) ).
I did an HCI course last year which involved a design/implementation project.
The one chosen was a PC front end for handling all the admin stuff. Some
guy saw it after his company had spent $$$ on a training session with the
manufacturer just so end-users could handle them, to say nothing of whoever
gets stuck configuring them!
--
==============================================================================
Mark Roseman
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta. T2N 1N4
(403) 220-5769 roseman@cpsc.ucalgary.ca {ubc-cs|alberta}!calgary!roseman