Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1900-1945: HUMAN-TOOL INTERACTION
A century ago, with the spread of photography, precise time measurement, and confidence in the
methods of science, “scientific management” attracted growing attention, notably in the work of
Frederick Taylor (1911). More effective bricklaying and assembly lines resulted. Concern about
technologies imposed on workers with little choice was expressed in contemporary fiction and in
Chaplin's Modern Times.
Although there were practical limitations, illustrated by the failure of the scientifically derived
Dvorak typewriter keyboard, more complex technologies did focus attention on designing for use.
War raised the stakes as new weaponry was rushed into mass production. Design decisions affected
performance, reliability, and training time, with major consequences. World War I spurred scien-
tific management efforts in Great Britain and the United States (Meister, 1999). World War II con-
centrated attention on the human element in design (Roscoe, 1997). A simple error in cockpit
design caused thousands of pilot deaths (Dyson, 1979). Such realizations led to research and appli-
cation efforts in human factors and ergonomics that continued after World War II ended.
Scientific management and human factors research focused on hands-on tool use by workers
who had no choice but to use them. Improving efficiency and safety of expert use was the primary
focus, with training time also of interest.
1945-1958: HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION IN THE ERA OF
VACUUM TUBES
The first computer users were engineers and their assistants, interacting directly with computer
hardware. The difficulty and expense led to the prediction attributed to IBM's Thomas Watson:
“There is a world market for maybe five computers.” With the spread of stored program comput-
ers, interaction shifted to software. Improving human-computer interaction then meant develop-
ing concepts and tools to aid programmers. Computers were too few for their handling to be a
profession, but three roles were already evident:
1.
Operation. Faster detection and replacement of burned-out vacuum tubes was initially a
big issue. Control first meant connecting cables, evolved to switches and buttons, and
later shifted to consoles with expensive CRT displays. Physical operation included key-
punching program instructions onto paper tape or cards, loading cards and tapes, push-
ing buttons and setting switches, and handling paper, tape, and punched-card output.
2.
Management. Developing and operating the massive vacuum tube computers and early
transistor-based computers were challenging.
3.
Programming. Stored programs aided engineer-computer interaction. Constructs such
as subroutines, programming languages, and compilers facilitated programmer-computer
interaction. Although not usually characterized as human-computer interaction, this activity
was perceptively described by Grace Hopper, who contributed in all of these areas through
the 1950s, as making computers more user-friendly (Hopper, 1952; Sammet, 1992).
Eventually each role gave rise to a profession and spawned a distinct research effort. When
commercial computers based on transistors arrived in 1958, interest in improving the ergonomics
of computer operation grew. Papers on the design of consoles and displays by Brian Shackel (1959,
1962) and Sid Smith (1963) launched the human factors study of human-computer interaction. The
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