Information Technology Reference
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Norman's ( 2009 ) text is also worth reading. This topic covers technologies like
self driving cars, and applies the basic philosophy laid out in the earlier Design of
Everyday Things:
Norman, Donald A. The design of future things. Basic Books, 2009.
12.10 Exercises
12.1 Consider a smartphone, either a specific one or a composite one. Attempt to
come up with a set of trade-offs based on Cognitive Dimensions. Describe
how to choose a reasonable point in these trade-offs.
12.2 Choose an existing interface, find five similar interfaces, and note how they are
related as different positions on Cognitive Dimensions. For example, there are
puzzle interfaces where you directly manipulate pieces and others where you
type in the piece number. These differ in viscosity and hard mental operations.
The more viscous interface encourages more hard mental operations and
learning. Find similar trade-offs within a single type of interface.
12.3 Look at your work desk, and consider where you can note three trade-offs or
effects in its design with respect to the Cognitive Dimensions. For example,
some desks have printouts pasted to walls near the desk. These can be seen to
reduce the viscosity of the information on them.
12.3 Discuss how an online training system and a safety critical system can
encourage different behaviors (e.g., learning, avoiding errors) by using
Cognitive Dimensions.
12.5 Consider ways that the Word, PowerPoint, or other help system can help reduce
the Gulf of Evaluation, and the Gulf of Execution. For example, try to create
multiple lines in an Excel file, or to create a string (like ''1 2'' or ''p \ .05'')
where the 1 and 2 and the ''p'' and ''5'' always stay on the same line.
12.6 Create six design dimensions related to anthropometric, behavioral, and
social trade-offs. Provide an argument in each case as to why these are
fundamental dimensions. The dimensions should cross the areas (i.e., note
how they are related), or you should note why you think they are not
relatable onto a single dimension
References
Besnard, D., Greathead, D., & Baxter, G. (2004). When mental models go wrong. Co-occurrences
in dynamic, critical systems. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 60, 117-128.
Blackwell, A. (2002). First steps in programming: A rationale for attention investment models. In
Proceedings
of
the
IEEE
Symposium
on
Human-Centric
Computing
Languages
and
Environments, 2-10. Arlington, VA: IEEE Press.
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