HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cfkfb@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Karl Bridges)
Subject: menu system for server
Summary: need way to provide two different menus on one LAN
  
   We're a university library running a CD/ROM system on our
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:32:32 GMT

tokenring LAN using Optinet 2.01.  We have resources available
for the campus and resources that can be used in the library.
Our menu system is now based on a set of nested batch files.
Does anyone know a way to provide two separate menus for
a single LAN so that library users see only the resources
that they are allowed to use.  They now see everything 
and we have to constantly explain that this CD is not
available for student use.  I should comment that it
has to be solution implemented at the server level.  We can't
go to individual machines and customize them.  This may be
a FAQ, but our system administrator is away for a month and this
fell on me.  Thanks.
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: golovch@prim.rose.utoronto.ca (Gene Golovchinsky)
Subject: Re: Interesting Elevator HF error:
Organization: University of Toronto, Department of Industrial Engineering
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 15:41:01 GMT

jcook@mumble.cs.Colorado.EDU (Jonathan E. Cook) writes:

>In article <1992Nov12.185243.8925@chesapeake.ads.com> jclose@chesapeake.ads.com (Jeff Close) writes:

>>green light lit, I jumped in.  Someone asked me how I knew that meant it
>>was going up, and I confessed I had no idea, I just assumed that.  I think
>>in retrospect, green indicates something "positive", and since I was wanting
>>to go up, I irrationally reacted as though this elevator was doing what I
>>wanted.  It really makes no sense to me, though, that green would indicate
>>UP, vs. red->DOWN.  Any comments from the group?

>Makes no sense to you?  You just contradicted yourself, because you said
>you assumed green==up when you got in; so somewhere, whether conscious
>or not, it *did* make sense to you. 

>Now, I'm not saying that their abstraction is the best, but your
>example validates the designer's intent, no?

Unless the polarity of the lights reverses when you decide to go down,
the design iis certainly unpredictable. There is no clear mapping between
the direction and the color.  Of course the convention can be learned,
but do you really want to have to learn a (different) convention for 
every elevator you take?!  I think that up/down arrows are probably the
best alternative until Douglas Adams' elevators are implemented.

 2
G
From: lazzaro@boom.CS.Berkeley.EDU (John Lazzaro)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 12 Nov 1992 00:31:30 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: boom.cs.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Nov11.163051.13112@hemlock.cray.com> rds@teak02.cray.com (Bob Swanson) writes:
>
>
>There was a series of articles in the New Yorker a few years ago,
>in which it was determined that mechanical voting machines
>can be, and are regularly, compromised. 

In the the precinct where I grew up, it was common knowledge that the
Democratic committemen knew how everyone voted; in fact, if you voted
anything but straight Demo they would stop you afterward and let you
know never to expect to get a streetlight or stopsign fixed again.




Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: bethmo@microsoft.com (Beth Moursund)
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 11 Nov 92 04:56:22 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

This discussion is interesting to me, because I've never seen anything
like the voting booths you're discussing.  In all the places I've
voted, you get your ballot (which is a long cardboard strip with
punchable holes), slide it into a slot in the voting booth, and then
use a stylus to punch one hole for each vote.  The book next to the
ballot lists the candidates/propositions, and clearly marks where
to stick the stylus for each.

When finished, you pull the ballot back out, and go drop it in the
ballot collection slot yourself.

I'm wondering now just how many different ways of voting there are
in the US.

(I've voted in Oregon and Washington.)
From: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 12 Nov 92 00:12:39 GMT
Article-I.D.: pepper.wallich.721527159
Reply-To: wallich@ncd.com (Ken Wallich)

palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer) writes:

>And talk about lack of feedback... when you open the curtain, how do you
>know that your vote was really registered?  I'd like some positive way
>of knowing that I've been counted, like SEEING the punched paper ballot
>falling into the bin (or something like that).

I remember watching my parents use one of the flip-the-switches and
open the curtain numbers back in the 60's.  The two places I've voted
since I started voting both had what I at first considered archaic,
and then decided simple and elegant interfaces.  They've both been the
punched paper ballot types.  You pop them into a simple mechanical
hole punching machine, whip the handle to the spot you want punched,
and push it.  You then flip it over and do it again.  This last election,
punching 5 sides in may case, took less than one minute (I had a cheat
sheet so all I needed to do was follow that).

Far simpler than the complex mechanical booths I've seen, and faster
to boot.  You also get instantaneous feedback, and you hand your cards
to someone, who then drops them in a locked box.  Feels like you've
really accomplished something.

I've never really asked folks what type of voting machinery they had
when they voted, so I'm totally in the dark about the prevalance of
different types of voting machinery.  Any comments?

This is simlar to the type of positive feedback you get from automatic
teller machines.  This type of feedback often missing from totally
electronic systems.  You'd often like some sort of real feedback that
some significant task has been accomplished sucessfully, not just a
placebo message saying the database has been updated.
--
Ken Wallich
wallich@ncd.com  
ken@wallich.com
From: ceb@dbrus.Unify.Com (Caroline E. Bryan)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 12 Nov 92 17:44:53 GMT
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization

In article <96997@netnews.upenn.edu> green@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Bradley Green ) writes:
>In article <1992Nov10.140552.8706@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com> shanks@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Mark Shanks) writes:
>>
>>I'll curb my predisposition to argue that anyone who isn't smart enough
>>to figure out the MECHANICS of voting shouldn't be ALLOWED to vote, and
>>ask if you two live in some benighted area that doesn't use punch
>>ballots. I haven't seen the old draw-curtain telephone-operator-style
>>booths in 25 years, and I've voted in Caribou, Maine and St. Peters,
>>Missouri, neither being exactly leading-edge communities.
>
>I just voted in Center City, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, you know, that
>big city) and had to use the above-described level-operated booths.  I
>am more interested in devising some sort of electronic voting system that
>maintains both anonymity and security.  Can't tag each "ballot" with 
>verification information, as this would link it with a specific person.
>If a way to do this could be devised, people could vote from home.

Californians already can vote from home without fancy electronic gadgets.
We simply mail in absentee ballots.


Carrie		ceb@rechenau.unify.com		x 6244  ----------------+
|  I don't belong to any organized political party:  I'm a Democrat.	|
|						-- Will Rogers		|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: gordo@dgp.toronto.edu (Gordon Kurtenbach)
Subject: Re: response time/accuracy using a mouse?
Date: 10 Nov 92 15:00:53 GMT

>In article <Bx7LIu.2o8@news.cso.uiuc.edu>, sharon@phoneme.shs.uiuc.edu (Sharon Morrison) writes:
>! Hello,
>! I just found this newsgroup and thought someone might be able to help
>! me.  I am looking for information on how long it takes to do a target  
>! acquisition/response task using a mouse and what kind of accuracy you  
>! typically get.  
>! 

Scott Mackenzie has done extensive work on this.  You should begin by looking
at his CHI '92 paper: "Extending Fitts law to two-dimensional tasks".

Gord
From: palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 10 Nov 92 13:22:51 GMT
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: icat.larc.nasa.gov

mf@dancer.uucp (24227-fusco) writes:

>	Is anyone aware of any research involving the design of
>voting booths?  (Are there standards?)
>	I always thought it was just me, but after talking to several
>non-technical (some elderly) friends, it seems I'm not the only one
>who thinks that sometimes they have just walked into a maze.  

I would also like to see any research in this area.  It seems every year
I vote (at the SAME polling place) the machines are different.  One year
the candidates will be listed in rows by office (columns = political
party) and the next year it will be reversed.  And no matter which way
they're listed, the flip handle is never really close enough to the
name to give me a good feeling that I got the right one (notwithstanding
the choice of candidates in the first place).

And talk about lack of feedback... when you open the curtain, how do you
know that your vote was really registered?  I'd like some positive way
of knowing that I've been counted, like SEEING the punched paper ballot
falling into the bin (or something like that).

-- 
Michael T. Palmer, M/S 152, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681
Voice: 804-864-2044,   FAX: 804-864-7793,   Email: m.t.palmer@larc.nasa.gov
PGP 2.0 Public Key now available -- Consider it an envelope for your e-mail
From: simpson@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Macintosh System Inconsistency
Date: 6 Nov 92 12:53:35 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

I was staggered by this inconsistency:

I installed word 5.0 and used my Mac to print out 9 pages on a laserwriter.
Each page had about a dozen words on them. It took about 15 minutes to print
each page!

It turns out that the default font for Macs (New York) is not held in the
printers so it downloads the font each time. I didn't believe the support
people here when they told me so I phoned the shop and they confirmed it.

I got answers like:

"Not many people use the default font anyway, so it doesn't matter."

"New York is not a Postscript font."

"New York used to be in an earlier printer so it would be inconvenient to
change the default."

I was amazed. Does this mean that all those who use Apple computers with
Apple printers can't get better than 15 minutes per page if they are naive
like me and believe the adverts about 'plug in, switch on, write and print'?.

Do we all have to reconfigure the system so that it uses a non-default option?
Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:2592 sci.engr:2259 sci.misc:1808 triangle.general:837
From: tell@rukbat.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,sci.engr,sci.misc,triangle.general
Subject: Re: Quick questionnaire
Date: 10 Nov 92 17:06:11 GMT
Followup-To: comp.human-factors
Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In article <1992Nov9.200434.6360@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de> mlelstv@speckled.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst) writes:
>Another quick question...
>
>Who is responsible for leaking out messages to group 'general' all over
>the world ?
>Michael van Elst Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de


The nameless many who designed the news software.  If an article is
crossposted to many groups, only one copy is sent with multiple entries
in the Newsgroups: header line.  At receiving sites, links are made in the
several group-specific directories to the single copy of the article.
Saves both bandwidth and disk space.

So, if I post to both general and triangle.general from here, the article
propagates because one of the groups has wider than local distribution.  It
goes out with both groups in the Newsgroups line.  When you recieve it,
your news software reads the Newsgroups line to find out where it goes.
A link goes in /usr/spool/news/triangle/general, where its supposed to.
Another goes in /usr/spool/news/general, if you have such a group.

Note that there are two places this could be avoided by fixing software;
outgoing articles could have local group names stripped from Newsgroups:
or incomming articles could be restricted to nonlocal groups.  Apparently
there exists versions of software that do neither for us to see this problem.
I don't know if any software does this filtering.

Steve
-- 
Steve Tell       tell@cs.unc.edu H: 919 968 1792  | #5L Estes Park apts
UNC Chapel Hill Computer Science W: 919 962 1845  | Carrboro NC 27510
Engineering is a _lot_ like art:  Some circuits are like lyric poems, some
are like army manuals, and some are like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy..
From: qb7g6@fel.tno.nl (Maarten Landzaat)
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Organization: TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:21:49 GMT

"rm * .c" (when you really want "rm *.c")

I think Unix (well, actually the shell is to blame) should always ask
for permission when the star is used with rm. 
-- 
Maarten J. Landzaat (analyst/programmer, bass player, Atari/midi freak)
BSO/Aerospace & Systems			Mail: Spuistraat 97
Email: maarten.landzaat@fel.tno.nl	      1012 SV  Amsterdam
Phone: +31 20 6266098			      The Netherlands
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jamie@csd.uwo.ca (J. Blustein)
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Reply-To: jamie@uwo.ca (J. Blustein)
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 19:11:15 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.172037.15990@cs.wisc.edu>
so@brownie.cs.wisc.edu (Bryan S. So) wrote:
>I am doing research on UNIX command line interface problems.
>[...]
>To start the discussion, consider the following problems:
>[...]
>    mail somebody < a.out
>
>    Sending binary file should be uuencoded first.  This is a
>    general type conflict problem.

   Why must a binary file by uuencoded?  Mail will not accept binary
files, but that doesn't mean that uuencoding must be used.
-- 
James Blustein                                        `Did you say "knives"?'
<jamie@uwo.ca>                                        `*Rotating* knives, yes.'
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jcook@mumble.cs.Colorado.EDU (Jonathan E. Cook)
Subject: Re: Interesting Elevator HF error:
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 01:10:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov12.185243.8925@chesapeake.ads.com> jclose@chesapeake.ads.com (Jeff Close) writes:

>green light lit, I jumped in.  Someone asked me how I knew that meant it
>was going up, and I confessed I had no idea, I just assumed that.  I think
>in retrospect, green indicates something "positive", and since I was wanting
>to go up, I irrationally reacted as though this elevator was doing what I
>wanted.  It really makes no sense to me, though, that green would indicate
>UP, vs. red->DOWN.  Any comments from the group?

Makes no sense to you?  You just contradicted yourself, because you said
you assumed green==up when you got in; so somewhere, whether conscious
or not, it *did* make sense to you. 

Now, I'm not saying that their abstraction is the best, but your
example validates the designer's intent, no?

>Jeff

Jon.
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 13:20:38 EST
From: Fadi A. Rabie <FR5641A@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: how do the Americans, Japanese, and the europeans differ?

Those powerful economic powers differ in the way they run their organizations
 what makes each one of those country's organizations managements successful
 in motivation, leadership, and in making decisions based on the technological
 information they get from their computer systems
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: akm@getafix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal)
Subject: Re: Macintosh System Inconsistency
Organization: University of Oregon Computer and Information Sciences Dept.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:05:04 GMT

In article <721054414.26707@minster.york.ac.uk> simpson@minster.york.ac.uk writes:
>I was staggered by this inconsistency:

[Description of how Mac Word 5 takes a long time to print.]

>"New York used to be in an earlier printer so it would be inconvenient to
>change the default."
>I was amazed. Does this mean that all those who use Apple computers with
>Apple printers can't get better than 15 minutes per page if they are naive
>like me and believe the adverts about 'plug in, switch on, write and print'?.

I have a number of disagreements with your analysis. 

First, your beef is with the printing speed being slow. There is
absolutely no user interface inconsistency in that. You *can* actually
plug and play. I don't see that you had to do anything additional
(except wait a long time). 

Second, Apple decided to support the majority of (current) users. I
think (quite apart from marketing), that that is the most user
friendly thing to do.

Third, I think that the reason that you are upset is becaus you know
more about the innards of the whole thing than most users. This
situation actually requires you to not to know anything, and your
document will print, albiet in your case very slowly.

So, if you change your beef to 'Apple printing is not very
intelligent,' or 'Apple printing is very slow', then I'd agree with
it.

cheers,

kartik

-- 
If you quote my article remember to trim it down to the essentials.
Anant Kartik Mithal, 				akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Network Manager, Ph.D. Student			(503)346-3989
Comp. Science, U of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403  	(503)346-5373 (fax)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: so@brownie.cs.wisc.edu (Bryan S. So)
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Computer Sciences Dept.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:37:35 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.152149.11684@fel.tno.nl> qb7g6@fel.tno.nl (Maarten Landzaat) writes:
 
>I think Unix (well, actually the shell is to blame) should always ask
>for permission when the star is used with rm. 

I think the "rm" command should be trashed.  I think there
is a pair of commands developed somewhere called "del" and
"undel" which should be the installation default.


Bryan
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: rolandi@hssc.scarolina.edu (Walter Rolandi)
Subject: Demo II and Protoscreens
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date:  4 Nov 92 16:37:56 GMT



I'd like to hear from any human factors folks who are familiar with
Dan Bricklin Demo II and or Protoscreens from Bailey and Bailey.
Which is easiest, which is most versatile, useful, etc.  Which provides
the most effective toolset for doing usability studies of system
interface prototypes?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated but I'm particularly 
interested to hear from hands-on users of one or both systems.

Thanks.  Best to use Internet address for follow up (if normal REPLY
function bounces.)


  Walter G. Rolandi
  USENET: rolandi@andy.hssc.scarolina.edu
INTERNET: rolandi@hsscls.hssc.scarolina.edu

--

  WALTER G. ROLANDI
  USENET: rolandi@andy.hssc.scarolina.edu
INTERNET: rolandi@hsscls.hssc.scarolina.edu
From: akao@.com (Adam Kao)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Date: 12 Nov 92 21:29:26 GMT
Organization: Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, CA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1992Nov12.210930.15028@oracle.us.oracle.com> akao@.com (Adam Kao) writes:
>
>mayhem% cd

>mayhem% mkdir .trashdir
>mayhem% alias rm "mv \!* .trashdir"

Sigh.  These two lines should be:
mayhem% mkdir ~/.trashdir
mayhem% alias rm "mv \!* ~/.trashdir"

>mayhem% ls -a .trashdir 
>.       ..
>mayhem% cat >testfile
>test^D
>mayhem% rm testfile
>mayhem% ls -a .trashdir
>.       ..      testfile
>mayhem% alias dumptrash "\rm -rf ~/.trashdir/*"
>mayhem% dumptrash
>mayhem% ls -a .trashdir
>.       ..
>mayhem%
From: lee@turbo4.rsg.hac.com (C. Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 12 Nov 92 01:55:58 GMT
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Company; Culver City, CA

In article <1992Nov11.045622.23693@microsoft.com> bethmo@microsoft.com (Beth Moursund) writes:
>                                      ...  In all the places I've
>voted, you get your ballot (which is a long cardboard strip with
>punchable holes), slide it into a slot in the voting booth, and then
>...
>(I've voted in Oregon and Washington.)

That (long cardboard strip with punchable holes) sounds just like the
voting I've done (I've only voted in California).  It sounds like maybe
the western states use those, and the eastern (and central?) states use
mainly booths.
From: melby@dove.yk.Fujitsu.CO.JP (John B. Melby)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Date: 12 Nov 92 03:05:26 GMT
	<1992Nov11.152149.11684@fel.tno.nl> <1992Nov11.203735.9835@cs.wisc.edu>
Organization: Open Systems Dept. Div. 2 Sect. 1, FUJITSU LTD.
In-reply-to: so@brownie.cs.wisc.edu's message of 12 Nov 92 05:37:35 JST

Then there's also ".*", which in many shells not only matches the dot-files
in the current directory but also matches the parent directory ("..").

-----
John B. Melby
Fujitsu Limited, Yokohama
melby@yk.fujitsu.co.jp
From: rolandi@hssc.scarolina.edu (Walter Rolandi)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Dan Bricklin Demo II and Protoscreens
Date: 12 Nov 92 15:07:49 GMT
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science


Earlier I had posted a request for information from users of Dan
Bricklin's Demo II and/or Protoscreens.  I'd like to find out what 
users see as each system's particular strengths and weaknesses.  I
expected to get a dozen or so responses, summerize them, and post
the results.

So far, nothing.  Are there no Demo II or Protoscreens users out there?
What tools do HCI human factors folks use for interface prototyping
these days?

I'd appreciate any feedback I can get, either mailed to my Internet
address or reposted to this group for a public discussion.  Thanks.


  Walter G. Rolandi
  USENET: rolandi@andy.hssc.scarolina.edu
INTERNET: rolandi@hsscls.hssc.scarolina.edu

--

  WALTER G. ROLANDI
  USENET: rolandi@andy.hssc.scarolina.edu
INTERNET: rolandi@hsscls.hssc.scarolina.edu
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: emcoop@bcars148.UUCP (hume smith)
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 14:03:48 GMT

[lots of stuff about how ya vote in the states]

and people wonder why the turnout for american elections is so low.
i'm sure many are put off by the complexity of the process and of
the heirarchy they're electing.
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,general,sci.engr,sci.misc,triangle.general
From: mlelstv@speckled.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: Quick questionnaire
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 20:04:34 GMT

In <1992Nov2.020818.16728@ncsu.edu> shodapp@eos.ncsu.edu (SUSAN  HODAPP) writes:

Another quick question...

Who is responsible for leaking out messages to group 'general' all over
the world ?

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jxm@engin.umich.edu (John Murray)
Subject: Re: Use of groupware for team development
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 92 13:54:28 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor
 
 

Does the experession 'team development' mean development BY teams
(of products, software, etc.), or development OF teams (project
leadership, org. skills, etc.)??
 
Thanks, 

John Murray
Univ. of Michigan
Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:2569 general:297 sci.engr:2244 sci.misc:1782 triangle.general:811