HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,general,sci.engr,sci.misc,triangle.general
Subject: Re: Quick questionnaire
From: kguyre@cabell.vcu.edu (Kenneth C. Guyre)
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 21:11:23 GMT
Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University

rwright@norfolk.vak12ed.edu (Robert Wright) writes:

>Now I am thinking, if news from outside is coming in to general from
>VDOE386, then surely our LOCAL posts are being sent out TO THE REST
>OF THE WORLD by VDOE386 to newsgroups "general."

If you are setting distribution to "local" your postings will stay on your
local system.
-- 
Kenneth C. Guyre                     Internet: kguyre@cabell.vcu.edu
Manager of Technical Services           Phone: (804) 367-6650
Academic Campus Computing Services
Virginia Commonwealth University
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jones@ils.nwu.edu
Subject: New Ph.D. Program
Organization: institute for the learning sciences
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 20:01:31 GMT

T h e   L  E  A  R  N  I  N  G    S  C  I  E  N  C  E  S    P h. D.   P r o g r
a m


Preparing individuals for productive work and a   high quality of life in
today's society is a complex  challenge for schools and corporations. To meet
this challenge, Northwestern University has established a unique Ph.D. program
in the Learning Sciences. Its purpose is to advance the research and
development of innovative educational structures and technologies.

Research in the Learning Sciences is aimed at creating environments that offer
all students a rich variety of opportunities for learning to think effectively,
both within and outside of formal learning settings. Graduate student and
faculty research efforts are supported by a multimedia, networked computing 
infrastructure and an unusual commitment to developing technologies that
function effectively within their intended settings. 

The Learning Sciences is a synthesis of computational and social science
disciplines including artificial intelligence, cognitive and developmental
psychology, educational research, linguistics, computer science, anthropology
and fields that develop strategies for teaching complex subject matter. 

Through research, field work and apprenticeships, the Ph.D. program will
prepare its graduates to assume leadership roles in advancing the scientific
understanding and systematic practices of learning and teaching.

Students are eligible for competitively-awarded multi-year funding. To qualify
for financial aid, candidates should apply by January 15, 1992. Applications
received after that date may be  considered. Individuals with relevant teaching
experience or a strong academic  background in a field related to the Learning
Sciences are encouraged to apply. For  application materials or for further
information, contact:

Professor Roy Pea
Ph.D. Program Chair 
The Learning Sciences 
Northwestern University
1890 Maple Avenue
Evanston, IL  60201
phone: 708-491-8152
fax:    708-491-5258
email: jones@ils.nwu.edu
 
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: shanks@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Mark Shanks)
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Organization: Honeywell Air Transport Systems Division
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 14:05:52 GMT

In article <palmer.721401771@news.larc.nasa.gov> palmer@icat.larc.nasa.gov (Michael T. Palmer) writes:
>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, 
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    'Twas ever thus...

>>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).

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.

Mark Shanks
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: dominic@skaro.genie.uottawa.ca (Dominic Richens)
Subject: Re: response time/accuracy using a mouse?
Originator: dominic@shamin.genie.uottawa.ca
Reply-To: dominic@shamin.genie.uottawa.ca
Organization: MCRLab - University of Ottawa
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 92 18:50:20 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.  
! 
Can't think of any right now, but...
[...]
!
! Unfortunately, subjects responded less accurately using the mouse response  
! mode.  I am guessing that the reason is because the mouse task required a  
! relatively unskilled, motor behavior, while circling answers utilized  
! well-learned, fine motor control. 

...as part of my thesis, I'm doing usability testing of some software/hardware
that I built.  The test subjects are typically physicians who only know of
the furry quadruped variety of mice.  Hence, before I run them through the
test, I 'train' them to use a mouse.  It usually takes about 4 to 5
minutes, and drastically reduces their level of frustration in the early
stages of the test, resulting in scores that more accurately reflect the
usability of my design, rather than the usability of the mouse.

So, try training your test subject for a few mintes, show them how to hold
the mouse, show them where to rest the weight of their arm (the ball of the
palm works nicely for microsoft and Mac mice).  Let them get used to the
response of the cursor on the screen.  Think of mice as closed looped
control systems that needs to be calibrated before use.

Hope this helps

dominic


-- 
!@$^&*)($#$@!@#$^&*()_+_)(*&^$#@!$^&*()_+)(*&^$#@$^&*+_(*&^$#@#^&*()&*$#@(*&+_$!
 Dominic Richens  :  dominic@shamin.genie.uottawa.ca  :  Tel. (613) 564 9911 
      MCRLab, Dept of Elec Eng, University of Ottawa, K1N 6N5, CANADA   
"You construct intricate rituals which allow you to touch the skin of other men"
                                                - Barbara Kruger
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Am I being turned into a handicapped programmer?
From: ccdps@levels.unisa.edu.au
Date: 2 Nov 92 07:29:20 +1030
Organization: University of South Australia

And I am right handed but have used the mouse with my left for the last five
years, as my right hand was overloaded.
--

 Dan Shearer                        email: Dan.Shearer@UniSA.edu.au
 Information Technology Branch      Phone: +61 8 302 3479
 University of South Australia      Fax  : +61 8 302 3385
Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:2568 comp.cog-eng:338
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Need advise for HCI course
From: pdillen@divsun.unige.ch (DILLENBOURG Pierre)
Date: 6 Nov 92 17:04:39 +0200
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland
Keywords: HCI, teaching

Hi everybody


I have to give a new course on human-computer interaction.
The course is partly theorectical, partly practical:
applying HCI principles to the implmentation of small
programs in Authorware. I would be interested to hear
from anybody experienced in teaching this domain and
by available lecture notes in english, dutch or french.

Thanks a lot for any help, hints or pointers.

                                                - Pierre

Please be so kind as to reply (also) via e-mail.
	
------------------------------------------------------------------
		Pierre Dillenbourg
			TECFA
Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education (FPSE)
		Universite de Geneve
		 Route de Drize, 11
		 CH 1227    CAROUGE
		SUISSE / SWITZERLAND

	Phone: (+ 41.22.) 705.96.93
	Fax: (+41.22.) 342.89.24
	E-mail: pdillen@divsun.unige.ch
------------------------------------------------------------------
	
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: ceb@dbrus.Unify.Com (Caroline E. Bryan)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 12 Nov 92 17:32:53 GMT
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization

In article <1992Nov10.022514.13952@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> 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 some-
> times they have just walked into a maze.  Between trying to find the darn
> lever to close the curtain, which lever is associated with which candidate,
> and reading the tiny print on the referendums (besides trying to understand
> them!), I sometimes leave feel like I've just tried to program a VCR....ok,
> not that bad.  (Maybe its just anxiety?)

That's strictly local.  The voting booths in Woodland, CA, are closed on only
3.8 sides (one of them being the school auditorium wall, and one being the
floor).  A waist-to-head-height panel separates one booth from the next.
There is no curtain or other physical barrier to keep anyone from looking
over one's shoulder.  Bizarre as it sounds, we who are waiting for a booth
simply refrain from badgering the people voting.

Also, in Woodland (Yolo County, next door to Sacramento), the referendum
texts are not printed on the ballots, merely their numbers and titles.  Dur-
ing the previous months, the Election Commission has mailed to all registered
voters a lengthy pamphlet containing, for each referendum, 1. the actual
text; 2. a simplified explanation by a non-partisan legislative analyst;
3. arguments for and against it by partisan groups; and 4. rebuttals to #3.
(We get a separate but similar pamphlet about the candidates; and you can
get either or both in Spanish or Vietnamese on request.)

This election Sacramento County experimented with another system that struck
me as exceedingly user-unfriendly:  You were presented with a multi-page
ballot showing only numbers.  In order to vote for a candidate, you had to
look up the candidate's number in the Voter's Guide that should have been
mailed to you, then find the number in the ballot, and then punch out the
keypunch slot for that number.  Nothing to read, but if your Voter's Guide
got lost in the mail you were unable to vote unless some kind soul had left
his/her Guide with the poll workers to help out unfortunates like you.  And
of course with this new method it took ages for one person to vote.

As for your type of voting booth, which I experienced when living in NJ and
in MD, I never had any trouble finding or using the various levers.  On the
contrary, I thought they were kind of fun, even before I turned techie!


Carrie		ceb@rechenau.unify.com		x 6244  ----------------+
|  I don't belong to any organized political party:  I'm a Democrat.	|
|						-- Will Rogers		|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: green@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Bradley Green )
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Voting Booths
Date: 10 Nov 92 19:59:43 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

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.




--
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
* Bradley S. Green				University of Pennsylvania   *
* green@eniac.seas.upenn.edu			Dept. Of Systems Engineering *
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jxm@engin.umich.edu (John Murray)
Subject: Re: Interesting Elevator HF error:
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 18:17:11 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In connection with the red/green lights showing when the
elevator arrives, perhaps the green one comes on to indicate
YES, THIS CAR IS GOING IN THE DIRECTION YOU REQUESTED! and 
the red light means .... well, you guessed it! 

So what happens when both up *and* down requests were made? 
Hmmmm .... ah! Gottit! It really IS a Douglas Adams elevator,
and the voice explains in excruciating detail the satisficing
features which this particular instantiation of the elevator 
response daemon was called into existence to provide!! But 
note! The announcement feature is only invoked when needed,
ie to eliminate the potential dilemmas of the queuing user
community and thus avoid sensory overload of their facilities!  
 
(Apologies for that! Douglas Adams was here last night,
and the effect obviously hasn't worn off yet! :-)

Meanwhile, can the original poster tell us whether the red
and green light unit is actually part of the elevator arch
(a failure by the manufacturer), or a separate unit in the
wall (which perhaps should have been installed vertically)?
 
John Murray
Univ. of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Organization: Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:00:45 -0500 
From: Jason Andrew Barshay <jb6o+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: HCI texts


I am a student who is starting to develop an increased interest in human
computer interaction.  I am looking for any good texts or papers on this
topic.  If you know of any and can point me in a direction, I would
appreciate the help.

Thanks,
Jason
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 12:08:08 EST
From: Hugh P. Obrien <HO3545A@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Use of groupware for team development

     I am very interested in how groupware can aid in team devolpment.  It
appears that when a team forms there is a lag time before the team becomes
productive.  Is there any way that groupware can shorten this lag time?
Any response would be appreciated.
From: akao@.com (Adam Kao)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: The Problem With UNIX
Date: 12 Nov 92 21:09:30 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.


mayhem% cd
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%
Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:2599 sci.engr:2267 sci.misc:1811 triangle.general:844 news.software.b:3358
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,sci.engr,sci.misc,triangle.general,news.software.b
Subject: Re: Quick questionnaire
Date: 11 Nov 92 18:20:17 GMT
Followup-To: news.software.b
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology

In article <17368@borg.cs.unc.edu> tell@rukbat.cs.unc.edu (Stephen Tell) writes:
>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.

It's not as easy as it looks.

The first "fix" is actually forbidden by the relevant standards, because it
was tried once, in the dawn of time, and had adverse effects.  The problem
is that news propagation is not the orderly process many people suppose.
It is not *at all* rare for an article crossposted to, say, sci.engr and
ut.general to arrive at parts of the ut universe via machines which are
not part of it.  Also, a followup from outside doesn't go to the full set
of groups the original article was posted to.  There is no way to strip
group names without running into problems in such situations.

The second "fix" also runs into trouble when articles loop around outside
a local universe faster than they propagate within it.  Its big problem,
though, is that defining the edges of such a universe is difficult, and
especially so in the presence of lazy or inattentive sysadmins.

Neither of these is a big problem when the universe in question is a
single machine, but that situation often changes with time, and single-
machine solutions don't generalize well.

Believe me, the implementors have thought about this, at length.  Nobody
has yet found a workable solution.

Followups redirected to news.software.b, the implementors' newsgroup.
-- 
MS-DOS is the OS/360 of the 1980s.      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
              -Hal W. Hardenbergh (1985)|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,general,sci.engr,sci.misc,triangle.general
From: walls@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Gerald Walls)
Subject: Re: Quick questionnaire
Organization: Honeywell Air Transport Systems Division
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 16:45:32 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.200434.6360@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de> mlelstv@speckled.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst) writes:
>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 ?
>

people such as yourself who crosspost it with global newsgroups.
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: james@brokaw.lcs.mit.edu (James W. O'Toole Jr.)
Subject: reference for mouse-tracking timing requirement
Keywords: mouse, garbage collection, timing
Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 23:27:49 GMT


I'm looking for a paper which documents the (roughly 50 millisecond)
timing requirements for doing mouse-tracking so that users are
happy and able to use their mice.  I'm sure someone has studied
this and published the timing requirements for this and other
similar user-interface things.

If you can provide a reference which answers any of the following
questions, please reply directly to me...

How often does the mouse position have to be updated for users to
be happy and effective at pointing with the mouse?

How soon does a menu or button have to respond after a user
presses a mouse button?

How soon must characters echo for users to be happy typing and
backspacing over their mistakes?

Thanks!

(I'm interested in these numbers because they indicate how
tight the constraints on a real-time garbage collector in
an interactive application should be.)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: mf@dancer.uucp (24227-fusco)
Subject: Voting Booths
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 02:25:14 GMT

	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.  
Between trying to find the darn lever to close the curtain, which 
lever is associated with which candidate, and reading the tiny print 
on the referendums (besides trying to understand them!), I sometimes 
leave feel like I've just tried to program a VCR....ok, not that bad.
(Maybe its just anxiety?)

mf
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: jclose@chesapeake.ads.com (Jeff Close)
Subject: Interesting Elevator HF error:
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems division of Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:52:43 GMT

I thought I'd share an interesting desgin error with everyone.  The elevators
in our building have two lights to indicate which direction an elevator is
going when it appears.  Unlike most, which have some form of obvious up-down
indicator (either a lighted arrow or two lights arranged vertically), this
has two round lights, side-by-side, and one is green and the other red.  I
was waiting for an "UP" elevator, and when an elevator appeared with the
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?

Jeff

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
jclose@ads.com: ADS BA&H/1953 Gallows Rd #600/Vienna, VA 22182 703-902-7150

Anarchists don't believe in rules.  Surrealists make up their own.
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: lhp@daimi.aau.dk (Lasse Hiller|e Petersen)
Subject: Re: Macintosh System Inconsistency
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 92 16:38:29 GMT

simpson@minster.york.ac.uk writes:

>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!

Don't blame Apple. Blame Microsoft. It's their fault.
Microsoft Word is full of interface inconsistencies, to a degree that
appropriately could be called "Windows".
(BTW, there is a patch to Word to make Word 5.0a. It solves a font bug.
Not this bug, though.)
--
Lasse Hiller|e Petersen - lhp@daimi.aau.dk !  /*] Once upon a time at 2:30 in
Department of Information & Media Science  ! /*<  the afternoon, there lived
Aarhus University                          !/* *\ a wise&benevolent&wonderful
Denmark                                    ! L L  wizard who wore a big hat...