HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: esther@rayssd.ssd.ray.com (Esther A. Paris)
Subject: Please help me find something to ease/prevent wrist injury!
Summary: looking for solutions for wrist RSI -- please email responses
Organization: Raytheon Equipment Division, Marlboro, MA
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 12:49:29 GMT

Subject: Please help me find something to help my injured wrists heal!

Hello Everyone!

I never thought I'd be asking this, but I need you to tell me about any
and all alternative input devices for various computers. Since I am
cross posting this to multiple groups, please E-mail me your replies,
and I will condense, summarize and post to the same groups. My E-mail
address is: esther@mar.ed.ray.com or esther@rayssd.ssd.ray.com.

I need product names, vendor names and addresses, and preferably vendor
contact names and phone numbers. I'm looking for anything to reduce
actual typing required for input into the computer or devices that will
reduce wrist injury from typing.

I have heard about hinged keyboards to reduce stress to injured wrists,
but don't know where to find them. I have read about the Data Glove
from Industrial Innovations (Scottsdale, AZ), which allows hands to be
separated by body width while typing, but after talking to the vendor I
found out they can't help me right now... is there a vendor with a
product like this elsewhere, available NOW???  If so, then I don't know
where to find these either. I have also heard of the CAD-CAM VoicePacks
(to input CAD-CAM commands by voice) from Voice Dynamics Corporation,
but I don't know how to contact them to test their device or whether
they have a device to interface with any technical publications
packages.

I have severe tendonitis in both wrists, and need to find a solution.
At the present time, my hands have become so bad that I'm forbidden to
type (I dicated this to my officemate and he typed!) and both hands are
in solid braces so I can't move them.  I use Sun workstations and
HP-Apollo workstations and plain old VT-220 style terminals. My
specialty is electronic publishing.  I have already tried a trackball
to replace my mouse and found that VERY helpful.

I have been given a mandate to try anything and everything that might
help so that I won't become permanently disabled by this injury.
AnythingI can do to help my hands heal and prevent the problem from
getting worse is something I MUST try!  My problem has been chronic for
a year and acute more times than I can count.  So far they haven't
really gotten better.

Any help that you can give me along these lines is sincerely
appreciated, and I thank you in advance for your help.  Please email me
any and all information you might have that could help!  I will gladly
repost it! (Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!)*250,000 [a million times
Thanks!]

-- 
"[Writing] error messages is the only real market left for short fiction."
     --- John M. Graf

Esther Paris, Raytheon EDL, Marlborough, MA, USA
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling)
Subject: Re: Very poor human interface on Kubota tractor
Organization: Unify Corporation (Sacramento)
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 20:41:27 GMT

In article <167C8C211.JHARTLEY@cmsa.gmr.com>, JHARTLEY@cmsa.gmr.com writes:
> In article <3746@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>
> cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Andrew M. Cohill) writes:
> >
> >Tractors are dangerous pieces of equipment.  If this worries you, don't
> >use them.
> 
> I'd like to nominate this statement for the "Let Them Eat Cake"
> Human Factors award.  Rather than solving the problem, let's
> just tell all users that "tractors are dangerous and all you
> panzies that can't hack that shouldn't be on a tractor!"

	That's not entirely an unreasonable view.  I've always
	believed that anyone operating something that can be dangerous
	bears personal responsibility for operating it safely.
	If I operate something, and something goes wrong, it's MY
	fault, not the fault of the designer or builder.

	That's not saying we should ignore human factors engineering.
	A case in point might be that my wife barely missed death
	in a bicycle accident last July, by riding without realizing
	that her brakes were disengaged.  This was the bike equivalent
	of sailplane accidents caused by pilots taking off with
	their ailerons disconnected.  The latter was easy to do in
	most older sailplanes.

	Sailplane manufacturers have worked out ways to assure that
	if the wings are attached then the ailerons are connected.
	I hope that bicycle manufacturers will someday develop an interlock
	to prevent riding when the brakes are disengaged.

	Whether they do or not, my wife recognized that it was her
	responsibility for not verifying that the bicycle was "streetworthy"
	before riding.  As a sailplane pilot, I have both a moral and a
	legal responsibility to either determine before flight that a
	glider is airworthy (safe for me to fly) or not to fly it.
	I'd apply the same moral responsibility to driving a tractor,
	though to my knowledge there's no tractor equivalent of the
	Federal Aviation Regulations that writes this responsibility
	into law.


------------------
Paul Raveling
Raveling@Unify.com
From: hagan@earthrise.Eng.Sun.COM (Hagan Heller)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Sound and Color in the Interface
Date: 17 Apr 92 18:40:18 GMT
Reply-To: hagan@earthrise.Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: earthrise

Dave Kemp (dpkemp@afterline.ncsc.mil) writes:
> Oh great. Now we can have our Suns sound like a roomfull of Macs doing
> Curley's "woo woo woo" or "the knights who say 'ni'" every time someone
> gets an error.
>
> I already have an officemate who has his cuckoo clock sounding off gunshots
> every hour.
>
> No thanks.

Dave --

Your complaints are understood and well taken. Most
everyone who has used or been around Macintosh users
has been exposed to a variety of annoying noises, but
you may not want to dismiss the use of audio in the
interface out of hand, based on that experience.

Audio cues in the user interface can be powerful methods
of reinforcing or adding information to the existing
feedback. Consider:
	- sounds which indicate the size of the file
	  you've just selected, or the type
	- sounds which tell you when your job is
	  printing and when it's stopped
	- audio cues to let you know when you're running
	  low on disk space, or swap space
	- sounds to herald the arrival of email, or
	  other electronic media

I'm sure you're already picturing (or hearing) a
cacophony of noises blurting out in your office, based
on these descriptions, but consider this!

Sound must be designed, just as visual elements are.
In order to be useful without being annoying, they must
blend into the existing environment. There is a wealth
of noise going on around you all the time, which you
ignore without difficulty; your computer whirrs, the
air conditioning, your fingers (and others') on the
keyboard, talking in the corridors. These sounds do
not distract you because they are an expected part of
the environment. Until recently, most sounds have not
been designed and so, as a result, people have grown to
completely dismiss the use of audio in the interface.
Rightly so. It's been poorly executed in the past. But
there may be opportunity to try these ideas out in the
future.

Consider:
	- the sound of paper quietly shuffling while
	  your print job is in the queue and that 
	  sound simply ends when the job is done
	- a tap sound, which decreases in tone according
	  to file size
	- a thud to indicate the arrival of an email
	  message -- the tone of the thud could indicate
	  the size of the message

Just like color in the interface, sound must be well
designed, used carefully and sparingly. It must not
be a necessary part of the interface -- not everyone
will want it or have it available, and it must be under
the control of the user.

Hope this is food for thought.

-- Hagan
hagan.heller@sun.com
From: JHARTLEY@cmsa.gmr.com
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Very poor human interface on Kubota tractor
Date: 13 Apr 92 18:47:56 GMT
Organization: GM Research Labs

In article <3746@vtserf.cc.vt.edu>
cohill@vtserf.cc.vt.edu (Andrew M. Cohill) writes:
>In article <j!sjabh.nagle@netcom.com> nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle) writes:
>>cautions that failure to lock the pedal latch before operating the tractor
>>on a road may result in tractor rollover if brakes are applied
>>asymmetrically.
>
>Tractors are dangerous pieces of equipment.  If this worries you, don't
>use them.

I'd like to nominate this statement for the "Let Them Eat Cake"
Human Factors award.  Rather than solving the problem, let's
just tell all users that "tractors are dangerous and all you
panzies that can't hack that shouldn't be on a tractor!"
From: johnk@cimshop (John Kelleher)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: SIG-CHI Conference?
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:14:53 GMT

If you have any information about the upcoming
SIG-CHI annual meeting, I'd appreciate hearing
from you.  I understand the meeting is supposed
to be held in Monterey, CA, sometime in May.

You can either call or e-mail.

Thanks.

John Kelleher
Consilium, Inc.
johnk@consilium.com
(415) 691-6297
From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Very poor human interface on Kubota tractor
Summary: Non-computer human interface problems
Keywords: tractor controls
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:33:54 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)


       The manual for current model Kubota tractors indicates how bad
things can be outside the computer field.

       Braking involves two pedals and a lever.  The pedals apply brakes 
separately to the left and right rear wheels.  A latch allows locking both 
brake pedals together.  The lever operates the parking brake, but to
operate the parking brake, both pedals must be latched together and
depressed, the parking brake lever pulled, and the pedals released.
Unclear what happens if this sequence is not followed.  The manual also
cautions that failure to lock the pedal latch before operating the tractor
on a road may result in tractor rollover if brakes are applied
asymmetrically.

       The key switch offers "pre-heat", "stop", "run", and "start"
positions, this being a Diesel.  The manual states that turning the key to
"stop" will usually, but not always, stop the engine, and a separate
emergency off pull switch is provided if the key doesn't work.

        A lever is provided to lock the rear differential.  The manual
warns that tractor rollover may result if the tractor is operated on a
road with this lever engaged and a tight turn is attempted.

        This tractor has four-wheel drive, but no differential in front.
The manual warns that tractor rollover may result if the tractor is
operated on a road with four-wheel drive engaged and a turn is attempted.

        A roll bar is optional.

					John Nagle
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: sbt@cbnews.cb.att.com (sb.tobias)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: QUIS feedback
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:41:36 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnews.1992Apr15.134136.8767
Distribution: att
Organization: AT&T


has anyone seen or used the QUESTIONNARIE FOR USER INTERACTION SATISFACTION
(QUIS) from the hci lab at university of maryland?  i have some information 
about licensing, and i'd like to hear some opinions about the questionnaire 
before spending any money on it.

please reply by e-mail; i'll post a summary if replies warrant.

thanks!
	--sb tobias
	  cbvox!sbt
	  at&t bell labs
	  columbus, oh
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: a722756@pan.mc.ti.com (W. D. Rolph)
Subject: Re: Color considered harmful
Organization: Texas Instruments Materials and Controls Group
Distribution: world,public
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 12:17:17 GMT


In article <2236@isgtec.isgtec.com>, mike@isgtec.com (Mike Sellers) writes:
|> bks@alfa.berkeley.edu (Bradley K. Sherman) writes:
|> > There is no use for color in programs.
|> > You cannot show an ordering with color.
|> 
|> Actually, I believe people do quite well with spectral ordering.
|> I don't have any references on hand, though I might be able to
|> dig them up.
|> 
|> > You CAN show an ordering with shades of grey.
|> > Open up the closest book.
|> > There is no color.
|> 

Two points:
 
     1)  In the display of results from partial differentuial equations (modeling
fluid flow, structural analysis, thermal analysis) presenting the data using
spectral ordering or even modified spectral ordering (to enhance contrast) is not
only useful, but generally required
 
     2)  A good grey scal is alomost (but not quite!) as good.
-- 

Regards.
 
Don Rolph  a722756@pan.mc.ti.com WD3 MS10-13 (508)-699-1263
From: schaffer@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Doug Schaffer)
Subject: Re: cost of poor usability metrics
Organization: U. of Calgary Computer Science
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 92 17:17:34 GMT

In article <48993@athertn.Atherton.COM> mcgregor@atherton.com writes:
>I've been thinking about profiling usage during customer usability tests, and
>keeping a ratio of code accessed by users during tests and total code written.
>100% coverage would represent a very usable and desirable set of features, and
>products with coverages near 0% represent low degrees of usability and
>desirability in the feature sets.

I think you should be careful of using a strict formula like coverage to
define a software product's usability and desirability.  Many packages 
contain features for various conditions. Some conditions occur frequently
and some rarely.  A "simple" software package that has very few specialized
functions may have a high coverage score, simply because few things can be
done with it, and those that can are done easily.  A package that has lots
of functions that are still very useful and easy to use, but simply aren't
needed that often would have a lower coverage score.  

Also, unless the tests are long term studies, many advanced features may not 
be used and so they would appear "less desirable", even though, when you 
really need to do that particular thing, the "more desirable" package could 
not let you do it.  

I think your idea deserves looking into, and I would recommend combining this 
coverage metric with a number of other evaluation techniques.  I'd like to 
see your results.

Doug Schaffer, University of Calgary, schaffer@cpsc.ucalgary.ca

Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:1164 comp.groupware:408 pdx.general:541
From: novick@ogicse.ogi.edu (David G. Novick)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors,comp.groupware,pdx.general
Subject: Judith Olson talk at OGI on Friday, 4/17/92
Date: 16 Apr 92 02:37:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.36312
Distribution: pnw
Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute (formerly OGC), Beaverton, OR

Dr. Judith Olson of the University of Michigan will be speaking on
Friday, April 17, at 3:30 pm in the OGI Main Seminar Room.  Dr. Olson's
topic will be "How a group editor changes the character of a design
meeting as well as its outcome."  Her talk is part of the OGI Computer
Science and Engineering Department's series on software usability.

ABSTRACT

Since groups are at the heart of the work in companies, many people are
designing new technology with the intent of supporting group work.  The
new technologies range from group decision rooms where large groups
gather to brainstorm and vote on alternative courses of action, to
conferencing systems that help participants coordinate messages and
proposed actions across time and space.  In our research, we are
concentrating on a specific kind of group work, the kind of work that
happens in small groups, where 3-8 people move between working
individually on various portions of a project and meeting together to
report on their progress, brainstorm and evaluate new ideas, then plan
and divide up the next phase of work.  We are looking for ways to
support the "meeting" part of this work with various kinds of technology,
initially for those meetings that take place face-to-face and later where
at least some of the meeting participants are at a remote site connected
by open audio and/or video.

This report summarizes our work to date on analyzing how one kind of
technology, a group editor, changes the face-to-face work of small groups
of people working on a design task.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Olson is a Professor of Computer and Information Systems in the
Business School and Professor of Psychology at the University of
Michigan.  Hre current research focuses on human-computer interaction,
relating to the design and evaluation of software for human problem
solving in business, both in individual settings and for group work.
Prior to joining the Michigan Business School she was on the faculty
of the Department of Psychology at Michigan and served as Technical
Supervisor for human factors in systems engineering at Bell
Laboratories.  She is the author of numerous publications in journals
and books in this field.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  David G. Novick   | Department of Computer Science and Engineering
 novick@cse.ogi.edu | Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology 
 tel (503) 690-1156 | 19600 N.W. Von Neumann Drive
 fax (503) 690-1029 | Beaverton, OR 97006-1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dehaan@cs.vu.nl (G de Haan)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: SPECIAL ISSUE JVLC ON COGNITIVE ASPECTS IN VISUAL LANGUAGES
Date: 9 Apr 92 10:44:23 GMT


 
         JOURNAL OF VISUAL LANGUAGES AND COMPUTING
 
                   CALL FOR PAPERS
 
   SPECIAL ISSUE ON COGNITIVE ASPECTS IN VISUAL LANGUAGES
 
Deadline for paper submission: August 1, 1992
Acceptance notification: October 1, 1992
Final manuscript due: December 1, 1992
Publication: March 1, 1993
 
Visual Languages and Visual Interfaces are becoming increasingly
popular. While the software aspects of Visual Languages and Interfaces
are already well understood little is known about the "usefulness"
of the proposed languages and interfaces. With "usefulness", mainly
the usability of the languages, their acceptance by users, and their
appropriateness for users' tasks is meant. 
 
There is a considerable body of knowledge related to such issues in
Human-Computer Interaction research. However, the key approaches
and findings of HCI do not go beyond the notion of direct manipulation.
Only few work stresses on the notion of Visual Interaction.
 
The "Journal of Visual Languages and Computing" is looking for papers 
presenting new concepts, approaches and theories which help to understand
the phenomenon of visual interaction and the design of visual
languages and interfaces in terms of human cognition.
 
Examples for relevant problem domains are:
 
        - is visual interaction always preferable ?
        - human knowledge presentation and application: 
                visual, propositional, ...
        - mental representation of visual languages and interfaces
        - which task in which representation ?
        - design principles for visual interaction
        - paradigms of visual languages / interfaces / interaction
        - evaluation of different visual paradigms
        - empirical studies of visual interaction
        - graphical methods for knowledge elicitation
        - semantics of visual languages
        - 3D-languages and virtual realities
        - visual representations as vehicle for 
                knowledge transfer / problem solving
        - ........
 
All interested persons can submit five copies of a paper no longer than 
20 pages by August 1, 1992 to
 
        Michael J. Tauber
        JVLC Associate Editor
        Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
        University of Paderborn
        Warburgerstr. 100
        D-4790 Paderborn, Germany
        Tel: +49 5251 60 2637
        Fax: +49 5251 60 3836
        E-mail: tauber@uni-paderborn.de
From: gt3762c@prism.gatech.EDU (Alana Anoskey)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: '92 Human Factors Society Meeting
Date: 6 Apr 92 19:19:19 GMT
Organization: Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology

The Volunteers Committee for the 1992 meeting of the Human Factors
Society is currently soliciting volunteers.  The Annual Meeting
will be held October 12 to 16, in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).  
Volunteers are asked to work 8 hours during the week of the 
conference, and will be reimbursed the conference registration fee
(student fee), as well as receive a copy of the conference
proceedings in exchange for their work.  

If you are interested in volunteering for the HFS 1992
"Innovations for Interaction" meeting, or would like more
information, please send your name and address to: 

gt3762c@prism.gatech.edu   (e-mail)  or

Alana Anoskey
School of Psychology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA  USA  30332          (postal mail)    

Thanks,
Alana

-- 
ANOSKEY,ALANA MARIE
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp:	  ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt3762c
Internet: gt3762c@prism.gatech.edu
From: ron@isgtec.com (Ron Lipsius)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Color considered harmful
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:51:45 GMT
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc., Mississauga Ontario


	Sorry about the waste of bandwidth.  I meant to say ONE-DIMENSIONAL
	information, not two-dimensional, when speaking of a colour scale
	ordering.  Just throw out one primary colour and vary the scale
	between the other two.  

	If you want an example of this, look at the temperature control
	switch in cars today.  Blue for cold, blending towards Red for
	hot air.  It works for me :)

		Ron Lipsius
			ISG Technologies

			-- live life, taste death! --
From: gt3006a@prism.gatech.EDU (Christopher J. Whaley)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: Student News
Summary: Human Factors (the journal) used to come out
	 every other month...
Date: 17 Apr 92 00:42:44 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Apr16.212948.4499@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, sguerlai@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Stephanie A Guerlain) writes:
> I'm posting this message to clarify what "HFS" and "HFS Bulletin" means.
> 
> The national chapter puts out a journal every other month

I believe that the journal _Human Factors_ now comes out four 
times a year.  In past years it did come out six times a year.


-- 
Christopher J. Whaley (It was me!!)         ******** Ph.D. or Bust ********
School of Psychology  -- Georgia Tech   
Internet: gt3006a@prism.gatech.edu           "Psychology at Georgia Tech?" 
Bitnet:   pstatcw@gitvm1                 "Yes, we do have a graduate program!"
From: matjmm@gsusgi1.gsu.edu (John Morgan Morris)
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
Subject: Re: On-screen fonts...
Date: 7 Apr 92 13:11:57 GMT
Organization: Georgia State University

marty@beta.lanl.gov (Martin G. Halvorson) writes:

>In article <=zztwx=@rpi.edu> tevonp@aix.rpi.edu (Peter Kaine Tevonian) writes:

>>effectiveness of specific on-screen fonts, or papers claiming that fonts 
>>do not affect reading performance significantly.  Any suggestions or 

>There is one aspect of most fonts that effects reading performance.  This
>aspect is most pronounced in people suffering from presbyopia (which is 
>sometimes mistakenly confused with hyperopia).

Has anyone conducted studies into appropriate font sizes to
accommodate the changes in the human visual system due to aging?
Since presbyopia *tends* to begin in the mid-40's and *typically*
becomes progressively worse with age, there seems to be a need
for such work. Especially since our population is aging...

Later,
Morgan


-- 
John Morgan Morris
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA. 30303-3083
matjmm@gsusgi1.gsu.edu
(404) 651-2253
Xref: sparky comp.human-factors:1154 comp.graphics.visualization:771 comp.cog-eng:198