Nathan Relles - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Nathan Relles

As the major expenses for computing have shifted from machines to people, the need to improve use... more As the major expenses for computing have shifted from machines to people, the need to improve user effectiveness has become more obvious. Almost all online systems today are advertised as “user oriented”;few of them, however, are fully integrated systems with consistent protocols for all subsystems, convenient command procedures, context-sensitive online aids, or any of the otherfeatures that have been shown to facilitate user interaction. Interaction techniques utilized in several experimental systems could be adapted to improve existing commercial systems. In addition, computers could be programmed to exhibit intelligent behavior in adapting to user characteristics.

Cahiers de lexicologie, 1976

IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 1982

Ahstract-]Fhe need to improve and simplify interactive computing svstems has led to the study of ... more Ahstract-]Fhe need to improve and simplify interactive computing svstems has led to the study of the human factors of these systems. Out of these studies and a general interest in ease of use has come a variety of guidelines and techniques for improving human-machine interfaces. Some of the most important.techniques allow a user to obtain assistance automatically while using a computer svstem. An introduction to the problems, methods, and results in human factors and user assistance for interactive computer systems are provided in this paper and this issue. I. INTrRODUCrION THE GROWTH of interactive computing systems over the last two decades has led to a heightened interest in their ease of use. Quite often the person using a system has not previously used computers, has only limited interest in their use, or only needs to use them occasionally. He is concerned about the ease with which he can learn to use a system, his retention of that ability, his proneness to errors, and his ability to recover from those errors. These needs are among the many human factors that affect a computing system's effectiveness. Features affecting the human factors of computer systems have begun to be studied empirically. Controlled laboratory experiments, field studies, and protocol analyses have been used to design and evaluate systems. Laboratories have been built to carry out these studies. Formal

International Conference on Software Engineering, Mar 9, 1981

This paper describes a software user interface that enables programmers to provide and maintain o... more This paper describes a software user interface that enables programmers to provide and maintain online aids in an interactive system. Through the interface, users are given a set of consistent and unobtrusive aids that display summary information, command descriptions, explanations of error messages, and other online documentation. The interface is presented here from the views of both the end-user and

ACM Computing Surveys, Jun 1, 1978

Computers and The Humanities, May 1, 1977

LEXICO is an interactive system which assists lexicographers in storing, editing, and concording ... more LEXICO is an interactive system which assists lexicographers in storing, editing, and concording texts; lemmatizing word lists; and generating slips. A slip is equivalent to a file card and contains a single word from a text, and its lemma, context, and source. From a file of such slips (sometimes running into the millions), plus supportive reference materials and word studies, dictionary editors compile entries for a dictionary. The system, developed originally as a research tool for exploring different approaches to man-machine integration in lexical processing, has now been implemented as a user system at the Madison Academic Computing Center, University of Wisconsin. Recent applications of the system include studies of style in Modern French literature and text processing for the Dictionary of Old English. The present article presents a sampling of the capabilities of LEXICO, with emphasis on interaction techniques and user aids. Design goals LEXICO was designed for three different types of users: the novice, the sustained user and the occasional user. Because of the large number of parameters which must be specified in certain tasks and the relatively unfamiliar vocabulary of lexicography, these three types of users have widely differing needs. The novice needs to learn the system's capabilities and the methods of requesting different functions. He must discover how and when to create backup files, how to recover from syntax errors, and which servicing priorities to select for different cost and time demands. In contrast, the sustained user has already acquired this knowledge and wants to make requests as brief as possible. He needs little extra documentation; errors are quickly recognized and therefore do not require extensive explication. Between the novice and the

ACM Sigsoc Bulletin, May 21, 1981

ABSTRACT Many interactive computer systems have some form of HELP or assistance commands. Effecti... more ABSTRACT Many interactive computer systems have some form of HELP or assistance commands. Effective online assistance requires a well-defined framework that addresses the needs of both the end-user and the assistance provider. This paper presents such a framework, whose generality and usefulness come from an application-independent assistance processor and a highly structured database of assistance information. Major considerations are (1) the types of assistance interactive users need, (2) the data structures and relationships required to provide comprehensive assistance, (3) software architectures that encourage and support effective forms of assistance, and (4) the programming effort required to include and maintain online assistance. To make online assistance effective and economically feasible, the paper proposes a way to integrate assistance into other phases of the software life cycle.

ACM SIGSOC Bulletin, 1982

As interactive users find conventional methods of training and documentation inadequate, designer... more As interactive users find conventional methods of training and documentation inadequate, designers are providing systems with online reference information, descriptions of valid input, elaboration of error messages, and explanations of a system's behavior. This paper describes some existing commercial systems that offer online assistance and more experimental approaches by the research community. The following material was originally presented at the SIGSOC conference on Easier and More Productive Use of Computing Systems. An extended version will appear in a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (Volume SMC-12, March/April, 1982), and is reprinted here with the permission of the IEEE.Online user assistance is now offered on commercial systems and is the subject of investigation in experimental settings. It is difficult to compare the advantages and limitations of different approaches because they vary along many dimensions and because there is ...

Proceedings of the May 4-7, 1981, national computer conference on - AFIPS '81, 1981