The cognitive dimensions framework is a broad-brush evaluation technique for interactive devices and for non-interactive notations. It sets out a small vocabulary of terms designed to capture the cognitively-relevant aspects of structure, and shows how they can be traded off against each other. The purpose of this paper is to propose the framework as an evaluation technique for visual programming environments. We apply it to two commercially-available dataflow languages (with further examples from other systems) and conclude that it is effective and insightful; other HCI-based evaluation techniques focus on different aspects and would make good complements. Insofar as the examples we used are representative, current VPLs are successful in achieving a good ‘closeness of match’, but designers need to consider the ‘viscosity ’ (resistance to local change) and the ‘secondary notation’ (possibility of conveying extra meaning by choice of layout, colour, etc.).

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Usability Analysis of Visual Programming Environments: A 'Cognitive Dimensions' Framework

Based on empirical survey data, this paper uses concepts from sociotechnical theory and role theory to explore the effects of stress created by information and computer technology (ICT)-that is, "technostress"-on role stress and on individual productivity. We first explain different ways in which ICTs can create stress in users and identify factors that create technostress. We next propose three hypotheses: (1) technostress is inversely related to individual productivity, (2) role stress is inversely related to individual productivity, and (3) technostress is directly related to role stress. We then use structural equation modeling on survey data from ICT users in 223 organizations to test the hypotheses. The results show support for them. Theoretically, the paper contributes in three ways. First, the different dimensions of technostress identified here add to existing concepts on stress experienced by individuals in organizations. Second, by showing that technostress inversely affects productivity, the paper reinforces that failure to manage the effects of ICT-induced stress can offset expected increases in productivity. Third, validation of the positive relationship between technostress and role stress adds a new conceptual thread to literature analyzing the relationship between technology and organizational roles and structure. In the practical domain, the paper proposes a diagnostic tool to evaluate the extent to which technostress is present in an organization and suggests that the adverse effects of technostress can be partly countered by strategies that reduce role conflict and role overload.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40398890.pdf

The Impact of Technostress on Role Stress and Productivity

Human-computer interface management, from a computer science viewpoint, focuses on the process of developing quality human-computer interfaces, including their representation, design, implementation, execution, evaluation, and maintenance. This survey presents important concepts of interface management: dialogue independence, structural modeling, representation, interactive tools, rapid prototyping, development methodologies, and control structures. Dialogue independence is the keystone concept upon which all the other concepts depend. It is a characteristic that separates design of the interface from design of the computational component of an application system so that modifications in either tend not to cause changes in the other. The role of a dialogue developer, whose main purpose is to create quality interfaces, is a direct result of the dialogue independence concept. Structural models of the human-computer interface serve as frameworks for understanding the elements of interfaces and for guiding the dialogue developer in their construction. Representation of the human-computer interface is accomplished by a variety of notational schemes for describing the interface. Numerous kinds of interactive tools for human-computer interface development free the dialogue developer from much of the tedium of "coding" dialogue. The early ability to observe behavior of the interface—and indeed that of the whole application system—provided by rapid prototyping increases communication among system designers, implementers, evaluators, and end-users. Methodologies for interactive system development consider interface management to be an integral part of the overall development process and give emphasis to evaluation in the development life cycle. Finally, several types of control structures govern how sequencing among dialogue and computational components is designed and executed. Numerous systems for human-computer interface management are presented t o illustrate these concepts.

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Human-computer interface development: concepts and systems for its management

This paper presents an approach to the description and analysis of complex Man?Machine Systems (MMSs) called Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE). In contrast to traditional approaches to the study of man?machine systems which mainly operate on the physical and physiological level, CSE operates on the level of cognitive functions. Instead of viewing an MMS as decomposable by mechanistic principles, CSE introduces the concept of a cognitive system: an adaptive system which functions using knowledge about itself and the environment in the planning and modification of actions. Operators are generally acknowledged to use a model of the system (machine) with which they work. Similarly, the machine has an image of the operator. The designer of an MMS must recognize this, and strive to obtain a match between the machine's image and the user characteristics on a cognitive level, rather than just on the level of physical functions. This article gives a presentation of what cognitive systems are, and of how CSE can contribute to the design of an MMS, from cognitive task analysis to final evaluation.

Cognitive Systems Engineering

A dialogue model is an abstract model that is used to describe the structure of the dialogue between a user and an interactive computer system. Dialogue models form the basis of the notations that are used in user interface management systems (UIMS). In this paper three classes of dialogue models are investigated. These classes are transition networks, grammars, and events. Formal definitions of all three models are presented, along with algorithms for converting the notations into an executable form. It is shown that the event model has the greatest descriptive power. Efficient algorithms for converting from the transition diagram and grammar models to the event model are presented. The implications of these results for the design and implementation of UIMSs are also discussed.

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A survey of three dialogue models

Expert systems and associated facilities are having a growing impact in various commercial, industrial, educational and other sectors. This book aims to help computer specialists understand the concepts underlying expert systems and to appreciate what is being accomplished in existing systems of this type. The contents are divided into background concepts and examples of expert systems.

Expert Systems: Concepts and Examples

Computing Skills and the User Interface

This paper presents an algorithm for reasoning about novel events. Termed Model Generative Reasoning (MGR), we replace deductive reasoning with an abductive procedure based on the generation of alternative, intensional domain descriptions (models) to cover problem assumptions, which are then evaluated against domain facts as alternative explanations for queried events. The algorithm is principally illustrated using a problem from process control.

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The MDR algorithm and its application to the generation of explanations for novel events

Problem solving is an analog to scientific method, wherein abduction and deduction operate in a cyclic fashion to generate and refine a series of hypotheses that purport to explain the observed data. Model generative reasoning implements this cycle through a family of operations on representations based on conceptual graphs. Specialize , the operator that implements abduction, generates alternative hypotheses. Fragment removes potential incoherences from hypotheses, while preserving coherence with the observations. This is seen as a form of deduction with the aim of allowing more hypotheses to be generated in the next cycle.

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M. J. Coombs

Papers

Expert Systems: Concepts and Examples

Computing Skills and the User Interface

The MDR algorithm and its application to the generation of explanations for novel events

Reasoning with graph operations

Reasoning with Graph Operations.