Hi Ian, The cognitive map sounds intriguing. I look forward to seeing it when you get time.
Cheers, bob On -Mar9-2010, at -Mar9-20103:05 AM, Ian Clark wrote: > Hang on in there, Bob. Although we're not there yet, what you're doing > is interesting (to me) and (I anticipate) ultimately fruitful. > > But, in ergo-speak, the "cognitive complexity" of the "paradigm" is > enormous. This means you no sooner bridge one mental gap when you > expose the next. > > Work on cognitive complexity (as applied to computing -- it was going > on in other areas long before) began in the early 80s, with names like > Hammond, Morton, Long, Chapanis and Eason. Funded by IBM, the aim was > to replace much tedious expensive experimentation on live subjects > (the old HF way) by some sort of theoretical analysis which developers > themselves could employ. And what's the point of live testing anyway > unless you the developer can generate promising paradigms to test? > > I think I can still draw a cognitive map: a tool for reducing > cognitive complexity. Unfortunately a map to fit an American can be a > bad mismatch for a Japanese, or even a Brit. Which is maybe why the > research petered out -- or is it just that I've not been following it? > Anyway there's no evidence of big developers like M$ applying it in > their main products. Apple have a long tradition of applying good > ergonomics, but even they're slackening of late. > > I'll take a stab at it over the next few days if I get time. I still > haven't delivered on the task analysis, I know. It's a question of > who's kicking me hardest at any one moment. > > But without a cognitive map to guide design decisions, we're fumbling > in the dark. > > Ian > > > On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 7:25 AM, Skip Cave <[email protected]> wrote: >> Sorry if you feel that you are having to "jump through hoops" trying out >> all of these schemes. Each time you provide a new example, what's good >> and bad just pops out, Too bad we can't visualize all this beforehand, >> but it seems that we have to actually see it work, to spot the issues. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
