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Generic Task Specification – A Framework for Describing Task Demands and Mental/Physical Work loads in a Human-Machine System
Heidegger describes familiarity as the readiness or preparedness to cope with the world, the equipment it comprises and other people. However, and more usefully for the current discussion, Dreyfus extends this and argues that familiarity comprises "know-how" and involvement which is a proposition susceptible to empirical testing. In our qualitative study of 21 regular mobile phone users we find evidence of "know-how" in the form of a range of cognitive heuristics which people use to make sense of how to use their phones and (when asked) to explain how it operates. We also found evidence of involvement which we understand to mean comportment, that is, an orientation towards the technology. To our surprise peoples' comportment was largely confined to the phones' ease of use rather than its aesthetics or brand. We were also able to distinguish between the phone as an artefact and the phone as a means to an end and some suggestion that this distinction may be age related. We conclude that familiarity offers a coherent conceptual platform from which we might reason about how people use, conceive of, feel about and select interactive technologies.
This study examined the physical demands involved in manual manure handling in horse stables when using two different long-shafted work tools, a shavings fork and a manure fork, and investigated how variations in shaft length affected the physical workloads of the user. The methods used were generic task specification (GTS) and the Jack human simulation system (JACK). In general, adding 10 cm to the 125 cm length of the existing manure fork shaft gave the highest reduction in load on the back, especially regarding compression forces, irrespective of body height, sub-task and work technique. Simulations with the shavings fork (length 150 cm) showed that correcting user work technique considerably reduced the load on the back. Thus, it is important to consider both the shaft length of a tool and the work technique when attempting to reduce the physical work load for users.
This paper reports on a comparative field study looking at the relationship between crane operators' perception of directions in the working environment and the design of the control interface. Moving a load with a crane is a common task on factory floors, and human error in this may lead to accidents. In this paper, we show that the demands of this complex spatial task can be decreased with a simple design solution that helps the operator to understand the mapping between controls and movement directions of the crane more rapidly. We report on a field experiment that was conducted in a real use environment with experienced crane operators (N=6). We conclude with a discussion of how safety on factory floors can be improved with simple design solutions that decrease the attentional demands of the operating task.
This paper is a reflection on the role of levels of automation in medical device usability. The reflection is based on a comparison of results from two independent usability evaluations on dialysis machines (one newer and one older). Usability problems were found that could be traced back to the use interface design and automation level of the machines. The comparison showed that there was a difference in usability problem types at different levels of automation and a conclusion was that the usability aspect becomes even more important as the level of automation increases.
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