OSx and Adaptive Path Speakers - 5/2 7pm
Ask Jon
by Jon Hull
Dear Jon,
Hi Jon. I’m looking for the perfect way to tell my grandmother what it is I’m doing all the way out here in California. She doesnt totally understand what my degree is about or what it is for. Do you have a good way to describe our degree that I could use?
Promoting at the Pruneyard
Dear Promoting,
This is exactly what our “Special Ops” program is designed to help with. Special Ops is designed to help us explain exactly what it is we do. My personal favorite when dealing with family and friends is “I make the things you use everyday (like your computer) easier and less frustrating to use”. When in doubt, keep it simple.
For potential clients, I typically pick a piece of technology which they have on them and point out a problem that they typically have with it. For example, I might notice that their cell phone has a button which is too small for their finger. I would then infer a recurring problem which they would have because of it… and I roll the dice. I find that I am right about 80% of the time. Not only have I gotten job offers on the spot because of this trick, but it is also useful for convincing engineers that you know what you are talking about.
For more information on how you can join the Special Ops team, contact Dave Law (davehlaw (at)gmail.com).
Thanks,
Jon
Dear Jon,
What classes would you recommend to a first year student? Why?
Studious in San Mateo
Dear Studious,
Psych 273 was probably the most important class I have taken so far. Beyond that, I found both DSID courses (131 and 226) very useful. The ISE department tends to downplay these courses, but I believe that design is a very important part of our field. DSID 226 is about ergonomics and designing with the human body in mind. DSID 131 concentrates on interaction design (both physical and software). They teach very different things, so I would recommend using an elective and taking both even though only one is required.
Thanks,
Jon
Do you have something you want to ask Jon? Just email him at jhull (at) gbis.com
Synaptics Speakers Show Off Latest Touch Technology
by Dave Law
Students gathered in the Costanoan room of the Student Union on January 31st to hear a guest lecture from Kim D’Ewart and Thuy Le, Usability Researchers from Synaptics technologies.Synaptics is the world’s largest manufacturer of “capacitive sensing” or touch- technology. Over 70% of laptop touchpads work using Synaptics components. One of their most notable projects was designing the hardware for the first touch-sensitive iPod wheel, the components of which can be seen in the picture above.
Thuy and Kim work in the concept development side of Synaptics, spending their days coming up with new applications in which Synaptics technology might be used. They detailed some of the usability issues that they encounter in using touch technology, such as the lack of tactile feedback, and discussed how dedicated user research helped them mitigate some of these issues.
The focus then turned to their work in concept development. They discussed their methodology for performing extended ethnographies of users in their natural environments, to get an idea of their needs. They then showcased several prototypes generated as a result of such research, with devices ranging from touch sensitive cell phones to mp3 players and remote controls.
A lively Q&A session followed with discussion of the different types of touch technology and their applications, as well as what life at Synaptics is like in general. Overall it was a very informative and interesting night and we are happy to have had them come speak to us.
“Error, Error!!!”
by Jon Hull
There are lessons in Human Factors every day. I went over to a friend’s house to play poker and encountered the worst microwave of all time. One of the guys took a break from the game to make himself a snack. After a couple of minutes, we went to see what the holdup was. He was sitting there frantically pressing buttons on the microwave. “It keeps saying: ‘Error Error’” he told us with a worried look on his face. The display said: “Error: Invalid Time”.
He had entered in a time of 3:86, and the microwave was balking. Why does the user have to enter a “valid” time here? What was the worst that could happen if the microwave just went for 3 minutes plus 86 seconds?
Even more astounding was the fact that I had never run into this problem before. I started to think about whether it was easier for the engineers to program a microwave to balk at an “invalid” time or whether they actually had to do extra work to make it that way. After a bit of testing, I concluded that they had to do a significant amount of work to make the microwave accept only the “correctly formatted” times.
Let me repeat that: They did extra work to make their product less usable.
I have heard time and time again that computers are inherently difficult to use, and that our job is to overcome this, but I have never believed that. Instead I believe that the people who design the lowest levels of software are inherently anti-social. I believe that the reason our computers act like DMV employees, is that the core of our system software was programmed by people who want to work at the DMV.
Because these assemblers and programming languages are used to write all other software, their user-hostility bubbles up into all of our programs.
Let me give an example. In mathematics, you are not allowed to divide a number by zero. Still, mathematicians do it by accident all the time. When they do, do they run around screaming “Error, Error!!!”? Do their heads explode? Do they throw a tantrum, refusing to do any more work until someone else removes the offending zero?
OK, I did know one guy who would scream “Error, Error!!!” in a robot voice, but he was not very user-friendly either. Most mathematicians will go back to before the problem and re-work it. Most computer chips on the other hand, throw a tantrum. They crash the program, causing the user to loose all their work. Until a few years ago, dividing by zero would crash the entire computer.
Everything has been set-up so that the computer throws a tantrum if a programmer makes a mistake. Of course, anyone who has taken a programming class will know that the standard answer to this is that a good programmer will not make any mistakes. Human Factors tells us that this is not realistic, and that every user pays the price.
This problem is so entrenched in our psyche that it may not seem that there is any other way, but there is… and like most good ideas it is extremely simple. When the program tries to do something that doesn’t make sense, the computer makes a note of it (to help fix it later) and then returns “undefined” as the answer. This is what your spreadsheet does if you try to divide by zero.
In fact, many chips today already have this ability. This is why only the offending program is crashed rather than the whole computer. The system software catches the “undefined” and then crashes the program on purpose because this is the “accepted behavior”. There is no reason for this to happen besides the anti-social philosophies of operating system programmers.
It is time that we bring Human Factors to the lowest level of the machine. I know it is a scary place, with all the ones and zeros. But it is also the place where we can do the most good. One tiny change at that level will affect every program which is based on it. Imagine how much better the world would be if our computers were user-friendly by default.
Texting with T9
by Roger Santos
On Jan 9th, Apple introduced the new iPhone. It’s a wonderful looking device that doesn’t appear to have any buttons – see Ellen’s article for a full description. Compare this with the Blackberry and other smartphones that have a tiny qwerty keyboard that take up half of the device. People use these tiny keyboards to send text messages or email. However, if you’re like me you use your alpha numeric key pad on the cheap phone that was given to you when you signed up for cell plan. Chances are, to input text, you use “spell mode” or something called T9. I prefer T9 myself.
Now before I share my story with you, I want to explain what T9 is for those out there who might not be familiar with it. T9 is predictive text technology that stands for Text on 9 keys. It started showing up on cell phones in the mid 90’s and was touted as a much more efficient way to enter text in a phone as compared with the ABC mode most people used. After using it, I can say that it is much faster than using the standard ABC mode.
On recent trip to Austin, my wife and I decided to only take one cell phone. While away, my wife was to communicate with her brother, who lives in Germany, about arrangements to visit him. She started to use my phone to text him about the flight arrangements when her battle with T9 first started. After finding the new message function, which took some time on its own, my wife first tried to get a “v” and ended up typing “tut”.
“What the…why did your phone type ‘tut’?” My wife asked.
“Because you typed it,” I replied.
“No I didn’t. I typed ‘v’.”
“No…you spelled ‘tut’…your pressed 888 and the phone thought you meant to spell ‘tut’.”
“Huh?” She answered with complete bewilderment and a tone of coming frustration.
“You’re using T9.”
“What’s that?”
Now, she asked that question as if she wanted to know, but after 10 seconds it was clear that she couldn’t care less. After I started to explain what T9 was, I could already tell she wanted to hear no more, and wanted me to change the mode back to spell. None the less, I tried to explain hoping she would want to use T9. I don’t know who was more naïve that afternoon – me or her. Since I know she’ll read this article, I’ll play it safe and say,
“Susi, I was definitely the naïve one.”
“Ok, what are your trying to type?”
“very,” she said.
“Alright, so you type ‘8379’ and that spells ‘very’.”
“How do I know what numbers spell which words? Do I have to memorize them or what?” She quipped.
Oh boy, I thought to myself. I threw up my arms and changed the mode for her. Not even a minute later she was done with her message and off it went to Germany. The truth is most people are like my wife. I asked some friends about T9 and most of them hadn’t even heard of it. Most them had smartphones with tiny qwerty keyboards that they used to enter their text and had no need for T9. Those who had regular cell phones used the ABC mode, and said that they just wrote short messages and didn’t really need to speed up the process.
I don’t think the developers of T9 intended to design a method that was hard to learn, but they didn’t make it easy to learn either. We all know that when we first try something we don’t bother to read the manual, and most of the time we don’t have access to the manual. But in the case of T9, I don’t even think a manual would help some people. In my wife’s case, someone who read the manual couldn’t even explain it to her. Yeah, I was definitely the naïve one.
iPhone Hype
by Ellen Salud
If you made it to Mac World this year you may have been lucky enough to check out the iPhone, or better yet, actually discover first hand, what the hype is all about. If you weren’t among those ooh-ing and aah-ing over the innovative Apple Inc. technology, you’ve probably heard about it through recent news on Cisco-Apple negotiations over the name “iPhone.” Wherever you ‘ve come across the iPhone hype, there is no doubt that the iPhone fever has already spread. Just look at the evidence by browsing through EBAY– iPhone domain names and email addresses are already hot bidding items, and the device isn’t even selling yet. You can even find various brand name cell phones masquerading as iPhones with the clever do-it-yourself paper craft mask!
In a recent survey, potential consumers were asked to comment on their views and expectations of the iPhone. More participants admitted that they hadn’t even seen the device in person, but images, video clips, and round-the-way news had spread the desire for many of them to get their hands one. Many participants commented on the visual and functional appeal that the device appeared to offer, and wouldn’t doubt it as an exceptional piece of technology to follow what they had already experienced with the iPod. How could they not? Apple Inc has cleverly incorporated a widescreen iPod, mobile phone, internet, and media device in one package. Enhanced features and functionality include a multi-touch screen with pinching and touch scroll capabilities (reminding me of Spielberg’s Minority Report), which allow size manipulation of images and music media. Not to mention, it has a sleek design.
Sounds really good so far, doesn’t it? Well, of course life can’t be perfect, so let me shed some concerns some surveyed participants expressed. Occupational therapist and SJSU alumni Gail Gabriel expressed excitement about the innovative iPhone. She comments, “…taking all the advanced technology and integrating it into one system… smart move!” In contrast, Gabriel expressed some concerns bout how comfortable users may be interacting with the device:
“I have a few concerns with the size and how a human hand [may] comfortably utilize the phone. From the pictures and reviews, there’s no mention of buttons on the side—instead, just a multi-touch screen. Typically phones are supposed to be operated with one hand, not two, and yet there are no buttons on the side?! The thumb is actually the most important part of the hand; it is the only digit that allows the hand to perform fine motor activities (i.e. write, grasp and release, open and close). With cell phones today, people always use their thumb to dial, flip, or text [message]. Holding the phone with one hand and tapping with the other doesn’t seem to be very ideal.”
Gabriel’s concern is similar to that which users have expressed with the LG Chocolate phone, which features a touch pad. The ability to manipulate the Chocolate’s touch pad often depends on hand and finger size. In combination with the LG’s dimensions, and positioning of touch keys, users have reported accidentally pressing the wrong “button” even with the gentlest skim of their finger across the sensitive touch pad. However, many users accept this as a compromise for the sleek and elegant visual appeal of the Chocolate. Perhaps, this may be what to expect with the iPhone? We’ll see….
Christian Sumabat, SJSU Department of Engineering Alumni, also expressed his view on the iPhone. Overall, he explains that it’s a “Great all around [device].” Sumabat continues to express concern about durability, “We’ve all dropped phones before; I’ve not seen [the iPhone’s] breaking threshold… not necessarily a drawback, but rather a concern, is that since it’s a multi functional phone, if it happens to break or get damaged, you’re not only losing your phone but also your media player, internet device, etc.” It’s imaginable that this will be a concern for most iPhone consumers since it’s expected at a hefty price between $500-$600. Come June, consumers should surely look into insurance plans for their iPhone investments.
So far, it sounds like the Apple Inc’s marketing and advertising crew has done their part, as the iPhone hype continues. For now, we can only wait to see if our expectations will be satisfied and concerns be addressed in June, the product’s official release date. Then, the masses will be able to better judge. Stay tuned for the June update…
How To Write Your Own 30-Second Commercial
by Dave Law
For the January 18th meeting of SpecialOps, student Lisa Devlin was kind enough to give a workshop on how to write your own “30 second commercial”. According to Lisa, the purpose of a 30 second commercial is different from a traditional “elevator speech” in that its purpose is not to explain the entirety of what you do for a living in 30 seconds. Rather, it is to deliver a sentence or two that piques the listener’s interest and gets them to ask you questions, allowing you to have a conversation in which you can explain Human Factors for as long as you feel like.
We quickly realized that saying “I do Human Factors” when you first meet someone is usually a bad idea. It is not a widely understood term and often results in the listener reluctantly asking “ok, so what is Human Factors?”, then politely nodding while you explain, rather than being genuinely interested in what you do. A better tactic is to explain the most interesting aspect of what you do with a simple sentence (e.g. interface design, user research, ergonomics), then wait for them to ask “Wow! How do I get a cool job like that?”
The meeting ended with attendees breaking into groups and coming up with new 30 second commercials, which were then presented in round-table fashion.
Special thanks go to Lisa Devlin for organizing the workshop and Kirsten Peters for ordering the free pizza!
FREE – HFES Conference at CSU Long Beach, Feb 24th!
by D’Anne Harp
There’s another Human Factors conference coming to California, only this one is free, includes “complimentary refreshments AND lunch”, lasts only one day, and there will be no volunteering involved. What’s not to love?
This conference is advertised as a “local forum for the exchange of ideas in all areas of human factors, and an opportunity to meet students in the MS Human Factors Psychology Program at Cal State Long Beach and surrounding schools.” I followed up on this and confirmed that the CSU Northridge students have been encouraged to attend, so for those of you who connected with these students at the national conference, this is a great opportunity for you. 
For those of you who want to get some presentation experience in a low-pressure environment, this could be a good opportunity for you as well. This conference may still be accepting proposals for poster sessions, so if you have a project that you’d like to display, or even a research proposal, this is your opportunity to get some exposure and solicit new ideas.
The final program will be published next week with the abstracts of poster submissions, so Vanessa encouraged me to let our chapter know about this opportunity and to submit abstracts. There will be industry attendees and students from other schools at this conference, so this will be a great opportunity to meet people and workshop your project / theses / special topics.
The conference agenda includes:
9:00 – 10:00 AM George Erich Brogmus, MS, CPE, M.Erg.S.
Applied Occupational Ergonomics
10:00-12:00 PM Michael A. Crognale, Ph.D.
Processing in the visual system: Some factors contributing to visual performance
12:00 - 2:00 PM Lunch & poster session
2:00 – 3:00 PM Anthony D. Andre, Ph.D.
3:00 – 4:00 PM Mentoring Breakout Sessions
This is the high-level summary. For more information, visit the conference page.
We’d like to make this into a road trip for our chapter, so if you’re interested, follow these easy steps:
1) Fill out the registration form:
(All they need is your name, school, and email address. Ignore the registration date)
2)
It sounds like fun! Hope to see you there!
From the Editor
by Jon Hull
The newsletter team has been hard at work to bring you another exciting issue. We have been very pleased by the response to the first issue, and hope to bring you many more issues of the same great quality.
I am very happy with the humor and style which our contributers have brought to this issue. Roger Santos has written an amusing story about using the “T9″ entry mode on his cell phone. D’Anne Harp has an article on the upcoming conference put on by our friends at CSU. We even have an article on Apple’s new iPhone from Ellen Salud.
This is the first issue to be published on the new website. This will allow you to comment on the articles. Feel free to let us know what you think of a particular article. Not only will this help us to give you more of what you want, but it may also generate some interesting discussions. Special thanks to our esteemed president, Dave Law, for getting the website up and running.
We have much more planned for the future… so stay tuned! Enjoy
