BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Poor device design that fails to adequately account for user needs, cognition, and behavior is often responsible for use errors resulting in adverse events. This poor device design is also often latent, and could be responsible for "No Fault Found" (NFF) reporting, in which medical devices sent for repair by clinical users are found to be operating as intended. Unresolved NFF reports may contribute to incident under reporting, clinical user frustration, and biomedical engineering technologist inefficacy. This study uses human factors engineering methods to investigate the relationship between NFF reporting frequency and device usability. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An analysis of medical equipment maintenance data was conducted to identify devices with a high NFF reporting frequency. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews and heuristic evaluations were performed in order to identify potential usability issues. Finally, usability testing was conducted in order to validate that latent usability related design faults result in a higher frequency of NFF reporting. RESULTS: The analysis of medical equipment maintenance data identified six devices with a high NFF reporting frequency. Semi-structured interviews, heuristic evaluations and usability testing revealed that usability issues caused a significant portion of the NFF reports. Other factors suspected to contribute to increased NFF reporting include accessory issues, intermittent faults and environmental issues. Usability testing conducted on three of the devices revealed 23 latent usability related design faults. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that latent usability related design faults manifest themselves as an increase in NFF reporting and that devices containing usability related design faults can be identified through an analysis of medical equipment maintenance data.

In this paper, we present a case study wherein several work analysis methods were incorporated in the design of a graphical interface for a petrochemical production process. We follow this case from the application of the work analysis methods, through the consolidation of information requirements, to the design of a novel interface that integrates the requirements. The findings confirm earlier assertions that task-based and work domain-based analysis frameworks identify unique and complementary requirements for effective information systems that are intended to support supervisory control of complex systems. It further provides the first industrial demonstration of ecological interface forms based on integrated task-and work domain-based work requirements.

Increasingly, people are being required to perform open-ended intellectual tasks that require discretionary decision making. These demands require a relatively unique approach to the design of computer-based support tools. A review of the characteristics associated with the global knowledge-based economy strongly suggests that there will be an increasing need for workers, managers, and organizations to adapt to change and novelty. This is equivalent to a call for designing computer tools that foster continuous learning. There are reasons to believe that the need to support adaptation and continuous learning will only increase. Thus, in the new millennium HCI should be concerned with explicitly designing for worker adaptation. The cognitive work analysis framework is briefly described as a potential programmatic approach to this practical design challenge.

This article offers a commentary on Richardson, Ormerod, and Shepherd (in press) while building on the previous discussion in this journal of the relative merits of task analysis and systems analysis in human–computer interface design [1,2,7]. The SGT scheme described by Richardson et al. represents a valuable contribution to the work analyst’s toolkit. However, it is limited in the extent to which it can identify the information requirements associated with unanticipated events. The abstraction hierarchy [23] is an event-independent work domain analysis technique that can be used to overcome this limitation while still satisfying the criteria of device-independence and psychological relevance. Future research should integrate the complementary advantages of SGT and the abstraction hierarchy into a single, unified framework for work analysis.

Article Free Access Share on An experimental evaluation of transparent menu usage Authors: Beverly L. Harrison Dept. of Industrial Engineering and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G9 and Alias/Wavefront, 110 Richmond Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1 Dept. of Industrial Engineering and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G9 and Alias/Wavefront, 110 Richmond Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1View Profile , Kim J. Vicente Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G9 Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 3G9View Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '96: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsApril 1996 Pages 391–398https://doi.org/10.1145/238386.238583Published:13 April 1996Publication History 33citation1,125DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations33Total Downloads1,125Last 12 Months52Last 6 weeks6 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteView all FormatsPDF

Article Transparent layered user interfaces: an evaluation of a display design to enhance focused and divided attention Share on Authors: Beverly L. Harrison Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4 and Alias Research Ltd., 110 Richmond St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1 Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4 and Alias Research Ltd., 110 Richmond St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1View Profile , Hiroshi Ishii NTT Human Interface Lab, 1-2356 Take, Yokosuka-Shi, Kanagawa, 238-03 Japan NTT Human Interface Lab, 1-2356 Take, Yokosuka-Shi, Kanagawa, 238-03 JapanView Profile , Kim J. Vicente Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4 Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4View Profile , William A. S. Buxton Alias Research Ltd., 110 Richmond St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1 and Dept. of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4 Alias Research Ltd., 110 Richmond St. East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1P1 and Dept. of Computer Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A4View Profile Authors Info & Claims CHI '95: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsMay 1995 Pages 317–324https://doi.org/10.1145/223904.223945Online:01 May 1995Publication History 83citation2,496DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations83Total Downloads2,496Last 12 Months100Last 6 weeks9 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

The central research issue addressed by this paper is how we can design computer interfaces that better support human attention and better maintain the fluency of work.To accomplish this we propose to use semi-transparent user interface objects.This paper reports on an experimental evaluation which provides both valuable insights into design parameters and suggests a systematic evaluation methodology.For this study, we used a variablytransparent tool palette superimposed over different background content, combining text, wire-frame or line art images, and solid images.The experiment explores the issue of focused attention and interference, by varying both visual distinctiveness and levels of transparency.

This paper describes two experiments evaluating ecological interface design (EID), a novel theoretical framework for the design of interfaces for complex human-machine systems. According to EID, to properly support operator problem solving activities, an interface should display both the physical and functional properties of the work domain in the form of a multilevel representation based on the abstraction hierarchy. To evaluate this claim, two interfaces for a thermal-hydraulic process simulation were developed, one based on a traditional format containing only physical information (P) and another based on EID which also contained information about higher-order functional variables (P+F). The findings of Experiment 1 are consistent with the claim that an interface based on an abstraction hierarchy representation can provide more support for problem solving than an interface based on physical variables alone, thereby providing some initial support for the EID framework. There was also some evidence to indicate that theoretical expertise is required to enjoy the full benefits of the P+F interface. The findings of Experiment 2 indicate that subjects who exhibited effective diagnosis performance using the P+F interface tended to start their search at a high level of abstraction and gradually work their way down to more detailed levels, as predicted. Furthermore, previous experience with the DURESS system was found to be the most reliable background variable that predicted performance.>

A theoretical framework for designing interfaces for complex human-machine systems is proposed. The framework, called ecological interface design (EID), is based on the skills, rules, and knowledge taxonomy of cognitive control. The basic goals of EID are not to force processing to a higher level than the demands of the task require, and to support each of the three levels of cognitive control. Thus, an EID interface should not contribute to the difficulty of the task, and at the same time, it should support the entire range of activities that operators will be faced with. Three prescriptive design principles are suggested to achieve this objective, each directed at supporting a particular level of cognitive control. Particular attention is paid to presenting a coherent deductive argument justifying the principles of EID. Support for the EID framework is discussed. Some issues for future research are outlined.>

The topic of the present article is the design of ecological interfaces for advanced technological systems. Ecological interfaces are characteristic by representing the interior functional structures and states of a system in the human‐machine interface in a way that matches the immediate task and the cognitive characteristics of the user. It is argued that the present trend in technological development towards large, complex, and rapidly changing socio‐technical systems makes these kinds of interfaces important for system reliability and safety.