Murray, thank you very much for this story. I really enjoy reading personal
accounts of people and their encounters with technology. And I certainly
agree that experience of a wide range of users is essential. The more often
we can actually stand and peer over someone's shoulder while they are using
a machine, the more we can marvel at how personalised is each individual's
experience of what appears at first to be very standardised equipment.
Sue
>
> I learned over the course of nine years at CSUS that each
> person's approach to a computer very much comes from their
> own experiences with technology, often going back to how
> they dealt with new things in their childhood. Udvardy had
> always embraced the new and different and had travelled the
> world, taking many risks as he went. Jim was by contrast
> very much a traditionalist, a family man with high school
> football-playing sons, trained as a expert taxidermist, and
> much more comfortable with stainless steel tools than a
> mystery box with a power switch.
>
> I think that people whose job it is to develop or consult
> on the use of computer software should have experience
> working with a wide variety of users so that they can better
> understand their reactions to the complexity of the user
> interfaces shoved in front of their eyes. A word processor
> of 2005 is still a horribly daunting beast to many people.
>
> Murray
>
> [1] In Memoriam: Miklos Udvardy. (highly recommended)
> http://www.24hourscholar.com/p/articles/mi_qa3793/is_199901/ai_n8836357
> ......................................................................
> Murray Altheim http://www.altheim.com/murray/
> Strategic & Service Development
> The Open University Library
> Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK
>
> Ils ont l'orteil de Bouc, & d'un Chevreil l'oreille,
> La corne d'un Chamois, & la face vermeille
> Comme un rouge Croissant: & dancent toute nuict
> Dedans un carrefour, ou pres d'une eau qui bruict.
>
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