Many view the interaction between a human and a machine as a dialogue, somewhat analogous to a conversation between humans. Substantial research has been done on providing dialogue systems with characteristics that make them more suitable for use, given the (current) lack of intelligence in computer behavior., Such dialogues are csi linear in nature, and composed of a time-ordered WMS sequence of tokens, statements, and/or queries. The time sequencing is used to provide the context in which input can be interpreted either by amode or by syntax rules. A mode maintains the context Displays input Devices over an extended period of time; syntax rules maintain the context over shorter times. Although we know that people form plans of action to achieve some goal, we are not sure that we know enough about the process to identify all the sequences that may be needed to carry out the user's plans. This situation is exacerbated when the goals themselves are ill-defined, for example, during exploratory work. New technologies such as raster displays and pointing devices provide several independent and orthogonal pieces of information simultaneously. Workstation capabilities are being extended to provide 3D imaging in real time, with color, texture, and depth cues. At the same time, more flexible input devices are being developed, for example pressure-sensitive touch tablets? Many evolutionary developments fail to exploit this parallelism. Such data as mouse position is encoded as a special character sequenceembedded in the otherwise linear input stream. More sophisticated developments such as Smalltalk, use the 2D nature of the display surface and pointing device to provide multiple, concurrent dialogue streams. Each dialogue stream, however, often retainsmuch of its time-sequential nature. This approach, while greatly extending the expressive power of the dialogue, adds a layer of complexity in the user's mentalmodelofthe system. As the scale of the independent dialogues becomes small, and the number of them correspondingly larger, the state of the total dialogue becomes so complex it cannot be wholly remembered or comprehended. Techniques are available to palliate this,

Many modern human-computer interfaces are difficult for people to use. This is often because these interfaces make no significant attempt to communicate with the people who use them. In other words, these interfaces are uncooperative: They do not adapt themselves to their users' needs and they are insensitive to human foibles. Ordinary command line interfaces such as that of the UNIX C shell (csh) are intolerant of even the most simple input errors, even when those errors have obvious corrections. An "intelligent" UNIX shell interface, on the other hand, would make use of knowledge and interaction context in order to interpret --- and as necessary, correct --- its users' commands. Valet is a prototype of such an "intelligent" interface to the UNIX C shell. Valet adds knowledge-based parsing and input correction to the shell by encapsulating an ordinary C shell process within a framework that allows Valet to control the shell's input and output. Valet intercepts shell commands and par...

Everyone wants to have a "user friendly " system, but no one can really define what user friendly is. A friend suggests that we should be talking about "user seductive " rather than user friendly. The person using an online catalog should perceive a natural relationship and not have to stop to think about his or her interaction with the computer. The truth of the matter is that an online catalog is so much better than a card catalog that library patrons will put up with a lot of "unfriendly " things in an automated system. The term user friendly has become a buzzword. Everyone would probably agree that online library systems should be approachable. However, despite efforts to make system use easier, many first-time users still feel intimidated. The major cause of user fear may be the everyday jargon used by those persons who are the corporate keepers of the Holy Grail i.e., automated library systems. Often the words used in discussing online

The study examined students ’ thinking processes when using database applications to solve an ill-structured business problem; it also investigated the effect of two computer interfaces (command language and menu selection) on the thinking processes. The findings revealed that subjects used a subgoal analysis method in solving the assigned problem. When computer problems were encountered, the working backward method was used. The computer problems that affected problem-solving processes included complex database procedures, insufficient knowledge on using the software, software errors, and undetected errors in execution results. Further, subjects in the command language group were more likely to skip the consideration of relevant factors for making decisions due to the complicated steps and difficult-to-remember commands required in using the interface. The computer interface affected the quality of the factors considered for decision making while solving ill-structured business problems. In today’s complex and competitive businesses, the ability to organize useful information for decision making is essential. Businesses must hire employees who are capable of thinking through a process. Therefore, one of the objectives in today’s business education curriculum is to prepare students to be able to manage, control, and effectively use information for problem solving