The computer science of everyday things

Author

Thimbleby, Harold

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Middlesex Univ., London, UK

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

3

Lastpage

12

Abstract

Technology is fashionable, wonderful and getting better; Moore´s Law predicts substantial, sustained improvement (G. Moore, 1996). Yet the usability of `everyday things´ is low (video recorders being a notorious example). It seems to follow that improvements must be sought in areas outside technology, such as human factors. But a premise is wrong: in fact, the technology, i.e., the embedded computer science, is appalling! Obsolescence, a symptom of Moore´s Law, hides flawed design: poor products are replaced rather than fixed. The poor quality of the computer science of everyday things is eclipsed by the hope for fixing today´s problems with tomorrow´s consumption. The paper reviews Moore´s Law and the usability of everyday things; it shows that professional computer science can improve usability with ease. Improvement will be essential when ethical and environmental issues become, as they will, unavoidable design criteria

Keywords

ergonomics; human factors; professional aspects; social aspects of automation; user interfaces; Moore Law; computer science; design criteria; embedded computer programs; embedded computer science; environmental issues; ethical issues; everyday things; flawed design; human factors; mobile phones; obsolescence; professional computer science; programming user interfaces; sustained improvement; usability; user interfaces; video recorders; Computer science; Educational technology; Human factors; Mobile handsets; Moore´s Law; Product design; Shape measurement; Usability; User interfaces; World Wide Web;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

User Interface Conference, 2001. AUIC 2001. Proceedings. Second Australasian

Conference_Location

Gold Coast, Qld.

ISSN

1530-0951

Print_ISBN

0-7695-0969-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AUIC.2001.906270

Filename

906270