[Martin Taylor 931206 17:50]
Without further comment, except "CEVs are created by PIFs" I forward an
announcement that just arrived of a seminar that I may attend.
···
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Guides for the Design of Ecological Information Systems
Jens Rasmussen
Risoe National Laboratory
Roskilde, Denmark
The aim of ecological information system design is to "make visible the
invisible", that is, to make the internal relationships that constrain the
work environment's behaviour directly visible on the surface of the
interface. This contrasts with the more traditional practice of designing
an interface to support a set of preplanned task procedures. One of the
important benefits of the ecological approach is that it can support
improvisation to meet unforeseen task requirements, which is an important
set of demands in contemporary, dynamic work environments. If the users
one is trying to support are interface designers then it makes sense to
apply the same approach. Thus, by recursion, support for design should be
aimed at making the constraints on design choices directly visible at the
surface of the information system, rather than trying to support rigid
guidelines aimed at controlling the design process. As a result, an
ecological information system for design should make explicit the
"territory" -- the space of possibilities -- in which designers navigate,
thereby providing a flexible form of support. The presentation will
discuss a framework for design guides based on this view.
Friday, December 17, 1993, 11:00 am
RS208, Department of Industrial Engineering
University of Toronto