User friendly future: Applications of new information technology

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper considers the clinic theme, "What Is User Friendly?" from a scientific and technical perspective. As Burch has observed in the introduction to a bibliography on computer ergonomics and user friendly design, the term user friendly is an anomaly as a technical term: "Most words borrowed from science enter the popular language stream long after their associated discoveries have become history. The term 'user friendly' is an exception to this rule; it became popular long before a scientific basis for 'user friendliness' had even been looked for." The current emphasis on user friendliness is both market- and technology-driven. There is an interest in making computers more useful tools for people who are not computer specialists, thus expanding the potential user population; and there are new technological components that may be employed to make systems easier to use.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationWhat is User Friendly?
EditorsF W Lancaster
PublisherUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
StatePublished - 1986

Publication series

NameClinic on Library Applications of Data Processing
Volume23
ISSN (Print)0069-4789

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