9.639 complexity & the user?

Humanist (mccarty@phoenix.Princeton.EDU)
Tue, 19 Mar 1996 18:25:21 -0500 (EST)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 9, No. 639.
Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Princeton/Rutgers)
Information at http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/

[1] From: ari kambouris <aristotl@oeonline.com> (25)
Subject: Complexity and User interaction refs

Dear Humanities listers,

I have been coming to a dead end in finding publications and references on
the following two topics. I would appreciate any suggestions and
references that you may have.

1. We are currently developing a touch-screen kiosk program that will
cover 200 works of art in the Detroit Institute of Arts' permanent
collection. One of the issues with which we have been concerned is the
difference in the way that users interact in a touch-screen environment as
opposed to a mouse-driven environment. Aside from anecdotal evidence and
one study on museum systems, B. Shneiderman et al. (1989), I have been
unable to locate any work done to summarize what has been studied in this
area, or if it has been done at all.

2. In determining the amount of information that users will deal with on
the screen and the complexity of the hyperlinks, we have found, in previous
test evaluations, that users seem to learn the conventions of the program
as they use it. I would be interested in references on the ability of
users to learn and manage increasingly higher levels of complexity.

Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions. If you have any
questions, please let me know directly.

Ari Kambouris

Hypermedia Coordinator
Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Ave
Detroit, MI 48202

313.833.1514 vox

313.833.9161 fax