Abstract
This paper argues that two limitations restrict the utility of interface specification languages. Firstly, they provide no means of capturing the cognitive conditions that lead to operator ‘error’. This makes it difficult to distinguish between the normal behaviour of an expert and the mistakes that often lead to problems for novices. The second weakness is that interface notations cannot easily be used to represent and reason about asynchronous failures. This prevents designers from identifying solutions to failures that could occur at many different points during interaction. These are significant limitations because they reflect a pre-occupation with normative behaviour. Unless we have some means of analysing system failure and operator error then we will continue to have interfaces that are designed to support perfect users in perfect environments.
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Johnson, C., Gray, P. (1996). Supporting Error-Driven Design. In: Bodart, F., Vanderdonckt, J. (eds) Design, Specification and Verification of Interactive Systems ’96. Eurographics. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7491-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-7491-3_11
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