DIALOG Information Services, one of many vendors offering the ERIC database as a CD-ROM product (DIALOG OnDisc ERIC), offers end users a choice of searching using either a menu- or a command-driven mode. The menu-driven EASY MENU is intended to relieve the user from learning search commands, and is said to be easier to learn and remember. The…

In a step toward creating a robust natural language understanding system which detects and avoids miscommunication, this artificial intelligence research report provides a taxonomy of miscommunication problems that arise in expert-apprentice dialogues (including misunderstandings, wrong communication, and bad analogies), and proposes a flexible…

This paper describes GUIDON-WATCH, a graphic interface that uses multiple windows and a mouse to allow a student to browse a knowledge base and view reasoning processes during diagnostic problem solving. The GUIDON project at Stanford University is investigating how knowledge-based systems can provide the basis for teaching programs, and this…

This examination of the aspects of computers and computer conferencing that can lead to their successful design and utilization focuses on task-related functions and emotional interactions in human communication and human-computer interactions. Such aspects of computer conferences as procedures, problems, advantages, and suggestions for future…

A national study of users and non-users of public access online catalog systems (OPACs) was undertaken at 29 libraries, representing 15 computer systems, to provide data and interpretations useful to system designers and library administrators. The findings indicate that users have overwhelmingly positive responses to OPACs. Non-users have…

Human factors engineering can be defined as the application of scientific principles, methods, and data drawn from a variety of disciplines to the development of engineering systems in which people play a significant role. Since human factors issues arise in every domain in which humans interact with the products of a technological society, six…

The current emphasis on energy conservation in buildings must be balanced by a careful consideration of how proposed approaches affect building occupants. A headlong rush toward building designs that conserve energy at the expense of the quality of buildings as judged by occupants would be a very shortsighted approach. There must be a continual…

The major findings and generalizations of nine separate experiments summarized in this report have come out of a program of research on human factors in telecommunications and teleconferencing systems at Johns Hopkins University. These findings, already published in greater detail in the open literature, relate to (1) how people naturally…

Presented is a report on a Research and Development program in the use of computer-assisted instruction to teach mathematics in grades 4 through 6. Approximately 60 computer terminals of the PLATO type were installed in elementary school classrooms, 4 terminals per classroom. Each student received one-half hour of mathematics lessons, via…

The Voice Interactive Analysis System study continued research and development of the LISTEN real-time, minicomputer based connected speech recognition system, within NAVTRAEQUIPCEN'S program of developing automatic speech technology in support of training. An attempt was made to identify the most effective features detected by the TTI-500 model…

The Network Measurement System (NMS) represents the implementation of a new approach to the performance measurement and evaluation of computer network systems and services. By focusing on the service delivered to network customers at their terminals, rather than on the internal mechanics of network operation, measurements can be obtained which are…

To minimize training time, an adaptive training model for optimizing path sequencing in computer aided instruction was developed. The model reduced a course to logical components or quanta, then plotted the material for possible sequences and evaluated each component quanta as to importance to subject assimilation. For implementation and testing,…

This paper deals with the use of two-way interactive cable television for adult education in Spartanburg, South Carolina. To make home data terminals both reliable and simple, a light remote handset was designed to connect to a basic modem that could be stored under a television set. The system could be operated in three modes by the television…

This manual provides documentation for the design, construction, and operation of an interactive electronics training panel developed for a computer assisted performance training carrel. The panel is a plug-in module designed to simulate electronic circuitry and a PMS-6 multimeter as required for a troubleshooting fundamentals lesson in an Air…

The search for a satisfactory computer graphics input system led to this version of an analog sheet encoder which is transparent and requires no special probes. The goal of the research was to provide high resolution touch input capabilities for an experimental minicomputer based intelligent terminal system. The technique explored is compatible…