This discussion of the utilization by computer designers and users of metaphors as organizing structures for dealing with the complexity of behavior of human/computer interfaces begins by identifying three types of metaphor that describe various aspects of human-computer interface design, i.e., activity, mode of interaction, and task domain. The…

A common command language has been proposed for use by systems designers and those developing new user interfaces. There is controversy over the appropriateness of a standard command language, and those who are working in artificial intelligence believe that natural language interfaces will make it unnecessary for users to learn such a language,…

Describes the inability of traditional subject index terms to represent relational information among concepts, and the development of frame based knowledge representation methods that provide relational semantic representations of documents and user queries. The discussion covers research in user interfaces and automatic document classifications,…

An automated library routine management system was developed in-house to create system unique to the Library and Information Center, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas. A modular approach was used to allow continuity in operations and services as system was implemented. Acronyms and computer accounts and file names are appended.…

The first of two papers describes the rewriting of the DIALOG system software for DIALOG Version 2, and discusses both software and user interface issues. The second describes the development of Canadian produced scientific and technical databases and discusses issues concerning user training. (CLB)

Discusses the impact of research in artificial intelligence and human computer interaction on the design of bibliographic information retrieval systems, and presents design principles of a prototype system that uses semantically based searches and a knowledge base consisting of conceptual frames. (10 references) (CLB)

This paper presents framework specifications for an instructional systems development (ISD) expert system. The goal of the proposed ISD expert system is to improve the means by which educators design, produce, and evaluate the instructional development process. In the past several decades, research and theory development in the fields of…

This paper describes the development of a software program which incorporates interactive graphics techniques into a teaching and research environment at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion, Israel, and the experience of transferring the software from mainframe to personal computer (PC) operating systems at the California Institute of…

This paper describes in detail the design and operation of the program budgeting and accounting system developed for use at the Wisconsin Center for Cognitive Learning (CCL), an educational research and development center based at the University of Wisconsin/Madison. The CCL system uses a computer to generate a variety of budget data and…

Electronics Engineering Technology majors in the Industrial and Engineering Technology department at Central Michigan University have developed many real-world projects that represent the type of problem-solving projects encouraged by industry. Two projects that can be used by other educators as freestanding projects or as the core for further…

Five papers discuss factors affecting human interactions with online information systems. Topics covered include the use of discourse analysis for interaction functions specification; the impact of optical data disks; the need for research into the search process; user access to data dictionaries; and the development of full text systems. (CLB)

MEDIT, a World Wide Web-based environment, aims at offering complementary support to traditional educational practices. The MEDIT approach distinguishes a set of virtual working spaces and provides the appropriate services for each of them. In addition to a generic hypermedia authoring system, designers implemented advanced tools for multiple view…