ed-informatics.org

In past articles, we discussed human-illiterate computers, usability, memorability, learnability, Tognazzini’s Paradox, design integrity, simplicity, abstraction, discount usability testing, and personas. Now, we will discuss goals and tasks. These are similar terms, and sometimes used almost interchangeably. But using the terms task and goal sloppily is, according to expert software designers, an error that leads […]

In past articles, we discussed human-illiterate computers, and we discussed usability, memorability, learnability and Tognazzini’s Paradox: how  changing a single word can make big differences in usability. We also discussed design integrity, simplicity, abstraction, and discount usability testing. Now, we’ll talk about personas. It seems to me that personas are a bit like Critical Incident […]

Redundancy vs. diversity Redundancy with a stock of identical parts to replace failed components is a standard way to make industrial processes more reliable. For an ED mission-critical computer system, which needs to be up and running 24/7/365, one way to implement this is to have a backup server always ready to go, with recent […]

Robust. My dictionary defines it as ro·bust, adj. 1.strong and healthy; hardy; vigorous: a robust young man; a robust faith; a robust mind. 2.strongly or stoutly built: his robust frame. 3.suited to or requiring bodily strength or endurance: robust exercise. 4.rough, rude, or boisterous: robust drinkers and dancers. 5.rich and full-bodied: the robust flavor of […]

The Whorf-Sapir hypothesis says that our language shapes our thoughts. (Recently, there was a segment on NPR news about how important dinnertime was for kids, mostly because the discussion is a great place to learn new words and concepts.) So here’s a vocabulary word to use and contemplate as you think about ED systems: “brittle.” […]