Aniko Sandor

Cursor Control Device Test Battery: Development and Application

A test battery was developed for cursor control device evaluation. Four tasks were taken from ISO 9241–9, and three from previous studies conducted at NASA. The tasks focused on basic movements such as pointing, clicking, and dragging. Four cursor control devices were evaluated with and without Extravehicular Activity (EVA) gloves to identify desirable cursor control device characteristics for NASA missions: a large trackball, a Hulapoint mouse, a small trackball, and an aircraft trackball. Conclusions include: 1) the test battery is an efficient tool for differentiating among input devices; 2) devices used with gloves have to be larger, and should allow good hand positioning to counteract the lack of tactile feedback; 3) none of the devices, as designed, were ideal for operation with EVA gloves.

Human-system interfaces design

Abstract In order to provide some guidance for preventing human interface problems that could affect human performance and safety during a space mission, this chapter on human-system interface design primarily covers the design of the cockpit, from a technical and process point of view, and the related design of visual-aural alert system and crew seats. In addition, this chapter covers the topic of “contact hazards” with reference to sharp edges, touch temperature, and the specific issue of electroshock hazards during extravehicular activities (EVA).

Human Factors Practitioners Police or Partners? The Challenges of Legislating Usability

There is an age-old debate regarding whether human factors/usability professionals should play the role of police or collaborative team member. While the prevalent practice is that we avoid the authoritarian role of “police”, two questions remain: 1) is the softer approach really working in most organizations? and 2) which role will ensure usability when development is outsourced? This panel will explore usability cultures and challenges in several different government and industry organizations. Panel members from NASA will present some advances in developing usability requirements for verifying contractor products, and will describe recent work to objectify usability-related characteristics, such as consistency and legibility. Panel members representing large (Hewlett-Packard) and small (Extreme Networks) information technology companies will describe their unique challenges and attempts made toward ensuring usability of their products.

Cursor Control Device Test Battery

A software-based test battery was developed for cursor control device evaluation. Five tasks were taken from ISO 9241-9, and four from studies conducted at NASA. The tasks focus on basic movements such as pointing, clicking, and dragging. The test battery allows for standardized comparisons across input devices through use of a standard suite of basic tasks and data collection software. The test battery can also be used for other types of investigations (e.g., gloved vs. ungloved performance). The demonstration will showcase the software and give the audience the opportunity to operate various cursor control devices using the tasks in the test battery.