Lars Peter Jensen

An ecological man-machine interface for temporal visualization

This paper concerns the design of man-machine systems, especially the interface between man and machme (MMI). Three different models of human information processing are used to extract theoretical guidelines for designing MMI’s to support human mental activity. The models, all developed by Professor Jens Rasmussen Denmark, are: Skill-, Ruleand Knowledgebased behaviour, Abstraction hierarchies and Decision ladder. Based on the extracted guidelines for ecological man machme interfaee a new viewport for both overview and detailed information is developed : The Spider display. The display is presented and explained and a link to the 3 models is made showing that the Spider display can be used as a tool for the system designer attempting to design an ecological display, which match the operator’s way of thinking and acting.