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Linda A. Roberts

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Publications by Linda A. Roberts (bibliography)

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1991
 
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Angiolillo, Joel S. and Roberts, Linda A. (1991): What Makes a Manual Look Easy to Use?. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 35th Annual Meeting 1991. pp. 222-224.

What makes a customer manual look attractive and easy to use? How do typeface, margins, tabs, color, style of headings, and so on, contribute to this perception? We believe that a manual that looks hard to use may discourage users from even trying to use it. Why struggle to make a manual accurate, well-written, and complete if users never turn to it in the first place? In the study reported here, eighteen subjects ranked six different customer manuals on nineteen dimensions, for example, use of color and overall attractiveness. The manuals were actual production manuals that were written to be used by full-time administrators of complicated electronic equipment. Analyses of the data clearly show that those features that help the user to find information (i.e., tabs, headings, and an impression of good organization) are important in determining judgments of perceived ease of use.

© All rights reserved Angiolillo and Roberts and/or Human Factors Society

1990
 
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Savage, Pamela A., Kemp, David G., Millen, David R. and Roberts, Linda A. (1990): The Effectiveness of Traditional versus Computer-Based Training Techniques. In: D., Woods, and E., Roth, (eds.) Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 34th Annual Meeting 1990, Santa Monica, USA. pp. 234-238.

The primary goal of this research was to examine the relative effectiveness of traditional versus computer-based training techniques. Additional goals were to assess how presentation modality and dynamic versus static presentation of material affects learning. Four training techniques were evaluated: paper instructions, computer simulations with on-screen text instructions, computer simulations with auditory instructions, and computer simulations with on-screen text and auditory instructions. Sixty subjects performed four tasks using a computer-based on-screen simulation of a display telephone. Before executing each task, subjects in each of the four treatment groups received a brief training session. Dependent measures consisted of time to complete the tasks, error rate, and subjective measures of how well the various training techniques were liked. An analysis of variance indicated that computer simulations with auditory instructions and simulations with combined modality instructions resulted in task performance times that were significantly less than those obtained following paper instructions. Tasks performed following computer-based training had a significantly lower error rate than did tasks performed without instructions. No significant differences were found among the training techniques for subjective measures of how well the training techniques were liked.

© All rights reserved Savage et al. and/or Human Factors Society

1988
 
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Roberts, Linda A. and Angiolillo-Bent, Joel (1988): The Relative Pleasantness and Distinctiveness of a Variety of Auditory Patterns. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 554-557.

There are numerous instances in which auditory patterns could be employed to give a variety of signals or messages. The aim of this research was to investigate those sound qualities which contribute to an auditory signal's pleasantness and distinctiveness. A variety of auditory schemes were assessed, based on a number of different musical and acoustic dimensions. It was observed that patterns that varied along the rhythmic domain were most easily distinguished while frequency modulated intervals were judged to be most pleasant. The scheme that optimized both distinctiveness and pleasantness entailed four-note melodic sequences.

© All rights reserved Roberts and Angiolillo-Bent and/or Human Factors Society

 
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Changes to this page (author)

26 Jun 2007: Modified
26 Jun 2007: Modified
25 Jun 2007: Added

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URL: http://www.interaction-design.org/references/authors/linda_a__roberts.html
Jun 18

Computer programs emerge as the outcome of complex human processes of cognition, communication and negotiation, which serve to establish the meaningful embedding of the computer system in its intended use context.

-- Floyd, 1992, p. 24

 
 

Featured chapter

Read the fascinating history of Wearable Computing, told by its father, Steve Mann

Read Steve's chapter !

 
 

Latest books

The Social Design of Technical Systems: Building technologies for communities
by Brian Whitworth and Adnan Ahmad

 
Start reading

The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed.
by Mads Soegaard and Rikke Friis Dam

 
Start reading
 
 

Help us help you!