Michael Good
Personal Homepage:
http://www.songsandschemas.com/Current place of employment:
Recordare LLCMichael's career spans computer music and computer-human interaction. He is Founder and CEO of Recordare LLC, an Internet music publishing and software company. At Recordare he designed and developed the MusicXML format for digital sheet music, together with the Dolet plug-ins for creating MusicXML files from the Finale and Sibelius applications. For 20 years people have tried to create a standard music notation interchange format that works better than Standard MIDI Files. MusicXML is the first such format to succeed, having been adopted by over 120 music applications. The lessons of interaction design can apply to the adoption of standardized computer formats just as they can to more consumer-oriented interaction.
Michael was first attracted to the field of human-computer interaction as an outgrowth of his early interest in computer language design. His bachelor's thesis at the MIT Experimental Music Studio was on a score language for Music 11 (the predecessor of Csound). His master's thesis at the MIT Office Automation Group took him into the field of computer-human interaction where he worked for 20 years. As a member of the Software Usability Engineering group at Digital Equipment Corporation, he helped pioneer interaction design techniques from keystroke analysis and usability engineering to contextual design. At both Digital and Xtensory he worked on integrating virtual reality technology into industrial applications. At SAP, he developed technology to integrate alternative user interface technologies with the R/3 system. He was part of the team that developed SAP's first commercially successful web-based applications for employee self-service, and that prototyped the integration of GIS technology into SAP's business intelligence products. His work at Recordare returns him to his early interests both in computer music and language design.
Full text HTML versions of Michael's publications in interaction design and computer music are available at:
http://www.recordare.com/good/papers.html
Publications by Michael Good (bibliography)
» 1998 «
Steiger, Patrick, Stolze, Markus and Good, Michael (1998): Beyond Internet Business-as-Usual. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 30 (4) pp. 48-52
The number of Internet users and the volume of on-line business is growing rapidly. For example, the Spring 97 CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Demographics and Electronic Commerce Study reports that nearly a quarter of the US and Canadian population over 16 years of age (more than 50 million persons) have recently used the Internet -- twice the number reported in the Fall of 1995 [4]. Another study by International Data Corp., a research firm in Framingham, Mass, reports that $1.2 billion in goods and services were sold directly over the Web in 1996, a figure which they expect to increase to $91.1 billion by the year 2000 [2]. Despite this success, Internet commerce as we know it today must become better adapted to the growing needs of buyers and merchants on the Internet to better exploit the opportunities of electronic media. The goal of the workshop was to understand the needs of buyers and merchants in electronic markets, to discuss the state-of-the-art in Internet commerce, and to identify open issues that require more research.
Copyrights may apply
» 1992 «
Good, Michael (1992): Participatory Design of a Portable Torque-Feedback Device. In: Bauersfeld, Penny, Bennett, John and Lynch, Gene (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 92 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference June 3-7, 1992, Monterey, California. pp. 439-446. Available online
Customer-driven design processes such as participatory design can be used to develop new presence, or virtual reality, technology. Chemists worked together with computer company engineers to develop scenarios for how presence technology could be used to support future molecular modeling work in drug design. These scenarios led to the development of a portable torque-feedback device which can be used with either workstation or virtual reality technology. This paper discusses both the experience with the participatory design process and the novel features of the portable torque-feedback device.
Copyrights may apply
» 1989 «
Good, Michael, Campbell, Robert, Lynch, Gene and Wright, Peter C. (1989): Experience with Contextual Field Research. In: Bice, Ken and Lewis, Clayton H. (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 89 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 30 - June 4, 1989, Austin, Texas. pp. 21-24.
Good, Michael (1989): Seven Experiences with Contextual Field Research. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 20 (4) pp. 25-32
» 1988 «
Holtzblatt, Karen, Jones, Sandy and Good, Michael (1988): Articulating the Experience of Transparency: An Example of Field Research Techniques. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 20 (2) pp. 45-47
Over the past two years, our field research with users has indicated that elements of an application design can disrupt users' work. Understanding how applications disrupt users' work has helped us to articulate the meaning of interface transparency. Interface transparency and related concepts have previously been explored from theoretical perspectives, but have not been grounded in user data. The relationship between the user's work and interface transparency is a key element of our understanding. Disruptive systems distract users from their task. Systems can disrupt users by fragmenting the task into elements which do not match the user's view of the task. Insufficient functionality and awkward interface mechanisms for a particular task also disrupt users. We need to understand users' work in much richer detail than we do now in order to build systems that assist them with that work.
Copyrights may apply
Good, Michael (1988): User Interface Consistency in the DECwindows Program. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting 1988. pp. 259-263.
A major goal of the DECwindows program is to provide a consistent, state-of-the-art user interface for workstation software. This interface extends across operating systems and many different types of application programs. Within the DECwindows program we have addressed both the technical and organizational aspects of developing consistent user interfaces across applications. Traditional methods for developing user interface consistency, such as the use of an interface style guide and toolkit, were supplemented with more innovative techniques. An exhibition and catalog of DECwindows application designs helped to develop a DECwindows school of interface design. Electronic conferencing software played an important role in facilitating communication among DECwindows contributors throughout the company. Preliminary user interviews suggest that the DECwindows interface style gives a consistent, usable feel to Digital's workstation applications.
Copyrights may apply
» 1987 «
Wixon, Dennis and Good, Michael (1987): Interface Style and Eclecticism: Moving Beyond Categorical Approaches. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 31st Annual Meeting 1987. pp. 571-575.
The weaknesses inherent in categorizing interfaces are discussed. Questions are raised about using categorical approaches in science and design. Alternative approaches are suggested with an emphasis on dimensional scope and contextual sensitivity. It is argued that interfaces should be seen in terms of their transparency and support for breakdown.
Copyrights may apply
» 1986 «
Good, Michael, Spine, Thomas M., Whiteside, John and George, Peter (1986): User-Derived Impact Analysis as a Tool for Usability Engineering. In: Mantei, Marilyn and Orbeton, Peter (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 86 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 13-17, 1986, Boston, Massachusetts. pp. 241-246.
A unified approach to improved usability can be identified in the works of Gilb (1981, 1984), Shackel (1984), Bennett (1984), Carroll and Rosson (1985), and Butler (1985). We term this approach "usability engineering," and seek to contribute to it by showing, via a product development case study, how user-derived estimates of the impact of design activities on engineering goals may be made.
Copyrights may apply
» 1985 «
Good, Michael (1985): The Use of Logging Data in the Design of a New Text Editor. In: Borman, Lorraine and Curtis, Bill (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 85 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 14-18, 1985, San Francisco, California. pp. 93-97.
Many different human factors techniques are available to the designer of a new computer system. This case study examines how one technique, the use of logging data, was used throughout the design of a new text editor which is measurably easy to learn and easy to use. Logging data was used in four areas: keyboard design, the initial design of the editor's command set, refinements made later in the design cycle, and the construction of a system performance benchmark.
Copyrights may apply
» 1983 «
Wixon, Dennis, Whiteside, John, Good, Michael and Jones, Sandra (1983): Building a User-Defined Interface. In: Smith, Raoul N., Pew, Richard W. and Janda, Ann (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 83 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conferenc December 12-15, 1983, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. pp. 24-27.
A measurably easy-to-use interface has been built using a novel technique. Novices attempted an electronic mail task using a command-line interface containing no help, no menu, no documentation, and no instruction. A hidden operator intercepted commands when necessary, creating the illusion of a true interactive session. The software was repeatedly revised to recognize users' new commands; in essence, the users defined the interface. This procedure was used on 67 subjects. The first version of the software could recognize only 7% of all the subjects' spontaneously generated commands; the final version could recognize 76% of those commands. This experience contradicts the idea that people are not good at designing their own command languages. Through careful observation and analysis of user behavior, a mail interface unusable by novices evolved into one that let novices do useful work within minutes.
Copyrights may apply
» 1982 «
Good, Michael (1982): An Ease of Use Evaluation of an Integrated Document Processing System. In: Nichols, Jean A. and Schneider, Michael L. (eds.) Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems March 15-17, 1982, Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States. pp. 142-147.
Whiteside, John, Archer, Norman P., Wixon, Dennis and Good, Michael (1982): How Do People Really Use Text Editors?. In: Limb, John O. (ed.) Proceedings of the SIGOA Conference on Office Information Systems 1982 June 21-23, 1982, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. pp. 29-40.
Keystroke statistics were collected on editing systems while people performed their normal work. Knowledge workers used an experimental editor, and secretaries used a word processor. Results show a consistent picture of free use patterns in both settings. Of the total number of keystrokes, text entry accounted for approximately 1/2, cursor movement for about 1/4, deletion for about 1/8, and all other functions for the remaining 1/8. Analysis of keystroke transitions and editing states is also presented. Implications for past research, editor design, keyboard layout, and benchmark tests are discussed.
Copyrights may apply
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Mar 13th, 2010
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