RE: [ba-unrev-talk] Denning & quality
In "The Invisible Computer", Donald Norman points out that this sort of
"lapse" is part of the benefit of human information processing. (01)
He uses the question:
"How many of each kind of animal did Moses take on the ark?"
It was Noah, not Moses, who built the ark, but most people will not note the
error. When conversing with another person, the automatic correction is a
benefit - "you know what I mean". If I asked the question, the intent is,
presumably, to get an answer to the question, and if the question gets
answered correctly, it is not important that the question itself was less
than totally correct. (02)
Norman makes a strong case that we need to design interfaces that take into
account human characteristics -- that indeed treat these characteristics as
positive rather than negative. (03)
It does present a challenge, however. If you try to get a computer to
provide information on Deming when asked for information on Denning, I am
not certain how to do that, but it would be immensely useful if it can be
done. (04)
Google tries this in its "Did you mean ...?" prompt when it has search terms
that are close to, but not quite, what you typed. (05)
Thanks, (06)
Garold (Gary) L. Johnson (07)
-----Original Message-----
From: Henry K van Eyken (08)
Oh Boy! That memory of mine needs a kick in the you-know-where! I could have
sworn that the "quality-first" man was Denning. Nevertheless, thanks for
pointing this out. (09)
Actually, Dennis, this brings up a point of significance to augmenting the
human intellect - to utilize, if we can so manage, digital support for false
memories, aging brains, brains otherwise afflicted. (010)
I know that my brains play tricks on me, some much worse than this little
faux
pas. The important thing is not to be embarrassed about it but to do th best
with what one has got. Which begins with being just plain objective. (011)
Proghrammes have been making all sorts of calendars, post-it notes,
organizers,
what-have-you. The next step would be to find some way to alert users to
where
their memory needs course correction. Looks like a pretty tall order, but
then
again ... (012)
Recently, I saw a report that memory mishaps are not so much the result of a
loss of brain cells, but because of some deficiency in some mental circuit.
Which suggests that work need be dome not so much on correcting data stored
in
memory, but on certain mechanisms of the brain. That ought to reduce the
problem. (013)
Really, I should have been replying about Peter Denning's credentials. At
this
point I am just intending to pay attention to the gentleman's
accomplishments. (014)
Henry (015)