| Editor's Introduction | | BIB | 1-2 | |
| John O. Limb | |||
| The Design of Star's Records Processing: Data Processing for the Noncomputer Professional | | BIBAK | 3-24 | |
| Robert Purvy; Jerry Farrell; Paul Klose | |||
| Xerox's Star Professional Workstation is distinguished by a graphic user
interface committed to the "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" design philosophy.
The system promotes a see/point/push-a-button style of interaction with
immediate feedback, in marked contrast to more familiar programming or command
language interfaces.
Star's records processing feature integrates traditional data processing functionality into this user model, using standard Star documents for data definition, entry, display, update, and report generation. Benefits include an economy of concepts and effort for user and implementor alike, along with the synergy of a unified environment. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Database
management, Languages, Data description languages (DDL), Data manipulation
languages (DML), Query languages, Report writers, Office automation,
Professional workstations | |||
| An OIS Model for Internal Accounting Control Evaluation | | BIBAK | 25-44 | |
| Andrew D., Jr. Bailey; James H. Gerlach; R. Preston McAfee; Andrew B. Whinston | |||
| Internal control is an important aspect of accounting office systems. The
implementation and maintenance of a control structure which protects corporate
assets from theft, misuse, and fraud and permits the preparation of accurate
and reliable financial reports is a result of both good business practice and
legal requirements. This article presents a precedence model for specifying
accounting office systems. Formal analysis procedures are formulated for
evaluating the internal controls of the modeled system. The procedures
establish precondition and postcondition relationships between designated
control points. Keywords: Information systems application, Office automation, Computer applications,
Administrative data processing, Business, Financial, Management of computing
and information systems, System management, Management audit, Management,
Internal accounting control, Computer audit and control | |||
| Supporting Organizational Problem Solving with a Work Station | | BIBAK | 45-67 | |
| Gerald Barber | |||
| An approach to supporting work in the office is described. Using and
extending ideas from the field of artificial intelligence (AI) we describe
office work as a problem-solving activity. A knowledge-embedding language
called OMEGA is used to embed knowledge of the organization into an office
worker's work station in order to support the office worker in problem solving.
A particular approach to reasoning about change and contradiction is discussed.
This approach uses OMEGA's viewpoint mechanism, which is a general
contradiction-handing facility. Unlike other knowledge representation systems,
when a contradiction is reached the reasons for the contradiction can be
analyzed by the deduction mechanism without having to resort to search
mechanisms such as a backtracking.
The viewpoint mechanism is the heart of the problem-solving support paradigm, a paradigm which supplements the classical AI view of problem solving. An example is presented in which OMEGA's facilities are used to support an office worker's problem-solving activities. The example illustrates the use of viewpoints and of OMEGA's capabilities to reason about its own reasoning processes. Keywords: Information storage and retrieval, Systems and software, Information
networks, Information systems applications, Office automation, Artificial
intelligence, Applications and expert systems, Office automation, Artificial
intelligence, Knowledge representation formalisms and methods, Semantic
networks, Design, Languages | |||
| Integrating Diverse Knowledge Sources in Text Recognition | | BIBAK | 68-87 | |
| Sargur N. Srihari; Jonathan J. Hull; Ramesh Choudhari | |||
| A new algorithm for text recognition that corrects character substitution
errors in words of text is presented. The search for a correct word
effectively integrates three knowledge sources: channel characteristics,
bottom-up context, and top-down context. Channel characteristics are used in
the form of probabilities that observed letters are corruptions of other
letters; bottom-up context is in the form of the probability of a letter when
the previous letters of the word are known; and top-down context is in the form
of a lexicon. A one-pass algorithm is obtained by merging a previously known
dynamic programming algorithm to compute the maximum a posteriori probability
string (known as the Viterbi algorithm) with searching a lexical trie.
Analysis of the computational complexity of the algorithm and results of
experimentation with a PASCAL implementation are presented. Keywords: Information systems applications, Office automation, Word processing,
Artificial intelligence, Problem solving, Control methods and search, Dynamic
programming, Graph and tree search strategies, Pattern recognition,
Applications, Text processing, Text processing, Text editing, Spelling,
Algorithms, Theory, Knowledge integration | |||
| Message Files | | BIBAK | 88-98 | |
| Dennis Tsichritzis; Stavros Christodoulakis | |||
| We describe a message-filing capability which allows for the retrieval of
messages according to contents. Messages are organized in large, general files
such that frequent reorganization is avoided. The user specifies a filter which
restricts the attention to a manageable subset of messages. Messages within
the subset are retrieved for a final check. We discuss file organization and
access method, as well as performance and implementation considerations. Keywords: Control structures and microprogramming, Microcode applications, Special
purpose, Computer systems organization, Performance of systems, Modeling
techniques, Database management, Physical design, Access methods, Information
storage and retrieval, Content analysis and indexing, Abstracting methods,
Information systems applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail,
Design, Performance | |||
| How Do People Organize Their Desks? Implications for the Design of Office Information Systems | | BIBAK | 99-112 | |
| Thomas W. Malone | |||
| This paper describes a series of interviews focusing on the way professional
and clerical office workers organize the information in their desks and
offices. A number of implications for designing "natural" and convenient
computer-based information systems are discussed.
Two principal claims are made: (1) A very important function of desk organization is to remind the user of things to do, not just to help the user find desired information. Failing to support this function may seriously impair the usefulness of electronic office systems, and explicitly facilitating it may provide an important advantage for automated office systems over their nonautomated predecessors. (2) The cognitive difficulty of categorizing information is an important factor in explaining how people organize their desks. Computer-based systems may help with this difficulty by (a) doing as much automatic classification as possible (e.g., based on access dates), and (b) including untitled "piles" of information arranged by physical location as well as explicitly titled and logically arranged "files." Several other implications for the design of electronic office systems are discussed, and some differences in how people organize their desks are described. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Information
storage and retrieval, Information storage, File organization, Information
systems applications, Office automation, Equipment, Computing milieux, Personal
computing, Design, Human factors, Desk organization, Personal information
environments | |||
| An Experimental Distributed Modeling System | | BIBAK | 117-142 | |
| Gary J. Nutt | |||
| Computer systems will increasingly rely on distributed components in order
to increase performance while providing autonomous computing facilities. This
evolution implies that a corresponding advance must take place in the state of
the art of system analysis and evaluation. This paper describes an
experimental modeling system developed to study distributed office information
systems. The modeling system is unusual in that the simulation component is
itself a distributed program. Support facilities and the organization of the
simulator are presented. Keywords: Software engineering, Miscellaneous, Operating systems, Communications
management, Operating systems, Organization and design, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Information systems applications,
Communications applications, Office automation, Distributed programming office
modeling, Simulation | |||
| Document Processing in a Relational Database System | | BIBAK | 143-158 | |
| Michael Stonebraker; Heidi Stettner; Nadene Lynn; Joseph Kalash; Antonin Guttman | |||
| This paper contains a proposal to enhance a relational database manager to
support document processing. Basically, it suggests support for data items
that are variable-length strings, support for ordered relations, support for
substring operations, and support for new operators that concatenate and break
apart string fields. Keywords: Database management, Languages, Query languages, Information storage and
retrieval, Information storage, File organization, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Word processing, Document processing, Document
storage, Extended query languages | |||
| Details of Command-Language Keystrokes | | BIBAK | 159-178 | |
| R. B. Allen; M. W. Scerbo | |||
| The Keystroke-Level Model asserts that the time for an expert to enter a
task using a command language is a function of specific task-acquisition,
mental, and motor-response times. The evidence for the model is critically
reviewed, and new data are presented. The fit of the new data to the model is
modest even when several modifications of the model are considered. It is
proposed that a more complex model, based explicitly on cognitive processes, is
necessary. Keywords: Operating systems, Systems programs and utilities, Command and control
languages, Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human information
processing, Information systems applications, Office automation, Text
processing, Text editing, Human factors, User interface, Cognitive psychology | |||
| Message System Mores: Etiquette in Laurel | | BIBAK | 179-192 | |
| Douglas K. Brotz | |||
| Electronic message systems provide a new mode of communication that
currently lacks an accepted set of social protocols. On the basis of
observations of user behavior in Laurel, a widely used electronic message
system, several suggestions for message system etiquette are given. Topics
covered include misaddressed messages, rudeness, message system costs,
unsolicited messages, chain reactions, and masquerading. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, Miscellaneous, Information systems
applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail, Computers and
society, Social issues, Human factors, Electronic message system,
Communication, Manners, Etiquette | |||
| Authentication in Office System Internetworks | | BIBAK | 193-210 | |
| Jay E. Israel; Theodore A. Linden | |||
| In a distributed office system, authentication data (such as password) must
be managed in such a way that users and machines from different organizations
can easily authenticate themselves to each other. The authentication facility
must be secure, but user convenience, decentralized administration, and a
capability for smooth, long-term evolution are also important. In addition,
the authentication arrangements must not permit failures at a single node to
cause systemwide down time. The design used in the Xerox 8000 Series products
is described. This design anticipates applications in an open-network
architecture where there are nodes from diverse sources and one node does not
trust authentication checking done by other nodes. Furthermore, in some
offices encryption will be required to authenticate data transmissions despite
hostile intruders on the network. Requirements and design constraints when
applying encryption for authentication in office systems are discussed. It is
suggested that protocol standards for use in office systems should allow
unencrypted authentication as well as two options for encrypted authentication.
Issues that will arise as an office system evolves to deal with increasingly
sophisticated threats from users of the system are described. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, General, Security and protection,
Computer-communication networks, Network architecture and design, Network
communications, Computer-communication networks, Network protocols, Protocol
architecture, Data encryption, Data encryption standard (DES), Information
systems applications, Office automation, Security, Standardization,
Authentication, Internetworks, Distributed systems, Decentralized systems,
Heterogeneous systems, Ethernet, Open architecture | |||
| Projecting Demand for Electronic Communications in Automated Offices | | BIBAK | 211-229 | |
| Stephen A. Smith; Robert I. Benjamin | |||
| The large projected growth in the use of office information systems over the
next ten years will in turn significantly increase the demand for electronic
communications in offices. Projections for this demand on a per employee basis
are developed, based on assumed office automation scenarios and case-study
observations of current activity levels. Implications for communications
systems design are discussed. The results are also compared with observed
communications traffic in an existing automated office environment. Keywords: Information systems applications, Office automation, Information systems
applications, Communications applications, Electronic mail, Economics,
Measurement, Performance, Communications systems | |||
| The Clearinghouse: A Decentralized Agent for Locating Named Objects in a Distributed Environment | | BIBAK | 230-253 | |
| Derek C. Oppen; Yogen K. Dalal | |||
| The problem of naming and locating objects in a distributed environment is
considered, and the clearinghouse, a decentralized agent for supporting the
naming of these "network-visible" objects, is described. The objects "known"
to the clearinghouse are of many types and include workstations, file servers,
print servers, mail servers, clearinghouse servers, and human user. All
objects known to the clearinghouse are named using the same convention, and the
clearinghouse provides information about objects in a uniform fashion,
regardless of their type. The clearinghouse also supports aliases.
The clearinghouse binds a name to a set of properties of various types. For instance, the name of a user may be associated with the location of his local workstation, mailbox, and nonlocation information such as password and comments. The clearinghouse is decentralized and replicated. That is, instead of one global clearinghouse server, there are many local clearinghouse servers, each storing a copy of a portion of the global database. The totality of services supplied by these clearinghouse servers is called "the clearinghouse." Decentralization and replication increase efficiency, security, and reliability. A request to the clearinghouse to bind a name to its set of properties may originate anywhere in the system and be directed to any clearinghouse server. A clearinghouse client need not be concerned with the question of which clearinghouse server actually contains the binding -- the clearinghouse stub in the client in conjunction with distributed clearinghouse servers automatically finds the mapping if it exists. Updates to the various copies of a mapping may occur asynchronously and be interleaved with requests for bindings of names to properties; updates to the various copies are not treated as indivisible transactions. Any resulting inconsistency between the various copies is only transient: the clearinghouse automatically arbitrates between conflicting updates to restore consistency. Keywords: Computer-communication networks, Network operations, Network management,
Computer-communication networks, Distributed systems, Distributed databases,
Network operating systems, Database management, Logical design, Data models,
Information storage and retrieval, Information search and retrieval, Search
processes, Information systems applications, Communications applications,
Electronic mail, Design, Clearinghouse, Names, Locations, Binding,
Network-visible objects, Internetwork | |||
| Learning to Use Word Processors: Problems and Prospects | | BIBAK | 254-271 | |
| Robert L. Mack; Clayton H. Lewis; John M. Carroll | |||
| Computer text editors are powerful, but complex, tools. Particularly in the
early stages of learning, the complexity of these tools can cause serious
problems for users who are not experienced with computers. The problems of new
users were studied by asking the users to think out loud while learning to use
word-processing systems. In this paper several of the most typical and
debilitating problems these users had understanding and following directions in
using training manuals, as well as problems understanding and using interface
functions to accomplish word processing tasks, are taxonomized and analyzed.
Approaches for improving design features of the interface functions and the
training methods used for learning are discussed. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human factors, Human
information processing, Information systems applications, Office automation,
Equipment, Word processing, Artificial intelligence, Learning, Analogies,
Concept learning, Human factors, Behavioral science, Cognitive psychology,
Protocol methodology, Instruction, Novices, Text editors, Human-computer
interface | |||
| Human Factors Challenges in Creating a Principal Support Office System -- The Speech Filing System Approach | | BIBAK | 273-298 | |
| John D. Gould; Stephen J. Boies | |||
| This paper identifies the key behavioral challenges in designing a
principal-office system and our approaches to them. These challenges included
designing a system which office principals would find useful and would directly
use themselves. Ultimately, the system, called the Speech Filing System (SFS),
became primarily a voice store and forward message system with which users
compose, edit, send, and receive audio messages, using telephones as terminals.
Our approaches included behavioral analyses of principals' needs and
irritations, controlled laboratory experiments, several years of training,
observing, and interviewing hundreds of actual SFS users, several years of
demonstrating SFS to thousands of potential users and receiving feedback,
empirical studies of alternative methods of training and documentation,
continual major modifications of the user interface, simulations of alternative
user interfaces, and actual SFS usage analyses. The results indicate that SFS
is now relatively easy to learn, solves real business problems, and leads to
user satisfaction. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Information systems
applications, Information systems applications, Office automation, Information
systems applications, Communications applications, Human factors, Principal
support system, Office of the future | |||
| A Data Modeling Approach for Office Information Systems | | BIBAK | 299-319 | |
| Simon Gibbs; Dionysis Tsichritzis | |||
| A data model for representing the structure and semantics of office objects
is proposed. The model contains features for modeling forms, documents, and
other complex objects; these features include a constraint mechanism based on
triggers, templates for presenting objects in different media, and unformatted
data types such as text and audio. The representation of common office objects
is described. User-level commands may be translated to operations within the
model. Keywords: Models and principles, User/machine systems, Human information processing,
Database management, Logical design, Data models, Information systems
applications, Office automation, Design, Templates, Unformatted data | |||
| Office Procedure as Practical Action: Models of Work and System Design | | BIBAK | 320-328 | |
| Lucy A. Suchman | |||
| The design of office technology relies upon underlying conceptions of human
organization and action. The goal of building office information systems
requires a representation of office work and its relevant objects. The concern
of this paper is that although system designers recognize the centrality of
procedural tasks in the office, they tend to ignore the actual work involved in
accomplishing those tasks. A perspicuous instance of work in an accounting
office is used to recommend a new line of research into the practical problems
of office work, and to suggest preliminary implications of that research for
office systems design. Keywords: Models and principles, General, Models and principles, User/machine systems,
Human information processing, Design, Human factors, Office procedure, Models
of work | |||