Human diversity and the choice of interface

Abstract

As part of a field trial, the Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES) provided a variety of interfaces and user aids. Users were permitted to freely choose from the available variety at any time. They were then asked to report on their frequency of use of the various alternatives at two points in time. We found that there is no one style of interface or source of user support which will satisfy all users at any point in time, or even the same user as experience and familiarity with the system change. While their generalizability is unknown, our observations suggest that human helpers (user consultants on EIES) are the single most valued source of user support, and that system designers should consider incorporating an integrated and somewhat redundant system of both menus and commands into the interface.