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what did you find

1.1. interesting about the article?


We liked the part where the paper talked about high functionality applications and levels of user's knowledge about a high functionality applications. In this section the paper also talked about how users of a HFA does not neccessarily have to know the whole system in order to complete the task at hand, which we agree with.


1.2. not interesting about the article?


We thought some ideas presented in this paper was repitition of the material we had read previously in this class.


2. what do you consider the main message of the article?


The main message of the article is that with the more use of HFA's it is important to say the right thing at the right time in the right way. So user modeling in HCI is a very vital area of study and can greatly contribute to the development of HFA systems.


3. to which other previous articles / discussion topics of the course is this article related?


The article we read previously about critiquing systems is related to this article and we also discussed about the different levels of user's knowledge about a HFA in class.


4. choose MS-Word (or another HFA) as an example:

4.1. how much (in percent) of the functionality of the HFA do you know?


We choose MS-word. Probably 50% of the functionality we know. We are not sure about this percentage, since we are not aware of all the functionality provided by MS-Word. We just learn what is necessary to accomplish the task at hand (learning on demand).


4.2. how do you learn new functionality?


Using the search feature given the MS-Word or searching in the internet or go through documentation. Recently I(Javier) learnt how to do table of contents in MS-Word since I had to do it for a paper for our senior project. I learnt it going through documentation online and examples I got the web. Also, at the beginning I used the Help option but it some was not that helpful.


4.3. for MS-Word users: is there a command in MS-Word which “transposes two characters” (e.g., “leanr” becomes “learn” by positioning the cursor between n and r and executing the command)?


Not that we know/aware of. But there is automatic spelling corrector feature which kicks in when the user accidently types "leanr" where he/she intended to type "learn" and corrects the spelling. But it doesn't work when you type by mistake "form" intead of "from".


5. what have YOU learnt “on demand” in YOUR life? Briefly describe the most prominent example.


Divya: I had to learn all the web technologies(running a Tomcat server, Postgre sever, using struts controller component) in order to implement a web application we are developing.
Learning to drive a car in America and learning the road rules could also be given as example as something I learnt on demand. I had to learn it so I can drive by myself. Since I am from India the driving rules are totally opposite of the driving rules here so I had to learn it for my own safety.

Javier: I basically had to learn pretty much the same as Divya, with exception to drive here in USA. However, I had to learn how to take the bus and bus routes since it was my first time I had to use the public transportation.


6. what do people have to know to be able to learn on demand?


People should know what they want to learn, whether it exists and where to find the resources to learn from. In addition, people should practice more what they learn.


7. why should one “learn on demand” instead of relying on “use on demand”?


By learning, it will stay with one for rest of thier lives and comes in handy when ever the task at hand demands of that knowledge learnt. If one follows use on demand, then they will have to go back to documents or some other resources every time the task at hand demands of that knowledge. "Learn on demand" is basically like gaining experience which will be harder to forget compared to the knowledge you get from "use on demand".


8. which computer systems have you encountered which

8.1. have a User Modeling Component?


Postgre Database, where it has the "tip of the day" feature. Sometimes it is very useful for me(Divya) since I am novice to this postgre database and server. Spelling correctors in MS-word is another example.


8.2. support learning on demand?


Any system that gives direct access to internet. Most of the open source software we can download from the internet gives a documentation which is also available on the internet(For example the Postgre databae, or any apache software ).
In addition, the user is able to look for examples related to the field or area of interest. Furthermore, Linux and Unix have manual pages that are very helpful and usefule when dealing with shell commands.


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