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Adam Torgerson Assignment 14 1. what did you find 1.1. interesting about the article? I thought the idea of supporting user models was interesting, but I would like to see how user models can be made more generic. The article talks about some of the things required for implementing user models, but all of these things require very domain specific knowledge of the problem. I can see situations in which we would do even better. For example, if a user is running any program and plugs their digital camera into their computer, they probably want that program to interact with the digital camera in some fashion. Obviously this kind of genericity cannot be applied to all kinds of problems, but there are some kinds of problems which do not require much domain specific knowledge which could be handled in a more generic fashion. 1.2. not interesting about the article? Nothing. 2. what do you consider the main message of the article? The main message of the article was describing the ideas of user models as they relate to human computer interaction. 3. to which other previous articles / discussion topics of the course is this article related? There are many ideas present from different things we've talked about before: the EDC, metadesign and critiquing systems all have a strong presence in the article. 4. choose MS-Word (or another HFA) as an example: I choose the emacs text editor. 4.1. how much (in percent) of the functionality of the HFA do you know? I think I only know about 15-20% of the editor very well. 4.2. how do you learn new functionality? One easy way I learn new functionality is by simply typing M-x and then typing the first few letters of what I think the command might be named and trying to auto-complete the command name by pressing tab. This may be a haphazard method, but it works for a surprising number of cases. If this method does not work, the next step I take will vary depending on the complexity of the task I am trying to accomplish. If it should be a relatively straight forward operation as far as text-editing goes, I will just search Google for how it can be accomplished. If I know the task will require some programming or stringing together of various commands, I may start right with the manual. 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)? I am not sure about word, but this can be done in emacs via the transpose-chars command. This was something I did not previously know about emacs, but as described above, I just tried auto-completing the command and it worked. 5. what have YOU learnt “on demand” in YOUR life? Briefly describe the most prominent example. I guess the most prominent example is when I have a deadline of some kind to meet and I don't possess all the knowledge necessary to meet that deadline. I am first required to learn something in order to produce what is necessary to meet the dealine. 6. what do people have to know to be able to learn on demand? They must first be able to recognize a time when their lack of knowledge stands between them completing a task and must also know how to get information about the knowledge they lack. If they don't know how to find anything out about the subject, no learning can take place. Likewise, if they do not realize a solution exists at all, they may simply give up. 7. why should one “learn on demand” instead of relying on “use on demand”? By just using on demand, you are not learning the subject for next time. 8. which computer systems have you encountered which 8.1. have a User Modeling Component? Several kinds of programs have a "Tip of the Day" kind of functionality. One modeling component several code editors are starting to support is auto-completion of the name of the variable or function as you type it, based on syntax and context. 8.2. support learning on demand? Searchable online help is all that really comes to mind here. I suppose you could consider Google supporting learning on demand by indexing the wealth of knowledge on the Internet.
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